Who Has the Right to
Palestine?
I got into a friendly e-mail dialogue (Winter of 2001-2002) with
a professional contact who actually was born into Christianity in a Muslim
culture near Damascus and lives in Seattle. His concern following 9/11 was that Americans not
paint all Muslims as terrorists or terrorist-minded. Yet, on 6 August 2004, I
heard a spokesperson estimate that as many as 50% of worldwide Muslims at least
secretly subscribe to the dreams of the terrorist fascist extreme Islam agenda (see
item #16 below). And, by the way, he failed to see how
the Jews had any exclusive right to any state in "Palestine". But,
see last point below...Jerusalem is not the core issue (it is just a symbol).
While I
have left the below outline in the original e-mail format, I have added some
additional points/content.
[Muslim agenda] [key
Muslim thinker's influence] [terror]
Dear Hadi:
As pathologist colleagues, I'm glad to have the info that you sent to
me. I have revised/upgraded my original response in view of some additional e-mails you've sent and some further
learning on my part. I have no ax to grind and am only interested in arriving at the truth. As I'd
stated before, I've been to Israel and into the "West Bank", etc. I am neither Jew nor Palestinian (Arabic or Muslim). I'm
copying this to some friends. Here's how I see it as of 4/26/02:
- As a Jesus believer and follower (Christian), I unswervingly believe in
the God-breathed ("inspired") inerrancy of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible; you've told me that you were born into
Christianity near Damascus. Unlike the Koran, the Bible is an accumulation of
messages delivered through the ages through many humans...the Koran coming
through only one man.
- My identity as a Jesus follower stands in highest rank...ahead of my identity as an American, Caucasian, Southerner, physician, pathologist, etc.
- Palestine: This geographical name most probably originally
derived from Egyptian delta migrations of a group designated as
"prst" about 2900-2700BC. About 1200BC, the Aegean sea people
over-ran the indigent eastern-Mediterranean coastal Phoenician and Hittites
and were afterwards known as the Philistines...the area becoming Philistia...a
name rendered in Greek as "he Palaistine", a word form which Herodotus
was the first to use (about 400+BC).
- The God of Abraham gave (Genesis
12:1-7, Genesis 13:14-18 and 15:1-5 & 15:18-21) the "Promised Land" to Abraham
(between 2100-1500BC) & his offspring/descendants (a smaller area of this larger land
was subdivided out by God to
Moses & the Jews/Israelites returning from 400 years of Egyptian
captivity, Numbers
34:1-15)...the Land of Canaan...an area less than Israel occupies today. [By
default...not having been detailed in the subdivision, the balance of the
larger Promised Land may have been for the descendants of Ishmael.] And we know exactly where that is, regardless of any name given to it in the past or
present. The part God-given to the Jews clearly includes all of Jerusalem!!
This suggests that the offspring are intended to (both sides) be
neighbors.
This covenantal promise was to Abraham and his wife, Sara, and their
miraculous, legitimate, marital
offspring via son Isaac (inferred from
Genesis 12:1-3 and then modified by Genesis 16:11-16). Abraham, under his
original name of Abram, first had a son at age 86, Ishmael (Genesis 16), by the Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, Ishmael being the forerunner of
the non-Jewish peoples of the Middle East. Then God changed his
name to Abraham and gave him the "Promised Land" as Isaac was born in about Abraham's 99th year & Sara's 90th. These verses include assurances of
what a blessing the Isaac offspring will be to the world. Verses indicate that
the offspring of both Isaac and Ishmael will be vastly numerous. [God of Abraham
attributes
and names]
- Abraham was sent by God to possess the "Promised Land" from the Canaanites in about 2000 BC. Abraham and Sara's
covenantal
issue/descendants, the Israelites, were preceded to Egypt by Joseph (son of Abraham's covenant...God-promised...son, Isaac).
Joseph's siblings 7 their families were then...en mass...driven to
Egypt later, as a people, by a terrible famine...then into 400 years of slavery (about 1900-1300BC) under
Egypt. Then, having reproduced into millions, they were set
free by the miracles of God & lead from Egypt by Moses & kept in the desert
40 years (Providentially provided for) until an unbelieving generation died out. Then they were lead back into the Promised Land by
Joshua in conquest of the Promised Land. Joshua could not bring down Jebus (city on Mt. Moriah...the inhabitants known as
the
Jebusites), the 11 acre walled city which lay just barely south of the
current Temple Mount within the southeastern part of the current walled Jerusalem. David
conquered Jebus in about 990BC, and it was
then renamed the City of David. David purchased the city threshing floor from
Araunah for the Temple Mount area. Later, this covenantal people (Israelites) of Abraham became divided into Israel (northern tribes) & Judah
(southern tribes) and were subsequently scattered/conquered. Said to have
originally been founded by Amorites & Hittites (Ezekiel 16:3), the City of
David became known as Jerusalem. About 1925BC, an Egyptian notice called
the city Urusalimum. A notice in a 1400BC site calls it Urusalim, and the
Assyrians called it Ursalimmu. Later Greeks and Romans called it Hierosolyma and
the Arabs, El Kuds. In Hebrew, Jerusalem is Yerushalayim; in Arabic, it is Bayt
al-Mugaddas.
- The Israelites [Jews] built the 1st Jerusalem temple under Solomon's reign (I Kings 5 & 6; 2 Chronicles 2-5). It was
destroyed. In the book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel told Daniel [having
previously noted each set as years] (Daniel 9:25), "So you are to know and
discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until
Messiah the Prince [Jesus] there will be 7 weeks [sets] and sixty-two weeks
[sets]...[69 x 7 = 483 years]". [From 444BC to 33AD (Jesus crucified)
= 483 years.]
And, Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem (March 444BC). At the start of the rebuilding (which would be a miracle of God), Nehemiah declared to surrounding
non-Jewish peoples who taunted him, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to
it." (Nehemiah 2:20). [The entire city wall was rebuilt in just 52 days (Nehemiah
6:15); and one might not be able to appreciate that miracle if you've not
actually seen how huge the Jerusalem walls are.] And then, after truly occupying Israel for years (I'm told that there has not been a true
occupation of Gaza/West bank by the Israelis), the Romans destroyed much of Jerusalem and all of the Temple very early in the1st millennium AD. And the
Jews were scattered (as God had said that He would do to the Jews). For that Berkeley
e-mail of the "Jews for Justice" group to suggest that there have only been 414 years of "Jewish rule" in Israel is
ridiculous...causing me to discount and be uninterested in anything else they
said in their e-mail.
- The Bible gives firm prophecy to the scattering of the Jews (after the
Temple destruction, above), then the future "ingathering" back to the Promised Land...that began in the late
1800s & accelerated in the 1940s. The modern Nation of Israel came in 1948,
0.2% of United-Nations-partitioned lands (8500 square miles) to Israel, the remaining to
Islamic countries!!
- When I went to Israel, I was impressed that the Israelis were an
industrious people and freely took tourism business into the Palestinian West Bank and employed non-Israelis to a
great extent. They are "producers," and they weren't "withholding" some share of opportunity from
Palestinians.
- I am told that the Koran (Islam) never mentions Jerusalem...Jerusalem must
have held no interest to the writer of the Koran; the Bible
(Jews & Christians) is replete with references to, and the centrality
of, Jerusalem.
- Israel has worked hard to make themselves valuable (God said they
would be a people of great value to all of mankind), and their Jewish brothers in other parts of the world have donated
huge sums of money to the country of Israel "to help them". The Muslim countries dwarf the land area
of Israel (see #7, above), and they use their oil wealth for key families...not for the good of their people (what do they donate to their
Palestinian brothers?). There seems to be a great cultural difference between the two
sides in the stewardship of
resources for the betterment of their peoples-in-general .
- Envy and hatred are sins which basically destroy the ones who hate and
envy, and there is no excuse to proliferate these TWO learned behaviors.
Many peoples have risen above past hurts and adapted and made their own way. In the USA, look at the story of the Mormons.
In the 1800s, it was perfectly legal to kill a
Mormon in one state, and they were persecuted terrifically from New York
westward to Utah. They aren't filled with hate and envy as a people! I'm
sad to say that sources indicate that this mentality of killing, warring,
and hatred actually arises from numerous verses in the Koran (Qu'ran) and in
practically any page in Al-Bukhari's (Islamic scholars say this is the best
one) Hadith (collection of Muhammad's sayings). That is, such are not radical
Islamists, they are actually doing just what Islam calls for! Doubters should
thumb through theses writings themselves.
- In the absence of a declared war, there can be no excusing of bombings
that kill random members of the enemy side...especially women and children...the suicidal homicide bombings. By engendering in the schools a
taught hatred of non-Muslims (especially the anti-Semitic aspect of
hatred of Jews)...plus an attitude of worshipfulness toward those who kill themselves in the act of killing the enemy, Arafat
(died in 2004) has created
a societal monster that he cannot stop. (This being recently superimposed on the ancient enmity declared between the descendants of half-brothers Isaac
and Ishmael...explicitly stated in Genesis 16:11-16,
the Bible: "He [Ishmael] will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against
everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward
all his brothers.")
- As evidenced by Arafat's rejection of the Clinton plan that would have
returned 95% of the disputed lands to the Palestinians, the Palestinian people (PA) are now suffering the consequences of
Arafat's (and his insider associates') greed for continuing power (if the discord is settled, Arafat's importance declines and he has fear of having to
"lead" and restrain the Palestinian radicals who would continue to defy any agreement). His fear may
give hint to a realization by Arafat that his people have even become ungovernable as to foreign policy. People that I
talk with are having a very hard time finding an excuse for Arafat's rejection of the Clinton plan. Or is it his greed? Some think that the
hidden fear within Palestinians that
Islam could be a false religion drives the "never peace with Israel"
mentality, and it is persuasive [brief
note about this...here].
- Quite the opposite of your "99.9%-of-the media-are-against-PA" angle on the media,
I see the media as continuing to view the Palestinians as an oppressed people and therefore wanting to always give them one
more chance, no matter what they do...the media seem to me to be at least 60% in favor of always
writing how Israel should hold back retribution or offer more.
- I have never heard of any other arena of life in which two sides are at
odds and one side is expected to give up material things to another side just in exchange
for promises...and with no real consequence for broken promises. Your paper says the Israelis break
promises; other sources point out how the recent Lebanon pull back to the "blue line" resulted in Hesbolah wanting to immediately fight and push further south.
Apparently, the Palestinians were offered a "state" in 1947 and rejected it. It does truly
appear to me that the Palestinian Authority intends to agree to nothing less
than all of Israel so that "Palestine" is completely theirs: the Jews must be pushed into the sea.
- The Real Issue: a world view by deceased Islamic philosopher Sayyid Qutb
(pronounced KUH-tahb)...a world-wide religious Islamic theocracy is the issue
[here]! And, on the 5 August 2004 Fox
News O'Reilly factor, Kamal Nawash (39 years old immigrant at age 9 and
director of the Free Muslim Coalition)
was asked (there being concern for rising American suspicion against Muslims
in America and the fact that no Muslim organization speaks out against
barbaric Muslim activities) what percentage of worldwide Muslims are
"for" the extreme Islam agenda? I was shocked when he said about
50%.
I decided 10 years ago that the search for truth in the secular, non-Christian affairs of life was a hopeless
search...it is a hard enough search among the brotherhood of Christian believers (Truth is in The
Word). Explanations are always colored by the point of view of the "sides". I
don't have any hope of real peace on earth prior to the return of Jesus for His 1000 year reign (then the
Kingdom of God which drew near with Jesus coming to Earth & the Kingdom of Heaven ever after)...much less any real hope for peace in
Israel. There can never be sustained peace in the world in the absence of the
majority of the world being followers of The Prince of Peace...to follow any
other is to be in the realm of the prince of lies, confusion, and darkness
(Satan). But the world should keep trying! All
peoples should lift their prayers regularly to the only One who has the power to bring peace!
Sincerely, Ervin
In 2006, here is another former Muslim...a woman...who dares to
speak out [read her words].