The land of Israel belongs to Israel - Who are the Palestinians?

After the Roman destruction of Israel in A.D. 70, Israel began to be called 'Palestine.' It was ruled by many different invaders for the next few hundred years, including European Crusaders who tried to wrest it back from the muslims when they took control in the 7th century.


Muslims ruled the land of Palestine with neglect from A.D. 635 until 1917. In time and under their lack of care, the land became desolate with withered fields, no trees, no people, very little rain, eroded soil, malaria-ridden swamps, and rocky mountainsides.


Such a sorry and heartbroken sight was the land of Palestine. Mark Twain called it 'monotonous and uninviting' and famously remarked in his 1869 book, The Innocents Abroad:

• "Stirring scenes occur in the valley [of Jezreel] no more. There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent – not for 30 miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings."

Meanwhile, as the Jews suffered persecutions in Russia and Eastern Europe, some of them fled to Palestine to escape the massacres.

During the 1800's, the Jews were able to buy property from the Ottoman Turks. Since the land was useless, the Turks were glad to sell it to the 'dumb' and desperate Jews; and the Turks got away with selling pieces of land at extremely high prices.


Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the “Father of the Yishuv” (the Jewish settlement in Palestine) was for decades the largest Jewish landowner in Palestine and Transjordan.  The Rothschilds funded much of Israel's governmental infrastructure. For examples, James A. de Rothschild financed the Knesset building as a gift to the State of Israel, and Dorothy de Rothschild donated Israel's Supreme Court building. 


Britain encouraged Jewish immigration to Palestine and Jerusalem by establishing several religious societies and missionaries to help the Jews settle in. Some of these societies are Al Torah Society (1802), Palestine (1805), and London Missionary (1825). Al Maseery 1982.


Napoleon also encouraged Jewish thinkers and leaders when he proclaimed that the Jews were the legal heirs of Palestine during Akka Seige in April 1799. Awadh 1971.


Britain opened a consulate office in Jerusalem in 1838 to protect the Jews. Germany (1842), France (1843), Austria (1849), Spain (1854), the United States (1857), and Russia (1861) followed suit. The London Times said on July 17, 1841, in an article entitled, Syria and Jews Resurrection, that the "Jews definitely will settle in Palestine with the aid of the five superpowers; this has been taken seriously" Al Natsheh 1984.


The Jews worked hard to make the land prosper, many of them dying from hardships of the land and the disease of malaria. They didn't give up, and their efforts were rewarded. The land began to blossom.

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4

Neighboring peoples were amazed. Hoards of muslim poor from Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt came into the land to work for the Jews.  They stayed and formed small settlements. From those workers is where most of today's 'Palestinians' have descended. (Israel has in the past offered them citizenship.)

When the Hashemite Tribe (people who trace their ancestry from Hashim, the great-grandfather of Muhammad, and who ruled over Mecca and Medina for centuries) were driven out by the Saudis, the British gave them rulership over the immigrant migrant workers in Transjordan. The British said this would be "The State of Palestine." The Hashemites, who make up about 20 percent of the population, turned it into the Kingdom of Jordan.

On August 23,1959, the Prime Minister of Jordan stated, "We are the Government of Palestine, the army of Palestine, and the refugees of Palestine."

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip were controlled by the Jordanians and Egyptians from 1948 to 1967. There was no mention of giving up that land out of concern and fairness for today's Palestinians. After the Six-Day War in June, 1967, Israel controlled the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Suddenly, there was outcry that the Palestinians needed land and that the West Bank and Gaza should be given to them.



God warned:

Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom [Arabs], who took MY LAND to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country ... But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to MY PEOPLE ISRAEL, for they are about to come.' Ezekiel 36: 5, 8 NKJ

Palestinians - Who are they?  Jordan strips Palestinians' citizenship History of Israel and Palestine Brief History of Zionism and Creation of Israel

ISRAEL, A MIRACLE

by Eva

Untouched by man, the land lay bare;

No fruit nor flowers did grow there.

A wild and unkempt land it was

The wilderness.

Then pilgrims with tools and seeds.

They came to plow the cold, hard ground,

To plant their seed, and to water the ground

With blood, sweat, and tears.

Expelled from the world,

They joined hands and came

To rebuild their homeland, to plant, and to pray,

Believing their families would join them one day

In the land of the Jews.

They gave up their old lives in

Exchange for the new, and

Israel prospered and Israel grew,

Where she stands a reminder to both Gentile and Jew

A miracle.

Published August 23, 1998

The Jerusalem Post Daily Internet Edition