Israel’s Religious Precedent for Conquering Palestine

1932 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: nationalism in Arab nationalism and Jewish nationalism

When the Hebrew state of Israel took over land that was known as Palestine, one of the chief political movements pushing for the return of Jewish people to the Holy Land was the Zionist movement. The Zionist movement was motivated by religious beliefs. Zionist leaders claimed it was the destiny of the Jewish people and the Jewish people’s right to populate the lands of Palestine. The Israelites identify themselves as not only an ethnicity but a religious group chosen by God to be the only true followers of his will on Earth. This belief has played a particular role in the people of Israel’s sense of ownership to the Holy Lands. It is this connection to their religious tradition and desire to find a home promised by God that inspired many people to found the nation of Israel.

This religious tradition starts first with Abraham. Born Abram from Ur, he heard the voice of God and was called to found a new nation. Abram left his homeland and traveled west until he discovered the lands that would eventually become known as Israel . Abram, a nomadic herder, is credited with military victories, respected by local kings and eventually witnesses the destruction of the cities Sodom and Gomorrah . Abram rejected the multiple gods of the people who lived in the Jordan Valley. This caused strife between him and the local kingships “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’” Abram had been promised by God that he would father nations, his first son through his concubine Ishmael is originally seen as the fulfillment of this promise. Yet, after sh...

... middle of paper ...

...hways.com/files/The_Conquest_of_Canaan.pdf

Ken Spiro a respected rabbi discusses the Conquest of Canaan in Jewish tradition as part of a series of articles meant to educate about Jewish culture.

World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "Deir Yassin massacre," accessed March 10, 2014. http://worldhistory2.abc-clio.com.db29.linccweb.org/.

The article gives a brief history and summary of the event that is the Deir Yassin massacre.

World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "Menachem Begin," accessed March 5, 2014. http://worldhistory2.abc-clio.com.db29.linccweb.org/.

The article briefly discusses the early life and career as prime minister of Menachem Begin.

World History: The Modern Era, s.v. "Zionism," accessed March 5, 2014. http://worldhistory2.abc-clio.com.db29.linccweb.org/.

This article attempts to define and highlight major points of the Zionist movement.

Show More
Related

  • Opposing Viewpoints: The Siege of Jerusalem: Christian and Muslim Perspectives

    852 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chronicle of the First Crusade is an excerpt from Gesta Francorum Jherusalem peregrinantium, written in three installments, 1101, 1106, and 1124–27, by Fulcher of Chartres, a French chaplain and chronicler of the First Crusade. Born in approximately 1059, and educated for the priesthood in Chartres, in what is now France, Fulcher attended the Council of Clermont, accompanying his overlord, Stephen of Blois, to southern Italy, Bulgaria, and Constantinople in 1096, following the call to action instigated by Pope Urban II as response to a request for assistance from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I. In June 1097, Fulcher became chaplain to Baldwin of Flanders, with whom he remained, traveling with him to Jerusalem in the winter of 1099. Fulcher, who remained in Jerusalem for the remainder of his life, dying there in approximately 1127, provides, as an eyewitness to the events, the Christian perspective of the Siege of Jerusalem.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Lemon Tree By Sandy Tolan

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people think Israel always belonged to the Jews but it wasn’t always a safe, holy place where Jews could roam freely. Along with Palestine, it was actually forcefully taken from the Arabs who originated there. The main purpose of this novel is to inform an audience about the conflicts that Arabs and Jews faced. Tolan’s sources are mainly from interviews, documentations and observations. He uses all this information to get his point across, and all the quotes he uses is relevant to his points. The author uses both sides to create a non-biased look at the facts at hand. The novel starts in the year 1967 when Bashir Al-Khairi and his cousins venture to their childhood home in Ramallah. After being forced out of their homes by Jewish Zionists and sent to refuge for twenty years. Bashir arrives at his home to find a Jewish woman named Dalia Eshkenazi. She invites them into her home and later the...

    Read More

  • The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Annotated Bibliography

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...

    Read More

  • Sacrifice within the Israelite Religion

    1594 Words  | 4 Pages

    1996. “Sacrifices and Offerings in Ancient Israel” in Community, Identity, and Ideology: Social Science approach to the Hebrew Bible., ed. Charles E. Carter.

    Read More

  • Conflict In Israel

    1986 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the inception of an Israeli nation-state in 1948, violence and conflict has played a major role in Israel’s brief history. In the Sixty-One year’s Israel has been a recognized nation-state, they have fought in 6 interstate wars, 2 civil wars, and over 144 dyadic militarized interstate disputes (MIDs) with some display of military force against other states (Maoz 5). Israel has been involved in constant conflict throughout the past half century. Israel’s tension against other states within the Middle East has spurred vast economic, social, and political unity that has fostered a sense of nationalism and unity in Israel not seen in most other states. Over the next several pages I will try and dissect the reasons for why the nation state of Israel has been emerged in constant conflict and how this conflict has helped foster national unity and identity among the people of Israel.

    Read More

  • The Debate over Palestine: Is it a State?

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    “There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Stated former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir after three fourths of one million Palestinians had been made refugees, over five hundred towns and cities had been obliterated, and a new regional map was drawn. Every vestige of the Palestinian culture was to be erased. Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 by the United Nations declared the end of British rule over Palestine (the region between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and it divided the area into two parts; a state for the Jewish and one for the Arab people, Palestine. While Israel was given statehood, Palestine was not. Since 1947, one of the most controversial issues in the Middle East, and of course the world, is the question of a Palestinian state. Because of what seems a simple question, there have been regional wars among Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, terrorist attacks that happen, sometimes daily, displacement of families from their homes, and growing numbers of people living in poverty. Granting Palestinian statehood would significantly reduce, or alleviate, tensions in the Middle East by defining, once and for all, the area that should be Palestine and eliminating the bloodshed and battles that has been going on for many years over this land.

    Read More

  • The Israel-Palestinian Conflict And The Israeli-Palestine Conflict

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Israeli-Palestine conflict is an event that has been well documented throughout the course of Middle-Eastern history. The conflict dates back as far as the nineteenth century where Palestine and Zionist, will later be known as Israel, are two communities each with different ideologies had the same overwhelming desire to acquire land. However, what makes this clash what it is, is the fact that both of these up and coming communities are after the same piece of land. The lengths that both sides went to in order obtain they believed was theirs has shaped the current relationship between the two nations today.

    Read More

  • Judaism

    1576 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jews became more than shepherds. Unlike people before them that were polytheistic, the Jews were bearers of a concept of ethical monotheism that became the basis for a new kind of religion, Judaism. The religion that is marked by a new relationship between people and God. The relationship with God and people started almost four thousand years ago with Abraham. Abraham was born about 1800 B.C. in Mesopotamia, in what is now central Iraq.

    Read More

  • The Crusades and the Israeli Palestine Conflict

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1095, Jerusalem was a flourishing city that was the main powerhouse for three religions; all three religions wanted complete control over the holy land. These three religions were Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, and all three religions were known to use Jerusalem as a place of religious reasons. But in turn, the best part about Jerusalem was the political power it held. Pope Urban’s demand for power and Jewish Israel’s desire to control Palestinians are the factors in the political conflict over the holy land.

    Read More

  • Dbq Palestinian Conflict

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Many Jews were fleeing Europe from Hitler so that they can reclaim the land they believed was their Biblical birthright, (Document 4 Excepts from the Israeli Declaration of Independence). Leaders were petitioning Great Britain to allow Jewish people to begin migrating into Palestine, then in 194 8the formal state of Israel was formed. “The Balfour Declaration Britain promised a national home for the Jewish people as seen in” (document 2). However, people were already living there so the natives felt like they were getting there home taken away from

    Read More

  • Judaism

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    Judaism was formed around 2000 B.C.E. when Abraham, a shepherd from Canaan, received the word and blessings of God (“Judaism Origins” 1). God told Abraham that he would bless him and his followers, and would ordain him as the leader of a great Jewish nation (Morris and Brown, 9). Jews believe that Abraham and other prophets, such as Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, were selected by God to deliver his message and teaching to others (Morrison and Brown, 10). Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, fathers 12 sons who become the head of the twelve tribes of Israel (“Judaism Origins,” 2). Later, Moses, a prophet of the Lord, received Gods law in the form of the Thirteen Principles of Faith and ...

    Read More

  • The Final Solution to the Jewish Question

    3028 Words  | 7 Pages

    Penkower, Monty Noam. The Holocaust and Israel Reborn: From Catastrophe to Sovereignty. IL: University of Illinois Press,

    Read More

  • Comparing Judaism And Christianity

    1015 Words  | 3 Pages

    People must believe that God is merciful and loves them as well. As a reflection of God’s love, people must also love other people (and the whole humanity in general) and forgive there enemies. Judaism traces back from the times of Abraham when God made a covenant with him and promised him to make his lineage a sacred people and give them a holy land. From Abraham, the children of Israel were born; the other patriarchs of Israel being Isaac and Jacob. They adopted the Jewish religion all through up to the time of Moses when the Torah was given to him and continued with the religion.

    Read More

  • History of Judaism

    2136 Words  | 5 Pages

    Judaism is one of the most ancient religions in the world. Abraham, his descendants, and Moses are believed to have been the founders. According to Jewish beliefs until Abraham man worshiped many Gods. The story begins with Abraham and his wife Sarah trying to conceive a child. When Abraham was 99 and Sarah 90 God came to Abraham and told him they would have a son. After the child was born God again came to Abraham and tested his beliefs by asking him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Isaac willingly went with Abraham to be sacrificed. Before Abraham could sacrifice Isaac God sent an angel down to stop him. As a reward for his faith God made a covenant with Abraham that he and his descendants would be protected as long as they continued to show faith in him and live a life that was wholesome. Also from this it is said God blessed Abraham with many children. His son Isaac had two sons Jacob and Esau, Jacob who changes his name to Israel had twelve sons. Israel’s had twelve sons they are the “12 tribes of Israel” and their descendants are later known as the Israelites also called Hebrews.

    Read More

  • We Need a Precise Definition of Terrorism

    1559 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Yasser Arafat addressed the United Nations General Assembly, he tried to articulate the actions the Palestinian Liberation Organization had taken and to justify those actions. Arafat points out that the struggles with Imperialism and Zionism began in 1881 when the first large wave of immigrants began arriving in Palestine. Prior to this date, the Muslims, Jews (20,000) and Christians all cohabitated peacefully (pop. 1/2 million). In 1917, the Belfour Declaration authorized increased immigration of European Jews to Palestine. 1 From 1917 to 1947, the Jewish population in Palestine increased to 600,000 and they rightfully owned only 6% of the Palestinian arable land. Palestine population at this time was now up to 1,250,000. 1

    Read More

More about Israel’s Religious Precedent for Conquering Palestine

Open Document