tragically I think that we overlook the role of early Christian’s in this historic fiasco. War, politics, religion, migration, trade. The same factors that we see today were at work then in creating hatred and further justification for picking on a group of people
but another way of looking at it could also be that when you migrate to another land but don’t integrate, and hold your own customs that distinguish you from others you inevitably fuel further hatred. Humans don’t like that which is different
the thing I find vaguely amusing in all of this is that Christian’s are now supporting that which they once vilified over centuries with that vilification fuelling the Holocaust.
whatever claims we might try to make about ww2 it wasn’t fought over the fate of Jews but over land and power.
and look where all this hatred has taken us. To more hatred that has become so entrenched
the take I have is that Hamas more deeply represents the hate and revenge - that in many minds is justified because it is a response to the imposition of partition by foreign nations and the encroachment by Israel of land not allocated to them
Israel and its behaviour since partition has been the result of slightly different motivations initially - zealotry fed by historic belief in the land of Israel (Joshua xxiv for example), the desire for a land where they might feel safe following a deeply traumatising period of history and centuries of persecution and , subsequently a response to the reaction of the middle eastern states to the establishment of the state of Israel by the UN,
ultimately they were fighting for what they believed was theirs both by international decree and by historic right
I have had in my possession for longer than I can recall - maybe fifty years - a book edited and conceived by Ben Gurion which traces the history of Israel through to the establishment of the modern state. Though it is clearly written from the perspective of Jews much of it can be corroborated as historic fact
the middle eastern states refused to accept the UN declaration and attacked Israel when the ink was barely dried. They refused to accept a truce and refused to accept the partition.
the land that Israel was assigned became rich and fertile through the efforts of the settlers and those from the diaspora who saw it as a right of passage to help build the future of Israel.
so where did todays mess begin and end - where it always does - power, politics, hatred and religion
I think Netanyahu and his right wing government colleagues are behaving abominably but Hamas, with the support of other middle eastern countries is continuing what they started decades ago, and is thus also culpable. Whatever the facts are about how the barrier breach occurred the Hamas has fed the fury
the mistake I think that the Israeli government is making is to think they can end it all by destroying Gaza and everyone in it. Hatred and war has pockmarked that area for Millenia and I cannot see how it will stop
those who are taking sides are most likely not aware of the complex history of the area, the emotions that are involved and the nature of the land. I don’t fully understand it myself and I don’t like the dogmatic belief in a promised land that has been partly to blame but at the root of it is exactly what is being played out on hotcopper - belief in our own version of history and rights and in their case access to arms in an attempt to force that view on others.
