Palestine − The other side of the story

April 11 −To the Editor:

Most of us understand the history behind a Jewish homeland. Not many appreciate the Palestinian people’s story.

Much is made of the fact that “Israel was always there”. From a biblical perspective, folks argue that the land from the River to the Sea belongs to Israel. However, Jews were just a subset of the population in the region throughout antiquity and before 1948. Before Moses, the region was known as Canaan and inhabited by the Canaanites. With Jewish control, Judea (containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple) became the principal home of the Jews.

The word “Palestine” was coined in the 5th century B.C. by the Greek historian Herodotus to define the coastal area from modern-day Lebanon to Egypt. He made no distinction among its inhabitants of which there were many—including the Philistines, Greeks, Syrians and Assyrians.

In 63 B.C., Judea came under the control of Rome. Jewish revolt against Rome around 135 A.D. led to the dispersal of Jews all over the in the Middle East, Europe and North Africa by the Romans. Antisemitism itself spread across Europe in concert with the spread of Christianity in that region.

Judea then became known as Syria Palaestina— home to straggler Jews, Assyrians, and Greeks—the ancestors of modern Palestinians. In 636, the Muslims conquered Palestine, bringing with them Islam and Arabic (500 years after the disbursement of the Jews. Islam itself had only been around since the early 600s AD.) In 1517, the Turks conquered the area ruling it until about the end of the First World War. With the end of Turkish rule, in 1922 the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to manage Palestine.

In response to a rise in anti-Semitism in the late 19th century in Europe, European Jews sought Britain’s support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. At the turn of the 20th century, shipping through the Suez Canal was mostly British. Britain favored the colonization of Palestine by European Jews— who they believed would be sympathetic to British interests versus local Arabs.

In 1917, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration announcing its support for a Jewish homeland to be shared with indigenous Palestinians. Britain incorporated the Balfour Declaration into its mandate for Palestine. Palestine’s population in 1918 was 60,000 Jews and 600,000 Arabs. With the British Mandate, European Jews began immigrating to Palestine. By 1947 there were 630,000 Jews and 1.3 million Arabs.

By 1947, Britain sought relief from its oversight of Palestine and looked to the UN for a solution. The UN plan called for two-states with a territorial split consisting of 42% of Palestine for Arabs and a Jewish state comprising 56% of the area. The split was biased against the Palestinian Arabs who accounted for 67% of the population. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was born. Today there are about 7 million Jews and 7 million Arabs in an area not that much larger than the State of Vermont.

The region’s history is very complicated.

James T. Lalos

Portsmouth