No one has exclusive claim to the Holy Land

They may not want to hear it, but vocal supporters of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are misguided. This struggle is not a clash for the survival of civilization, a clash between competing nationalisms, or religious fundamentalism and liberal democracy. Even the relatively dilapidated ones are frightening, albeit asymmetrical. called Competitive “Olympics of Suffering” is not the point.

At the risk of being overly reductive, this struggle is one of territory. Literally, soil, and not just soil, but home soil. From the perspective of the 30,000-foot altitude and his 3,000-year history, no one has exclusive rights to the Holy Land.

This region, located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, was at the crossroads of empires and was therefore a region of constant conflict. Stripped of today’s inflammatory rhetoric, this historic conflict is a turf war over real estate. The book of Deuteronomy tells us that the conflict began when the formerly enslaved Hebrews, led by Joshua, arrived from Egypt and fought the Canaanites.

Formal previous nationhood is often cited as a modern argument. However, each tribe in the land, both Jewish and Gentile, had petty kings and dynasties that rose and fell, both before and after the arrival of the Israelites.

For thousands of years afterward, the disputed territory was never an empty “land without people.” The indigenous peoples included the Israelites, Jews, Idumanites, Samaritans, Phoenicians, and Philistines, and each tribe claimed sacred rights to its land. Everyone built temples and shrines and offered sacrifices.

The Israelites believed that the Hebrew God had given them land and built two temples to establish their title. Therefore, settlers in the West Bank today claim that the Torah is their sacred “act.”This reflects Osama bin Laden Resurfaced claims He said that Allah bequeathed the land to Muslims and that Muslims built the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa to strengthen their claim.

Jews ruled parts of the land for over 2,500 years. It was then ruled by the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, and then the Ottoman Muslims for his 1,300 years. Two failed revolts against Rome, the Muslim conquest, and the Crusades diminished, but never eliminated, the Jewish presence in Israel.

With the rise of Zionism in the late 19th century, Jewish “settlers” began trickling in from Eastern Europe, often purchasing land from absentee Ottoman landowners. Jewish philanthropists such as the Montefiore and Rothschild families financed some of the purchases. Not surprisingly, by the early 20th century, fear of displacement had given rise to Palestinian nationalism, anti-Semitic ethnic conflict, and anti-colonialism, sometimes violently.

But when you think about it, the issue isn’t God’s superior claims or historical tenure. Without an agreement or vision for fair territorial sharing, the issue becomes one of military power.

The relationship between Palestine and Nazi Germany explains some of the Jewish hostility. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who instigated the anti-Semitic Hebron massacre of 1929 and the Arab Revolt of 1936, visited Berlin during World War II and supported Hitler. Although Palestinians did not build Nazi gas chambers, they paid part of the price in fighting Jewish concentration camp survivors seeking safe haven in the 1948 war.

In the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, massacres were committed on both sides (trading in atrocities is useless here). Jews drove hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and villages. After the Six Day War, even more people were evacuated. After the war, leaders of Muslim-majority countries expelled Mizrahi and Sfaradi Jews from their longtime homes in North African and Middle Eastern countries. These homeless Jews also sought refuge in Israel.

The answer appears to be land-sharing agreements. Sadly, a final territorial solution currently appears politically impossible for both sides.

For a viable two-state solution, the West Bank portion of a Palestinian state would need to roughly constitute the pre-1967 Green Line area, including East Jerusalem. Most of the hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers (and voters) living in the territory will have to leave, including those currently engaged in brutal terrorist activities against their Palestinian neighbors, but This is not a start for Israel’s elected government.

For the Palestinians, the two-state territorial agreement must be recognized and final. It cannot be a restitutionist “first step” to reclaim all of Palestine as it existed before the 1948 mandate “from the river to the sea.” Militant Palestinian nationalists will reject this. This could be followed by internal struggle with the moderate factions, perhaps even a civil war. The Palestinian Authority is now widely known to be sclerotic, corrupt and incompetent. Who will manage this conflict?

The next stage of such imaginary solutions requires a complete overhaul of regional governance. Clearly, there is currently no constituency that supports either concession.

So what happens to Jews and Muslims in the United States? We support each “side” as spectators, on the streets and on campus, while the majority of Jews support Israel and the majority of Muslims and Arab Americans support the Palestinian cause. Will they be forced into a crude form of tribalism? During an argument, don’t each acknowledge the other’s pain and loss, except perfunctorily and in passing?

Or can tougher American voices on both sides be persuaded to tone down the rhetoric and advocate a more even-handed approach to an eventual territorial settlement?

Ultimately, a solution that involves peaceful land sharing is needed. The cost of failure is incalculable, and success would mean lasting peace for Israel.

With comprehensive settlements, even the currently devastated Gaza Strip has the potential to become economically viable as part of a Palestinian state. There is fertile and richly cultivated land. Large-scale infrastructure developments, such as new high-rise public housing and sewage treatment plants, could create much-needed jobs and ultimately lead to the closure of refugee camps.

Once upon a time in Gaza had Luxury beachfront hotel. Building and rebuilding along the coast has the potential to create a viable tourism industry. Even the existing and vaunted Hamas tunnels could become tourist attractions such as: Them In Cu Chi, Vietnam.

Gaza does not need to be an “open air prison”. It may take decades, but with enough outside support, Palestinian brainpower could transform Gaza into the Singapore of the Mediterranean.

Mark I. Pinsky is a journalist and author of seven nonfiction books, including Jews Among Evangelicals: A Guide for the Confused.