Author: Fan Ruixiang.
*: City Finance News.
Since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7, the current round of clashes has resulted in more than 1960,000 people have died, 1.7 million** have been lost, and the five wars in the Middle East since 1948 have caused countless tragedies. This land seems to be a hatchery of war and hatred, always full of conflict and antagonism, but what is the root cause of all this? War and hatred can blind reason, but contradictions always have their causes. Today, let's go back to the origins of the conflict along the long river of history.
Modern times: Beginning with the wars in the Middle East
Let's take a look at the flashpoint of modern conflicts, this point in time is in 1948, after World War II, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution stipulating the establishment of a Jewish state (Israel) and an Arab state (Palestine) in the Palestinian region, and when Israel was founded, it was collectively excluded by the Arab countries in the Middle East, which led to the first Middle East war, and the four Middle East wars that broke out after that were also rooted in this.
Antiquity: the respective positions and contradictions of the Jews and Arabs
Why, then, are the Arabs unhappy with Israel's establishment here? And why did the Jews take it for granted? Let's look at it from Judah's own perspective. For the Arabs, at the latest from the 7th century AD, Muhammad established Islam and wrote the Qur'an to give a "correct" interpretation of the "Tanakh" - the "Tanakh" is also a very important root religious scripture for the Jews, but the Jews and Arabs interpret it differently, which also causes the innate religious contradiction between the two - through the Arab Empire and the Ottoman Empire, for more than a thousand years, the Arabs and Islamic civilization have been rooted and developed in this land, Jerusalem also became the holiest site of Islam, which was the main reason for the Arabs' opposition to Jewish statehood.
For the Jews, this was their homeland and the "Promised Land" given to them by God in the Tanakh. Compared with the "native" Arabs, the survival path of the Jews is a wandering journey full of twists and turns. The distant ancestors of the Jews, known as Alabham, lived in the lower reaches of the valley of the Two Rivers around the 22nd century BC and later traveled to the promised land of Canaan, which is present-day Palestine, according to God's instructions in the Tanakh, for the first time the Jews traveled to the "Promised Land." Around the 15th century B.C., the Jews moved to Egypt in order to survive due to years of famine. At first, the Jews were treated favorably by the Egyptians, but with the rapid development of the Jews, the Egyptians felt threatened, and the changes in the Egyptian political landscape led to a sharp decline in the status of the Jews, and they gradually became slaves of the Egyptians.
This growing state of existence continued until the end of the 14th century B.C.E., when a man named Moses came forward and led the Jews out of Egypt, and while passing through the Red Sea, legend has it that God came down and parted the sea, thus freeing the Jews from the Egyptians and successfully returning to Canaan, the second time the Jews returned to the "Promised Land." After that, until the 1st century AD, the rise of the Roman Empire, the Jews became its subjects, but later the Jews rose up and rebelled, Jerusalem was breached by the Roman army, the temple was demolished, and the Jews fell all over the world. This wandering lasted for a long time, and they gradually assimilated with the local natives, but insisted on believing in their own religion and maintaining their independence. It was not until modern times, when the Jews, under the call of Zionism, returned to the "Promised Land" for the third time and ran into Arabs who had lived here for more than 1,000 years, and contradictions and conflicts inevitably arose.
Modern times: The conflict between Zionism and the Aberans
So what is Zionism? How did the conflict between Jews and Arabs evolve into the current unmanageable situation? Zionism, also known as Zionism, calls for the return of Jews from all over the world to Palestine, the rebuilding of the Jewish state, and the revival of the Jewish nation. Jews in exile in Europe were often discriminated against, ostracized, segregated, and even deported and exterminated. In terms of religion, Jews have an innate contradiction with the ** religious countries of Europe, and they are regarded as *** people. Although Jesus was a Jew and ** Christianity was born out of Judaism, there is a deep contradiction between the two in doctrine, especially the Jewish priesthood caused the death of Jesus, which makes the contradiction between the two even more difficult to reconcile. In reality, the intelligence of the Jews gives them a unique advantage in the economic field, especially in the context of the rapid development of modern capitalism, and they have a decisive influence on the economic structure of a country. In his book The French Jew, Édouard Adolf de Rémond, the French anti-Semite, said: "The economic depression and social poverty of France are the sins of the Jews. Jews make up only 025 per cent, but they control more than half of France's wealth. The book's arguments, while exaggerated, also reflect to a certain extent the "economic advantage" of the Jews, which has led to greater malice for the Jews.
As early as the 16th century, Zionism began to take shape, and this contradiction and conflict between religion and reality gave the soil for the full development of nationalist thought. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, in the south, there was a huge number of Jewish events, and at the same time, more and more Jews threw themselves into Zionism, and a wave of Jewish immigration began. During this period, more than 400,000 Jews poured into Palestinian areas. During World War II, due to Nazi Germany's genocidal policy against Jews, more and more Jews were born to leave Europe and wanted to return to the "Promised Land".
The influx of Jews soon aroused resentment among the Arabs in Palestine, and the tensions between the two sides over land, religion and survival intensified, leading to various acts of violence. For the Arabs, they have been living here for more than a thousand years, this is their home, while the Jews believe that this is the promised land of God, that they are returning to their homeland. After the end of World War II, the United Nations put forward a partition plan for the Palestinian areas, that is, the distribution of land according to the current distribution of the Jews and Albans in the Palestinian areas, and the division of Jerusalem into an international area. The Jews largely approved of this proposal, but also demanded that Jerusalem be given to them, but this proposal caused an uproar in the Arab world. Not only the Arabs in Palestine, but also in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries in the Middle East are strongly opposed, and the conflict is on the verge of breaking out. In 1948, the Jews proclaimed the State of Israel. The next day, the Arab countries declared war on Israel, and the first Middle East war broke out. Up to today, five wars and countless violent conflicts have broken out in the Middle East, but the Palestinian-Israeli issue has never been effectively resolved, but the hatred between the two sides has become deeper and deeper.
Present: Is the problem difficult to solve?
A land where both peoples have fought for survival and destiny deserves respect, and they both have their own positions and beliefs. As far as the Palestinian-Israeli issue is concerned, it is probably impossible to draw a convincing answer from the roots of history, because this history is too long and complex, like a new layer of dust on this land, and too much has been buried. However, history can help us to better start from reality and find a way to coexist.
On November 30, China issued the "China's Position Paper on the Settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict," which stated that the "fundamental way out of the Palestinian-Israeli issue is to implement the 'two-state solution,' restore the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation, and establish an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital." "In dealing with international issues, my country has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, but we are concerned about the safety of the Palestinian and Israeli people and the fate of thousands of displaced people.
At present, the continuation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has long been not only driven by the historical roots of Palestine and Israel, but also the endless and increasingly fierce confrontation, which is indispensable for the intervention and manipulation of external forces. After World War II, when a new international pattern and order were established, the Palestinian-Israeli issue also became a drama of great power competition, and the Palestinian and Israeli people never really took control of their own destiny. Since the outbreak of the first Middle East war in 1948, why has the Palestinian-Israeli issue not been resolved? What role do external forces such as the United States and Britain play in the competition in the Middle East? Why should the two-state solution be implemented on the basis of the 1967 borders? There are still many issues that need to be clarified in order to truly understand the root causes of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.