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Holy Land History 
In relating the story of my trip to the Holy Land, I will attempt to put some of its history in context. The Coastal Canaanite civilization dates back to the Paleolithic era, 7000 - 4000 Centuries BC. However, the first time that we hear the name Canaan, usually centered on Palestine, appears in writings in the 15th century BC. It was invaded by the Hebrews in the 1200 Century BC who settled in the southern areas. Later the Philistines invaded it. In the 10th century BC the Hebrews under King David broke the Philistine power and Canaan became the "Promised Land" of the biblical book of Exodus. At the time of Jesus, we know from Sacred Scripture that the Romans ruled this land under Caesar. In the 4th Century AD, after Constantine was converted, he proclaimed Christianity as an acceptable religion, allowing the Christians to come out of hiding under the Roman government. During the 80-year holy wars, the Crusaders fought to win the Holy Land for Christianity but were defeated by the Arabs (then called "Infidels"), in 1179 AD. The Ottoman Turks laid claim to this land before the British who took it over in 1917. They ruled it until 1948. After W.W.I, the momentum for Zionism grew, strongly promoting a Jewish State in Palestine. In the face of persistent anti-Semitism its population in increased. The Arabs resisted Zionism and the British tried unsuccessfully to reconcile Jewish and Arab demands. Zionism achieved its goal with the creation of Israel, following the United Nation's Resolution to partition Palestine in 1948. As a result of World War II, thousands of Jewish refugees had nowhere to settle and consequently were put on a ship sailing up and down the Mediterranean Sea. No country was willing to take them. By this time England wanted to be rid of this land. Feeling guilt and shame from the Holocaust, the United Nations seized this opportunity to give the Jews a home land. It mapped out the West Bank along the border of Jordan and the Gaza Strip at the tip of Egypt, which were connected at the upper end as Palestinian territories. Prior to this partitioning, it was 90% occupied by Palestinians who were never consulted in the above decision. Millions of Palestinians fled to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. Israel declared itself an independent State in the 1948-49 war. Protesting this move, five Arab countries: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked Israel. The conflict ended with Israel gaining considerable territory. In the six-day war of 1967 Israel laid claim to more of the Palestinian territories that the U.N. looked unfavorably upon and asserted international pressure upon Israel. The following year, however, ignoring the U.N. mandate, an Israeli known as Black Eye Hawk established a first settlement in the West Bank. Totally violating International Law (starting in the early 70’s and up to the present time) the Israeli Government, backed by the United States Government, has succeeded in building a total of 270 settlements, housing 450,000 Israeli settlers tottering on nearly every Palestinian mountain top. In 1993 former President Clinton along with the late Prime Minister Rabin of Israel and Yasir Arafat of Palestine agreed in the Oslo Accord in Norway that in the next five years all of the unlawful Israeli settlements would be removed from Palestinian territories. This treaty was signed at Camp David. The new Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, ignored it after the assassination of Rabin. In retaliation the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) began the first Intifada with a non-violent Labor Strike in 1997, which ended at the onset of the Gulf War. Israel retaliated, seizing five Palestinian cities including Bethlehem and Hebron. The second defensive Intifada consisted of the suicide bombings begun in 2000, and continues up to the present day, as we are keenly aware. |
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