No Need For Religion To Stand On The Side Of Palestine
JAKARTA - Sometimes, confusingly, indeed, look at what is happening between Israelis and Palestinians. Is this a war? Is this a matter of religion? not. It's colonialism, brother. History and literacy echo the wise phrase, "we don't need to be Muslims to pray for Palestine." Or in a more universal version, we don't even have to have a religion to stand by the Palestinian side. yes, we just need to be human.
So, what's the problem if it's not religion?"This is a conflict about the region. It's as simple as that," university of Sydney international security expert Dr Gil Merom said in an interview with SBS News.
Before entering into the discussion about the historical roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we look at the demographics of the two countries. What religion is there? The data of jewishvirtuallibrary.org site details, in 2017, israel's demographic was filled by 141.2 Druze (1.6%), 171.9 Christians (2.0%), 1,561.70 Muslims (17.8%), and 6,554.50 Jews (74.5%).
Meanwhile, in Palestine, CIA data cited by Intisari in 2017 says there are 8 percent Christians and 17 percent Jews in the West Bank region. The majority, 75 percent -- predominantly Sunni -- occupy the region. Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Islamic domination is higher with 80.3 percent. The rest are Christian, 0.7 percent.
The root of the Israeli and Palestinian problems began in biblical times. However, in the perspective of modern history, all the conflicts that occur today center on what happened in medio from 1882 to 1984. At that time there was an event called 'aliyah' or a large wave of movement of Jews entering an area.
The area has been known officially as Palestine since 1917. In 1917, the British published the Balfour Declaration. The declaration, issued shortly before Britain became a colonial power in Palestine, announced British support for the establishment of a "national residence for the Jews in Palestine."
The Balfour Declaration is contained in a letter dated November 2, 1917. The letter was signed on behalf of British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour and addressed to Lord Rotschild, leader of the British Jewish community. The Balfour Declaration was then broadcast in the mass media on 9 November.
The aim was to inform the Zionist Federation of The United Kingdom and Ireland. The Palestinian people rejected the Balfour Declaration. Palestine was one of the areas within the territory of the Ottoman Empire at the time. And The Jews in Palestine are a minority.
The Holocaust that killed an estimated six million Jews reinforced the push to establish a country for them. In 1947, the United Nations divided the disputed territory into three parts. Partly for Jews, Arabs, and others reserved for the international guardianship regime in Jerusalem.
[MEMORY: The Reason Behind Adolf Hitler's Holocaust]
The Arabs rejected the U.N. stance. For them the U.N. has no right to determine the division of territory on the land. War broke out following the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. That year, 700 thousands of Arabs in Palestine were forced to leave their homes. The exodus is known as 'nakba', meaning 'catastrophe' in Arabic.
The Palestinian version says the Zionists forced the Arabs out of their own homes. Meanwhile, Israel said the men's departure was triggered by the encouragement of Arab leaders. In part, according to Israel, it went voluntarily. This war is an important event looking at the Israeli and Palestinian territorial conflicts today.
Israel quickly seized control of Palestinian territories, except for the West Bank in the eastern part of Jordan-controlled Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip under Egypt. In 1967, another war broke out. Within six days Israel defeated Jordanian, Egyptian and Syrian forces. East Jerusalem was taken from Jordan.
What does the 1967 war have to do with the conflicts of recent days?The conflict we've seen in recent days stems from a land dispute in Sheikh Jarrah. The dispute centres on the homes of four Palestinian families claimed by Jewish settlers. In early 2021, a Jerusalem district court ruled the houses were legal under the ownership of Jewish families.
The Jewish settlers who sued said their families lost the land during the 1948 war. In that war, both Israelis, and Palestinians lost their homes. The Palestinian version, they have evidence of the houses was obtained from the Jordanian authorities who controlled East Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.
Since Israel's victory in the 1967 war, the situation has been no longer pleasant for Palestinian settlers in Sheikh Jarrah. Two Israeli settlement associations, the Sephardic Committee and the Knesset Committee of Israel even asked the court to expel four families from their homes on charges of land grabs.
Israel also established a legal umbrella that supported Jews who lost property in the aftermath of the 1948 war to reclaim their property. Instead, the Act was against palestinians and an attempt to reclaim ownership of those lost in Israel in the war.
Since then, Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah have been treated as tenants. They faced demands from the Israeli side to take over their homes. Land disputes continued into the 2000s. The israeli settlement association that felt victorious asked the court to expedite the execution of evictions of Palestinians' homes.
In November 2008, the Al-Kurds were expelled from their homes, followed by the eviction of the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi families in August 2009. In total, so far 12 Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah have received eviction orders. Recently, four Palestinian families petitioned the Supreme Court.
They oppose the expulsion decision. A Palestinian, Abdel Fattah Sqaffe, said they would not stop fighting for their land. Israeli police responded violently. They even attacked the Great Mosque of Al Aqsa. The attacks continued and expanded, involving the military and heavy weapons. The victims are falling.
What's the latest development of this event?Israeli police raids in East Jerusalem are countered by Palestinian resistance. The militant group Hamas has also launched attacks on Israeli territory, including Tel Aviv.
Within its territory, in the city of Lod, Israel also faced an uprising from Arab community groups. Israel later declared a state of emergency in the city centre.
Israel has also launched massive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, Hamas-controlled territory. A 13-story apartment where civilians lived was the target of Israeli bombing.
The apartment collapsed hours after residents and nearby residents were evacuated. This is the worst showdown to occur in recent years. The death toll continues to fall.
Quoted by the BBC, as of Wednesday afternoon, May 12, at least 40 people had been killed in the fighting. The victims were 35 Palestinians and five Israelis. From the Palestinian side, Israeli bombs also killed 12 children and a woman.
The international community urged both sides to end the dispute. The UN special envoy for Middle East peace, Tor Wennesland called for, "Stop the firing immediately. We are heading for a full-scale war," he tweeted on Twitter.
"The leaders of both parties must take responsibility for easing the violence ... The impact of the war in Gaza is devastating and is being paid handsomely by ordinary citizens," Wennesland continued.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council plans to hold a closed-door meeting to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The meeting is scheduled to take place today in detail of an undisc detail of the time. Until the article was written, there had been no progress on the meeting.
*Read more information about ISRAEL-PALESTINE or read other interesting writings from Detha Arya Tifada as well as Yudhistira Mahabharata.
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