Jerusalem in Palestine-Israel is a holy city for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. If we can solve the problems in this region of the world, everything else will be a piece of cake. What happens in Palestine-Israel has repercussions throughout the world, which is why it is so important to learn more about Zionism, imperialism, and the Middle East crisis, especially now considering the catastrophic situation in Rafah, Gaza.
The first World Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodore Herzl. Beginning in the 1920s, Jews mostly from Europe started immigrating into Palestine increasingly. Years later after the Holocaust and World War II, the idea of creating a safe homeland for the Jews in Palestine through Zionism became more popular.
The movie Lawrence of Arabia was about how the British Empire convinced the Arabs to revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The British promised the Arabs an independent homeland after the war. However, after the British captured the Palestine region, British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter, now referred to as the Balfour Declaration, to Lord Nathaniel Rothschild, one of the leaders of the British Jewish community. In that November 2, 1917 letter, Balfour expressed British support of a “national home for the Jewish people” in the land of Palestine. The wealthy Rothschild family would then give private donations to help Jews purchase land in Palestine.
Arthur Koestler best summed up the Balfour Declaration as quoted in this 3-minute video: “One nation solemnly promised to another nation the country of a third.” The crown had decided Palestine is for the Jews, thus ensuring a perpetually divided Middle East.
The Bible says Satan is the father of all lies and the prince and ruler of this world. And whether or not one believes he is real or not, there has been an evil influence and control of society by the imperialists throughout history. Some Christians believe we live in a fallen world after what happened in a literal Garden of Eden. The diabolical and evil imperialists are still in charge of the world, and that is why the world is filled with such turmoil and why there’s no peace and harmony in the world.
At the end of World War I (1914-1918), the victorious world powers (Britain, US, Italy, and France) convened in Versailles, France to begin establishing some new nations based on historical ethnic groups. Emir Faisal (the leader of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans) outlined a case for the independence of Arab countries. But on July 24, 1922, the League of Nations, influenced by the European powers, decided through the British Mandate that the British, not the Arabs, would be in charge of Mandatory Palestine. The British Mandate lasted from 1922 to 1948. While the British imperialists promised the Arab Palestinians a homeland during World War I, their true intention was to establish a Jewish state. It was a deception, a lie.
The British Empire, and what we might now call the Billionaire Globalists, realized that placing European Jewish colonists right in the middle of the Middle East would be a strong ally to purposely destabilize the oil-rich Arab region. The defeated Ottoman Empire was dissolved and much of the territory was divided up by Britain and France, actively drawing the borders to keep Arabs divided.
The reason one of the world’s wealthiest men of that time, Lord Nathaniel Rothschild, and the British Empire wanted a Jewish state in the middle of an Arab region of the world was to purposely create division, hardship and strife there to ultimately gain more power and control over the region. It sounds very evil, if not satanic to me. It’s the very old divide and conquer strategy. It is the very opposite of what a loving God would want or encourage us to do. Unfortunately, those same forces and families are still at work today, which is why there is so little peace, justice, freedom, and democracy in the world.
About 25 years after the British Mandate was implemented, the UN General Assembly (which had replaced the League of Nations) adopted the resolution to partition Palestine on November 29, 1947. The Jews accepted this partition plan, but the Arabs refused for the following reasons. Britain announced that the termination of its Mandate over Palestine would take effect on May 15, 1948, and the State of Israel was proclaimed the day before on May 14, 1948. The very next day after the State of Israel was proclaimed, the surrounding Arab nations declared war on Israel, and that war became known as the First Arab-Israeli War. The Arabs lost big time against the Zionist Jews who were supported by the European powers. Historians debate the various reasons why Arabs lost here.
As a result of the first Arab-Israeli War of 1948, the State of Israel controlled the area that the UN had proposed for it, according to its partition plan. But on top of that, the State of Israel also acquired almost 60 percent of the area that had been proposed for the Arab State! It was a very large gain for Israel.
During this first Arab-Israeli War, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes that were in the territory that Israel had conquered, and this was when the Palestinian refugee problem began, as the Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes. The Palestinians refer to this catastrophe of 1948 as the Nakba.
According to the classic book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe, the removal or ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Zionist militias and the new Israeli army became systematic in 1948 with Plan Dalet (or Plan D). The tumultuous events that occurred between May 14, 1948, the day the State of Israel was proclaimed, and October 7, 2023, the day Hamas attacked Israel (over 75 years) are not discussed in this article.
The Israel-Hamas War that began with the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 killed 1,139 Israeli citizens (revised from 1,400). Now after more than 7 months of fighting, the destruction of Rafah–the last safe zone for Palestinians in Gaza–is imminent. According to English . Almayadeen . net Israel, as of May 21, 2024, has killed 35,647 in Gaza and has injured 79,852 since Oct 7, 2023.
According to one leaked document the Israeli plan is to push Palestinians from Gaza into refugee camps in the Sinai desert of Egypt. But according to an article by Chris Hedges a few weeks ago, “The temporary pier being built on the Mediterranean coast of Gaza is not there to alleviate the famine, but to herd Palestinians onto ships and into permanent exile.”
The current Middle East crisis could spiral into World War III, as tensions and hatred among nations increase. Zionism has not made a safe place for Jews in Palestine. It has only caused Arabs in the Middle East to feel increasingly indignant toward the State of Israel, and it shouldn’t be too hard to understand why. Some have argued that what the Nazis did to the Jews, the Zionist Israeli Jews are doing to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
What will it take to bring healing, forgiveness, and reconciliation between Arab Muslims and Israeli Jews in the land of Palestine?
It will take the removal of Zionism from the State of Israel. Individuals and nations of the world need to strongly urge the citizens of Israel to eliminate the unfair favoritism inherent in Zionism. Also, Hamas in Gaza needs to be willing to step down if the citizens of Gaza no longer support it.
There is a way to create a safe homeland for the Jews, Muslims, and Christians currently living in the State of Israel and the Israeli-occupied State of Palestine. It is a secular one-state solution. A secular one-state solution is better than a two-state solution, but even a two-state solution would be better than the current apartheid state of settler colonialism. However, recent Pulitzer Prize winner Nathan Thrall, speaking on Democracy Now, stated that talk about either a two-state or a one-state solution is merely a distraction because Israel will do whatever it wants.
President Biden in his recent State of the Union Address was applauded when he said that he supported a two-state-solution for Israel. But a two-state solution would not reduce the hostilities between the Israelis and Palestinians, and land disputes between the two nations would continue. Therefore, it is not the best way to create a free Palestine.
Not all Christians and Jews support Zionism, but most evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal, and megachurch Christians do with their belief in dispensational premillennialism. And these churches are currently the fastest growing! US evangelicals are an important constituency for Israel, but younger evangelical Christians are becoming less supportive of Israel. As stated in the subtitle of this article: Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is increasingly seen as unfair–it is turning younger churchgoers away from Christian Zionism. Not just the Ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose Zionism; there are other Jews as well. Ultra-Orthodox Jews believe Jews must wait for the coming Messiah to lead them back to the land of Israel.
Prominent American evangelical Pastor Dr Chuck Baldwin, who was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 US presidential election, said he preached Christian Zionism for more than 30 years before renouncing it as told in this interview.
The dwindling mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Peace churches fortunately do not support Christian Zionism in their biblical interpretations of the End Times. Practicing the nonviolence that Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels, these churches need to oppose and demonstrate against the endless wars that only benefit the Zionist military-industrial complex. By deeply studying and discussing the Bible, growing spiritually, and challenging the powers-that-shouldn’t be, these churches can start making a comeback, and they will be more pleasing to God.
A secular one-state integration of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Palestine-Israel could even become a democratic model for establishing world peace if we equally empower the 7 largest political parties in a unicameral legislature and give those political parties proportionate control over the mainstream media as well.
Peace in Palestine-Israel is not likely to happen soon. According to a recent survey, 2/3 of Jewish Israelis oppose humanitarian aid to Palestinians starving in Gaza. But that can change if Jewish Israelis (and Arab Palestinians too) can be convinced that having a secular one-state nation would be a win-win situation for everyone.
A CNN article on March 11, 2024 by Nadeen Ebrahim was entitled “Rift between Biden and Natanyahu widens as Israeli leader vows to press with the Rafah operation.” But we know this is a mere slap on Netanyahu’s wrist. An article at The Conversation. com by Professor M. Muhannad Ayyash on July 24, 2023 was entitled “Biden says the U.S. would have to invent an Israel if it didn’t exist.” Ayyash concluded, “Biden’s frank comments make clear that the U.S.-Israel ‘bond’ is not about defending democracy. Rather it has always been, and still is, about American imperial interests in the region.” But it is self-defeating to believe it will be like this forever. The powers-that-shouldn’t-be shape our public perceptions, but as more and more individuals become aware of the insidious influence of imperialism and start opposing it, the children of future generations will live in a much better world.
ANSWER [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism] Coalition . org is a national umbrella organization that selects days for national protest in the US and around the world when it’s urgent. At the Hands off Rafah! National Day of Protest on March 2, 120 cities registered to participate.
When I did an online search of “Christians against genocide in Gaza” a few weeks ago, I found an existing group called Christians For A Free Palestine, and that gave me the idea that maybe there are other Christians in my area that support a free Palestine. This organization believes in the power of nonviolent civil disobedience to heal and transform our communities. It seeks to directly confront the powers of imperialism through nonviolent direct action, as Jesus did.
The organization “Christians For A Free Palestine” has already made achievements in the news that are praiseworthy, but what is needed now is a more inclusive group with a more specific goal, and that would be “Christians, Muslims, and Jews for a Secular One-State Solution in Palestine-Israel.”
Imagine the ramifications if many more cities register with ANSWER Coalition . org at future national days of protest in support of a Free Palestine. It could change the world. Otherwise, if we feel helpless and hopeless, it will just get worse.
Obviously it is self-defeating for Arab Muslims and Christians in Palestine to support the Zionist State of Israel. Zionism was a terrible mistake brought to fruition by the imperialists. Under the Ottoman Empire, Jews, Muslims, and Christians in Palestine got along just fine. Israel, and the Palestinian lands that it controls, needs to become a secular one-state nation that gives equal rights to all. That is the best way to create a safe homeland for the Jews, Muslims, and Christians living there. And if the majority of citizens in a new secularized state of Palestine-Israel chooses the religion of either Christianity, Islam, or Judaism–let it be.
Citizens of the Zionist State of Israel need to abolish Zionism democratically. Citizens of Gaza voted for Hamas most likely out of desperation. However, if provided with the option of a secular one-state solution for all of Palestine-Israel, the citizens of Gaza and the West Bank will accept it as a much better alternative than what they are living under now. But it will also take international pressure to stop the imperialists who have turned the world into a living hell, as if inspired by Satan himself. One way we can show our love for God is to seek justice for all.
Roger Copple retired in 2010 at the age of 60. As a high school special education teacher, he taught algebra, English, and history. As a general education teacher he taught mostly 3rd grade. His website www.WorldWithoutEmpire.com was created the same year he retired with his son’s help. Roger renewed his Christian faith on September 17, 2023 in an evangelical church after being enamored with yoga philosophy and Buddhism for many years. However, for the last 3 months, he has identified as a mainline Presbyterian, not as an evangelical. Roger lives in Gulfport, Florida.
