The Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflict Read online

  And in conclusion, the book outlines many of the ongoing causes of strife in the region, as well as some of the more positive developments that hold out hope that the future of the Middle East will be one of peace rather than conflict.

  The Least You Need to Know

  The Middle East is the birthplace of the three great monotheistic religions and is often referred to as “the cradle of civilization.”

  The region became important economically, as well as politically, because it has the world’s largest reserves of oil.

  Instability in the Middle East—created by inter-Arab and Arab-Israeli conflicts, terrorism, and nonconventional arms proliferation—poses a threat to world peace that could easily draw the United States into war.

  Although there are more than a dozen Arab/Islamic states in the Middle East, most media and U.S. political attention focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

  Chapter 2

  The Chosen People

  In This Chapter

  The Jews are promised a homeland

  A father for the Arabs

  From slaves to masters

  The Maccabees liberate Israel

  For decades, Jews and Arabs have argued about who lived in Israel/ Palestine first. From a political standpoint, especially today, the question is irrelevant. For better or worse, Israel controls the territory the Palestinians want, and the dispute between them can be resolved only through negotiations, not historical precedence.

  That said, it’s impossible to understand the current political situation in the Middle East without examining the history of the connection that Jews and Arabs have felt toward the same land almost from the beginning of recorded time.

  I begin our story of the Jewish and Arab people’s connection to the same land with the Jews and the Old Testament. The story continues in Chapter 3, with divisions among the Jewish tribes, the Roman invasion of the Holy Land, and the introduction of Christianity. Finally, in Chapter 4, I tell you about a prophet named Muhammad and the development of a vast Muslim empire.

  The Long Way Home

  A common misperception is that the Jews were forced into the Diaspora by the Romans in the year 70 C.E. and then, 1,800 years later, they suddenly returned to Palestine and demanded their country back. In reality, the Jewish people have maintained ties to their historic homeland for more than 3,700 years. They maintained a national language and a distinct civilization throughout this period.

  The Jewish people base their claim to the land of Israel on at least four premises:

  God promised the land to the patriarch Abraham.

  The Jewish people settled and developed the land.

  The international community granted political sovereignty in Palestine to the Jewish people.

  The territory was captured in wars of self-defense.

  In this chapter, we examine the first two points. In Chapters 5, 14, and 16, the last two are discussed.

  * * *

  Hieroglyphics

  Diaspora comes from the Greek word for “dispersion.” Jews use the term to refer to the period (70 C.E.) when they were exiled from Israel. It is also used to describe Jews today who voluntarily live outside the Jewish state.

  * * *

  * * *

  Hieroglyphics

  The Hebrew word Torah literally means “teaching” or “instruction.” Torah is sometimes used to describe all Jewish tradition, but usually refers specifically to the Pentateuch, or the Five Books of Moses, which constitute the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).

  * * *

  A History Based on Faith

  Keep in mind that what we know about the early history of the Jewish people and their homeland comes primarily from the Old Testament, or the Jewish Torah. According to the Torah, Jews were chosen by God to receive the Torah and given the special responsibility (or duty) to be “a light unto the nations,” thereby spreading the word of God. The concept does not hold that Jews are in any way superior to other peoples.

  In some instances, scientific and historical materials exist to verify the accounts, but much must be taken on faith or seen as a parable. Even reliance on the Scriptures leaves us with many unanswered questions, particularly about the people of the Bible. For example, we know little about the life of a character as famous and important as Moses. Still, these texts are the spiritual basis for the Jewish claim to the land of Israel.

  Abraham’s Covenant

  Approximately 4,000 years ago, the Torah tells us that Abraham traveled from Ur of the Chaldeans (a Sumerian city in Mesopotamia) to Haran, a trading center in northern Syria. According to Genesis (12:1–2), God appeared to Abraham and gave him a command: “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation.”

  The Torah does not explain why Abraham is chosen to be the patriarch of Israel; however, Jewish tradition teaches that it is because he broke with the accepted belief in idols and originated the concept of monotheism—the belief in one god.

  According to the Torah, God later comes to Abraham promising that Abraham’s descendants will be God’s Chosen People. If Abraham agrees that all males will be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth (or after conversion to the faith), God promises to give the people the land of Canaan. The Bible roughly defines this as the land from the River Nile in Egypt to the great river Euphrates, which flows through what is now Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. (Genesis 15:1–6) In another passage, God says, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan.” (Genesis 17:8)

  So Jews believe that God chose them to be a great nation and promised them a homeland of milk and honey. The promise, however, would take many more years to fulfill.

  * * *

  Tut Tut!

  Genesis 15:1–6 has led to claims that Israel has long sought to conquer Arab lands and that a map hangs in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, documenting this. No such map exists, but the best evidence against this myth is the history of Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982.

  * * *

  Father of the Arabs

  God’s promise of making Abraham the patriarch of a great nation had one major complication—his wife Sarah was not able to conceive. Sarah ultimately convinces Abraham to sleep with her Egyptian maid, Hagar, who becomes pregnant. Though Sarah had suggested the arrangement, she is angry and unforgiving and treats Hagar so badly that Hagar runs away.

  According to the Old Testament, an angel comes to Hagar and tells her to name the child she is carrying Ishmael, which means “God hears (your suffering)” in Hebrew. The angel also instructs her to return to Abraham’s house and promises that her progeny will be too numerous to count.

  Hagar does return to Abraham and Sarah and gives birth to Ishmael. Because Sarah is infertile, Abraham expects that Ishmael will be his only son. But God comes to him and explains that although Ishmael will become the father of a great nation, Sarah will have a child whose descendants will be God’s Chosen People.

  Abraham is skeptical—given the fact that he is 99 and Sarah is 90—but God’s promise is fulfilled, and Isaac is born. To Abraham’s dismay, Sarah again turns on Hagar, unhappy with the presence of Ishmael as a competitor and the reminder that he is Abraham’s firstborn and entitled to his father’s inheritance. “Cast out that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son” (Genesis 21:10), Sarah tells her husband.

  Abraham does as Sarah says, sending Hagar and Ishmael away. While fleeing, Hagar runs out of water, and she leaves her son under a bush to die, but an angel appears and leads her to a well. The young man survives and prospers. Today’s Arabs believe they are descendants of Ishmael—thus fulfilling God’s promise that he will be the father of a great nation.

  Israel Gets a Name

  Because this is not a book abou
t the Bible, let’s skip ahead to the story of Jacob, one of Isaac’s sons, whom God tells to leave his home and his family and to go to Canaan. Along the way, Jacob is attacked one evening by a stranger. They fight all night, and finally the stranger wrenches Jacob’s hip at the socket. As the sun comes up, and Jacob has still not quit fighting, the stranger begs to be allowed to go. Jacob says that he will not let him go unless he receives a blessing. “What is your name?” the stranger asks. After Jacob answers, the man tells him, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”

  The Jewish people are subsequently referred to as the children of Israel. One of the future kingdoms, and ultimately the independent state of the Jewish people, will also take this name.

  * * *

  Mysteries of the Desert

  At the time of Abraham, the land that God promised to the Jews was called Canaan. The Hebrew tribes known as the Israelites that emerged from slavery in Egypt eventually conquered the Canaanites and the other inhabitants of the region, the Philistines, and established the kingdom of Israel. Internal divisions led to a split that created a rival kingdom of Judah in part of the land that had been Israel. It was not until around 135 C.E., after the second unsuccessful Jewish revolt against the Romans, that Judah was renamed Syria Palaestina. The Arabic word Filastin is derived from this Latin name. The territory referred to historically as Palestine roughly approximates what is today Israel, the occupied territories, and Jordan. In 1921, Great Britain unilaterally severed four fifths of Palestine to create the emirate of Transjordan. Today, Israel specifically refers to the state within the boundaries established after the 1967 and 1973 wars.

  * * *

  The Exodus

  Jacob’s son Joseph grows to be his father’s favorite, provoking jealousy among his 11 brothers. When Joseph tells his siblings he dreamed that they would one day have to bow to him, they are fed up and decide to kill him. One of the brothers, Judah, convinces the others that Joseph should be sold as a slave instead, and the boy eventually becomes a slave in Egypt. Remarkably, Joseph becomes a minister to Pharaoh after the Egyptian leader learns of the young man’s ability to forecast the future through his dreams. When a famine spreads through Canaan, Joseph’s family moves from there to Egypt, where they are reunited with Joseph and remain. In approximately 1290 B.C.E., after Joseph’s death, Rameses II becomes the Pharaoh of Egypt and enslaves the Jewish people.

  The Prince of Egypt

  After decades of harsh servitude, a man who had once been a prince of Egypt emerges as their deliverer. That man was Moses.

  It is hard to think of this period without being reminded of Charlton Heston’s portrayal of Moses in the film The Ten Commandments. Now youngsters will probably associate it with the animated film The Prince of Egypt. Though both take their share of dramatic license with the biblical version, they leave us with vivid images of the story of the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt.

  The Tablets and the Ark

  After God inflicts 10 plagues on Egypt, Pharaoh agrees to let Moses lead his people out of Egypt. During their sojourn in the desert, Moses goes up to Mount Sinai and receives God’s Ten Commandments. While Moses is gone, the people begin to lose faith. They construct a golden calf to pray to, and begin to engage in other sinful activity. When Moses returns with the tablets containing God’s law and sees how his people are behaving, he destroys the tablets. God orders Moses to make a new copy, which is placed in a special chest with the broken pieces of the original. This is called the Ark of the Covenant.

  * * *

  Mysteries of the Desert

  Actually, no one knows for sure what was in the Ark of the Covenant. In addition to the Ten Commandments, it might also have contained Aaron’s rod (the staff Moses took from his brother to perform miracles) and a pot of manna (food that God provided the Hebrews in the desert). According to the Bible, the Ark was made of acacia wood and was roughly 3 feet, 9 inches long, and 2 feet, 3 inches wide and deep. As in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Jews did in fact attach mystical powers to the Ark, believing that they could not be defeated if it was with them. Unlike the film, however, archaeologists have never found it.

  * * *

  So Close, Yet So Far

  When the Israelites finally reach the doorstep of the Promised Land, Moses sends 12 spies to investigate the country they are about to enter. Upon the spies’ return, all but Caleb and Joshua warn that the Canaanites are too strong and will destroy them. The people overreact to the dire descriptions and begin to lament that they should have stayed in Egypt. Joshua tries to reassure them that God will take care of his children (Numbers 14:8), but they cannot be pacified.

  God reacts to the scene of faithlessness and ingratitude by telling Moses that no one who witnessed the miracles performed in Egypt, except Caleb and Joshua, will be allowed to enter the Promised Land. For the next 40 years, the Israelites are forced to wander the desert until the generation that escaped Egypt has died.

  The Promised Land

  After 40 years elapse and Moses is about to die, his assistant Joshua is chosen by God, with the assent of the people, to lead the Israelites into Canaan. Joshua instills the belief that God will be with the Jews if they observe God’s laws, but will desert them and allow them to come under foreign domination if they do not.

  So it is that, after a 400-year absence, the Jews return to Canaan. Shortly thereafter, Joshua’s army crushes all the native tribes, and the Israelites create their own nation of the descendants of Jacob’s children, beginning the Jews’ possession of the land they believed God promised would be theirs.

  What a Bargain

  Centuries later, Jews would ruefully remark that God managed to promise them about the only territory in the Middle East without any oil. Some 12 centuries before the birth of Christ, however, this was not a concern. What made the “land of milk and honey” less than a paradise was the “bees” buzzing about on all sides. In fact, Canaan/Palestine/Israel would become a central meeting point for the armies of competing empires throughout history, up until the end of World War II.

  After decades of nomadic wandering, the Israelites became farmers and craftsmen and created a political system that has been compared to the early American form of government; the central government was weak, and individual states had their own sovereign rights. In the case of the Israelites, each of its 12 tribes behaved like a state, with its own elders to dispense justice. These leaders were subject to the authority of a judge who was appointed by each tribe.

  * * *

  Ask the Sphinx

  The tribes of Israel were named after Jacob’s 12 sons: Asher, Benjamin, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun.

  * * *

  The judges ruled for roughly two centuries, but, predictably, this form of divided rule created internal strife and endangered the entire nation when the Israelites were faced with a powerful enemy. The threat of the Philistines, a seagoing people who lived along the Mediterranean coast, stimulated the move to unify the nation under one leader. Thus, the world’s first constitutional monarchy was formed.

  From Subjects to Kings

  The Jewish notion of kingship was unlike any that existed before or most that would follow. Instead of being divine, the king of the Israelites was viewed as a man subject to the laws of God and man.

  The first Israelite king, Saul, was killed with his son in battle, and his son-in-law David succeeded him. David is one of the most colorful characters in the Bible, whose life includes his victory in battle with Goliath, an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, and the writing of an enduring love poem. For our purposes, the important feature of David’s rule was his defeat of the Jebusites in Jerusalem and his decision to make the city his administrative capital. When he brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city, he stripped the tribes of the spiritual source of their power and concentrated it in his own hands.

  Solomon and the Tem
ple

  King David had wanted to build a great temple for God and a permanent resting place for the Ark of the Covenant. According to Jewish tradition, David was not permitted to build the Temple because he had been a warrior. The task was to fall to a man of peace—David’s son, Solomon. The Temple would become the focus of Jewish veneration from that point to the present.

  * * *

  Mysteries of the Desert

  The Jewish monarchy in Israel lasted for 212 years under 9 different dynasties and 19 kings. The rule of one dynasty lasted for a mere seven days, and few of the kings died of natural causes. But the Kingdom of Judah continued to be ruled by the descendants of David for its entire 347-year history. Altogether, 20 men sat on the throne.

  * * *

  The Temple was 180 feet long, 90 feet wide, and 50 feet high. The most important room was known as the Holy of Holies and contained only the Ark of the Covenant. When the Temple was completed, Solomon celebrated with prayers and sacrifices and invited non-Jews to come and pray there.

  Although Solomon became renowned for his wisdom, his policies alienated many of his subjects, particularly those among the northern tribes. Reasons for the widespread discontent included Solomon’s policy of forced labor and his imposition of high taxes to pay for his many building projects. Though Solomon succeeded in putting down a revolt led by Jeroboam, who fled to Egypt, the people in the north continued to seethe over his increasingly despotic rule.