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Land remains core of conflict between Israelis, Palestinians By TERRY HOUSHOLDER
For half a century the conflict between Arabs and Israelis
has been over the sacred land known once On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to end British
control of Palestine and called for the partition of The Jews, with ownership of only 7 percent of the land, agreed.
But the Arabs, who owned 93 percent of the When Israel came into existence on May 14, 1948, Arab nations
attacked. After a bloody war, the Arabs Israel quickly set about to control vast tracts of Arab land within its new borders. The result was that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were exiled. Many of the Arabs who stayed lost land through ''legal'' means. The Palestinians who had not fled or been expelled remained on their land within the Israeli state. They were placed under detention by the Israeli military, denied freedom of movement and kept from cultivating their lands. Those lands later were declared ''neglected'' by the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and were then sold to Jewish owners. Israel defeated the Arabs again in the Six Day War in June 1967, resulting in Israeli control of all the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. Since that time Jewish settlers have been allowed and encouraged to establish permanent homes on the Arab lands in violation of international laws and regulations stipulated in the Geneva Convention. The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, whose family has lived in Bethlehem for hundreds of years, is pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem. He and Daoud Nasser, a Bethlehem Lutheran parishioner who works with the International Center of Bethlehem, related to us a story that illustrates the continued land-grab push by the Israelis. The Daher family of Bethlehem, of which Nasser is a member, has owned a vineyard south of Bethlehem (which we saw on a day-trip to Hebron) since the beginning of the century. In 1991, the family learned by accident that the Israeli government intended to confiscate 75 acres of their land. The reason was that the land had lain fallow for some time. The reason it was not being utilized was because it was impossible for the Daher family to obtain the water necessary to cultivate all their land because the Israelis have limited the Palestinians' water allotment. Israel reserves almost 80 percent of the water in the occupied West Bank for its own use. For the 20 percent remaining, the Rev. Raheb said Palestinians pay four times the price. The reason the Israelis wanted the land was because the Daher vineyard occupies a lovely hilltop surrounded by three Israeli settlements. The plan was to confiscate the land for another settlement for Jewish religious extremists, the pastor said. Seeking help, the family turned to the Lutheran minister. Pastor Raheb, who is highly respected in the Bethlehem community, sought support from various Christian groups, Muslims, and Jews involved in the peace movement. Their organized efforts have been successful so far in preventing the confiscation, but the issue has not been finally resolved with the Israelis, Nasser said. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict over land came closer to resolution with the Oslo Declaration of Principles of September 1993. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat expressed readiness to forego the elimination of the State of Israel and recognized Israel's right to exist in peace and security. The Israeli government under Prime Ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres accepted the right of the Palestinians to self-rule and reconciled itself to the emergence at a future date of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. The election of the right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996 led to a virtual stalemate in peace talks until this fall. Full implementation of the October Wye Agreement, a step toward trading land for peace, has been held up by Netanyahu over disagreements about Palestinian efforts to ensure security. Resolution of bigger issues - future control of Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state - now seem far in the future. The hope for peace and tranquility in the Holy Lands remains a distant dream.
Biblical solution to conflicts There are many Old Testament references to Palestine being
given to the Jews by God. Those passages are often the basis
for the argument for many religious Jews who contend they should
never give up their sacred But the Bible also has a reference of how Jews should treat other people who live within their borders. The passage is from Leviticus 19:33. It is God speaking to Moses: ''When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.'' |
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