Mark Weinreb: To repair the world, first understand its history

To The Daily Sun,

"Tikkun Olum," to repair the world, is a concept in Judaism in which God commands through the Torah that the Jewish people act “beneficially and constructively” to all the peoples in this world. Unless the Jewish people have a right to self-determination and have a safe nation to practice their religion, they will not be able to uphold this concept. Now many Arabs and progressives believe that peace will only be achieved if Jews give up their right to self-determination in the former lands known as “Palestine” (currently made up of the countries Israel, Egypt and Jordan, and the Gaza Strip and West bank territories). As a Jew, I will explain why this belief belies historical and political facts.

Today’s archeological findings determine that Jews have been living in current-day Israel for thousands of years. Standing structures demonstrate that Jewish kings controlled this land up to the times of early Christianity and lived there continuously throughout time. However because of the different religious and national resources of this area, it has been ruled by many peoples. When one group ruled this region, the other groups were exiled or destroyed.

After World War II, and the Allies defeat of Adolf Hitler, parts of the Middle East that were controlled by the Axis countries were turned over to British rule. After millions of Jews were killed in the Holocaust, including most of my father’s family, some of the remaining Jews in eastern Europe emigrated to safety in "Palestine." If Hitler had won, the Arabs probably would have helped him kill the remaining Jews in the Middle East.

In 1917 through the Balfour declaration, the British planned to give up control of the area to form a Jewish state. in 1947 the United Nations adopted a plan through Resolution 181 creating a small state with Jewish self-determination known as Israel, and a slightly larger “Palestinian” Arab state (Gaza was under Egyptian control and the West Bank under Transjordan control, with East Jerusalem under international control). In 1948, once Israel declared its independence, Arabs who had not agreed to this resolution declared war on Israel. They told the Palestinian Arabs to abandon their homes so that Israel could be destroyed. Over 2,000 Jews were killed in the war for independence, but finally Israel kept control of its territories and Jewish control of Israel persisted. Those Arabs that remained in Israel became Israeli citizens.

In 1967, Egyptian and Jordanian armies launched a two-prong attack on Israel. Israel’s army overwhelmingly defeated them in six days, forcing them to retreat to their respective countries. While retreating they also abandoned both the West Bank and the Gaza strip. All of Jerusalem was now under Israeli control and for the first time in thousands of years Jews could now pray at the wailing Wall. In addition, Israel allowed the Christians and the Muslims to continue to safely pray at their respective religious sites.

Mark Weinreb

Laconia