The Pseudo Analyst: Middle East a brief history

The map of Israel / Palestine as we know today

Map courtesy : BBC News www.news.bbc.co.uk

The Palestine-Israel conflict has been on going and doesn’t seem remotely close to closure. Closure may not be the right word, and may be far from horizon but in my understanding the middle east conflict will always be looking /seeking /fighting to gather a mirage called PEACE that is becoming all the more elusive with every passing year. Every procession of a martyr and Ehud laid to rest in the name of holly war and fight for chosen land respectively the dream of stability becomes far fetched.

I intend to take an independent approach and outlook to the middle-east conflict and this is merely my understanding and tangential thinking to the whole conflict. I for one am not a follower of any of the so called Abrahamic religions. Hence I have no favoritism to play either towards followers of Islam nor towards followers of Ehud.

Let me make my stance clear on my approach and understanding. There was nothing called “ISRAEL” to start with – Jews lived all across the globe. They could be found from Germany to remote Russian territory of bone chilling Siberia. But for two men, Israel as we know it today would not have come to existence. Mr. Theodor Herzl single handedly forming so called political Zionism and Mr Arthur Balfour for dividing the land between Jews and Arabs.

It started with the egression (Aliyah) of Jews from around the world to the Promised Land. There were five Aliyah’s so to speak

- First Aliyah 1881 – This wave of immigrants left Europe to avoid the atrocities committed against Jews, this also the period when Zionism movement was gaining strength and Theodor Herzl channeled as movement that called for Jewish State

- Second Aliyah 1904-1914 – This was the second wave of immigration to Palestine and mostly orthodox Jews formed the major chunk of this influx. It included a minority of socilist Jews who transformed thinking and had pioneered in Kibbutz movement. This was also the period when Palestine saw it downfall – when British forces favored the establishment of Jew Land with in Palestine which later was known as the Balfour declaration.

- The third(1919-1923) , fourth(1924-1929) and fifth(1936-1939) Aliyah’s continued as the oppression of Jews continued.

The ethnic population was mostly followers of Islam. In 1920 by the first Aliyah the Jewish population had grown to 11% and by the fifth Aliyah it was at a staggering 33%.

The influx of Jew and creation of Jewish land with no regards to the ethnic population created its own complication. One of the major outcomes being - the creation of the state of Jordan out of no where. If this wasn’t enough the new state had a King, non until then had ever had of “King of Jordon” this was purely a creation of British Empire.

Right from day one of creation and further declaration of the Jewish State – this part of world never saw peace. Initially the might of state of newly formed Israel was under estimated by its Arab neighbors and was attacked from all sides. By the end of the war in mere six days Israel had captured major parts of so called Palestinian State.

You will get a better picture if you have a look at the pictures below – I have tried to gather maps showing the map of the region from 1920 till date and how the control over it had shifted from Palestine to Israel over the course of the century

Middle East Map from 1920:

Map courtesy: http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/oren/INR4204Middleeast.html