The battle for Israel’s future lies in the past
By Justin Amler
In 1993, the Oslo accords were signed between the State of Israel and a new entity called the Palestinian Authority, who was deemed to be the representatives of the Palestinians – those Arabs living in the areas of Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
There was euphoria around the world, just as there was with the Arab Spring, which was meant to bring in a new era of freedom and democracy and peace in the Arab world.
But it was a lie – an illusion, the same way a mirage rises from the steamy desert plains promising an oasis of water, but delivering a bucket of sand.
For while Israel’s intentions were genuine – a concerted effort to bring peace to a region which had never known peace, the Palestinians had quite a different strategy.
Because that moment signalled a new direction for the Arabs in their war against the Jews. For many years they had tried to destroy the state of Israel through conventional means, but had failed. They finally realised that they were unable to destroy Israel militarily, so they adopted a new kind of war – one not based on weapons, but on history.
And so began the battle that Israel is currently facing – one in which all Jews who care about Israel are conscripts, one in which we do not just battle those with knives and guns, but history itself.
The goal of the Palestinians was and still is to destroy Israel and the way they want to do this is by erasing the over 3000 year continuous history of the Jews in Israel and replacing it with a fabricated Palestinian history based on fairy dust and moon beams.
In 1998 a Palestinian history professor, Dr Yussuf Alzamili, called on universities and colleges to write the history of Palestine and guard it, and not allow foreign entities to distort it in a way that legitimised the existence of the Jews in Israel. The strategy was to show that there was no connection between the ancient generation of Jews and the new generation.
This same philosophy is what has guided the Palestinian Authority over the last 20 years of its existence.
Despite the discovery of thousands of ancient coins with Hebrew inscribed on them and Hebrew seals with biblical names, Palestinian history lecturers like Dr Jamal Amar maintain that Jewish existence here is a myth and nothing has been found at all — no coins, no jugs and no vessels of any kind. This is echoed further in the official PA daily, which also falsely states that most Jews are from Khazar origin with no Middle East links.
Then there is the PA Minister of Religion, who states that the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Jewish patriarchal figures of Abraham, Issac and Jacob are buried, is only Islamic – no Jews here!
The Palestinian deputy minister of Jerusalem affairs, Salwa Hadib, stated earlier this year that Palestinians have been in Jerusalem for thousands of years. So even before there was such a term as Palestinian, they were already there!
And it’s not even only against Jews, for they claim that Jesus was actually a Palestinian who suffered at the hands of the Zionistic Jews! That makes sense, doesn’t it? Jesus suffered at the hands of the Jews who weren’t even there!
And of course there’s the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the holiest site in the Jewish world. The Jewish temples that existed there in history are but mere illusions according to the Palestinians. They even tried to get UNESCO to designate it as a solely Muslim site, even though there is not a single mention of Jerusalem in the Koran.
The PA Ministry of Religion also claims that the Jewish connection to the Western Wall is completely fabricated. And on official PA television, it refers to the “so-called Temple” as nothing more than “legends and myths.”
Then finally there is the leader of the Palestinians, Mahmoud Abbas, the one the world is clamouring for Israel to make a deal with. The one who Obama has called a man of peace. Well, he defined Jewish history in Jerusalem as a “delusional myth.”
Above are just a few examples of the constant incitement that is being unleashed upon the Jews – incitement that goes unchallenged in the international community. Instead, it is Israel that is being singled out and Israel that somehow has to constantly reaffirm that it has not changed the status quo.
The Palestinian campaign to delegitimize Israel is continuing unabated, and Europe, with their dark and bloodied history towards the Jews and who should be intelligent enough to know better, is actually aiding them. Right now, they are labelling goods from Jewish manufacturers in Judea and Samaria, while ignoring the many other disputes happening in the world.
The Palestinian strategy of delegitimising the Jews of having any connection to the state of Israel is the reason for all the violence we see against Israel right now. The constant incitement and revisionist history has led to the unfaltering belief among most Palestinians that the Jews are indeed a colonial force that is occupying a land that isn’t theirs. And unfortunately, much of a very naïve world that should know better has swallowed the lies eagerly and without question.
George Orwell once said that “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
And in that way the battle for Israel’s future lies not just in the time that we face now, but rather in all the time that has gone before.
Justin Amler is a South African born, Melbourne based columnist who has lived in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia and is currently working in the Information Technology industry. He is a regular contributor to international publications, including the Jerusalem Post and the Times of Israel. Justin is also a valued Israel Forever blogger, writing about his connection to the Jewish state. You can reach Justin on Twitter, Facebook & Google+.
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