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Gaza For Dummies [1]

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Date: 2023-10-15  

I am getting once again a sense of living in an historic moment, and decided to give myself a Gaza For Dummies overview. It soon leapt back a century to the origins of these disputes over just whose lands we are talking about. I present the below as a signpost for any of you who feel as befuddled as I do as to why peace in this region seems so elusive. The source of the Balfour Declaration is from Wikipedia.

The Middle East, circa 1917. The French have gained influence among the Catholic christians. The Russians have gained influence over the Eastern Orthodox christians. The British influence has waned, but in the aftermath of their breakup of the Ottoman empire, they start redrawing the borders across the Middle East. A letter from the British foreign secretary to the nominal head of the jewish community in England, Baron Rothschild, set the stage for the next hundred years of conflict. Known as the Balfour declaration, it stated the germ of an idea, rather than a legal map to statehood. (Italics mine)

His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in

Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

I suggest this as an excellent starting place for an understanding of the Middle East today. There are many books on both the Declaration and on the foundations of Zionism, from both the Arab and Israeli perspectives. It is a deep dive, and I won’t promise any solutions, but perhaps some understanding.

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