Whose Palestine?

Does Palestine rightfully belong to the Jews? Let us have a look at History.

As far back as I know, Palestine was ruled by Canaan.

Musaؑ  led the Bani Israel out of Egypt in 1400 BC and asked them to enter Palestine, but they lacked the courage to do so [Surah alMaidah, ayaat 21-26]

The next generation conquered Palestine.

300 years later, Talut and Dawudؑ  reclaimed Palestine from invaders. [Surah alBaqarah, ayaat 246-251]

Temple of Solomon constructed in 1000 BC

In 700 BC, the Asyrrians raided Palestine.

In 586 BC, the Jews were expelled from Palestine by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and 6,00,000 Jews were taken into captivity. Temple of Solomon razed to the ground. [Surah Bani Israel, ayat 5]

In 539 BC, they were released from exile by Cyrus of Persia when he conquered Babylon. [Surah Bani Israel, ayat 6] 

Second Temple constructed in 515 CE

Greek Alexander and Romans conquered Palestine.

The Jews were then expelled from Palestine by Titus of Rome in 70 CE. 1,33,000 Jews were killed in a single day. [Surah Bani Israel, ayat 7]

Second Temple destroyed.

This began their diaspora in exile wherein they were tormented by various communities, including Crusaders and Hitler [Surah alA’araf, ayaat 167-168]

In the 7th Century CE, Caliph Umar conquered Palestine from the Romans and brought it under Muslim rule. He permitted the Jews to visit Jerusalem. Jews could thus enter Jerusalem after almost 600 years of exile.

Jerusalem was then conquered by the Crusaders in 1099.

Sultan Salauddin Ayyubi retook Jerusalem in 1187 from the Crusaders following the Battle of Hattin and placed it under Muslim rule, providing all due rights to Jewish and Christian citizens of Palestine.

Palestine was then passed on to the Ottomans, and remained under their rule till their collapse on 1st November 1922 following the 1st World War.

The British annexed Palestine.

In 1948, the British surrendered Palestine to the United Nations. The United Nations divided Palestine among the Zionists and Muslims, leading to the formation of Israel.

In 1967, Israel annexed Palestinian territories as well.

What we thus this learn is:

1. Palestine did not originally belong to the Jews. They took it from the Caananites. The Canaanites must have taken it from someone else. So there cannot be any original claim to the land by the Jews (or the Arabs for that matter).

2. The Jews have never been expelled by Muslims or Arabs. They were expelled first by Babylon, then by the Romans and then kept out by the Crusaders (Christians).

3. Muslims have never expelled Jews. They, on the contrary, gave them asylum and complete security.

4. It is the British that defeated the Ottomans, annexed their land and gifted Palestine to the Zionists. The same British which colonized half of this world, us included. The same British, which is responsible for the India-Pakistan conflict, is also responsible for the Palestine-Israel conflict.

Palestine is not the property of any one people. All land ultimately belongs to God Almighty. The Palestinians are ready to share Palestine with the Jews, but the latter should abide by the UN mandate of 1947 and agree to a two state solution.

- Dr. Parvez Mandviwala.