of Palestine and Israel
At Odds Since Isaac and
These two countries will most
likely never get along for any period of time. I'm
talking about Palestine and Israel. Ever since
Ishmael and Isaac were born, a biter hatred has
existed between these two nations. No peace for
these two nations in sight. Palestine and Israel
have been at war since before either officially
existed. And the rest of us have to sit and watch,
and hope this small dispute isn't the match that
lights a fire that consumes the world.
The conflict between
Palestine and Israel goes back far in history, and
even farther if you believe the Bible. Jews, the
people of Israel, are known as the Sons of Isaac.
Arabs, the people of Palestine, are known as the
Sons of Ishmael. Isaac and Ishmael had the same
father, Abraham, and there is no hatred like the
hatred of siblings.
So if you want to learn about
Palestine and Ishmael, it's best to start with the
story of Isaac and Ishmael.
Isaac and Ishmael were
biblical brothers, both sons of Abraham, biblical
father of both Israel (Isaac) and Palestine
(Ishmael). Abraham's beloved wife, Sarah, had been
unable to bear him a son, and had urged Abraham to
take her maidservant Hagar as wife as well, so that
he could sire a son through her.
That he did, and the son was
named Ishmael. As the first born, Ishmael should
have been Abraham's heir, the heir to greatness and
wealth and the chosen of God. However, God had
different plans, telling Abraham "my covenant I
shall make with Isaac."
At that, God made Sarah no
longer barren and she soon was pregnant with child.
This child was to be named Isaac, who would go on
to become the father of the Jewish tribe. Thirteen
years younger than Ishmael, Isaac was, according to
the Old Testament, ordained to continue Abraham's
chosen relationship with God, while Ishmael became
a biblical afterthought.
So you can see, there's some
bad blood there that goes back a long, long way.
Though there have been some forward strides - most
notably the Camp David Accords of 1979 in which
Palestine and Israel acknowledged each other's
right to exist - there is still an ancient
animosity that is unlikely to disappear within one
generation or ten.
There's simply too much water
under the bridge, and the whole thing has devolved
into a Mexican standoff with both sides poised on
the brink of annihilation.
The Palestinians don't
believe that Israel is serious about forming a
meaningful partnership in order to build two
The Israelis don't believe
that the bulk of Palestinians actually want peace,
and that those in command couldn't ensure peace
anyway. This is backed up by the fact that the
Palestinians elected Hamas as the ruling party, and
Hamas runs on an anti-Israel platform.
It seems unlikely that we
will ever see a peaceful compromise between the two
nations in the future. All we can do is pray for
them as the fulfillment of the Bible
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