At best, 3,000 years ago, there might have been an ephemeral moment of about 60 years of unification between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and even that ephemeral period is debated just as much between historians as it has been between theologians.
One matter is particularly significant from Dr A.C.Bouquet’s timeless encyclopedia of religion, ‘Comparative Religion’ (yes, an old agnostic like me holds in his library the most acclaimed theology research resource), the Hebrews, who were led out of Egypt by an Egyptian religious reformer named Moses (Dr Bouquet is not entirely accepting of Freud’s reasoning about Moses being killed in the desert by the Hebrews – see page 216), were interspersed among numerous polytheists in the two separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel or, for that ephemeral moment of supposed unification if we accept the Old Testament to a limited extent as a historical record, a proposition for which I do not agitate an affirmative answer. Indeed, Dr Bouquet cautions theologians about placing too much weight on ancient Judaism customs, as those customs were adopted from the polytheists (see page 220 of Comparative Religion). I shall return to the two states in a moment; however, there is another issue I wish to dispose of first.
For the past sixteen months, I have regularly shaken my head as I watched antisemitism and islamophobia playing out on my news feeds on both mainstream and social media. The behaviour in this country has not been assisted by an opposition leader who resembles a bowling ball with newly acquired spectacles (is there actually visual aid glass in those frames, or is it just like everything else to do with the Hyperventilating Carbohydrate, namely another gimmick to try to make over that which can’t be made over?), being his one-trick-pony self of divisiveness. October 7 2023, was a dreadful act of war committed by Hamas, and Israel was entitled to defend itself. However, since October 7 2023, I have also witnessed horrific acts of inhumanity and murder committed by Israel.
The International Criminal Court has rightly issued arrest warrants for the alleged culprits on either side. I wholeheartedly applaud the courage displayed by the Italian Prime Minister when she unequivocally stated she would arrest Netanyahu if the man set foot anywhere on Italian soil. Just like there are no excuses for October 7 and the subsequent treatment of the hostages, nor are there any excuses for Israel’s barbaric annihilation of innocent Palestinians. The Hyperventilating Carbohydrate only recognises one side of a several millennia-long tribal dispute, which is why he who can’t count to 43 is unfit to be a parliamentarian, let alone prime minister.
Now, back to the two-state solution. The twelve tribes of Hebrews split into two. There was the Kingdom of Judah in the south and the Kingdom of Israel in the north: see Dustin Herron, ‘Israel and Judah; The Difference Between The Two Kingdoms’. Even the First Book of Kings recognises the division: 1 Kings 12: 16-19. To quote from the Bible Odyssey:
“The united monarchy, Israel and Judah were less united than the Hebrew Bible suggests. Some scholars claim that Israel and Judah were never politically unified in one kingdom; the Hebrew Bible’s depiction of the united kingdom must be read accordingly as an elegy to a long-lost national unity. It is clear in both the biblical text and material culture that various factors undermined the solidarity between Israel and Judah.”
In about 720 BC, the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyrians, and it never fully re-emerged from Assyrian captivity. Many of those ten tribes of Israel were lost.
The Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah, and although it slightly re-emerged from captivity after 70 years, the uprising by Jews against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. The Temple of Solomon and Jerusalem were destroyed around this time. Jews were exiled to Babylon during this period.
The Babylonian rule ended with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire c. 538 BCE. Subsequently, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus, which authorised and encouraged exiled Jews to return to Judah (see Harper’s Bible Dictionary page 103). Cyrus’ proclamation began the exiles’ return to Zion, inaugurating the formative period in which a more distinctive Jewish identity developed in the Persian province of Yehud. During this time, the destroyed Solomon’s Temple was replaced by the Second Temple, marking the beginning of the Second Temple period. They were allowed autonomous rule under Persian governance. It was not until 400 years later, following the Maccabean Revolt, that Judeans regained independence. Still, that was short-lived.
Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem and its surroundings by 63 BC. The Romans deposed the ruling Hasmonean dynasty of Judaea (in power from c. 140 BC), and the Roman Senate declared Herod the Great “King of the Jews” in c. 40 BC. Judea proper, Samaria and Idumea became the Roman province of Judaea in 6 AD. Jewish–Roman tensions resulted in several Jewish–Roman wars between the years 66 and 135 AD, which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple and the institution of the Jewish Tax in 70 AD.
The Muslim Arab colonisation of the area now known as Israel (and Gaza and the West Bank) began in 636 C.E. when an Arab Muslim army commanded by Abu Ubayda invaded the region and besieged Jerusalem. The actual surrender of Jerusalem happened in 637 or 638 (sources differ) when Caliph Umar arrived at Jerusalem to accept the city’s surrender from the Patriarch Sophronius (see Brian Charboneau, Master of Civil Law Tulane University).
Finally, Judah was occupied by the Ottomans until the 1920s, when it became controlled by the British Empire and known as British Palestine.
So, the regions of modern-day Israel, Gaza and the West Bank have had a long and chequered history. It calls for sensible discussion, not another poorly constructed Trump resort and golf course. The Palestinians have a rightful claim to land. It will take decades to fix the current deep divisions that Netanyahu’s unrelenting slaughter of Palestinians has opened up, and the same time-frame applies to the Israeli’s mistrust of Palestinians. It’s time for sensible discussions, not golf courses. One matter is for certain: if we want to return to the peace agreement of 1994, Netanyahu and the Hamas leaders must be handed over to the International Criminal Court.
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Quality and clarity and honesty here gives to us a chance to reassess, to be fairly sure of what is never generally discussed on this topic area. I have the Bouquet book right here, one of many old great books for possible reference over time. My position here is that there is no abrahamic god and never was, as none has personally appeared, conversed, been photograped, interviewed, leaving DNA evidence, voice recording, prints, etc, nothing at all, and, the best ever microscopes and telescopes indicate what there is for us to consider, comprehend, accept. Thus, there is no promised land from any deity figure, and there is no chosen race, no rights to thieve, occupy, certainly not to kill for this, as zionism effectively accepts to make claims and gains. Since the 1880’s this situation has worsened, and certainly Jews have suffered over time through resentments and challenge. There was a legal Palestine to May 1948. International law, a vaguely farcical concept deserving better, was crushed, ignored. There is an Israel, though my readings of c. twenty plus articles, per the site Academia, (all tertiary standard publications and papers) suggest it was the product of theft and thus murder and dispossion. I had a guide in Jarash, Jordan, in 1988, who said he was Palestinian and had been there for forty years in exile. “What can we do?” was his sad final statement. Powerful forces won out, over, through. And now??
Ah yes the old “two state solution” furphy. Israel has made it crystal clear it will never allow a Palestinian state to exist and have actively worked to destroy any such possibility.
Sorry Michael I have to disagree with your reasoning. How far do we go back? Should Australia be divided into a two state solution, to separate Indiginous Australians from everybody else. After all it was their land up until 1778. Israel had no entitlement to any of Palestine… The Balfour Declaration was the start of the disposesstion and the UN partition forced on Palestine in 1948 was corrupt and clearly breached the Balfour Declaration. Israevil and the USA are the worlds worst terrorists.
Thank you Michael for your informative essay.
I note your reference to “another gimmick to try to make over that which can’t be made over?”. I have news for you Michael, tomorrow night’s 60 Minutes concerning our favourite politician will, I am told, be an exercise in turd-polishing.
While I can see the historical relevance of the ‘two states’, unfortunately that does not of itself admit or allow a similar position today. In saying that, if I have misunderstood the thrust of your argument, I apologise.
In looking back from the present day, it is beyond dispute that the State of Israel was born from mayhem, murder and theft following the terroristic expulsion of Palestinian Arabs from their communities in 1947-1948.
Many have since called for a “two-state solution”, and that’s still the position today, even in the face of the Israeli PM’s long-standing and obdurate opposition and the recent vote of the Israeli Parliament.
As I have stated elsewhere on this site, the only time such a “solution” was possible was at the time of Partition in November 1947 when UN resolution 181 provided for two independent but economically linked States. wherein approximately 53% of the Mandated-land was allocated to the emergent State of Israel and 47% to Palestine. (Wikipedia). Given the subsequent history of land-theft and dispossession by the Israelis, it should come as no surprise that of the initial grant of 47% to Palestine, about 17% remains (and that is steadily diminishing).
Consequently the “two-state solution” becomes a very convenient fiction on which to hang all manner of “official” statements, plans and resolutions that hint at rights and privileges and perhaps even an ultimate resolution, but all the while being done in the full knowledge by all involved that nothing will change.
Put simply: who or what is to stop Israel?
Coming back to the briefer history of the 20th and 21st century CE, the UN Resolution 181, setting up the internationally agreed structure for the two state solution was the original agreement to form present day Israel and Palestine.
Only two things went wrong.
The Palestinians were not asked whether they thought this was a good idea.
The Israelis loved the idea but only reading the bit that gave thenm a state, a nation, a return too the biblical homeland promised all those centuries ago… or was in the mythological dreamtime?
The Palestinians still want their land.
The Israelis still want the whole country.
And Trump wants another resort complete with Trump Tower and a Trump golf course.
The convenient British Holy alliance of the ‘West’ was brutal as much as blithering in its performance. It took on from the failed Holy Roman Empire I and never stopped its pursuit of world domination via the conquest in one way or another of the Levant and Fertile Crescent to obtain commercial / strategic control of all movements to/from the North, South, East and West.
To understand it in relative modernity, say since the Ottoman Empire, it’s worth understanding:
the progression of the Ottoman Empire
the complexity of western Europe and the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars
the western imperialists, the Ottomans and Russia – the Crimean War
The duping and vile treatment of the Jews by the ‘west’, the advent of Zionism, the second duping of the Jews, the advent of WWI, the the devious Sykes-Picot Agreement, and the madman Sir Mark Sykes
So on and so forth through the devestations and obliterations of the first half of the 20th century …. the nazi Germans never stood a chance once the Russians came and saved the west’s bacon. And the hubristic rise-up of the biggest brutal blitherers of all, the hegemonic USofA.
Now the entanglements are so deep, we are left to deal with the muted guilt of the western imperium collaborators, the hubristic blitherings of the USA hegemon armed to the teeth, and now the enfranchised POTUS, the kleptocratic authoritarian madman Trump and his fellow flunky plutocrats.
Wow! Various players are mustering their horses (albeit they’re still wild), but how do they come together to bring an end to the current neo-feudalism, given the all powerful but larrikin Techbros have kissed the orange ring? And at what cost?
Hey, Clakka.
Apologies for your comment being held in moderation. The system does that if there are five or more links in the comment. I’ve just changed it to ten.
Exodus is now known to be a completely false myth. There is not a jot of recorded evidence on any of the monuments or papyrus scrolls of Ancient Egypt to support the belief that they were built by enslaved Jews while there is an overwhelming wealth of archaeological evidence to contradict it. Nor is there any archaeological evidence to support the Jewish conquest of Israel after this mythological exodus and the equally mythological 40 years in the wilderness.
What the archaeological evidence does reveal is that the people who became known as the Jews were already living in the “Holy Land”, as indeed were the Palestinian “Philistines”. What appears to have happened is that some of these locals changed their superstitious beliefs from polytheism to monotheism and over time fabricated a history to justify their claims to a God-given promised land for a “chosen people” who are, as a matter of scientific genetic fact, members of the same unique race of people as every other human being on this planet. Such nationalistic lies are now recognised as common occurrences throughout history.