Blithering On

The history of Israel since its founding has been marked by recurring cycles of attack, provocation, and external pressure—often including proposals from U.S. administrations urging restraint or territorial concession. We recall, for example, the pressure applied by both the Obama and Bush administrations to halt Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and the Golan Heights, on the grounds that such activity was seen by the United States and the European Union as provocative toward the Palestinians. To understand how we arrived at this point, it’s useful to briefly revisit the history. In 1948, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, declared the establishment of the State of Israel in accordance with the United Nations’ 1947 partition plan, which proposed dividing the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Almost immediately, neighboring Arab states—Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq—invaded. Israel repelled the attacks and, in t...

The Gaza Strip was once a prominent trading center, historically advantageous for its location along the coast of the Mediterranean. We know from the Bible, Judges chapter 16, that Israelite warrior and judge Samson died in Gaza “with the Philistines” to get revenge on them. From Jeremiah chapter 47, we also know that Pharoah attacked the Philistines in Gaza. In fact, the Bible has more than a dozen references to Gaza, beginning with Genesis in which the borders of Canaan are identified. Then, in Judges 2:3 we read that God punished Israel for not driving the Canaanites from the Promised Land after He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. In response, the Bible says God told the Israelites, “they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares for you.” Some might say they're still paying on that penalty. But setting that aside, history informs us that in addition to the Philistines and the Egyptians, Gaza has also been occupied by the Babylonians and even Alexander t...