The land of Palestine dates back some 2,800 years inhabited by Palests who were basically non-Arab natives of the Levant region, which comprised what today is Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and some parts of Egypt. After the advent of Islam in the Arabian peninsula, the Palests converted to Islam, and adopted the Arab culture and language.
While majority of today’s Israeli Jews are not ethnically Hebrew, original Jews have been dwelling in the region for centuries. Arthur Koestler in The Thirteenth Tribe: The Khazar Empire and Its Heritage claims that the Ashkenazi Jews, who have been migrating from Europe to Palestine since the Balfour Declaration, do not have a Hebrew descent. In fact, they are the offspring of Turks of Caucasus region.
Nearly 80 per cent of today’ Israelis happen to be Ashkenazi Jews, and, hence, their claim to be the ‘people of the land’ is, at best, a matter of opinion; not a fact.
Against the history of Palestine, when we see the recent peace plan and its acceptance by the Muslim world, despite the rightful claims of the Palestinians, the only conclusion one can draw is that the politics of might is right remains as effective today as it ever was. It is the powerful who decides the course of history, not the history of ethnicities, ethics or morality.
The most critical aspect for Pakistan in this scenario is about the possibility of a similar ‘peace plan’ brokered by the United States related to the status of India-occupied Kashmir. We better watch out.
JAFFAR DHAREJO
SUKKUR
