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The pivotal issue in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict revolves around the profound significance of religion concerning the lands of Israel. Within this framework, three pertinent questions arise:
- Does the Torah (or Tanakh) state that God granted the land of Israel to the Jews?
- Does the Bible mention God granting the land of Israel to the Jews?
- Does the Quran affirm God granting the land of Israel to the Jews?
In the Torah and/or Tanakh, the concept of God giving the land of Israel to the Jewish people is mentioned in several places. For example, Exodus 6:6-8 from the Tanakh:
Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.
This passage from Exodus 6:6-8 directly encompasses the essence of God’s promise to the Israelites through Moses, assuring them of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery and their eventual possession of the land promised to their ancestors. Additionally, other parts of the Torah and Tanakh, such as the Book of Exodus, also reference the land promised to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel). They also contain various instances where God reaffirms this promise to the Israelites, emphasising the land as being part of their inheritance.
The concept of God giving the land of Israel to the Jewish people is also found in the Bible, primarily in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. One of the significant references to this idea is in the Book of Genesis, particularly in the covenant made between God and Abraham.
In Genesis 17:7–8 (New International Version) (similar to the Torah as the two are related) God establishes an everlasting covenant with Abraham:
I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.
- The promise of land is reiterated in various parts of the Old Testament, emphasizing that God promised the land of Canaan (later known as Israel) to Abraham and his descendants.
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, there isn’t a direct passage that explicitly states God giving the land of Israel specifically to the Jewish people as it appears in the Old Testament. However, there are references to the Jewish people’s historical connection to the land of Israel and their significance in the New Testament. For instance:
Romans 9–11: The apostle Paul discusses the place of Israel in God’s plan of salvation. He reflects on Israel’s past, present, and future role in God’s redemptive purposes, emphasizing the importance of the Jewish people.
Acts 1:6: Before Jesus’ ascension, the Disciples asked him about restoring the kingdom to Israel, which implies the significance of Israel in the minds of the disciples.
Romans 11:1–2: Paul confirms that God has not rejected His people (the Jews) whom He foreknew. He mentions himself as an Israelite, affirming God’s ongoing relationship with the Jewish people.
The Quran mentions the land being given to the Children of Israel in several places. Here are some verses that refer to the Israelites being given the land:
Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:20–21): “And [mention, O Muhammad], when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people, remember the favour of Allah upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you possessors and gave you that which He had not given anyone among the worlds. O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah’s cause] and [thus] become losers.'”
Surah Al-A’raf (7:137): “And We made the people who were considered weak to inherit the eastern parts of the land (Syria) and the western parts thereof which We have blessed. And the fair Word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel, because of their endurance. And We destroyed completely all the great works and buildings which Fir’aun (Pharaoh) and his people erected.”
Surah Al-Qasas (28:5-6): “And We wanted to confer favour upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors. And establish them in the land and show Pharaoh and [his minister] Haman and their soldiers through them that.”
In comparison, the term “Palestine” itself is derived from the Roman name for the region promoted after the Roman suppression of a Jewish revolt in the Second Century AD.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 AD, the Romans sought to obliterate Jewish identity by renaming the region as “Syria Palaestina” to disconnect it from its Jewish roots.
There were various people living in the area during but there wasn’t a distinct Palestinian nation as we understand it today. In fact, the concept of a distinct Palestinian national identity and a push for Palestinian nationalism only began to emerge in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in response to the changing political landscape in the region; i.e., the genesis of Palestine is of a political rather than racial or religious origin and fairly recent at that.
In essence, the ancient scriptures – the Torah/Tanakh and Bible – clearly state in passages like Genesis 17:7–8 that the land of Canaan (later known as Israel – and which extends from “the river to the sea”) was promised by God as an everlasting inheritance for the Jewish people and has been settled by those people for about 3000 years. Correspondingly, the Quran, hundreds of years ago, acknowledges this land as a blessing for the Israelites across multiple verses. In contrast, the formation of a Palestinian national identity occurred only relatively recently, mainly as a political response to geopolitical changes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Consequently, while both Israelis and Palestinians maintain religious and historical ties to the land, the Jewish connection possesses a more extensive and enduring scriptural and possessional foundation, spanning a longer historical period that pre-dates both the emergence of Islam and Palestine; i.e., the Jews are not the “occupiers” as many protesters argue.
While I sympathise with the plight of those in Gaza, I suggest that many ‘supportive’ protesters should update their understanding of Middle-East history.
