In Humza Chowdry’s letter, he said, “Peace in Palestine will happen when the Zionists give back the land they stole, and not try to profit off land that was never theirs to begin with.” Let’s take a quick history lesson.
Land is always bought or taken by force. A great majority of wars are fought for the gain of more territory.
The Holy Land is not exempt. It has had many different nations conquer it through war. The Holy Land was once controlled by the Canaanites, before the Israelites conquered it in the second millennium before Christ. These Jewish Israelites lived in Palestine for over 1,000 years. It was their national homeland until A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed them. Then, in 636 A.D., Muslim warriors from Medina defeated the Christian Byzantines in the Holy Land. From 636 to 1918, Muslims controlled the Holy Land. In 1918, British defeated the Ottoman Empire and gained control. In 1948, Britain gave the land away for a Jewish state, creating the nation of Israel as we know it today.
Humza, you deny that a successful war grants the victors land. But if wars don’t grant land, then Allah’s victory in 638 did not legally grant Muslims the land from the Byzantines. The land was “stolen.”
For more than 3,000 years, the Jews have considered the Holy Land their homeland. Finally, 2,000 years after the Romans “stole” it from them, it has been returned. Put up with it. Muslims don’t control it anymore.
Brian Crawford
Architectural engineering junior