The Gantt Report
Since science says the first man in the world was an African, the world should belong to Black people.
If you’re mad about that comment, you’ll really be mad about this Gantt Report column!
The idea that a race of people should rightfully own and control the land their ancestors lived in is often used to explain why the City of Jerusalem must be controlled by one group of inhabitants and not another.
With the help of US money and military equipment, Israel currently has the strongest presence in Jerusalem. But Jews don’t have the only presence.
Many believers in a variety of religious faiths claim Jerusalem as a Holy City. The city is sacred to Muslims and even Christians claim Jerusalem as a very Holy city.
One reason given as to why Israeli citizens believe Jerusalem should not be divided or shared with other countries and the local Palestinians and other Muslims that live on Jerusalem’s outskirts is that King David lived there.
Well King David is the Biblical King David. “King David” wasn’t born in the City of Jerusalem; he helped conquer it in Biblical battles with the Biblical Philistines and others.
The belief that whatever you can take is yours is not limited to Middle East thought. The same mindset was used to explain why the Dutch claimed South Africa to be theirs or the English settlers claimed America was theirs and was not the property of the Native Americans, or Indians, in America before the British colonialists ever set foot on American shores.
OK, so history says people of many faiths including believers of both Judaism and Islam both lived in the area that some call Israel today but some supporters of a Jewish controlled Jerusalem point to The Bible and say that God, in the Bible, declared the area the home of the Jews.
Now the country of Israel came into being at around 1948 when thousands of European-born Jews settled there from Germany and other countries and The Bible speaks of times about 3000 years ago.
Problem is there were people and there were religions on earth and in the Middle East 60 or 70 thousand years before The Bible.
For some people, the King James version of The Bible is only a “translation” and not the true Hebrew version of the Holy Scripture. Also, many feel that The Bible is not “God’s word” per se but instead man’s word about God!
I’m not going to get into religion in this column is some regards because anything you write or say about religion will cause arguments and disagreements.
But I will say that Palestine was around in Biblical times too and the argument that “my ancestors lived there” is just as viable for Palestinians as the argument is for Israelis.
Unfortunately, until the philosophies that holds one race, one nationality and one religion superior and the other inferior is permanent discredited and abandoned, there will never be peace in the Middle East.
Everybody living in or near Jerusalem must be treated with respect and dignity regardless of politics, government or ancestry.
They must all live together or few of the people in the region will truly live.
