Jewish ties
Sunday, September 14th, 2008It is a common misconception that in 1948 the Jews suddenly returned to Palestine demanding their country back after having been forced into the Diaspora 1,800 years earlier by the Romans following the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. In reality, Jewish people have maintained ties to their historic homeland for more than 3,700 years, including a national language and a distinct civilization. Even after the destruction of the Temple and the beginning of the exile, Jewish life in Palestine continued and often flourished. As many historical sources, including Crusader records made contemporaneously with their military conquest of the Holy Land attest, Jewish life in the Land continued and despite all, even often flourished. (See Joseph Farah “The Jews took no one’s land (See Joseph Farah “The Jews took no one’s land” www.WorldNetDaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27338 )
Without delving deeply into the history of the Byzantines, Mameluks, Mongol Hordes, and other temporary occupiers of the territory lying between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, it is worth while drawing the reader’s attention to some illustrations of the Jewish presence in this territory drawn from what might best be described as ‘Some Sound-Bites of History’ (Rona Hart, (ed) in preparation; see also Eliyahu Tal, Whose Jerusalem? International Forum for a United Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 1994 (hereinafter “Tal”) ; Dan Bahat (ed), 20 Centuries of Jewish Life in the Holy Land, The Forgotten Generations, The Israel Economist, 1976 (hereinafter “Bahat”)