PARALLELS BETWEEN AMERICAN AND ISRAEL HISTORIES

I have noticed that there are some eerie parallels between the histories of America and Israel.  Perhaps this is just human nature.

America recognized the Balfour Declaration (1917) that favored the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine.  In late 1947, the UN declared resolution 181 to establish both a Jewish and Arab state in Palestine.*  David Ben Gurion declared the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, and American President Harry Truman recognized the state on the same day.  Thus the United
States is committed to this new state.  As a parallel, I believe that Great Britain was committed to the colonization of America in 1607.**

The British history is complicated and I recommend you read the Wikipedia article on the subject.  Suffice it to say that the United States was founded on September 3, 1783.**  In the early days of colonization, there appeared to be harmony between the British immigrants and the Indians.  The development of America was ragged with the conflict between the new Americans and American indigenous Indians living in the Southeast, almost from the beginning.  In parallel, the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was escalating before the foundation of Israel.  Prior to WW-II, however, Arabs and Jews lived in seeming harmony.

In early American history, the Indians were considered inferior people and were not treated well.  Though President Andrew Jackson (who fought the Indians in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814) is revered today (for example the Democrats have a Jefferson-Jackson Day), the president moved the Indians forcibly to reservations in the west informally called The Trail Of Tears and formally with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

The Jews did not forcibly remove Arabs from the country of Israel.  Today's population of Israel is about 21% Arab, mostly Muslims, who can be citizens of Israel and there usually is at least 1 Arab in the Israel parliament or Knesset.  The sticking points are the Gaza Strip and the West Bank where Muslims predominate.

Israel used to occupy the Gaza Strip but evacuated it in 2005.  The hostilities between the Arabs in the Gaza Strip and Israel have been and remain extreme with Arabs in Gaza firing rockets and other implements against the Jews and Israel naturally responding.  Israel has a blockade with the Gaza Strip trying to prevent imports of armaments.

I have written about the West Bank before ("West Bank Fiasco," 2016***) and I do not want to repeat the piece here.  The Israelis have established settlements in the West Bank raising hostilities between the local Arabs and Jews.  As an example of the hostilities in the West Bank, there is a four-lane highway running north and south in the West Bank that is really two, two-lane highways as there is a high wall down the median strip with Arabs traveling on one side and Israelis on the other.

If Israel has the West Bank, the U.S. has had a conflict with Mexico, for example, the Spanish-American War. and the U.S. annexed a part of Mexico.

I feel Israel has effectively annexed the West Bank, mainly as a buffer for defensive purposes, because, in one place, Isreal is only about 10 mi. wide.  But I feel they cannot formally annex the West Bank (as they have with East Jerusalem****) because then Arabs would constitute around 40% of the Israel population making Israel less of a Jewish state and incorporating the hostilities of the Arabs.  Annexation is not unusual in a countries development. For example, America annexed the Indian Territories.

As we have seen, annexations are hard to keep.  Yugoslavia broke up after their dictator died.  Czechoslovakia broke into two again. Etc.  History is replete with countries breaking up.

In conclusion, I would say that the history of Israel parallels in many regards to America's mixed evolution.  Currently, hostilities between Arabs in the Gaza Strip and West Bank run high, and I doubt that even an uneasy peace can be established for a long time.  By a long time, I mean much more than a hundred years.  In the U.S., the Civil War is still current among many Southerners 150 yrs after the War.  But the U.S. is committed to Israel and has been from the beginning.

As has been expressed by others, it should be possible to criticize the actions of the Israel government without being considered antisemitic.

* https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_colonization_of_the_Americas
*** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/12/west-bank-fiasco.html
**** Arabs in East Jerusalem at the time of the census were offered citizenship, but only around 5% have taken it.  Noncitizens, however, can vote in local elections.