It seems a bit far-fetched to claim that modern Israel is in some way historically Israel or even Jewish land. If you examine that area historically, rather than biblically, you will see that the area has had many titles and no clear boundaries. Palestine seems a far more appropriate title, it has existed from the earliest records. The Jews were, historically, ‘hardly ever’ there in any great numbers having themselves frequently been exiled.
Please excuse my short versions and indeed errors but the Judahites were kicked out of Samaria in 733 BC by the Assyrians. They gradually crept back in and were kicked out again in 597BC by the Babylonians.
[Interestingly, whilst their leaders were in exile in Babylon they learnt various stories that ended up as part of the Torah. The Ark, a cradle in the bulrushes, and other very familiar stories are on cuneiform tablets pre-dating Moses by a thousand years. Those stories were about other characters of course. No doubt significantly, the Torah was written very soon after their return from Babylon. There has always been plagiarism in story telling.]
The Babylonians allowed them to return to their Babylonian protectorate then called
Yehud Medinata, and what we commonly regard as Israel became
Samaria,
Galilee,
Iturea,
Perea, and
Idumea,where they survived until the Romans took over in 6AD when the area became the Roman province of Judea. Following the Jewish revolt, the Jewish leaders were exiled again in 70AD.
In 132AD the Jews had yet another go at making the land their own and the Romans this time exiled the lot – which is largely why so many were and still are spread around the world. The Romans re-named the area
Syria Palaestina, also known as Palestinium.
Following the decline of the Roman Empire there were hundreds of years of Arab rule, crusades and a bloody mess with people calling the land whatever they wanted. It was only with the Ottoman Empire that it was again given a clear name and borders. The name – Palestine!
Following the defeat of the Turks, the area was divided up between the French and the British. Ottoman Palestine became known as Syria, under the French and Transjordon, under the British. Transjordan very soon became Jordan and Palestine. At that time, 90% of Palestinians were Arab. Pause to consider that again – only 10% of the people in the land we now know as Modern Israel were Jewish. Apart from when they were murdered by the crusaders, for two thousand years they were living in peace with the vast Arab majority under Arab rule, then Turkish rule and then British rule. In 1917, the British proposed a new state of Israel but it was an unpopular notion and did not happen until it seemed the most expedient solution after the 2nd world war when the Jewish refugees started arriving in Palestine and fighting with the Arabs and with the British rulers because they wanted more space. Eventually the UN (or was it then the League of Nations) voted to take the land away from the Palestinian Arabs and hand it over to Jewish rule. A big mistake which has caused, continues to cause and WILL cause much heartache and bloodshed – if not actual Armageddon!
Historically then, how can modern Israel be regarded as ‘naturally Jewish territory’ or however they may like to describe it? The title Palestine is historically far more appropriate. The claim to a Jewish homeland is purely biblical. The Jews have no more right to it than any defeated nation.
There is only one right and fair way to decide who rules any identifiable parcel of land and that is by a majority vote of the people on that land (democracy). All people should have self determination for the majority and that is what was denied the Palestinians. A privileged position was handed to the Jews and we can now see the result. That doesn't make the Israelis 'bad' as asked in the OP but some of their behaviour has been truly dreadful. I think I am correct to say that almost every head of security has resigned because of the dirty tricks they were being asked by the government to perform. SOME Israelis ARE bad and they have given the good ones a bad name.
