Do all Jews think they have a claim to the area now named Israel? - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: Canon Michael Storey, Healey Wood Road, Brighouse.
TYP, October 6, contains a very interesting article concerning the Green Party's 'row on Zionism'.
The whole issue of Palestine/Israel and Muslim/Jew has been a major problem since Abraham moved from Haran (Iraq on current maps) about 3,000 years ago to settle in 'Canaan', the area now named 'Israel' or 'Palestine' - take your pick - along with the Gaza strip.
In the Book of Genesis, chapter twelve, it is clearly stated that God told Abraham to leave his home and enter Canaan. In Genesis 12 verse two it is stated that God said ‘I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation’.
Hence, it may be that the descendants of Abraham, i.e. Jews, have absolute right to live in that area? Over the 3,000 years since Abraham and his family settled in Canaan, that area has had many claimants.
A question, to which I would like an answer is, do all Jews think they have a claim to the area now named Israel, supposing that the word 'Jew' means a descendant of Abraham?
I have always found it difficult to believe that the many American Jews can claim to be descendants of Abraham, and hence grab land in The West Bank.
A second question; what is the difference between a Jew and an Israeli? When one takes all this history ‘on board’, and the Muslim influence, one can begin to understand the permanent problems in what has been called ‘The Holy Land’. I look forward to some answers.