Map Hysteria

One of the reasons I like to blog on the TOI website is that it gives me the opportunity to spotlight some of the absurdities that pervade the news.[1] The latest one that caught my attention relates to a map published by the Israel Arabic account on X (formerly Twitter). The map, replicated below, shows the approximate borders of the ancient Kingdoms of Judah (highlighted in green) and Israel (highlighted in yellow) in the year 982 BCE (Before the Common Era, also known as BC (Before Christ), some 3000 years ago(!). The map covers geographic areas now governed by Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
You may recall that not long after the reigns of Kings David and Solomon (c. 1020-922 BCE), the United Kingdom of Israel fractured into two states: Judah, comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and Israel, comprised of the remaining ten tribes. These two polities co-existed for some 200 years until the Israel polity was overrun by the Assyrians in circa 722 BCE and Judah was overrun by the Babylonians in 586 BCE (and the First Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed). As was the practice in the ancient Middle East, large segments of the population of vanquished peoples were exiled to locations outside of their homelands. The ten tribes of Israel disappeared altogether, yet the population of Judah, exiled to what is now Iran/Iraq, survived and were permitted to return to their original homeland by King Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE. That returned population reestablished the Jewish homeland in what became known as Judea and rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem (the Second Temple). The story of the Maccabee’n revolt against the Greeks (celebrated at Chanukah) (167-134 BCE) and Jesus (6/4 BCE – 30/33 ACE) followed such return until the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans following the Great Jewish Revolt in 69 ACE (After the Common Era, or “AD”).
One of the principal arguments over the right of a Jewish state to exist in what is now Israel is the historic ties that the Jews have to the land. The incontrovertible historic ties of Jews to the “Land of Israel” is borne out of abundant archaeological evidence (especially during the Second Temple period), and even to the First Temple period (see, for example, the Tel Dan Stele which is a fragmentary stele[2] containing an Aramaic inscription which dates to the nineth century BCE; it is the earliest known extra-biblical archaeological reference to the House of King David).
With this history as context, let me return the story of the map.
As reported by Israeli media, a spokesman for the Jordanian foreign ministry (Ambassador Dr. Sufyan Qudah), condemned the map “in the strongest terms.” The spokesman went on to say, harkening also to elements in Israeli society desiring annexation of the West Bank, “the [Jordanian] Kingdom [expresses its] absolute rejection of these policies and provocative statements that aim to deny the Palestinians’ right to establish their independent and sovereign state along the June 4, 1967, lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.” The foreign ministry spokesman went on to say: “These allegations and illusions adopted and promoted by extremists in the Israeli government, which encourage the continuation of cycles of violence and conflict, constitute a blatant violation of international norms and laws.” Calling for international condemnation, Qudah demanded that the Israeli government “immediately cease these provocative actions and stop the provocative statements made by Israeli officials, which have no place except in the minds of extremists, and which contribute to fueling conflicts and constitute a threat to international peace and security.”
Jordan has often denied or downplayed the Jewish history of the region, and, in particular, denies any Jewish connection to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, which is currently managed in part by the Jordanian Waqf. In fact, at a meeting I attended with a senior Waqf official, Mustafa Abu Sway, in June 2022, Mr. Abu Sway uncategorically denied any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
Elsewhere in the region, the Israel Arabic map also drew the ire of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE commented that it considered the map to be “a deliberate effort to expand the occupation and a blatant violation and contravention of international law.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed the UAE’s “categorical rejection of all provocative practices aimed at altering the legal status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” and of any actions that “threaten further escalation and tensions, and impede endeavors to achieve peace and stability in the region.” The Ministry ended its diatribe with a call for regional and international actors to “advance the peace process in the Middle East, as well as end illegal practices that undermine the two-state solution, and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
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With historical facts in denial, or eliciting caustic responses, it is no wonder that peace has eluded the Israel/Palestine sphere in the past, during the current period and, it would seem, for the foreseeable future.
[1] My last Blog highlighted the creche at the Vatican with the baby Jesus in a Keffiyeh swaddling.
[2] A stone slab erected in the ancient world as a monument.