Whose Land Is It?

Today we have at least two major conflicts in our world that is driven by some claim on the land occupied by another. This has historically been a major driver in many wars. Is there an answer to a question like this? Are we doomed to just fight it out with genocidal intent?

Let’s first recognize that nobody’s ancestors are from where they now live. I have one branch of my family tree that I can trace to the Normans. The Normans were from Scandinavia but settled in a part of France now called Normandy. They were given this land by the King of France to keep other Vikings away. They were not from there. They in turn attacked, moved in and ruled England in 1066AD. The Angles and the Saxons were already there. Jump ahead to the 17th century and some of my ancestors moved to New England. Native American tribes were already there but the population had been devastated by the plague (which likely came with fisherman from Europe, which came with traders from Asia). Could the Native American’s say “this is our land”? Long before this they came from other places on North America. Before that they came from Asia. People groups move.

The Bible documents the intentional movement of the Israelites from Egypt where they were slaves to Palestine. People already lived there, but they were on God’s extreme naughty list. This is what was said about the people to do be displaced:

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer ¹¹ or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, ¹² for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 (ESV)

The promise of the land actually goes back further with God’s promise to Abraham. I suppose Old Testament claims to land would be dismissed as Jewish propaganda by some. I think God has established or scattered people groups through various events including war. He did it to Israel. One has to wrestle with the non-biblical proverb, “To the victor goes the spoils”, whether it is a just war or not. Does the promise made to Abraham apply now? I think that one expired a while ago. That doesn’t change the need for the Jewish people to have a place of their own, considering how poorly they were treated in other places.

In the end, two things stand out as obvious truths. First, people need a decent, safe place to live. On an increasing populated planet, with certain areas becoming unlivable through climate change. This is tough.

The second is that even though you may have an “ancestral land”, this does not constitute absolute ownership. Destroying the lives of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of people for a strip of land because we think you deserve it, is an action that will fall under God’s judgment.

Is there any answer that doesn’t involve genocidal action? First, Expansionism, is an action that deserves a harsh response from the whole world. Hitler was expansionist. It was not necessary or just. Putin feels that Ukraine is historically Russian. Did the Ukrainians living there feel that way? Apparently not. If people elect to move into or move out of a particular government. That is different. The Chinese Communist Party claims rights to Taiwan. This could kill millions of people if taken by force. The citizens of Taiwan do not wish to be a part of China.

On a crowded planet we cannot afford to be tribalistic. That archaic form of self-identification made sense at one time, but now it is a great liability. Integrating in more pluralistic societies would be one answer. We have to get over our racist viewpoints and over-valuation of culture. Cultures change all the time. Certain aspects of culture are preserved because people choose to preserve them. Segregation will not prove to be a godly or practical way to do this.

When thinking about the Palestinian crisis, integration could be a way. Many Palestinians live within the boundaries of Israel. The competing ideologies that embrace the destruction of Israel on one hand and the segregation of the Jews from all other peoples on the other make this a tough answer. The price for stubbornly clinging to these views will be no security for anybody forever.

If integration is not a doable solution, then maybe land reclamation is. It would be hard to save small islands going under a rising ocean. Can we save land disappearing to an expanding desert? Desalinization and the pumping of water to arid places seems to be one project for which Israel, the Palestinians, and Jordan can get on board. If a mindset could be embraced that seeks the well-being of all people rather than an “us versus them” then the world could be a better place.

Familial, historical, even religious roots to a particular swath of land runs deep because people keep it alive. Israeli claims to the West Bank for instance, has to go way back to find a time where the Jews actually lived there. Even in Jesus’ time it was the territory of the Samaritans. Gaza is Philistine territory at the time of David. The present needs to be more practical than that. Seizing more land does not produce goodwill. Creating answers to that people can live does.