Why do the Muslims believe Israel belongs to them?

Answer 1

There are several differing perspectives on the issue.

Answer 1

I will try to answer this in a fair and balanced way. If you do not agree, please add your answers after mine, but please do not delete my answer.

First, not all Muslims believe that all of Israel belongs to them, just as not all Jews believe that all of it belongs to them. There are people on both sides that are willing to agree to a two-state solution.

The land of Israel was originally a Hebrew/Israelite country (later called Jews). From about the year 2000 BCE to the year 70 CE. The Jews were kicked out of Israel in the year 70, by the Romans, who renamed the land "Palestine" after an enemy of the Jews, called "Phillistines". In the centuries following the expulsion of the Jews, Arabs moved into the area.

Jews started to return to the area in large waves starting in the 1880s. The Arabs had no objection, mainly because the Jews were not settling in the same areas as the Arabs.

The Arabs and the Jews got along very well. The Arabs only started to object when talks of Israel becoming an independent state first began, around 1947. The original plan was to partition the land based on where everyone was living at the time, with Jerusalem remaining an internationally controlled city. The Jews agreed to this plan, but the Arabs didn't. Four major wars ensued.

Today, Arabs believe Israel belongs to them, and Jews believe it belongs to them. Both have a history with the land, and both have valid claims. And on the day that both sides recognize that, there will be peace.

Answer 2

It just happens that the people that feel Israel belongs to them happen to be Muslims. The area where Israel is was once the property of people that had inhabited the area that is now called Israel for over a thousand years end well beyond that. The English colonial system had put England in a position of power over the area and after WW2 with the assistance of the united states literally gave the homes of the original inhabitants away to Jewish refugees. The people that originally inhabited this area were simply displaced and put into camps. They believe it belongs to them because it does. There is no reason why refugees from all over Europe should have had a right to move into the territory of the original owners of this land regardless of what happened 2000 years ago. after all the Americans are not about to give America back to the Indians are they. So it is not so much that the Muslims feel Israel belongs to them it is just that Israel was stolen from people that were mainly Muslim.

[Discussion on historical nuances about this answer moved to the Discussion Section.]

Answer 3

There are two main reasons why Muslims object to the validity of the State of Israel. The first one is described in the two above answers and is the Palestinian historical claim to the land. No more need be said on that issue. The second is the Muslim response to the historic colonization of the Islamic World.

As the 1800s began, European leadership began to colonize most of the Islamic World. As a result, the segregated Dhimmi System (where religious minorities like Jews and Christians were second-class citizens to Muslims) gave way to a new, modern bureaucratic system where Europeans were the dominant class and natives, regardless of their religion were second-class, unless they became part of the bureaucracy. To do this, a person would require an education in order to become literate and be able to successfully perform functions in the Arab World. It was a gamechanger for minorities because they were at the same bottom as everyone else and they could rise to the top, just like everyone else.

Many Jewish groups (like Alliance Israélite Universelle) along with similar Christian groups came to the Arab World with European educations and European perspectives. They met up with their co-religionists and began to educate them so that they could become part of the new colonial bureaucracy. This created a fundamental imbalance from the way Arab society had been traditionally structured. Now it was the Muslims who were underrepresented in government, who were less educated, who were less free to practice their faith, and who were humiliated with laws passed against their interests. This would lead to many Arab Muslims painting the Jews and Christians who were native to their countries as foreign imperialists and usurpers. The hatred of Christians would eventually wane and remain marginal as Christians fled the Middle East in massive numbers in the 1920s and 1930s never to return. As the Jews had no intent of leaving, the hatred felt for them would only grow. They then made the unforgivable mistake of demanding to return their homeland and desiring to create an independent state.

So not only were Muslims previously living in Palestine prior to the colonial period and would now refuse to validate Israel on those grounds, but the Rise of Israel is also the culmination of the societal reversal started by the colonists, leaving the bitter test of colonialization in the mouths of most Muslims where Israel is concerned.