Palestine – A Historical and Secular Perspective

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As the smoke of war started to settle early in the 20th century, the political future of historical Palestine became a burning and high profile issue due to the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the brand new ideology of Zionism. Since then there has been an ever-increasing spiral of violence for almost 100 years, starting with the 1st major riots in Mandatory Palestine in 1929. This violence has reached another level of destruction since 7 Oct 2023, with the world deeply divided about it, alarming human suffering and significant potential global consequences.

‘Humans do not fight over territory or food, they fight over imaginary stories in their minds’
Yuval Noah Harari –
Historian

One cannot do this complex topic justice in a few pages, so I publish it as a series of articles. My initial observations as I embark on this potentially controversial series:

  • The public discourse on Palestine is highly acrimonious and polarized, to the extent that rational discourse seems virtually impossible
  • Despite the strong passionate views people have, most seem to have very little historical perspective
  • It remains concerning to what extent both public opinion and government policies alike are driven by well-established but unexamined narratives.

I want to lead into this series by sharing 11 carefully selected quotes, which I regard as highly relevant for a critical historical investigation like this. It is worthwhile reflecting on these quotes up-front, and again as we revisit them during the series:

  • ‘Humans do not fight over territory or food, they fight over imaginary stories in their minds’ – Yuval Noah Harari
  • ‘Stories are the means by which we navigate the world… A string of facts, however well-attested, will not correct or dislodge a powerful story. The only response it is likely to provoke is indignation: people often angrily deny facts that clash with the narrative “truth” established in their minds’ – George Monbiot
  • ‘At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation and prejudice’ – Gore Vidal
  • ‘The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best and therefore never scrutinize or question’ – Stephen Jay Gould
  • ‘History is written by the victors’ – Walter Benjamin
  • ‘The past changes a little every time we retell it’ – Hilary Mantel
  • ‘History is a set of lies agreed upon’ – Napoleon Bonaparte
  • ‘However much you deny the truth, the truth goes on existing’ – George Orwell
  • ‘I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn, those to whom evil is done do evil in return’ – W.H. Auden
  • ‘It is only in folk tales, children’s stories, and the journals of intellectual opinion that power is used wisely to destroy evil. The real world teaches very different lessons, and it takes wilful and dedicated ignorance to fail to perceive them’ – Noam Chomsky
  • ‘As soon as men decide that all means are permitted to fight an evil, then their good becomes indistinguishable from that evil they set out to destroy’ – Christopher Dawson
Yuval Noah Harari [Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, Martin Kraft]
Gore Vidal [Image credit: dreamstime]

‘Stories are the means by which we navigate the world… A string of facts, however well-attested, will not correct or dislodge a powerful story. The only response it is likely to provoke is indignation: people often angrily deny facts that clash with the narrative “truth” established in their minds’
George Monbiot –
Investigative Journalist

I am painfully aware of this pearl of wisdom from George Monbiot. Be that as it may, I still have hope (maybe naively) that this series could make some difference. May I suggest you ask yourself 3 questions at the outset:

  • Do you regard yourself as a critical thinker?
  • How did you investigate any of the narratives you were raised with or are bombarded with constantly?
  • Do you think these core narratives inluence the way you look at historical Palestine and its news coverage?

Series Table of Content and Publishing Schedule


Please regard this as a written Netflix series on Palestine and check out the new episodes as they are published (as you would await a new Game of Thrones episode). I reckon it could be more interesting, and certainly more useful, than many Netflix Series. I structured the series into 20 Episodes (but still as a single Season), to make it more manageable, easier to reference and to divide it into sensible periods and themes. It is therefor a Limited Series, with Episode Numbers from S1E01 to S1E20. Episodes will on average take about 20 – 25 min (based on reading speed), which is short by Netflix standards. I tried to limit each episode to less than 5,000 words, but there are 3 more substantial historical episodes. These are Episode 2, 7 and 12, as they cover critical periods and required considerable digging into the evidence (and with the real valuable insights deeply hidden within the historic details). As an interesting aside, Episode 2 covers several centuries, while Episode 12 only covers 5 months!
 
When a new Episode is published, its Episode Title and Number will become an activated link, so please use the Table of Contents and Publishing Schedule below to retain the context, to improve navigation and get access to the new episode (and any published episode in the series at any time) by clicking its link. I highly recommend you follow this series on a laptop and not a phone. A new episode will be published more or less fortnightly over 8 months (every 2nd Friday, from Fri 31 Jan 2025 to Tue 7 Oct 2025). As you can see the first two episodes were published at the launch to give you some substance to start with. Episode 1 & 2 serves as the Pilot Episode, with the Season Finale scheduled for Tue 7 Oct 2025.
 
It may sound like a cliche, but please join me on this journey, allocate 20 min per fortnight to one of the most burning issues of our time, and try to do that with an open mind.

Date

Ep No

Episode Title

Published?

31 Jan

S1E01

Episode 1 – A Proposed Multi-Layered Model of the Zionist Narrative

31 Jan

S1E02

Episode 2 – The Rise and Fall of the Israelites and their Kingdoms during the Bronze and Iron Ages

14 Feb

S1E03

Episode 3 – From Assyrian Rule to Civil War in the Hasmonean Kingdom (722 to 63 BCE)

28 Feb

S1E04

Episode 4 – Roman and Christian Rule, Proselytism and Ethnicity (63 BCE to 638 CE)

21 Mar

S1E05

Episode 5 – Muslim Rule and the Crusades (638 CE to 1917)

4 Apr

S1E06

Episode 6 – Jewish Communities in Europe: From the Middle Ages to the Rise of the Nation-State

18 Apr

S1E07

Episode 7 – Intellectual Roots: The Rise of Antisemitism, Christian Zionism, Zionism and Religious Zionism

2 May

S1E08

Episode 8 – The Arrival of Orthodox Russians and the First Zionists in Palestine, WWI, and the end of the Ottoman Empire

23 May

S1E09

Episode 9 – The First 16 Years of the Palestine Mandate (1920 to 1936)

6 Jun

S1E10

Episode 10 – The Last 12 Years of the Palestine Mandate, including WWII (1936 to 1948)

20 Jun

S1E11

Episode 11 – The UN and Resolution 181 (1946 to 1947)

4 Jul

S1E12

Episode 12 – The Start of the Nakba (10 Dec 1947 to 14 May 1948)

18 Jul

S1E13

Episode 13 – The Birth of Israel, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the Continuation of the Nakba (1948 to 1952)

1 Aug

S1E14

Episode 14 – From the PLO to Hamas, and from Secularism to Islamism to Jihad (1964 to 1993)

15 Aug

S1E15

Episode 15 – From the Oslo Accords to the Split between the West Bank and Gaza (1993 to 2009)

29 Aug

S1E16

Episode 16 – Back to the Present (2009 to 2023)

12 Sep

S1E17

Episode 17 – 7 Oct 2023 and its Aftermath (2023 to 2024)

7 Oct

S1E18

Episode 18 – A Critical Secular Perspective on Palestine and Zionism

7 Oct

S1E19

Episode 19 – Appendix A: Settler Colonialism – Personal Experience in Apartheid South Africa

7 Oct

S1E20

Episode 20 – Appendix B: Notable Voices


JJ Brits
JJ Britshttps://thecsf.xyz/authors/
JJ runs The CSF as a modest contribution to promote critical thinking, an openly secular lifestyle, and normalizing Secularism, while challenging invalid religious claims and its disproportionate influence. He is based in Australia, and is writing a book on his journey through religion. His primary interest and research focus is Morality, as he is convinced that humanity will have to develop a more rational, tolerant and inclusive morality, in order to survive on our planet. JJ used to be a devout Christian and a qualified Minister of Religion, with a Masters Degree in Theology. He spent two years working on a PhD in Systematic Theology as he contemplated an academic career. These 8 years of full-time studies, seriously looking for answers in Theology, Philosophy, History and Science, led him to leave religion and his career, as the Christian scripture, dogmas, claims and history could not hold up to rational scrutiny.

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