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According to the Book of Genesis, there was a covenant between God and Abraham around 2000 BCE according to which God promised the descendants of Abraham, the land of Canaan which comprises as of today Israel, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Going further back in history 5,000 to 10,000 years the Region was known as Jerico inhabited by Canaanites and according to archeological and DNA research they were similar to Israelites.
For the next 1000 years, upto today the Jews have moved in and out of the region for a variety of reasons due to wars, conflict and calamities as recorded in history and were even taken captives for long periods. Moses and after him Joshua led the Jews back to their homeland under the 12 tribes of Israel.
In 1000 BCE King David united the tribes and made Jerusalem the Capital. His son Solomon built the famous King Solomon Temple on mount Moriah with which Masons are too familiar.
In 586 BCE the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took the Israelites captive for 70 long years in Babylon which is present Iraq. They were subsequently freed when Nebuchadnezzar was defeated by the Achaemenian King, Cyrus the Great. It is said that on account of a premonition from God in his dream Cyrus released the Israelites to rebuild the temple and was acclaimed as one of the greatest King in history and is remembered for the Cyrus Cylinder on which human rights were inscribed 2500 years ago and which is today adopted by the United Nations in their Charter.
The masonic history stops here upto the rebuilding of the New Temple. The Jews then came under Hellenistic forces when Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 317 AD and Christian Holy sites were built in Jerusalem.
In 637 AD this region came under the Rashidun Caliphate and it is believed the Christian and Jews were suppressed. The Temple Mount became the site of the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Jews were only permitted to pray at the Western Wall.
The Christian Crusaders again captured Jerusalem in 1099 and Saladin recaptured the city in 1187 and this see saw of supremacy of regimes continued till the Ottoman Sultan Selim took over in 1517 and this continued for nearly 400 year known as Ottoman Syria when the region was inhabited by Muslims, Christians and Jews.
From late 1800 the Jews migrated from Eastern Europe and Russia and the Arabs migrated from Egypt and Syria in the region.
The region which had been under Ottoman rule till the 1st World War again reverted to the Jews under the Balfour Declaration 1917 at the behest of Britain.
There have been further migration of Jews after the 2nd World War from Germany and Austria and creation of Israel in 1948. With this background of migration the UN partitioned the region into separate Arab and Jewish states. The Jews were happy but the Arabs were not and branded Israel, a coloniser.
Egypt, Syria, Jordon, Iraq and Lebanon attacked Israel periodically and the war helped Israel consolidate its territory and many Palestinians were displaced and similarly Jews were evicted from Arab states of Yemen and Iraq and had to settle in Israel. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has continued thereafter till today.
In our own country Kashmir is a boiling pot even today. If one goes back in history, Kashmir was originally a Shiaite and Buddhist civilization till demographic changes in the 14th Century under Sikander (Alexander) who imposed prohibition on Hindu festivals, rituals and traditions and they continued under successive kings resulting in either conversion or expulsion, until 1947. When India gained independence Kashmir was a majority Muslim state and as late as 1990 there was an forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their homeland.
There are other regions in the world where the intensity of conflict is to a lesser extent and elsewhere the displacement has been reconciled. Zoroastrians had to convert or flee from Persia in the 6th century. Native Americans were displaced by European settlers. The same plight was of the aboriginals in Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and Latin America. The above is as per recorded history, who knows who were there before them we cannot change or rewrite history and have to gracefully accept it.
Kersi Limathwalla
District Grand Master
