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McCook Gazette
Letter to the Editor

Arabs and Jews

Friday, January 13, 2012

Dear Editor,

A is for Arab, J is for Jihad (An Arab holy way) goes back to Abraham, a Jew, and Hagar, an Arab woman. Hagar was a handmaiden and servant to Sarah, Abraham's wife.

In Genesis 21, it states that contention arose betweeen Sarah and Hagar. Sarah was unable to have children and she gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife. Hagar and Ismael were banished to the desert near the Dead Sea.

Desert dwellers and descendents of Ismael intermarried. They became known as Cananites. Anyone who was not an Israelite was classified as a Cananite.

The Arabs living in Israel in 2012 prefer to be called Palestinians. Arabs living in Gaza today are living in a city established by the Philistines. Arabs also live in West Bank, a city near the Jordan River.

Now in modern times, tension exists in Israel between the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, has recorded that about 2.38 million Christians toured the Holy Land in 2010. On Good Friday in 2011, a large number of Christians flocked to the Via Delorosa. It was a record crowd.

Since Israel's six-day war in 1965, both the Gaza and West Bank Arabs have wanted the boundaries changed back to where they were before 1965. Arabs want their own state.

In December 1994-January 1995, I was furtunate to have traveled with a tour group to Israel. We visited the Wailing Wall on the western side of where King Solomon's Temple once stood. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. Countless visitors to Israel would never had that experience if the boundaries were changed back to ones existing in 1965.

Visitors to the Temple site include Christians, Jews and Moslems. (The Dome of the Rock Mosque, which was built upon the ruins of the Temple, is holy to Moslems.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Nebraska

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  • For what it is worth, Helen, the Six day war was in 1967, but no big deal, you have the information mostly right.

    One thing no one seems to remember, is that in 1947, when the UN declared the homeland for the Jew, who became Israel in Name, also declared, what is now Jordan, then 'Trans-Jordan,' for the Arabs to live in. Only through much complaint, by the Arabs was the West Bank, and Gaza, additionally taken from the area that was supposed to be for the Jewish people, not only for what they had suffered in WW-ll Germany, but also, as a part of the Belfour Declaration from WW-l, when a Jew figured out a gunpowder formula that helped win WW-l. That promise was not kept, until after WW-ll. What you say is right, only not quite complete, in that there has never been a people called Palestinian, as there has never been a country called Palestine.

    I say this, only so other folks can understand that Israel has been receiving the short stick, since 70AD, and for some reason, Hagar's children are still against everyone they come into contact with, including themselves. Oh, Hagar was not given, to be a wife, but to be a concubine, of sorts, to provide a son for Abraham, and Sarah, as Sarah would catch the child upon her knees, and as the mistress of the house, the child would then be considered hers, but Hagar did not release her hold upon the child, and Sarah didn't want Ishmael, once she became pregnant with Isaac.

    Thanks for bringing up the subject. Most people do not understand all that has transpired over the past, almost five thousand years, that has caused the 'bad blood' between the Arab (Ishmael child of Abram and Hagar (per Sarah's request), coupled with and Israeli (seed of Abraham, and Sarah, in Isaac, and Jacob)(not to mention Essah). Nuff said.

    All of this problem will be washed clean, soon, I pray. The bible tells me so.

    -- Posted by Navyblue on Fri, Jan 13, 2012, at 10:55 PM

  • There is a difference between faith and religion. Some religions have been fighting with each other since the beginning. Good point Navy, in your last sentence.

    -- Posted by dennis on Sat, Jan 14, 2012, at 9:05 AM
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