Self-Governance Takes Multi-Generational Skill
And the people living in Gaza lack any history of self-governance. If they get another chance, they'll need help. We can only hope they will accept it.
Wednesday, November 8th, 2023
Dear Freedom Friends,
While the events in Israel and the surrounding regions are heartbreaking and tragic, this is an opportunity to fill in gaps and learn a great deal at breakneck speed. I’ve enjoyed writing the below substack, and if you have information to add or clarifications to offer, please do so in the comments. And, include links to your sources.
To be “a people” you need more than a label.
For the past century, we’ve been hearing a lot about “the Palestinians.” But, who are the Palestinians? The people living in the geographic region generally referenced or referred to as “Palestine” have never ruled themselves. They do not have their own religion, their own language, their own form of writing, or even their own dance.
When you search for “Palestinian Dance” you get the following result: “Dabke is a Levantine folk dance, popular in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions.”
Note: Before the 19th century, Palestine was known as The Levant. “Levant” refers to the eastern Mediterranean region that includes modern-day countries such as Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, and parts of Syria and Turkey.
While some long-time residents lived isolated, agricultural lifestyles in remote regions of The Levant (aka Palestine), the trade routes and cities were diverse with a constant stream of newly arrived, international visitors and new residents, resulting in a constantly changing population.
Note: Here is an excellent source, for people interested in the 19th century developments within the lands most recently known as Palestine.
There is a huge focus on 1947 and the forced exodus of local residents (know as The Nakba). However, 1920 was of greater import. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire on the heels of WWI, the international community gave control of the area known as Ottoman Palestine to the British, through the Mandate system. Never heard of that? Here ya go…
“After World War I, the League of Nations granted Britain control over Palestine through the Mandate system. Under the terms of the Mandate, Britain was responsible for facilitating the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine while safeguarding the rights and interests of the non-Jewish communities.”
In 1920.
Power matters.
Especially when one is seeking regional self-determination and self-government. Not just raw, violent power. A nation must have the power of diplomacy, so it can forge alliances, generate cooperative business ventures, support successful trade, and build up the lives of its citizens.
These skills must be learned, and that learning curve is usually long and arduous. The movement to “give” the people of The Levant (Palestinians) a nation to rule, is naive. The people living today in Gaza (and the West Bank) are decidely unprepared for self-determination and self-rule. This is not their fault. It’s the natural result of thousands of years of oppression.
The Ottoman Empire, also known as the Turkish Empire, ruled over Palestine from the early 16th century until the end of World War I in 1918. That’s four hundred years!
And, before that? The Levant was under the control of one empire after another, such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and so on.
We owe the ancient Romans our thanks. Without the Roman Empire, Western Civilization would be entirely different.
The Roman Empire shaped, and continues to shape, Western Civilization. It’s enduring and ubiquitous presence in our lives, over many centuries, is a form of generational learning, experience, culture, and skill.
Europe — as we know it — would not exist, if not for the Romans who conquered and influenced vast regions inhabited by “barbarians.” Our modern lives are a direct result of cultural leftovers from Roman Imperialism. Without that shared cultural history and rich treasure trove of knowledge, we would never have formed the various, Western Governmental Systems that function better than most.
On November 11th, 1947, Winston Churchill quoted an unknown predecessor while speaking to the House of Commons:
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…
He’s not wrong, and we have the Roman Empire to thank for it.
The people living on the East Coast of the North American Continent in 1776, did not dream up one of the greatest systems of self-governance known to mankind all on their own. The men and women behind that rare event stood upon the shoulders of ancient thinkers, rummaged through the scrap pile of old empires, and copied what was - first and foremost - familiar.
The Founding Families of the United States of America grew up in the British Colonies, spoke the King’s English, and were mostly offered a “classical education.”
Note: The word classics, by the way, is derived from the Latin adjective classicus, meaning "belonging to the highest class of citizens." It was a word used to describe the members of the Patricians, the highest class in ancient Rome.
The Constitution of the United States of America worked because of this shared history. As members of a society successfully ruling over its own lands and others’ for many centuries (the British Empire) — our Founding Families had the prerequisite skills and experience to cobble together a contract that brought people living radically different lives in myriad geographical regions — into one union.
And! We only won our war for Independence because another enduring remnant/cultural beneficiary of the Roman Empire (Imperialist France) stepped up to help us.
The good people of Gaza also need help. Desperately.
Fixing what’s wrong with Gaza is a huge ask. A massive challenge. Akin to the rebuilding of Japan post-WWII — only that was a much easier problem to tackle. Why? Because the people in Japan were pretty much all Japanese, with a rich, shared history, and unique-to-them language, foods, art, culture, ethics, values,religion, and thousands of years of self-determination and self-rule. They had it all.
Gaza is different in a whole lot of ways.
Asking a couple million people living in Gaza, 50% of whom are children, 50% of whom believe women should stay in the home, 50% of whom are women who lack experience outside of the home, and 50% of whom are ardently committed to the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews — to start governing themselves tomorrow — is asking too much.
It’s the definition of “setting someone up to fail.”
The people living in Gaza make my point for me. In 2005, when they were left to their own devices, they elected Hamas into power.
As Hamas took over with an iron fist.
As Hamas destroyed its opposition.
As Hamas refused to run future elections.
As Hamas terrorized the people of Gaza.
As Hamas took all the foreign aid for themselves.
As Hamas offered free “Terrorist In Training” summer camps to children.
As Hamas used the people living in Gaza as human shields.
As Hamas did all of this…? The good people living in Gaza were truly helpless. Hamza Hendawi, lays out the situation in grim detail.
Running a country is not easy. It’s damn hard. Defeating embedded terrorists who have married into your family, control all the resources, are eager to die for the cause, and are the only ones with automatic weapons?