Expert: Le Anne Clausen - 1/6/2009

Question
Hello Ms. Clausen,
The disaster which we in the West call--with much head-scratching--"The Middle East, seems to have had its seed in a time WAY before the foundation of the State of Israel. This question of a cause far distant in time has always caused me to wonder about what that might have been--what event or events could have caused so much distrust.  Likely owing to my own ignorance, it keeps popping up in my mind that the event could have been the Conquest of Canaan. Certainly the carnage involved was significant enough to engender the kind of deep-seated resentment that has the power to enter into tradition, and so, on into culture. (My being Irish, I know about such resentment.)
Thus, to my question:

Today's Arab cultures--broadly speaking--once having formed the major element of that which was once called "Canaanite" (today's Sinai, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, & Syria) how much--if any--historical importance do Arabs (again, most broadly speaking) attribute to the Conquest of Canaan? Perhaps I am very wrong and, the resentment having died away entirely, it holds no importance today, at all.)

Have you got an opinion on that?
regards,
Dan

Answer
Greetings Dan, and thanks for your question.  The 'Conquest of Canaan' theory comes up often in Western circles when discussing the current mideast conflict, as well as in religious circles, and also by some extremists on different sides.  However, it isn't really given a lot of credence by folks on the ground.

Believe it or not, Jewish and Arab peoples did live rather harmoniously at the local level for many centuries, up until European colonialism fostered by Nazi ideology in the late 19th and 20th centuries--and there are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim people local to the different Middle Eastern countries who will affirm this through their own family and local histories.  Even in the early decades of the present conflict (1920's--1960's), indigenous Jewish people were seen as different from the white Jewish settlers by their Arab and Middle Eastern neighbors.  

It is the memory of these times of cooperation, of raising children together, of friendships in villages, that drive many of the local peacemakers still today.  Peacemakers don't get a lot of press, but they are there, trying to make a difference.  You may like to research more about groups such as the Bereaved Parent's Circle, Gush Shalom, Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, the Rabbis for Human Rights, and the Women in Black.

Good luck to you, and I hope this helps!

peace,

Le Anne