What Israelis really want in a peace agreement

Security is Israel's top priority, but what exactly is Israel securing? In this essay, part two in a series, an Israeli tour educator gets to the heart of the matter.

This is part 2 in a series. Read part 1 first.

As reports indicate that Iranian attack drones and maybe some missiles are on their way to Israel, now is as good a time as any to ask:

What is Israel trying to secure?

What do Israelis really mean when they talk about their security needs? Security for what, exactly?

In order to answer these questions, we must take a closer look at what Israelis say about themselves. More precisely, we must understand the identity of the majority group in Israel – the Jews.

Who are the Jews?

That is a big question.

The answer that I’m going to give you is the most important sentence that I’m going to give you.

It’s a simple sentence. 

Are you ready?

The Jews are a people.

Yes, that’s it.

Jews are a people.

If I can teach my tourists in Israel one thing in ten days, it’s that the Jews are a people.

This is the premise of everything that follows. The Jews are a people.

For most of history, it was uncontroversial and unnecessary to say that the Jews are a people. Jews considered themselves a people, and non-Jews considered Jews a people.

Nowadays people are confused about who Jews are. Most people consider Jews to be only adherents of a religion called Judaism. It is common for people to see Judaism as a religion just like Christianity is a religion and Islam is a religion. But this kind of thinking misses a key component of Jewish identity, which is that Jews are a people. (It also misses the fact that the category of religion is actually a Christian idea.)

What does it mean to be a people? Being a people means that the Jews are a family. An extended family is a tribe. An extended tribe is an ethnicity. Jews are these things and more. But in the most simple language, the Jews are a people.

There is a logical question that should follow when anyone tells you that a group of humans classify themselves as a people.

For example, if I tell you that the Zulu are a people, what might you want to ask about the Zulu?

Don’t overthink it. It’s a simple question.

Where are they from?

The Zulu are from South Africa. Easy.

Ok then. The Jews are a people. Where are Jews from?

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A few years ago I was guiding a group of college students from a prestigious American university. I was having this exact conversation with them about how Jews define themselves. I explained that Jews are a people.

Then I asked: “Where are Jews from?”

It got real quiet.

Silence.

Finally a brave student said: “I thought Jews are from Eastern Europe.”

“Thank you,” I said. “That’s a very reasonable answer. In fact, all eight of my great grandparents were from Eastern Europe.”

Then somebody else chimed in: “I thought Jews are from North Africa.”

A discussion ensued. Somebody mentioned that they knew a Jew from Iran. The elite college students were confused.

Where are Jews from?

It’s not a trick question. If Jews are a people, there must be an answer to the question. A people cannot emerge from different points on the globe. A people, however spread out they may be today, must have had a starting point somewhere.

Where are Jews from?

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Jews are from the Land of Israel.

Allow me a few sentences to fill in what you forgot (or never learned) in Hebrew school.

Before Jews were Jews, they were Israelites. Israelites called themselves Israelites because they claimed descent from the patriarch Israel (birth name: Jacob). The descendants of Israel – the Children of Israel – called the land on which they lived the Land of Israel. There is archaeological evidence of a people called Israel already in 1200 BCE. (Watch my video about it.)

So why are Jews called Jews? 

According to the Biblical narrative, the United Kingdom of Israel (~1000 BCE) was ruled by King David and then his son Solomon. After Solomon, the kingdom split into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. A bit over 200 years later (~722 BCE), the Assyrians invaded and destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel. Ten of the 12 Israelite tribes were taken into Assyrian captivity and were lost to history. The southern Kingdom of Judah survived the Assyrian siege, thanks to the preparations of King Hezekiah. If he hadn’t prepared, our story would end here. (Watch my video about that, too.)

Judah existed as an Israelite kingdom until the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BCE and forced the people of Judah into exile in Babylon. Judah became the common tribal identity of the exiles who began to refer to themselves as Judeans. Judea was the territory of the Kingdom of Judah. It’s the hills around Jerusalem. Judea and Judah are the same word in Hebrew – Yehudah יהודה. People from Yehudah are Yehudim, or in English – Jews.

Now you know where the English word “Jew” comes from. Anyone who says “I am a Jew” is claiming descent from the Kingdom of Judah. I told you that Jews are a family.

Jews remember where they are from.

Jews remember the Land of Israel.

Not just for centuries, but for millennia, Jews have remembered the Land of Israel. Jews remember Jerusalem, their ancient capital. Wherever they are in the world, Jews pray facing Jerusalem. At the end of the Passover seder, Jews say “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Another word for Jerusalem (and the Land of Israel) is Zion. In exile, by the rivers of Babylon, Jews remembered Zion.

For most Jews, for most of history, a return to Zion was a dream. The Land of Israel had a small Jewish population throughout the centuries, but nothing more than that. A few ambitious Jews in the late 1800s wanted to restore Zion in their own time. These Jews called themselves Zionists.

In the following decades, Jews returned to the Land of Israel and built a state.

The Zionist Jews purchased land, drained swamps, made deserts bloom, built thriving communities, revived the Hebrew language, learned to defend themselves, aspired to national independence, and sought peace with their neighbors.

On May 14, 1948, Jews in the Land of Israel declared the establishment of the State of Israel.

Why? 

What was the point?

I started this essay by asking: What is Israel trying to secure?

In other words, what do the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, where half the world’s Jews live today, want?

It’s this:

The Jewish people want to be responsible for their own fate in at least part of the Land of Israel.

That’s it. That’s the whole point in one sentence.

That’s Zionism. 

Zionism is the idea that the Jews are a people, from the Land of Israel, and they have the right to be responsible for their own fate in at least part of the Land of Israel.

Zionists also want to be responsible for their own fate in a democratic country.

If Jews are going to be responsible for their own fate and be a democratic country, then a majority of the people in the country need to believe in the idea of Zionism or it gets outvoted. In short, the Jews – the Zionists – need to be a majority in their state.

That’s what the overwhelming majority of Jews in the State of Israel want. That’s what Israel is looking for in any peace agreement with its neighbors.

Remember this point, because I will come back to it in future essays.

I will end with some breaking news:

The Jews are not the only people living in the Land of Israel.

In my next essay, I will explain Palestinian identity and political goals – and how Palestinians react to everything I said above about the Jews, namely:

1. Jews are a people.

2. Jews are from the Land of Israel.

3. Jews remember the Land of Israel.

4. Jews returned to the Land of Israel and built a state.

5. Jews have the right to be responsible for their own fate in at least part of the Land of Israel.

Still with me? Let me know in the comments.

Continue to the next essay.