Middle Eastern colonial powers

Both in the Middle East and in the West, we hear arguments accusing Israel of being an occupying, and a colonial power that engages in ethnic cleansing. The countries which level these accusations have themselves colonized extensive regions of the world and have largely emptied their countries of their Jewish population.

Muslim warlords occupied and colonized large areas of land in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Photo: Commons wikimedia

European settlers occupied and colonized at least three continents (North America, South America and Australia) in recent centuries and, during the East-European pogroms of the early 20th century and the subsequent Nazi genocides, have largely ethnically cleansed their own continent of Jewish people. After both the pogroms in Eastern Europe and the Holocaust, the more than 10 million Jews who lived in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century have been decimated to just over one million.
In addition, Muslim warlords have occupied and then colonized large tracts of land in the Middle East and North Africa after Muhammad had conquered Mecca in 630 with a vast Muslim army. The Muslims then took what is today, Israel, Syria and parts of Iraq. After that, parts of Iran, the remaining areas of Iraq, Egypt and the coast of North Africa were all conquered. Then Spain (in the 8th century), Iran and Afghanistan were also incorporated into the Muslim empire. The Muslim occupation of Spain came to an end by degrees from the 13th century to the end of the 15th century.
Även muslimska krigsherrar har ockuperat och därefter koloniserat stora landområden i Mellanöstern och norra Afrika efter att Muhammed år 630 erövrade Mekka med en stor muslimsk armé. Muslimerna intog därefter det som i dag är Israel, Syrien och delar av Irak. Därefter erövrades delar av Iran, resterade delar av Irak, Egypten och Nordafrikas kust. Därefter införlivades även Spanien (på 700-talet), Iran och Afghanistan i det muslimska imperiet. Muslimernas ockupation av Spanien upphörde successivt från 1200-talet till slutet av 1400-talet.

The Ottoman Empire lasted for just over 600 years, ending in 1923 when modern Turkey was established and the British Empire had established the British Mandate of Palestine. With the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by a force of approximately 50,000 soldiers the Ottoman Empire rose to being a world power. This then became a serious threat to Europe that dominated during the 17th century, encompassing the entire Middle East, Turkey, the Balkan Peninsula and large regions of North Africa.
Under Ottoman rule in the region for centuries, Jerusalem had become an abandoned and insignificant city. A researcher and consul in Jerusalem for the Kingdom of Prussia in the mid-19th century, Ernst Gustav Schultz, published his “Jerusalem book” in 1845, describing how in connection with the 1844 census the city had only 15,510 inhabitants, of whom 7,120 were Jews, 5,000 were Muslims and 3,390 were Christians.
Since the establishing of the State of Israel in 1948, all the Arab countries have ethnically cleansed their territories of virtually all Jews, which amounts to around 800,000 persons.

What has the Jewish presence looked like in the area that is today Israel? After over 1000 years of Jewish-Israeli presence in Israel with Jerusalem as its capital, Israel was occupied by the Roman Empire in 63 BC. The Roman Empire then destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and tried to expell the Jews from the country. Since then, the land has been occupied in order by the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and the British. These occupying powers largely followed in the footsteps of the Roman Empire and mainly left the country to its fate for 1900 years while Jews, both in the region and in the Diaspora, kept the dream of Zion alive, including using the prayer: “Next year in Jerusalem”.