Why Is One Tiny Jewish State Too Much?

There is a question that is rarely asked because asking it makes people uncomfortable.

Why is the existence of one Jewish state considered such an unbearable problem by so much of the Arab and Islamic world?

Israel is tiny. You can cross significant parts of the country in the time it takes to drive between two major European cities. Yet this small strip of land has occupied an astonishing amount of political attention across the Middle East for generations.

The Arab League represents 22 members. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation represents 57 states across four continents.

And then there is Israel.

That contrast should at least make us willing to ask difficult questions.

Of course, the conflict cannot simply be reduced to Muslims having many countries and Jews having one. Nations are not interchangeable pieces of real estate. An Arab living in Ramallah cannot simply be told that Saudi Arabia, Morocco or Algeria is Arab too, therefore any one of those countries should become his home. National identity, family history and attachment to land matter.

But precisely the same principle must be applied to Jews.

Jews are not interchangeable with Europeans, Americans or anybody else. Jewish history did not begin in Poland, Germany or Russia. Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, Tiberias, Judea and the wider Land of Israel are woven throughout Jewish history, religion, language and collective........

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