The Islamic Perspective
This anti-Jewish policy followed by the Arab and non-Arab Muslims went against Islamic teachings. Under the Balfour Declaration, the division of Palestine was intended to facilitate the return of the Jews in the Diaspora to their homeland, which is clearly in accordance with the teachings of the Quran. According to the Quran, the Jews in the time of Prophet Moses were directed by God:
‘O my people! Enter the holy land which God has assigned to you.’ (5:21)
Who were the Jews of those times? They were those who were living in the Sinai desert in the Diaspora. The ‘Holy Land’ in this verse refers to Palestine. This verse was addressed to Prophet Moses’ contemporaries, the Jews living outside Palestine. The words of the Quran, ‘which God has assigned to you,’ mean that this return to Palestine was to be precisely by the law of nature. According to this law, any individual or group living in exile has the right to return to their original homeland.
Abraham had settled one branch of his family in Palestine. Joseph, Jacob’s son, was also born into this family. Destined by circumstances to reach Egypt, he was ultimately given a high post in the country’s government by the reigning king (one of the Hiksos dynasty), impressed by his capabilities.
After his position was consolidated in Egypt, Joseph invited his family, including his father Jacob, to leave Palestine for Egypt. Once settled in Egypt, his people multiplied and gradually became a powerful racial group in the country of their adoption.
In the years following Joseph’s ascendancy, a political revolution in Egypt established a new dynasty that supplanted the Hiksos kings. They adopted the title ‘Pharaoh.’ Under these new rulers, the Israelites were subjected to oppression until the advent of Moses, who succeeded in leading the Israelites out of Egypt into the Sinai desert. This was the first stage of their journey. The second stage of their journey was to enter Palestine and settle there in their former homeland.
During the time of Moses, that is, in the time of the ancient Jewish Diaspora, the plan for these exiled Jews to return to their former homeland was made at the behest of God. In modern times, the plan to return the exiled Jews of the Diaspora was executed in terms of the Balfour Declaration.
