272 • 16 THE CONTEST FOR PALESTINEpractice Judaism—indeed, even those who have converted to another
faith—are still apt to be regarded as Jews unless they make strenuous ef¬
forts to prove they are not. Most Gentiles realize these facts, at least dimly.
The idea that the Jews are a nation is deeply rooted in the Bible: A no¬
madic tribe, the Hebrews, came to think that their deity was in fact the one
true God, YHWH (Jehovah in English). He had chosen them for his love
and protection because they had chosen him; he had commanded them to
keep his covenant and obey his laws from generation to generation; he had
led them out of Egyptian bondage and brought them safely to Canaan,
which they called the land of Israel, for he had promised it to the seed of
Abraham. Because Arabs as well as Jews claim descent from Abraham, the
term land of Israel restricts its possession to the descendants of Jacob (that
is, the Israelites). Even though the Israelites at times married outside their
tribe and even though other peoples converted to their faith, they re¬
garded all as being, at least in principle, children of Israel. Identification
with the land of Israel was central to their religion. Their festivals were—
and are—tied to its agricultural seasons. Many of their laws and customs
can be understood only in relation to the land of Israel in which they were
first practiced. Jerusalem is featured in prayers and common expressions
and is a symbol of the Jewish people's hopes and fears. Jew originally
meant "one from Judea," the region in which Jerusalem is the main city;
only later did it take on a religious significance.The Jews in Dispersion
For at least two millennia, most Jews have not been Judeans, nor until re¬
cently could it be said that they possessed Jerusalem or even that they
spoke Hebrew (although they did read the Bible in that language). Jews
kept their identity as a people by their observance of the faith and laws of
Judaism and by their wish to survive as one people, even without having
land, a common tongue, a state, or most of the other attributes of nation¬
hood. No matter how tenuous might seem the ties between the Jews and
their ancestral land, they never forgot them. More in good times and fewer
in bad, Jews went back to Jerusalem to devote portions of their lives to
study and contemplation or to be buried near its walls. There were always
some Jews living in Palestine, and many believed that only those who lived
there could feel wholly Jewish. The common anti-Jewish attitude of Euro¬
pean Christians enhanced Jewish solidarity and identification with the
land. Jews in Muslim lands were better treated and knew that they were
free to live in Palestine, but only a few actually did so.