The Bar Kochba Revolt and the Modern Intifada
This is something I wrote for my ancient civilizations class.
The situation of the current crisis in Israel/Palestine is not isolated historically. Similar relationships, between dominant force and powerless population are extremely common throughout history. In order to expose the hypocrisy surrounding the Palestinian uprising and the Israeli response, and perhaps discover some potential paths towards resolution, it is more useful to draw upon historical events which have greater pertinence to the specific parties involved. Israeli policy makers, in their apparent callousness regarding central Palestinian demands, would benefit from a thorough lesson on Jewish history, specifically, the history of the Bar Kochba Revolt of 130 CE.
There are striking similarities between the plight of the Jewish people in Judea around the time of 130 CE and that of the Palestinians who currently inhabit that same region. Both the Jews and the Palestinian arabs have traditional claims to the land. However, in 130 CE it was the Jews who had been struggling to maintain their traditional sovereignty over the land, and in the early to mid 20th century it has been the Palestinians. When the Romans were in control of Judea, which includes 130 CE, this area was populated by a majority of Jews. Similarly, when the Zionist project began to gather momentum in the 1930s and 40s, there was a majority of Palestinians. Jews as a significant population did had not existed for centuries. [1] Both situations, although with different groups involved, share the basic attribute of what essentially amounts to a colonial style foreign occupation and domination.
The goal of Hadrian, who was the Roman Emperor in 130 CE was to bring a Roman peace to conquered Judea. Hadrian was taking over from an expansionist Emperor, Trajan, and wanted to minimalize the amount of fighting he had to do in border wars. So he planned on the Romanization, the elimination of resistant cultural, spiritual and political tendencies of the subject population/area, of the provinces, including Judea. This corresponds nicely with the Zionist �Jewification� (sounds bad I know) of Palestine in the 50s and 60s. The aggressor state, Rome/Israel, must overwhelm the native population, and it does so with varying methods. In ancient Judea, Rome banned autonomous Jewish culture and religion, and in Israel today, the population of Jewish settlers is kept artificially high. Artificial in that if the Zionists had not forcibly expelled the Palestinian majority from the area, they would not be able to control it.
In both modern day West Bank and Gaza Strip, the colonialist forces allow the existence of a puppet regime, a instrument that which while purporting to be representative of the subject population only serves to further disenfranchise them. The same was true of the Judean �kingdom� which existed under the Roman Imperial authority. The Palestinian National Authority, which is dominated entirely by the corrupt Fatah Party, approaches the Israeli Defense Forces in the level of disregard it has for the Palestinian people. Even after Oslo, when the Palestinians were supposedly granted sovereignty, the PNA has brutally suppressed all dissent within the Palestinian populace and is anything but democratic.[2] If you are to get a good job in the PNA controlled areas of Palestine, you had better be a member of Fatah.[3] Likewise, in ancient Judea, despite complete Roman domination of all facets of society, there was a Jewish �king,� with no real power. The difference, one instrument supposedly autonomous and the other obviously subject to the Roman Empire, is superficial. In both cases the dispossessed people of the region have no control over their own destiny.
With the enormous military might of the USA, basically equivalent to that of Rome�s, and an aggressive police state to ensure �stability,� the Zionist project has succeeded not only in transforming Palestine into Israel, but also in changing the Palestinian people from once free people they were, to the refugees and exploited diaspora they are today. An entire nation of people, now almost 4 million, have been forced out of their homeland into refugee camps, or worse. The condition of many of the camps, in which some families have had to remain in since 1967, or even 1948, is still destitute squalor.[4] These 3.7 million plus human beings have been denied their right to autonomy, to homeland and to basic human dignity. Around the time of 130 CE the Jews under Roman rule had it just as bad, or worse. Subject to constant brutality at any infraction, the Jewish people lived lives of desperate poverty and fear. Like the Israeli-Arabs today, the Jews were seen as a source of cheap labor, and their Imperial overlords exploited this to the extreme. The Roman authorities would often murder or arrest political dissidents. The State of Israel uses �administrative detainment� to arbitrarily imprison Arabs, or Jews, who they feel threaten the power structure.[5] The striking similarities evident in just the conditions of the two oppressed peoples is enough to lead one to the conclusion that the current issue is not one of religion or race, but one much deeper than that. It is one of oppressor and oppressed, a dynamic that echoes to us from as far back as the 2nd century.
Not only are the conditions of the two subject peoples similar, the things that ignited their respective struggles for freedom also mirror each other. The uprising of 2000 is not the first in the history of the conquered Palestinian people, nor was the Bar Kochba revolt of 130-36. The first Judean revolt occurred in September 66 CE. The first Arab revolt, the first Intifada, began in 1987. The current one, which bears more similarity to the second Jewish revolt, started in September of 2000. The spark that lit the prairie fire was in both situations, something relatively minor. The Arabs in Israel were enraged when the man responsible for the death of hundreds of refugees, Ariel Sharon, visited their most sacred temple, Al-Aqsa. The Jews rebellious passion was fanned when the Emperor Hadrian purposed the building of a pagan temple at the site of the destroyed Jewish Temple. Hadrian further infuriated the Jews by outlawing circumcision, and important Jewish ritual. The Arabs have been consistently denied access to and sovereignty over their most important religious site, the Al-Aqsa mosque. After these secondary provocations the Jews took up arms on a huge scale against the Roman Empire. The magnitude of resistance in modern day Palestine is not so high, but after Sharon�s visit, the Arabs also took to the streets in violent protest. There are obviously religious elements in both struggles, however it seems clear that the ancient Jews and the modern Palestinians viewed the seemingly inconsequential gestures as symbols of a greater injustice.
Then there are the personalities involved. First we must mention Bar Kochba, the namesake of the Jewish Revolt of 130. Originally named Simon ben Cosiba, the later alteration is a propagandistic pun, Bar Kochba is Aramaic for �Son of the Star,� a messianic allusion. Bar Kochba did not start the revolt. Due to the terrible conditions the Jews would have eventually risen up again at some point. But, like Yasser Arafat, Bar Kochba was able to unite certain sectors of Jewish society in violent struggle against occupying forces. He was chosen by the extremely popular rabbi, Akiva to lead the 500,000 strong Jewish guerrilla army against the Roman occupation. Also like Arafat, and despite his popularity, Bar Kochba was viewed with considerable suspicion by some of his own people, who derided him as Bar Koziba ( the hebrew word for liar.[6])
Another parallel can be drawn between Ehud Barak and Emperor Hadrian. Both Barak and Hadrian were initially doves when approaching the situation. Hadrian wanted peace in the provinces, Barak in Palestine. But because of their inability as leaders of the colonial force to make the full compromises necessary to meet the needs of the subject people, they could not stop the situation from escalating. Despite Barak�s efforts towards peace, and Hadrians relative benignity towards the Jews, they simply could not address the situation in a way suitable for the people they ruled. So, true to their nature as members of the ruling class, both Barak and Hadrian had to change their stances. As the Al-Aqsa Intifada, dragged on Barak affirmed his position as a capable military leader, and vowed to crush the uprising with military force. Many died, but the rage of the Palestinians did not. Hadrian too attempted to stop the Bar Kochba Revolt in it�s tracks, but was incapable. So both the mighty Roman Empire, and the Israeli Security State had to call in the big guns.
For Hadrian the big guns came in the form of a renowned General, Gaius Julius Severus, who had to be called from battling Celts in Britain with 35,000 extra troops. The Israelis are now looking very much like they are going to elect hardliner Ariel Sharon, who is also renowned for brutal repression of conquered peoples. Bar Kochba�s massive Jewish army tried to never come in direct opposition to the Roman forces. It succeeded at first in it�s guerilla tactics, but when Gaius Severus was brought in, the brute force of the Romans was able to overpower the resistance. The same situation for the Palestinians seems likely if Sharon comes to power. Sharon has vowed to ensure a warlike peace in Palestine by militarily crushing all resistance to Zionist occupation.
After Bar Kochba was defeated the Romans slaughtered over 500,000 people, not just soldiers, but thousands and thousands of innocents. [7] The Jewish people were denied, basically, the right to exist as an autonomous culture. They were denied their religion, entrance to Jerusalem, the ability to own land and a multitude of other things. Thousands of Jewish women and children were sold into slavery. Which is where one would hope the Israelis would not want to repeat history. If the Palestinian uprising is defeated by use of force or empty treaties, like Oslo, and not by a direct resolution of the basic conflict of interest, something similar to the aftermath of the Roman victory will likely play out in Israel.