WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT ISRAEL I

"If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also away out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvellous fight in the world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"
These were the words of Mark Twain, an accomplished American writer who could analyse things critically and put them into writing. From observation, we know that this piece, written in 1899 reflects facts that can be proven to this day. But the question still remains, what is the secret of the Jewish people? In answering who the Jews are, we will get clues by examining the history of the people of Israel.
Israel began as a slave people in Africa, to be precise in Egypt along the Nile. They laboured all day to build the palaces and pyramids of the Egyptians, taking rest late in the nights only to get fit for another day of hard work, under the intimidation of the whips of the Egyptian slave masters. Thousands of Jews died and others had to survive sicknesses and harsh treatments day and night for over 400 years.
Finally, the Jews escaped from Egypt through Sinai. They settled as a nation and established the State of Israel and built the Temple. Many neighbouring nations attacked but the Jews survived as a people. Mighty empires began to grow nearby and beginning with Babylon, they conquered Israel and took the healthy Jews to Babylon as slaves. The Babylonians were defeated by the Persians who freed the Jews and allowed them to go home, to Israel. In Israel, the Jews had freedom for centuries until the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great conquered the south of the nation. A revolt by the local Jews was begun and they succeeded in driving out the Greeks from the land of Israel.
Around the time the Greeks were thrown out, the Romans found strength and they planned to establish a gigantic empire. They began by conquering neighbouring lands to get more taxes to be able to bring their dream to reality. In the year 40 BC, the Romans conquered Israel, added the territory to the empire and renamed the province Judaea. Six years on, Jesus Christ was born in Israel.
70 years after Jesus Christ, a Jewish army began an uprising against Roman rule in Israel. The uprising was successful to a point but the Roman Emperor at that time, Nero was angered about the Jewish war for independence. He sent a very cruel General to Israel who crushed the uprising and killed many Jews. The Temple was burnt to the ground and the territory was renamed Palestine by the Romans. A second revolt was began by the Jews against the Romans in AD 135 but this could not stand as well.
These two defeats marked the beginning of the dispersal of the people of Israel. Many of them were sold into slavery whilst others moved and resettled voluntarily in territories in the Roman Empire. It is in these foreign lands that they were tagged with names like ‘Jews’ in correlation to their religion which became known as Judaism. A few however remained in the old Israel that was now known internationally as Palestine. Between AD70 and the year 1900, Israelis were dispersed all over the world but they remained faithful to their culture and principles for all these centuries. Within this time also, many people of non-Jewish descent settled in and ruled the location of the former state of Israel which had been renamed Palestine.
Black Africans also began from the Nile region but not as slaves. However, the inability of Black Africans to build a state is due to the fact that they never got the chance to live as a single large unified community as the Jews did. As a result of that, there are many cultures throughout Africa and consistency has always been lacking, leading to disunity. The few early instances where Black Africans had the chance to live as a unified people in Empires took place in the interior of Western Africa but these were thwarted by light skinned invaders from North Africa. This left Africans living in small groups which acted as the impetus of many centuries of tribal wars and chaos.
Local wars took a different dimension when the European led Trans-Atlantic slave trade took the centre stage. Guns were introduced as well as a more humane way of disposing of the enemy; an active slave market in the European castles on the coasts of Africa. At that point, it was impossible for Africans to live as a unified people. No Black African knew where captured slaves were taken to by the Europeans. Some speculations stated that the slaves were eaten by the Europeans! Nobody wanted to end up on the plate of some strange White people so the only way to survive was to capture your neighbour and sell him or else he would capture you and sell you to the Europeans. The only way out was to hate your Black neighbour with perfect hatred. As a result of this intrusion, Black Africans have no culture. This is a topic hotly debated but in a continent where you meet a new and distinct culture meant to undermine the next tribe every 20 kilometres you travel, you cannot say that the people have a culture but methods of adapting to the status quo.
The Jews however had a culture and methods of doing things that yielded tangible and lasting results than every other culture. The most basic of these are; Belief in God, love for a neigbour and the believe in the reward for good deeds and evil deeds. This culture survived many generations and persecution. This is what has kept the Jewish people going for many years.
This time is the chance of Africa. It is understandable that animosity could grow in a continent where there is the need to fight to survive. Our forefathers did that because they had no choice. The legacy they left for us is to take precaution in each and every situation we may find ourselves in. The underlying principle of this mentality is to attack before the enemy attacks, as a result of this, many of us Black Africans in our modern times think of unseating our neigbours before they unseat us even when there is no eminent danger. We therefore look out for the weaknesses of our neigbours only. This continues to plague us as a people.
However, we are special. All what we need is to seek to explore our mights and power and be the best we can be by creating positive things that can help all of us. Remember that the foundations we lay today is what will be carried on by our children and their children. If we believe in God, love our fellows and seek their welfare genuinely, each one of us will make it. The Jews are a living proof of the efficacy of these principles. If we follow their footsteps and build a positive culture like the Jews, we would be blessed and have tangible for generations to come.