In 1099, European zealots invaded the middle east to create a Christian “Kingdom of Jerusalem”. But 88 years later it was defeated by Salah al Adin. Professor Roy Casagranda, anticipates that the European project of a Jewish State of Israel might well face the same fate. Read more.

Professor Roy Casagranda is a prolific historian and political scientist who writes (and podcasts) on US and Middle East Politics. He has spent a lot of time analysing history of the Middle East, including Syria, the Levant and Egypt. Recently, he has turned his attention to the Christian crusades and sees parallels with a contemporary European attempt to carve out a state in the middle east – the creation of the Jewish State of Israel.

Pope Urban II launched the first crusade, with a promise that fighting would wash away sins under the slogan “Deus Vult” or “God wills it”. The Crusades (actually there were six crusades) was a European Christian military/political/religious movement whose goal was to take control of the Holy Land and return it to its “original” Christian owners.

The First Crusade captured Jerusalem in a murderous six week siege in 1099. Chroniclers from both sides describe large numbers of Muslim and Jewish inhabitants being killed. Victorious crusaders established the “Kingdom of Jerusalem”, expelling many of the survivors. The city was repopulated with Europeans and remade into a Christian city. Over the next few years, the Crusaders gradually expanded their territory and set up several small kingdoms.

But the Kingdom of Jerusalem only lasted 88 years. By 1187, Muslim forces under leaders like Saladin had retaken Jerusalem.

Unlike the crusaders, Saladin did not murder the Christians or destroy their churches. His policy was to allow Christians to stay if they accepted his rule.

The Jewish “State of Israel” and the Christian “Kingdom of Jerusalem”

Casagrande sees five important parallels between the European Christian crusader kingdoms and the more recent European idea of a Jewish State.

These include:

• A religious ideology that justified the colonisation of the middle east even if it required mass murder and expulsion of the local population
• Strong military support from European states
• A weak and disorganized local indigenous population initially unable to put up effective opposition
• Expulsion of locals, appropriation of their lands and European colonisation
• A gradual unification of opposing anti-colonial forces which ultimately forced the Christian colonisation project to fail (and could do so with Israel).

Casagranda develops his thesis in this interesting Aljazeera interview with Mohamad Hassan.

What do you think? Israel is now 78 years old. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was defeated in 88 years? Will the Jewish State of Israel outlast the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem?

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