History is seasonal and winter is coming

I first came across this statement when I watched a video making conclusion from documentaries created by Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s White House chief strategist in his administration. Steve Bannon is famous for his proposal of banning Muslims from entering United States. From the video, it indicated Steve motioned a scheme regarding the future of United States. 

Nonetheless, the major point of this article is not about his documentaries or his predictions. Rather, the main point that I want to talk about is about the statement of “History is seasonal, winter is coming”. At first I was just admired by the notion of its simple meaning, however, if I think more about it, it can be served as a prediction towards a future. Not likely as a definite one, but rather as a cycle. Surely, human life is a cycle. No other thing is new in human life cycle except the development of technology. Social cycle of human is nevertheless endured as it was in the past. The way our mind think is similar to the people in the past, especially our perspectives in politics such as struggling for power. The different is only occur on the way of conduct in technology.

It is not merely a worthless statement. It is very likely, I believed, something ‘bad’ will be probably happen in the future. It sure takes time, we cannot determine when and how long, but I am pretty sure it'll do. Moreover, apparently, I will explain the notion of the statement from my perspectives. It was unexpected that I start to think about it, something that relates to the conflict of Palestine and Israel.

Crusades was military campaign in Middle ages on an effort conducted by Roman Catholic Christians in Europe to claim Jerusalem as what they said their Holy land. Pope Urban II, Roman Catholic Pope, used his authority to play his part in politics. He was the first one to propose Europeans to claim Jerusalem. By the time of first crusade, European regions were devastated because of the never-ending wars and conflicts between them. Moreover, as someone who has the high authority, and in order to unite European Christians back, Pope Urban II encouraged the people to take part on the campaign. In doing that, he ordered Europeans to wage a so-called Holy War to justify their action. The crusades invaded Jerusalem and brutally massacred the citizens who were dominated by Muslims. Moreover, the crusades established a Christian kingdom that was once called Kingdom of Jerusalem. European Crusades were separated into four campaigns that each of it never last long.

Before the crusades, people in Abrahamic religions which are Muslims, Christians, and Jews were living in Jerusalem in peace. After the crusades conquered Jerusalem, it became an empire for Christians only. The kingdom of Christians was widely known to be hostile towards Muslims, Jews, and others.  Unfortunately, the kingdom of Christians did not last long; every settlement they established always lost because of either Muslims forces or Mongolian forces. The kingdom of Christians in Jerusalem came to destruction when Muslims reclaimed back Jerusalem and it was under Ottoman Empire until World War II.

Crusades, historians suggested, was mostly initiated and played by political interest rather than religion. Europeans in medieval period was known as living in Dark ages, where most rulers such as Kings and Emperors were in conflict while fighting each other in the name of religion. Moreover, it was known that at first proposed, people engaging themselves in Crusades were only seeking for pilgrimage to Jerusalem as their holy land. However, in the turn of time, the purpose of crusades changed into seeking for wealth and gaining political and territorial advantage.

Does it sound familiar in contemporary era? Yup, I believe so.

In the term of “History is seasonal, winter is coming”, I believe that the term can be used in modern era where the situation of Palestine and Israel lies a conflict that, as well, until now cannot be resolved. In my perspective, World is similar to a season. ‘Palestine is currently in winter where Israel is in spring. Next thing, Palestine will be in spring and Israel will be in summer.” I do not merely conclude it from a simple argument, but, when you read history of Jerusalem, you will realize that it has been fought since the beginning. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. All of this for a city called Jerusalem.

In contemporary era, the creation of Israel was realized by Zionists.

More recently, the case was came into our thought again because Rima Khalaf. She is an under-secretary general in United Nations. In 16 March 2017, Rima published a report under UN name that ‘Israel is imposing an apartheid regime towards Palestinians’ and she encourages governments to support BDS movement. However, the next day, under the pressure from Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of United Nations, she was asked to withdraw the report. In return, she asked for resignation from her position. 

Antonio Guterres is famous for his effort in humanity after serving as prime minister of Portugal. He is a devoted humanitarian who previously also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for 10 years before serving as Secretary-General in United Nations. This position has put him in uncertainty and undetermined because his recent decision to withdraw the report does not reflect his humanity nature. In this case, Antonio’s decision to withdraw the report might happen largely because of the pressure from both Israel and United States under Trump administration. The pressure from United States is both because United States is the strong ally of Israel and recently, Trump administration had stated that United States will cut its funding more than half from its usual budget to United Nations. This resulted on putting Antonio in hard stances.

However, it is clear that United Nations had succumbed to United States seeing the decision United Nations chose to withdraw a report that is based on a fact. 

What's the point of United Nations again?

However, the silver lining from the recent event can be seen that after the withdrawal of the report, many people come to realize that United Nations is completely succumbed to United States. Fortunately, this event triggered the attention of people toward this conflict and the people will aware of the true event that takes place in this world and the role of United Nations. Moreover, many people have spoken out their voice in favor of Rima Khalaf. 

As we all know, stating that Israel is an apartheid state is not anti-Israel. It is based on a fact that Israel is imposing segregation in its domestic system. There are many evidences that prove Israel conducting this behavior, such as the separation wall, segregation between Palestinians and Israelis, and the unfairness that actually happen in that region. 

In this last paragraph, I want to remind that the vital point is about changes. As I already depict a story about crusades, similar to that, the state of Israel was created based on Zionism where even most true Jewish people oppose this movement because it is based on racism. Moreover, in my view, everything that is achieved by inhuman power will not last long.