America and the Holy Land

Palestine possesses no strategic or geographic worth to any nation in the world. Yet, all throughout the course of human history, millions have shed their blood to control it.

Dating back to Israel and Judah, these two kingdoms controlled Palestine as theocratic monarchies, but were subsequentially subjugated by their neighbors - specifically the Babylonians, the Persians, and the Romans - due to their rejection of God and His law. The Romans engaged in countless campaigns to pacify and control Palestine, often having to embody the role of preeminent counter-insurgent to multiple Jewish tax revolts. After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, the land was a game of hot potato between Arabs, Turks, and European crusaders until it was finally seized by the Ottoman Empire after its conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517.

Following the successful Balfour and Sykes-Picot conspiracy, the British administered the land of Palestine, upending a 5 century long precedent of Ottoman Turkish rule. From there, we have the circumstance of today: Zionist regional hegemony - sponsored unquestionably and wholeheartedly by the collective West - and the perpetual displacement of Muslims and Christians by the formerly stateless and wandering Jewish population.

In the modern world, America has been the "godfather" of Zionist hegemony. Hypothetically, America could devote favor to a different party and completely upend Palestine's status quo. This begs the question: Why even choose a side?

Strategy relies entirely on geography. What makes America the most powerful nation in all of human history is subject to its geography. Natural harbors, navigable rivers, proximity to resources, and demography have been at the helm of the American success story.

The United States possesses two incredible geographic advantages when it comes to maritime strength- the barrier islands of the East Coast, and the three most important bays in the entire world: the Chesapeake Bay, the San Francisco Bay, and the Puget Sound. The Chesapeake Bay alone has more coastline than all of the Indian subcontinent, allowing natural deep and warmwater ports from which commerce and trade can flow, both internally and externally. From Providence, Rhode Island to Corpus Christi, Texas exists the longest string of barrier islands in the entire world, protecting the interior and carving out the longest natural waterway in the entire world. This isn't to mention the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River is the 2nd longest river in the entire world, just behind the Nile River in Africa. The Mississippi's origins stretch from the high hills of the Rocky Mountains to the low hills of the Appalachian Mountains, where they join in the Midwest and empty into the Gulf of Mexico through New Orleans. The width and depth of the Mississippi River has made it easily navigable, and the various tributaries of the Mississippi form the Mississippi Basin, the most valuable agricultural land in the entire world, ranging from Georgia to Montana and Texas to Ohio.

On top of all of this, America either has within its borders or in proximity to its borders vast quantities of natural resources. Alaska, Texas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, if they were ranked in global oil production, would beat out giants such as Venezuela, Russia, and Saudi Arabia- not even considering the offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Coal is also extracted in the Appalachian Mountains, famously in West Virginia. Steel and other raw materials have been mined from all over the country and historically forged in the Midwest. Most importantly, none of this could have been accomplished without the ingenuity, determination, and faith of the white European people, foundational to the conception and development of the United States.

To summarize: America is an extraordinarily blessed nation. The geographic advantages our nation possesses grants us immeasurable, natural power projection capability, beyond the scope of possibility for any other power in world history.

All of this being said, the Holy Land is geographically worthless.

In the entire land of Palestine, only one river flows through it, and no country in the region controls the river. The Jordan River is a religiously, culturally, and geographically significant waterway. Saint John the Baptist baptized Jesus Christ in this river in the 1st century. Geographically, it has been a de facto demarcation boundary between the Middle East and the Levant. When the British seized control of the former Ottoman territories in the Middle East, the mandate of Palestine was referred to as "Transjordan," since the territory crossed the Jordan River. The river is the lifeblood for agriculture and development in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the territories of Palestine, but by no means is it comparable to the great Mississippi River. Disputed ownership, non-navigable, zero tributaries, and it empties into the Dead Sea - the saltiest body of water in the world - rather than an ocean. On top of this, there are no natural ports in the entirety of Palestine. There are three primary port cities in the land of Palestine- Eilat, Haifa, and Tel Aviv. However, all of these are manmade port cities, which are costly and expensive.

Despite its proximity with major oil reserves, the land of Palestine isn't exactly known for its bustling resource extraction. At the very least, the land doesn't possess any resources the United States needs. Aside from recently discovered offshore oil deposits in the eastern Mediterranean, no vitally important natural resources can be harvested from this land.

It's very clear that there are very specific geographic and strategic blessings that the United States has and the region of Palestine horrendously lacks. From the perspective of a strategist and a geopolitical analyst, any country that exclusively occupies the land of Palestine will have an extremely difficult time making it even as a successful country, let alone a regional hegemon.

However, the United States has unconditionally supported the State of Israel - which occupies the land of Palestine and continues to seize more land in the region by the day - since 1967. This support has allowed Israel to be a nation capable of exuding influence and hegemony in the region. Whether it's airstrikes against Ba'athist Iraq in the 1980s, continuous antagonization of Syria, invading Lebanon, seizing the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, or even landing special operators all the way in Uganda to rescue Israeli hostages from Entebbe, Israel has, in a sense, "cheated death" in its hellish geographic position.

With all of this in mind, the United States really has no interest in keeping Israel in its deck of cards, nor any nation in the land of Palestine. From a strategic perspective, there are significantly better countries in the region for the United States to be allied with than Israel. Cyprus, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, and perhaps most importantly Syria are significantly more blessed geographically than Israel could ever hope to imagine. Let's briefly examine one country; Syria.

Syria has natural ports, a navigable river, proximity to resources, and demography on its side. The cities of Latakia and Tartus have natural year-round warm water ports, the latter of which the Russian military has a long-held military base. The Euphrates River flows through Syria, granting the nation a robust agricultural economy, as well as a strong energy sector, with the entirety of Lake Assad - which the Euphrates flows through - being a reservoir for the Euphrates Dam in ar-Raqqa. In addition to this, Syria has both oil in the eastern part of the country and domestically produces metals and steel in and around Damascus.

Interesting it is how a country with such proximity to Israel is somehow more blessed and beneficial than Israel itself, yet the United States vehemently rejects any kind of association with Syria.

This should be no surprise- the United States cares not for geostrategic interest, instead opting to favor the country that lobbies its government the most and influences its internal affairs the most.

The United States has a vested interest in aligning nations that are strategically and geopolitically expedient to America's interests. If we're going to pursue a future in which America is put first, we need to deeply consider America's alignment and involvement with any country in the region of Palestine. The Holy Land harbors cultural and religious importance. This is the land where history began, where the Son of Man walked. That being said, America's entanglements overseas are not and should not be dictated by religious or cultural importance. Above all else, strategy should guide our decision-making, and observing the land of Palestine undoubtedly leads to one conclusion; an interest in this sanctified territory America does not have.