How the 'Lost Tribes of Israel' help in understanding Mid-East peace issues

Reports that the Israeli authorities have given the 'go ahead' for the repatriation and integration into the Israeli populace of some survivors in parts of India from what are described as the 'Lost Tribes of Israel', bring up a subject that merits continuous and focused research.

- BY LYNN OCKERSZ

The contemporary observer of international politics seeking to understand more thoroughly the factors fueling the Middle East conflict and the crucial role identity issues play in it would, no doubt, be the biggest beneficiary of such research.

In the global South in general there has hitherto been a tendency to soft peddle what may be called 'the Israeli side of the story'. While the situation of the Palestinians has generated widespread empathy for them and very rightly so, an understanding of the causes prompting the Israelis to think and act as they do has gone comparatively unaddressed. This is a glaring lacuna in Southern scholarship in particular on the Middle East question.

But if the international community is to pave the way for even a measure of reconciliation in the region the points of view of both sides to the conflict need to be more thoroughly understood.

A news report on page 3 of this newspaper on December 12, 2025 titled, 'Israel is moving Lost Tribe Jews from India', is compulsory reading for those seeking to understand the history of Israel in its essentials. Going by Biblical History in particular the stark truth is that the Israelis were as persecuted as the Palestinians. It could be said that this process began in ancient times even before the birth of Jesus Christ a little over 2000 years ago.

The Old Testament of the Bible is essential reading for an understanding of the history of the Israelis, who are also referred to as 'The Chosen People of God'. It is a history replete with persecution, mind-numbing war and suffering. The Israelis were continually harassed, subjected to extreme suffering and were displaced from the land they were settled in; which roughly corresponds to today's Palestinian territories.