Monday, July 09, 2012

What the Fight Between Jews and Arabs Is Really All About

Nadene Goldfoot
Actually, The modern effort to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people began in 1839 with the petition by Sir Moses Montefiore to Sa'id, Khedive of Egypt, for a Jewish homeland in the region of Palestine.


Finally, November 29, 1947 was the day the UN decided to recommend the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state.  The Jewish state would be even smaller than what was later decided by Armistice Lines in 1949, after all the Arab nations had attacked the new-born Israel.   It was only a little more than half of western Palestine, about 15,000 square km or 6,000 square miles and that was including the semi-arid Negev Desert.  In contrast, Egypt has 386,000 sq miles. Today Israel amounts to 7,992 square miles.

 At the time there were already 7 Arab states in the same area:  Egypt, Iraq, Syria Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Transjordan.  The area of land they already had was 230 times larger than the planned Jewish state and had a population 60 times more than the Jews, who numbered about half a million, or pretty close to 600,000.

At this time the Arabs wanted the Jewish land as well.  This is what they fought the Jews about.  There were no "occupied territories" to fight about The Arabs were guaranteed their state out of the Jews' promised Jewish Homeland. There weren't any Arabs living in refugee camps.   In fact, their portion was 7/8 of all of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River.  All 7 states would invade Israel.  It was a ratio of 7:1.

They even refused to recognize the Jewish claims to the land.  That hasn't changed as we saw on the Geraldo show last night that Palestinian legislator, Dr. Hanan Ashrami vehemently denied Jews any history to Jerusalem or the land at all.


Palestine was quite a large piece of land as known at the time of the British Mandate of 1918 at the end of World War I.  In the map above you can see the Dead Sea.  February 1919 Emir Faisal, the recognized Arab leader of his day was also  in the act of striving for  the creation of an Arab political independence in Syria where he was a king for a brief time and Iraq where he ruled for 40 years.  He signed a formal agreement with Dr. Chaim Weizmann for cooperation between the two over the projected Arab state and the projected reconstituted Jewish state of "Palestine"  Faisal saw the borders proposed as moderate and proper.  The Zionists included what became Mandatory Palestine on both banks of the Jordan as well as NW Galilee up to the Litany River, later included in S. Lebanon, part of the Golan Heights, later included in Syria and part of Sinai.  


What the League of Nations was establishing was separating the  "state of Palestine" from Syria. They had the mandate over the Ottoman Empire that had lost the World War I.  Britain saw that Palestine would control its own source of water power and irrigation on Mount Hermon in the east to the Jordan.  This was of great importance since the success of the new state would depend upon the possibilities of agricultural development. " The mandate formalised British rule in the southern part of Ottoman Syria from 1923–1948."


 " It was recommended the the Jews be invited to return to Palestine and settle there, being assured by the Conference of all proper assistance in so doing that may be consistent with the protection of the personal (especially the religious) an the property rights of the non-Jewish population, and being further assured that it will be the policy of the League of Nations to recognize Palestine as a Jewish state as soon as it is a Jewish state in fact. "


The League of Nations Report said:  "It is right that Palestine should become a Jewish state, if the Jews, being given the full opportunity, make it such.  It was the cradle and home of their vital race, which has made large spiritual contributions to mankind, and is the only land in which they can hope to find a home of their own;  they being in this last respect unique among significant peoples."


Instead of following Emir Faisal's wishes which would have had a good outcome for all, the Arabs followed the advice of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and attacked the Jews instead.  The Grand Mufti was in cahoots with Germany.  " as shown in a memo written November 2, 1943 from Heinrich Himmler to an anti-Balfour Declaration meeting: 


"To the Grand Mufti:
  "The National Socialist Movement of Greater Germany has, since its beginning, inscribed upon its flag the fight against world Jewry.  It has, therefore, followed with particular sympathy the struggle of the freedom--loving Arabians, especially in Palestine, against the Jewish interlopers....." 


The British had compounded the Jewish efforts by doing everything in their power to keep them out of the area.  It was truly a miracle that Israel was pronounced a state as the British Mandate was up and they left on May 14, 1948.


Reference: http://www.colostate.edu/orgs/ESA/general.html
Book: Battleground, Fact and Fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Israel
Book:  From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_for_Palestine_(legal_instrument)

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