Posted by
Shinymind on Monday, December 08, 2008 6:32:02 PM
Many
Americans who don’t know much about Middle Eastern history or politics
fall victim to two errors in reasoning regarding the legitimacy of
Israel; I refer to these as the Displacement Myth and the Double Standard.
They both can be cleared up if people are willing to take a fair-minded
look at history, and go beyond the simplistic story of the Jews coming to Israel from Europe after the Holocaust, and with the support of the U.S., displacing the native Palestinians.
What follow are historical facts that are accepted by mainstream
historians -the problem is that many people don't care enough to learn
the history, and instead accept the simplistic and fictional story
perpetuated by either the ignorant, or those with ulterior motives. If
people will learn these historical facts it will clear up a lot of the
confusion about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
Pre-Ottoman Period
It
is historically accepted that Jews have had a long and intimate history
with Israel. There is evidence of Jewish presence in Israel from the
very birth of the religion over 3400 years ago. The term Jew originates from the ancient Jewish kingdom of Judah (later sometimes referred to as Judea)
that was ruled by King David and King Solomon on this land. Judah was
conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE at which time the Babylonians
destroyed the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem. After the Babylonians
fell, Judah changed hands several times, falling under the rule of the
Persians, the Ptolemaics, the Seleucids, the Hasmoneans and the Romans.
Throughout this period, regardless of whose rule it fell under, Jews
continually inhabited Israel and considered it to be their biblical
homeland with Jerusalem as its capital.
In 66 AD there was a
Jewish rebellion against the Roman Empire (The Jewish-Roman Wars)
wherein upon their victory, the Jews formally re-established the nation
of Israel. The Romans (under the emperor Titus) recaptured Israel from
the Jews in 70 AD and destroyed Jerusalem and the holy Jewish temple
for the second time.
There was another revolt by the Jews
against the Romans in 135 AD in an attempt to re-establish the nation
of Israel, but it failed. The Romans were fed up with the persistent
Jewish uprisings. Upon their victory, to punish the Jews for their
latest rebellion, avoid future Jewish uprisings and to sever Jewish
ties to the region, the Romans (under the emperor Hadrian) illegalized
circumcision, forbade Jews from entering Jerusalem, renamed Jerusalem
to Aelia Capitolina, renamed the greater province of Judea to Palaestina and, upon the site of the twice destroyed Jewish temple, built a new temple to worship Jupiter.
The Byzantine Period followed from 330–638, and then the Arab Caliphate Period from 638–1099.
In 1099 the Crusaders conquered the region and ceased using the name Palaestina, and instead called the region Outremer.
During the Crusades, Jews in Israel and other places were murdered or
sold into slavery. At the fall of the Crusades, Jews were expelled from
England, and for the next 400 years, violently persecuted and expelled
from other European nations including France, Austria, Portugal and
Spain (the famous Inquisition). As Jews were expelled and
persecuted at various times around the world, many of them returned to
their biblical homeland of Israel, which was then under the rule of the
Turkish Ottoman Empire.
So far, this brief history demonstrates several key points:
•
Despite the many empires that ruled over Jerusalem and the surrounding
territory, the Jewish people were the only ones who repeatedly
established and re-established Israel as its own independent nation;
all the others who conquered it simply considered it to be a
geographical territory under the umbrella of their larger empires.
•
There never, in all of the region’s ancient history, existed a unique
Palestinian people, culture, language, kingdom or government. Palestine was
simply a name given to the region by the Romans in an attempt to punish
the Jews and break their bond to the region by giving it a name other
than Judea, which was a name that Jews obviously related to.
Palestine, as a geographical region, is akin to when people from Los
Angeles refer to their suburb of the San Fernando Valley. This is an
important fact that should be fully understood. Culturally, today’s
Palestinians consider themselves to be Arabs, as do the Saudis,
Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese and Iraqis. All of
aforementioned nations are part of the same single Arab culture,
history and ancestry that occupied the vast expanse of the Middle East
for centuries. In strict Islamic terms, all Arabs are part of the same
family, the same umma. This is beautifully articulated by PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein (1977):
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian
state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of
Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference
between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for
political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of
a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we
posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose
Zionism."
• Contrary to what many believe, Hitler’s
atrocities were not the first motivators that drove Jews to Israel.
Jews had endured centuries of bigotry and harsh oppression by Christian
Europe and others, which motivated Jews to continually immigrate to
their biblical homeland and maintain a constant presence there. As
described in the next section, the modern Zionist movement began long
before WW2.
The Ottoman Period
The Turkish Ottoman
Empire existed for over 600 years prior to the formation of modern
Israel. At the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries,
Ottoman territory included the entire Middle East, parts of North
Africa, and much of southeastern Europe. During this period, the area
that is now Israel was little more than a barren wasteland. Jerusalem
was a desolate outpost in-between nations, and the area surrounding it
was sparsely populated and inhabited by Arabs, Bedouins and Jews. Jews
still comprised the majority of inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem.
In the 1800’s, a group of Jews began a movement to try to re-establish their ancient nation of Israel (the modern Zionist movement)
to, once and for all, escape the persecution they endured for centuries
throughout the world and create a final safe-haven for the Jewish
people.
The Turkish Ottomans were an extremely corrupt culture. Bribery (baksheesh)
was rampant and everything was for sale for a price. The Zionists
capitalized on this, and went about purchasing large tracts of desert
and swampland from the Ottomans. Taking advantage of their religious
fervor, the Turks sold this land to the early Zionists for often
ridiculously inflated prices. The Turks were more than happy to accept
the Zionists money for what was at the time largely useless,
uninhabited land. The Jewish settlers drained the swamps, built the
roads, farms and towns, and eventually established the new city of Tel
Aviv in 1909.
Tel Aviv was founded on empty dunes. This photograph is of the auction of the first lots.
It is important to once again stress that the Zionists paid for the
opportunity to peacefully migrate to the largely empty, desolate
deserts and swamplands, and began to build homes and farms there. At
this time, there was little or no conflict with the local Arabs, on the
contrary the Jews developed the empty land, employed many locals, and
this prosperity attracted Arabs to populate the region from neighboring
areas. Even though Jews were flowing into Palestine at this time, there
was virtually no 'displacement of Arabs', since the area was still
largely raw and uninhabited. Many Arabs moved in from the surrounding
lands that are now Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, and as a result of
the successful Jewish settlements, found work, built homes, made money
and for the most part got along well with the Jews. At this point there
was still no major Arab-Israeli problem yet.
The British Mandate
When
the Ottomans were defeated by the British in WW1, the Zionist movement
was already well established. The early Zionists were pioneers in
farming and agriculture, and were literally terraforming the barren
dessert into rich, inhabitable land.
Palestine at this time included the region across the Jordan River (Eastern Palestine was renamed Trans Jordan by
the British). Trans Jordan made up more than 75% of the total area that
was once Palestine. Britain's original idea was to separate Trans
Jordan from the rest of Palestine, and in so doing, establishing the
country of Jordan as an independent Arab nation leaving a smaller
Palestine as the Jewish nation. In accordance with this plan, the
British established and gave the kingdom of Jordan to King Abdullah of
Arabia, who ultimately established an autonomous kingdom exclusively
for Arabs where Jews were forbidden by law to settle. On the Jewish
side, the Balfour Declaration was issued by the British on November 2,
1917. The letter stated the position that was agreed at a British
Cabinet meeting on October 31, 1917, that the British government
supported Zionist plans for a Jewish nation in the region of Palestine.
Note that through the Balfour Declaration, the Jewish nation was agreed
to diplomatically, not by force like most other countries' violent
origins.
As more Jews flowed into the British mandate of
Palestine (with Jewish immigration vastly accelerated by the refugees
who survived WW2 seeking a safe haven) the problem of Jews vs. Arabs
began to escalate. The problem was not one of displacement, for no one
was kicking the Arabs out of their homes. On the contrary, the Zionist
settlers were one of the primary causes for the Arabs of surrounding
areas to immigrate to the newly thriving region. The problem was one
where the Arab neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq) did
not respect the rights of Jews within their laws and their culture, and
commonly regarded Jews as second-class citizens. The growing Jewish
presence and the increasing buzz about a potential re-establishment of
an independent Jewish nation was totally abhorrent to their Arab
neighbors. This was for purely anti-Semitic reasons. In addition to
that, Israel’s burgeoning prosperity and modernization was making their
impoverished Arab neighbors look bad.
From the Zionist
perspective, after centuries of persecution throughout the world, they
felt they had a right to peacefully migrate to Israel as a return to
their ancient homeland. They were not kicking anybody out of their
homes, on the contrary they were building new homes and cities where
there were none, on land that they rightfully purchased or were
otherwise granted, and they were employing Arabs and motivating more to
move in. The problem was not of displacement, rather one of a bigoted
Arab rejection of a Jewish presence, just as if a black family were
moving into a white neighborhood in Mississippi of the 1950's. Many
ignorant people around the world believe that Jews displaced
Palestinians to take Israel. This is the Displacement Myth.
With
the continued influx of Jewish settlers and the growing talk of a
Jewish nation, tensions between Jews and Arabs were climaxing in the
British mandate of Palestine. The British did not want to make enemies
of their strategically important Arab allies who were nervous about the
growing Jewish presence, so as a concession to them, the British
restricted Jewish migration to Palestine down to a trickle. At one
point prior to the end of WW2, they even turned back boats of Jews
fleeing Hitler, sending many people to their deaths upon return to
Germany. This upset the Jews to say the least, and Zionists rose up
against the British on several occasions.
The Hand-off to the United Nations
After
several violent Arab/Jewish/British confrontations, the British decided
to turn over the problem to the United Nations. On May 15, 1947, the UN
appointed a committee, the UNSCOP, composed of representatives from
eleven states. To make the committee more neutral, none of the largest
world powers were represented. They were debating between a one state solution wherein Jews and Arabs would live together in one nation, and a two state solution whereby
Palestine would be divided, yet again, into two separate nations for
Jews and Arabs respectively. This newly proposed Arab state would be in
addition to Jordan and 21 other existing Arab nations around Palestine.
On
August 31, after three months of hearings and general survey of the
circumstances, UNSCOP released its official conclusions. A majority of
nations recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states
(the two state solution aka the Partition Plan). On
November 29, the UN General Assembly voted strongly in favor of the
Partition Plan. The division was to take effect on the date of British
withdrawal.
The 33 countries that voted in favor of the
partition, per UN resolution 181 were: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia,
Brazil, Belarus, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican
Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, South Africa, Ukraine,
United States, USSR, Uruguay, Venezuela.
Keep in mind that the
original Israeli land mass that Britain was originally going to grant
to the Jews via the Balfour Declaration was much larger than the Israel
defined on the UN Partition Plan, but the Jews were willing to take it.
Under the Partition Plan, Gaza and the West bank would go to the Arabs,
under the false belief that yet another nation of their own was what
the local Arabs truly wanted. This was a false belief because these
same Arabs already had Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, etc. and didn't
really care about another arbitrarily defined nation. To this day,
while there are 22 Muslim countries in the region, there is only 1
Jewish one on the planet. The Arabs control 99.9% of the Middle East
lands, while Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass - virtually a drop in the bucket - yet somehow the myth of tiny Israel displacing Arabs still persists.
The Nation of Israel Rises Again
After
the United Nations vote, the Arabs rejected the UN partition plan, and
upon the day that Israel declared its independence, the armies of
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq invaded the tiny new country
with the declared intent of destroying it. The Arab League Secretary,
General Azzam Pasha declared jihad, a holy war against Israel. He famously said, "This
will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be
spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades". The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al Husseini famously stated, "I declare a holy war, my Moslem brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
During
this war, the Arab leaders told their citizens to leave their homes to
make way for the attacking Arab armies, and that they would be able to
return soon after they destroyed the Jews. Arab history admits this
shameful fact, but not loudly. This accounts for a massive amount of
Arab refugees who ultimately became the Palestinian people of today.
Miraculously,
the Israelis triumphed in their war of Independence. And they did so
without military support from the United States, for the U.S. was not
yet the strong ally of Israel that it is today. Israel received its
weapons from Czechoslovakia and France, and was strongly outnumbered.
In this and the many wars waged upon Israel by its Arab neighbors that
followed, Israel took the Sinai from Egypt, and Gaza and the West Bank
from the very same Arabs that rejected the UN Partition Plan.
Today’s Palestinians
Used
as a diplomatic weapon against Israel, the Arab refugees that left
their homes when Israel was attacked by its neighbors were never
accepted and assimilated into the many countries of their Arab
brethren. They were interned in Jordan and Syria, and as the recently
dubbed “Palestinian people”, have become the tragic pawns of the Arab
world in its PR war against Israel. They have been isolated,
impoverished and filled with rage that is always channeled by their
leaders towards Israel. When a Palestinian questions his own government
and courageously expresses a desire for peace with Israel, they are
literally hung in the streets.
Israel has repeatedly been
willing to return lands towards the creation of a Palestinian nation,
so long as that nation agrees to recognize Israel's right to exist.
Israel always has been willing to accept Arabs as their peaceful
neighbors, but the current struggle emerges from the fact that Hamas
and other violent Palestinian groups refuse to recognize and accept
Israel’s right to exist.
The Double Standard
This
section is in response to those who question Israel’s right to exist
–those who believe that Israel is an ‘illegal entity’ that should be
dismantled and handed over to others.
Unlike the founding of
many of the world’s fully accepted nations, Israel's founding was not a
violent, murderous undertaking wherein Jewish conquerors came in on
boats, killed the natives, took their gold and stuck a flag in the
ground. While blood was undoubtedly spilled, the Israeli independence
was relatively civilized by any reasonable standards: the Jews
rightfully purchased land from the Turks and developed farms where
there were deserts and swamps; the British peacefully agreed to the
creation of the Jewish homeland in their own territory via the Balfour
Declaration; the nations of the world deliberated at the United Nations
and peacefully voted on a resolution between the Jews and the local
Arabs; the UN agreed to grant the Arabs yet another nation of their own
(Jordan) to co-exist peacefully alongside the new state of Israel.
Yet
Israel’s formation and legitimacy is being challenged today by
standards unlike any other nation on Earth, and this is simply unfair.
Below
are certain historical facts that represent the Jewish ties to the land
of Israel. Even though biblical history does not, in and of itself,
give the Jews any legal claim to the land, it gives valuable
perspective. The relevance of these ancient Jewish ties to the land of
Israel is for the purpose of comparative analysis, so that Israel may
be judged according to the same standards that the other nations of the
world are judged:
1) The only independently governed nation that
ever existed in the geographical region of Palestine was the Jewish
nation of Israel. Ever since King David made Jerusalem the capital of
Israel 3,000 years ago, Jerusalem was the cradle of Jewish heritage and
Jewish civilization. It is historical fact that Jews have maintained an
unbroken presence there for thousands of years.
2) For thousands
of years following the ancient Jewish nation of Israel, regardless of
who conquered the territory, the Jewish people have maintained strong
religious ties to Israel and have always considered it to be their
homeland. When considering the Old Testament as a purely historical
document, Jerusalem is mentioned over 800 times in the context of the
'promised Jewish homeland'. By comparison, the Koran does not mention
Jerusalem even once.
3) Three times a day religious Jews
specifically face Israel to pray, and have been doing so for thousands
of years. By contrast, Muslims in prayer face their holy land of Mecca,
and if they are in-between Mecca and Israel, turn their backs to
Israel. Again, even though none of this in any way represents a legal
claim, these historical facts are significant.
With these facts
in mind, let us compare Israel to the founding of some other countries
around the world: The English and Europeans that conquered, inhabited
and established the United States had no prior claim to the land, no
history there, no continuous populous there, no case for occupancy
whatsoever. They simply took it. The Spanish and Portuguese that
conquered, inhabited and established the various countries of South
America had no prior claim to the land, no history there, no continuous
populous there, no case for occupancy whatsoever. They simply took it
via the sword and gun. Eastern Europe and Asian nations share similar
histories. The history of most of today's independent, recognized, and
respected countries, will reveal a violent conquest. None of them have
the ancient ties, justifications and claims that the Jews have to
Israel, yet their independence and existence is not continually called
into question.
People critical of the Zionist movement have told
me that it bothers them that Israel was formed by Jewish people who
were “not originally from there" -and this is largely true. But the
United States was formed by Europeans not from here. Canada was formed
by French not from there. South America was formed by Spanish and
Portuguese not from there. Furthermore, all of the above examples with
the exception of Israel, were taken by force. Clearly there is a
double-standard being applied, that specifically counts on people's
ignorance of history to unfairly judge the Israeli right to exist. In
the context of the rest of the world, the way Israel is judged is
totally disproportionate. Not only did Israel have undeniable
historical ties to the ancient Jewish homeland, but how their
independence came about was quite benign when compared to other nations.
-YPR