This article is based upon the facts and not mine or anyone else’s opinion.
Is the existence of Israel simply based on sympathy for the Jews after the Holocaust?
Answer: The events that led to it began with the break-up of the Turkish Ottoman Empire well before the Holocaust.
THE FACTS!
The Paris Peace Treaties after WWI
President Woodrow Wilson of America and Lloyd George of Britain were involved in a series of international conferences between 1919 and 1923, and the post-war settlement that resulted, is collectively known as The Paris Peace Treaties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919#Palestine
For the first time Australia, Canada and South Africa received recognition as sovereign nations and at the same time recognition was given to a national homeland for one more people, the Jews. Their situation was unique as a scattered nation exiled for many centuries, but at the same time the leaders of the Western World concluded they were entitled to restore their national life in their ancient homeland.
The Promise 97,000 sq.kms
The promise to the Jewish people was that they would be allowed to build a nation in the Land of Palestine, understood then to comprise both sides of the River Jordan, an area of 97,000 sq. kms, an area 4 times as large as present day Israel.
map 1
Who is Responsible?
Britain was charged in 1920 with the Mandate for the Administration of the area, and, borrowing the language of the Balfour Declaration, issued 3 years earlier in 1917 by the British Government, article 2 of The league of Nations Mandate stated that: “…the mandatory power should be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the development of self-governing institution.” This was the agreement of the nations in 1920. (see map 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israeli_nationality#Balfour_Declaration
However, in the hope of establishing a compromise to satisfy the Arab peoples to whom Britain also has a commitment and who also gained recognition under these treaties, Winston Churchill then removed 77% of the mandate territory and created an Arab state of Transjordan, 70,000 sq. kms of land on the eastern side of the Jordan, exclusively for the Arab peoples, Jews being barred from settling there, in effect a Palestinian State, to use the language of today.
map2
The Jewish people, left with the smaller deal, accepted this compromise, but the Arabs revolted, and throughout Britain’s administration of the Palestine Mandate it had to deal with this. Then, when anti-Semitism in Europe increased the number of Jews wanting to settle in their homeland, Britain gave up the struggle and handed the situation back to the United Nations. The UN set up a special committee in May 1947 and concluded that the remaining 23% should be further divided into the establishment of a Jewish State and an Arab State. (I.e. a 2nd Arab State), leaving the Jews now only 12% of the original homeland offered. (see map 2 )
map 3
To give effect to this Resolution 181 of the UN was passed by 33 votes to 13 in the UN General Assembly. The Jewish people again reluctantly accepted another compromise, but again the Arabs rejected it, refused to accept partition and as soon as the British Mandate ended in May 1948 the surrounding nations attacked the new born state of Israel. It was the first of a series of battles to establish its existence behind secure borders. All Israel’s wars in the last 55 years have been initiated by the surrounding states or been pre-emptive as in 1967 when they were about to be attacked.
Now, set against this historically verifiable backdrop, there are many contentious issues, constantly aired today, and many myths that have arisen in recent years which are now generally perceived as truth.
First Myth
First the settlements, and particularly those in the area around Nablus and Hebron, the area known biblically as Judea and Samaria, and today as the West Bank of the River Jordan.
Are they illegal?
The mandate agreement of 1920 gave Britain responsibility for the government and administration of the whole original area of 97.000sq kms. Article 6 described the way in which this authority was to be used.
Britain was to facilitate Jewish immigration and encouragement of close settlement by Jews on the land including statelands and wastelands not required for public purposes. The only restriction on this was a proviso that the rights and position of existing Non-Jewish communities are not prejudiced. It does not confer any rights for new NON Jewish communities but it did require the British Administration to encourage Jewish settlement in this area which includes the West Bank of the Jordan. So existing Arab settlements were preserved.
When Churchill created Transjordan, the 70,000 sq. kms carved out from the original area, Jews were EXCLUDED from settling there and therefore they ONLY had the small area, from the West Bank to the Mediterranean on which to settle. (see map 3)
When the Arabs rejected this compromise, even though they now had ¾ of the land, Britain turned a blind eye to illegal Arab immigration to the West Bank in the period from 1920-1939 at the same time as restricting the number of Jewish immigrants, and even firing on the boats that brought survivors from the Holocaust to the land where the Jewish people had a legal right of close settlement under international law.
And this right of close settlement under international law remains to this day.
From 1948 to 1967 the West Bank came under Jordanian Government, who annexed it in 1950, but the Jordanian Authority was recognised only by Britain and Pakistan, and the Jordanians did not establish a Palestinian State on the West Bank. When they lost control of that area, after the war in which they were the aggressors, part of the 1967 6 Day War, they renounced any Jordanian rights over it. So the underlying legal status reverted to that of the Mandate period when close settlements by Jews in this area was authorised.
As this area of the West Bank is the focus of world attention it is imperative that we understand these facts, and also realise that in practice Israel has settled 2% of the West Bank. She has not uprooted Arab communities to do so, as is claimed, and only built on land that has never been privately owned, cultivated or inhabited, and has settled primarily on the barren hilltops.
The settlers clearly have a strong claim under international law, so the negotiations which Israel entered are on the basis of 2 peoples both with a legal claim to the land.
THEREFORE IT IS NOT AN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION. THE TERRITORIES MAY BE DISPUTED AFTER THE VARIOUS WARS BUT ARE NOT ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED
It can be seen therefore, that all down the years the Jewish people have been made promises of a homeland in the political arena; it has been constantly carved up and eroded, which they have always accepted, whilst the Arabs have rebelled at every stage, and at every stage been pacified. No one in the international arena has sought to curb them, and they are still not satisfied.
The British have rather let them down by not keeping to the terms outlined in the mandate, turning a blind eye to illegal Arab immigration and considerably contributing to the present situation.
2nd Myth
Another myth is that, in order to make way for the creation of the Jewish State in Palestine, an Arab indigenous people, called the Palestinians, who have lived in the land from time immemorial, have been uprooted and thrown out of the land. THIS IS NOT TRUE.
It is interesting to note that it was the Jews living in the area between the Jordan and the Mediterranean who were called Palestinians until 1948 when they correctly called themselves Israelis. The present day newspaper,The Jerusalem Post, used to be called the Palestine Post. The Arabs resident there declined to use the name Palestinians and wanted to be known as Arabs. Those who lived in the annexed West Bank, Judea and Samaria, never called themselves Palestinians.
Indeed the Palestinian Movement and the Palestinian Nation were still in 1972 no more than a myth.
The fact is that the name Palestine has been developed as a powerful propaganda weapon in the hands of the Arab nations, and more especially the PLO and its allied factions. In fact the reintroduction of the name Palestine and all its connotations, especially since the formation of the PLO in the 1960’s, is probably one of the biggest propaganda coups of the last century.
This is the technique of the BIG LIE, so skilfully used by Nazi Germany and its allies in the propaganda war of WWII which has, as its basic premise, that if a lie is big enough, said loud enough and repeated enough, it will be believed by the mass of the people. Indeed, as Hitler and Goebbels, the arch propagandists of the last century, discovered and taught, the greater the lie, the more to be believed.
This technique is highly effective and is today being exploited by Israel’s enemies.
3rd Myth
Following on from these myths is that of the Palestinian Refugee crisis, or rather the myth of its origin, as the crisis is genuine, but is certainly not as it appears.
Firstly it was partially caused by the influx of illegal Arab immigrants during the British administration. Many Arabs who consequently fled in 1948 had in fact been in the land no longer than the legally returning Jews and had no real or genuine attachment to the land.
In 1948 there was no suggestion that invading Zionists were the cause of the problem as is alleged today or accepted as truth. It is true that some were driven out, but most fled on their own initiative, or were persuaded to by Arab commanders who expected victory when the Arabs could return to their homes after the Jews had been driven out. Indeed, notably in Haifa, where Jews and Arabs lived amicably together, the Jews pleaded with their Arab neighbours not to go. But they did, either in panic or for fear of reprisals by the Arabs for not siding with them. So this is yet another myth churned out by the Arab propaganda machine for very sinister purposes.
And how many people ever mention the virtually equal number of Jewish refugees who fled Arab lands at the same time, where many had lived for generations, maybe 1,000 years? Many were murdered by government sponsored “efforts” and those who fled had all their property confiscated. Do we hear about Law of Return in this case? Or reparation for loss of property? Do we hear of Jewish Refugee camps?
All these refugees were absorbed mainly into Israel or into the Diaspora.
And why, of all the refugee situations created around the world, where they have all been offered asylum or been absorbed into various countries, is it that poor Palestinians, after 50 years, are still living in squalid refugee camps on the West Bank and Gaza and elsewhere?
Despite billions of dollars of relief paid by rich Arab states, UN, EU and others, where has this money gone and why on earth have they not been integrated in Arab society, whose lands and wealth are vast, not least into Jordan, which in very real terms is a Palestinian state? In fact, Abdullah wanted to call Jordan PALESTINE, but was dissuaded from this by the British.
These people, the Palestinians, have never been allowed to be ordinary refugees who would eventually be located from a temporary home to a home of their own, have been kept in a form of forced captivity for a sinister purpose, and have sadly become pawns in a wider struggle orchestrated by their powerful Arab brethren.
IT IS NOT ISRAEL WHO IS THEIR ENEMY…..
There never were indigenous Palestine nations who have lived in Palestine from time immemorial. The land was largely desolate and neglected throughout the centuries, only one Arab city, Ramle, being built in 1200 years.
On the contrary there was continuous Jewish presence. Many of the illegal Arab immigrants did eventually own homes, but most were poor “fellahin” who worked as hired hands for landowners, and it was the Jewish restoration of the land that attracted them.
Indeed, in the 19th century when the restoration of the Jewish people to Palestine was the subject of intense discussion and writing it was never asserted that they had no right to a sovereign state in the land of Palestine, because it was the property of another people. Those first immigrants bought the land they worked on from absentee Turkish landlords, and No land was ever seized or acquired in any other way than through legal means.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation or PLO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization was formed in Cairo in 1964 under the auspices of the Arab League as a confederation of groups committed to the elimination of Israel by armed struggle and its replacement by a secular democratic state of Palestine.
Its objectives are enshrined in its charter – the Palestine National Covenant formulated in 1967, a charter which, despite pretence of moderation by Yasser Arafat of recent times, has never been revoked or even modified.
Since the Arab States have relentlessly promoted the mythical concept of “A land of Palestine which has been the homeland of the Palestine people from time immemorial, and of a Palestinian people, the rightful owners and occupiers of that land who have been dispossessed by the invading, Zionist Jews.”
Because as Christians and Messianic Christians WE stand for TRUTH,
“We should stand with them in their hour of need, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.” Is 40:1. We will be judged for sins, not of commission, but also of omission. Matt 25:40, 44+45.
Is the existence of Israel simply based on sympathy for the Jews after the Holocaust?
Answer: The events that led to it began with the break-up of the Turkish Ottoman Empire well before the Holocaust.
THE FACTS!
The Paris Peace Treaties after WWI
President Woodrow Wilson of America and Lloyd George of Britain were involved in a series of international conferences between 1919 and 1923, and the post-war settlement that resulted, is collectively known as The Paris Peace Treaties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Peace_Conference,_1919#Palestine
For the first time Australia, Canada and South Africa received recognition as sovereign nations and at the same time recognition was given to a national homeland for one more people, the Jews. Their situation was unique as a scattered nation exiled for many centuries, but at the same time the leaders of the Western World concluded they were entitled to restore their national life in their ancient homeland.
The Promise 97,000 sq.kms
The promise to the Jewish people was that they would be allowed to build a nation in the Land of Palestine, understood then to comprise both sides of the River Jordan, an area of 97,000 sq. kms, an area 4 times as large as present day Israel.
map 1
Who is Responsible?
Britain was charged in 1920 with the Mandate for the Administration of the area, and, borrowing the language of the Balfour Declaration, issued 3 years earlier in 1917 by the British Government, article 2 of The league of Nations Mandate stated that: “…the mandatory power should be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the development of self-governing institution.” This was the agreement of the nations in 1920. (see map 1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Israeli_nationality#Balfour_Declaration
However, in the hope of establishing a compromise to satisfy the Arab peoples to whom Britain also has a commitment and who also gained recognition under these treaties, Winston Churchill then removed 77% of the mandate territory and created an Arab state of Transjordan, 70,000 sq. kms of land on the eastern side of the Jordan, exclusively for the Arab peoples, Jews being barred from settling there, in effect a Palestinian State, to use the language of today.
map2
The Jewish people, left with the smaller deal, accepted this compromise, but the Arabs revolted, and throughout Britain’s administration of the Palestine Mandate it had to deal with this. Then, when anti-Semitism in Europe increased the number of Jews wanting to settle in their homeland, Britain gave up the struggle and handed the situation back to the United Nations. The UN set up a special committee in May 1947 and concluded that the remaining 23% should be further divided into the establishment of a Jewish State and an Arab State. (I.e. a 2nd Arab State), leaving the Jews now only 12% of the original homeland offered. (see map 2 )
map 3
To give effect to this Resolution 181 of the UN was passed by 33 votes to 13 in the UN General Assembly. The Jewish people again reluctantly accepted another compromise, but again the Arabs rejected it, refused to accept partition and as soon as the British Mandate ended in May 1948 the surrounding nations attacked the new born state of Israel. It was the first of a series of battles to establish its existence behind secure borders. All Israel’s wars in the last 55 years have been initiated by the surrounding states or been pre-emptive as in 1967 when they were about to be attacked.
Now, set against this historically verifiable backdrop, there are many contentious issues, constantly aired today, and many myths that have arisen in recent years which are now generally perceived as truth.
First Myth
First the settlements, and particularly those in the area around Nablus and Hebron, the area known biblically as Judea and Samaria, and today as the West Bank of the River Jordan.
Are they illegal?
The mandate agreement of 1920 gave Britain responsibility for the government and administration of the whole original area of 97.000sq kms. Article 6 described the way in which this authority was to be used.
Britain was to facilitate Jewish immigration and encouragement of close settlement by Jews on the land including statelands and wastelands not required for public purposes. The only restriction on this was a proviso that the rights and position of existing Non-Jewish communities are not prejudiced. It does not confer any rights for new NON Jewish communities but it did require the British Administration to encourage Jewish settlement in this area which includes the West Bank of the Jordan. So existing Arab settlements were preserved.
When Churchill created Transjordan, the 70,000 sq. kms carved out from the original area, Jews were EXCLUDED from settling there and therefore they ONLY had the small area, from the West Bank to the Mediterranean on which to settle. (see map 3)
When the Arabs rejected this compromise, even though they now had ¾ of the land, Britain turned a blind eye to illegal Arab immigration to the West Bank in the period from 1920-1939 at the same time as restricting the number of Jewish immigrants, and even firing on the boats that brought survivors from the Holocaust to the land where the Jewish people had a legal right of close settlement under international law.
And this right of close settlement under international law remains to this day.
From 1948 to 1967 the West Bank came under Jordanian Government, who annexed it in 1950, but the Jordanian Authority was recognised only by Britain and Pakistan, and the Jordanians did not establish a Palestinian State on the West Bank. When they lost control of that area, after the war in which they were the aggressors, part of the 1967 6 Day War, they renounced any Jordanian rights over it. So the underlying legal status reverted to that of the Mandate period when close settlements by Jews in this area was authorised.
As this area of the West Bank is the focus of world attention it is imperative that we understand these facts, and also realise that in practice Israel has settled 2% of the West Bank. She has not uprooted Arab communities to do so, as is claimed, and only built on land that has never been privately owned, cultivated or inhabited, and has settled primarily on the barren hilltops.
The settlers clearly have a strong claim under international law, so the negotiations which Israel entered are on the basis of 2 peoples both with a legal claim to the land.
THEREFORE IT IS NOT AN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION. THE TERRITORIES MAY BE DISPUTED AFTER THE VARIOUS WARS BUT ARE NOT ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED
It can be seen therefore, that all down the years the Jewish people have been made promises of a homeland in the political arena; it has been constantly carved up and eroded, which they have always accepted, whilst the Arabs have rebelled at every stage, and at every stage been pacified. No one in the international arena has sought to curb them, and they are still not satisfied.
The British have rather let them down by not keeping to the terms outlined in the mandate, turning a blind eye to illegal Arab immigration and considerably contributing to the present situation.
2nd Myth
Another myth is that, in order to make way for the creation of the Jewish State in Palestine, an Arab indigenous people, called the Palestinians, who have lived in the land from time immemorial, have been uprooted and thrown out of the land. THIS IS NOT TRUE.
It is interesting to note that it was the Jews living in the area between the Jordan and the Mediterranean who were called Palestinians until 1948 when they correctly called themselves Israelis. The present day newspaper,The Jerusalem Post, used to be called the Palestine Post. The Arabs resident there declined to use the name Palestinians and wanted to be known as Arabs. Those who lived in the annexed West Bank, Judea and Samaria, never called themselves Palestinians.
Indeed the Palestinian Movement and the Palestinian Nation were still in 1972 no more than a myth.
The fact is that the name Palestine has been developed as a powerful propaganda weapon in the hands of the Arab nations, and more especially the PLO and its allied factions. In fact the reintroduction of the name Palestine and all its connotations, especially since the formation of the PLO in the 1960’s, is probably one of the biggest propaganda coups of the last century.
This is the technique of the BIG LIE, so skilfully used by Nazi Germany and its allies in the propaganda war of WWII which has, as its basic premise, that if a lie is big enough, said loud enough and repeated enough, it will be believed by the mass of the people. Indeed, as Hitler and Goebbels, the arch propagandists of the last century, discovered and taught, the greater the lie, the more to be believed.
This technique is highly effective and is today being exploited by Israel’s enemies.
3rd Myth
Following on from these myths is that of the Palestinian Refugee crisis, or rather the myth of its origin, as the crisis is genuine, but is certainly not as it appears.
Firstly it was partially caused by the influx of illegal Arab immigrants during the British administration. Many Arabs who consequently fled in 1948 had in fact been in the land no longer than the legally returning Jews and had no real or genuine attachment to the land.
In 1948 there was no suggestion that invading Zionists were the cause of the problem as is alleged today or accepted as truth. It is true that some were driven out, but most fled on their own initiative, or were persuaded to by Arab commanders who expected victory when the Arabs could return to their homes after the Jews had been driven out. Indeed, notably in Haifa, where Jews and Arabs lived amicably together, the Jews pleaded with their Arab neighbours not to go. But they did, either in panic or for fear of reprisals by the Arabs for not siding with them. So this is yet another myth churned out by the Arab propaganda machine for very sinister purposes.
And how many people ever mention the virtually equal number of Jewish refugees who fled Arab lands at the same time, where many had lived for generations, maybe 1,000 years? Many were murdered by government sponsored “efforts” and those who fled had all their property confiscated. Do we hear about Law of Return in this case? Or reparation for loss of property? Do we hear of Jewish Refugee camps?
All these refugees were absorbed mainly into Israel or into the Diaspora.
And why, of all the refugee situations created around the world, where they have all been offered asylum or been absorbed into various countries, is it that poor Palestinians, after 50 years, are still living in squalid refugee camps on the West Bank and Gaza and elsewhere?
Despite billions of dollars of relief paid by rich Arab states, UN, EU and others, where has this money gone and why on earth have they not been integrated in Arab society, whose lands and wealth are vast, not least into Jordan, which in very real terms is a Palestinian state? In fact, Abdullah wanted to call Jordan PALESTINE, but was dissuaded from this by the British.
These people, the Palestinians, have never been allowed to be ordinary refugees who would eventually be located from a temporary home to a home of their own, have been kept in a form of forced captivity for a sinister purpose, and have sadly become pawns in a wider struggle orchestrated by their powerful Arab brethren.
IT IS NOT ISRAEL WHO IS THEIR ENEMY…..
There never were indigenous Palestine nations who have lived in Palestine from time immemorial. The land was largely desolate and neglected throughout the centuries, only one Arab city, Ramle, being built in 1200 years.
On the contrary there was continuous Jewish presence. Many of the illegal Arab immigrants did eventually own homes, but most were poor “fellahin” who worked as hired hands for landowners, and it was the Jewish restoration of the land that attracted them.
Indeed, in the 19th century when the restoration of the Jewish people to Palestine was the subject of intense discussion and writing it was never asserted that they had no right to a sovereign state in the land of Palestine, because it was the property of another people. Those first immigrants bought the land they worked on from absentee Turkish landlords, and No land was ever seized or acquired in any other way than through legal means.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation or PLO
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization was formed in Cairo in 1964 under the auspices of the Arab League as a confederation of groups committed to the elimination of Israel by armed struggle and its replacement by a secular democratic state of Palestine.
Its objectives are enshrined in its charter – the Palestine National Covenant formulated in 1967, a charter which, despite pretence of moderation by Yasser Arafat of recent times, has never been revoked or even modified.
Since the Arab States have relentlessly promoted the mythical concept of “A land of Palestine which has been the homeland of the Palestine people from time immemorial, and of a Palestinian people, the rightful owners and occupiers of that land who have been dispossessed by the invading, Zionist Jews.”
Because as Christians and Messianic Christians WE stand for TRUTH,
“We should stand with them in their hour of need, comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.” Is 40:1. We will be judged for sins, not of commission, but also of omission. Matt 25:40, 44+45.