Never-Ending War On The Jews - Pt. 1/4
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
PEACE FOR US MEANS THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL. WE ARE PREPARING FOR AN ALL-OUT WAR, A WAR WHICH WILL LAST FOR GENERATIONS.
~Yasser Arafat~
"God has gathered the Zionists together from the corners of the world so that the Arabs can kill them all at one stroke."
- Ibrahim Tawhi, Fedayeen official - Al-Ahram, September 8, 1956
Arab violence against Jews has a long history. This survey of terrorist organizations and their attacks against Israelis should not be taken as exhaustive, but it will serve to give the reader a general idea of what took place, and still goes on. These pages are a work in progress, to be updated as new information and photos are found.
Egged-Israeli Bus DriverThe roots of Arab terrorism against the Jews dates back to the Ottoman Empire. From 1870 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 — every Jewish town, neighborhood, moshava (village), farm, moshav and kvutza (cooperative and collective settlements, respectively), had to protect itself against local individual Arab thieves organized gangs. The Jewish community of Palestine was under the thumb of a few wealthy effendi (landlord) families, most prominently the Husseinis and the Nashashibis. Criminals were employed to attack Jews who threatened rent prices by the fact that they lived outside Jerusalem's city walls.
Syrian-born Sheikh Izz Ad-Din El-Kassam, after whom the "military wing" of HAMAS is named, created the first terrorist network in the British Mandate of Palestine. The network, called the Black Hand, was responsible for the deaths of at least 10 Jews. After the Black Hand killed a Jewish police officer, El-Kassam was hunted down and killed by British police.
Black Hand, which specialized in terror against random Jewish farmers and, for that matter, random Arab Christians in Mandate Palestine In 1916, as part of the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, Britain and France agreed that all of eastern Upper Galilee was to come under French rule. The four Jewish settlements of Metullah, Hamrah, Tel Chai, and Kfar Giladi were situated in this area. Muslims, who desired an independent Arab Greater Syria, were no pleased with this development.
After World War I, Emir Feisal I (the leader of the Arab movement) agreed to the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine by signing the Feisal-Weizmann Agreement at Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Palestinian Arab leaders, among them the Jerusalem Mayor Musa Khazim al-Husseini, rejected the agreement - relations between Arabs and Jews took a turn for the worse. Groups loyal to Feisal in Syria, who was sympathetic to the British, attacked After the war the Muslim Arabs began attacks both on the Christian villages of southern Lebanon and on the isolated Jewish settlements of Upper Galilee:
Tel Chai - March, 1920
Tel Chai (Hebrew: Hill of Life”), now a national memorial, was one of the first Jewish settlements in northern Palestine, it was intermittently inhabited from 1905, and permanently settled in 1918.
Tel Chai and adjacent Kfar Giladi were determined to defend themselves. Tel Chai was reinforced from Jerusalem by members of Ha-Shomer, the Jewish workers' protective organization, under the command of Joseph Trumpledor, Zionist pioneer and former hero of the tsarist army. On March 1, 1920, the settlement was attacked by a large band of Arabs; six of the defenders, including Trumpeldor, were killed.
The Jerusalem Pogrom - April, 1920
During the festival of Nebi Musa (Prophet Moses), Muslims march from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho to where they believe Moses is buried. In the years predating 1920, these processions were marked by intimidation of Christian communities on their way. The Arab attacks of March 1920 in Galilee (Tel Chai, etc.) and the activities of Black Hand caused deep concerns among Zionist leaders, who made numerous requests to the Mandate administration to address the Yishuv's security. Their fears were ruled out by the Chief Administrative Officer General Louis Bols, Governor Ronald Storrs and General Edmund Allenby, particularly at their meeting with the president of the World Zionist Organization Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who warned them: "pogrom is in the air." Storrs issued a warning to Arab leaders, but his forces included only 188 policemen, among them but 8 officers. The Ottoman Turks had usually deployed thousands of soldiers to keep order in narrow streets of Jerusalem during Nebi Musa procession.
April 4-7 in the Old City
During a procession on April 4, inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric led to rioting in Jerusalem. The main instigator was Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem. Another was the editor of the newspaper Suriya al-Janubia (Southern Syria) Aref al-Aref, who delivered his speech on horseback. For four days, an Arab mob ransacked the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, beating anyone they could find and looting shops and homes. The disturbances grew worse and the Old City was sealed off by the army. Jews who sought to flee were not allowed to leave. Martial law was declared, but looting, burglary, rape and murder continued. Several homes were set on fire. Eventually, British soldiers evacuated the Old City.
Then as now, blame the victim
5 Jews died and 216 were injured (18 critically). A committee of inquiry placed responsibility for the riots on the Jews, for provoking the Arabs. The court blamed "Bolshevism," claiming that it "flowed in Zionism's inner heart."
The official inquiry that followed found that the British military administration was rife with anti-Semitism and that the measures taken to maintain order were inadequate, but no one was charged for failing in his duties.
One of the most important results of the riot was that Jewish immigration to Palestine was halted, a major demand of the Palestinian Arab community. Quick to learn a lesson, the Arabs often resorted to deadly anti-Jewish violence in order to influence British policies towards the Jews.
In May 1921 an outbreak of violence in Jaffa was followed by large scale attacks on Rehovot, Petah Tikva, and other places. 47 Jews were killed and 140 wounded. The riots were a matter of some concern to the British mandatory administration. The High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuels, himself Jewish, ordered a temporary halt to Jewish immigration and entered into negotiations with the Arab Executive Committee. The outcome of these negotiations was the White Paper issued by Churchill on June 1922.
Another round begins – 1928
From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem. These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini whipped up Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itbaq al-Yahud (Slaughter the Jews!)
On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv (Jewish community) met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of major Arab rioting. The British assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day riots erupted throughout the Mandate, lasting for seven days.
The Hebron Massacre
On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and elsewhere. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah (Jewish defense organization) was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. Attacks in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenders.
Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a student was murdered.
A few Arabs did try to help the Jews. Nineteen Arab families saved dozens, maybe even hundreds of Jews. Abu Id Zaitoun and his family protected some Jews with their swords, hid them in a cellar, and found a policeman to escort them safely to the police station at Beit Romano.
On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued. Arabs began to gather en masse. They came in mobs, surrounding homes where Jews sought refuge, armed with clubs, knives and axes. They broke in and murdered 67 Jews in a bloody rampage. Many Jewish corpses were mutilated. Arab women and children threw stones, the men ransacked Jewish houses and destroyed Jewish property.
The police station was a refuge for the Jews that day, and throughout the troubles. As Orthodox Jews finished their morning prayers, they heard angry voices outside the building. Thousands of Arabs descended from Har Hebron, shouting "Kill the Jews!" in Arabic. They even tried to break down the doors of the station. Each night, as the riots continued, ten men were allowed to leave to attend a funeral in Hebron’s ancient Jewish cemetery for the murdered Jews of the day.
During the Hebron riots British did nothing to stop the violence. With only a single police officer in Hebron, the Arabs entered Jewish courtyards with no opposition. 18 Jews were also killed in Safed. The tally, including Jews killed in other areas, was 133 dead, with more than 300 wounded.
The dead Jews included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim's house that day including his wife and two young children. Early on, Rabbi Slonim had been approached by the rioters and offered a deal. If all the Ashkenazi yeshiva students were given over to the Arabs, the rioters would spare the lives of the Sephardi community. Rabbi Slonim refused and was killed on the spot.
When the massacre finally ended, the surviving Jews were exiled from their home city, for the crime of being a victim of the Arab riot, and resettled in Jerusalem. Some Jewish families tried to move back to Hebron, but were removed by the British authorities. Hebron's ancient Jewish quarter was empty and destroyed. For the next 39 years no Jew lived in Hebron, not until after the Six Day War.
Arab Riot in 1933The Arab Revolt – 1936
By 1936, with the growing power of Haj Amin al Husseini, and general Arab frustration at the continuation of European rule, increasing numbers of Palestinian Arabs became radicalized. In April 1936 six prominent Arab leaders overcame their rivalries and joined forces to protest against the Zionist presence. The Arab High Command, as the group was known, was led by the Mufti Haj Amin al Husseini, and represented Arab interests in Palestine until 1948.
Jewish refugees camp In Rishon Le'Zion 1936A refugee camp for Jews fleeing Arab violence, near Rishon Le-Zion 1936 An attack on a Jewish bus led to a series of incidents, including rioting in Jaffa, that escalated into a major Arab rebellion. An Arab Higher Committee (AHC), a loose coalition of recently formed Arab political parties, was created. It declared a national strike in support of three basic demands: cessation of Jewish immigration, an end to all further land sales to the Jews, and the establishment of an Arab national government.
The Arab High Command began their protest by calling for a general strike of Arab workers and a boycott of Jewish products. The strike quickly led to a campaign of terror against Jewish people and lands. Seventeen Jews were killed the first day, with little action by the British to stop the rioters. Sparked by the Mufti's agitators, armed bands of Arab terrorists attacked Jewish villages and vehicles, as well as British Army and police forces. By August 1936, responding more to attacks on British assets than to the Jewish losses, the British began a military crack-down on the Arab terrorists.
The Arab strike ended in October 1936 and a temporary peace between Arabs and Jews prevailed for almost a year. Then, in September 1937, following the July report by the Peel Commission, the violent tactics resumed. Armed Arab terrorism, under the direction of the Higher Committee, was used to attack the Jews and to suppress Arab opponents. This campaign of violence continued through 1938 and then tapered off, ending in early 1939. The toll was terrible: Eighty Jews were murdered by terrorist acts during the labor strike, and a total of 415 Jewish deaths were recorded during the whole 1936-1939 Arab Revolt period.
Continuing Violence
In January 1947 a Haganah platoon of 35 soldiers sent to help repulse an attack at Gush Etzion with medical supplies and ammunition was slaughtered by hundreds of Arab militants. Their stripped, mutilated bodies were found the next day by a British patrol. The day after the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947, violence against Jewish civilians began to escalate. The Arabs declared a protest strike and instigated riots that claimed the lives of many Jews, Arabs and British soldiers. These were not military operations, but terrorism against civilian targets intended to achieve political aims for the Arabs who would not accept any partition plan.
The UN Partition Vote
One day after the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947, violence against Jewish civilians began to escalate. The Arabs declared a protest strike and instigated riots that claimed the lives of many Jews, Arabs and British soldiers. These were not military operations, but terrorism against civilians intended to achieve political aims for the Arabs who would not accept any partition plan.
February 1st, 1948 saw the bombing (photo at bottom) of the Palestine Post (now Jerusalem Post) which killed six people and injured dozens. Then on February 22nd, three booby-trapped trucks positioned in Ben-Yehuda Street exploded, destroying four large buildings, killing 50 and injuring more than 100. On March 11, a car bomb exploded in the courtyard of the Jewish Agency building, killing 12 people, injuring 44, and causing extensive damage.
Arab acts of hostility prior to statehood reached their peak in March. Arabs controlled all the inter-urban routes. The road to Jerusalem was blocked, settlements in the Galilee and the Negev were also cut off and convoys were attacked daily. In the four months after the UN resolution, some 850 Jews were killed throughout the country, most of them in Jerusalem or on the road to the city.
Jerusalem Post Bomb - February 1st 1948On April 13, 1948, Arabs set mines in the road in the Sheik Jarrah area to block a convoy of 10 vehicles - trucks, buses and ambulances - carrying supplies, nurses, doctors, scientists, and patients to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus (photo at left). In the attack, 78 were killed and their bodies mutilated. Dozens are wounded. British soldiers delayed intervention in the attack for 6 hours while the killing continued. The hospital was cut off from Israel until it was relieved during the Six Day War.
Hadassa Hospital Bus Massacre
A Burned bus in Tel Aviv 1948
The War of Independence
The greatest Arab atrocity of the war occurred on May 13, 1948, at the Etzion Bloc settlements. Dozens of surrendering defenders, including some twenty women, were killed at Kfar Etzion just north of Hebron,. The Etzion Bloc had seen a previous massacre in January 1947 when a Haganah platoon of 35 soldiers sent to help them with medical supplies and ammunition was slaughtered by hundreds of Arab militants. Their stripped, mutilated bodies were found the next day by a British patrol.
Ben-Yehuda St. Jerusalem 1948The final battle for Gush Etzion took place between May 12-14, 1948. Massive, heavily armed enemy forces overran the Jewish positions. A handful of exhausted defenders, equipped only with light arms and very little ammunition could not withstand the attacking forces. On Thursday, May 13th, Kfar Etzion fell, its defenders killed, most of them slaughtered by Arab rioters after the collapse of the defense. Gush Etzion was destroyed in the aftermath - everything of value was removed, then the buildings were reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of trees in the orchards - individually planted by the Jewish farmers - were uprooted.
Jewish Refugees Camp - Tel Aviv 1948Read more:
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 2
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 3
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 4
By: http://www.al-ghoul.com/forever_war_1.htm
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Never-Ending War On The Jews - Pt. 4/4
Having over stayed their welcome in Jordan, the PLO imposed itself on the Lebanese:
In Lebanon something similar was happening. The clashes between Arafat’s men and the Lebanese security forces caused many deaths, government crises and serious divisions within a country whose political structure, based as it was on delicate sectarian divisions, could not accommodate too much stress.
It is believed Arafat sanctioned massacres in the Lebanese Christian towns of Beit Mallat and Tall Abbas between 1982 and 1990. PLO apologists dismiss the charges, characterizing them as nothing more than attempts by Jewish groups to tarnish the PLO in Lebanon. However, the sheer body of eyewitness testimony by victims and photographic evidence (easily found on the Internet) is compelling.
PLO Terrorist Beirut 1976PLO terror attacks were so bad that on October 14 1976, Lebanese Ambassador Edward Ghorra told the UN, as quoted in the New York Times on October 15: "Palestinian elements belonging to various organizations resorted to kidnapping Lebanese and sometimes foreigners holding them prisoner, questioning them, torturing them and sometimes killing them." Arafat's PLO may have killed up to 40,000 Lebanese civilians its sojourn in Lebanon.
Damour Massacre
In January 1976 Father Mansour Labaky, village priest, tried to save Damour from a massacre when the PLO's intentions became clear. Labaky telephoned Kamal Jumblat, one of Lebanon's leaders at the time and under whose constituency the town was part, but Father Jumblat said, "I can do nothing for you, because it depends on Yasser Arafat"
Darmour Massacre 1976It is estimated that 582 persons were killed, and many bodies were dismembered - the dead were numbered by counting the heads. Three men were found with their genitals cut off and stuffed in their mouths.
Lebanon 1976Black September
Among one of the many the FATAH offshoots was the infamous Black September which massacred the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
1972 Munich Olympics Terrorists attackOn the morning of September 5, with six days left in the Games, the worst tragedy in Olympic history hit. Eight heavily-armed terrorists stormed into the Israeli team's apartment, killing an athlete and a coach in the process. Nine other Israelis were taken hostage. The terrorists demanded the release of 234 Palestinians serving time in Israeli jails, along with two renowned German terrorists imprisoned in Frankfurt. They also demanded safe passage out of Germany.
After a 17-hour standoff, the terrorists collected the hostages and headed for the military airport in Munich for a flight to the Cairo. At the airport, German sharpshooters opened fire, killing three of the Palestinians. In the ensuing gun battle, all nine of the blindfolded Israeli hostages, five of the Arab gunmen, and a German policeman were killed. Some reports from the time say five of the Israelis died from a terrorist hand grenade detonated in their midst, and the other four were shot dead by the terrorists.
Yasser Arafat was directly responsible for the assault on Israel's athletes. This was confirmed, 27 years later, by one of the men who oversaw the attack. Abu Daoud, currently a member of the Palestine National Council, made the admission in his French-language autobiography, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich." Daoud, whose real name is Mohammed Daoud Machmoud Auda, was a leader of Black September. The PLO claimed it had no links the group, but experts have long said was a deniable, covert PLO unit. In his book, Daoud blames German police and Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir for the deaths. Daoud writes that Arafat had been briefed on the planning for Munich by his PLO number two, Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf), who was subsequently assassinated by another Palestinian group. He says Arafat and two other men saw him off on the mission with the words, "Allah protect you."
Never ending…
In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories on which more than a million Palestinians lived, many of them refugees of the war of 1948. Some of the residents of the occupied territories belonged to various militant movements. The PLO's earlier influence in these lands was limited by Egypt and Jordan (who saw it as a Syrian proxy); however, in 1967 it began to rapidly take over the existing infrastructure. Many Palestinians fled to Jordan and de-stabilized its political system. Within months, Israel was again the target of a wave of attacks originating either in the Palestinian population within the occupied territories, or in Jordan, which was no longer able to contain them.
The PLO has launched numerous terrorist raids on Israeli targets from Lebanon that caused hundreds of Israeli casualties. In addition, in the 1970's and early 1980's, various arms of the PLO have carried out a wave of terrorist bombings, massacres in synagogues and in public airports and airplane hijackings across Europe.
The Ma'alot massacre
On May 16, 1974, the 26th anniversary of Israeli independence, Palestinian terrorists broke into the Ma'alot high school in northern Israel. The terrorists immediately killed a security guard and some of the children, the remaining children and teachers were held as hostages.
In the morning, the terrorists were identified as members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They demanded the release of Arab terrorists from Israeli prisons, or they would kill the children. The deadline was set at 6:00 p.m. the same day.
The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, met in an emergency session, and by 3:00PM a decision was reached to negotiate, but the terrorists refused a request for more time.
At 5:45 p.m., a unit of the elite Golani brigade stormed the building. All of the terrorists were killed in the assault, but not before they used firearms and explosives to kill 21 children that afternoon. All told, 26 people were killed and 66 wounded (not including the terrorists), including several people murdered by the terrorists on their way to the school the night before.
On and On it Goes…
"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.
- The Martyr Imam Hasan al-Bana, of blessed memory." -
Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS
The First Intifada
The Intifada's terrorist effects on the Israeli population concentrated in two main areas. First, provocateurs paid by PLO caused the daily creation of large mobs, stoning Israeli cars and attacking Israeli civilians. These were often coordinated with international media outlets in order to maximize media coverage. Secondly, there were numerous deliberate attacks made sometimes in remote areas against Israeli civilians. The terrorist attacks were varied in type and style, but many of them could be described as "local initiatives", that did not require a central planning apparatus. An example of such an attack would be the 405 Bus slaughter of July 6, 1988, in which 14 bus passengers were killed as an Arab assaulted the bus driver as the bus was driving by the edge of a cliff.
The Palestinian Authority - Ongoing Terrorism
In 1993, Israel completed the Oslo Accords, a series of negotiations with the PLO, resulting in mutual recognition, the agreement on the cessation of violence, and the forming of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA or PA). One of PA's obligations, as stated in the Oslo Accords, was the prevention of Palestinian terrorism against Israel.
Initially, as both Israel and the United States agree, the PA carried out its obligations. In accordance with the agreement, it transformed the Intifada infrastructure into a government-like apparatus. However, several times in the years since 1993, there were several waves of Palestinian attacks. The Palestinian Authority quickly acted against those who carried them out, but it did not arrest the leadership of the terror movements. This led to suspicion that the regularity of the attacks - often coming when Israeli public reaction would be beneficial to some Palestinian aim during negotiations, along with numerous documented facts of incitement against Jews and Israelis in official PA-controlled media, schools, and mosques - meant that PA complicity could be taking place.
In recent years Islamist extremists have played a more leading role in Palestinian and inter-Arab politics. In the 1980's and 1990's, Islamic groups managed to offer Palestinians and Arabs alike an Islamic alternative to existing secular and local political trends and ideologies. Along with these changes, the old myths of Arabism and Palestinian militarism were replaced by new and uncompromising myths of radical Islamism.
The al-Aqsa Intifada
Well over 100 suicide bombings, mainly targeting city buses, restaurants and open air gathering places, have taken place Israel, killing more than three hundred civilians. HAMAS, Islamic Jihad and FATAH are said to have at their disposal enormous quantities of weapons and explosives, which all sides agree are not made by the individual bombers themselves but at informal factories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel names the towns of Hebron, Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah as centers of this activity.
Israel claims that the PA's position regarding terrorism was shady in the first place. While condemning most terrorist attacks, the PA has never arrested figures of importance to the terrorist networks, confiscated their weaponry or even publicly denounced future violence against Israelis. Operatives from the FATAH movement of Yasser Arafat, the head of the PA, and Palestinian policemen are known to have participated in a large number of attacks themselves. In a radical change of the PA position was that imprisoning militants, even those who targeted Israeli civilians, may be seen as collaborating with Israel.
Neve Shalom Synagogue - Istanbul
On November 16, 2003 twin car bombs exploded outside two synagogues - Neve Shalom and Beth Israel - in Istanbul yesterday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 300. The majority of the casualties appeared to have occurred outside the synagogues. Although a Turkish Islamist group called the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders (Akincilar) Front
(which was active in the 1980's and whose leaders are in jail) took responsibility for the attacks, it is suspected that they were assisted by al-Qaeda members or by other Turkish extremist groups such as Hizballah. Indeed, London-based al-Quds al-Arab received an e-mail from an al-Qaeda source taking credit.
Never Shalom Synagogue was the target of an earlier shooting attack in 1986, perpetrated by the Abu-Nidal group. Two terrorists entered the temple firing machine guns and throwing hand grenades, killing 22 of the 30 worshipers present on a Saturday morning.
There was an attempted bombing in 1992. Three members of Hizballah were jailed for the attack. In addition, attempts were made on the lives of two leading members of the Jewish community Jak Kamhi in Istanbul (1993) and Yuda Yurum in Ankara (1995).
And on it goes…
Read more:
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 1
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 2
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 3
By: http://www.al-ghoul.com/forever_war_4.htm
Labels: Arabs, Israel, Jews, Jihad, Massacre, Middle East, Muslims, News, Palestine, Palestinians, Politics,stand With Israel, Terror, War
Never-Ending War On The Jews - Pt. 3/4
Yasser Arafat founded Al-Asifa, apolitical and military organization, in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state. During the 1960s and 1970s trained terrorist and insurgent groups carried out numerous acts of international terrorism in western Europe and the Middle East.
FATAHAfter the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, control devolved to the leadership of the various fedayeen militia groups, the most dominant of which was al-FATAH, founded in the early 1960s by Arafat and his cronies in Algeria. "FATAH" is a reverse acronym of the Arabic, Harekat at-Tahrir al-Wataniyyeh al-Falastiniyyeh (The Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine). The word "fatah" means conquest by means of jihad.
Note the grenade and crossed rifles, superimposed on the map of Israel in the emblem at left. This emphasizes the dedication of FATAH, along with the other "liberation" groups, to the "armed struggle" against Israel, a euphemism for terrorism against civilians.
In 1964 the Arab League, a loose confederation of fourteen Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon, meeting in Cairo, established a political body to deal directly with the problem of the Palestinian Arabs. They called it the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The PLO's first leader was an Egyptian, Ahmed Shukairy.
He coined the organization's famous slogan about "driving the Jews into the sea." He is also remembered for saying on May 31, 1956, to the UN Security Council that, "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria."
Arab Fedayeen at the border of IsraelThe PLO's founding congress took place in May 1964 in East Jerusalem, then occupied by Jordan. The organization's charter - Palestinian National Covenant - called for the destruction of the Zionist state and for the establishment of a "Palestinian entity". The Arab League chose the word "entity" as a concession to the Egyptians and the Jordanians, who felt that a sovereign Palestinian state would threaten their own existence. Despite the use of he word Liberation, nothing and nobody was to be liberated - the only real goal was to destroy Israel.
The PLO is actually an umbrella organization for various other factions. FATAH's popularity among Palestinians grew until it took over control of the PLO in 1968. Since then it has been the PLO's most prominent faction. The FATAH leadership was originally opposed to the founding of the PLO, which it viewed as a political opponent.
Backed by Syria, FATAH began carrying out terrorist raids against Israeli targets in 1965, launched from Jordan, Lebanon and Egyptian-occupied Gaza (so as not to draw reprisals against Syria). Dozens of raids were carried out each year, exclusively against civilian targets. Arafat, a not-too-distant relative of the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin El Husseini, soon took control of the PLO.
In addition to its commitment to terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, the PLO is an important member of the international terrorist network. It has provided training, money, intelligence and weaponry for terrorist movements in Ireland, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The PLO, together with other Arab states and organizations, perpetuate anti-Semitism under the guise of anti-Zionism.
In the 1970's FATAH established al-Ashbal (lion cub), a youth program to provide Arab children with basic military training in Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and Syria. Yasser Arafat proudly exhibited pictures to the press of them firing rifles and rolling through fiery obstacle courses. At the age of sixteen, boys received $130 a month. Such training continues today
During the war in Lebanon (June 1982), Arafat ordered a mandatory mobilization order for all Palestinian Arab males between the ages of 16 and 39 to accompany PLO troops in Lebanon. Boys 12 and older were promised 80 dollars a month and were attached to regular PLO units, each serving in his father's company. These children became known as the "RPG" kids as they were armed with rocket propelled grenades. Many Israeli soldiers died as they would not shoot at children, even those armed and trying to kill them. Those Palestinian children who survived are now the parents of the children who are currently being brainwashed into hate, taught to kill and being desensitized to violence.
El-HilwehToday in Lebanon, in camps under Syrian or PLO control, the soldiers of tomorrow are being trained. Boys and girls receive the same military instruction: weapons handling, guerrilla training and ideological indoctrination.
The PLO Expands it Enemies
Israel was not the only state to have troubles with the PLO. Arafat's merry band of terrorists are not only experienced at terrorist attacks against Jews, they also quite accomplished at killing others, including Muslims. Jordan and Lebanon are prime examples.
PLO Terrorist Training Camp In LebanonJordan - Black September
In Jordan FATAH attempted to establish a PLO mini-state. The terrorists openly flaunted Jordanian restrictions on their activities and ignored the local authorities. Between mid 1968 and the end of 1969 there were no fewer than five hundred violent clashes between the guerrillas and King Hussein's security forces and Bedouin soldiers.
Serious incidents included the kidnapping of Arab diplomats and unfriendly Jordanian journalists, unprovoked attacks on government offices, rape and the humiliation of army and security officers. The Palestinians, who were legally entitled to set up road blocks, molested women, levied illegal taxes and insulted the Jordanian flag in the presence of loyal Jordanians.
Jordanian politicians called for a re-imposition of discipline and the rule of law, and the king's had a difficult time restraining the Army.
On 6 September 1970 the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) carried out one of the most memorable hijackings in history. It began with the simultaneous diversion to Jordan of a Swissair DC-8 and a TWA Boeing 707, followed six days later by the hijacking of a BOAC VC-10. The aircraft were forced to land at Dawson Field, 30 miles from Amman, which was quickly renamed Revolutionary Airport.
Meanwhile another PFLP hijack team which had failed to board an El Al plane managed to hijack a Pan American Boeing 747 to Cairo and blow it up, while the media recorded the incident for a gasping world audience.
TWA Boeing 707 hijacked to Dawson Field, AmmanFollowing the destruction of the hijacked planes, and much discussion as to a response, King Hussein declared martial law, and entrusted the formation of a military government to Palestinian-born General Mohammed Daoud. Arafat stormed around Amman making statements but there were no last minute moves to salvage the situation, even after the Arab governments showed little inclination to stand in Hussein’s way.
PLO TerroristThe following day the Jordanian shelled the PLO stronghold in Zarqa. Within hours similar attacks were mounted against refugee camps which had raised the flag of the Republic of Palestine. Jordanian tanks and armored vehicles attacked the headquarters of the Palestinian organizations in Amman. Arafat began using the word "genocide." Iraqi army units which Arafat had counted on refused to come to his aid and were seen retreating to a distant safe area.
Arab states and the Arab League issued appeals for a cessation of hostilities but did little else. Soon Palestinian units ran low on ammunition. On September 18, two days after the attack began, a small Syrian armored force invaded northern Jordan. By early morning on the 19th armoured units of the Palestine Liberation Army and regular units of the Syrian army invaded northern Jordan in a drive towards Amman. Soon they were joined by two Syrian armored brigades, which were reinforced the next day, and swelled to the size of a division.
The opening of an additional front against Jordan was the desired scenario for the Palestinians. The Jordanians were afraid that Syria aspired to exploit the war that had broken out in the kingdom in order to occupy it and to realize the dream of "Greater Syria." They confronted the Syrians with the 40th armored brigade but the Jordanians were pushed back. Arafat the propagandist rose to the occasion and declared northern Jordan a liberated area. The Arab League called for an extraordinary meeting of heads of state. Israel urged Hussein to continue and, in line with the secret agreement between them, code named Sandstorm, placed its forces on alert.
The United States announced that naval units were converging on the eastern Mediterranean to reinforce the Sixth Fleet as a precautionary measure. As the Syrian advance gained momentum Israel's airforce buzzed advancing Syrian armoured units in an attempt to slow the advance.
The fighting in the streets of Amman was bloody. Neither side took any prisoners; both sides committed atrocities, many innocents were raped and killed, and most of the city was ablaze. In other parts of the country, besieged refugee camps where PLO fighters had taken refuge were running out of food and water. Wherever possible people lived in shelters, while others abandoned their villages for the safety of empty spaces. No fewer than five thousand soldiers and officers of the Jordanian army defected to the PLO, but most did so individually: the fact that there was no defection by whole units left the army’s organizational structure intact and enabled it to continue fighting, and did little to strengthen the PLO.
After their initial setback, the Jordanians counter-attacked the invading force from Syria and halted its advance. When King Hussein sent his air force against it, the Syrian air force commander and Minister of Defence, General Hafez Al Assad, refused to use his aircraft and the Syrian ground forces had to withdraw. What lay behind the Syrian move was Assad’s calculating conviction that the use of his air force would bring the United States and Israel into the conflict.
In the midst of the fighting, on 22 September, an Arab League delegation nominated by Nasser in a hurriedly convened meeting in Cairo arrived in Amman. It was headed by the Sudanese President, Ja’afar Numeiri, who was accompanied by the Tunisian Prime Minister, the Kuwaiti Minister of Defence and the Egyptian chief of staff.
The following day, with Arafat on the move to avoid capture but remarkably still in total command of the Palestinian forces, the Arab delegates hammered out an agreement with PLO leaders Abu Iyad (Salah Khalaf) and Farouk Qaddoumi, who had been taken prisoner by the Jordanians and were released by Hussein to act as negotiators. But no sooner had the Arab delegates returned to Cairo than Arafat rejected the agreement and renewed his calls for the overthrow of the monarchy.
The rejection of the agreement was vintage Arafat. Given that the PLO fighters were losing some ground and running low on ammunition, it was a supreme act of daring which undermined Abu Iyad and Qaddoumi, made him more popular with the anti Hussein Palestinians and forced the Arab delegation to return to Amman to locate him. Because the Jordanian forces kept him in hiding and on the move, the Arab peace-makers resorted to sending messages and signals.
Eventually they appealed to King Hussein to restrain his fighters in certain areas and made an open radio appeal to Arafat to contact them. When he did, they told him that Nasser had ordered them not to return to Cairo without him. According to Arafat’s version of events, he left disguised as a Kuwaiti sitting on the plane next to the Kuwaiti member of the delegation, the Defence Minister Sa’ad Al Abdallah.
However, many Jordanians continue to claim that no disguise was needed, that King Hussein knew of Arafat’s departure and welcomed it as a way of ending the fighting. In either case the strutting, fuming Arafat who arrived in Cairo was still full of histrionics and initially insisted, against all advice, on keeping his sidearm.
Arafat had returned to Jordan and set up headquarters in Ajlun in the north. From there he sent Tel and Hussein repeated messages professing moderation and promoting a policy of live and let live. His pleas amounted to too little too late, and Tel refused to consider any of his suggestions. Meanwhile Hussein was expanding his contacts with the Israelis, and by the beginning of November 1970 he had held several meetings with them in London and Tehran. The final Jordanian move to liquidate the Palestinian resistance took place in July 1971.
Having thrown Palestinian fighters out of Amman and the major towns in a series of deliberate dislodgements, the Jordanians eventually forced them into the corner of the country bordering Israel and Syria. In July the Jordanian forces, reorganized and with their spirits uplifted by the prospects of victory, hit the Palestinians with everything they had. Using tanks, aircraft and heavy artillery they pushed Arafat and his fighters into an indefensible triangle.
The Palestinians were outmaneuvered and outgunned, and this time the prospect of outside military assistance did not exist. Arafat’s screams of genocide drew Arab protests and led to the closure of the Iraqi and Syrian borders with Jordan and suspension of aid by Kuwait, but these measures could not alter the desperate plight of the Palestinian fighters. Two weeks of fighting produced another three thousand Palestinian dead. The ferocity of the Jordanian onslaught and the savagery of Hussein’s vengeance seeking Bedouin troops forced some of the Palestinian fighters to flee across the River Jordan and seek asylum in Israel.
Arafat had no way out of his military and political predicament except to leave the country. After several unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with Hussein through a trusted friend, former general Radi Abdallah, he sent an urgent appeal to the leading Palestinian member of Tel’s cabinet, Munib Masri, to rescue him. The lat-ter travelled to northern Jordan in the company of the Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, Fahd Al Koheimi, and talked Arafat, who was hiding in a cave, into returning to Amman to meet King Hussein.
But Arafat knew he could not face Hussein to negotiate what amounted to terms of surrender. On reaching the town of Jarrash in the company of Masri and Al Koheimi he asked to be driven in the direction of the Syrian border. After crossing into Syria he soon moved to Lebanon with two thousand of his fighters to avoid being under the control of President Assad, a man forever opposed to independent PLO action and determined to place the Palestinian resistance under his country's control. Yasser Arafat may have been defeated but he remained arrogant and unrepentant.
Black September Organization
On 28 November 1971, an organization which was to leave an indelible mark on the history of political terror and the modern Middle East committed its first murder. Four armed Palestinians, operating in broad daylight and without the benefit of masks, shot dead the Jordanian Prime Minister, Wash Tel, as he returned to Cairo’s Sheraton Hotel from an Arab League meeting. The assassination itself was followed by a gruesome ritual as one of the killers knelt down, lapped up and drank some of Tel’s flowing blood and shouted several times that he and his accomplices belonged to Black September.
The following month the group tried to assassinate Jordan’s Ambassador to London, Zeid Al Rifai’, a leading politician who had supported King Hussein’s crackdown on the Palestinians. There was no let-up, and in February 1972 members of Black September blew up a West German electrical installation and a Dutch gas plant.
These four acts of terrorism revealed a great deal about the organization behind them. Black September's fearless members were willing to defy major Arab governments, including the very important Egyptian one. The attempt to assassinate Rifai’ in London demonstrated that they had international connections.
The attacks against the West German and Dutch installations indicated that the plans of the new terror group went beyond eliminating individuals and included a threat to the economic infrastructure of the West on its home ground.
The reaction to the attacks followed clear-cut lines. Because they acted as a safety valve for Palestinian frustration, the majority of Palestinians.
Read More:
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 1
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 2
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 4
By: http://www.al-ghoul.com/forever_war_3.htm
Labels: Arabs, Israel, Jews, Jihad, Massacre, Middle East, Muslims, News, Palestine, Palestinians, Politics,stand With Israel, Terror, War
Never-Ending War On The Jews - Pt. 2/4
Denial and Revenge 1948-67
"The masses cannot be mobilized by a mere appeal to fight Israel; they suffer exploitation not at the hands of the Zionists but rather at the hands of the Arab ruling classes. It is these classes, too, who since 1948 have oppressed the people of Palestine. They have kept them outside the productive process, penned them up in camps, living on the charity of the big powers and everywhere subject to special regulations. They have used racism and chauvinism to set them apart from the other Arab peoples."
- Journalist Samir Franjiyeh - Journal of Palestine Studies, Winter, 1972
The years between Israel's independence and the Six-Day War were characterized by incessant terrorist activity, carried out by Palestinians and often sponsored by Arab nations. Arab refugees from the 1948 War of Independence, located in camps in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, became a locus of anti-Israel activity. No Arab country would take them in, no Arab country would help them, so they became the responsibility of the United Nations. These angry Arabs began mounting night raids against Israelis, killing one here, raping one there.
Eilat - Beersheva bus; the sign on the bus reads "Eilat Daily" and "Best Wishes"Israel was subject to a massive wave of infiltration by Palestinian refugees from Jordan and Egypt. The infiltrators' intentions varied: some only wanted to reclaim property; others intended to steal from Jews who settled near the border; others wanted to kill Jews in revenge for their military failure of 1948. This led to the deaths of more than 200 Israelis; theft caused a considerable economic damage, and a general feeling of insecurity was created by the raids.
Both Egypt and Jordan at least initially tried to limit this phenomenon, but neither were particularly successful. The wave of attacks on Israel became more organized in the form of Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, called fedayeen (Men of Sacrifice or Suicide Fighters), who began to conduct raids against the Israeli civilian population by 1951. In spite of retaliatory attacks made by Israel, the infiltrations never stopped - although they were often interrupted for brief periods of time.
By 1954, Egypt reversed its stance completely, formally creating a battalion of fedayeen as a part of the Egyptian army forces stationed in Gaza. In Jordan the fedayeen did not have a formal status; evidence seems to indicate the Jordanian authorities were opposed to it; however the lower-ranking officials and military commanders were reluctant to block infiltrations, and the authorities either were not able or did not want to force them to.
In 1955, Nasser began importing arms from the USSR and other East bloc nations building his arsenal to confront Israel. In the short-term, however, he employed a new tactic to prosecute Egypt's war with Israel. He announced it on August 31, 1955:
Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death.
These "heroes" were the fedayeen, whose activity violated the armistice agreement provision that prohibited the initiation of hostilities by paramilitary forces; nevertheless, it was Israel, not the Arab states, that was condemned by the UN Security Council for its counterattacks.
The fedayeen operated from bases in the territories surrounding Israel: Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. They were trained and equipped, primarily by Egyptian Intelligence, to engage in hostile action on the border and infiltrate Israel to commit acts of sabotage and murder. A bounty was offered for each Jew killed. The Arab states surrounding Israel each hoped to annex Israeli territory at some point in the future; Egypt arranged for the fedayeen to operate primarily from locations in Jordan. This would insure that Jordan bore the brunt of Israel's retaliation.
In the period 1951-1956, hundreds of fedayeen attacks were carried out against Israel; over 400 Israelis were killed and 900 injured. Fedayeen terrorism contributed to the outbreak of the 1956 Sinai Campaign.
Eventually, Syria launched a plan to subvert Israel's water supply. In order to intensify the hostilities, Syria began aiding to Palestinian terrorism. It managed the transformation of the PLO, previously a moderately successful group with political aspirations led by Ahmad Shukairy, into a full-fledged terrorist network enjoying Arab and Palestinian popular support, with Yasser Arafat's FATAH movement at its steering wheel. The PLO as we know it today was formed in late 1964. Its first attacks in February 1965 were aimed at - unsurprisingly - Israel's water installations in the north; however, they never caused much damage and the PLO remained only a minor player.
Underground bunker - Kibbutz GadotFrom 1949-1967 Syrian artillery regularly shelled the residents of the Hulah Valley, forcing a generation of Israeli children to sleep in underground bunkers and ride to school in armored buses. Kibbutz Gadot was shelled 400 times.
Fedayeen movements - 1960's
In 1951 the West Bank was annexed by the Jordanians and many well-to-do Palestinians became "Jordanianized," but most activists were drawn to pan-Arab populist movements which emphasized that the liberation of Palestine was part of the larger goal of changing the social and political structure of the Arab world. It was believed that participation in pan-Arab movements would enable Palestinians to regain their lost homeland.
RevolutionPalestinian support for pan-Arabist movements and regimes remained strong until 1961, when the Egyptian-Syrian union failed. Pan-Arabism then became suspect. After the 1967 war, the fedayeen leadership largely disassociated itself from pan-Arabism. The Palestinian activists began identifying themselves, directly or indirectly, with new fedayeen groups - such as al-FATAH. Fedayeen encouraged Palestinians to take matters into their own hands and not rely on Arab leaders who were not serious about liberating Palestine. Their strategy stressed the independent armed struggle, making them the new heroes of the Arab world.most Palestinian activists became committed to new militant and secular nationalist groups.
Residents of Kiryat Shmona cover the severed leg of a terrorist victim. The appeal of Arabism beginning in the late 1950s and the strength of the Fedayeen movements in the 1960s and 1970s intensified opposition to the Jordanianized elite who became increasingly unpopular.
Children's dormitory, kibbutz Misgav Am, after an attack by Palestinian terroristsRead More:
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 1
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 3
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 4
By: http://www.al-ghoul.com/forever_war_2.htm
Labels: Arabs, Israel, Jews, Jihad, Massacre, Middle East, Muslims, News, Palestine, Palestinians, Politics,stand With Israel, Terror, War
Never-Ending War On The Jews - Pt. 1/4
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!
PEACE FOR US MEANS THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL. WE ARE PREPARING FOR AN ALL-OUT WAR, A WAR WHICH WILL LAST FOR GENERATIONS.
~Yasser Arafat~
"God has gathered the Zionists together from the corners of the world so that the Arabs can kill them all at one stroke."
- Ibrahim Tawhi, Fedayeen official - Al-Ahram, September 8, 1956
Arab violence against Jews has a long history. This survey of terrorist organizations and their attacks against Israelis should not be taken as exhaustive, but it will serve to give the reader a general idea of what took place, and still goes on. These pages are a work in progress, to be updated as new information and photos are found.
Egged-Israeli Bus DriverThe roots of Arab terrorism against the Jews dates back to the Ottoman Empire. From 1870 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 — every Jewish town, neighborhood, moshava (village), farm, moshav and kvutza (cooperative and collective settlements, respectively), had to protect itself against local individual Arab thieves organized gangs. The Jewish community of Palestine was under the thumb of a few wealthy effendi (landlord) families, most prominently the Husseinis and the Nashashibis. Criminals were employed to attack Jews who threatened rent prices by the fact that they lived outside Jerusalem's city walls.
Syrian-born Sheikh Izz Ad-Din El-Kassam, after whom the "military wing" of HAMAS is named, created the first terrorist network in the British Mandate of Palestine. The network, called the Black Hand, was responsible for the deaths of at least 10 Jews. After the Black Hand killed a Jewish police officer, El-Kassam was hunted down and killed by British police.
Black Hand, which specialized in terror against random Jewish farmers and, for that matter, random Arab Christians in Mandate Palestine In 1916, as part of the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement, Britain and France agreed that all of eastern Upper Galilee was to come under French rule. The four Jewish settlements of Metullah, Hamrah, Tel Chai, and Kfar Giladi were situated in this area. Muslims, who desired an independent Arab Greater Syria, were no pleased with this development.
After World War I, Emir Feisal I (the leader of the Arab movement) agreed to the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine by signing the Feisal-Weizmann Agreement at Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Palestinian Arab leaders, among them the Jerusalem Mayor Musa Khazim al-Husseini, rejected the agreement - relations between Arabs and Jews took a turn for the worse. Groups loyal to Feisal in Syria, who was sympathetic to the British, attacked After the war the Muslim Arabs began attacks both on the Christian villages of southern Lebanon and on the isolated Jewish settlements of Upper Galilee:
Tel Chai - March, 1920
Tel Chai (Hebrew: Hill of Life”), now a national memorial, was one of the first Jewish settlements in northern Palestine, it was intermittently inhabited from 1905, and permanently settled in 1918.
Tel Chai and adjacent Kfar Giladi were determined to defend themselves. Tel Chai was reinforced from Jerusalem by members of Ha-Shomer, the Jewish workers' protective organization, under the command of Joseph Trumpledor, Zionist pioneer and former hero of the tsarist army. On March 1, 1920, the settlement was attacked by a large band of Arabs; six of the defenders, including Trumpeldor, were killed.
The Jerusalem Pogrom - April, 1920
During the festival of Nebi Musa (Prophet Moses), Muslims march from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho to where they believe Moses is buried. In the years predating 1920, these processions were marked by intimidation of Christian communities on their way. The Arab attacks of March 1920 in Galilee (Tel Chai, etc.) and the activities of Black Hand caused deep concerns among Zionist leaders, who made numerous requests to the Mandate administration to address the Yishuv's security. Their fears were ruled out by the Chief Administrative Officer General Louis Bols, Governor Ronald Storrs and General Edmund Allenby, particularly at their meeting with the president of the World Zionist Organization Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who warned them: "pogrom is in the air." Storrs issued a warning to Arab leaders, but his forces included only 188 policemen, among them but 8 officers. The Ottoman Turks had usually deployed thousands of soldiers to keep order in narrow streets of Jerusalem during Nebi Musa procession.
April 4-7 in the Old City
During a procession on April 4, inflammatory anti-Semitic rhetoric led to rioting in Jerusalem. The main instigator was Haj Amin al-Husseini, Mufti of Jerusalem. Another was the editor of the newspaper Suriya al-Janubia (Southern Syria) Aref al-Aref, who delivered his speech on horseback. For four days, an Arab mob ransacked the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, beating anyone they could find and looting shops and homes. The disturbances grew worse and the Old City was sealed off by the army. Jews who sought to flee were not allowed to leave. Martial law was declared, but looting, burglary, rape and murder continued. Several homes were set on fire. Eventually, British soldiers evacuated the Old City.
Then as now, blame the victim
5 Jews died and 216 were injured (18 critically). A committee of inquiry placed responsibility for the riots on the Jews, for provoking the Arabs. The court blamed "Bolshevism," claiming that it "flowed in Zionism's inner heart."
The official inquiry that followed found that the British military administration was rife with anti-Semitism and that the measures taken to maintain order were inadequate, but no one was charged for failing in his duties.
One of the most important results of the riot was that Jewish immigration to Palestine was halted, a major demand of the Palestinian Arab community. Quick to learn a lesson, the Arabs often resorted to deadly anti-Jewish violence in order to influence British policies towards the Jews.
In May 1921 an outbreak of violence in Jaffa was followed by large scale attacks on Rehovot, Petah Tikva, and other places. 47 Jews were killed and 140 wounded. The riots were a matter of some concern to the British mandatory administration. The High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuels, himself Jewish, ordered a temporary halt to Jewish immigration and entered into negotiations with the Arab Executive Committee. The outcome of these negotiations was the White Paper issued by Churchill on June 1922.
Another round begins – 1928
From 1922 through 1928 the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Palestine was relatively peaceful. However, in late 1928 a new phase of violence began with minor disputes between Jews and Arabs about the right of Jews to pray at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem. These arguments led to an outbreak of Arab violence in August 1929 when Haj Amin al-Husseini whipped up Arab hatred by accusing the Jews of endangering mosques and other sites holy to Islam. Observers heard Husseini issue the call: Itbaq al-Yahud (Slaughter the Jews!)
On August 22, 1929 the leaders of the Yishuv (Jewish community) met with the British Deputy High Commissioner to alert him of their fears of major Arab rioting. The British assured them that the government was in control of the situation. The following day riots erupted throughout the Mandate, lasting for seven days.
The Hebron Massacre
On Friday, August 23, Arab mobs attacked Jews in Jerusalem, Motza, Hebron, Safed, Jaffa, and elsewhere. The Old City of Jerusalem was hit particularly hard. By the next day, the Haganah (Jewish defense organization) was able to mount a defense and further attacks in Jerusalem were repulsed. But, the violence in Jerusalem generated rumors throughout the country, many carrying fabricated accounts of Jewish attempts to defile Muslim holy places, all to inflame Arab residents. Villages were plundered and destroyed by Arab mobs. Attacks in Tel Aviv and Haifa were thwarted by Jewish defenders.
Jerusalem Arabs came to Hebron with false reports of Jews murdering Arabs during the rioting there, even saying thousands of Arabs had been killed. Despite the fact that Jews and Arabs in Hebron had been on good terms, a mass of frenzied Arab rioters formed and proceeded to the Hebron Yeshiva where a student was murdered.
A few Arabs did try to help the Jews. Nineteen Arab families saved dozens, maybe even hundreds of Jews. Abu Id Zaitoun and his family protected some Jews with their swords, hid them in a cellar, and found a policeman to escort them safely to the police station at Beit Romano.
On Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, the killing continued. Arabs began to gather en masse. They came in mobs, surrounding homes where Jews sought refuge, armed with clubs, knives and axes. They broke in and murdered 67 Jews in a bloody rampage. Many Jewish corpses were mutilated. Arab women and children threw stones, the men ransacked Jewish houses and destroyed Jewish property.
The police station was a refuge for the Jews that day, and throughout the troubles. As Orthodox Jews finished their morning prayers, they heard angry voices outside the building. Thousands of Arabs descended from Har Hebron, shouting "Kill the Jews!" in Arabic. They even tried to break down the doors of the station. Each night, as the riots continued, ten men were allowed to leave to attend a funeral in Hebron’s ancient Jewish cemetery for the murdered Jews of the day.
During the Hebron riots British did nothing to stop the violence. With only a single police officer in Hebron, the Arabs entered Jewish courtyards with no opposition. 18 Jews were also killed in Safed. The tally, including Jews killed in other areas, was 133 dead, with more than 300 wounded.
The dead Jews included Eliezer Dan Slonim, a man highly esteemed by the Arabs. He was the director of the local English-Palestine bank whose clients were Arabs, and was the sole Jewish member of the Hebron Municipal Council. He had many friends among the Arab elders, who had promised to protect him. Twenty-two people died in Slonim's house that day including his wife and two young children. Early on, Rabbi Slonim had been approached by the rioters and offered a deal. If all the Ashkenazi yeshiva students were given over to the Arabs, the rioters would spare the lives of the Sephardi community. Rabbi Slonim refused and was killed on the spot.
When the massacre finally ended, the surviving Jews were exiled from their home city, for the crime of being a victim of the Arab riot, and resettled in Jerusalem. Some Jewish families tried to move back to Hebron, but were removed by the British authorities. Hebron's ancient Jewish quarter was empty and destroyed. For the next 39 years no Jew lived in Hebron, not until after the Six Day War.
Arab Riot in 1933The Arab Revolt – 1936
By 1936, with the growing power of Haj Amin al Husseini, and general Arab frustration at the continuation of European rule, increasing numbers of Palestinian Arabs became radicalized. In April 1936 six prominent Arab leaders overcame their rivalries and joined forces to protest against the Zionist presence. The Arab High Command, as the group was known, was led by the Mufti Haj Amin al Husseini, and represented Arab interests in Palestine until 1948.
Jewish refugees camp In Rishon Le'Zion 1936A refugee camp for Jews fleeing Arab violence, near Rishon Le-Zion 1936 An attack on a Jewish bus led to a series of incidents, including rioting in Jaffa, that escalated into a major Arab rebellion. An Arab Higher Committee (AHC), a loose coalition of recently formed Arab political parties, was created. It declared a national strike in support of three basic demands: cessation of Jewish immigration, an end to all further land sales to the Jews, and the establishment of an Arab national government.
The Arab High Command began their protest by calling for a general strike of Arab workers and a boycott of Jewish products. The strike quickly led to a campaign of terror against Jewish people and lands. Seventeen Jews were killed the first day, with little action by the British to stop the rioters. Sparked by the Mufti's agitators, armed bands of Arab terrorists attacked Jewish villages and vehicles, as well as British Army and police forces. By August 1936, responding more to attacks on British assets than to the Jewish losses, the British began a military crack-down on the Arab terrorists.
The Arab strike ended in October 1936 and a temporary peace between Arabs and Jews prevailed for almost a year. Then, in September 1937, following the July report by the Peel Commission, the violent tactics resumed. Armed Arab terrorism, under the direction of the Higher Committee, was used to attack the Jews and to suppress Arab opponents. This campaign of violence continued through 1938 and then tapered off, ending in early 1939. The toll was terrible: Eighty Jews were murdered by terrorist acts during the labor strike, and a total of 415 Jewish deaths were recorded during the whole 1936-1939 Arab Revolt period.
Continuing Violence
In January 1947 a Haganah platoon of 35 soldiers sent to help repulse an attack at Gush Etzion with medical supplies and ammunition was slaughtered by hundreds of Arab militants. Their stripped, mutilated bodies were found the next day by a British patrol. The day after the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947, violence against Jewish civilians began to escalate. The Arabs declared a protest strike and instigated riots that claimed the lives of many Jews, Arabs and British soldiers. These were not military operations, but terrorism against civilian targets intended to achieve political aims for the Arabs who would not accept any partition plan.
The UN Partition Vote
One day after the UN partition resolution of November 29, 1947, violence against Jewish civilians began to escalate. The Arabs declared a protest strike and instigated riots that claimed the lives of many Jews, Arabs and British soldiers. These were not military operations, but terrorism against civilians intended to achieve political aims for the Arabs who would not accept any partition plan.
February 1st, 1948 saw the bombing (photo at bottom) of the Palestine Post (now Jerusalem Post) which killed six people and injured dozens. Then on February 22nd, three booby-trapped trucks positioned in Ben-Yehuda Street exploded, destroying four large buildings, killing 50 and injuring more than 100. On March 11, a car bomb exploded in the courtyard of the Jewish Agency building, killing 12 people, injuring 44, and causing extensive damage.
Arab acts of hostility prior to statehood reached their peak in March. Arabs controlled all the inter-urban routes. The road to Jerusalem was blocked, settlements in the Galilee and the Negev were also cut off and convoys were attacked daily. In the four months after the UN resolution, some 850 Jews were killed throughout the country, most of them in Jerusalem or on the road to the city.
Jerusalem Post Bomb - February 1st 1948On April 13, 1948, Arabs set mines in the road in the Sheik Jarrah area to block a convoy of 10 vehicles - trucks, buses and ambulances - carrying supplies, nurses, doctors, scientists, and patients to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus (photo at left). In the attack, 78 were killed and their bodies mutilated. Dozens are wounded. British soldiers delayed intervention in the attack for 6 hours while the killing continued. The hospital was cut off from Israel until it was relieved during the Six Day War.
Hadassa Hospital Bus MassacreA Burned bus in Tel Aviv 1948
The War of Independence
The greatest Arab atrocity of the war occurred on May 13, 1948, at the Etzion Bloc settlements. Dozens of surrendering defenders, including some twenty women, were killed at Kfar Etzion just north of Hebron,. The Etzion Bloc had seen a previous massacre in January 1947 when a Haganah platoon of 35 soldiers sent to help them with medical supplies and ammunition was slaughtered by hundreds of Arab militants. Their stripped, mutilated bodies were found the next day by a British patrol.
Ben-Yehuda St. Jerusalem 1948The final battle for Gush Etzion took place between May 12-14, 1948. Massive, heavily armed enemy forces overran the Jewish positions. A handful of exhausted defenders, equipped only with light arms and very little ammunition could not withstand the attacking forces. On Thursday, May 13th, Kfar Etzion fell, its defenders killed, most of them slaughtered by Arab rioters after the collapse of the defense. Gush Etzion was destroyed in the aftermath - everything of value was removed, then the buildings were reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of trees in the orchards - individually planted by the Jewish farmers - were uprooted.
Jewish Refugees Camp - Tel Aviv 1948Read more:
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 2
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 3
Never Ending War on The jews - Part 4
By: http://www.al-ghoul.com/forever_war_1.htm
Labels: Arabs, Israel, Jews, Jihad, Massacre, Middle East, Muslims, News, Palestine, Palestinians, Politics,stand With Israel, Terror, War
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More Quotes About "Palestine"
"There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented. There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria. 'Palestine' is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it".
- Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, Syrian Arab leader to British Peel Commission, 1937 -
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"There is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not".
- Professor Philip Hitti, Arab historian, 1946 -
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"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but Southern Syria".
- Representant of Saudi Arabia at the United Nations, 1956 -
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Concerning the Holy Land, the chairman of the Syrian Delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in February 1919 stated:
"The only Arab domination since the Conquest in 635 c.e. hardly lasted, as such, 22 years".
"There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent (valley of Jezreel, Galilea); not for thirty miles in either direction... One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee... Nazareth is forlorn... Jericho lies a mouldering ruin... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds... a silent, mournful expanse... a desolation... We never saw a human being on the whole route... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes... desolate and unlovely...".
- Mark Twain, "The Innocents Abroad", 1867 -
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"In 1590 a 'simple English visitor' to Jerusalem wrote: 'Nothing there is to bescene but a little of the old walls, which is yet remayning and all the rest is grasse, mosse and weedes much like to a piece of rank or moist grounde'.".
- Gunner Edward Webbe, Palestine Exploration Fund,
Quarterly Statement, p. 86; de Haas, History, p. 338 -
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"The land in Palestine is lacking in people to till its fertile soil".
- British archaeologist Thomas Shaw, mid-1700s -
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"Palestine is a ruined and desolate land".
- Count Constantine François Volney, XVIII century French author and historian -
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"The Arabs themselves cannot be considered but temporary residents. They pitched their tents in its grazing fields or built their places of refuge in its ruined cities. They created nothing in it. Since they were strangers to the land, they never became its masters. The desert wind that brought them hither could one day carry them away without their leaving behind them any sign of their passage through it".
- Comments by Christians concerning the Arabs in Palestine in the 1800s -
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"Then we entered the hill district, and our path lay through the clattering bed of an ancient stream, whose brawling waters have rolled away into the past, along with the fierce and turbulent race who once inhabited these savage hills. There may have been cultivation here two thousand years ago. The mountains, or huge stony mounds environing this rough path, have level ridges all the way up to their summits; on these parallel ledges there is still some verdure and soil: when water flowed here, and the country was thronged with that extraordinary population, which, according to the Sacred Histories, was crowded into the region, these mountain steps may have been gardens and vineyards, such as we see now thriving along the hills of the Rhine. Now the district is quite deserted, and you ride among what seem to be so many petrified waterfalls. We saw no animals moving among the stony brakes; scarcely even a dozen little birds in the whole course of the ride".
- William Thackeray in "From Jaffa To Jerusalem", 1844 -
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"The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population".
- James Finn, British Consul in 1857 -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The area was underpopulated and remained economically stagnant until the arrival of the first Zionist pioneers in the 1880's, who came to rebuild the Jewish land. The country had remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people. Jewish development of the country also attracted large numbers of other immigrants - both Jewish and Arab. The road leading from Gaza to the north was only a summer track suitable for transport by camels and carts... Houses were all of mud. No windows were anywhere to be seen... The plows used were of wood... The yields were very poor... The sanitary conditions in the village [Yabna] were horrible... Schools did not exist... The rate of infant mortality was very high... The western part, toward the sea, was almost a desert... The villages in this area were few and thinly populated. Many ruins of villages were scattered over the area, as owing to the prevalence of malaria, many villages were deserted by their inhabitants".
- The report of the British Royal Commission, 1913 -
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Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Part I: Why Peace is Impossible
In March 2002, then-Crown Prince, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia proposed the “Arab Peace Initiative” in the Arab League Beirut Summit. According to Arab leaders this initiative consisted of a comprehensive proposal to end the entire Arab-Israeli conflict. The Arab League members unanimously endorsed the peace initiative on March 27.
According to the Arab Peace Initiative Israel will:
(a) Complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon;
(b) Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194.
(c) Accept the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In return the Arab states will do the following:
(a) Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over, sign a peace agreement with Israel, and achieve peace for all states in the region;
(b) Establish normal relations with Israel within the framework of this comprehensive peace
To most unsuspecting Westerners, the Arab Peace Initiative may seem like a clear sign that Arab states are truly dedicated to peace. With such an attractive and generous offer – an end to the entire Arab-Israeli conflict, and peace with all Arab states – what does Israel have to lose?
Surely, withdrawing from all occupied territories is not such a big problem for Israel if it gets peace with all Arab countries in return; Israel has already withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula – an area 3 times the size of Israel – in return for peace with Egypt.
Accepting an independent Palestinian state is also not a big issue of concern; Israeli PMs over the past two decades have agreed that a Palestinian state will be a reality, and negotiated with Palestinian leaders to that end.
But what about the Palestinian refugee issue? How can Israel possibly reject a “just” and “agreed upon” solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees?
Well, there’s only one little problem here – what is hidden behind the innocent sounding words of the Arab proposal is actually something quite ominous to Israel. While part (b) of the released proposal states:
Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194.
When we look at the full wording of the Arab Peace Initiative, we find the following:
“To accept to find an agreed, just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in conformity with Resolution 194,” and “the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.”
What exactly does “the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation” mean?
The Arab states used more explicit language on this point in a Final Statement that accompanied their initiative. They rejected any solution that involves “resettling of the Palestinians outside of their homes.”
This does not just mean that Arab states reject the settlement of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries. It also means that Arab states reject the settlement of Palestinian refugees in the future Palestinian state (in the West Bank and Gaza).
The only solution Arab states would be willing to accept – and the only solution they view as “just” – to the Palestinian refugee problem is the resettlement of millions of Palestinian refugees in Israel.
So while the Arab Initiative itself says that the solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees should be “agreed upon” – presumably in negotiations between Israel and Arab states, the Arab Final Statement leaves no room for negotiations. What this really means is that Israel should agree to the Arab proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in Israel.
Can Israel agree to such proposal?
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) estimates there are 6.5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Resettling millions of refugees in Israel – a country of 7.7 million inhabitants (including 1.25 million Israeli Arabs) – would inevitably bring the destruction of the Jewish State.
In other words, through the Arab “Peace” Initiative, Arab states declare that they are willing to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and sign a peace agreement with Israel… once Israel ceases to exist.
Thus, according to the Arab perspective the only way to “peacefully” resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict is through the destruction of the Jewish State.
“Right of Return” for Palestinian Refugees
Certainly, Israel would never agree to absorb millions of Palestinian refugees. But is the Arab demand for the “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees into Israel legitimate? Let us consider the question of Palestinian refugees from a historic perspective:
During the 1948 War – a war which began with Palestinian rejection of the UN Partition Plan, and the subsequent invasion of Arab armies into Israel – between 650,000 and 730,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled or fled from the area that became Israel, and became refugees. At the same time, around 10,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in Palestine. In 1949, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. By the end of the war territory under Israeli control encompassed approximately three-quarters of Mandate Palestine. Today, over 1.25 million Arabs are citizens of Israel.
From 1948 to 1970 between 750,000 and 1,000,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries. Today, fewer than 7,000 Jews remain in Arab countries. It is estimated that Jewish-owned real-estate left behind or confiscated in Arab countries covers a total of about 100,000 square kilometers – more than four times the size of the state of Israel. Additional 200,000 Jews from [non-Arab] Muslim countries left their homes due to increasing insecurity and growing hostility since 1948. Today over 60% of Israeli Jews are the descendants of displaced Jews from Arab countries.
Jewish refugees from Arab countries were absorbed by Israel and became equal citizens. Israel does not demand a “right of return” for Jews into Arab countries, nor does it demand compensation for confiscated Jewish land and property from Arab countries.
On the other hand, Palestinian refugees were not absorbed by Arab countries. Instead, for over 60 years Palestinian refugees have been confined to impoverished refugee camps by Arab states; denied the opportunity for a meaningful life, and cynically exploited by Arab states as a political weapon against Israel. For over 60 years Palestinian refugees have been told that only Israel is responsible for their suffering, and that one day they will return to their villages and homes.
The demand for “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees into Israel is an Arab attempt to distort history, and shift the entire responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict to Israel. There is nothing just or equitable about this demand.
Thus, the “Right of Return” is synonymous with the destruction of the Jewish State.
Instead of trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, and address the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people, Arab leaders have been focused on one goal: the destruction of the Jewish State.
For Arab leaders “peace” negotiations with Israel are merely the continuation of war by other means.
Certainly, Arab leaders in distant capitals – untroubled by the daily hardships of Palestinians under occupation – may adopt extreme views for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (ie. the destruction of Israel). But what about Palestinian leaders?
Palestinian leaders are more attuned with the reality on the ground. Shouldn’t they be more willing to reconcile their differences with Israel for the sake of national independence and peace? Can there still be hope for an Israeli-Palestinian peace? That will be the topic of the next post in the series The Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Reading Continued Below:
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Part II: Why the Middle East is on a Path of War?
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Part III: The Core of the Conflict
Geo Politics
According to the Arab Peace Initiative Israel will:
(a) Complete withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the 4 June 1967 line and the territories still occupied in southern Lebanon;
(b) Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194.
(c) Accept the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories occupied since 4 June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In return the Arab states will do the following:
(a) Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict over, sign a peace agreement with Israel, and achieve peace for all states in the region;
(b) Establish normal relations with Israel within the framework of this comprehensive peace
To most unsuspecting Westerners, the Arab Peace Initiative may seem like a clear sign that Arab states are truly dedicated to peace. With such an attractive and generous offer – an end to the entire Arab-Israeli conflict, and peace with all Arab states – what does Israel have to lose?
Surely, withdrawing from all occupied territories is not such a big problem for Israel if it gets peace with all Arab countries in return; Israel has already withdrawn from the Sinai Peninsula – an area 3 times the size of Israel – in return for peace with Egypt.
Accepting an independent Palestinian state is also not a big issue of concern; Israeli PMs over the past two decades have agreed that a Palestinian state will be a reality, and negotiated with Palestinian leaders to that end.
But what about the Palestinian refugee issue? How can Israel possibly reject a “just” and “agreed upon” solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees?
Well, there’s only one little problem here – what is hidden behind the innocent sounding words of the Arab proposal is actually something quite ominous to Israel. While part (b) of the released proposal states:
Attain a just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees to be agreed upon in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution No 194.
When we look at the full wording of the Arab Peace Initiative, we find the following:
“To accept to find an agreed, just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in conformity with Resolution 194,” and “the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.”
What exactly does “the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation” mean?
The Arab states used more explicit language on this point in a Final Statement that accompanied their initiative. They rejected any solution that involves “resettling of the Palestinians outside of their homes.”
This does not just mean that Arab states reject the settlement of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries. It also means that Arab states reject the settlement of Palestinian refugees in the future Palestinian state (in the West Bank and Gaza).
The only solution Arab states would be willing to accept – and the only solution they view as “just” – to the Palestinian refugee problem is the resettlement of millions of Palestinian refugees in Israel.
So while the Arab Initiative itself says that the solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees should be “agreed upon” – presumably in negotiations between Israel and Arab states, the Arab Final Statement leaves no room for negotiations. What this really means is that Israel should agree to the Arab proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees in Israel.
Can Israel agree to such proposal?
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) estimates there are 6.5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Resettling millions of refugees in Israel – a country of 7.7 million inhabitants (including 1.25 million Israeli Arabs) – would inevitably bring the destruction of the Jewish State.
In other words, through the Arab “Peace” Initiative, Arab states declare that they are willing to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, and sign a peace agreement with Israel… once Israel ceases to exist.
Thus, according to the Arab perspective the only way to “peacefully” resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict is through the destruction of the Jewish State.
“Right of Return” for Palestinian Refugees
Certainly, Israel would never agree to absorb millions of Palestinian refugees. But is the Arab demand for the “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees into Israel legitimate? Let us consider the question of Palestinian refugees from a historic perspective:
During the 1948 War – a war which began with Palestinian rejection of the UN Partition Plan, and the subsequent invasion of Arab armies into Israel – between 650,000 and 730,000 Palestinian Arabs were expelled or fled from the area that became Israel, and became refugees. At the same time, around 10,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes in Palestine. In 1949, Israel signed separate armistices with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. By the end of the war territory under Israeli control encompassed approximately three-quarters of Mandate Palestine. Today, over 1.25 million Arabs are citizens of Israel.
From 1948 to 1970 between 750,000 and 1,000,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries. Today, fewer than 7,000 Jews remain in Arab countries. It is estimated that Jewish-owned real-estate left behind or confiscated in Arab countries covers a total of about 100,000 square kilometers – more than four times the size of the state of Israel. Additional 200,000 Jews from [non-Arab] Muslim countries left their homes due to increasing insecurity and growing hostility since 1948. Today over 60% of Israeli Jews are the descendants of displaced Jews from Arab countries.
Jewish refugees from Arab countries were absorbed by Israel and became equal citizens. Israel does not demand a “right of return” for Jews into Arab countries, nor does it demand compensation for confiscated Jewish land and property from Arab countries.
On the other hand, Palestinian refugees were not absorbed by Arab countries. Instead, for over 60 years Palestinian refugees have been confined to impoverished refugee camps by Arab states; denied the opportunity for a meaningful life, and cynically exploited by Arab states as a political weapon against Israel. For over 60 years Palestinian refugees have been told that only Israel is responsible for their suffering, and that one day they will return to their villages and homes.
The demand for “Right of Return” for Palestinian refugees into Israel is an Arab attempt to distort history, and shift the entire responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict to Israel. There is nothing just or equitable about this demand.
Thus, the “Right of Return” is synonymous with the destruction of the Jewish State.
Instead of trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, and address the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people, Arab leaders have been focused on one goal: the destruction of the Jewish State.
For Arab leaders “peace” negotiations with Israel are merely the continuation of war by other means.
Certainly, Arab leaders in distant capitals – untroubled by the daily hardships of Palestinians under occupation – may adopt extreme views for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (ie. the destruction of Israel). But what about Palestinian leaders?
Palestinian leaders are more attuned with the reality on the ground. Shouldn’t they be more willing to reconcile their differences with Israel for the sake of national independence and peace? Can there still be hope for an Israeli-Palestinian peace? That will be the topic of the next post in the series The Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Reading Continued Below:
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Part II: Why the Middle East is on a Path of War?
The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Part III: The Core of the Conflict
Geo Politics
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