History lesson
My sister-in-law Barbara lacked the facts to discuss with her friend the Israel-Arab situation, when her friend was concerned about the Palestinian people, typical uninformed liberal sentimentality. I gave her a quick history lesson, based entirely on historical facts:
1. The Land of Israel was entirely Jewish until the Roman conquest of 63 bc when they divided it into Judea, Samaria and Galilee. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 ad following the Jewish Revolt against their rule.
2. The Christian Byzantine Empire took over from the Romans, so the land was inhabited by Jews and Christians living side by side, until....
3. The Muslim Arabs under Caliph Omar I captured Jerusalem in 638 ad and gradually destroyed the Byzantine Empire and settled the land.
4. The Muslim policy at first was that all infidels must convert or die by the sword. As a result the Jews either mainly fled or were converted, although a small population of Jews remained.
5. Seeing the loss of population Caliph Omar promulgated rules "protecting" the "People of the Books," i.e. Jews and Christians in the Muslim Empire (they needed them to run the Empire since Arabs were a minority).
6. The Turks conquered the area in 1517 and it remained part of the Turkish Empire until WWI (400 yrs).
7. Jews started returning to their land in numbers from the 1860's onward, particularly from the 1880s-1930s.
8. In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration declaring that they would establish a "homeland" for the Jews in Palestine.
9. The British conquered the area in 1918 and called it "Palestine" (named after the Philistines because they didn't want to give it a Jewish name, thus implying its Jewish connection). The Jews were called "Palestinians" and the Arabs were called "Arabs"!
10. After WWI the British were given a Mandate for Palestine in 1920 by the League of Nations.
11. During WWII from 1939-1945 the Holocaust killed 6 million Jews and there were many Jewish refugees unable to return to their homes in Europe.
10. By 1948 there were 650,000 Jews and ca. 1 million Arabs in Palestine.
11. There were anti-British and anti-Jewish riots by the Arabs and anti-British actions by the Jews.
13. Since the British could not control the situation they gave the problem to the UN
14. The UN proposed a "partition plan," in other words a "two-state" solution.
15. When the UN voted to legitimize a Jewish State, named Israel, the Arabs rejected this Plan.
16. Six Arab armies attacked the nascent Jewish State, but they were defeated, and..
17. The Arab armies were defeated in subsequent attacks (1956, 1967, 1973) until Egypt and then Jordan made peace treaties with Israel.
18. The Palestine Liberation Organization was set up by Pres. Nasser of Egypt in 1960 with Arafat as its head. It was only from then that the Arabs began to call themselves Palestinians!
All this information is available in unbiased history books (and online). An excellent book on this subject is "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters.
If you know all of this, send it on to a friend who does not!
1. The Land of Israel was entirely Jewish until the Roman conquest of 63 bc when they divided it into Judea, Samaria and Galilee. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 ad following the Jewish Revolt against their rule.
2. The Christian Byzantine Empire took over from the Romans, so the land was inhabited by Jews and Christians living side by side, until....
3. The Muslim Arabs under Caliph Omar I captured Jerusalem in 638 ad and gradually destroyed the Byzantine Empire and settled the land.
4. The Muslim policy at first was that all infidels must convert or die by the sword. As a result the Jews either mainly fled or were converted, although a small population of Jews remained.
5. Seeing the loss of population Caliph Omar promulgated rules "protecting" the "People of the Books," i.e. Jews and Christians in the Muslim Empire (they needed them to run the Empire since Arabs were a minority).
6. The Turks conquered the area in 1517 and it remained part of the Turkish Empire until WWI (400 yrs).
7. Jews started returning to their land in numbers from the 1860's onward, particularly from the 1880s-1930s.
8. In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration declaring that they would establish a "homeland" for the Jews in Palestine.
9. The British conquered the area in 1918 and called it "Palestine" (named after the Philistines because they didn't want to give it a Jewish name, thus implying its Jewish connection). The Jews were called "Palestinians" and the Arabs were called "Arabs"!
10. After WWI the British were given a Mandate for Palestine in 1920 by the League of Nations.
11. During WWII from 1939-1945 the Holocaust killed 6 million Jews and there were many Jewish refugees unable to return to their homes in Europe.
10. By 1948 there were 650,000 Jews and ca. 1 million Arabs in Palestine.
11. There were anti-British and anti-Jewish riots by the Arabs and anti-British actions by the Jews.
13. Since the British could not control the situation they gave the problem to the UN
14. The UN proposed a "partition plan," in other words a "two-state" solution.
15. When the UN voted to legitimize a Jewish State, named Israel, the Arabs rejected this Plan.
16. Six Arab armies attacked the nascent Jewish State, but they were defeated, and..
17. The Arab armies were defeated in subsequent attacks (1956, 1967, 1973) until Egypt and then Jordan made peace treaties with Israel.
18. The Palestine Liberation Organization was set up by Pres. Nasser of Egypt in 1960 with Arafat as its head. It was only from then that the Arabs began to call themselves Palestinians!
All this information is available in unbiased history books (and online). An excellent book on this subject is "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters.
If you know all of this, send it on to a friend who does not!
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:33 PM
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