Arab intransigence
"All or nothing at all," that in a nutshell is the Arab position. They have never and can never come to terms with the idea of a Jewish State in Palestine, on land that they consider theirs.
When the UN decided on the Partition Plan in 1948 after years of conflict and after the Holocaust during WWII, the Jews accepted it and declared the State of Israel. But, the Arabs rejected it and invaded and sent a letter to the UN declaring their intention of founding a single Arab State in place of Israel and the portion allotted to the Palestinian Arabs. Of course they never got to do this, but they keep trying, like banging their heads against a brick wall.
That 650,000 Jews defeated the armies of 6 Arab States (Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia) as well as several Palestinian fighting forces, seems a miracle. But, miracles rarely repeat themselves, although Israeli victories did. The Arabs attacked in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. But it availed them nothing, each time they were fought off and defeated.
Their appeal is that they, the Palestinian Arabs, are the victims, while throughout the actual history of the conflict they were the aggressors. They attacked and fought the Jews when there was no "occupation" of the West Bank, when Judea and Samaria were only parts of Palestine, and when they were occupied illegally by Jordan between 1948-1967. They have tried to regain what they lost in war by trying to use outside forces against Israel, first the Soviet Union and when that collapsed, now the United States. From 2000 in the intifada (after Israeli withdrawals) they used suicide terrorism to dislodge us, but it was another failure. Their current strategy is to cast Israel as the aggressor because it is the winner, and themselves as the victims, and maintain the "refugees" in primitive camps as a reminder of their victimhood. And it has worked, because Israel is villified and demonized throughout Europe and the world, notwithstanding the fact that Israel is a democracy that includes 20% Arabs.
After the Jews were demonized throughout Europe and killed there like animals during WWII, it was the British who armed and trained the Jordanian Legion, the best Arab fighting force, as well as helping the Arabs up to the last minute before they withdrew from Palestine in 1948 by continuing to prevent Jewish immigration and destroying Jewish arms caches while allowing unfettered Arab immigration and ignoring Arab arms caches. It was this very strong bias against the Jews after the Holocaust that convinced the Israelis that they were indeed alone and made their struggle for independence that much more desperate. Is it any wonder that anti-Israel feeling has once again resurfaced in Britain, that supposed bastion of "fair play."
Now we have an American President who presumes to tell Israeli Jews where and when they may settle within the land of Eretz Israel prior to any actual negotiated agreement with the Palestinians. This was made clear in the statements of Secty of State Clinton and Israeli FM Lieberman today at the State Department. Such pressure has never worked before and it won't work now. Instead let Obama put pressure on the Arabs to accept a Jewish State where it is and where it belongs, then maybe there might be some progress towards peace.
When the UN decided on the Partition Plan in 1948 after years of conflict and after the Holocaust during WWII, the Jews accepted it and declared the State of Israel. But, the Arabs rejected it and invaded and sent a letter to the UN declaring their intention of founding a single Arab State in place of Israel and the portion allotted to the Palestinian Arabs. Of course they never got to do this, but they keep trying, like banging their heads against a brick wall.
That 650,000 Jews defeated the armies of 6 Arab States (Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia) as well as several Palestinian fighting forces, seems a miracle. But, miracles rarely repeat themselves, although Israeli victories did. The Arabs attacked in 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. But it availed them nothing, each time they were fought off and defeated.
Their appeal is that they, the Palestinian Arabs, are the victims, while throughout the actual history of the conflict they were the aggressors. They attacked and fought the Jews when there was no "occupation" of the West Bank, when Judea and Samaria were only parts of Palestine, and when they were occupied illegally by Jordan between 1948-1967. They have tried to regain what they lost in war by trying to use outside forces against Israel, first the Soviet Union and when that collapsed, now the United States. From 2000 in the intifada (after Israeli withdrawals) they used suicide terrorism to dislodge us, but it was another failure. Their current strategy is to cast Israel as the aggressor because it is the winner, and themselves as the victims, and maintain the "refugees" in primitive camps as a reminder of their victimhood. And it has worked, because Israel is villified and demonized throughout Europe and the world, notwithstanding the fact that Israel is a democracy that includes 20% Arabs.
After the Jews were demonized throughout Europe and killed there like animals during WWII, it was the British who armed and trained the Jordanian Legion, the best Arab fighting force, as well as helping the Arabs up to the last minute before they withdrew from Palestine in 1948 by continuing to prevent Jewish immigration and destroying Jewish arms caches while allowing unfettered Arab immigration and ignoring Arab arms caches. It was this very strong bias against the Jews after the Holocaust that convinced the Israelis that they were indeed alone and made their struggle for independence that much more desperate. Is it any wonder that anti-Israel feeling has once again resurfaced in Britain, that supposed bastion of "fair play."
Now we have an American President who presumes to tell Israeli Jews where and when they may settle within the land of Eretz Israel prior to any actual negotiated agreement with the Palestinians. This was made clear in the statements of Secty of State Clinton and Israeli FM Lieberman today at the State Department. Such pressure has never worked before and it won't work now. Instead let Obama put pressure on the Arabs to accept a Jewish State where it is and where it belongs, then maybe there might be some progress towards peace.
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:09 PM
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