Who says free speech isn’t alive and well in the Middle East? View the video here.
On May 14, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaims the State of Israel, establishing the first Jewish state in 2,000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first premier.In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier that day. Egypt launched an air assault against Israel that evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv–and the expected Arab invasion–Jews joyously celebrated the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine.
Modern Israel has its origins in the Zionism movement, established in the late 19th century by Jews in the Russian Empire who called for the establishment of a territorial Jewish state after enduring persecution. In 1896, Jewish-Austrian journalist Theodor Herzl published an influential political pamphlet called The Jewish State, which argued that the establishment of a Jewish state was the only way of protecting Jews from anti-Semitism. Herzl became the leader of Zionism, convening the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897. Ottoman-controlled Palestine, the original home of the Jews, was chosen as the most desirable location for a Jewish state, and Herzl unsuccessfully petitioned the Ottoman government for a charter.
After the failed Russian Revolution of 1905, growing numbers of Eastern European and Russian Jews began to immigrate to Palestine, joining the few thousand Jews who had arrived earlier. The Jewish settlers insisted on the use of Hebrew as their spoken language. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Britain took over Palestine. In 1917, Britain issued the “Balfour Declaration,” which declared its intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Although protested by the Arab states, the Balfour Declaration was included in the British mandate over Palestine, which was authorized by the League of Nations in 1922. Because of Arab opposition to the establishment of any Jewish state in Palestine, British rule continued throughout the 1920s and ’30s.
Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs. As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. Radical Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause. At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine.
The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, although they made up less than half of Palestine’s population. The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but by May 14, 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded.
The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territory, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of this conquered territory. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority.
During the third Arab-Israeli conflict–the Six-Day War of 1967–Israel again greatly increased its borders, capturing from Jordan, Egypt, and Syria the Old City of Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed an historic peace agreement in which Israel returned the Sinai in exchange for Egyptian recognition and peace. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed a major peace accord in 1993, which envisioned the gradual implementation of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Palestinian peace process moved slowly, however, and in 2000 major fighting between Israelis and Palestinians resumed in Israel and the occupied territories.
Let’s Review:
- Creation of a Jewish state, or safe-haven, was the only way to protect themselves.
- The Ottoman Empire controlled Palestine at the end of the 1800s. An appeal was made for a charter to create a state in Jerusalem. It was denied.
- In 1917, Britain issued the “Balfour Declaration,” which declared its intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was authorized by the League of Nations in 1922. During British rule, beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine. As a means of appeasing the Arabs Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration. (note: the middle east cannot be appeased)
- WWII brought on the Holocaust, causing thousands of Jews to flee from Europe to Palestine. They fled not to find work, not to get free health care, they were fleeing to avoid being murdered and burned in ovens.
- The Allies won WWII. Note to losers: THE WINNER GETS TO SET THE RULES!
- The US supported the humane concept of creating a state for Israel. Britain didn’t know how to handle the situation and pawned it off on the newly created UN. In 1947 the UN voted to partition Palestine. The UN was created to replace the failed League of Nations.
- In 1948, Britain left, and the very next day the Jews were attacked by five different Arab countries.
- In 1949, the UN brokered a cease-fire. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians left Israel at this time. They were welcomed into Jordan but were soon expelled after they tried to overthrow the king. Lebanon, unable to learn from history, welcomed the them, but the Palestinians could not behave and started a terror state within Lebanon. Over 100,000 Lebanese were murdered by Palestinians.
- In 1967 the Six Day War took place, Israel significantly expanded its territory by defeating Arab forces from Jordan, Egypt and Syria. Again, WINNERS determine the rules, right?
- Israel has defended itself repeatedly. And since the 1967 conflict has not expressed a desire for more territory. All Israel wants is peace. But when it gives up land for peace, its enemies use the new land to launch missiles further into Israel.
Why did nearly 80% of the Jewish vote go to Obama? This is a serious question, I truly want replies. I’ve read a couple of articles, but none dio more than say “told you so” to those that said that McCain would gain more Jewish votes due to Obama’s willingness to appease Palestinian supporters.
There are those that say Iran should have nucear weapons, since Israel has them. And, we know that Israel has nuclear weapons (possibly as many as 200 war heads). (note: I don’t recall Israel expressing any interest in removing other countries from the map.) But the US government cannot officially state this, otherwise it would have to stop providing Israel billions in aid every year. The US position was recently reported by the Washington Times:
“Instead of defensively trying to ignore Israels nuclear status, the United States and Israel should proactively call for regional dialogue to specify the conditions necessary to achieve a zone free of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons,” she wrote.
The paper recommends that Israel take steps to disarm in exchange for its neighbors getting rid of chemical and biological weapons programs as well as Iran forgoing uranium enrichment.”
Um, sure. I’m quite confident that we can trust Iran, that bastion of peace. to cease any and all nuclear programs. As Ed Morrissey says at HotAir.com:
The position of Israel in the Middle East is unique. They are not just simply another nation among many. They had been the one successful continuous democracy in that region, save Turkey, and quite obviously surrounded by nations explicitly threatening to annihilate them. Israel had to develop a deterrent that would keep a nation of 5 million people alive among 100 million enemies.
Over the years, some of those neighbors have moderated their stance somewhat towards Israel; Egypt and Jordan have diplomatic relations with Israel, but in Egypt’s case only because Washington pays them to do it. None of the rest of the nations in that region even recognize Israel’s existence, and two of them — Syria and Iran — have a long-running proxy war of terror running against Israel. Under those conditions, Israel can be forgiven for thinking that a deterrent is still a damned good idea.
Besides, the Iranian nuclear program threatens the US as well. We want to stop Iran from building nukes to keep them out of the hands of terrorists, and not just those aimed at Israel. They don’t call us the Great Satan out of respect, after all, and Iranian leadership has been just as annihilationist towards America as it has been towards Israel. Instead of disarming our allies, maybe we should just concentrate on disarming our enemies.
Does anyone reading this honestly think that Iran will give up nuclear weapons?
Can you find Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian in this picture?
Rumors are that a truce is being worked on. I’m all for peace. However, Hamas has repeatedly violated truces, ceasefires et al. I hope that Israel chooses to hold fire for the time being. I also hope that if Hamas launches a single missle at Israel afterwards that Israel should respond with twice the force it has already used. Hamas (a.k.a. Iran) needs to be eliminated… I would bet a hefty sum that this ‘truce’ is only temporary and a distraction at best. At some point in time you have to stop spraying the bee’s nest and get out the flame thrower.
There exists a horribly disproportionate amount of anti-Israel angst in the world, as seen in human protests, news coverage and in blogs. The UN (U as in “useless”) has done nothing to prevent Hamas from slowing its rain of missiles into Israel. The only news we seem to hear includes videos of Palestinian suffering and death. Where are the videos of Israeli suffering? Why isn’t there an Israeli marketing arm to counter the lies so often publicized by the media?
- In June 2008 Egypt brokered an Israel/Hamas truce, effective June 19. Not even a week later Hamas broke the truce. Israel honored the cease-fire.
- In December as the end of the six-month truce approched, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal stated that the group would not renew the truce with Israel. Two days later, Hamas Islamists declared the end of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire (one day before it expired on December 19) and initiated a surge of cross-border fighting.
- On December 24 Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip increased rocket fire towards Israel.
- Eight days after the truce ended, on December 27, Israel retaliates by launching air strikes on Gaza in response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire that intensified after Hamas ended the ceasefire. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants fired 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets during that past week.
Yet all we seem to hear on the news is that Israel is an army of baby killers? Israel is the country that needs to exercise restraint? Let’s look at some more history:
- The region was already familiar with territory disputes. After all, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq were established when the British and the French arbitrarily divided up the Middle East at the close of World War I. Israel was created by the United Nations. Somehow this same group has turned 180-degrees since then.
- So how did Israel become a state? In September 1947 the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended partitioning Palestine, a suggestion ratified by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947. This resulted in the creation of two states: one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem would be under the direct administration of the UN.
- The intention was an economic union between the two states with open borders. At the time of partition, slightly less than half the land in all of Palestine was owned by Arabs, slightly less than half was “crown lands” belonging to the state, and about 8% was owned by Jews. The allocation of land was intended to produce two areas with Jewish and Arab majorities respectively.
- The Jews accepted the UN decision, but the Arabs rejected it. In fact, The Arab League declared a war to rid Palestine of the Jews.
Notice that Israel accepted the decision, Arabs rejected it. They had (and still have) absoltely zero tolerance for any living Jew.
In late 1947 Arab riots broke out in Jerusalem. Palestinian forces cut off the supply of food, water and fuel to Jerusalem. Fighting and violence broke out immediately throughout the country, including ambushes, riots and massacres. Arab Palestinians began leaving their towns and villages to escape the fighting. (Fighting instigated by whom? Palestinians. Palestinians started the violence that drove other Palestinians to leave their homes.) Most of the Arab population of Haifa left in early 1948, despite pleas by both Jewish and British officials to stay. You don’t hear this on the news today, do you? Nor do you hear that Egypt, Syria and Jordan also waged war on Israel.
- In 1948 a cease fire began. During this time Israel prepared for the inevitable fighting that would resume and the Israel Defense Force was created.
- After the cease fire expired Israel continued fighting with Egypt. When the fighting ended in 1949 Israel held territories beyond the boundaries set by the UN plan – a total of 78% of the area west of the Jordan river. The rest of the area was occupied by Egypt and Jordan. Egypt held Gaza, Jordan held the West Bank.
- About 750,000 Arabs were driven out of Israel and fled to neighboring Arab states. A similar number of Jews were driven out of those same states, many returning to Israel.
- In 1949 the UN created a new border in an attempt to create a peaceful solution. However, these borders were not recognized by Arab states, which continued to refuse to recognize Israel.
The Arab countries refused to sign a permanent peace treaty with Israel. The Arabs and Palestinians lost any initial military gains when they failed to organize and unite. A war was fought and won by Israel. But, Arab refusal to acknowledge this fact meant that the borders of Israel established by the armistice commission never received international recognition. The losers failed to recognize the loss. This would happen again.
Israel began to implement its National Water Carrier plan, which would pump water from the Sea of Galilee to irrigate south and central Israel. The project was in accordance with a plan proposed a US envoy in 1955, and agreed to by Arab engineers. However, Arab governments refused to participate, because of the implied recognition of Israel. Years after losing a war with Israel these nations would not recognize the existence of the country that defeated them. Talk about denial…
In the 1960s Arab leaders ratified the establishment of the PLO, and declared their resolve to destroy Israel. Problems escalated when Arabs began attacking the water infrastructure described above. Violence began with attacks on construction equipment and eventually escalated to territorial strikes of increasing magnitude. Again, note that the violence was initiated by Arab actions.
In 1967 the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait and Sudan were prepared to attack Israel. Egyptian President Nassir said “This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived.” Iraqi President Rahman Aref announced, “This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948. Our goal is clear–to wipe Israel off the map.” (sound familiar?)
When it became apparent that Egypt would not stand down, Israel attacked the Egyptians beginning on June 5, 1967. In the first hours of the war, Israel destroyed over 400 enemy aircraft to achieve total air superiority. Israeli troops quickly conquered the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza. Israel conquered the West Bank and Jerusalem. Israel agreed to a cease fire on June 10, 1967 after conquering the Golan Heights. A new reality in the Middle East now existed, yet much of the population still refuses to accept this fact.
There were other military interactions in the years that followed, but my point has been made. Israel has been the one under attack since it’s creation by the UN in 1947. Call it ego, denial, ingornace, hatred, or racism, but it is what it is: Arab nations simply refuse to acknowledge reality. Hamas wants war, it knows nothing else. It embeds within the civilian population and then distributes video of the dead women and children that Hamas used as human shields as anti-Israel propoganda. For this I think they deserve every ounce of lead thrown in their direction, times ten. If they want it to stop, the need to instigate peace for once. Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen.
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