Seldom does one read such a lovely well written overview of something. Props to Mike Lazarus for his work: Israel Vs Palestinian - Complexity... The original populace of Palestine are known to be ancient Greeks and from Asia Minor and not Arabs or Semites. The location of Palestine at the crossroads to some chief civilizations like Egyptians, Babylonians and Romans made it a frequently invaded land with several peoples living here through the ages. Before modern Arab nationalism which developed in 19th and 20th century, Arab speaking people identified themselves with a particular tribe, a village or a family. There never was a Palestinian people as such ... and they are still killing more of each other than any action from Israel Islam didnt get to the area till the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 CE, when the Islamic Empire was established in Palestine as Muslims conquered Syria and there started a Muslim rule which spread over 1300 years. It is known that the Muslim empire was a “golden age” for Jews as they were treated much better than by the Christians Palestine was created in 1916 by the Sykes–Picot Agreement - an agreement to split the Turkish peninsular between Britain and France (with approval from Russia). Britain was given control over territories that include the area of present day Israel, Jordan, West Bank and the Gaza Strip The Jewish influx in the 20th Century wasnt due to Zionism. It was due to the Jews being chased out of Europe during the Holocaust and those who werent on the west went to the British controlled Palestine ... Britain, who no longer wished to be a colonial empire wanted to get out of the area Senior Arabs were involved in the negotiations to split Palestine into Jordan and Israel - including Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca - internationally recognized as King of the Kingdom of Hejaz (now part of Saudi Arabia). He instigated the Arab uprising against the Turkish Ottoman Empire and, in 1924 appointed himself Caliph of all Muslims and King of all Arabs ... The claim to the title had a mixed reception, and he was soon ousted and driven out of Arabia by the Saudis, a rival clan that had no interest in the Caliphate. Saud defeated Hussein in 1924. Hussein continued to use the title of Caliph when living in Transjordan As soon as the the British Mandate ended, on 14th May, 1948, the four armies of Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iraq invaded Israel followed not long after by units from Lebanon Due to the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, about 856,000 Jews fled or were expelled from their homes in Arab countries and most were forced to abandon their property. Jews from Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and North Africa left due to physical and political insecurity, with the majority also being forced to abandon their properties. 260,000 reached Israel in 1948–1951, 600,000 by 1972. Additionally, due to the war, between 700,000 and 750,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from the area that became Israel and became what is known today as the Palestinian refugees - so a similar number on both sides The difference is that Israel readily accepted the Jewish refugees, but no Arab country would accept the Arab ones. To this day, they (and their descendants) are not permitted citizenship in Arab countries. In fact, Jordan rescinded the citizenship of those in the West Bank in 1988 In 1949, Israel agreed to repatriate 100,000 refugees who had been split from their families and release their funds in Israeli banks. While most of the Palestinian Arab population that remained in Israel after the war was granted an Israeli citizenship, Arab Israelis were subject to martial law up to 1966 And thats some of the history... Since then, groups like the PLO, Hamas and Hezbollah have regularly attacked civilians in Israel ... the psychology this creates only causes the politicians to campaign on tough measures - fortunately, the worst of those have been rejected after protests by huge numbers of Israelis Israel is still the only free democracy in the Middle East (according to Freedom House) ... the main issue is that many Palestinians chose not to take up Citizenship when offered. Many have rejected this option because they do not recognize Israeli sovereignty. Even so, they can still vote in municipal elections as well as PA elections, but are subject to restrictions. All that being said, Im not anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian ...I know, in this conflict, theres plenty of blame to go around. Also, unlike the way the media presents, Ive seen the FBI data that only 6-8% of terrorist attacks are by Muslims. I have also been to the area and people from BOTH sides I spoke to want peace. Just a few nutty extremists for both camps keep preventing that. I occasionally jump on threads I see that are heavily one-sided (either direction) to present some additional facts ... I know most ignore or reject them because their bias is too ingrained. But, every now and again, I get someone with enough intelligence to go and do additional research with an open mind. Anyway ... I know this is a bit long, but hopefully challenges a preconception or two :-)
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 05:13:12 +0000
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