ISRAEL HAS A HISTORY

On 9/19/12 in a comment in response to my “Romney Video” blog. An ill-informed anonymous wrote “Were Native Americans wrong to fight against losing their land because the white man wanted a "greater America" from sea to shining sea? I don't think so. Same with the Palestinians. .

His words illustrate the effect of deliberate misinformation those who would destroy Israel have brain washed a willing population.  The writer is convinced that as in Iran’s President Ahmadinejad’s words this week at the UN;”Israel has no history”.

First there is no comparison between the indigenous American Indian populations who were decedents of those who migrated from Eurasia some 12000 years ago. As history shows; `even up to the formation of the British Mandate in 1920 there was no identifiable population known as Palestinians.

True, it was only around 1200 BC that the exodus from Egypt and the occupation of what became known as Judea and Samaria by the Israelite tribes took place (see map). They occupied what is now referred to as Palestine with the Canaanites who held part of the coastal region.

Between 1010 and 970 BC King David moved his capital from Hebron (now in the West Bank) to Jerusalem. That is about 3000 years ago.

After Solomon’s death there was a split of the kingdom into the Northern 10 tribes of Israel and the Southern 2 tribes of Judea which kept Jerusalem as its Capital. The Southern kingdom survived Babylonian rule (586BC); Persian control from 539 to 322 BC when Alexander the Great conquered the area.

Alexander’s successors maintained Hellenic control until about 60Bc when the Romans conquered it. In 70 AD the Temple was destroyed and the age of the Diaspora began.

Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, it was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars after which Jews became a minority in most regions, except Galilee. The region became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century and then largely Moslem after the 7th Century Arab conquest.

This continued even through the period of Crusader control from 1099-1189 and briefly from 1229 to 1244 the dominant religion in the area was Islam. . This continued under The Ottoman Turks who ruled from 1516 to 1917 remained tolerant of all religions.

This brings us to the present relevant history: On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of a "Plan of Partition with Economic Union" to replace the British Mandate with "Independent Arab and Jewish States" and a "Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem administered by the United Nations as Resolution 181

The Plan of Partition in Part 1 A. Clause 2 provided that Britain "should use its best endeavors to ensure than an area situated in the territory of the Jewish State, including a seaport and hinterland adequate to provide facilities for a substantial immigration, shall be evacuated at the earliest possible date and in any event not later than 1 February 1948". Clause 3. provided that "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem ... shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948."

Britain refused to cooperate with the UN, denying the UN access to Palestine during the period between the adoption of Resolution 181(II) and the termination of the British Mandate in May 1948.

From the time of the UN resolution in 1947 to the British withdrawal in 1948 there was civil war in the area with minimal attempts by the British to stop. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, which began on 15 May 1948, on the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of the State of Israel, when the conflict in Palestine became an outright war between the new State of Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Peace talks were held on Rhodes, under the chairmanship of UN mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche. Israel signed armistices with Egypt (February 24), Lebanon (March 23), Jordan (April 3) and Syria (July 20). No actual peace agreements were signed. With permanent ceasefire coming into effect, Israel's new borders, later known as the Green Line, were established. The IDF had overrun Galilee and the Negev. The Syrians remained in control of a strip of territory along the Sea of Galilee originally allocated to the Jewish state, the Lebanese occupied a tiny area at Rosh Honiara and the Egyptians retained the Gaza strip.

Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It not only denied Jews access to their holy sites but destroyed or defiled houses of worship in Jerusalem. Israel after the 1968 war when it had acquired control of all Jerusalem permitted open access to all faiths, even respecting Moslem control of the Temple Mount.

The so called “Six day war” of 1967 resulted in Israel’s control over the Sinai, the West Bank including East Jerusalem (the old city) and the Golan Heights. It was Egypt’s defeat in the Yom Kippur war of 1973 that ultimate led to the Camp David accords and Egypt and later Jordan signing peace treaties with Israel. No other Moslem nation has done so.

Anonymous, if you base on earliest and continuous presence in a land it is obvious that the Jews have a truer right to Palestine than the so called Palestinians.