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.
