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Arab-Israeli
Relations
Monty
Rainey
September
26, 2002
There seems
to be a great deal of misinformation floating about concerning
Arab-Israeli relations. Let's examine some real FACTS.
At the time
in which the Jews first occupied the land of Israel, the Palestinians
did not exist as a people. The land of Israel was, at that time,
occupied by the Canaanites, who were defeated by the Jews.
Jewish
civilization existed in Israel until the Romans conquered the land and
drove a large number of the Jews out of the land. These Jews were
dispersed throughout other Arab nations or were taken as slaves and
sent to Europe and a few other Roman ruled countries. The Romans
attached the name "Palestinian" to the Arabs living in
Israel as an insult to the dispersed Jews.
For the next
1500 years or so, the land was occupied by many Empires and no single
sovereign Nation existed in Israel. During this 1500-year period, the
land was inhabited, quite sparsely, by a combination of Jews, Arabs,
Christian holdovers from the Crusades, Armenians, and a hodge-podge of
other nationalities. These people all lived together in relative peace
with each other.
In 1880,
Jewish settlers, (liberated slaves, mostly) began to migrate back to
the land. These Jewish settlers began building an irrigation system to
farm the lowland area of Israel and also began to industrialize the
area. This of course, created jobs, which in turn caused other Arabs
to migrate to the area. These Arabs were welcomed by the Jews.
Until this
time, the land was under the Ottoman rule. It was very sparsely
populated until the Jews began to rebuild the land. The country had
remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic
consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the
history of the Jewish people.
At the
conclusion of World War I, at the Paris Peace Conference, the name
"Palestine", was officially applied to a very clearly
defined area. The area which today is that of Israel and Jordan. It
was agreed that "Palestine" was to become a League of
Nations Mandate, entrusted to England. Under the terms of the Mandate,
England’s obligation was to facilitate the implementation of the
establishment of a national home for Jewish people. Again, the
original mandate included what are now Israel and Jordan.
The British
divided the land into two administrative districts on either side of
the river Jordan. To the east, in what became known as "transjordan",
England installed a Hashemite ruler named Abdullah. This action
reduced the area available for the Jewish National Home to less than
22% of the entire area of Palestine.
In 1924,
England unilaterally granted Transjordan its independence, thereby
partitioning Palestine and creating an independent Palestine-Arab
state.
In 1947, the
U.N. voted to partition western Palestine into a Jewish and Arab
state. This action removed from the state of Israel, the areas of the
Gaza strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The remaining land
left for the Jews was over 75% desert. The Jews were desperate to find
a haven for the remnants of European Jewry after the Holocaust and,
despite the loss of vital land areas, accepted the agreement. The
Arabs, intent on preventing any Jewish entity in Palestine, rejected
it.
Only a few
months later, the Arabs attacked Israel from all sides. The Arab
League secretary, Gen Pasha, declared a holy war and vowed to
exterminate the Jews. Forces from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and
Iraq invaded Israel.
During the
course of these invasions, over 700,000 "Palestinians" were
encouraged by the invading nations to flee Israel until it was
conquered. These Arabs were subsequently placed in refugee camps. The
Jews granted the Arabs who stayed in Israel full citizenship.
In 1949,
Israel signed armistice agreements with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and
Jordan. With this agreement, Jordan gained control of the West Bank.
This area became a launching ground for constant terrorist attacks
against the Jews.
Over the next
several years, the Jews were recipients of numerous Fedayeen raids.
The Fedayeen forces operated from Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
In 1956,
Egypt sealed off the Israeli port of Eilat, effectively stopping
Israel's sea trade with Africa and the Far East. Israel launched an
attack on the Sinai later that year. Egypt later guaranteed Israeli
rights to waterways. Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai, but
Egypt never allowed Jewish access to the Suez Canal.
The terrorism
against Israel continued, until things really escalated in 1966.
Syrian forces began shelling Israeli villages from atop the Golan
Heights. In May of 1967, Egyptian forces moved into the Sinai and
expelled the UN peacekeeping forces. Then they closed off the Straits
of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Then Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi
Arabia joined Egypt, in what became known as the 6-Day War. During the
6-Day War, the tiny forces of the Israel Defense Force, annihilated
the invading Arab forces, and took back the West Bank, the Gaza strip,
and the Golan Heights. Within 6 days, Israeli forces had taken the
whole of the Sinai. This time, however, Israel did not withdraw their
forces as they had previously. International guarantees had proved
meaningless and could not provide the security Israelis needed to live
their lives free from terrorist attacks. Israel continued to occupy
all of the Sinai until 1973. During Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the
Jews, Egypt and Syria attacked again. Egyptians from the west and
south, Syrians from the east.
From 1973
until today, Israel has made enormous land concessions to the Arab
nations. Israel gave back the entire Sinai, an area over 3 times that
of Israel. The fact is, the Arab nations are not interested in land
concessions. They will only be satisfied with the total removal or
extermination of the Jewish people from Israel.
This brings
us to today. Let’s take a look at what exactly it is that is being
fought over.
The Gaza
strip: A tiny strip of land, approximately 5 miles wide and 30 miles
long. The loss of Gaza would leave Ashkelon only 7 miles from Arab
missiles, Beer Sheva, roughly 20 miles.
The West
Bank.: This may be the most strategic area concerned. The West Bank
(Judea and Samaria) provides Israel with vital security. The 1949
Armistice lines left only 9 miles between the eastern border and the
Mediterranean. Over half of Israel’s population lives in this thin
strip. With only 4 miles separating Ben Gurion airport from this
border, Arabs equipped with surface to air missiles could easily pick
off Israeli airplanes upon takeoff. An additional defense factor is
the mountain range within the West Bank. Nablus is approximately 3000
feet. Without holding the West Bank, Israel’s radar can only see
incoming planes within 50 kilos of Tel Aviv. Holding the West Bank,
with radar atop Nablus, planes can be detected from a distance of over
90 kilometers.
The Golan
Heights: This area, of which I am acquainted all too well, is roughly
15 miles by 35 miles. It borders Lake Kinneret, which supplies over
40% of Israel’s water aquifers. Whoever controls the Heights
controls Lake Kinneret. Surrender of the Heights would also expose
Israel’s northern plain villages.
As you can
clearly see, should Israel relinquish any of these areas would leave
them quite vulnerable to yet another Arab attack. Even with the
control of these areas, modern weapons based in Saudi Arabia at Turayf,
Gurayet, and Tabug can easily reach Israel within 10 minutes of
launch. Not a very secure feeling for Jews who are surrounded by
hostile nations seeking to destroy them.
If I
haven’t lost you yet, let’s continue to look at more FACTS.
Islamic leaders now claim Jerusalem as the third holiest city of
Islam, following Mecca and Medina. These claims were NEVER made until
after the Armistice Agreements of 1949. The Koran gives NO indication
that the Prophet Mohamed EVER set foot anywhere near Jerusalem. This
claim is purely propaganda to attempt to add credibility to the
Palestinian claims.
In summary,
it’s actually quite simple. The Jews have singed numerous peace
accords with various Arab nations, only to fall victim to attacks.
They have made enormous land concessions to attempt to appease the
Arabs. Israel remains the ONLY democratic nation in the Middle East.
There will be no peace until the Arab nations acknowledge the right of
Jews to inhabit Israel, and there is no indication that will happen in
our lifetimes.
Monty L.
Rainey
montyrainey@juntosociety.com
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mrair 9/26/2002
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