Posted by
Bob Siegel on Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10:03:55 PM
NOTE:
This is Part Seven of a series. For your convenience, the first six parts are
linked below, followed by today's article.
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part One
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Two
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Three
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Four
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Five
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Six
Some 5-7000 Jews lived in Palestine under the Ottoman Empire
before the British took over.
Prior to the first major wave of Jewish immigration in 1882,
only 250,000 Arabs lived in the area and the majority of them were fairly new
arrivals themselves.
Between the First and Second World War, the Jewish
population increased by 375,000 and the Arab population by 380,000.
After the partition vote from the United Nations, Israel
declared its Independence on May
14, 1948. One day later, five Arab armies invaded Israel
from Egypt, Transjordan,
Syria, Lebanon
and Iraq.
Jews pleaded with Palestinian Arabs to remain in their
homes. Although many of the Arabs did
flee or join the invading armies, a considerable portion of Arabs remained in Israel. This interesting fact is seldom discussed.
About 300,000 Arabs fled Israel
and about 160,000 remained. Today Israel
still contains a vital Arab population and these Arabs have more rights in Israel
than any other Arab in any Arab country! In fact, shortly before Yassir
Arafat’s death, when there was talk (once again) under the Bush administration, of
a “separate Palestinian state” the Arab citizens in Israel were asked if they
wanted to move, renouncing their Israeli citizenship, and live in the
Palestine sector. Guess what they decided!
Some of them probably fell on the floor laughing before saying to the
Israeli government, “Oh, I’m sorry. You
were serious.”
In 1948, when Israel
beat the odds and defeated five invading nations, the problem of refugees came
up. We always hear about the Arab
refugees from Israel. But they were not the only refugees. Hundreds
of thousands of Jews were kicked out of Arab lands too. All of the Jewish
refugees were welcomed into Israel
where as Arabs who wanted to resettle in Arab countries were (for the most
part) denied admission. Jordan
was an exception but even in Jordan
most of the refugees were confined to camps. They lived in that condition all
the way up to 1967, when Israel
annexed Jordan’s
West Bank. Prior to 1967 there was no significant
ongoing discussion amongst the countries of the world regarding Jordan’s
treatment of the “poor Palestinians.”
On December 11, 1948,
the United Nations drafted and ratified Resolution 194. This was a call for the Arab states and Israel
to resolve the refugee/resettlement issues but the condition was that all
returning citizens would agree to live in peace. Receiving no such guarantee
from the Arabs, Israel
decided to postpone repatriation until her neighbors would recognize her right
to exist.
Although as a general rule, the Arab refugees left Israel
on their own, there are always exceptions to the rule during times of war and
there were a few (extremely few) cases of Arabs being forced out of their homes
by the Israelis. Some of this is understandable since most Arabs were siding
with five nations that vowed to annihilate every last Jew. One such case is the
forced evacuation of the village, Biram.
But even in this situation, the Arabs relocated to a nearby village and
they did remain in the country of Israel
where they reside to this day. Recently, the Israeli government has taken a more sympathetic interest to
their complaint and a positive solution may still be in the horizon.
But such rare occurrences
must not cause us to ignore the fact that most of the Arabs who chose to remain in Israel were never forced to leave. They became citizens with
full rights and privileges!
Nevertheless, the world was
about to be deceived by the most brilliant, most sinister, most destructive
historical revision to ever surface on our planet. Realizing that they were
unable to win a real war against Israel, the Arabs waged the war of public opinion
instead. The pawns? Arab refugees soon to be re-named
“Palestinian refugees.” And the leader
of their cause would be a man who was not even born in Palestine.
Don’t miss Part Eight in
tomorrow’s blog.
The
Truth About Israel and Palestine: Part Eight
Bibliography
1)
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
2)
The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Middle East
Conflict
by Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D
3)
Philistine, by Ramon Bennett.
Also
From Bob Siegel
Hezbolah
Wants Israel Dead. So What Else is New?
Politically
Correct Quiz
Jihad
Drill
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Two
How
A Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Three
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Four
How
a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part Five
The Bob Siegel Show can be heard every Sunday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM on KCBQ 1170 on the dial or KCBQ.com to listen live
over the Internet.
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program with questions or comments:
1-888-344-1170
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