The Nation That Guilt Built
By Fred Blanchard
The genesis of modern Israel has its roots
in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Its
momentum accelerated with the founding of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) in 1897. Its objective was to create for the Jewish people a
home in Palestine. At the time Palestine was
part of the Ottoman Empire and its Jewish population represented about 5% of the total in
the area. Lobbying by the WZO of the world powers in 1917 and the self interest of the
British resulted in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration.
In it the British supported the creation of a Jewish homeland in the territory
of Palestine. Nearly at the same time,
promises by the British to the Arabs to create their own independent states in the area,
gained their support in the British capture of Palestine from the Ottomans in 1918.
In
1922 the League of Nations, which did not include the United States, gave Britain a
mandate over Palestine entrusting it to facilitate a Jewish national home. This, and the rise of Nazism in Germany resulted in
a new wave of immigration and its inherent pressure on the growing concerns and
expectations of the native Arab population. In
1939, the British, in order to placate both sides issued a policy statement limiting
Jewish immigration and providing for a single independent state with proportional Jewish
and Arab participation. Jewish organizations
rejected this position and illegal immigration continued through and after World War II.
The
British failed to obtain a compromise and referred the problem to the infant United
Nations. In 1947 the UN adopted a partition
plan that would establish Jewish and Arab states in the territory west of the Jordan River. Jerusalem was to come under international
control. The Jews accepted, but the Arabs
rejected it stating that the Arabs should not have to pay for European crimes against the
Jews. In May 1948, when the British mandate
expired, the Jews declared the establishment of the state of Israel. There was no mention of specific boundaries. The Arab League immediately declared war on the new
state that continued until the neighboring states signed a truce in early 1949. The Jews came out the victors and occupied
territory beyond that envisioned in the UN plan. Jordan,
Syria and Egypt absorbed the remaining land of Palestine.
In the years leading to 1967 immigration
mushroomed. Intense lobbying of the US Congress and administrations by Jewish
organizations and the state of Israel resulted in significant aid to rebuild the state and
supply and train a modern military. Like the
British, the United States plays both sides and gives token, but significant, aid to Egypt
and Jordan as well. The displaced Palestinians
receive no aid except that provided through the United Nations Refugee organization,
private charities, and other Arab states. The Arab states refused to recognize Israel and
to negotiate any settlement. Continuing
hostile acts by internal as external forces finally culminated in Israeli attacks on it
neighbors that became known as the six day war. During
the war Israel occupied the Sinai and portions of Syria and Jordan. The United Nations passed resolution 242 that
called for the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied lands and for the Arab states to
recognize Israel and its security. The United States did not veto this resolution. Israel and the Arab states did not comply with this
resolution.
Israel
withdrew from most of the Sinai and returned the land to Egypt. That, and some arm twisting by the United States
ultimately resulted in Egypt’s recognition of Israel.
Israel continues to establish settlements in the occupied territories. The Palestinians, and their supporters continue to
rebel against the unsettled situation by intermittent armed attacks and random acts of
terrorism.
Man has had limited success at nation
building when that effort has been less than conquest and elimination or subjugation of
the indigenous minority population. Israel
will be no exception. Its significant threat
of retaliation against it's neighbors, including nuclear weapons, results in a tenuous,
but static standoff. In the meantime,
settlement continues as does overreaction to the violence.
At this writing, Israel has distanced itself from Yasser Arafat as being powerless
to control the militant Arab movements. The
genocide continues, but is of a different variety. Knowing
it will unleash United States disapproval at the killing of the opposition, Israel merely
arrests and imprisons them. The situation is
returning to what it was prior to the Camp David accords and the more recent Oslo
agreements.
The intractable problem is that of the
millions of Palestinian refugees. Prior to
becoming refugees, these people lived in the British protectorate of Palestine. For the most part they owned property or lived in
homes and apartments owned by other Palestinians. They
became refugees when the Jews took over and declared their own state in 1948. They either fled for their lives or were driven
out. A scorched earth policy has been in vogue
ever since to discourage the return of the Palestinians.
It is still the current practice of the Israeli authorities to bulldoze the homes
of those it accuses of terrorism.
The recent indiscriminate destruction of
property under the guise of a response to suicide bombing attacks is a case in point. As an astute observer pointed out that, if the United
States was doing this in Afghanistan to the Al Qaida terrorists public opinion would be
aghast. With a biased press, effective Jewish
propaganda and a compliant administration, there is no such reaction to the pogrom by the
Israelis.
The Jewish population of Israel in 1949
was slightly over one million of a total of 1,740,000.
This number does not include the refugee population. Since the annexation of land in the 1967 war and
the massive immigration from Europe and Russia the 1995 Jewish population has swelled to
over 4,500,000 of a total of over 5,600,000. Granted
that Jewish settlers have reclaimed much of what was desert, they have also illegally
established settlements in occupied territory.
Not all of the reclaimed land was bought
from its previous owners. The Jews have successfully recovered billions in reparations
from Germany and German firms as a consequence of the holocaust of the Nazis in World War
II.
Since that war, the world has considered
as unacceptable the usurpation of land and property by force of arms, even by legitimate
governments. It is why the United States
supported UN Resolution 242 which demands Israel return the occupied territory in Palestine. It is also why the United States came to the aid of
the states of the former Yugoslavia when the Serbs began their program of ethnic
cleansing.
Unless it reduces its dependence on the United
States to nil, Israel cannot, without consequence, eliminate its internal Arab population.
Its need of US support and that of American Jewry make this impossible. As the saying
goes, we would, if we could, but we can’t, so we won’t. Israel wants a land of
its own with secure borders. It cannot have a
large and growing Arab population.
The Palestinians want their own state and
to be rid of the Jews. The only way this can
occur is for the establishment of two separate states with the Arab population who wish to
leave Israel relocated to the Palestinian state, and vice versa. If Israel is unwilling to
accept the return of the Palestinian refugees it should be liable for reparations to those
who were displaced. Jerusalem would have to be
an international city, as its division is totally impractical.
Will it ever happen? I doubt it.
Courtesy of and © 2002 by Fred Blanchard. The
writer lived and worked in the Middle East, was a A 20 year resident of Iraq, Iran and
Saudi Arabia and is "a friend of the Arabs." |