The land called Palestine

The land that the Arabs call Palestine has for most of recorded history been controlled by outside interests. In ancient times this land was an important crossroads in international commerce. It has been fought over more times in history that most of us can count. The “modern” conflict took shape in the late 1800’s. Then in the aftermath of WW1 and the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, the balance of power in the Middle East took a dramatic turn.

The Ottoman Empire stood for nearly 700 years from 1299 to 1922. After WW1, England took over all that area, because they had won the war, and called it “Palestine” just as the Romans did 2000 years earlier. It included all of what is now Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Iran. A big area. The Jewish people who lived IN THE LAND petitioned England for a Jewish state. England agreed but later reneged on the agreement at the request of the Arabs. (See the Balfour Declarations of 1917 and 1926 and pay careful attention to the land area set aside for the Jewish state)  None of the people in the region, with the exception of the Jews, had at any time, since the Hasmonean dynasty (140-37 BCE) experienced self-rule. Before that brief period following the Maccabean revolt, one must look all the way back to the Assyrian Empire (20th to 10th centuries BCE) to find self rule in the region by anyone other than the Jewish people.

In case you think England had no right to make such decisions, remember this was conquered territory as a result of a defensive war. The result of WW1 left a large amount of territory in Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the hands of the victors. Following this war, the nations of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and several others were determined in Europe by the League of Nations. None of these countries existed prior to WW1. England maintained control of the Arab territories under their colonial authority.

Again, after WW2, the promise was made to give the Jews a state in "Palestine" when the territories were being divided up. This is when the current nations of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon were formed. THEY DID NOT EXIST PRIOR TO WW2! These are all Arab states formed from the region the English called Palestine. The Jewish people had always had a broad population throughout the region with their primary center in what is now Iraq (old Babylon) and had suffered persecution there as they had everywhere else. They asked for the land of Israel, their original ancestral home land for two thousand years before the exile to Assyria and Babylon, as a modern home land. The land of Israel was sparsely populated at the time and there were very few Arabs to displace. Read Mark Twain's account of visiting Israel in the 1920's! It was only AFTER the Jews were granted the territory by the United Nations in 1947 that the Arabs moved in in any significant numbers.

The Arabs were given 5 states in the land of Palestine and the Jews were given one very small portion of land that was pretty much desolate. The entire nation is about the size of New Jersey! Until the 6-day war of June 1967, when Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt attacked Israel, those people living in the Gaza area and east of Jerusalem and the area that became known as the West Bank, held Egyptian and Jordanian passports. They were and are Egyptians and Jordanians by birth and not "Palestinians." The term “Palestinian” was not coined until after the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

The land that was captured was done so in a defensive war; Israel was the one attacked. By all international standards, territory captured in a defensive action belongs to the nation defending itself. By the way, in all of recorded history, England and the United States are the only countries to EVER give back territory won in a defensive war. The US returned Germany and Japan in 1949 to the native people to form their new countries. Second, this area is critical to Israel's continued self defense. The area is the "high ground" which overlooks all of Israel (about the size of New Jersey, remember?). If hostile forces had possession of the high ground, they could and would bomb any and all parts of Israel at their leisure. As they do now from the Gaza strip into the towns and farms of the Western Negev. There would be no safety anywhere in Israel. It would be certain suicide if Israel were to give up the so-called West Bank. This is exactly what the Arabs actually want; not an independent state, but access to the mountains where they can once again lob missiles into any part of Israel and launch invasion forces. Notice that they are using world opinion and pushing for and gaining a certain amount of autonomy in the West Bank. This gives them the foot hold of the high ground that they really want.

The terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah have refused to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist and do not recognize it as a legitimate country. They refer to the State of Israel as “occupied Palestine” and have vowed publicly over and over to “kill every Jew” in this “occupied” land. When they publicly chant and shout “free Palestine”, they are speaking not of the West Bank and Gaza, but of all of Israel! Three times since Israel was reestablished as a state in 1948, the Arab countries have waged an all out war to annihilate the Jewish people. Three times they have lost in dramatic fashion! Now they have changed their tactics. Now they work through a fabricated proxy people called the “Palestinians” who were, so recently, Egyptians and Jordanians. They hide behind and abuse their own people with a propaganda machine that would make Adolph Hitler green with envy. And the ignorant Western press and cowardly Western political leaders have bought into the whole thing because, for numerous reasons, God forbid they should insult or tic-off the Arabs.

Israel is a declared state just as ALL of the modern Arabs states are. We must not be ignorant of 20th century history. Israel is in its historic land. There is NO history of Arab autonomy in Palestine. There is NO mention of Jerusalem in the Koran. By any standard, modern or ancient, take your pick, Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state right where it is! Israel will not, and should not be forced to, “commit suicide” by giving back land that is rightfully theirs by any universally applied international standard.

שלום ברוך
Shalom and Be Blessed
Dan & Brenda Cathcart