The land called Palestine BY Dan & Brenda CATHCART
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
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