History Israel
80HISTORY ISRAEL
The history of Israel, and the Israel Arab conflict, are best understood if we examine the Israel War of Independence.
The State of Israel declared independence May 14th, 1948—the most important day in the history of Israel, and of the Israel Arab conflict. This great triumph in the history of Israel for Jews was necessitated by the Holocaust. But it immediately sparked the the Israel War of Independence and the still ongoing Israel Arab conflict.
We can see from studying the history of Israel that there were internal conflicts straightaway as to the role Judaism should play in the new nation.
At this point in the history of Israel, 600,000 Jews lived inside what was called the Palestine Mandate, which represented 50 percent of the population living there. But the history of Israel shows us that the nascent State of Israel only claimed 6 percent of that land.
The new State of Israel was immediately recognized by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.; and admitted to the United Nations one year later. Arab governments (represented by the Arab League, created at the encouragement of the British) that surrounded Israel took a hard line stance against it immediately, rejecting international agreements and choosing war, thus creating the Israel Arab conflict and the Israel War of Independence.
The land where the State of Israel was established had been ruled by the British for 30 years, after they had conquered it from the Ottoman Empire, which had allied itself with Germany in World War One.
ISRAEL WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
If we investigate the true history of Israel, we find that the very day after the State of Israel was established, it was attacked by five modern Muslim armies, which were assisted by four other armies from Muslim countries. World opinion was that the inchoate State of Israel had no chance to survive, since they had to defend attacks on every side without an organized military.
The governments that started the war—Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon—promised their citizens victory within two weeks. The Egyptians led the assault, even though other Muslims did not regard Egyptians as Arabs but rather as ignorant, backward Africans. This Israel Arab conflict is known today as the Israel War of Independence.
In addition to the armies that attacked the State of Israel, Muslim civilians began sniper attacks on Jews inside the State of Israel during the Israel War of Independence. Muslims escalated the Israel Arab conflict when they attacked kibbutzes inside the new State of Israel; set off bombs in Jewish neighborhoods; mutilated the corpses of dead Jews; opened fire on convoys carrying food and medical supplies, and even shot doctors and nurses.
The State of Israel won a great and shocking victory, causing euphoria among Jews but bitter shame among the Muslims who had them outnumbered and outgunned in this Israel War of Independence.
The Arabs had been so over-confident during this first Israel Arab conflict that they did not even bother to unify their command, or to supply their officers with maps. After all, the State of Israel could only muster 30,000 fighters—including women—and had no air force.
The history of Israel shows us that the Syrians were defeated in the north by a fighting force of only two artillery pieces! The same two artillery pieces then were rushed south and used to drive the Iraqi Army out of Galilee.
The Lebanese were driven back in the north and the Egyptians in the south. However, Jordan was successful in conquering Jerusalem from the State of Israel during the Israel War of Independence .
During and after the Israel War of Independence, there was a mass movement of peoples. Approximately 550,000 people who described themselves as Arabs fled from inside the borders of the new State of Israel—some were forced out but most were simply afraid. These Muslims abandoned entire villages, which were then flattened by the State of Israel.
Nearly an equal number of Jews fled to the nascent State of Israel from surrounding Arab countries—arriving with nothing, having been stripped of all they owned by the Muslims they had lived alongside for centuries.
ISRAEL ARAB CONFLICT
The history behind the current Israel Arab conflict can be traced to how refugees were treated by their brothers in the country they moved to during and after the Israel War of Independence.
Jewish refugees were immediately granted citizenship in the new State of Israel and assisted in resettlement among the general population. Muslim refugees were put into camps by Arab governments—where many of them still live 60 years later.
By and large the Arab refugees were not given citizenship or the right to start a new life in the Arab countries to which they fled after the Israel War of Independence. The reason for this is that the Arab countries saw these refugees as useful pawns in future efforts to eventually rid the Middle East of Jews. Arab governments certainly had the resources to take them in. The State of Israel accomodated almost an equal number of refugees.
The Arab refugees were called Palestinians for the first time in history in the 1950s. Never before in human history had any human being ever called himself a Palestinian—no such nationality exists.
Numerous international studies of this history concluded that the Arab refugees should be absorbed by the surrounding Arab countries, given the dignity of resettlement so they could become productive citizens.
100,000,000 human beings have become refugees since 1945 (worldwide) and no other people have been kept in camps anywhere close to this length of time in world history.
850,000 Jews lived in Muslim countries in 1948. Only 20,000 remain there today. None of the 830,000 who fled Muslim lands are in refugee camps; none are demanding the right to return to from whence they came.
Half of all Israelis today are descendants of these refugees from Arab lands. 300,000 Jews emigrated from Morocco to Israel; 140,000 came from Algeria; 125,000 from Iraq; 100,000 from Tunisia; 75,000 from Egypt; 50,000 from Yemen; 35,000 from Syria; 35,000 from Libya. A Jew may not set foot in Arabia today.
The 320,000 Arabs who remained inside the State of Israel after the Israel War of Independence were offered Israeli citizenship. Half chose to leave the State of Israel after the war. Those who stayed were granted full citizenship in 1952. The Arab population inside the State of Israel would grow to 411,000 by 1975.
The United Nations brokered a truce in 1949 that established borders for the State of Israel inside what became known as the Green Line. The State of Israel now sat on only 78 percent of the land originally promised for a Jewish Homeland (only 2 percent of the land in what is called The Middle East). Arab states refused to speak to the State of Israel directly.
Jordan now occupied the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem, while Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip.
The State of Israel formed a parliamentary democracy with a 120 member Knesset (legislature). Israelis vote for parties not individuals. David Ben Gurion served as Prime Minister from 1949 to 1963.
After the cease fire, Arabs demanded that all people who had fled from Israel during the fighting be allowed to return. The Jews refused unless Arab governments recognized Israel as a sovereign nation with the right to exist in peace—which all Muslims refused to even consider at the time. In 1950, all Jews in the world were granted the right to come and live in the State of Israel.
SINAI WAR 1956
Israel and Egypt fought again in 1956. This time it was the Israelis who attacked. The Arab states, led by Egyptian President Nasser, were trying to strangle Israel by boycotting its goods, and preventing shipping of any goods over their land into or out of the State of Israel.
Egypt illegally prohibited the use of the Suez Canal by any nation for trade with Israel, and blockaded the only Red Sea port of the State of Israel, Eilat. Nasser also supported Fedayeen terrorists who used Gaza to launch attacks on Israeli civilians, and announced publicly his plans for total extermination of "dirty Jew pigs." Syria and Jordan vowed to help with the killings.
The State of Israel, led by Moshe Dayan, captured the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza during this conflict, but gave them back to Egypt under pressure from the United States and the Soviets in exchange for a guarantee of shipping rights.
The Sinai War resulted in an amazing military victory by the State of Israel. Egypt had six times the firepower of Israel—and brand new state-of-the-art Soviet weapons—while Israel had only castoffs and used equipment from France, Canada, the UK, and the U.S.
Because England and France—furious when Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal—helped the State of Israel plan its war strategy, Israel was henceforth viewed by many Muslims as an agent state of western imperialism. This is not true, as the creation of the State of Israel was actually staunchly opposed by many western governments.
STATE OF ISRAEL
By 1957, the State of Israel had progressed faster than any nation on Earth—further embarrassing their Arab neighbors. The population in the State of Israel had tripled in ten years, with diverse immigrants coming from around the world.
The State of Israel was feeding itself with home grown poultry, dairy, vegetables, and fruit. Arab citizens of the State of Israel were often marginalized and had little social life. Jewish landlords did not want them as tenants, and Arab workers were not trusted by Jewish employers. Conditions did improve markedly for Israeli Arabs after new reforms were enacted by the State of Israel in the 1960s.
In Jerusalem, now a divided city, the Jews allowed access for Arabs to the western section; but the Jordanians refused to allow Jews the right to visit their scared sites in the eastern section. In fact, the Jordanians removed Jewish grave stones to be used in latrines—so they could piss on them.
The Arab refugees were held by Arab governments in filthy, wretched conditions. 250,000 were put into camps by Jordan; 115,000 by Egypt; 100,000 by Lebanon; and 80,000 by Syria. The United Nations provided food, medicine and education for them, but did not give any aid to the Jewish refugees absorbed into the new Jewish State. By 1956, 61 percent of the Arab refugees had moved out of the camps, but still claimed the United Nations benefits of refugee status. By 1960, 960,000 Arabs were receiving support from the U.N., that number grew to 1.3M in 1968.
Worldwide Islam declared Holy War against all Jews, which the Quran denounces as "vipers." No Muslim government would recognize the Jewish State. Muslims burned with resentment over their humiliating defeat in the 1948 Israel War of Independence—which Muslims call "the Catastrophe."
Muslims seethed when they observed the economic success, democracy and freedoms the people enjoyed living in the State of Israel. This Muslim resentment is at the heart of the Israel Arab conflict. It is amplified by the fact that most Arabs live in impoverished backwardness under authoritarian regimes in Arab nations.
The closest ally of the State of Israel during its early years was actually the Soviet Union, since Jews had led the worldwide movement of Communism. But the Soviets dropped them in 1955 as they realized their need for Arab oil, suddenly condemning Israel and arming Egypt, now under the fascist dictatorship of Nasser. Nasser was to dominate the Arab world until his death in 1970. The Soviets also poured arms into Syria and Iraq.
THE SIX DAY WAR
The Six Day War was fought in 1967. By this time the Jewish population had risen to 2.4 million; up from 1.7 million in 1956. Israel was an agricultural success story, and had a strong export business in cotton, nuts, eggs, dairy, fruit, and vegetables. Germany had provided expertise and funding to begin industrialization of the State of Israel, including weapons manufacturing.
In 1967, Syrian troops made occasional forays into the State of Israel, and the Israelis responded with air strikes inside Syria. Syria was also building works to divert the headwaters of Israel's only river, the Jordan.
In Egypt, food shortages and unemployment threatened Nasser's regime, so the Russians suggested he distract his populace by attacking Israel—killing Jews is always guaranteed to get Muslims to rally around their leader.
Egypt blocked shipping to the State of Israel, so they could not receive arms; expelled the U.N. peacekeeping forces from the Sinai; and amassed 100,000 troops with 1,000 tanks on the border of the State of Israel.
Meanwhile, Jordan allowed Iraqi troops to assemble on its border with the State of Israel. Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait pledged support to their Muslim brother nations; and fatefully, Jordan joined in. The Muslims openly proclaimed to the world their intention: liquidate the Jews.
Moshe Dayan came to the rescue for the State of Israel. He decided the only chance Israel had, surrounded on three sides, was to attack first. The Israeli Air Force—and Israeli intelligence—proved to be world class, smashing Egypt's forces in a mere three hours. This Israel Arab conflict is known as the Six Day War.
Egyptian television pronounced one lie after another (a trait that is common in Arab countries), declaring that great victories had been won in the Six Day War by the Egyptian army. To explain another crushing defeat of massive Muslim armies by the tiny State of Israel, Nasser would later fabricate a story—widely believed by the ignorant Muslim masses—that American and English troops had fought alongside the Israelis in the Six Day War.
Within 2 days the huge Egyptian army was in tatters. The Israelis were unquestionably smarter, braver, tougher soldiers. Then the Jordanians and Iraqis attacked Jerusalem. The state of Israel whipped them all in just six days (including the Syrians in the north). hence the name "Six Day War."
The Soviets were furious! Two billion dollars worth of their military equipment provided to the Arab aggressors was destroyed in the Six Day War. Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai, Golan Heights, and Jerusalem. The Israelis could easily have taken the Muslim capitals of Cairo, Damascus and Amman,but the United States stopped them from doing so, not wanting to see the Muslim world further humiliated by a miniscule band of Jews.
Jordan had lost its entire Air Force in the Six Day War, along with half of all its weapons, half its kingdom, half its agricultural lands, half its tourist areas.
The entire Muslim world was stunned and humiliated; having lost 28,000 square miles of land in less than a week in the Six Day War.
The United Nations called on Israel to withdraw from conquered lands, and called on Muslim countries to officially recognize that the State of Israel had a right to exist in peace: both sides refused the call.
1,000,000 foreigners were now under Israeli rule: 670,000 in the West Bank (forfeited by Jordan); 356,000 in Gaza and 33,000 in Sinai (surrendered by Egypt); 6,000 in the Golan Heights (taken from Syria). 1/3 of them were living in the squalid refugee camps where they had been held by Muslim governments since 1948.
The Jews were euphoric after their miraculous victories in the Six Day War. The speed and totality of the victory made the army of the State of Israel the envy of the world, and widely studied by militaries around the globe.
The Muslims were proven to be incompetent on the battlefield. Some Muslims saw their defeat at the hands of Jews as punishment from Allah for straying from fundamentalism by westernizing their culture. This led directly to the massive terrorism inside the State of Israel and against Jews (and westerners) worldwide by fundamentalist Islamists.
The governments of Muslim nations could not admit to their own citizens that they had been whipped fair and square by a Jewish nation that they outnumbered ten to one. Instead, they fabricated tales that the whole of Western Civilization was out to crush Islam. Here lie the roots of the Israel Arab conflict that plagues the region and the world.
HISTORY ISRAEL
If you are interested in reading about the History of Israel before 1948 or to read about the History of Israel after 1970 simply click on the blue lines for the appropriate period of time.
I have visited Israel and written two Hubs about what I saw there. The Hubs include dozens of beautiful photographs. The Hubs are entitled: My Visit to the Holy Land, and My Visit to Jerusalem.
I have previously published articles about: the History of New York; the History of Rome; and My Trip to Venice Italy.
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Good stuff James, I often wonder at the hatred Muslims have for Jews given that their patriarch was...a Jew. But there's not room for rational thinking and facts once extremists take over. When will the Arab world learn that Israel is not going any where?
James,
I enjoyed your history. One of my favorite anecdotes concerns when the UN wanted to condemn Israel. When the vote came, the Israeli ambassador reminded them that they can not condemn an unrecognized nation. At that juncture the UN voted to recognize Israel. When they were about to condemn them, the ambassador reminded the bright lights at the UN that they could not condemn them for acts that took place before they were a recognized nation.
Shalom!
Hey, Friend welcome back, I missed seeing you around the hubs. Thank you for a very informative and enlightening hub on the history of Isreal. Godspeed. creativeon59
Thank you for this very interesting history lesson. I enjoyed reading it and actually look forward with great anticipation to your future articles. And sir, you are a great writer.
Welcome Back, King James!
I've tried to email you several times, but being the popular guy you are, your mailbox is full.
Looking forward to the first-person overview of your Israel visit complete with National Geographic photo coverage!
DiamondRN— I thank you for being my first visitor! I agree with you that Israel is the centerpiece of Biblical history—and times yet to come. I am waiting for the "official" photographer of our trip (there were 17 of us) to share his pics and then I will provide the story of my amazing adventure.
I really enjoy your history lessons. Missed you, hope you had a good visit, can't wait to read all about it.
Scott.Life— Thank you for reading and your comments. I can hardly understand the thinking of the Arab world. I don't believe the Muslim "man on the street" in Israel wants to go back to Arab rule. It is the extremists who are the problem.
J D Murrah— Those are fabulous quotes, my friend! I got a kick out of them. Thank you for sharing them here. I appreciate you coming by.
Shalom
creativeone59— Thank you for the warm welcome. It's good to be back. I appreciate your encouragement. :-)
RevLady— You are most welcome! It is gratifying to hear that you enjoyed this article. Thank you for the kind compliment. :D
ArchDynamics— It's good to be home, brother. I have cleared out my box now. AOL only allows 1,000 emails in my inbox but I have created room just for you! The report on the trip will be forthcoming. Thanks for the note.
I wondered why Muslims boast that they are descendants of Ishmael, when our Bible states that Ishmael will not partake in the inheritance ~ that Isaac is the son of promise. Ishmael's descendants as well as Esau's descendants have hated Jacob's (renamed Israel, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel) descendants since the beginning of time. God is not mocked and His Word still prevails.
jiberish— I am well pleased that you do. It warms my heart to read your words. I'll be working on the travelogue soon. And catching up on your work in my absence, too. :)
Judah's Daughter— I am not sure about that question. I would guess either their Bible reads differently or is interpreted differently.
It is surely a pleasure to hear from you again. I hope all is well. Thank you for your comments.
You Rock! I knew there was a hub brewing in there somewhere! I have a friend who is a rabbi in Israel right now. Yet another wonderful hub!
advisor4qb— Thank you, darlin'. We were blessed to have a Messianic Jewish Rabbi leading our group over there and that was a true blessing. You know I appreciate hearing from you.
Great hub. This is the part of history that clearly illustrates the awesome power of God, and Israel as God's own people. On the other hand, we use it in history to trace the origin of Middle-East crisis.
I learned a lot from your hub. i'm going to read it several times. i missed you hubbing. Hope ou had a blessed trip. I look forward to hearing about it in hubpages. Israel will be here till the end. America will be long gone. We will go up in smoke, as the Bible refers to us as Babylon. The jewish people are still Gods chosen people. We've only been blessed as long as we stood by Israel and blessed her. It was the money from the Jewish people that finally won our Independance. Our patriots were in rags without enough weopons, the Jewish people made the difference that won us the war. Most people don't know about that. Great hub, can't wait till the next one. God Bless you!
infonaturale— Thank you very much. I appreciate your remarks and I agree with your words wholeheartedly.
linda-patriot— It's nice to hear from you again, my patriotic friend. Thank you for your kind compliments. I had an awesomely blessed trip! Writing about it will be a treat and I have a feeling reading about it will be, too. There is a lot to tell.
I had never heard before what you wrote about Jewish money in regards to our Independence. That is incredibly interesting. And you're right: most people don't know about it.
I am well pleased to receive your encouragement. God Bless You!
James,
Welcome back. Great read James and so important in these times. Looking forward to your pics and description of what had to be a very memorable trip.
Robert— Thank you. It's good to be home. The trip was out-of-this-world. I look forward to writing about it. Coming soon!
I appreciate the warm welcome, my friend.
James,
Another great history lesson. As best I can remember sometime in the late 1950's Nassar formed the UAR with Egypt, Syria and Jordan ( he had delusions of grandure). There was also a little competition he tried to foster between the USSR and the United States over the Aswan Dam construction. I remember reading of this in "My Weekly Reader".
Thanks again and welcome home brother.
As Israel is backed by the US Government, the Muslims will forever think Israel as what you said, an instrument of Western Imperialism.
Thank you for this wonderful and informative hub, James. I plan to visit Israel some time before I die.
Some members of my family have been there but I have not yet.
I had asked many of my Jewish friends about this. Why their families would not leave Israel and would rather die there.
The answer can not be simplified to put into words. I hope that in the future everyone would be able to live in peace, to be able to share the holiness of the place with everyone.
Again, thank you.
James A Watkins,
Welcome, Home! Wonderful intriguing history on Israel. It was quite informative as always! I must read it again to fully digest the entirety of its wealth of information.
Glad that you had a safe spiritually revealing trip; I am sure… I am excited and looking forward to hearing about your life changing journey. Nice to have you back on the Hubpages! Traveling is wonderful when the opportunity presents itself. But there is no place like home! Blessings!
Tom Whitworth— Thank you, Tom. You are absolutely right about UAR. I think they even had a postage stamp, if I recall (I collected stamps back then). My recollection is that the U.S. was going to back the dam and then backed out for political affronts by Nasser. The USSR put up the funds I think.
You are welcome. It's good to be back. I appreciate your insights as always.
msorensson— You are quite welcome. It is always a pleasure to read your soothing words.
Even Jews who do not live in Israel have told me that they only feel truly at home when they are there. It is certainly their ancestral homeland. I will have more to say about that in my travelogue to come, as I learned a lot during my recent visit. I share with you the hope that all people can learn to live in peace. Thank you for your comments.
DeBorrah K. Ogans— Thank you! I so appreciate your comments. I was baptized in the Jordan; stepped into the tomb of Jesus; and prayed at the Wailing Wall! And much much more. Now it is good to be home.
Great Hub, very informative as always we can see God working throughout everything that is taking place today...
Blessings
"Quill"— Thank you so much. Yes, I agree: God is working hard six days a week. :)
I appreciate you letting me know you read my article here. God Bless!
Nice history for the new nation of Israel.But they have to be different with the Palestinian people.They have also rights of birth in the teritory.
King James:
You and Mr. Whitworth are indeed correct, as I read of the same in MY Weekly Reader. I have sent you a photo of that very stamp along with the website for the extant version of the WR. Glad you got that mailbox emptied out ... tough being a personality, isn't it?
Vary thorough analysis, particularly useful detail about the very early years and the treatment of displaced peoples which kind of turns on its head the lazy, illinformed opinion that all the blame for the problems of Palestinians can be laid at the feet of Israel.
Wow!!. This is a great bit of history James! Thank you for sharing this.
I only can join in with everybody. Well come back. A well written and in depths laid out history lesson. Especially to me because I was born in Germany and on top of it in Nuremberg. Don't be aganst me. It is not my fault. Nobody ask you where you want to be born. I was born in 1940. I honestly and I mean honestly don't about my parent's involvements. All I know my father wasn't sentence to any prison. In those days the least little thing you would have been. Anyway, enough of me. I deeply, deeply regret what happened and I still can't understand or accept that my people done this. Thank you for your very interesting hub. When will the world learn. History is there to learn from. The world is so big and beautiful and everybody could have more than enough these days. What are we fighting for?
Nice to see you back James. Wondered where you had disppaeared to. The whole Israel and Palestine problem will be a hard, if not impossible, problem to solve, I fear.
gusripper— Thank you for reading and for your comments. It is a difficult situation. It is hard to give a people rights to freely move about your country when some of them have vowed to kill you. When I was just over there, it struck me that in many cases I couldn't tell them apart.
ArchDynamics— I just saw the stamp you sent me. It's a beauty! Thank you for that. I remember the Weekly Reader very well from school. I enjoyed reading them. And yes: it is real tough being a personality. :D
advoco— Why, thank you very much for your kind comments. Israel has made mistakes but all people and all countries always have and will. It does seem to me that the Israelis have made much more of an effort at peace than the Arabs. I appreciate you coming by to read my Hub.
dave272727— I appreciate the accolades, brother! Thank you and you are welcome.
Hello, hello,— Thank you very much for reading my piece and for your comments. My first wife was born in Nuremberg in 1956 (her father was U.S. Army). While in Israel, I visited the Holocaust Museum. It is not an experience one ever forgets. You are right on that history is to learn from. It makes me wonder why so many are disinterested in it. People have always fought. And fought for manifold reasons.
You are welcome.
ethel smith— Always a pleasure to hear from you, dear. I have to agree: the problems of that area are extraordinarily difficult to solve. But there is hope. It is possible if the two peoples can learn to love each other as brothers—which they are.
Yup! This is seriously good!
An excellent Hub.
The fact is, if someone came up to you and poked you right in the eye you would react, and I might suggest your reation would not be favourable. God calls Israel the apple (iris)of his eye. Poke it and he will react. That's why every nation that has ever come against Israel has eventually 'come a cropper', as we would say.
Google 'Lance Lambert', he's a notable Jewish British Messianic/Christian with a thorough knowledge of Scripture and a prophetic gift, now living in Israel, and hugely influential.
He was being interviewed on TV a couple of weeks ago when he when he commented that he has listened intently to President Obama's recent speak on his visit to Egypt, after which he turned to his friends and family and said, "We have just listened to speech by the first Muslim President of the United States of America".
Lance is not anti-Muslim, nor anti-Obama, but he is extremely wary of anyone who is anti-Israel, and considers that all the same factors are there in place today that were there in the 1930s before the Holocaust.
Brilliant hub and so very well done.
Allan McGregor— Thank you very much for the laudations. I bookmarked Lance Lambert's homepage. Thank you for that tip. Our guide in Israel is a Messianic Rabbi from California, Bob Gorelik. Here is his website:
http://www.eshavbooks.org/news/stories-01.htm
I will take up some of Mr. Lambert's writings later, but based on your quotes I would say he is not far off.
It's always great to hear your voice. Thank you for your words.
itakins— I am well pleased by your compliments. :D
Very nice Hub, James. They say one is known by the quality of his friends. I do believe yours are all top-quality. And I'm learning a lot by reading their comments. Nice to see you again, Don White
dusanotes— Thank you, Don. I am truly blessed with a gang of wonderful friends, both on line and in real life, too. It is always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks for tuning in.
Thank you for this wonderful history lesson, James. I was never much into history during my school years, but love to learn more now, especially given my Jewish heritage. I look very much forward to your hub about your recent trip.
Lily Rose— You are surely welcome. I have always loved history. How did things get to be as they are? This is what I yearn to understand. My travelogue is coming soon. There are a lot of photos to sort through. Maybe in a few days I'll be ready. Thank you for visiting and leaving word.
Thanks again James, I'll check out that site.
As for Lance Lambert, he's a lovely man who must be about 78 now. I think he lost 56 relatives in Auschwitz, including his father,who was shot because of a Nazi superstition about not gassing aristocrats.
Lance watched as Israel was reborn in 1948, and has closely followed every conflict since. He was even friendly with Golda. So, when he describes Barack Obama as America's first 'Muslim' President, he speaks from knowledge. Having heard some of Mr Obama's opinions I am convinced he is not a Christian and when he spoke in Egypt I think he only he quoted the Bible once but waxed lyrical from the Qur'an - a book that calls all who believe in the Trinity, that Jesus was the Son of God, and that he was crucified, fools and infidels.
JAMES! I made it here! ; I have been in the studio recording.....
ANYWAY, I was raised around Judaism and Christianity. I was also taught all about Israel at a young age and taught the history. I watched films of the holocaust when I was really young and it was hard to take in as a young child. This is a good hub with great detail and a "smooth" and "interesting" read. I thought I would comment about how history carried through to the religion in the present time. When I was in both houses of worship as a child, I noticed that the Jewish one always spoke about "accomplishments" in history and this I felt gave the congregation a sense of real "pride." It was taught to us at a really young age and I think it is a good thing and I see it in a lot of Jewish people I know. Israel has been through a lot. Your hub makes that very clear!
In the church with my Christian mother, the focus always seemed to be on the bible and family and even though there is history, the church I went to never seemed to dwell on past events or mention "accomplishments." I walked out feeling "love" and "faith," but no sense of "pride" as a "group" of people in the same house of worship. It did feel "very different" in both places. Interesting!!........Ofcourse, living with a Brit, I'm always reminded of the role the British played in everything!! ha
Infact the "pride" of the "Jews" and the "Brits" feels very similiar. They don't ever give up! Even when I lived in the UK for a year. The British are so very "proud" about everything! ha
Anyway, I always enjoy your hub and you are a fantastic writer. G
GPAGE— Great to hear from you! Are you recording some jazz? I'll have to order one of your CDs so I can listen to it in my car. That's where I have a killer system. I really want to hear you sing.
The Brits have had their hands in a lot of human history, for such a little place especially. I admire the Brits and the Israelis.
It is interesting what you wrote about the difference in the assemblies of worship. I hadn't thought of that.
Thank you for your warm compliments. You make a man feel good.
Fantastic James, I love History! You are always able to make reading it a joy. I missed you and am glad you are home safely, and writing again. I can't wait to read about your Israel trip.
Kebennett1— Thank you very much! I made it home safely and I will write about my trip soon. I appreciate your support!
really i dont no wat to say but all i want is just to open ur eyes.
If some group of ppl just decided to take over ur country even if it was 6%. They killed ur mum, dad, sister n brother and as well take ur home n land wat r u gona do??? watch dem kill ur family n take ur home n land n just stand aside n laugh? or ur gona fight for wats urs???
Palestine has to fight for wats thers. n just so u no jews didnt claim only 6% they claimed wat ever they can get ther hands on. all the jews did was kill the ppl n take wats not thers.
do u no wats the jews main target is? r women n children do u no y ther the target??? ther targeted because women can have babies n keep on having babies n wat do the babies grow up doing? da girls grow up 2 get married n have more babies n da boys grow up 2 defend ther country. so jews kill the women so they dont have babies n kill the kids so they dont increase the population, to go smaller n smaller by killing them.
i can keep on going but yeh
oh n beta 2 research
Gen 16:12...God is speaking to Hagar the mother of Ishmael, father of all the Arabs.
"He will be a wild donkey of a man; (yeah no kidding) his hand will be against everyone (that's for sure) and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” (ya think?)
Pretty much sums it up does it not?
They by and large act like ignorant wild jack asses and are constantly fighting with everyone and it will only get worse. They act like the world owes them something and feel entitled to everything on the planet.
But, even when they fight, they are stupid and cannot win a war because they are backwards and foolish cowards.
Once again a man (Abraham) listens to his wife (Sarah) and does not do what GOD told him to do, just like Adam listened to Eve and the result is the same!!!
The world has not been made the better because of it. =D
~Shalom
P.S. I do not apologize for hitting hard. =)
I play drums !!!
muslim-arab— I do appreciate your point of view and I thank you for posting it here. What country did the Jews take over? What was this "country" called? Was it not simply an area under administration of first the Ottoman Empire and then the British Mandate? This tiny sliver of land was granted to the Jews by the United Nations out of land controlled by the British, was it not? Was it not largely a barren wasteland before the Jews came? What people or women did the Jews kill when they established the State of Israel?
quietnessandtrust— I appreciate your point of view and I thank you for articulating it here.
first of all im talking bout palestine second fing is wat rite doz da british or da ottoman empire have no rite 2 give a land dats not thers.
can i come up 2 u n tell u give me dat house n u go ok n i just kill da ppl inside n take der house n call it mine can i do dat? anywayz diz guy says wat im tryin 2 say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cydRpiFI4fc
n nop it wasnt a wasteland befor da jews came it was like any other country n even if it was a wasteland its no other countries bisness its da palestinians problam no1 elses.
n wat do u mean wat ppl or women kill, it looks like u dont watch da news oh wait mayb u do but da news try der best not 2 show or talk about wats happening in palestin. so i wouldnt blame u...
plz clik on this link n watch it plz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKQqItZu4Is watch it n tell me wat u fink n tell me would u live der oh wait u cant coz dvrs no wer 2 live da jews demolished der houses but da houses dat arnt demolished da jews took dem from da palestinians n now live in dem oh n u have 2 b a jew 2 have a house...
muslim-arab— You do know that there has never, through all of human history, been a country called Palestine, right? The Ottomans controlled the region for 400 years. If it wasn't their land, whose land was it? You do know that there are no historic people called Palestinians, right? You do know that this name was first used 60 years ago AFTER Israel became a state?
My understanding is that were Jews and Arabs living in the area in 1947 and the United Nations tried to solve the conflict by giving Arabs 94% of the land and the Arabs said no, 100% or nothing. Not a very giving people are they?
James,
Thanks for writing this series. Israel, in recent history has been looked down upon for "mistreating" minorities(arab refugees). I don't like the term "palestinian" I don't think its accurate. I love the use of "arab refugees". Its definitely accurate as it relates to Israel history.
C. J. Wright— You are surely welcome. Fellow Hubber Aya Katz instructed me that the refugees are not really Arabs since the only true Arabs are the Omayyad—those originally from Arabia. The others speak Arabic but are not of Arabic blood. I checked that out and it appears to be the truth. Isn't that interesting? Thank you for visiting my humble Hub. :)
I still think its a better description than palestinian...that is a completely made up term to give legitimacy to a bunch of refugees. Its like if Houston would have been forced to change its name to New Orleans after Katrina....
C.J. Wright— It surely is better than Palestinian, a trumped up name if I ever heard one.
In his book entitled The New Testament and the People of God, N. T. Wright comments: "The land of Israel is a small country. You can walk its length, north to south, in a few days, and from its central mountains you can see its lateral boundaries, the sea to the west and the river to the east. But it has had an importance out of all proportion to its size. Empires have fought over it. Every forty-four years out of the last four thousand, on average, an army has marched through it, whether to conquer it, rescue it from someone else, to use it as a neutral battleground on which to fight a different enemy, or take advantage of it as the natural route for getting somewhere else to fight there instead. There are many places which, once beautiful, are now battered and mangled with legacies of war. And yet it has remained a beautiful land, still producing grapes and figs, milk and honey."
Based on your article, I can see how Israel as a nation, wove itself together in strength through a series of significant wars. Another great hub James!
Gicky Soriano— N. T. Wright! I love his books. I had the good pleasure of having dinner with him a couple years ago. Brilliant man. Thank you for this great quote. I appreciate your compliment, too. Nice to hear from you again, Brother.
Thanks for the good explanation of this situation. When I was in school this was one region that we did not seem to cover in history class. Now it is on the news nightly and I would get confused about who was who and who was fighting for what.
Artemus Gordon— Are you the same Artemus Gordon I knew back in the Wild Wild West? You are welcome. I saw on the news that high schools now use a textbook that describes Jesus as a Palestinian. What's the world coming to? Thank you for reading and commenting. :)
Yes, and ever since that great year of 1948, the enemies listed in the Holy Bible have been trying to destroy Israel. If only the Arab fragmented nations had patience and trust like Cyrus, the Great.
Marquis— Welcome. Cyrus was indeed great. And you are spot on about the enemies of Israel being dead set on destroying it. Thank you for your fine addition to this Hub.
Great hub - knowledge of history makes the current administrations policies seem strange. As someone who lives in Israel ( see my recent hub ) I appreciate this hub very much.
cpa— Thank you! I do not appreciate the policies of the current administration, I must say. But I'm glad you liked this Hub. Thanks for visiting!
Hello james, we do live in a very beautiful world ! Loved your travel film. Please be a little loving to my Brothers and sisters in Palestine...Love to them...!!Jandee
jandee— Yes! We do live in a beautiful world. Thank you for visiting and commenting. I love everybody!
James, great piece of work, thank you.
Vladimir Uhri! Hello, my friend! You are welcome and I thank you for your kind compliments.
Well re-worked, James.
And quite well timed, as Obama is trying to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestians right now.
But watch this space as, unfortunately, Obama is posing for his domestic audience in the run up to America's midterm elections, and his heart is not really in a workable deal, just in posturing as an international statesman after an embarrassing withdrawal from Iraq.
I predict he will pressure Israel to make concessions they have no right to make. And, if that happens, get a hammer and nails and some wood, because every time America has turned against Israel, within a few days or hours some hurricane or like disaster has hit the United States, because God has not forgotten his covenant with Abraham, and Israel is not America's, the Palestinians', or even the Jews' to play around or bargain with - it is God's land and he has already stated where he stands and who he has entitled to live there.
Great Britain dropped that ball over sixty years ago, and God dismantled the largest empire the world had ever seen.
Allan McGregor— I surely appreciate you coming by and offering your warm words about my revisions—and your warnings about, to quote Ray Bradbury: "Something wicked comes this way."
You know, I never drew a connection between the crumbling of the British Empire and the whole Balfour thing. That is very interesting and will spur me on to more study of that time period. You always make illuminating comments, my friend. Thank you.
Very interesting and extremely informative. If there is ANYTHING remotely negative to be said, it would be that one can't help to notice you seem a tad partial to the Jewish side of the ongoing conflict... but, then again, so am I!
I'm not religious, and probably wouldn't be Jewish if I was, but how can you not love a country as strong and determined as Israel. Like the old saying says, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." Thank you for posting this, and I look forward to reading the rest of your hubs!
shynsly— I admit I slanted this piece toward the Jewish side. But I had darn good reason: nearly all the articles and news we get today are slanted against the Israeli side so much it is ridiculous. So, I was purposefully trying to add some semblance of balance.
Thank you for taking the time to read my Hubs. I appreciate your excellent comments. And you are most welcome.
This reads like a suspense novel.
I only have one observation, and it's that you don't give GOD the credit for all the victories of Israel. He fights and wins their wars, not the jews. There is simply no logical, rational explanation.
evan— Thank you so much for your kind comments. You are correct that I did not get into the metaphysical aspects of these conflicts. I assure you that I share your views about this.
What is this you keep repeating 'Palestine never existed' … You call yourself a historian? One full of bias and propaganda. It's deeply disturbing to watch you feed these people with lies. You say "under administration of the British mandate" it was given to the Jews. So as usual the British had control of another land which was not there’s to begin with. And then bam, they give it away, just like that.
So if under the British mandate they decided to give India to the Jews instead , then that’s also OKAY!!! Or what about your country? Let’s say, hypothetically Mexico has a mandate over the U.S in about 100 years, and then they decide to give it to the poor Bosnians as compensation… then that’s OKAY with you? They bulldoze your home, murder you parents and take you as a prisoner of war. And strip you of any civil rights, then they write history books to say that America never existed, and your people were uncivilized savages. And then years later some dude like you sits there writing an article of this nature, feeding people with more propaganda .
Ranzi— The only people who have lived in Israel for 4,000 years are the Jews. Israel was the nation of the Jews for at least 1,300 years. The Romans conquered it and the Romans—not the people who lived there—renamed it Palestine, meaning the home of the Philistines. The Philistines were Greek peoples who had lived in Israel before the state of Israel was established thousands of years ago.
The Romans ruled the land for 300 years that is now—and was before they came—Israel. Then, the Christian Greeks ruled it for 300 years.
The Arabs came out of Arabia, and after slaughtering most the Jews (who had lived in Israel for 2,000 years or more by this time) for rejecting Muhammad's message, the Arabs conquered the Holy Land in 635 A.D.
The Arabs ruled about 450 years; then the Christian Crusaders took the Holy Land back and ruled it for nearly 200 years as the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
After the Crusaders were expelled, the Holy Land was ruled by Egyptians for 250 years.
The Turks took the Holy Land from the Egyptians, and kept it for 400 years.
This brings us up to 1917 and the end of the First World War—a war in which the Turks were on the losing side—they had allied themselves with Germany. The British then ruled it for 30 years before the modern State of Israel was established and sanctified by the United Nations.
Becasue of all this history, which you can read in full here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/History-of-Israel
Your analogies of Bosnians, Mexicans, India, and America make no sense. This is more like Africans returning to Africa. It is their ancestral home. Of that there is no doubt.
I take umbrage at your accusations that I have told "lies" on this page. Please tell me one "lie" on this page and I will edit the article.
The fact is that the Holy Land was ruled by Jews for up to 2,000 years; Romans for 300; Greeks for 300; Arabs for 450 years; Europeans for 200 years; Egyptians for 250 years; Turks for 400 years; and now Jews for 60 years. Of these groups only the first and last—the Jews are native to this land.
It is true that no people called themselves "Palestinians" until the 1950s. There has never been a nation called Palestine. The Holy Land was called that by some of its various conquerers.
Excellent Hub, really enjoyed reading it. Thanks!
James thanks for the research, places, times and dates etc. You have done your research well. I will hand that to you. Yet a true historian will stop reading BS from the history books, and internet articles, as he/she should know that history can be re written and biased. So why don’t we for a moment forget about books, articles and biased data and take a deeper look, an investigative glimpse into this issue. Lets also for a moment disregard these word “The chosen people” and “The promised land” and use our minds and logic and of course our human conscience.
Whether or not your historic details are true or false, why did you forget to mention that it is estimated that there were more than 7 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons at the beginning of 2003. These people were kicked out, some of their homes bulldozed, businesses were destroyed and of course Palestine whether under mandate, rule, or control, was wiped off the map. Why did you also forget to mention in your factual historic article, that the Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons in Israel are one of the largest displaced populations in the world today? Approximately one in three refugees worldwide is Palestinian. And maybe you also didn’t want to mention this fact; The majority of Palestinians became refugees during armed conflict and war in Palestine. Sources of flight include indiscriminate attacks on civilians, massacres, looting, destruction of property (including entire villages), and forced expulsion. Israeli military forces adopted 'shoot to kill' policies along the armistice lines to prevent the return of refugees. In some cases refugees were forced to sign papers that they were leaving voluntarily. (All this happened on the holly land)
Now let’s take a look at your so called facts and figures. So should the Lebanese, Syrians, Turks who also were under rule of the Ottoman Empire and later a France mandate also be grateful for the fact that the French had mandate over them and not Britain? The French had authority over these countries and eventually whether through force or not had enough value for the inhabitants to finally let go…these countries that the French ruled, now have independence, functioning governments and flags. Thank God that France let go of their reign over these countries and not also given them away as compensation to the Jews.
So let me ask you this; Say when France had control over Lebanon, it had given it away to the Jews, then that would also be okay? And would you sit there writing that it did not exist? Because in fact the Jews also walked and lived in parts of Lebanon for many thousands of years. Also Jews of the bible lived in places which are now Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and many other places of the Middle East. So does that mean that we should also give those territories back to the Jews?
Now unfortunately for Palestine on the other hand had their confidence in Britain, whether or not it was an established country yet, is beside the point. They had established territories, with names, people lived there, they had built homes, had generations of history, businesses, orchards, farms, graves etc. Like most countries in the Middle East, they would have eventually had their independence. The people of Palestine would have had the opportunity to become a thriving country, like the rest of the Middle East. But they were never given that chance! Instead they were displaced, treated as second class citizens, massacred and tortured. And just as thieves, the Jews began to steal this land, build new cities, force their way onto the map.
So just because this land had people of the Jewish religion living there thousands of years ago, then does that gives them every right to come bouncing in like thieves? And of course this has been a massive headache for the UN and the world as most of the conflict due to terrorism today, is because of Israel’s existence. Why do you think organisations such as Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the PLO even exist today?
James most Jews who live in Israel today, have no ties or relation to the Jews who lived there thousands of years ago, (except for their religion) half are European Jews, who have no binding ancestors there, except for this sentence from their torah “the chosen people.” And the Arab Jews who migrated to Israel (Mizrahi Jews) face racism and discriminations from other sects of Jews.
The Jews also lived in parts of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, but why did they want this little piece of Palestine? Was it because it was easy to get their hands on it? To steal a land full from the frail? Was it because they could use mystical propaganda out of their Torah? “The promised Land” – “The Chosen people” Was it because they were able to play the victims, shame and guilt trip the world due to their suffering? The Palestinian people’s government was weak after all, the people where conquered, so why not strike when they are down? Why not avenge what history has done to us? Today’s Palestinians as the holocaust victims also have suffering ghosts, injured past, a tormented present, a land full of blood and loss. These people will never forget, they will never rest until justice is done.
Finally, I’m not saying that the Jews should move out, or even give back the land, what’s done is done. I’m not stating that the Jewish people are evil or should be hated, no on the contrary some of the most talented and warm people I know are Jews. But I’m trying to articulate is some acknowledgment should be given about Israel’s bloody history. They need to recognise that Israel and the Zionists have stolen this land, as the Americans stole from the Indians and Australians took from the Aborigines. And at least a “Sorry” from Israel’s Government in consideration to the violence inflicted upon it’s inhabitants. But James to sit there and deny Palestine’s existents and belittle its people, then that just shows that you are writing one side of history, full of prejudice and discrimination. This denial of the Palestinian existence is just as shocking as the denial of the holocaust.
I will leave you with Avraham Burg’s words (Former chairman of The World Zionist Organization)
“It turns out that the 2,000-year struggle for Jewish survival comes down to a state of settlements, run by an amoral clique of corrupt lawbreakers who are deaf both to their citizens and to their enemies. A state lacking justice cannot survive.” Avraham Burg
ForkArtJunkie— You are welcome. I am glad you enjoyed this piece. Thank you for reading it and expressing your appreciation of my work here.
Thanks. :) I do think it's amazing what they've achieved over the years, all while fighting off terrorists bent on their destruction. This is kind of old, but here's an article by the Free Republic from 2006. It outlines a few of the modern inventions by Israel: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1600302/p
Ranzi— You are welcome. I am not a Jew so I have no dog in this fight. You asked: "why did you forget to mention that it is estimated that there were more than 7 million Palestinian refugees and displaced persons at the beginning of 2003? These people were kicked out, some of their homes bulldozed, businesses were destroyed and of course Palestine whether under mandate, rule, or control, was wiped off the map. Why did you also forget to mention in your factual historic article, that the Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons in Israel are one of the largest displaced populations in the world today?"
There are 4.7 million people registered as "Palestinian refugees" in the world today. 2/3 of them have moved on and resettled around the world. Virtually none of them fled the war in 1948; they are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the 500,000 people who fled what is now Israel.
My forefathers fled the Irish Potato Famine in 1848. Should I have a right to "return" to Ireland and be given a piece of land there? Would Ireland welcome me if I swore to destroy its nation?
The answers to most of your questions are found right in this article or in the article that covers the period of time before this article:
http://hubpages.com/hub/History-of-Israel
During and after the Israel War of Independence (1948), there was a mass movement of peoples. 550,000 people who described themselves as Muslims fled from inside the borders of the new State of Israel. An equal number of Jews fled to the nascent State of Israel from surrounding Muslim countries—arriving with nothing, having been stripped of all they owned by the Muslims they had lived alongside for centuries. Jewish refugees were immediately granted citizenship in the new State of Israel and assisted in resettlement among the general population. Muslim refugees were put into camps by Muslim governments—where some of their descendents still live 60 years later.
850,000 Jews lived in Muslim countries in 1948. Only 20,000 remain there today. None of the 830,000 who fled Muslim lands are in refugee camps because the State of Israel took them in; none are demanding the right to return to from whence they came. Half of all Israelis today are descendants of these refugees from Muslim lands. 300,000 Jews emigrated from Morocco to Israel; 140,000 came from Algeria; 125,000 from Iraq; 100,000 from Tunisia; 75,000 from Egypt; 50,000 from Yemen; 35,000 from Syria; 35,000 from Libya.
The Muslim refugees were held by Muslim governments in filthy, wretched conditions. 250,000 were put into camps by Jordan; 115,000 by Egypt; 100,000 by Lebanon; and 80,000 by Syria. The United Nations provided food, medicine and education for them, but did not give any aid to the Jewish refugees absorbed into the new Jewish State.
After the cease fire of 1948, Muslims demanded that all people who had fled from Israel during the fighting be allowed to return. The Jews agreed on the condition that the Muslims nations that have it surrounded recognize Israel as a sovereign nation with the right to exist in peace—which all Muslims refused to even consider.
By 1956, 61 percent of the Muslim refugees had moved out of the camps, but still claimed the United Nations benefits of refugee status. Muslim refugees were not given citizenship or the right to start a new life in the Muslim countries to which they fled after the Israel War of Independence. The reason for this is that the Muslim countries saw these refugees as useful pawns in future efforts to eventually rid the Middle East of Jews. Muslim governments certainly had the resources to take in these refugees. Numerous international studies of this history concluded that the Muslim refugees should be absorbed by the surrounding Arab countries, given the dignity of resettlement so they could become productive citizens.
100,000,000 human beings have become refugees since 1945 (worldwide) and no other people have been kept in camps anywhere close to this length of time in world history.
Muslims seethed when they observed the economic success, democracy and freedoms the people enjoyed living in the State of Israel. This Muslim resentment is at the heart of the Israeli-Muslim conflict. It is amplified by the fact that most Muslims live in impoverished backwardness under authoritarian regimes in Muslim nations.
Ranzi— As for the rest of your rant: You wrote: "The people of Palestine would have had the opportunity to become a thriving country, like the rest of the Middle East. But they were never given that chance! Instead they were displaced, treated as second class citizens, massacred and tortured. And just as thieves, the Jews began to steal this land, build new cities, force their way onto the map."
According to the Ottoman Census of 1893, the people within the present borders of Israel were 60,000 Jews; 45,000 Arabs; and 45,000 others. Before World War One the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultan welcomed Jews to settle in Palestine since nobody else seemed to care about this backwater, and he thought they might invest capital there and transform it from a desert wasteland into a prosperous area, since the Jews were world-famous as a successful people whereever they went.
The British solution was to divide what was called Palestine into a nation for Muslims and a nation for Jews—83% of the land for the Muslims, 17% for the Jews. This led to the creation of the Muslim state of Transjordan on 83% of the land that was called Palestine in 1921 for Emir Abdullah of the Hashemites; and a Jewish Homeland under British rule on 17%.
The Jews, on their 17% then built public works such as utilities; waterworks; sewer and drainage systems; harbors; government buildings—and to form a police force. Law and order, as well as public relief, were established. There was peace, order, justice, and administrative integrity far superior to its Muslim neighbors. Jews from around the world poured money into the new Jewish Homeland.
Most of the land inside the boundaries of modern day Israel was PURCHASED by Jews from absentee Muslim landowners.
After the Jews had turned barren desert into irrigated farmland, created a clean water supply, sanitation, and largely eliminated malaria; Muslims began moving there to work as laborers on Jewish farms.
Arabs complained that the 83%-17% solution would grant Jews the best farmland—conveniently not mentioning that these fabulous agricultural areas had been swamps or desert for centuries before Jewish labor and capital had miraculously transformed them.
This land was in no way the "ancestral homeland of Palestinians for thousands of years." That is a myth.
If you do not really know WHY the Jews would want to live in Israel instead of Egypt then you are woefully ignorant of history. Furthermore buying land with clear title is not stealing it.
Ranzi— You simply don't know what you are talking about. You wrote: "James to sit there and deny Palestine’s existents and belittle its people, then that just shows that you are writing one side of history, full of prejudice and discrimination. This denial of the Palestinian existence is just as shocking as the denial of the holocaust."
I do not deny that a region of the Middle East that encompasses modern day Israel and Jordan was called Palestine. But there was never a country or nation called Palestine in world history. And no people ever called themselves "Palestinians" until the 1950s; and then the people who did had previously called themselves Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians (Yasser Arafat was an Egyptian), etc. They mostly called themselves Muslims, just as the Jews call themselves Jews.
I am not belittling anybody, nor am I prejudiced. You only know propaganda. You have not studied REAL history. I have.
For you to equate the movement of 500,000 Muslims of out Israel into Muslim lands, and the movement of 500,000 Jews into Israel from Muslim lands, with the HOLOCAUST shows you are an anti-semite Jew hater, period. Six Million Jews were rounded up and murdered in the Holocaust. Were Six Million Muslims rounded up and murdered? How about 600,000? How about 60,000? NO! Shame on you for invoking the Holocaust to describe Muslim refugees who were kept refugees not by Israel but by other Muslims.
Anti Semite? --- LOL How cliché! If you have truly studied history then you would know that a Semite is also someone of Arab descent. So let me ask you this James…. Are you an anti Semite? Because there is an underlying hatred in this article for Arabs, especially Muslims. Aren’t these your words? words of detest? “Yes, Muslims have a serious shortage of contributions to humanity” from one of your comments in http://hubpages.com/hub/Israel-History.” James A Watkins.
You also called me a Jew hater. Hatred is not in my blood, not for the human race and especially not for the descendants of Jesus. But based on your other articles and their underlying messages, should I also call you a Black Hater, a homosexual hater, a Muslim hater, a refugee hater…you remind me of someone… But I won’t say, it could be too offensive.
What I am though is, An Israeli propaganda hater, an anti human rights hater, war hater, theft of homes hater, discrimination hater, but mostly I’m a hater of LIES……and of course a hater of terrorism whether its an Arab or Israeli. I will defend what is right….. And although I’m your follower I will not lick anyone’s ass so I can be popular. I don’t care if I’m voted down to 0, I don’t care if you flag my articles 100 times, and I couldn’t care less if you’re a moderator and unpublished my articles. What I care about is the TRUTH… and revealing extreme bias.
Your information is so misinformed - where did you get it from? Oh wait I know, the New York Times, Israeli text books, Pro Israel articles –
Israel reminds me of Turkey, and how their children are taught in schools to deny the Armenian genocide. But I guess the difference between turkey and Israel is that Israel is a pimp of America. And of course America is going to give a helping hand to its watch dogs in the Middle East, by re writing history and brain washing the masses. So you claim to be a historian, you read books by your selected right wing authors (Hitler was also right winged) But have you ever spoken to a Palestinian? (other than the ones bought and brainwashed by Israel) have you looked into a refugees eyes and listened to her tale about the day an Israeli soldier came to her home in the middle of the night, terrorised her and her children, raped her, threw her out into the streets and bulldozed her home. (I have)
A true historian would dig deep, not just sit behind his computer and re produce information. A true historian would not sit there writing the word Muslim on every third sentence of his articles. Because not all Arabs are Muslims! This whole article you’re stating “the Muslims murdered them” and “The Muslim blew up that”…….. Why are you putting the whole religion into one category? Why are you identifying them as a religion and not a tribe or race? But the only fact you were right about is that the Palestinians were put into refugee camps by other Arab states. Of course, when millions are kicked and forced out of their homes, what do you expect?
I myself live, breath, eat, love, and work with Jews. And what ever I write here to you, I will say to their face. But as Jesus once said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing' " (23:33-34). And Jesus was one of the greatest Jews that had ever walked the earth. And I will forgive you, because arguing with you is a dead end, similar to a Christian arguing with an atheist.
James my main goal is not to try and change your mind about your beliefs and views. I know that will never happen. But to also show your readers the other side. The side that is hidden by the legal mafias; the U.S, ISRAEL AND MEDIA. This will be my last comment. And to those who would like to see the other side, check out this great hub by money maker.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Occupation-101
This will be my last comment and effort, as long as people can open their minds and try to see both side is all that matters
@ranzi. I loved what you wrote. You speak with compassion and humanity in the healthiest regard. This man James stands out as a zionist himself just like those Nazi's, extremist Muslims, k k k etc. I mean seriously a true historian and writer gives facts and not bias opinions. If you look at some of the text used to underneath his images about the Jewish holocaust it is completely anti Arab. I wouldn't waste anymore of your time.
heh this is all great guys. factual mayhem. who's right who's wrong...who knows. they say a leader focuses 10% of their time on defining the solution and 90% of their time on finding a possible solution. for me it was all said 2000 years ago by one of the chosen people who said "blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God". so I say end the tribal bs and wake up to the reality that must inevitably come to pass. we are all humans and we all indeed loved and chosen by the one true God/lord. we all have a right to have a safe home. and im sure justice will prevail and the light of truth will vanquish any lies or distortions.
ForkArtJunkie— You are most welcome. Thank you for providing that fabulous link. I only hope those who hate Israel will take the time to read. Please, you who hate Israel: read this link by FoodArtJunkie.
Ranzi— Yes, I do know what a Semite is. You wrote: 'Because there is an underlying hatred in this article for Arabs, especially Muslims. Aren’t these your words? words of detest? “Yes, Muslims have a serious shortage of contributions to humanity”'
I do not hate Muslims. I have Muslim friends that I care about the same as my other friends. There is no hatred in this article whatsoever. I believe what I wrote is the truth. The truth is not hateful. The sentence you call me out on is true. Name one thing you use every day invented by a Muslim. What benefit have they been to progress in the world in the last 500 years? I am only pointing this out because behind the psychopathic hatred of Western Civilization is shame that they have no achievements to speak of that contributed to modernity. A common thing to do among underachievers, instead of facing the truth that it is their own shortcomings or the failure of their society, is to blame "others." Somebody out there must have oppressed me, that's why I failed.
You wrote: "I also call you a Black Hater, a homosexual hater, a Muslim hater, a refugee hater"
You are far off base. I do not hate anyone in this world. I love everybody. It is a common trick among Atheists and Marxists to say anybody that disagrees with my ideology is a hater. That is getting old.
I apologize for saying you must hate Jews and be anti-Semitic. I should not have said that. Your words in the comment before that dripped with hostility toward Jews and Israel. But I am sorry for that part of my response.
We have at least one major thing in common: we both hate lies. There are zero lies in this article. I told the truth. The very reason I wrote this article is that I hate lies, especially lies told by Westerners who despise their own civilization and justify mass murder with their anti-Israel propaganda. I felt the truth needed to be told—again.
I have never flagged anybody's articles or voted anyone down. I believe in Free Speech, I strongly believe in your right to express your opinion.
As to where I get my information, I read history books as I have non-stop for forty years. I have read at least fifty history books about the Middle East alone. There is no misinformation in this article. Every word I wrote is the truth. I think that is why you are so bothered by it. If I were an obvious kook, you wouldn't care. People do not like a bright light shone into their darkness. Nobody does.
None of the books I have read about the Middle East have been by Israeli or even Jewish authors. Maybe you could read:
http://www.amazon.com/History-Jews-Paul-Johnson/dp
Or, if you've got the guts:
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Immemorial-Arab-Jewish-
Hitler was a Socialist for your information. That is what NAZI means: National Socialist Workers Party.
I spent two weeks in Israel the year before last. You can read about that here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Trip-to-The-Holy-Land
And here:
http://hubpages.com/hub/My-Visit-to-Jerusalem
I call the people who kill women and children by the bucketfuls and vow to kill every Jew in the Israel "Muslims" because that is what they are; that is their common denominator. They are Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Iraqis, Arabians, etc.
Rnazi— I appreciate you showing my readers "the other side." You will always be welcome to do that in comments on any of my articles. I welcome dissention.
As far as Norman Finklestein goes, you might want to balance your views by reading this:
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=8&x_name
I am aware of the article you linked by "Money Maker." But it is full of inaccuracies. I like him though.
For instance he wrote in his article:
"In 1931 Muslim and Christian Arabs totaled 81.6% with 16.9% Jews." This is true if the subject is the entire Palestine Mandate, but in the 13 percent of that area that became Israel the population was 50-50. 87 percent of that area became Jordan. Virtually no Jews lived in what became Jordan.
He also wrote: "The Palestinians, they were not the Nazis, they were not responsible for the Holocaust, but they were the ones that paid the price."
But he fails to mention that there were no people in the world during the 1930s or 1940s that called themselves "Palestinians." The Muslims in the Middle East were allies of Hitler; they loved Hitler; they applauded the Holocaust.
He further wrote: "With the UN Partition Plan the Arabs were to be given 43% of the land despite the fact that they made up two thirds of the population and owned over 92% of the land. Jews were to be given 56% of the land all though they comprised only one third of the population and owned less than 8% of the total area."
That is absolute poppycock. Look at a map of the Palestine Mandate. Look at the size of Israel in 1950 and the size of Transjordan. The former is 13%; the latter 87%. Hell, any fool with eyes can see that.
He then added: "Jews were given the most fertile land."
Yes, true. Why was that land fertile? Who made it fertile? You can Google pictures of the land where Israel now sits from say 1900. Does it look fertile to you? Somebody went in there and made something out of nothing. After they made it something, others wanted to take it away from them. That is the truth.
He also wrote: "About 300,000 Palestinians had been expelled before the first Arab soldier entered Palestine."
WTF!!! You've got to be kidding me. Even Muslim textbooks don't teach anything so absurd.
He wrote: "When the Arab armies entered the war there was a superiority on the side of the Zionists, Arab soldiers totaled 69,000 while Jewish soldiers totaled 90,000."
OMG!!! This violates any semblance of truth. Every fricking idiot in the world knows the Jews were outnumered 10 to 1 and outgunned. How can you take anybody seriously that makes such a claim?
And he said: "In 1948 the new state of Israel encompassed 78% of the land of Palestine."
If you really hate lies as you claim: you should jump all over him about this sentence. You know it is a lie. Anybody can look at the maps and see this is rotten to the core. Come on!
Peanuts— I wrote the absolute objective truth in this article. The Truth is not biased. Nazis and Muslims hate the Jews, just as you do. You ought to search your own heart.
solution hunter— I appreciate your excellent comments. Thank you for reading my work.
Why do you accuse anyone that has negative remarks about your hub a Jew hater?
peanuts— You wrote: "This man James stands out as a zionist himself just like those Nazi's, extremist Muslims, k k k etc."
I take great umbrage at this remark. Anyone who has studied this history and then comes out as anti-Israel, must simply hate Jews. I see no other way around it.
By what I have written on your hub you cannot say you have any idea about me James, about who I am, whom I love and if hate even exists in my heart.
Your version of the truth is simply bias and tarnished. The words of a man that has not searched his soul for the truth, or you are ignoring to see beyond what is at the tip of your nose because you are afraid what you might find will force you to rewrite history.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. If you seek the ultimate truth about anything you believe in, then put your aside your prejudice and ego and search for it on the other side of the wall. That is how true history is written.
"Anyone who has studied this history and then comes out as anti-Israel, must simply hate Jews. I see no other way around it" This is the most ignorant and egotistical response you have given me yet.
Peanuts— You wrote: "By what I have written on your hub you cannot say you have any idea about me James, about who I am, whom I love and if hate even exists in my heart."
You are right about that. I apologize for the inference.
You wrote: "Your version of the truth is simply bias and tarnished. The words of a man that has not searched his soul for the truth, or you are ignoring to see beyond what is at the tip of your nose because you are afraid what you might find will force you to rewrite history.
"I said it before and I’ll say it again. If you seek the ultimate truth about anything you believe in, then put your aside your prejudice . . ."
The Truth of the story of Israel does not reside in "my soul" but in the facts. I believe I have presented the unvarnished truth in this article. I am not prejudiced toward anybody. I simply call a spade a spade. I have been to Israel and I have read fifty books about this subject. I simply do not accept the current vogue of anti-Western Civilization pap.
I am not afraid or ignoring anything. If what I wrote was not true, I would not have written it. I am fiercely attached to ultimate truth, not fictions created to foster hate for Jews and justify mass murder of western peoples.
Peanuts— As for your second comment, I don't see it that way. I believe that if anyone looks at the true history, as I have presented it, and not anit-Israeli, anti-American, anti-Western Civilization propaganda, they must reach the same conclusion I do.
DiamondRN 2 years ago
According to the Bible, Israel is much more important in world history and current events than is being portrayed in schools today. Can't wait to hear about your recent visit.