Israel Broke The Peace Process not Hamas

Which side really start the 27 Dec - 19 Jan Conflicts? Statement from Israel were clear that Israel attacked in self defense as always from Hamas rockets. But did it start with the rockets? Israel has right to conduct raid into Gaza to kill Hamas leader in Truce, Israel has right to siege Gaza for years deny it from Medicines and development.. but people of Gaza should not have right even for basic need of Medicine, fuel even more right to defense themselves.. Peace process after peace process then conflict after conflicts... Israel came in then pull out... with each pull out they get more land .. built wall in self defense .. yet the wall built deeper in Palestinian land... and the process go on and on ... for another conflicts.. for this conflict this is the truth...

History of Palestine - Holocaust, Immigration,& Stern Gang - Part 7

The Holocaust

During World War II (1939-1945), many Palestinian Arabs and Jews joined the Allied forces. Jews had a special motivation for fighting the Nazis because of Nazi persecution of Jews and growing suspicions that the Nazis were systematically exterminating the Jews of Europe -Holocaust. The specific detail of Holocaust has remained mostly blur while thorough study on Holocaust is prohibited through preventive act in Germany. This threat of extermination also created great pressure for immigration to Palestine, but the gates of Palestine were closed by the British White Paper. In 1941 the British freed Jewish Haganah underground leaders in a general amnesty, and they joined the British in fighting the Germans.

Illegal Immigration

The Jews of Palestine responded to the White Paper and the Holocaust by organizing illegal immigration to Palestine from occupied Europe, through the "Institution for Illegal Immigration" (Hamossad L'aliya Beth). Illegal immigration was organized by the Jewish Agency between 1939 and 1942, when a tightened British blockade and stricter controls in occupied Europe made it impractical, and again between 1945 and 1948. Rickety boats full of refugees tried to reach Palestine. Additionally, there were private initiatives, an initiative by the Nazis to deport Jews and an initiative by the US to save European Jews.

The Biltmore Declaration

Reports of Nazi atrocities became increasingly frequent and vivid. Despite the desperate need to find a haven for refugees, the doors of Palestine remained shut to Jewish immigration. The Zionist leadership met in the Biltmore Hotel in New York in 1942 and declared that it supported the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish Commonwealth. This was not simply a return to the Balfour declaration repudiated by the British and a restatement of Zionist aims that went beyond the Balfour declaration, and a determination that the British were in principle, an enemy to be fought, rather than an ally.

Lehi Group/ Stern Gang
Lehi was an armed underground Zionist faction in Mandatory Palestine,[1] whose goal was to forcibly evict the British authorities from Palestine, allowing unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. Lehi group was founded by Avraham ("Yair") Stern which an adherent of the Revisionist Zionist movement founded by Ze'ev Jabotinsky and a member of the Irgun (Irgun Tsvai Leumi, National Military Organization) a Terrorist Group by British. In June 1940, when the Irgun decided to suspend its underground military activities against the British during the World War II, he left the Irgun to form his own group, which he called Irgun Tsvai Leumi B'Yisrael (National Military Organization in Israel), the name of the group was later changed to Lehi. The group known as Lehi for friends and Stern Gang for foes.

In 1940, Lehi proposed intervening in World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. It offered assistance in "evacuating"[vague] the Jews of Europe, in return for Germany's help in expelling Britain from Mandate Palestine. Late in 1940, Lehi representative Naftali Lubenchik was sent to Beirut where he met the German official Werner Otto von Hentig. Lubenchik told von Hentig that Lehi had not yet revealed its full power and that they were capable of organizing a whole range of anti-British operations.

Subsequent contact between Lehi and German official resulted for a letter was sent On January 11, 1941 from Vice Admiral Ralf von der Marwitz, the German Naval attaché in Ankara, depicting an offer to "actively take part in the war on Germany's side" in return for German support for "the establishment of the historic Jewish state on a national and totalitarian basis, bound by a treaty with the German Reich".[2][3]

Lehi was described as a terrorist organization[4] by the British authorities and United Nations mediator Ralph Bunche.[5] Lehi carried out the Nov 6, 1944 assassination in Cairo of Lord Moyne along with other attacks on the British authorities and Palestinian Arabs. Moyne was Minister of State for the Middle East and in charge of carrying out the terms of the 1939 white paper- preventing Jewish immigration to Palestine by force. He was also a personal friend of Winston Churchill. The assassination did not change British policy, but it turned Winston Churchill against the Zionists. The newly-formed Israeli government banned the organization under an anti-terrorism law passed three days after the Sept 1948 assassination of the UN mediator Folke Bernadotte.[6]

Israel granted a general amnesty to Lehi members on 14 February 1949 and in 1980 the group was honored by the institution of the Lehi ribbon, a military decoration the organization's former members are entitled to wear.

The Season ("Sezon") - The Jewish Agency and Zionist Executive believed that British and world reaction to the assassination of Lord Moyne could jeopardize cooperation after the war that had been hinted at by the British, and might endanger the Jewish Yishuv if they came to be perceived as enemies of Britain and the allies. Therefore they embarked on a campaign against the Lehi and Irgun, known in Hebrew as the "Sezon" ("Season"). Members of the underground were to be ostracized. Leaders were caught by the Haganah, interrogated and sometimes tortured, and about a thousand persons were turned over to the British. What transpired that the campaign were only front to win British cooperation while back in Israel the Terrorist group were honoured.

[1]^ Laqueur, Walter (2003) [1972]. "Jabotinsky and Revisionism" (Google Book Search). A History of Zionism (3rd ed. ed.). London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks. p. 377. ISBN 9781860649325. OCLC 249640859. http://books.google.com/books?id=NMjh319vnwAC&pg=PA377&dq=history+of+Lehi+stern&ei=ikMjSfHsGoHaygSb46X6Ag. Retrieved on 2008-11-18.

[2]Heller, 1995, p. 86.
[3]^ David Yisraeli, The Palestine Problem in German Politics, 1889-1945, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, 1974. Also see Otto von Hentig, Mein Leiben (Goettingen, 1962) pp 338-339 .

[4]^ "Stern Gang" A Dictionary of World History. Oxford University Press, 2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press [1].
[5]^ Ralph Bunche report on assassination of UN mediator 27th Sept 1948, "notorious terrorists long known as the Stern group"
[6]^ Ami Pedahzur, The Israeli Response to Jewish terrorism and violence. Defending Democracy, Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York 2002 p.77

History of Palestine - 1936 - 1939 Arab Revolt - Part 6

Arab Revolt and the White Paper

In 1936 widespread rioting, later known as the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine broke out. The revolt was kindled when British forces killed Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam in 1935, in a gun battle. Izz al Din El Qassam was a Syrian preacher who had emigrated to Palestine. The demands of the strike were Independence for Jerusalem and a stop to removals of workers from the land.[1]

According to Abdullah Schleifer, Al-Qassam was:

'An individual deeply imbued with ‘the Islamic social gospel and who was struck by the plight of Palestinian peasants and migrants. Al-Qassam’s pastoral concern was linked to his moral outrage as a Muslim at the ways in which the old implicit social compact was being violated in the circumstances of British mandatory Palestine. This anger fueled a political radicalism that drove him eventually to take up arms and marks him off from the Palestinian notable politicians’ [2]

In 1930 al-Qassam organized and established the Black Hand Black Hand, an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organisation, which was subsequently classified by the Mandatory authority as a terrorist group.

The British responded to the violence by greatly expanding their military forces and clamping down on Arab dissent. "Administrative detention" (imprisonment without charges or trial), curfews, and house demolitions were among British practices during this period. However, on the first day of the revolt, the UK had no response or action to the attacks. More than 120 Arabs were sentenced to death and about 40 hanged. The main Arab leaders were arrested or expelled. Amin al-Husayni fled from Palestine to escape arrest.

The Haganah (Hebrew for "defense"), a Jewish paramilitary organization, actively supported British efforts to quell the insurgency, which reached 10,000 Arab fighters at their peak during the summer and fall of 1938. Although the British administration didn't officially recognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish Settlement Police, Jewish Auxiliary Forces and Special Night Squads. In 1931, an underground splinter group broke off from Haganah, calling itself the Irgun organization (or Etzel)[2] The Irgun adopted a policy of retaliation against Arabs for attacks on Jews. During the revolt Jews were systematically armed by British while attempted to confiscate all weapons from the Arab population. This, and the destruction of the main Arab political leadership in the revolt, greatly hindered their military efforts in the 1948 Palestine war.[3].

Despite the assistance of 20,000 additional British troops and several thousand Haganah men, the uprising continued for over two years. By the time it concluded in March 1939, more than 5,000 Arabs, 400 Jews, and 200 Britons had been killed and at least 15,000 Arabs were wounded[4].

The Yishuv (Jewish community) responded with both defensive measures, and with random terror and bombings of Arab civilian targets, perpetrated by the Irgun (Irgun Tsvai Leumi or "Etsel,"). The Peel Commissionof 1937 Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry set out to propose changes to the British Mandate of Palestine following the outbreak of the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. It was headed by the Earl Peel. Peel Commission recommended partitioning Palestine into a small Jewish state and a large Arab one. The commission's recommendations also included voluntary transfer of Arabs and Jews to separate the populations. The Arab leadership rejected the plan[citation needed], while the Jewish opinion remained heatedly divided. The Twentieth Zionist Congress in Zurich (3-16 August 1937) announced "that the partition plan proposed by the Peel Commission is not to be accepted, [but wished] to carry on negotiations in order to clarify the exact substance of the British government's proposal for the foundation of a Jewish state in Palestine". [5]

The population exchange, if carried out, would have involved the transfer of approximately 225,000 Arabs and 1,250 Jews. The British response was to set up the Woodhead Commission 1938 to "examine the Peel Commission plan in detail and to recommend an actual partition plan" This Commission declared the Peel Commission partition unworkable (though suggesting a different scheme under which 5% of the land area of Palestine become Israel). The British Government accompanied the publication of the Woodhead Report by a statement of policy rejecting partition as impracticable.

Partition Plan by Peel Commission

In response to the riots, the British began limiting immigration and the White Paper of 1939 decreed that 15,000 Jews would be allowed to enter Palestine each year for five years. Thereafter, immigration would be subject to Arab approval. At the same time, the British took drastic and often cruel steps to curtail the riots. The policy paper also abandoned the idea of partitioning the Mandate for Palestine in favour of creating an independent Palestine governed by Palestinian Arabs and Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population by 1949

1- A History of Palestinian Resistance, Daud Abdulla.
2- Abdullah Schleifer, 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam: Preacher and Mujahid,' in Edmund Burke (ed.), Struggle and Survival in the Modern Middle East, IB Tauris, London and New York,1993 Ch.11 p.164
3- ^ Benny Morris (1999). Righteous Victims. Knopf. pp. 159. ISBN 0-679-421203
4- Aljazeera: The history of Palestinian revolts
5- a b "Timeline: 1937", Jewish Agency for Israel

History of Palestine - The Bristish Mandate for Palestine - Part 5

The British Mandate for Palestine

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated 2 November 1917) was a classified formal statement of policy by the British government stating that the British government "view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" with the understanding that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." [1] The declaration was a letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation, a private Zionist organization. The letter reflected the position of the British Cabinet, as agreed upon in a meeting on 31 October 1917. It further stated that the declaration is a sign of "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations." The statement was issued through the efforts of Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, the principal Zionist leaders based in London but, as they had asked for the reconstitution of Palestine as “the” Jewish national home, the Declaration fell short of Zionist expectations.[2] The "Balfour Declaration" was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine. The original document is kept at the British Library.

The declaration was the result of lobbying by the small British Zionist movement, especially by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, who had emigrated from Russia to Britain, but it was motivated by British strategic considerations. Paradoxically, perhaps, a major motivation for the declaration may have been the belief, inspired by anti-Semitism – another Jews successful policy of misrepresentation, that international Jewry would come to the aid of the British if they declared themselves in favor of a Jewish homeland, and the fear that the Germans were about to issue such a declaration.

After the war, the League of Nations divided much of the Ottoman Empire into mandated territories. The British and French saw the Mandates as instruments of imperial ambitions. US President Wilson insisted that the mandates must foster eventual independence. The British were anxious to keep Palestine away from the French, and decided to ask for a mandate that would implement the Jewish national home of the Balfour declaration, a project that would be supported by the Americans. The Arabs opposed the idea of a Jewish national home, considering that the areas now called Palestine were their land. The Arabs felt they were in danger of dispossession by the Zionists, and did not relish living under Jewish rule.

Arabs lobbied the American, King-Crane Commission in favor of annexation of the Palestine mandate area to Syria, and later formed a national movement to combat the terms of the Mandate. At the instigation of US President Wilson, the King Crane commission had been sent to hear the views of the inhabitants. At the commission hearings, 'Aref Pasha al-Dajani expressed this opinion about the Jews, "Their history and their past proves that it is impossible to live with them. In all the countries where they are at present, they are not wanted...because they always arrive to suck the blood of everybody..."

One feature for which the Commission report is still remembered today was an early statement skeptical of the viability of a Jewish state in Syria. The logic of the commission went along the lines that the first principle to be respected must be self-determination. Since the commission had a very "maximalist" view of Syria – what would today encompass Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the Gaza Strip – it pointed out that a majority of Syrians were against the formation of a Jewish state. Therefore, the only way to establish a viable Jewish state would be with armed force to enforce it. This was precisely what the Commission wanted to avoid, so they dismissed the idea, saying that Zionists anticipated "a practically complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants to Palestine". That said, there would be nothing wrong with Jews coming to "Israel" and simply living as Jewish Syrian citizens, but noted "nor can the erection of such a Jewish State be accomplished without the gravest trespass upon the "civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." United States then, already foresee that creation of Israel would against Basic Human rights. United State now through its foreign policy is a strong blind supporter of Israel and all violation of Human Right by Israel would any means seen as justified.

By this time, Zionists had recognized the inevitability of conflict with the Palestinian and other Arabs. David Ben Gurion, who would lead the Yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) and go on to be the first Prime Minister of Israel, told a meeting of the governing body of the Jewish Yishuv in 1919 "But not everybody sees that there is no solution to this question...We as a nation, want this country to be ours, the Arabs as a nation, want this country to be theirs."
Now you would see the advantage of using term Jews as a Nation rather than religion because thus will put them on even side with Arab as a nation. The Arab in Palestinian land at that time consists of Arab Muslim, Arab Christian and Arab Jews, but Arab Jews would rather join on the other side of equation as Jews Nation.

The Zionists and others presented their case to the Paris Peace conference. Ultimately, the British plan was adopted. The main issues taken into account were division of rights between Britain and France, rather than the views of the inhabitants. In 1920, Britain received a provisional mandate over Palestine, which would extend west and east of the River Jordan. The area of the mandate given to Britain at the San Remo conference was much larger than historic Palestine as envisaged by the Zionist, who had sought an eastern border to the West of Amman. The mandate, based on the Balfour declaration, was formalized in 1922. The British were to help the Jews build a national home and promote the creation of self-governing institutions. The mandate provided for an agency, later called "The Jewish Agency for Palestine," that would represent Jewish interests in Palestine to the British and to promote Jewish immigration. A Jewish agency was created only in 1929, delayed by the desire to create a body that represented both Zionist and non-Zionist Jews. The Jewish agency in Palestine became in many respects the de-facto government of the Jewish Yishuv (community).

The British hoped to establish self-governing institutions in Palestine, as required by the mandate. The Jews were alarmed by the prospect of such institutions, which would have an Arab majority. However, the Arabs would not accept proposals for such institutions if they included any Jews at all, and so no institutions were created. The Arabs wanted as little as possible to do with the Jews and the mandate, and would not participate in municipal councils, or even in the Arab Agency that the British wanted to set up. Ormsby-Gore, undersecretary of state for the colonies concluded, "Palestine is largely inhabited by unreasonable people."

The area granted to the mandate was much larger than the area sought by the Zionists. It is possible, that as Churchill suggested in 1922, the British never intended that all of this area would become a Jewish national home. On the other hand, some believe that Britain had no special plans for Transjordan initially. In his memoirs, Sir Alec Kirkbride, the British representative in Amman, wrote that "There was no intention at that stage [1920] of forming the territory east of the river Jordan into an independent Arab state." (Kirkbride, Alexander, A crackle of thorns, London, 1956 p 19)

Riots have broke out between Jews and Arab due to growing dissatisfaction feeling as found out by Haycraft Commission of Inquiry was set up to investigate the Jaffa riots of 1921. There are 3 riots have broke out on 1920,1921 & 1929

1. In the summary of the report the grievances of the Arabs were listed as follows:
   The British in Palestine, now led by a Zionist, had adopted "a policy mainly directed towards the establishment of a National Home for the Jews, and not to the equal benefit of all Palestinians".


2. An official advisory body to the government in Palestine, the Zionist Commission, placed the interests of the Jews above all others.


3. There was an undue proportion of Jews in the government.Part of the Zionist program was to flood the country with people who possessed "greater commercial and organizing ability" which would eventually lead to their gaining the upper hand over the rest of the population.


4. The immigrants were an "economic danger" to the country because of their competition, and because they were favored in this competition.


5. Immigrants offended the Arabs "by their arrogance and by their contempt of Arab social prejudices".


6. Owing to insufficient precautions, Bolshevik immigrants were allowed into the country leading to social and economic unrest in Palestin

Samuel immediately initiated a scheme for the defence of Jewish settlements. An allotment of brassards and rifles, with proportionate quantity of ammunition, was made to each colony. While in theory these arms were bonded, in practice their distribution legitimised the earlier and illegal formation of the Haganah. Arab education had been a major grievance, since much better opportunities had been available under the Turks. In the event, improvements were made but the money ran out after a year. In December 1921 Samuel claimed to have solved the problem of the Beisan land in favour of its Arab tenants.

The British responded with the Passfield white paper . The white paper attempted to stop immigration to Palestine based on the recommendations of the Hope Simpson report. That report stated that in the best case, following extensive economic development, the land could support immigration of another 20,000 families in total. Otherwise further Jewish immigration would infringe on the position of the existing Arab population. However, British MPs and the Zionist movement sharply criticized the new policy and PM Ramsay McDonald issued a "clarification" stating that Jewish immigration would not be stopped.

Jewish immigration swelled in the 1930s, driven by persecution in Eastern Europe, even before the rise of Nazism. Large numbers of Jews began to come from Poland owing to discriminatory laws and harsh economic conditions. The rise of Hitler in Germany added to this tide of immigration. The Jewish Agency made a deal, the Hesder, that allowed Jews to escape Germany to Palestine in return for hard currency that the Reich needed. The Hesder saved tens of thousands of lives.

In 1922, the British declared that the boundary of Palestine would be limited to the area west of the river. The area east of the river, called Transjordan (now Jordan), was made a separate British mandate and eventually given independence. A part of the Zionist movement felt betrayed at losing a large area of what they termed "historic Palestine" to Transjordan, and split off to form the "Revisionist" movement, headed by Benjamin Vladimir Ze’ev Jabotinsky

[1]^ Yapp, M.E. (1987). The Making of the Modern Near East 1792-1923. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 290. ISBN 0-582-49380-3.
[2]^ Balfour Declaration. (2007). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 12, 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

History of Palestine- The Rise of Zionism - part 4

The Rise of Zionism

Jews had never stopped coming to "the Holy land" or Palestine in small numbers throughout the years. Connotation of Jewish as exiled is profound to back their come back to Palestine. Palestine also remained the center of Jewish worship and a part of Jewish culture. However, the Jewish connection with the land was mostly abstract and connected with dreams of messianic redemption.

In the 19th century, Europe turmoil brought new social push for Jewish ideology. This mostly marked with wind of change in Europe with regard to rule of governing such as French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights. These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil which included the trial and execution of the king, vast bloodshed and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power. Subsequent events that can be traced to the Revolution include the Napoleonic Wars, two separate restorations of the monarchy, and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape. In the following century, France would be governed variously as a republic, constitutional monarchy, and two different empires.

The liberal concepts introduced by emancipation and modern nationalist ideas were blended with traditional Jewish ideas about Israel and Zion. The liberation not only for restrained Jews people as portray by Jews historian but all Europena who live under Authoritarian government at that time. The marriage of "love of Zion" with modern nationalism took place first among the Sephardic (Spanish and Eastern) Jewish community of Europe. There, the tradition of living in the land of the Jews and what Jews referred to Palestine and return to Zion had remained practical goals rather than messianic aspirations, and Hebrew was a living language. Rabbi Yehuda Alcalay, who lived in what is now Yugoslavia, published the first Zionist writings in the 1840s.

These ideas took root among a few European Jews. The said Emancipation of Jews triggered a new type of virulent assumed anti-Jewish political and social movement in Europe, particularly in Germany and Eastern Europe. Beginning in the late 1800's, oppression of Jews in Eastern Europe stimulated emigration of Jews to Palestine.

The Zionist movement became a formal organization in 1897 with the first Zionist congress in Basle, organized by Theodor Herzl. Herzl's grandfather was acquainted with the writings of Alcalay, and it is very probable that Herzl was influenced by them. The Zionists wished to establish a "Jewish Homeland" in Palestine under Turkish or German rule. Initially, most Zionists were not concerned about the Arab population, which they ignored, or thought would agree to voluntary transfer to other Arab countries. In any case, they envisioned the population of Palestine by millions of European Jews who would soon form a decisive majority in the land. The Zionists established farm communities in Palestine at Petah Tikva, Zichron Jacob, Rishon Letzion and elsewhere. Later they established the new city of Tel Aviv, north of Jaffa. At the same time, Palestine's Arab population grew rapidly. By 1914, the total population of Palestine stood at about 700,000. About 615,000 were Arabs, and 85,000 to 100,000 were Jews.

World War I - During World War I (1914-1918), the Ottoman Empire joined Germany and Austria-Hungary against the Allies. An Ottoman military government ruled Palestine. The war was hard on both Jewish and Arab populations, owing to outbreaks of cholera and typhus; however, it was more difficult for the Jews. For a time, the Turkish military governor ordered internment and deportation of all foreign nationals. A large number of Jews were Russian nationals. They had been able to enter Palestine as Russian nationals because of the concessions Turkey had granted to Russian citizens, and they had used this method to overcome restrictions on immigration. They had also maintained Russian citizenship to avoid being drafted into the Turkish army. Therefore, a large number of Jews were forced to flee Palestine during the war. A small group founded the NILI underground that fed intelligence information to the British, in order to free the land of Turkish rule. The Turks eventually caught members of the NILI group, but the information they provided is said to have helped the British invasion effort.

Britain and France planned to divide the Ottoman holdings in the Middle East among themselves after the war. The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 called for part of Palestine to be under British rule, part to be placed under a joint Allied government, and for Syria and Lebanon to be given to the France. The Sykes-Picot(-Sazonov) Agreement[1] of 1916 was a secret agreement between the governments of the UK and France, with the assent of Imperial Russia, defining their respective spheres of influence and control in west Asia after the expected downfall of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was largely a trade agreement with a large area set aside for indirect control through an Arab state or a confederation of Arab states. The agreement was concluded on 16 May 1916.[2] It did not contemplate the assignment of any League of Nations mandates, since the League and its mandates were developed during the post-war period. The terms were negotiated by the French diplomat François Georges-Picot and Briton Sir Mark Sykes.

Britain also offered to back Arab demands for postwar independence from the Ottomans in return for Arab support for the Allies and seems to have promised the same territories to the Arabs. In 1916, Arabs led by T.E. Lawrence and backed by Sharif Husayn revolted against the Ottomans in the belief that Britain would help establish Arab independence in the Middle East. Lawrence's exploits and their importance in the war against Turkey were somewhat exaggerated by himself and by the enterprising publicist Lowell Thomas. The United States and other countries pressed for Arab self-determination. The Arabs, and many in the British government including Lawrence, believed that the Arabs had been short-changed by the British promise to give Syria to the French, and likewise by the promise of Palestine as a Jewish homeland. The Arabs claimed that Palestine was included in the area promised to them, but the British denied this.

[1]^ Fromkin, David (1989). A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East. New York: Owl. pp. 286, 288. ISBN 0-8050-6884-8.
[2]^ http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS094.pdf p. 8.

History of Palestine - Ancient History part 3

Ancient History

This is excerpt from wikipedia about jewish history: Policy of “misrepresentation” of Zionism would always portray Jews as victim. It’s usual complaint of Jews that they always being “misrepresented” and “prosecuted”. By traditional accounts, Jewish history began during the second millennium BCE with the Biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Jews enjoyed two periods of political autonomy in the land of Judah, the Land of Israel, during ancient history. The first era spanned from 1350 to 586 BCE, and encompassed the periods of the Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Monarchy of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, ending with the destruction of the First Temple. The second era was the period of the Hasmonean Kingdom spanning from 140 to 37 BCE. Since the destruction of the First Temple, the diaspora has been the home of most of the world's Jews.[1] Except in the modern State of Israel, established in 1948, Jews are a minority in every country in which they live and they have frequently experienced persecution throughout history, resulting in a population that fluctuated both in numbers and distribution over the centuries.”

Maps of Ancient Palestine - Tribes of Canaan

According to Al-Quran and bible, Jews are follower of the teaching of prophet Moses (peace be upon him) who preach religion of Oneness of God follow the Holy Book of Taurah. Prophet Moses has appointed to be prophet by God from Bani (tribe) Israel and to preach people of Pharaoh in Egypt. To avoid violence from Ruler of Egypt (Pharaoh) at that time, often identified as Ramses II, prophet Moses (pbuh) has led the Israelites, or a portion of them, out of Egypt Crossing Red Sea towards Palestinian land of today. After Prophet Moses(pbuh) God has appointed prophet Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (pbuh) to continue guiding the tribe. Under Joshua, they conquered the tribes and city states of Canaan. This event marks the formation of the Israelites as a people, divided into twelve tribes named after Jacob's sons. Based on biblical traditions, it is estimated that king David conquered Jerusalem about 1000 B.C. and established an Israelite kingdom over much of Canaan including parts of Transjordan. The kingdom was divided into Judea in the south and Israel in the north following the death of David's son, Solomon. Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish worship whenever the Jews exercised sovereignty over the country in the subsequent period, up to the Jewish revolt in 133 AD.

The Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 or 721 B.C. The Babylonians conquered Judah around 586 B.C. They destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and exiled a large number of Jews. About 50 years later, the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylonia. Cyrus allowed a group of Jews from Babylonia to rebuild Jerusalem and settle in it. However, a large number of Jews remained in Babylonia, forming the first Jewish Diaspora. After the reestablishment of a Jewish state or protectorate, the Babylonian exiles maintained contact with authorities there. The Persians ruled the land from about 530 to 331 B.C. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death in 323 B.C., his generals divided the empire. One of these generals, Seleucus, founded a dynasty that gained control of much of Palestine about 200 B.C. At first, the new rulers, called Seleucids, allowed the practice of Judaism. But later, one of the kings, Antiochus IV, tried to prohibit it. In 167 B.C., the Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabeans and either drove the Seleucids out of Palestine or at least established a large degree of autonomy, forming a kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem. The kingdom received Roman "protection" when Judah Maccabee was made a "friend of the Roman senate and people" in 164 B.C. according to the records of Roman historians.

Palestine from Roman to Ottoman Rule – How name of Palestine first noted
About 61 B.C., Roman troops under Pompei invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea had become a client state of Rome. Initially it was ruled by the client Herodian dynasty. The land was divided into districts of Judea, Galilee, Peraea and a small trans-Jordanian section, each of which eventually came under direct Roman control. The Romans called the large central area of the land, which included Jerusalem, Judea. According to Christian belief, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in about A.D. 70 and A.D. 132. In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem, following the failed Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans named the area Palaestina, at about this time. The name Palaestina, which became Palestine in English, is derived from Herodotus-ancient historian, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria." Most of the Jews who continued to practice their religion fled or were forcibly exiled from Palestine, eventually forming a second Jewish Diaspora. However, Jewish communities continued to exist, primarily in the Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine. Palestine was governed by the Roman Empire until the fourth century A.D. (300's) and then by the Byzantine Empire. In time, Christianity spread to most of Palestine. The population consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity and paganism, peoples imported by the Romans, and others who had probably inhabited Palestine continuously.

During the seventh century (A.D. 600's), Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including Palestine. Jerusalem was conquered about 638 by the Caliph Umar (Omar) who gave his protection to its inhabitants. Muslim powers controlled the region until the early 1900's. The rulers allowed Christians and Jews to keep their religions. However, most of the local population gradually accepted Islam and the Arab-Islamic culture of their rulers. Jerusalem (Al-Quds) became holy to Muslims as the site where, according to tradition, Muhammad ascended to heaven after a miraculous overnight ride from Mecca on his horse Al-Buraq. The al-Aqsa mosque was built on the site generally regarded as the area of the Jewish temples.

The Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1071, but their rule in Palestine lasted less than 30 years. Initially they were replaced by the Fatimid rulers of Egypt. The Fatimids took advantage of the Seljuk struggles with the Christian crusaders. They made an alliance with the crusaders in 1098 and captured Jerusalem, Jaffa and other parts of Palestine.
The Crusaders, however, broke the alliance and invaded Palestine about a year later. They captured Jaffa and Jerusalem in 1099, slaughtered many Jewish and Muslim defenders and forbade Jews to live in Jerusalem. They held the city until 1187. In that year, the Muslim ruler Saladin conquered Jerusalem. The Crusaders then held a smaller and smaller area along the coast of Palestine, under treaty with Saladin. However, they broke the treaty with Saladin and later treaties. Crusade after crusade tried to recapture Jerusalem, but they were unable to do so for more than a brief period.

The Crusaders left Palestine for good when the Muslims captured Acre in 1291. During the post-crusade period, crusaders often raided the coast of Palestine. To deny the Crusaders gains from these raids, the Muslims pulled their people back from the coasts and destroyed coastal towns and farms. This depopulated and impoverished the coast of Palestine for hundreds of years.
In the mid-1200's, Mamelukes, originally soldier-slaves of the Arabs based in Egypt, established an empire that in time included the area of Palestine. Arab-speaking Muslims made up most of the population of the area once called Palestine. Beginning in the late 1300's, Jews from Spain and other Mediterranean lands settled in Jerusalem and other parts of the land. The Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamelukes in 1517, and Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Sultan invited Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic inquisition to settle in the Turkish empire, including several cities in Palestine.

In 1798, Napoleon entered the land. The war with Napoleon and subsequent misadministration by Egyptian and Ottoman rulers, reduced the population of Palestine. Arabs and Jews fled to safer and more prosperous lands. Revolts by Palestinian Arabs against Egyptian and Ottoman rule at this time may have helped to catalyze Palestinian national feeling. Subsequent reorganization and opening of the Turkish Empire to foreigners restored some order. They also allowed the beginnings of Jewish settlement under various Zionist and proto-Zionist movements. Both Arab and Jewish population increased. By 1880, about 24,000 Jews were living in Palestine, out of a population of about 400,000.
It’s alleged in several writing that at about that time, the Ottoman government imposed severe restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchase, and also began actively soliciting inviting Muslims from other parts of the Ottoman Empire to settle in Palestine, including Circassians and Bosnians. The restrictions were evaded in various ways by Jews seeking to colonize Palestine, chiefly by bribery. But the allegations are baseless and there are no references with regard to that. But the true picture was that Circassian and Bosnian was refugee from Russia and Circassian war. From 1763 to 1864, the Circassians fought against the Russians in the Russian-Circassian War only succumbing to a scorched earth campaign initiated in 1862 under General Yevdokimov.[2][3] Afterwards, large numbers of Circassians were exiled and deported to the Ottoman Empire; others were resettled in Russia far from their home territories.[4][5] Most of this group settled in city of Al-Quneitra in Golan Height which now deserted. There are few thousand of this group live in Israel at present day in village of Kfar Kama (2,000) and Rehaniya.

[1]^ a b Sweeney (2003), pp. 22–23.
[2]^ Allen, W.E.D. and Muratoff, Paul (1953) Caucasian Battlefields: History of the Wars on the Turco-Caucasian Border 1828-1921 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 107-8 OCLC 1102813
[3]^ Mufti, Shawkat (1972) Heroes and emperors in Circassian history Librairie du Liban, Beirut, OCLC 628135
[4]^ Brooks, Willis (I995) "Russia’s conquest and pacification of the Caucasus: relocation becomes a pogrom on the post-Crimean period" Nationalities Papers 23(4): pp. 675-86
[5]^ Shenfield, Stephen D. (1999) "The Circassians - A Forgotten Genocide?" in Levene, Mark and Roberts, Penny (eds.) (1999) The Massacre in History Berghahn Books, New York, ISBN 1571819347

History of Palestine - What is Jews? Part 2

What is Jews?
This definition is important to determine the ancient claim of Jews on Palestinian land.
This is excerpt from wikipedia, the entry on this topic is protected;
“A Jew (Hebrew: יְהוּדִי‎, Yehudi (sl.); יְהוּדִים, Yehudim (pl.); Ladino: ג׳ודיו, Djudio (sl.); ג׳ודיוס, Djudios (pl.); Yiddish: ייִד, Yid (sl.); ייִדן, Yidn (pl.))[10] is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites or Hebrews of the ancient Middle East. The Jewish people and the religion of Judaism are strongly interrelated, and converts to Judaism have been absorbed into the Jewish community throughout the millennia.
Is Jews a nation or religion?
It is easily interpreted as Jewish to Judaism is like Muslim to Islam and Christian to Christianity. Based on the interpretation above the main point of Jews to Judaism is religion. But the notion of Jews as nation has risen with existence of Zionism. Zionism is one of historicized nation building doctrine based on theory called Urrecht, in which history is brought to bear to legitimize present occupancy–wikipedia 18 Jan 2009. The term such as National homeland was brought upon by Zionism when referred to Jewish history. This is to justify Jewish on Land of Palestine. The term of Jewish National homeland is used as most as possible in whatever opportunity present. While in actual fact most of the original people of Jews in Palestine has long converted to Christianity and later to Islam. The Religion of Judaism has spread through Jews who immigrated to all over the world and through intermarriage with non Jews on new land. However the spread of Judaism is exhaustive to these means due to perception of Jews as super nation compare to gentiles. What Jews themselves says about Jews as a nation; Dr. Israel Friediaender say:
“It’s enough for us to know that the Jews always felt themselves as a separate race, sharply marked off from the rest of mankind”()The International Jews – Henry Ford , Global Publisher Johannesburg, October 1997 The appearance and look of Jews today has far resemblance from their ancient brothers’ people of Egypt and Palestine today. What most of Jews in Israel today are mostly white Caucasian people from Europe. The only link that they have to land of Palestine today is only that their Religion of Judaism thrived on this land before while Judaism was originally existed in Egypt. Is religion could be rightful claim to grab land from original inhabitant? whose ancestor also the professed the same religion. Term Jewish National Land has been used to negate other peoples’ right.

History of Palestine - The Oldest Civilization on Earth - Part 1

Introduction
History of the Palestinian Land and Palestine-Israel conflict, specifically the area that surrounded Jerusalem or Baitulmaqdis on east of Mediterranean Sea is enormous. This is the place that civilizations have been traced for thousand years. This is the place that referred to as Middle Earth, before earth divided into several continents this is the center of one big continent Million years ago. It is not the location that make this area important but the history of prophecy and divine connection that relate this area with Religion of Jews, Christianity and Islam. Palestine has been settled continuously for tens of thousands of years. Fossil remains have been found of Homo Erectus, Neanderthal and transitional types between Neanderthal and modern man. Archeologists have found hybrid Emmer wheat at Jericho dating from before 8,000 B.C., making it one of the oldest sites of agricultural activity in the world. Amorites, Canaanites, and other Semitic peoples related to the Phoenicians of Tyre entered the area about 2000 B.C. The area became known as the Land of Canaan.

Now it is the conflict of Palestine-Israel that makes this area as the most volatile part of the world. The History of Palestinian land is well accepted but the interpretation of it is diverse based on partisan who try to prove their own cause. Manipulation of issue and history are aplenty even in extend to deny the name of Palestine ever existed. Narrative and sequence of events present here is based on well accepted facts, with narration of logic about pattern of causes and effects that determine events. Bear in mind that Scholars debate the nature of history and the lessons history teaches.

This document is intended as a balanced overview and introduction to Palestinian and Israeli history, and the history of the conflict. It is unlikely that anyone has written or will write an "objective" and definitive summary that would be accepted by everyone, but it is hoped that this document will provide a fair introduction. This document will only present facts and logic and only you who will determine “who is right or wrong”. Lot of Websites has been set up by numerous groups either funded or not to provide information which basically is written to back or justify their cause. This writing intends to inform, present logic and nothing more for the sake of justice.

download map of ancient Palestine http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/palestine_1020bc.jpg

JEWISH HOLOCAUST IS A LIE

Until the issue of Jewish Holocaust brought upon by President Ahmadinejab, I never questioned the story of Jewish Holocaust and the story accepted as fact and written in World History. Even after the called by Mr. President to restudy the matter I still have no doubt that the Holocaust did exist in whatever scale it may be. I won’t blame anyone for sharing the same point of view as we all have been feed by Jewish controlled media and movies from Steven Spielberg. The uproar just made me a little more curious to know more. We all aware about International Zionist and involvement of this group in World War I & II but the fact of Zionist involvement with Nazi and opportunistic move by Zionist to fake, exaggerated and made up of Jewish Holocaust is something shocking. I found several reference regarding Holocaust issue, and these video is the most inclusive that reject claim of Jewish Holocaust complete with experiment, reasons, revelation of fake document and revisited of Concentration camp. Suprisingly that the video only get 28 hit until today. Let share some view from non Jewish influent party with regard to Jewish Holocaust issue. Then ask for yourself the legitimacy of the facts. Just regard my view as independence one and make your own study to reveal the truth hope all whole world would clear from deception. This issue is relevant to Palestinian as Jewish Holocaust was used to justify the award of Palestinian land to Israel.

Watch the video at http://newsfreepalestine.blogspot.com/ or
youtube website :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo16uWyQhhs

part 1

part 2

part 3

CIVILIAN KILLED BY TERORRIST STATE OF ISRAEL

Another civilian deliberately attacked by Terrorist State of Israel missile. Despite claiming of having state of the art weaponry, yet the controller of drone which launch the missile can't differentiate between children playing on the roof top and Hamas Combatant. This video was recorded on 9 Jan 2009

Power of Knowledge - Other use its for improvement of life Zionist use it adversely

I never know that knowledge can be traded for a country.. until recently I came across an entry in wikipedia regarding Balfour Declaration. During World War 1 a Jewish scientist take the opportunity to make an offer to both sides of the war for a formula of advance gun powder in exchange for Jerusalem. The Zionist organization longing for Palestinian land has been an open secret. The opportunist Chain Wheizmann the scientist cum Zionist Leader deal with British Government for a national home for Jewish people in sacrifice of Palestinian people. He eventually became the first Israel president. Obviously British has defeated Germany in making promise to the Jewish and eventually win the war. Zionist organization headquarter has moved from Berlin to New York after that. Now I understand Hitler’s loath on Jews. On Nov 2, 1917 when General Allenby was pushing through Palestine with his British Army, Arthur James Balfour the British Foreign Secretary issued famous declaration approving Palestine as national home for the Jewish people. The original document was formulated in such a way to reduce as much of possible risk of anti Semitism and indeed had clause of original inhabitant’s right. The agreement was changed several times to suit the Zionist wish. What follow after that was vicious plan to kick out Palestinian hidden or obvious through economic, education, massacre, ethnic cleansing, illegal settlement etc2 in whatever way that appropriate to satisfy Jewish greed and prepare for formation of Israel. The cycle continues until today. .. Now you know!!!

seek knowledge from cradle till grave.. what it can give to those who possess is enormous.. make our quest .. to you, me , our society.. bro .. sis everyone

VIDEO - HOLOCAUST, What Ahmadinejab want to convey?

Just by saying that Holocaust is just a myth has qualified Ahmadinejab as a rogue leader. What is the taboo of this issue that merely commenting on it would draw intense response from over the world? Of course the most vocal came from President of USA and Israel. This perplexed ordinary person like me when act of aggression like attacking a country based concocted reason is accepted. Killed thousands of civilian is accepted. Grabbing land and eviction of rightful owner is accepted. Imposed sanction that deprived civilian access to medicine supply is accepted. Yet all these committed by countries that claimed to uphold basic human right and democracy. In contrast, just a statement would already qualify a nation to be nuked. What Ahmadinejab want to convey through his statement?; If the Holocaust really exist why Palestinian has to suffered? To restudy the event so that the true fact would be presented.. Amount of million Jews exterminated is it accurate? Or exaggerated? Lift the ban and reopen the issue… (i.e in German study of Holocaust is prohibited) This Video explain the issue from mouth whose uttered the statement … watch it

The speech was interpreted by some as a call for genocide. For example, Canada's then Prime Minister Paul Martin said, "this threat to Israel's existence, this call for genocide coupled with Iran's obvious nuclear ambitions is a matter that the world cannot ignore."[31]
In 2007, more than one hundred members of the United States House of Representatives co-sponsored a bill,[32] "Calling on the United Nations Security Council to charge Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the United Nations Charter because of his calls for the destruction of the State of Israel."[33]

Sure learned President of Islamic Republic of Iran have points to convey but Zionist quick to labeled that as anti Semitism and as called for genocide. Once again it’s irony that call for openness and truth would receive such condemnation while genocide itself that happening in Palestine is endorsed and approved. With World Superpower as patron and controller of Mass Media in US and World act of aggression could be portray as self defense. In Recent aggression of Terrorist State of Israel on Gaza US Senate stood firmly behind the aggressor. Refer the full report on

“http://www.imemc.org/newsbrief_wire?time_posted_lower_limit=1227567540&results_offset=15”
US Senate unanimously votes to support Israel's invasion of Gaza; House to vote tomorrow
gaza strip / international politics / news report Thu Jan 08, 2009

see the translation, what Ahmadinejab really means

1.1 "Wiped off the map" or "Vanish from the pages of time" translation

Despite protests in every major city in the United States, and thousands of phone calls, faxes, letters and emails sent by US citizens to their Senators in Washington, the US Senate voted unanimously on Thursday to support Israel's aggression against the population of the Gaza Strip. The US Senate has historically overwhelmingly given its support to all of Israel's attacks, even when those attacks are in direct violation of international humanitarian law, governed by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and even when the attacks have been condemned repeatedly by the United Nations. But it’s not hard to comprehend how the Senate consistently supports the Zionist.

In US lobbying political group is permitted and Zionist lobbyist group is the most powerful and affluent. Probably US is the most corrupt country in the world as corruption is happening at highes level of administration; it has it role in even in early process of democracy as Political party seeking fund for political campaign. Definitely Zionist group is the major contributor of any of any US president elected campaign. Lobbying = Corruption.

Most US Senators and Congress have taken all-expense-paid trips to Israel, sponsored by the Israeli government and US-based Zionist groups. During these trips, members of Congress report being subjected to tours and propaganda that promote a Zionist version of the history of Israel, with no presentation of the continuous disenfranchisement of the indigenous Palestinian population, or the continuous expansion of the Israeli state further into Palestinian land. Although trips are usually considered gifts and are banned under corruption and graft laws, the trips to Israel have always been exempted from these laws. This is just another symptom of the deep rooted political and economic integration of key power bases in Washington and Tel Aviv. Probably US Senate also the most misinformed people on planet.

[31]^ a b "European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood policy: Statement on recent declarations by the President of Iran". EUROPA. Retrieved on November 16, 2005.
[32]^ Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
[33]^ Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

MAP OF PALESTINE

Maps of Ancient Palestine Before the Creation Terrorist State of Israel (TSI). Continuous manipulation and oppression has shrunk the size of Palestine State and eventually change the words of Palestine from the maps to words of Israel instead. What Palestine then are Gaza strip and West Bank now. Not impossible in future words of Palestine will totally forgotten and will be known only as Concentration camp of Gaza and West Bank. The Terrorist State of Israel just waiting right time and right situation to grab more land, and pushes Palestinian further into a spot. The group of using exaggerated Holocaust story now creates their own version of holocaust on Palestinian. Gaza strip is the most dense spot on Planet now. When world is not looking, or world is blocked from seeing the truth, or a concocted reasons are found, A single atomic bomb would enough to annihilate true people of Palestine… then argument for A Terrorist State of Israel would become stronger..

Maps of ancient Palestine

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/palestine_1020bc.jpg

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/international-politics/74418-should-canadians-help-save-bil.html

A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM ISRAEL

Thu Jul 5, 2007 9:07 pm (PST)

A Declaration of Independence from Israel
by Chris Hedges

Israel, without the United States, would probably not exist. The country came perilously close to extinction during the October 1973 war when Egypt, trained and backed by the Soviet Union, crossed the Suez and the Syrians poured in over the Golan Heights. Huge American military transport planes came to the rescue. They began landing every half-hour to refit the battered Israeli army, which had lost most of its heavy armor. By the time the war was over, the United States had given Israel $2.2 billion in emergency military aid.The intervention, which enraged the Arab world, triggered the OPEC oil embargo that for a time wreaked havoc on Western economies. This was perhaps the most dramatic example of the sustained life-support system the United States has provided to the Jewish state.Israel was born at midnight May 14, 1948. The U.S.recognized the new state 11 minutes later.

The two countries have been locked in a deadly embrace ever since. Washington, at the beginning of the relationship, was able to be a moderating influence. An incensed President Eisenhower demanded and got Israel's withdrawal after the Israelis occupied Gaza in 1956.During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israeli warplanes bombed the USS Liberty. The ship, flying the U.S. flag and stationed 15 miles off the Israeli coast, was intercepting tactical and strategic communications from both sides. The Israeli strikes killed 34 U.S. sailors and wounded 171. The deliberate attack froze,for a while, Washington's enthusiasm for Israel. But ruptures like this one aproved to be only bumps, soon smoothed out by an increasingly sophisticated and well-financed Israel lobby that set out to merge Israel and American foreign policy in the Middle East.Israel has reaped tremendous rewards from this alliance. It has been given more than $140 billion in U.S. direct economic and military assistance. It receives about $3 billion in direct assistance annually, roughly one-fifth of the U.S. foreign aid budget. Although most American foreign aid packages stipulate that related military purchases have to be made in the United States, Israel is allowed to use about 25 percent of the money to subsidize its own growing and profitable defense industry. It is exempt, unlike other nations, from accounting for how it spends the aid money. And funds are routinely siphoned off to build new Jewish settlements, bolster the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories and construct the security barrier, which costs an estimated $1 million a mile. The barrier weaves its way through the West Bank, creating isolated pockets of impoverished Palestinians in ringed ghettos. By the time the barrier is finished it will probably in effect seize up to 40 percent of Palestinian land. This is the largest land grab by Israel since the 1967 war. And although the United States officially opposes settlement expansion and the barrier, it also funds them. The U.S. has provided Israel with nearly $3 billion to develop weapons systems and given Israel access to some of the most sophisticated items in its own military arsenal, including Blackhawk attack helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. The United States also gives Israel access to intelligence it denies to its NATO allies. And when Israel refused to sign the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, the United States stood by without a word of protest as the Israelis built the region's first nuclear weapons program.U.S. foreign policy, especially under the current Bush administration, has become little more than an extension of Israeli foreign policy. The United States since 1982 has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, more than the total number of vetoes cast byall the other Security Council members. It refuses to enforce the Security Council resolutions it claims to support. These resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. (more)

There is now volcanic anger and revulsion by Arabs at this blatant favoritism.Few in the Middle East see any distinction between Israeli and American policies, nor should they. And when the Islamic radicals speak of U.S. support of Israel as a prime reason for their hatred of the United States, we should listen. The consequences of this one-sided relationship are being played out in the disastrous war in Iraq, growing tension with Iran, and the humanitarian and political crisis in Gaza. It is being played out in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is gearing up for another war with Israel, one most Middle East analysts say is inevitable. The U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is unraveling. And it is doing so because of this special relationship. The eruption of a regional conflict would usher in a nightmare of catastrophic proportions.There were many in the American foreign policy establishment and State Department who saw this situation coming. The decision to throw our lot in with Israel in the Middle East was not initially a popular one with an array of foreign policy experts, including President Harry Truman's secretary of state, Gen. George Marshall. They warned there would be a backlash. They knew the cost the United States would pay in the oil-rich region for this decision, which they feared would be one of the greatest strategic blunders of the postwar era. And they were right. The decision has jeopardized American and Israeli security and created the kindling for a regional conflagration. The alliance, which makes no sense in geopolitical terms, does makes sense when seen through the lens of domestic politics. The Israel lobby has become a potent force in the American political system. No major candidate, Democrat or Republican, dares to challenge it. The lobby successfully purged the State Department of Arab experts who challenged the notion that Israeli and American interests were identical. Backers of Israel have doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to support U.S. political candidates deemed favorable to Israel. They have brutally punished those who strayed, including the first President Bush, who they said was not vigorous enough in his defense of Israeli interests. This was a lesson the next Bush White House did not forget. George W. Bush did notwant to be a one-term president like his father..

Israel advocated removing Saddam Hussein from power and currently advocates striking Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Direct Israeli involvement in American military perations in the Middle East is impossible. It would reignite a war between Arab states and Israel. The United States, which during the Cold War avoided direct military involvement in the region, now does the direct bidding of Israel while Israel watches from the sidelines. During the 1991 Gulf War, Israel was a spectator, just as it is in the war with Iraq. President Bush, facing dwindling support for the war in Iraq, publicly holds Israel up as a model for what he would like Iraq to become. Imagine how this idea plays out on the Arab street, which views Israel as the Algerians viewed the French colonizers during the war of liberation. "In Israel," Bush said recently, "terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it's not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq." Americans are increasingly isolated and reviled in the world. They remain blissfully ignorant of their own culpability for this isolation. U.S. "spin" paints the rest of the world as unreasonable, but Israel, Americans are assured, will always be on our side. (more) Israel is reaping economic as well as political rewards from its lock-down apartheid state. In the "gated community" market it has begun to sell systems and techniques that allow the nation to cope with terrorism. Israel, in 2006, exported $3.4 billion in defense products-well over a billion dollars more than it received in American military aid. Israel has grown into the fourth largest arms dealer in the world. Most of this growth has come in the so-called homeland security sector.

"The key products and services," as Naomi Klein wrote in The Nation, "are hi-tech fences, unmanned drones, biometric IDs, video and audio surveillance gear, air passenger profiling and prisoner interrogation systems-precisely the tools and technologies Israel has used to lock in the occupied territories. And that is why the chaos in Gaza and the rest of the region doesn't threaten the bottom line in Tel Aviv, and may actually boost it. Israel has learned to turn endless war into a brand asset, pitching its uprooting, occupation and containment of the Palestinian people as a half-century head start in the 'global war on terror.' "

The United States, at least officially, does not support the occupation and calls for a viable Palestinian state. It is a global player, with interests that stretch well beyond the boundaries of the Middle East, and the equation that Israel's enemies are our enemies is not that simple.

"Terrorism is not a single adversary," John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt wrote in The London Review of Books, "but a tactic employed by a wide array of political groups. The terrorist organizations that threaten Israel do not threaten the United States, except when it intervenes against them (as in Lebanon in 1982). Moreover, Palestinian terrorism is not random violence directed against Israel or 'the West'; it is largely a response to Israel's prolonged campaign to colonize the West Bank and Gaza Strip. More important, saying that Israel and the US are united by a shared terrorist threat has the causal relationship backwards: the US has a terrorism problem in good part because it is so closely allied with Israel, not the other way around."

Middle Eastern policy is shaped in the United States by those with very close ties to the Israel lobby. Those who attempt to counter the virulent Israeli position, such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, are ruthlessly slapped down. This alliance was true also during the Clinton administration, with its array of Israeli-first Middle East experts, including special Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, the former deputy director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC, one of the most powerful Israel lobbying groups in Washington. But at least people like Indyk and Ross are sane, willing to consider a Palestinian state, however unviable, as long as it is palatable to Israel. The Bush administration turned to the far-right wing of the Israel lobby, those who have not a shred ofcompassion for thePalestinians or a word of criticism for Israel. These new Middle East expertsinclude Elliott Abrams, John Bolton, Douglas Feith,the disgraced I. Lewis"Scooter" Libby, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz and David Wurmser. Washington was once willing to stay Israel's hand. Itintervened to thwart someof its most extreme violations of human rights. This administration, however, has signed on for every disastrous Israeli blunder, from building the security barrier in the West Bank, to sealing off Gaza and triggering a humanitarian crisis, to the ruinous invasion and saturation bombing of Lebanon.

The few tepid attempts by the Bush White House to criticize Israeli actions have all ended in hasty and humiliating retreats in the face of Israeli pressure. When the Israel Defense Forces in April 2002 reoccupied the West Bank, President Bush called on then-Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon to "halt the incursions and begin withdrawal." It never happened. After a week of heavy
pressure from the Israel lobby and Israel's allies in Congress, meaning just about everyone in Congress, the president gave up, calling Sharon "a man of peace." It was a humiliating moment for the United Sates, a clear sign of who pulled the strings. There were several reasons for the war in Iraq. The desire for American control of oil, the belief that Washington could build puppet states in the region, and a real, if misplaced, fear of Saddam Hussein played a part in the current disaster. But it was also strongly shaped by the notion that what is good for Israel is good for the United States. Israel wanted Iraq neutralized. Israeli intelligence, in the lead-up to the war, gave faulty information to the U.S. about Iraq's alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. And when Baghdad was taken in April 2003, the Israeli government immediately began to push for an attack on Syria. The lust for this attack has waned, in no small part because the Americans don't have enough troops to hang on in Iraq, much less launch a new occupation. Israel is currently lobbying the United States to launch aerial strikes on Iran, despite the debacle in Lebanon. Israel's iron determination to forcibly prevent a nuclear Iran makes it probable that before the end of the Bush administration an attack on Iran will take place. The efforts to halt nuclear development through diplomatic means have failed. It does not matter that Iran poses no threat to the United States. It does not matter that it does not even pose a threat to Israel, which has several hundred nuclear weapons in its arsenal. It matters only that Israel demands total military domination of the Middle East.The alliance between Israel and the United States has culminated after 50 years in direct U.S. military involvement in the Middle East. This involvement, which is not furthering American interests, is unleashing a geopolitical nightmare. American soldiers and Marines are dying in droves in a useless war. The impotence of the United States in the face of Israelipressure is complete. The White House and the Congress have become, for perhaps the first time, a direct extension of Israeli interests. There is no longer any debate within the United States. This is evidenced by the obsequious nods to Israel by all the current presidential candidates with the exception of Dennis Kucinich. The political cost for those who challenge Israel is too high. This means there will be no peaceful resolution of thePalestinian- Israeli conflict. It means the incidents of Islamic terrorism against the U.S. and Israel will grow. It means that American power and prestige are on a steep, irreversible decline. And I fear it also means the ultimate end of the Jewish experiment in the Middle East. The weakening of the United States, economically andmilitarily, is giving rise to new centers of power. The U.S. economy, mismanaged and drained by the Iraq war, is increasingly dependent on Chinese trade imports and on Chinese holdingsof U.S. Treasury securities. China holds dollar reserves worth $825 billion. If Beijing decides to abandon the U.S. bond market, even in part, it would cause a free fall by the dollar. It would lead to the collapse of the $7-trillion U.S. real estate market. There would be a wave of U.S. bankfailures and huge unemployment. The growing dependence on China has been accompanied by aggressive work by the Chinese to build alliances with many of the world's major exporters of oil, such as Iran, Nigeria, Sudan and Venezuela. The Chinese are preparing for the looming worldwide clash over dwindling resources.The future is ominous. Not only do Israel's foreign policy objectives not coincide with American interests, they actively hurt them. The growing belligerence in the Middle East, the calls for anattack against Iran, the collapse of the imperial project in Iraq have all given an opening, where there was none before, to America's rivals. It is not in Israel's interests to ignite a regional conflict. It is not in ours. But those who have their hands on the wheel seem determined, in the name of freedom and democracy, to keep the American ship of state headed at breakneck speed into the cliffs before us.

Chris Hedges, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, is the author of " American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America ."
©2007 TruthDig.com Article printed from www.CommonDreams. org (more) (less)