The Palestine problem became an international issue towards the end of the First World War with the disintegration of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Palestine was among the several former Ottoman Arab territories which were placed under the administration of Great Britain under the Mandates System adopted by the League of Nations pursuant to the League's Covenant. (Article 22)
All but one of these Mandated Territories became fully independent States, as anticipated. The exception was Palestine where, instead of being limited to "the rendering of administrative assistance and advice" the Mandate had as a primary objective the implementation of the "Balfour Declaration" issued by the British Government in 1917, expressing support for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".
During the years of the Palestine Mandate, from 1922 to 1947, large-scale Jewish immigration from abroad, mainly from Eastern Europe took place, the numbers swelling in the 1930s with the notorious Nazi persecution of Jewish populations. Palestinian demands for independence and resistance to Jewish immigration led to a rebellion in 1937, followed by continuing terrorism and violence from both sides during and immediately after World War II. Great Britain tried to implement various formulas to bring independence to a land ravaged by violence. In 1947, Great Britain in frustration turned the problem over to the United Nations.
After looking at various alternatives, the UN proposed the partitioning of Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized (Resolution 181 (II) of 1947). One of the two States envisaged in the partition plan proclaimed its independence as Israel and in the 1948 war expanded to occupy 77 per cent of the territory of Palestine. Israel also occupied the larger part of Jerusalem. Over half the indigenous Palestinian population fled or were expelled. Jordan and Egypt occupied the other parts of the territory assigned by the partition resolution to the Palestinian Arab State which did not come into being.
In the 1967 war, Israel occupied the remaining territory of Palestine, until then under Jordanian and Egyptian control (the West Bank and Gaza Strip). This included the remaining part of Jerusalem, which was subsequently annexed by Israel. The war brought about a second exodus of Palestinians, estimated at half a million. Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 called on Israel to withdraw from territories it had occupied in the 1967 conflict.
In 1974, the General Assembly reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty, and to return. The following year, the General Assembly established the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The General Assembly conferred on the PLO the status of status of observer in the Assembly and in other international conferences held under United Nations auspices.
Events on the ground, however, remained on a negative course. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon with the declared intention to eliminate the PLO. A cease-fire was arranged. PLO troops withdrew from Beirut and were transferred to neighboring countries after guarantees of safety were provided for thousands of Palestinian refugees left behind. Subsequently, a large-scale massacre of refugees took place in the camps of Sabra and Shatila.
In September 1983, the International Conference on the Question of Palestine, which was widely attended, adopted inter alia the Geneva Declaration containing the following principles: the need to oppose and reject the establishment of settlements in the occupied territory and actions taken by Israel to change the status of Jerusalem, the right of all States in the region to existence within secure and internationally recognized boundaries, with justice and security for all the people, and the attainment of the legitimate, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
In December 1987, a mass uprising against the Israeli occupation began in the occupied Palestinian territory (the intifadah). Methods used by the Israeli forces during the uprising resulted in mass injuries and heavy loss of life among the civilian Palestinian population.
A Peace Conference on the Middle East was convened in Madrid on 30 October 1991, with the aim of achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement through direct negotiations along 2 tracks: between Israel and the Arab States, and between Israel and the Palestinians, based on Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) (the "land for peace" formula). A series of subsequent negotiations culminated in the mutual recognition between the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the representative of the Palestinian People, and the signing by the two parties of the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements in Washington, D.C., on 13 September 1993, as well as the subsequent implementation agreements, which led to several other positive developments, such as the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, the elections to the Palestinian Council and the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, the partial release of prisoners and the establishment of a functioning administration in the areas under Palestinian self-rule. The involvement of the United Nations has been essential to the peace process, both as the guardian of international legitimacy and in the mobilization and provision of international assistance.
You may be wondering why everything is italicized. The above text is taken straight from the United Nations website, an unbiased account without justifications or declarations of Israel's right to defend itself during the most recent invasion of Lebanon.
Less than two years ago Lebanon democratically elected a government which George Bush claims to believe is the inherent right of all humanity to insure basic freedoms. Yet when Israel, a country which has refused to honor U.N. Security Council resolution 242 passed in 1967, nearly 40 years ago, launches a massive attack on Lebanese territory, with the justification that the fledgling Lebanese government has failed to disarm factions deemed terrorists as called for in U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 passed in 2004 two years ago, Bush claims they have every right to demolish anything and everything in the name of self-defense.
Under Ariel Sharon, Israel finally agreed to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2005, thirty eight years after they were called on by the U.N. to do so.
Israel can't have it both ways. They can't expect rational, unbiased people to ignore facts and support the destruction of a sovereign nation when they themselves have disrespected the very institution they are claiming must be obeyed by the Lebanese government.
If they were truly concerned about disarming Hizbollah they should have worked through diplomatic channels to assist the new government in Lebanon. Establishing business relationships and trade partnerships with the Lebanese people would have gone a long way towards eliminating the need for the humanitarian endeavors that have established such a strong loyalty to Hizbollah in Lebanon.
It's all a matter of perspective. If you have a choice between a neighboring country with a history of encroaching and occupying territory and an armed militia providing for your basic needs, who are you going to support?
Comment thread from OpEdNews:
a very good article
Some details should be added:
1. The final casting vote on the 1947 UN resolution was made by the Ukrainian rep. in the UN. Stalin at that time was pro-Israeli. When Israelis did not fulfill the promises the Russian prominent Jews paid the price. A bloody one.
2.Palestinian Arabs did suffer from both sides. Take the ' Black September'. The Arab states around Israel are using Palestinians for their own purposes in many cases.
3. In the Y1948 during the war of Independence Israel did proclaim itself unilaterally but the first attack was from the Arab side. The Yom Kippur war in 1972 was a similar thing.
I would like to state that the overwhelming majority of the East European Jews did not want to go to Israel. I also would like to state as myself being a subject of that that people emigrating from the Communism or after the WWII were in most cases pushed to go to Israel and were not given any other options ( or those options were very limited) In fact, they were and are designated as a cannon fodder( especially their children).
I also would like to add that through all that period the so - called Arab rulers never even tried to solve the problem by sticking together in embracing their Palestinian brothers and used the situation for their own shallow benefit.
But that all does not matter much. Israel was created as a pawn and is a pawn. A dangerous pawn.
by panurg
there are lessons in history, will we learn them?
Point taken; I think that time in history was unsettling and the territorial compromise was initiated with the best intentions, with the expectation neighbors would respect, if not embrace it. Obviously it didn't work out exactly as they intended, sort of like the U.S. in Iraq.
The lesson I hope those with the power to act will learn from this is that as weapons technology improves and continues to dominate the underlying diplomatic theatre, there will come a time when diplomacy must take the lead. If the goal really is peaceful co-existence, our leaders need to stop reaching for the aresenal at the first sign of trouble and work to achieve a lasting diplomatic solution.
Since the unfortunate introduction of nuclear weapons, those countries in possession currently have proven they are able to exercise restraint, at least with regard to those weapons. They can do it and I would hate to think the only way to acheive lasting diplomatic solutions is for everyone to have that destructive power at their fingertips and threaten its use, as seems to be the direction we're heading now.
It is a cliche, but "can't we all just get along?" We don't solve our problems as individuals by fighting (well, I don't) and it shouldn't be acceptable to to so as soveriegn nations.
by ethicsfetish
History Lesson
If we are going to go back to 1918, why not back to 515, and if back to 515, why not go back to 70 A.D. when Rome destroyed the Temple. Point is there is no going back no matter how much the Muslims wish to go back. They lost the '48 war and Israel won. They lost again in '56, '67, '72 and Israel was foolish enough to give the territory back to them.
As far as Islam goes please read your Koran and some Hadith. It would help greatly to stop to think: the goal of every committed Muslim is to live under Sharia Law. Do a quick study of Nigeria for the past thirty years. See what is happening to the non-Muslilms who live in the counties which have gone under Sharia Law. Muslims have been able to push back the animists into the far corners of Nigeria. The Muslims have done this through terrible persecution. The animists and Christians either leave their homes, covnert to Islam or die. To make sure the conversions are permanent, Sharia Law makes it a capital offense (death penalty) for a Muslim to convert to any religion, and makes it a death penalty for anyone to try to convert a Muslim to another religion. Sharia Law which is the application of Koran and Hadith make it a death penalty for anyone who converts to any religion after becoming Muslim. Under Sharia Law only Muslims can be citizens. There have never been Jewish or Christian citizens in any Muslim nation that practiced Sharia Law. The Roman Catholics tried this same tactic back in what we call the Dark Ages which culminated in the terrible Crusades and the Inquisition. The Crusades were not just against Muslims, they were against Jews, too. When Crusaders put to death Muslims by the thousands to "free the Holy Land" during the Crusades, they put to death thousands of Jews, also. At that time, it was better for a Jew to live under the hard yoke of Islam than the impossible terror of the Roman Catholic Church. This has not been true since the sixteenth century and is basic history 101. Why would Jews would flee countres like Pakistan, Sudan, and Yemen if they were so happy under Islam?
Any honest Muslim cleric will tell you that democracy is evil and contradictory to Islam. Unlike Bush, at least they are honest about it. Hezbollah and Hamas are just being faithful Muslims. The opposition is not so much against Israel or Zionism as it is against democracy; however, the devout Muslim must never forget that when men like Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale said such things as , "Give me liberty or give me death," untold billions in the world and many within Islam cry out with all their heart the same thing. Muslims are not the only ones willing to die for what they believe. Most free men and women had rather be dead than live under the tyranny of Islam or any other despotism.
The real problem Islam has with Israel as most Muslim clerics believe is that the Land of Israel belongs to Islam. As you well know, Islam teaches that once a territory belongs to Islam, it is Islamic territory forever. Look out eastern France, Europe and Spain. Most Muslims look at the State of Israel as illegitimate as both Hamas, Hezbollah and their backers teach. They are very willing to die trying to destroy the State of Israel which they prefer to call Zionism.
Israel could care less about Islam, Judaism, Christianity, the United States or anything else. They will never be brought back to the conditions the Jews found themselves in from 70 AD to 1948, when every Jew was at the mercy of every religious nut in every community. When they say, "Never again." They mean, "Never Again." There is no doubt in my mind and should not be in yours that if Iran develops a nuclear weapon, the BOMB will be smuggled into Isreal and detonated. Mark my words when that happens you can write off Damascus, Teheran, Khartoum, Mecca and Medina because that will open the gates to the worst holocaust the world has ever seen. The reason I say Iran will do that is because as long as Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas teach little boys and girls to walk around with suicide vests and teach that murdering yourself and murdering others guarantees you eternal sexual bliss with seventy plus "cow eyed" twelve year old children, they would not hestitate for a moment to try to blow Israel into the sea. I think we are well down the road to that happening in my life time and I am sixty-six years old.
by pratliff94
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