Arab-Israeli Relations

Arab-Israeli Relations

Monty RaineySeptember 26, 2002

There seems to be a great deal of misinformation floating about concerning Arab-Israeli relations. Let's examine some real FACTS.

At the time in which the Jews first occupied the land of Israel, the Palestinians did not exist as a people. The land of Israel was, at that time, occupied by the Canaanites, who were defeated by the Jews.

Jewish civilization existed in Israel until the Romans conquered the land and drove a large number of the Jews out of the land. These Jews were dispersed throughout other Arab nations or were taken as slaves and sent to Europe and a few other Roman ruled countries. The Romans attached the name "Palestinian" to the Arabs living in Israel as an insult to the dispersed Jews.

For the next 1500 years or so, the land was occupied by many Empires and no single sovereign Nation existed in Israel. During this 1500-year period, the land was inhabited, quite sparsely, by a combination of Jews, Arabs, Christian holdovers from the Crusades, Armenians, and a hodge-podge of other nationalities. These people all lived together in relative peace with each other.

In 1880, Jewish settlers, (liberated slaves, mostly) began to migrate back to the land. These Jewish settlers began building an irrigation system to farm the lowland area of Israel and also began to industrialize the area. This of course, created jobs, which in turn caused other Arabs to migrate to the area. These Arabs were welcomed by the Jews.

Until this time, the land was under the Ottoman rule. It was very sparsely populated until the Jews began to rebuild the land. The country had remained "The Holy Land" in the religious and historic consciousness of mankind, which associated it with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people.

At the conclusion of World War I, at the Paris Peace Conference, the name "Palestine", was officially applied to a very clearly defined area. The area which today is that of Israel and Jordan. It was agreed that "Palestine" was to become a League of Nations Mandate, entrusted to England. Under the terms of the Mandate, England’s obligation was to facilitate the implementation of the establishment of a national home for Jewish people. Again, the original mandate included what are now Israel and Jordan.

The British divided the land into two administrative districts on either side of the river Jordan. To the east, in what became known as "transjordan", England installed a Hashemite ruler named Abdullah. This action reduced the area available for the Jewish National Home to less than 22% of the entire area of Palestine.

In 1924, England unilaterally granted Transjordan its independence, thereby partitioning Palestine and creating an independent Palestine-Arab state.

In 1947, the U.N. voted to partition western Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. This action removed from the state of Israel, the areas of the Gaza strip, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. The remaining land left for the Jews was over 75% desert. The Jews were desperate to find a haven for the remnants of European Jewry after the Holocaust and, despite the loss of vital land areas, accepted the agreement. The Arabs, intent on preventing any Jewish entity in Palestine, rejected it.

Only a few months later, the Arabs attacked Israel from all sides. The Arab League secretary, Gen Pasha, declared a holy war and vowed to exterminate the Jews. Forces from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq invaded Israel.

During the course of these invasions, over 700,000 "Palestinians" were encouraged by the invading nations to flee Israel until it was conquered. These Arabs were subsequently placed in refugee camps. The Jews granted the Arabs who stayed in Israel full citizenship.

In 1949, Israel signed armistice agreements with Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. With this agreement, Jordan gained control of the West Bank. This area became a launching ground for constant terrorist attacks against the Jews.

Over the next several years, the Jews were recipients of numerous Fedayeen raids. The Fedayeen forces operated from Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.

In 1956, Egypt sealed off the Israeli port of Eilat, effectively stopping Israel's sea trade with Africa and the Far East. Israel launched an attack on the Sinai later that year. Egypt later guaranteed Israeli rights to waterways. Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai, but Egypt never allowed Jewish access to the Suez Canal.

The terrorism against Israel continued, until things really escalated in 1966. Syrian forces began shelling Israeli villages from atop the Golan Heights. In May of 1967, Egyptian forces moved into the Sinai and expelled the UN peacekeeping forces. Then they closed off the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Then Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia joined Egypt, in what became known as the 6-Day War. During the 6-Day War, the tiny forces of the Israel Defense Force, annihilated the invading Arab forces, and took back the West Bank, the Gaza strip, and the Golan Heights. Within 6 days, Israeli forces had taken the whole of the Sinai. This time, however, Israel did not withdraw their forces as they had previously. International guarantees had proved meaningless and could not provide the security Israelis needed to live their lives free from terrorist attacks. Israel continued to occupy all of the Sinai until 1973. During Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jews, Egypt and Syria attacked again. Egyptians from the west and south, Syrians from the east.

From 1973 until today, Israel has made enormous land concessions to the Arab nations. Israel gave back the entire Sinai, an area over 3 times that of Israel. The fact is, the Arab nations are not interested in land concessions. They will only be satisfied with the total removal or extermination of the Jewish people from Israel.

This brings us to today. Let’s take a look at what exactly it is that is being fought over.

The Gaza strip: A tiny strip of land, approximately 5 miles wide and 30 miles long. The loss of Gaza would leave Ashkelon only 7 miles from Arab missiles, Beer Sheva, roughly 20 miles.

The West Bank.: This may be the most strategic area concerned. The West Bank (Judea and Samaria) provides Israel with vital security. The 1949 Armistice lines left only 9 miles between the eastern border and the Mediterranean. Over half of Israel’s population lives in this thin strip. With only 4 miles separating Ben Gurion airport from this border, Arabs equipped with surface to air missiles could easily pick off Israeli airplanes upon takeoff. An additional defense factor is the mountain range within the West Bank. Nablus is approximately 3000 feet. Without holding the West Bank, Israel’s radar can only see incoming planes within 50 kilos of Tel Aviv. Holding the West Bank, with radar atop Nablus, planes can be detected from a distance of over 90 kilometers.

The Golan Heights: This area, of which I am acquainted all too well, is roughly 15 miles by 35 miles. It borders Lake Kinneret, which supplies over 40% of Israel’s water aquifers. Whoever controls the Heights controls Lake Kinneret. Surrender of the Heights would also expose Israel’s northern plain villages.

As you can clearly see, should Israel relinquish any of these areas would leave them quite vulnerable to yet another Arab attack. Even with the control of these areas, modern weapons based in Saudi Arabia at Turayf, Gurayet, and Tabug can easily reach Israel within 10 minutes of launch. Not a very secure feeling for Jews who are surrounded by hostile nations seeking to destroy them.

If I haven’t lost you yet, let’s continue to look at more FACTS. Islamic leaders now claim Jerusalem as the third holiest city of Islam, following Mecca and Medina. These claims were NEVER made until after the Armistice Agreements of 1949. The Koran gives NO indication that the Prophet Mohamed EVER set foot anywhere near Jerusalem. This claim is purely propaganda to attempt to add credibility to the Palestinian claims.

In summary, it’s actually quite simple. The Jews have singed numerous peace accords with various Arab nations, only to fall victim to attacks. They have made enormous land concessions to attempt to appease the Arabs. Israel remains the ONLY democratic nation in the Middle East. There will be no peace until the Arab nations acknowledge the right of Jews to inhabit Israel, and there is no indication that will happen in our lifetimes.