I recently had my senses assaulted by a pro-Intifada,
letter-to-the-editor in my local newspaper. By now,
most of us have been subjected to our unfair share
of anti-Semitic rants condemning the tiny State of
Israel to the trash heap of history, for having the
audacity to defend herself against relentless
attacks from every nook and cranny of its northern
and southern borders. Yet, as these venomous letters
continue to come fast and furious, the all too
common response by all too many is no response at
all. However, after mulling the thought over, under,
sideways and down again, I could not let this
particular letter go unchallenged.
In suggesting that "Palestine" has been "militarily
occupied for over 40-years", the writer failed to
mention that the Arab nations rejected the Palestine
"Partition Plan" which was created through U.N.
Resolution 181 on November 29, 1947. This two-state
solution to the crisis between the so-called
Palestinians and Jews received the support of
thirty-three nations, including the United States,
France and the U.S.S.R. It guaranteed both the Jews
and the Palestinians, living under British-rule at
the time, their own independent and internationally
recognized state. The Partition Plan was accepted by
the Jews, which is one reason there exists a Jewish
State in the Middle East today, but it was rejected
by the Palestinians, and the Arab states, which is
essentially why a Palestinian state does not exist
today.
However, even before the historic U.N. vote,
according to Emanuel A. Winston, a Middle East
Analyst & Commentator, Arab political leaders were
declaring their resolve to destroy a Jewish state in
the heart of the Middle East. In November of 1947,
according to Winston, Dr. Hussein Halide of the
Palestine Higher Committee, called for a "holy war
to be waged on the Jews", promising that
partitioning the land would lead to an Islamic
crusade against the Jews. The same month, according
to a November 30th New York Times article, and cited
by Winston in a 2002 commentary, key members of the
Arab League announced a Program for the "occupation
of Palestine by the armies of the League and the
forcible prevention of the establishment of a Jewish
State". A few months later, in April of 1948, the
United Nations Security Council released the
following statement: "Armed Arab bands from
neighboring Arab lands have infiltrated the
territory of Palestine and, together with local Arab
forces, are defeating the purpose of the Partition
Resolution by acts of violence".
Winston goes on to point out that it was just a few
months later, on the same day Israel proclaimed her
independence; Azzam Pasha of the Arab League
announced "Arab intention to wage a war of
extermination and a momentous massacre which will be
spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the
Crusades." Twenty-four hours later, a full-scale
invasion of Israel by the armies of Iran, Syria,
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Yemen began
and the Jews have been fighting for their very
existence ever since. Yet, even now, it is the Jews
who are constantly accused of engaging in criminal
and terrorist acts. This is revisionist history
writ-large and head in the sand par excellence.
Never in the history of the world, has a nation
ceased to exist for over two-thousand years and then
been reestablished in a single day. Israel is the
exception. Since declaring its independence on
August 14, 1948, the Jewish State has needed to be
in a constant "state of war" readiness. In spite of
this turbulent existence, Israel has been a blessing
to the United States and the rest of the free world.
With Israel, America is allied to a militarily
adroit and economically vibrant western-style
democracy. It is of course true that we help Israel
through economic aid and other important
non-monetary commitments, but this is a small price
to pay for what we receive from this tiny nation in
return. Not the least of which includes Israeli
technological innovations.
According to Alan Caruba, of the National Anxiety
Center, in a recent column published on the
Free-Market News Network, cell phone technology was
developed in Israel by Motorola, as were most of the
Microsoft Windows operating systems. The Pentium NMX
Chip technology was also designed in Israel
according to Caruba, and AOL’s Instant Messenger
application was developed ten years ago by four
young Israelis. And that's not all, Caruba goes on
to point out that, on a per capita basis, Israel has
the highest ratio of university degrees than any
other nation in the world and except for the United
States, Israelis file more patents on new inventions
and processes than any other nation on the planet.
Over the past 100 years, the Jewish people, who
represent barely 0.02% of the global population,
have produced eight Nobel Peace Prize winners,
fifty-three Nobel winners in physics, ten in
literature, thirteen in economics and forty-three in
medicine. In 2004, according to Caruba, two Israelis
received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "having
discovered a process that will lead the way to DNA
repair". This is an incredible accomplishment by any
measurable standard.
Why the world insists on begrudging these amazing
people the right to live peacefully in their
ancient, biblical, homeland, even when that means
living adjacent to an angry race of people who hate
them and are hell-bent on liquidating them, is
curious at best, sinister at worst. And regardless
of how you actually feel about the crisis between
Israel and the Arabs, and even assuming you believe
there is more blame on the part of the Jewish state,
the following two sentences really should say it
all:
If the Arabs laid down their weapons today, there
would be no more violence. If the Jews were to lay
down their weapons today, there would be no more
Israel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author is a member of the Carpinteria City
Council which is a small coastal city located in
Santa Barbara County, California
