The Memory Box

[dajudem]

"A FEW BROOMS"

"There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity.... yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel." -----Zuheir Muhsin, late Military Department head of the PLO and member of its Executive Council (Dutch daily Trouw, March 1977)

"The Oslo accords were a Trojan Horse; the strategic goal is the liberation of Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea" ---Faysal Al-Husseini, Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, in his last interview, 'Al-Arabi' daily newspaper (Egypt), June 24, 2001

Prior to the 1948 war against Israel the Iraqi Prime Minister said all the Arabs would need would be "a few brooms" to drive the Jews into the sea. All they were waiting for was the British and said, "once we get the green light from the British we can easily throw out the Jews." [Sir Geoffrey Furlonge, "Palestine Is My Country: The Story of Musa Alami (Praeger Press, 1969)]

Hostilities didn't just start with the partition. After Islam absorbed what it could of Judaism, it attempted to destroy the rest of Judaism. Islam dominated an area which extended from the Pyrenees to Hindustan after destroying the Persian Empire and the Byzantines - from Syria to Egypt after Mohammed's death in 632. The Muslim religion became known as "Conquering Islam", which strengthened the faith of believers who gave credit to Allah for their battle successes. To have Jews now re-establish what was taken from them would be an affront to Allah.

"Kill a settler every day.... Shoot at settlers everywhere.... Woe to you if you let them reach their homes safely or travel safely on the roads.... I want you to kill as many settlers as possible.... Do not pay attention to what I say to the media, the television or public appearances. Pay attention only to the written instructions that you receive from me." - Yasser Arafat, addressing his people at a public event, July 2001

UN resolution 181 (November 29, 1947) approved a partition plan for Palestine. This plan was not accepted by Arabs and relinquishing the British Mandate in favor of partition and Israel independence resulted in war between all of the Arab countries in the region and the newly declared State of Israel.

Now about 50 years later one of the stumbling blocks to peace the Palestinians claim are the refugees who fled that war and subsequent wars with Israel.

Palestinians claim there are three and a half million Palestinian refugees. This figure is bogus; it is inflated - but what refugees do exist, they are there because they listened to their leaders and left while the land was to be purged of Jews.

And if a "Law of Return" for Palestinians was accepted based on anywhere near the Palestinian claims there would not be enough resources to meet their needs which is obvious to Palestinians. There is not enough water and no economy to support them. There is only Israel which is what they want and have been brazen enough to say so and yet there are those who still think that giving up some land in Gaza and the West Bank will satisfy them. It won't. They want it all.

A Palestinian "Law of Return" would change the character of the "Jewish" state. Those who oppose "Jewish" state claim this is a theocratic designation ignoring the fact that a "Jewish State" is a national designation.

"Thousands of Arabs, including the more affluent, left for nearby Arab states before Jewish statehood." *

* [Joan Peters, FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL]. They were not expelled, they left of their own accord, so the Jews could be "swept into the sea" as
promised by the Iraqi Prime Minister.

There was rioting and local Arabs were being incited to riot by their leaders.

"Jaffa was boiling: every second that passed you heard a new rumour, and after every minute the imaginary tales and lies became bigger,
finally, they were accepted as definite truth by the public. When the sun was setting down, many of the Mufti henchmen patrolled the streets
in private and lorry cars, calling upon the people: oh! men, oh! heros; Help..Help.., stop the Jewish attack! They have attacked your brothers in the Manshiya; they pillaged their properties; burned their holdings and raped their women and girls. They have committed awful acts of horror and brutality against your brothers!! In but a few minutes Jaffa's inhabitants were INCITED (emphasis mine) and AGITATED (emphasis mine) shouted and fied into the air -- On Them! On Them! on Tel-Aviv, the town of the wicked...Groups and individuals, they marched on and among them, behind them or in front of them, went the Mufti henchmen belittling the Jewish strength..." * This is the same Mufti who had supported the Hitler and the Nazis.

* [As described by Muhamed Nimer Al Hjawari in THE SECRET OF THE CATATROPHE, Nazareth, 1955 - as cited in the translation by Rony Gabbay, A POLITICAL STUDY OF THE ARAB-JEWISH CONFLICT: The Arab Refugee Problem (A Case Study), 1959, Geneva: Librairie Droz, Paris, Librairie Minard]

Arabs in Israel were invited by their fellow Arabs to leave Israel while invading Arab armies purged the land of Jews.

Assam Pasha, Secretary General fo the Arab League, described "three characteristics of the future war; the belief in glorious death as a road to paradise, the opportunites of lust and the Bedouin love of slaughter for its own sake"* Does any of this sound like the Muslims are peace loving to you?

* [This statement is from Nicholas Bethell, THE PALESTINE TRIANGLE: The Struggle for the Holy Land, 1935-48, Putnam's Sons, 1979 and quoted there from an interview in Akhbar al-Yom, October 11, 1947, cited by Gabbay, Political Study]

And regarding their "panic flight" [See Habib Issa, Al-Hoda, Arabic daily, June 8, 1951, and Economist (London), May 15, 1948, for British eyewitness report of the Arab Higher Committee radio "announcements" which were "urging all Arabs in Haifa to quit."

"It must not be forgotten that the Arab higher Committee encouraged the refugees to flee from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa and Jerusalem, and that certain leaders...make political capital out of their miserable situation..." *

* [cited by Anderson, et al, THE ARAB REFUGEE PROBLEM AND HOW IT CAN BE SOLVED, (pg 22) and for more regarding ARab responsibility, see Sir Alexander Cadogan, Ambassador of Great Britain to the UN, speech to the Security Council, 287th meeting, April 23, 1948. See also Harry
Stebbens, British Port Officer stationed in Haifa, in letter in Evening Standard (London), January 10, 1969]

On April 28th, 1948, only "4000 to 6000" of the "62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa" remained there until the time of the war. *
* [Economist (London), Oct 1, 1948, - Also see Kenneth Bilby, NEW STAR IN THE NEAR EAST (NY, Doubleday, 1950) and Major E. O'Ballance, THE
ARAB-ISRAELI WAR OF 1948 (London, 1956)]

"The removal of the Arab inhabitants...was voluntary and was carried out at our request...The Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to neighboring Arab countries..We are very glad to state that the Arabs guarded their honour and traditions with pride and greatness."*

* [cited by J.B. Schechtman, THE ARAB REFUGEE PROBLEM (NY,Philosophical Library, 1952) - Also see Al-Zaman, Baghdad Journal, April 17, 1950 - and Peter Dodd and Halim Barakat, RIVER WITHOUT BRIDGES: A Study of the Exodus of the 1967 Arab Palestinian Refugees,
also for reference to those who left in "48" per ARAP PALESTINIAN REFUGEES (Beirut, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1969]

Whereas they were asked to stay by the Jewish Haifa Workers' Council who issues this appeal:

"For years we have lived together in our city, Haifa...Do not fear: Do not destroy your homes with your own hands...do not bring upon
yourself tragedy by unnecessary evacuation and self-imposed burdens..But in this city, yours and ours, Haifa, the gates are open for work, for life, and for peace for you and your families."

TheGolem
pnews-l-request@maelstrom.stjohns.edu

[Advertisement]