"The Palestinian Authority will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state ... Such a declaration would directly threaten the Muslims and Christians in Israel and prevent Palestinian refugees, who left their homes and villages a number of decades ago, from being granted the right to return to them."
Senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath (left) shortly
after the start of US sponsored peace talks
This rather shocking comment made at a Ramallah press conference last week by one of the supposedly more "moderate" members of the Palestinian leadership produced headlines throughout both the Arab world and Israel.
Amazingly it received nary a mention in the major American media!
As Mr. Shaath well knows, Israel was established and internationally recognized as a Jewish state more than 60 years ago. He also knows that Arab refusal to recognize that fact is at the very core of the Mideast conflict. So how does Shaath expect to win Israeli confidence and concessions for peace if Palestinians still refuse to accept Israel's Jewishness?
And why is Mr. Shaath so worried about Israel's Arabs, that 20 percent of Israel's population of 8 million whose forebears were smart enough not to run away during the 1947-48 Arab-launched war? Surely he knows that Israeli Arabs -- Christian, Druze and Muslim -- are full fledged citizens of the Jewish state. They occasionally face problems, but they always vote, elect their own members of parliament, work in the Israeli government, in Israeli industry, agriculture and commerce, are doctors and nurses in Israeli hospitals, teachers and professors in Israeli schools and universities, serve in the Israeli army if they wish, share in a democratic system unmatched in the Middle East and enjoy a standard of living that is the highest of most Arabs anywhere!
Mr. Shaath also fails to explain that when he speaks of "a Right of Return" he's not referring merely to survivors from 1948's original 700,000 or so Palestinian refugees. He is talking about all their descendants -- four (sometimes five) generations of them -- roughly 4 million souls by Arab count! Does the Palestinian leadership really expect Israel to commit demographic suicide as part of a "peace deal"?
The Palestinian exodus during the Arab war on nascent Israel is part of history. Most fled out of fear of war, others because they were urged to make way for "victorious" Arab armies, and some -- but certainly not most -- because Israeli troops drove them out in the heat of battle.
Other mid-20th century refugee problems were all quickly settled (the millions who simultaneously fled Pakistan and India, for example). But the Arab refugee problem was made to fester with the compliance of the Palestinian leadership. Israel, with millions of Jewish refugees at its gates, understandably refused to allow a hostile Arab refugee mass back onto Israel's sliver of land.
The Muslim world turned its back on its brethren. With the exception of Jordan, no Arab state has ever granted Palestinian refugees citizenship, let alone a permanent home on any of its millions of open acres . Instead Palestinian Arab refugees were kept penned up in overcrowded refugee camps - tent cities that have become squalid towns. They still live off massive international welfare doles, are used as political pawns by corrupt officials, and sit waiting for Israel to be destroyed so they can invoke a "Right of Return".
Compare that to the other, lesser know Mideast refugee crisis that coincided with Israel's birth - the forced exodus of almost 900,000 Jews from their centuries old homes in the Arab world; from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Aden, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia , Algeria and Morocco.
These Jewish communities, some of which had existed 1000 years before Islam, were rich in culture, with their own Judeo dialects and traditions, their own scholars and religious literature. The true story of this other Mideast refugee saga, is now told in a powerful new book by prize-winning British historian, Sir Martin Gilbert called In Ishmael's House; A History of Jews in Muslim Lands (Yale University Press).
To be sure, says Gilbert, Jews in the Arab world were subject over the centuries to occasional violence and forced conversion. Nor were they ever accepted as anything but Dhimmi -- "protected" but always second class citizens.
Still, by 1947, close to a million Jews lived in the Arab world. Many played primary roles in local economies, global trade, and medicine. Some became senior advisors to kings and presidents and helped enrich the cities of the Arab world ( Baghdad's pre 1948 Chamber of Commerce was 50% Jewish).
The historic decision to establish the State of Israel changed all that. Outraged by the idea of even a tiny Jewish state in their midst (and with an avaricious eye on their Jewish citizens' belongings), the Arab world turned on its Jews, targeting them with legislated discrimination, government sponsored anti-Semitic riots and murderous pogroms. Faced with growing threats, outright violence (some were hung for public amusement) and moves to completely disenfranchise them, close to 900,000 Jews were forced to abandon their ancient homes between 1948 and 1967 . In Cairo, the former home of of one of Egypt's wealthiest Jews became the residence of the Egyptian president.
right:Egyptian Jews being deported
Almost all were eventually "allowed" to leave their native lands on condition they signed agreements never to return and -- most important -- to leave their property and belongings behind. Recently uncovered documents indicate that much of this massive theft was a coordinated scheme by several Arab governments to grab Jewish property worth as much as $100 billion today.
left: 1951, Baghdad Jews line up outside a synagogue to forfeit property to the Iraqi government and register for emigration permits.
Today, with the exception of small communal pockets in Morocco, the Arab world is effectively Judenrein. Egypt which once had 180,000 Jews now literally has a handful of mostly aged Jews living in Cairo and Alexandria; Iraq which had 160,000 Jews now has 10, Libya and most other Arab states have none.
But here comes the difference between the fates of Arab and Jewish refugees. While the corrupt Arab world condemned Palestinian Arabs to statelessness, squandered opportunities to make peace with Israel and stole mega-millions in welfare funds, the Jewish state and the world Jewish community worked tirelessly to resettle its fellow Jews from Arab lands. More than half a million have settled in Israel where, after early years of economic and sometimes social hardship, they and their descendants have been successfully integrated and now form more than 50% of the Jewish population. Others found new homes in South America, Western Europe, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada -- rebuilding lives while trying to retain their own unique cultural ties and communal institutions.
On wings of eagles; Yemenite Jews Are Flown to Israel
credit:ruclip.com
Most important, not a single Jew from the Arab world remains a "refugee", not one lives in a squalid camp or demands UN funding or a "Right of Return" to the Arab world. Above all, not one angry, Arab-born Jew has ever strapped a terrorist suicide bomb to his or her waist and climbed aboard a bus to murder dozens of innocents.
There are reports Shaath is fighting to win the primary seat on the Palestinian negotiating team. The buzzing swarm of apologists for the Palestinians will argue that Nabil Shaath's statement was strictly for "Arab street consumption." Therein lies the problem. It's time for the Palestinian leadership to tell their people that the only hope for peace is a two state solution -- to recognize Israel as the Jewish one, to build permanent homes for Arab refugees in the Palestinian Arab one and to seek resettlement for those who can't fit on it in other Arab lands.
Won't somebody please send Mr. Shaath a copy of Sir Martin's new book?
Contemporary accounts do not depict a revolt against the Romans circa 70 AD. They tell of a civil war. Leading up to and during the siege of Jerusalem, at least three Jewish factions were battling it out within the city walls. All the Romans had to do was wait it out until they had exhausted each other then establish order. The Sicarii escaped to Masada, led by Eleazar (the Reverend Jim Jones of his day) where, under siege, they committed mass suicide.
All of this is interesting but two points pertinent to this conversation are confirmed by Bartal, among others.
Whether or not there was a Roman expulsion, there were already more Jews living outside Palestine by choice than living in Palestine. At the time, Judaism sought converts.
These two facts combine to make the claim of a right to return and dispossess the remaining population of Palestine rather dubious.
Suffice to say, not one of these countries recognizes Israel as "the nation-state of the Jewish people" or somesuch nonsense.
That being said, I think the demand is redundant. The peace agreement should include the end of the conflict and compensation to the refugees, not their return. That would be enough on that matter.
"At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed the new State of Israel. On that same date the United States, in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the new Jewish state (de jure recognition was extended on January 31)."
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/documents/index.php?documentdate=1948-05-14&documentid=48&collectionid=ROI&pagenumber=1
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/israel/large/documents/index.php?pagenumber=4&documentid=49&documentdate=1948-05-14&collectionid=ROI&groupid=
The core problem is not refusal to recognize Israel, but Israel's refusal to recognize the Nakba and the fundamental rights of those they massacred, ethnically cleansed and permanently dispossessed - refusal to recognize Israel as the homeland of the Palestinian people.
And prominent Israeli historian Avi Shlaim has pointed out that Israel, not the Arab states, has consistently rejected all opportunities for peace. Egypt and Jordan, in fact, immediately put out diplomatic overtures to Israel in 1949 which Sharette welcomed but Ben-Gurion rejected or ignored since he wanted no peace treaties that might inhibit his territorial ambitions.
So how do we tell for what reason the forbears of European Jews left over two thousand years ago? I think it is a fair question.
In the 2nd century BC the Jewish author of the Sibylline Oracles wrote (of the Jews) that "Every land is full of thee and every sea". Strabo, Philo, Seneca and Josephus, all bear testimony to the fact that the Jewish race was disseminated over the whole civilized world in ancient times.
There were about 10,000 Jews in Rome itself when Augustus took over in 63B.C., not to mention the thousands absorbed by the Greeks after Alexander the Great Hellenised the neighbourhood.
Great little travellers those early Jews. None of the above forced out.
This is of course before the Roman expulsion that didn't really happen - the oldest known synagogue was built in Jericho and the Sanhedrin was established with Vespasian's blessing within sight of Jerusalem in 70 AD so there wasn't much of an expulsion. No serious Jewish scholar believes it.
Tartar, Christian and Islamic armies came to the Holy Land. The armies left but the three religions remained, instilled in the people of Palestine who once called themselves Canaanites, Hebrews, Samaritans, Philistines, Hittites, Jebusites and a whole plethora of other-ites. For centuries they were Moslems, Christians and Jews. Now most of the former two are refugees. The wanderers have returned. Judaism made flesh.
History FAIL.
Regarding your conclusion that since not all Jews were expelled by the Romans there was no expulsion - it is a false logic. It is like saying that since Some Palestinians were left in Israel the others did not leave.
Palestinians "leave".
Quite typical.
But this does not include the European (Ashkenazi) Jews, a non-Semitic Khazar population from the Caucasus that converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th century, emigrated into Russia and Eastern Europe, and eventually founded the Zionist movement on the false claim that their forebears originated in Palestine.
Let the Palestinians draw a line dividing it into two territories.
Then let the Israelis pick which of the two halves they want.
Think about it. Problem solved.
Now let's get on with living in the 21st century. The children will thank us for it.
The Palestinians, having been raised on a steady diet of victim-hood haven't even begun to debate the compromises they are going to have to make for peace. It looks like Abbas is angling not for a peace deal, but for the best way to blame Israel for his own failings. This is the best chance for peace in a generation, if the pro-Palestinians on this page actually want peace, and not another round of Israel bashing, they would be pressuring the Palestinians to get real.
I do expect them to be ready to do some. This is the whole idea of peace - a compromise.
They just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps (and 5 billion a year in US aid to keep them afloat).
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/91-year-old-and-his-grandson-among-three-farm-workers-killed-by-israeli-shells-in-gaza.html
But the palestinian refugees were always more useful than a palestinian state would ever be, and gradually Israeli opinion shifted in favor of a two state solution to resolve this problem.
Where is the corresponding movement on the palestinian side? 40 years later, they want their own state, but still won't accept Israel as a jewish state.
Yet the State of Israel didn't exist and then it did. Do you guys even read this before you post it?
I'm one person. Stop trying to delegitimize people.
Absolutely worth repeating, precisely because it frames the picture so truthfully, so crystal clear!
Mr.Chesnoff, please continue to contribute your commentaries, they are terrific and I proudly share them on my FB.
More false dichotomies.
http://vimeo.com/14319004
http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000711.htm
Get real.
best you got?
"It is not just about civil rights either. An Israeli Arab or even a Palestinian Arab living in the West Bank under the occupation has more rights than an Arab living in Syria, but there is no big rights struggle in Syria. An Israeli Arab has more civil rights than an Arab in Gaza, and Gaza would probably be the model for the Palestinian state. "
http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000711.htm
How many Israel supporters posting here would support the right of return or compensation for both people?
Monetary restitution should be more than adequate.
Does it make sense for people whose forbears have not been anywhere near the Middle East for 50 or 100 generations?
Some Palestinians fled from the hardship of the war. I do not hold Israel responsible for them. Some were expelled for tactical consideration during the war- while justified, Israel is responsible for them. Some were expelled by Israeli forces with no good reason - Israel is responsible for them too.
Yes, Palestinians are also responsible for the creation of the refugee problem, and the Arab states are very very much responsible for not solving it for decades, and both Israel and the Arab world should compensate the Palestinians and help them find new homes in their future national state; Palestine.
Those should receive nothing, unless the arabs wish to pay them.
When a person leaves in order to aid the enemy, they are considered a traitor.
Example: Here is an article from 24 August 2010 explaining how Lebanon, the *great* friend of Palestinians, restricts Palestinians from professions and property ownership.
Mired in poverty: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon see little hope in new law
Some employment rights have been granted to Palestinian refugees, but they will still be unable to work in many key professions, no matter what their qualifications
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/24/palestinian-refugees-lebanon-rights
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3953458,00.html
Your evidence of this is a film made by a couple of cartoon makers?
Would you like to see the manifesto of the Likud party or a few quotes from Shas?
You can deny as much as you want, but we see the Palestinians for what they are quite clearly.