by B. R. GOWANI
MAP/Schema Root
the Jews, like others,
have experienced upheavals, wars;
have tasted victories, defeats, exiles;
and have suffered as refugees
by the year 136
Romans were the masters of their land
“the province Judaea was renamed Palestine”
in the 5th century, the Jews were a minority
Palestine under Muslim rule
Muhammad’s death in 632
and the subsequent rise of Islam
saw Palestine under Muslim empires, except
when the Christian Crusaders snatched it
from the Muslim Fatimids in 1098
the Crusaders lost to Saladin
or Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub in 1187
in 1516, the Ottoman Empire took control
except for a few years of Muslim Egyptian rule,
the Muslim Ottoman reign lasted until 1918
Zionist movement
meanwhile in Europe, especially Eastern Europe
violence against Jews was on the rise
Theodore Herzl, the “father” of Zionism
in 1890s stirred the Jews to settle in Palestine
(Herzl himself visited Palestine, only once
the sole purpose was to meet Kaiser,
the German emperor)
to fulfill their malignant plan
they sought help from the British
then the greatest colonial power
in 1903, the British offered them land:
in what is Kenya today,
to build a Jewish homeland
but the Zionists rejected
resettlement in Argentina was considered
but failed to gain Zionist leaders’ approval
Alaska in the US was another option
but lacked President FDR’s support
Alaska would have been an ideal solution
for resettling Europe’s persecuted Jews;
this would have avoided the Palestinian tragedy
and the consequent Jewish/Muslim animosity
way back in 1820, Mordecai Manuel Noah
had come up with an idea to build
a refuge for Jews in Grand Island, New York
but that did not go much further
some other places were recommended
but they, too, were disapproved
the end of the First World War
saw the end of the Ottoman Empire
which proved beneficial for
the British and French empires
Palestine under British control
with the League of Nations’ granting of
The Palestine Mandate
that apple fell into the British lap
a year ago, the British had promised
a national home for Jews in Palestine
Foreign Secretary James Balfour’s letter
known as the Balfour Declaration said:
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour
the establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the Jewish people,
… it being clearly understood
that nothing shall be done
which may prejudice the civil and religious rights
of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,
or the rights and political status
enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
now the Jewish leaders’ goal was
the “disappearing” of the native Arabs
and to seize their land, but
without losing the world’s sympathy
in 1930, Israel’s would-be first leader
David Ben-Gurion said:
“What is inconceivable in normal times
is possible in revolutionary times;
and if at this time the opportunity is missed
and what is possible in such great hours
is not carried out – a whole world is lost.”
nothing was going to be missed nor lost
instead, they were going to have massive gain
however, there were losers: the Palestinians
who were the ones to lose their entire cosmos
Jewish terrorism
Britain was somewhat mindful
of the Arab grievances
(later, it needed their support for the WWII)
but the Jewish leaders wanted the British out
so they could fulfill their Zionist dream
some Jewish leaders
including, future prime ministers
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir,
formed or joined terrorist groups
and resorted to terrorism
against Arabs and British
Lehi, headed by Shamir
was involved in many such acts
including assassination of UN mediator
Folke Bernadotte in September 1948
same for Begin who led Irgun
and blew up a British headquarters
in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem
killing 91 Jews, Arabs, and Britons
and injuring many more
one of Irgun’s pamphlets read:
“We must fight the Arabs
in order to subjugate them
and weaken their demands.
We must take them off the arena
as a political factor.”
UN partition plan
the two world wars
economically crippled Europe;
the rise of nationalism
and the demand for freedom
in Asia and Africa
and the emergence of the US
as the new super power
forced Europeans and also the US
to grant freedom to their colonies
on the other hand,
the United Nations,
a successor to the League of Nations,
devised a Partition Plan in November 1947
known as Resolution 181
under which Jews were to get 56% land
whereas the Arabs mere 42% land.
Jerusalem, a city considered holy
by Christians, Jews, and Muslims
was to be administered by the UN
there were no Arab representatives
on the UN Commission for Palestine!
Israel pops up
on May 14, 1948, the day the UN Mandate ended
the same day “Israel” declared “Independence”
thus a country was founded on stolen land
and declared independent from the native people
750,000 Palestinians were expelled
from the newly created Israel
Deir Yassin witnessed the most horrible event:
over 200 Palestinians were shot dead
in a single day on April 9, 1948
it was a warning to flea
Begin proudly boasted:
“We created terror among the Arabs
and all the villages around.
In one blow, we changed the strategic situation.”
Shamir and Ben Gurion had the same strategy:
“BG waved his hand in a gesture,
which said: Drive them out! …
[Shamir] agreed that it was essential
to drive the inhabitants out.”
Divinity invoked
Israel also uses the Hebrew Bible
to justify its usurpation of Palestine
the Promised Land
now belonged to the God’s chosen people:
“… Out of all the peoples
on the face of the earth,
the LORD has chosen you
to be his treasured possession.”
(The Gods, goddesses, and gods
are mere puppets and say only
what their puppeteer/scribes
would want them to reveal)
invoking God is nothing new
John Rolfe, one of the early settlers
in Jamestown, Virginia, later part of the US
declared, Virginians were “peculiar people,
marked and chosen by the finger of God.”
Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors
were not much different
the Native Indians lost both continents
the Americas: South and North
to the invading white civilized Europeans
tens of millions of Natives died due to
European diseases, enslavement, and slaughter
other Arabs couldn’t shut their eyes
so they joined the Palestinians to fight back
but were no match to the Jews
in 1948: Palestine disappeared
Gaza came under Egyptian control
West Bank under Jordanian control
and the rest was declared Israel
Gaza and West Bank annexed
then in the 1967 War
Israel annexed Gaza and the West Bank
in 1982, Prime Minister Begin accepted:
“In June 1967 we again had a choice …
[but] we decided to attack. …”
the victims of Christian and European
oppression, and anti-Semitism
and later of Nazi holocaust
gradually became oppressors of Palestinians
out of the 100% land
which Israel grabbed
it agreed to return 22%
to the Palestinians
please! don’t heave a sigh of happiness
as that meager land is fraught with issue
imagine you have a house
with 9 rooms
then one day, a far-away thief
comes and takes it over
then after wars and outside pressure,
the occupier agrees to give you back 2 rooms
but they wont even be adjacent to each other
besides, the rooms won’t be entirely yours
because some of the occupier’s
family members are living in those rooms
and they need more and more space
and the security is provided by the thief
Gaza Prison
however, the Jewish settlements in Gaza
were dismantled in 2005
but Gaza was not freed from the Israeli rule
panoptic designed Twin Towers Jail in LA,
is accepted to be the largest in the world
only because they ignore
the much larger Gaza Prison
otherwise known as the Gaza Strip
John Dugard of the United Nations said it well:
“Gaza is a prison and
Israel seems to have thrown away the key”
West Bank settlements
and how about the much larger West Bank?
it is littered with Jewish settlements
will the current freeze on settlements
be renewed or broken?
no one knows
Bantustans
Gazans and the West Bankers
are divided by Israeli territory
the West Bankers
are further divided by Jewish settlements
the condition of the Palestinians
is similar to that of the blacks
during South Africa’s apartheid
where the ruling white minority
had set aside several territories
known as bantustans for the native blacks
the only difference is that
neither in Israel nor in the US
is it officially recognized as such
and if anybody talks about Israeli apartheid
even if he is a former US president
he’ll be ignored and treated like a pariah
Jimmy Carter’s book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”
didn’t receive a warm welcome
from the dominant media in the US
in the book Carter writes:
“The United States is squandering
international prestige and goodwill
and intensifying global anti-American terrorism
by unofficially condoning or abetting
the Israeli confiscation and colonization
of Palestinian territories.”
elsewhere Carter said:
“Palestinians are deprived
of basic human rights,
their land has been occupied,
then confiscated, then colonized
by the Israeli settlers.”
US supports Israel’s naked aggression
the world has heard
the laments and cries
and has seen the plight
of the Palestinians
but the UN resolutions
to end this tragedy
remain vetoed by the US
between 1973 and 2001
the US has vetoed
33 UN Security Council Resolutions
not only that, but
free economic and military aid to Israel
of over $3 billion
is provided by the US government
and over $3 billion in private aid
between 1949-2000
the US aid to Israel
amounted to 100 billion dollars
Israeli Lobby
Israeli* Lobby in the US
has hirelings in the US Congress
those retainers dry clean Israel’s crimes
and presents it as pure and innocent
they’ll go to any extent
even to war(s) to protect Israel
or to label Israel’s critics as Anti-Semites
Manufacturing consent
then there is the dominant western media
particularly that of the United States
which does a superb job for Israel
whoever controls the news media
sets a bridle over people’s minds
and enables manipulation of them
without being accused of authoritarianism
once people’s mind-strings are at media’s mercy
it can manufacture their consent, and so
manufactured consent = democracy
consent can be for anything
in this case, it is
to portray the victims as “terrorists”
and the terrorists as “victims”
thanks to the western media’s global reach
Palestinians are terrorists
whereas Israelis are victims
Condition of Palestinians
assassinations
check posts
permits
arrests
torture
deaths
uprooting and humiliation
prisoners in their own land
and when they’re refugees in other land
they’re mercilessly massacred
Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
between September 16 and 18, in 1982
when Beirut, Lebanon, was under Israeli occupation
Israeli army facilitated the massacre
of 1,700 Palestinians
in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps
by the Christian Phalangists
Ariel Sharon was the defense minister then
(later prime minister)
under whose watch the slaughter was progressing
in a rare move,
US envoy Morris Draper demanded:
“You must stop the massacres.
They are obscene.
I have an officer in the camp
counting the bodies.
You ought to be ashamed.
The situation is rotten and terrible.
They are killing children.
You are in absolute control of the area
and therefore responsible for that area.”
the inquiry commissions held him responsible
Israel’s response:
they do their work
we’ll do our work
and so the people
who were to testify against him
were sent to meet their creator
Arab Spring
Palestinians don’t rely on Arab Spring
their springs have turned to autumns:
their first Intifada or Uprising
lasted from 1987 to 1993
and the second from 2000 to 2005;
but their struggles continue against
the economically and militarily
strong and ruthless occupier
in the hope that one day things will change
and they will get back some of their land
which they can call their own Palestine
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com
some countries are indifferent
to the plight of the Palestinians
some countries pretend to be sympathetic
due to proximity, ethnicity, or religion
some countries feel but are helpless
against the United States’ vetoes in the UN
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-conditions-aid-to-palestinians-on-repeal-of-un-statehood-bid-1.387573
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=164483
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/09/on-the-29th-anniversary-of-the-sabra-and-shatila-massacre.html