Friday, March 22, 2013

What The Colonies Are That Palestinians Complain About

Nadene Goldfoot
A gang of Palestinian Arabs protested when Obama came to visit Judea-Samaria, or as they call it, the West Bank.  They are angry because Obama didn't bring change.  They are living in colonies, they say, not their Palestine. They'd better have a talk with Abbas.

These young Arabs forget that where they are living was originally Jewish Homeland.  In fact, after WWI the British took back their promise to the Jews of their Jewish Homeland and gave away 80% of it to Jordan.  Right now Israel is about 80% Jewish and 20% Muslim with 1.4 million Arabs as citizens.  Judea-Samaria is made up of about 75% Muslims and 17% Jews and 8% Christians.  But Palestine is to be Judenrein, so they're planning  to kick out all but the Muslims.

 Where they are living and calling colonies are such cities as Ramallah  which is 6 miles from Jerusalem.  "Modern Ramallah was founded in the mid-16th century by the Haddadins, a Jordanian tribe of brothers descended from Ghassanid Christian Arabs. The Haddadins, led by Rashid Haddadin, arrived from east of the Jordan River near the Jordanian town of Shoubak. The Haddadin migration is attributed to fighting and unrest among clans in that area."

It is the capital of the Palestinian Authority.  27,092 live in this historically Christian city where the Christians are now a minority.  The British army lived here in December 1917.  It came into Jordan's hands when they attacked in 1948 until 1967.  Jordan had jailed many Palestinains.  In Israel's hands they could for the first time visit Israel and the Gaza Strip and deal in commerce.  However, they were leaders of the Intifada that started in December 1987.

 Headlines today say, " PA to impose a curfew on Ramallah during (Obama) visit;  Palestinian lawyers demand Obama's arrest for crimes US army committed. " Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the center of Ramallah on Wednesday to protest against US President Barack Obama’s planned visit to the city. "The protest was organized by the radical Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir, which seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate." "

  Hebron was called Kiriath-Arba in the "Old Testament", or our Torah.  It is only 18 miles from Jerusalem.  Abraham bought a plot of land from the Hittites, the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife,  Sarah.   This is history both Jews and Muslims share.  That's where it ends.  

This ancient city was once a part of the Jewish state of Judah, a state created by the followers of King David.  It was one of the cities of refuge.  David reigned here for 7 1/2 years before moving his capital to Jerusalem. A Jewish community continued here through the Byzantine Period and under Arab rule.   It is one of 4 sacred Jewish towns;   Hebron, Tiberias, Safed and Jerusalem.  Jews lived here continuously.  By 1890 there were 1,500 Jews living there with established yeshivot and religious schools.  In 1925 the great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka was brought there.

In 1929, when stocks fell in the USA, Arabs were all in an uproar and massacred many Jews of Hebron.  Survivors were forced to leave.  30 Jewish families returned in 1931.  The Arabs rioted again in 1936, when things were bad for Jews in Germany.

After the Six Day War of 1967, some Jews came back to Hebron, descendants of those who had to leave or die, and they established Kiryat Arba which is east of the main city.  3,700 lived there in 1988.

Bethlehem has been taken over by the Muslims.  It is only 5.25 miles away from Jerusalem.  This was the birthplace of King David where "the Book of Ruth" occurred.  Christians say this is where Jesus was born.  The Roman Emperor, Constantine and his mother Helena built the Church of the Nativity here in 330 CE. From 1948 to 1967 it was under Jordanian rule and came into Israel's hands from the Six Day 1967 War.  In 1948 there were 7,500 Christians living here and 2,500 Muslims.  By 1968  there were 32,000 people.

Nablus, originally called Shechem is one of today's  Palestinian "colonies".  It's so old its origins go back to the Canaanites with walls that date from about 2,000 BCE, and like others, was in Jordanian territory from 48-67 and now controlled by Israel.  It was under Egyptian control  back in their 12th dynasty.  Our biblical patriarchs camped under its walls and it was taken by Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34), 2 of the 12 sons of Jacob.  It became the territory for Ephraim, another of the 12 sons and their desendants.  It was a Levitical city and a city of refuge as well as the center of the House of Joseph.  Joseph is buried here. The Assyrians had attacked in 721 BCE and took many of the 12 tribal members, leaving Judah, Levi and some of Benjamin's descendants.   In 1967 it had 44,000 people, mostly all Muslims with a tiny Samaritan community and has for decades been a center of fanatical Arab nationalism.  A small Jewish community formerly existed here.

Jericho lies in the Jordan valley 825 ' below sea level, sort of like Death Valley in California. When we drove from Tsfat to Jerusalem we went through Jericho.   It is one of the oldest settlements in the world and its first city wall goes back to the Neolithic Period of 5,000 BCE and then destroyed by Joshua (Josh.6).  It was revived only during the reign of the Jewish King Ahab of 870 BCE by Hiel the Bethelite.  (I Kings 16:34).  When King Herod of Judea (appointed by Romans) ruled and built himself a palace there where he died.  The Romans then destroyed Jericho in 68 CE and it was later rebuilt where it is now.  It is now surrounded by orange groves and banana plantations.  3,000 lived there in 1946 and Arab refugees moved there in 1948, numbering 61,000 in 1961.  Most fled over the Jordan before Israel troops arrived during the Six Day War. and some 8,500 lived in Jericho and another 2,000 in its vicinity at the time of the 1967 census.

Jenin is mentioned as Gina in the Tel el Amarna tablets and is probably the biblical En Gannim (Joshua 19:21) , called Ginaea in Roman times and had a small Jewish community in the 17th century CE.  It was a center of Arab nationalist fanaticism in the 1930's and was part of Jordan from 1948-1967.  In 1967 there were 8,346 apart from 5,019 Arab refugees in the vicinity.

During the Six Day War, Jordan had attacked Israel despite a message sent to Hussein by PM Levi Eshkol that if she remained out of the attack she would not be attacked.  Israel's Jerusalem and border towns were heavily shelled by the Jordanians.  Later on June 5, Israeli troops began their moves against the Jordanian positions and cut off Jordanian "east"Jerusalem (including the Old City) which fell on June 7th.  The entire area west of the Jordan river, including Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus fell to the Israeli army.

"King Hussein of Jordan signed on with Egypt to attack Israel.  He wrote:  The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation."  They had 465,000 soldiers against Israel who won against them all in 6 days.  

According to the UN statistics of 2010, The West Bank population is 2,568,555 and East Jerusalem has 192,800.  Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate claim 57,000.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Palestinian_territories
http://wikitravel.org/en/Ramallah
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_War.html

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