I Love Jewish DNA's History: Ammon

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

I am made of 2.9% Neanderthal genes.  I know this from a DNA test through 23&Me.  It's amazing what geneticists can find out today.
                                                                       

Last of Neanderthals

They know this from finding bones belonging to Neanderthals about 50,000-80,000  years old.
                                                                           

Denisovans, 40,000 ago, thought to be darker skinned than pale Neanderthals

Some people have Denisovan genes, and some might have both.  This is because of bones already found and labeled as such.  It has been found that there were about 4 early types of humans that interbred with early Homo Sapiens and carry these ancient genes now a part of us.  I know that Neanderthal genes gives me some natural immunity from certain diseases.  "It is estimated that between 1.5 and 2.1 percent of the genomes of modern non-Africans can be traced to Neanderthals". Neanderthals were not found in Africa.
                                                               
When Israelites were on the Exodus,  started in 1579-1578 BCE, and  went into Canaan, they found little city states made up of many types of people.  Our 12 tribes eventually married into some of these as records state.  Those Canaanites who weren't killed in battle,  eventually intermarried with the Israelites.

 One ancient people and country in what is today's Jordan were the Ammonites of Ammon.   "The Bible says several kings arose there  in what is now Jordan and opposed Israel. Can the Bible be trusted?"  Archaeology is finding a lot of the answers that agree in that there were these places.  
                                                                             

The people living in Jordan today were not natives of the land.  They arrived there recently with king Abdullah from Saudi Arabia (Hejaz)  who wanted a country to be king of.  He was from the Hashemite tribe and arrived in Transjordan with his tribe in 1921. Abdullah is a direct descendant of Mohammad.

 There are no longer such people as Ammonites,   though digs should be able to find bones and do some DNA testing.  This would probably only find the MTdna carried and passed on by females as the Y DNA carried and passed on only by males is harder to harvest.
                                                                             

These Ammonites were a Semitic tribe according to the Bible.  They were related to the Israelites.  (Gen. 19:38).  Lot, Abraham's nephew, was the progenitor of the Ammonites, but they were enemies of the Israelites more than friends.  Their main time of existence was from the 13th to the 8th centuries BCE.  After that they declined in numbers and were eventually absorbed into the Arab tribes. They were a group most likely who did not intermarry with the Israelites.
                                                                             

Israelites entered Caanan

The Israelites were led by G-d back to Canaan where Jacob and his family of 70 had been living before finding refuge in Egypt.  After they occupied Canaan, they were attacked many times by the Ammonites who were defeated at the hands of Jephthah and King Saul.  King David annexed their kingdom but they regained their independence and attacked Judah after King Solomon had died and Judah became a state.  This is recorded in (II Chron. 20:27:5;  II Kings 24:2).

After  the destruction of the First Temple, Baalis, king of Ammon,  had Gedaliah, the Governor of Judah, murdered, supposedly to weaken Judah further.  Gedaliah was from a noble Jewish family and had been appointed by the Babylonians as governor of the population which remained in Judah after the destruction of the 1st Temple in 586 BCE.  He had set up the seat of his administration at Mizpah only to be murdered by the commander, Ishmael ben Nethaniah and his followers who were planning a revolt against Babylon.  They were in concert with their neighbors in doing this.  After he was murdered, Gedaliah's supporters fled to Egypt (II Kings, 25:25-26;  Jer.. 41) (Jer. 40:14).

  On the Jews' return from Babylon, Ammon joined Judah's enemies and Tobiah the Ammonite supported Sanballat in his opposition to Nehemiah (Neh. 2:10).  Tobiah was an estate-owner and evidently a petty prince of Ammon  in the mid-3rd century BCE who married the sister of the high priest, Onias II.  Onias was the name of several high priests during the 2nd Temple Period.  
1.  Son of Simon the Just, high priest about 230 BCE who refused to pay the 20 talents of silver given yearly to Ptolemy III of Egypt thereby endangering Judea's safety.
2. Son of Simon II, grandson of the first Onias. He was later assassinated by his brother, Menelaus who then became high priest.
3. son or grandson of the 2nd Onias.  Fled to Egypt to join other Jews suffering from religious persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes and lived in Heliopolis, built a temple at Leontopolis.

 Tobiah's son, Joseph (died in about 181 BCE) leased the taxes of Coele-Syria.  Joseph's younger son, Hyrcanus, was a dynast (hereditary ruler) in Ammon, building himself a stronghold (Arak al-Amir, near Amman) which still survive as remains.

 Notice that Baalis's  name starts with Baal, which among the Canaanite peoples was the proper name of the one god of the sky and fertility originating in Babylonian lore.  Baal is a Hebrew word for husband, owner, lord used by the Caananites.  It was also a term used for various local gods, generally in the form of a bull or a man worshipped as gods of fertility, both found in the field and the womb.  After the Israelites entered Canaan, they tended to adopt these deities (Bealim) of the local inhabitants though the prophets protested loud and clear.  This was probably because it was so close to what passed as religion in Egypt that seeped into the culture of the Israelite slaves as well being it was in their environment.  No wonder Aaron couldn't stop the Israelites from making the golden calf when Moses went up the mountain and was gone for so long.
During the Hasmonean rising, the Ammonites aided the Syrian forces and were defeated by Judah the Maccabee (163 BCE).

Not much is known about the lives of the Ammonites as no literary remains survive, but there have been digs in Transjordan/Jordan that indicate a developed kingdom with fortified frontiers, artistic tastes, and advanced agriculture.  Their religion was that of worshipping fertility gods, the chief being Milkom.

Rabbath Ammon was a Hellenistic city in Ammon.  A cistern and water system were found there.  Also of course, pottery and coins were also found in digs. " Discoveries over the past 150 years have forced archaeologists to acknowledge that the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites existed."

We will not be able to see who is carrying any % of Ammonite genes until bones can be identified as being strictly of Ammon.  Unless they conformed to cremation as a way of burying, it shouldn't be long to find this information.  

In looking for pictures, I discovered that the people of Ammon are now a part of the story of the Mormons (LDS)  who have the Lamanites killing them.  Lamanites (who they call the North American Indians) are not a part of Jewish history, so are not in our Tanakh (Old Testament).  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/anthropology/science-neanderthal-genome-fourth-lineage-01624.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=qQNlslA72SkC&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Ammon,+excavations,+digs&source=bl&ots=r4PfHWeYUK&sig=Wu-jkfSuR42nptMDCofW8H1Gl3Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mrE_VZyeJNicygSonIHgCg&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Ammon%2C%20excavations%2C%20digs&f=false
https://answersingenesis.org/archaeology/the-forgotten-kingdoms-of-jordan/
http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/are-you-related-to-neanderthals-photos-131218.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=Denisovans,+pictures&biw=1024&bih=634&noj=1&site=webhp&tbm=isch&imgil=3G4QaIyl6OapRM%253A%253BP07_SitkHgr0aM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.sci-news.com%25252Fothersciences%25252Fanthropology%25252Fscience-denisovans-homo-species-interbred-modern-humans-01476.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=3G4QaIyl6OapRM%253A%252CP07_SitkHgr0aM%252C_&usg=__jydrhfR3RVusKXIU6G1ZcOadVfM%3D&ved=0CDMQyjc&ei=RLY_VfybNISjyQTq64CoBA#imgrc=3G4QaIyl6OapRM%253A%3BP07_SitkHgr0aM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn4.sci-news.com%252Fimages%252Fenlarge%252Fimage_1476e-Denisovan.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sci-news.com%252Fothersciences%252Fanthropology%252Fscience-denisovans-homo-species-interbred-modern-humans-01476.html%3B1280%3B1344
http://www.gotquestions.org/Ammonites.html
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3194/jewish/What-is-a-Soul.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131122084405.htm   immunity in Neanderthal genes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan

Pope Francis's Three Day Visit to Holy Land-May 24-26th

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                 

77 year old Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) , born in Buenos Aires,  Argentina,  is scheduled to visit Israel on May 26th, which is an important event.  He is the 4th Pope to visit what Christians call "The Holy Land" of Jordan, Palestinian Territories and Israel and will do so in his 3 day visit which for him starts on Saturday the 24th..  There will be live streaming of the visit.  Many countries that are Catholic majorities will be interested in this, such as the USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany and France.  Israel's Tourism Ministry is very interested as they are investing about $2.9 million dollars in marketing for the visit of the Pope. Last month a campaign was on going where people were asked to upload a 15-second video on why they wanted to visit the Holy Land.  Gustavo Aldolfo Franco Picaza from Venezuela won  a free trip to Israel with his winning video.  Hundreds of journalists will cover the Pope's visit.

"He is a visitor of the highest importance", stated Minister Dr. Uzi Landau, Israel's Tourism Minister.  Israel spends a lot of shekels on Christian sites.  Christian tourism brings about 60% of tourists, and this visit should increase that number.  Out of Israel's population of 8,134,100, 2.0% are Christians or 155,100.  "Argentines in Israel are the largest immigrant group from Latin America and one of the fastest growing groups. The vast majority of Argentines in Israel are Jewish Argentines who make Aliyah but there is also an important group of non-Jewish Argentines who choose Israel as their new home. There are about 50,000 Argentines residing in Israel although some estimates put the figure at 70,000.

Most Jewish Argentines are Ashkenazi Jews."

Considering that Christian groups are highly involved in the BDS movement against Israel like the Presbyterians, this is a positive event for Israel, so the thought that the Pope will recognize Palestine and call for an end to occupation is a huge disappointment and stab in Israel's heart after whizzing through in 3 days.

The PA (Palestinian Authority of Abbas) and the Arab Christians probably led by Sabeel are already celebrating Pope Francis's visit to their territory  which starts this coming Sunday as a visit to end "occupation.".  The Pope evidently has already decided on starting his trip with going to Bethlehem, which is held by the PA and is a sign to them of recognition. Whereas Bethlehem used to be populated by all Christians, it is now 2/3 Muslim.   This piece of information comes from Father Jamal Khader of the Latin patriarchate in Jerusalem.  Information of starting in Bethlehem comes form Rabbi Sergio Bergman of Argentina and close friend of the Pope who said that he intends to define himself as the "Che Guevera of the Palestinians" and support their "struggle and rights" during his visit.

He plans on traveling in an open car in Bethlehem and meet with Abbas and hold a "mass" prayer services there instead of in Jerusalem to show support for the PA.  Then he plans on visiting the Dheishe  refugee camp to see them suffering.  Palestinians have been in such camps since 1948, and are the longest people to stay in such camps.  The surrounding Muslim countries do not accept them in any state of being except as refugees in camps.

Christians have been violently persecuted in Bethlehem by the Muslims who have taken over Bethlehem, but the Pope has not said a word about it.  This is turning out to be a highly political visit as the Arabs see it.  The Pope will lunch with Palestinian families who have suffered from the occupation.

The Arabs are delighted that this visit is to Palestinian sites first and see it as a slight to Israel.

Besides visiting PA-controlled areas, the Pope plans to visit Arab-populated neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem.  He will later visit with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the "Vatican-owned Notre Dame complex located between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.  There the Israelis hope to explain their point of view of political events in the region.  Since the Arabs keep pushing the idea of Israel's "occupation," which they are stressing, Netanyahu will have to address much background and history in about a half hour.  What he wants to address the most is to explain the Iranian threat to Israel.

The question remains about his visiting in Gaza.  After all, Fatah and Hamas are united these days, so does he dare go there?  That's an area not very friendly at all to Christians.  In 2005 it was estimated that there were about 5,000 Christians living in Gaza.

The Greek Orthodox Church is also a main branch of Christianity in Israel and the 2 groups have not always been friendly with each other.  "Francis will meet the patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, regarded as the “first among equals” in the Orthodox world, and for the first time in the Holy Land the two leaders will preside together over a public prayer. The encounter recalls a famous 1964 meeting between Paul Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, which led to lifting excommunications born of the feud between Eastern and Western Christianity and that date to 1054.. "

Councilman Aryeh King is not planning on attending an official welcoming of the pope unless he has packed in his suitcase all the treasures of the Jewish people stolen by past popes known to be stored in the Vatican's basement.  That's not going to happen, so he won't be in attendance.

The "Last Supper Hall' is located at the complex of King David's Tomb.  Christian services are held there at the complex once a year.

Christians are disappearing in the Middle East. They've gone from making up 26% of the population to 10% in the Middle East.  "In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood." 

 The only country they are safe  in is Israel.  I imagine that the Pope will attack this only state protecting Christians in deference to the Palestinians who have done quite a number on them already in Bethlehem.  After all, it's a Jewish state, and everyone attacks Israel for their own  imagined reasons.  The sun and stars will move in heaven when someone of importance stands up for Israel.  

Resource:  http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/19/israel-tourism-ministry-prepares-to-welcome-pope-francis/
Arutz Sheva:  Pope will recognize Palestine, call to end occupation by Ari Yashar
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2014/05/17/what-stake-when-pope-francis-visits-holy-land/T3bErULMEJVFelIUfeqC0J/story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_
Christianshttp://www.danielpipes.org/1050/disappearing-christians-in-the-middle-east
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303630904579417482632439814 Ron Proser on the Middle East War on Christians

The Al-Aqsa Mosque Imam Declares War on Israel

                                               Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount
                                                                                                          

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Mosque of Omar or Dome of the Rock

War has been declared last week  by Imam Raed al Danna against Israel.  He's an Imam from East Jerusalem at the Al Aqsa Mosque.  He called all the surrounding Muslim nations to destroy Israel.  This Imam announced this while visiting in Milan, Italy at a Muslim conference.  He emphasized Egypt and Jordan, nations that have peace pacts with Israel to liberate the land from the Jews.  He is waiting for a legion of conquerors to take over Israel.   The leadership of this mosque had been in the hands of Muhammad Ahmad Hussein,  who was expected to avoid controversy and self-aggrandizement.  Now he serves as the 7th and current Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.The appointment came from Abbas.  

  

On January 9, 2011, while addressing a crowd at an event marking the 47th anniversary of the founding of Fatah, Hussein quoted a controversial hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad), stating: "The Hour will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jews will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: O Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."  Hadiths supposedly have been written by people after Mohammad's death.  That could be why this is controversial.  This one makes very good anti-Semitic propaganda used to instigate war.  

The site has been a place of unrest lately. Just before Passover on Monday April 14th,   the Israeli police had to limit  attendance at Al-Aqsa because of the fear of more violence after clashes happening over the weekend.  Security measures taken are that the men under 50 couldn't attend.  Neither could any women until a security assessment of the possibility  of more disturbances had been taken.  What can they expect after this announcement by the head Imam?  5 people were arrested on Sunday during a clash.  Muslim rioters threw stones and many Molotov cocktails.  Police officers responded with stun grenades.  Members of Hamas were were in the crowd, probably leading the protesters.  They had to pick Passover to riot!  During major Jewish holidays, when Muslims prefer to attack, the military blocks the road to Israel from Judea-Samaria for 48 hours from midnight.  Entry would be permitted only to medical, humanitarian and exceptional cases.  

Jews are getting anxious to be able to pray at the holy site where the Temple once stood, but cannot get near it or be seen moving their body back and forth while standing in prayer by the Muslim guards.  Moshe Dayan in 1967 gave permission to rule on the site to the Muslim Imam.

"“We have returned to all that is holy in our land. We have returned never to be parted from it again.” 

–Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, upon reaching the Western Wall  

However, "Chief Rabbinate Council reminded the public that "in view of the fact that the holiness of the area never ceases, it is forbidden to ascend the Temple Mount until the Temple is built.  So the Muslims don't allow Jews there and our rabbis say it's not for us at this time as a place to pray.  That should keep things peaceful, but many Jews are not aware of this fact and try to get close, and the Muslims lie in wait for it to happen.  

The Muslims consider the Al-Aqsa Mosque as the "Farthest Mosque" mentioned in the Koran.  It infers this is in Jerusalem, but never mentions the word, Jerusalem.  This couldn't be since Mohammad, who was the author of the Koran, died in 632 and the mosque was built in the year 705 CE by the Umayyads who ruled in Palestine.  The mosque lies along the southern wall of Haram al-Sharif.  It has become the 3rd holiest site in Islam and is in the Old City of Jerusalem. This has a silver dome.   It sits on the same site with the Dome of the Rock or "Noble Sanctuary."

Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported from their Sacred Mosque in Mecca to al-Aqsa during the Night Journey on a flying horse named Buraq.

 Their tradition is that Muhammad led prayers towards this site until the 17th month after the emigration, when Allah directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.  Our Jewish tradition suggests that the change was due to his frustration with Arabian Jews who refused his attempts to convert them to Islam, his new religion.

 This site is called the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah, the holiest site in Jerusalem, the place where the Jewish Temple stood before being destroyed by the Romans in  70 CE, which was the 2nd time the original Temple had been restored.  The First Temple was built by King Solomon, ruler of Israel, who lived from 961 to 920 BCE, dedicated to G-d and as a place to keep the Ark-10 Commandments.  The Assyrians attacked and carted away Jews by 722 BCE after destroying the Temple in 721 BCE.  The Babylonians then attacked Judah in 597 and 586.  Cyrus of Persia (today's Iran)  freed them and told them to go back home and rebuild their Temple which they did.  Herod was appointed king of Judah by the Romans  after he attacked and captured Jerusalem in 37 with the Roman army and he renovated the Temple, but the Romans destroyed it when they seized Jerusalem in 70 CE.

It seems to be the custom of Islamists to build mosques over others' religious sites as a show of ownership.  The Dome of the Rock, otherwise called the Mosque of Omar, is the one with the beautiful golden dome that stands out in Jerusalem.  It was also built in the center of the Jewish Temple area called al-Harim ash Sherif by Caliph Abd al-Malik in about 738.  He had it built to replace the temporary building set up by Caliph Omar 100 years earlier.  It is situated on the traditional site of Mt. Moriah, too.

So Israel has many mosques.  There is freedom of religion for the 1.7 million Muslim citizens of Israel.  One of these days the 3rd Temple will be built.  The location is not known.

Update: 5/8/14:  The Muslim Waqf members saw a 16 yr old Jew's lips move and arrested him for praying.  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/180358#.U2uclIFdU8o

Resource:  http://www.memritv.org/embedded_player/index.php?clip_id=4252 declaring war on Israel
http://midnightwatcher.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/imam-from-jerusalems-al-aqsa-mosque-calls-upon-surrounding-muslim-nations-to-destroy-israel/
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Mosque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ahmad_Hussein
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1016102
http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/ReunificationJerusalem.asp
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/abdulmuhd/amuhd/563/muhammad-claims-to-jerusalem-is-a-myth/

  

Part II When Arabs Came Into Palestine and How They Did It

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                       

                                      Beduin Tent in Palestine 1930

Background:  From 1845 to 1863, a group of prominent Muslim landholding families lived in Jerusalem and used their money to gain control of "all the municipal offices."  They held certain villages or groups of villages in a type of serfdom."  By the end of the 1800s, they held the political power and had names like al-Husayni, al-Khalidi and al-Nashashibi.  They had the lands from the indebtedness of their fellahins, so had huge landholdings which they never sent anyone  to see and never farmed.  Such landowners later sold their land to Jews who had to pay exorbitant prices they had asked for, but they paid as the land meant everything to the Jews. The landowners made out very well and the fellahin wasn't likely to do that  in the first place.

While the first wave of Jewish immigration from Russia took place in 1882 in the 1st Aliyah, the fellahins' travels  had not changed  When debts got too big, the fellah would take his bundle of bedclothes, his cooking pan and water can, a small water jug and his shoes and load them all on his one ass and wife and leave at night when it was dark.  He would cross the Jordan valley until he reached Hauran in Syria or Ajlun in Jordan, where he would find a good place to hide from people he owed money to..  Many became the Bedouin to escape the indebtedness to become a member of a nomadic tribe.  The land was left without owners, workers, and became mahlul, a type of state-owned land.

The Bedouins plundered and and stole whatever they could.  The Ottoman Empire's government was very corrupt along with its feudal system.  A German historian, Doughty, who wrote of his travels in the region, wrote that in 1876,  he had found a desert that was devoid of but a few human lives at the time that the Jews had begun to build their settlements on the semi-abandoned territory where one day the Arab propaganda would claim that Jews had crowded out and displaced  the Arabs,  rendering  the Palestinian Arabs landless, which was just not true to facts at all.

 These Arabs  who roamed in the 1800's were not indigenous to the land and didn't stay on the land, yet they were called the original settled Arabs when the arriving Jewish immigrants united with Jews who never had left their land.

The former Jewish land once called Judah, then Judea, and even later called Palaestina and Southern Syria, a once fertile land that had become barren and swampy,and  laid waste for ages, held a  people who had died off with few recalling the great Jewish history.   Many of these Muslims were imported from Turkey and other lands who the Turks had brought to protect against the wandering Bedouin tribes, like landed pirates who would attack the settled multi-ethnic populace.  Each new conqueror brought his own population with him as a police force while other thousands went in and out from lands as far away as the Caucasus.  Sometimes it was the government who imported immigrants.  For instance, the Circassian and other colonists were planted on the frontier of settlement from 1870 and afterwards.

In 1860 about 200 tents of the Wulda tribe came across the Euphrates River and settled about 30 miles south of Aleppo, Syria.  Kurds, Turkomans, Naim, and others arrived in Palestine around the same time as the Jewish immigration waves began.  18,000 tents of Tartars, the armies of Turks and Kurds, whole villages came in 19th century of Bosnians and Moors and Circassians and Algerians and Egyptians.  It wasn't just the Syrian Arabs entering the land, but the whole surrounding areas looking for jobs and a chance to get rich off of the Jews.

Later, Circassians, who are Muslims,  were hired by the Jews to help guard their land from the nomadic invaders. They were said to be good horsemen.   Circassians and Jews were in my 9th grade English class in Israel.

This whole group which was a mixed bag of nationalities, and were then counted as original settled Muslims in Palestine by the British, when in fact they were new immigrants themselves.  The families would then say they had family ties for thousands of years there. that was historically very inaccurate.

The land called Palestine was never a nation at all and was not these migrants' ancestral homeland.

Resource: From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajlun_Castle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Russia
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/118238/Circassian

Where Can Syrians Find Refuge From Civil War?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                          

                                                              Fighting on streets in Syria

Syrians came into Egypt in 2011 at the beckoning of Morsi, who thought they would add votes to his Muslim Brotherhood.  When he was deposed, the Egyptians were ready to send the Syrian refugees back to Syria, but could not according to the UN.  Only some were registered as refugees at that point in time, then the deposed Morsi changed all that.  Now, the government has reason to have them leave since they've been there past the original time allowed.  Egypt has more than enough of their own poor to care for let alone refugees for they have a population of about 79,089,650.

The American embassy is closed in Egypt so that Syrians cannot go there  to get the needed visas to the USA.  The embassies are situated in a war zone anyway where so much rioting has been taking place. There are curfews at night needed for protection.   Egypt has not been the safe refuge they thought they were fleeing to.  The American embassy was not even answering the phone to help these people when people were still there.
                                                                       

Sweden has opened its doors to Syrian refugees, but the catch is that anyone with a Syrian passport has to have a visa to Sweden, and visas are going for around $5,000 or more. Even a visa to the USA for other people can go for as high as $2,000 for certain ones.   After two years of being away from jobs, most Syrians have gone through their savings and are now penniless.  They can't afford to get to Sweden.  These people burdened with Syrian passports could go to many Muslim countries, like Turkey, but the problem again is the high costs of living.  To go there they need money for rent and food, and jobs are not available, so they can't exist there unless they have family, which most all don't have.

Obama said that the USA would take in about 2,000 refugees, but so far have only taken in 90 people since the start of the Civil War.  More than 2 million Syrians have left their homes in Syria.  Syria's population before the war was about 22,505,000.  Well over 100,000 have died in the war, more like 150,000 today.

If one is an American friend of a Syrian wanting to come to the USA, he cannot sponsor the person.  Even a mother cannot sponsor her children, especially a son.  I found this out at the Lutheran Community Services, who seem to be the only ones who know about visas to the USA in our city.  It would be easier today for the child to sponsor the parent.    Political asylum isn't offered to Syrians, evidently.   Only if the Syrian is a famous scientist or a former security guard at the US Embassy in Syria, can they have reason to get to immigrate to the USA.

50 people were granted refuge in 2013 to the USA and an embassy guard was one of them.  In 2012 only 31 were allowed into the USA.  He reported that he had been arrested many times  and tortured for 10 days  in Syria with the accusation that he was an agent of the USA.  He's now living in Texas.  Syria didn't need many reasons to imprison and torture someone who stepped over the line of acceptable behavior.  Another reason was if you were even interested in joining the Masons, or if you were Jewish.

The only recourse for Syrian refugees turns out to be Jordan's refugee camps with the UN sponsored  Zaatari near the Syrian border in Mafrq, Jordan the most likely.  There are camps sponsored by Jordan only that are far more dismal and in need of sponsors.  People are not allowed to look for jobs if refugees in Jordan.  It's a pretty dismal life.  This is atrocious for people who have been industrious workers and not people used to being on the dole.  It would be like expecting all of Portland, Oregon to suddenly live in a camp in tents  or small boxlike structures in all sorts of weather and do nothing.  Can you see problems arising?  Of course.

Most all Jews in Syria had left in 1992 and 1994 with the assistance of Judith Feld Carr.  She is a Canadian that managed to take them out.  That was quite a feat considering Jews were not allowed to go abroad and had been kept in a ghetto since 1948 living under unimaginable restrictions.  Judith has been given awards from Canada and Israel for her bravery, determination  and chutzpa.

These are problems both Muslim and Christian Syrians and a few Jews are facing.  Most of the refugee camps are full of women and children.  The men are in smaller numbers.  Men don't want to return to Syria because they will be forced to fight for either the state or the various terrorist groups.  They truly have the reason to ask for political asylum, but are not being listened to or given this right.  Not all the Syrian men want to join up with some group and fight.

Who would want to stand by Assad?  What kind of person would back him?  Syrians had free education and free health care.  As a president who is a dictator in reality, he did give his Muslim constituents that much.  He was an evil man when it came to the Jews, however, who had lived in the Jewish Quarter in Damascus and in Aleppo, the hub of the business district.  He had taken all their rights and they were actually locked up in a ghetto-like existence.  The fear was that they would join Israel and fight against him, so the story goes.

Resource: Oregonian Newspaper page A7:  12/27/13 Few Syrian refugees resettling in the US by Anne Gearan, Washington Post
My book yet to be published, compiled references
Update: 1/4/14 http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2012/10/daily-chart-3

Arabs' Attempt in Reviving the Dead 181 Partition Resolution

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                         

World War I was fought from 1914 to 1917 with the Ottoman Empire losing and the West winning which resulted in Palestine being taken over by the Western Powers in which Britain held the mandate from 1917 to May 14, 1948  to create a Jewish Homeland.  This was decided through the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations.  The League of Nations died because they were breaking their own rules. It was started January 1918 by the USA and ended 12 April 1946.  It wasn't able to prevent WWII.   It changed over to become the United Nations on June 26, 1945 and in 1947 Britain put the matter of Palestine into their hands.  The UN Commission RECOMMENDED partitioning what was left out of the original Mandate into 2 new states; one Jewish and one Arab with Jerusalem to be an international zone belonging to neither.
                                                                       

David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister, said that the Balfour Declaration implied that the whole of Palestine, including Transjordan, should become a Jewish state, but in 1922 it had been taken illegally by the Hashemite ruler, Abdullah which was later called Jordan.  During all the attack on Israel after declaring itself a state, Jordan had invaded and annexed it illegally.  The UN did not call them on it.  That was one state created out of the Jewish Homeland already.   Abdullah had taken 77% -80% of the landmass of the original Mandate for the Jews.  He set up an Arab Kingdom.

 There are already 57 Muslim majority countries in the world and 22 of them are right in the Middle East: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, Libya, Kuwait, Oman,  Bahrain, Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates.  Now Arabs living in the land and others who came in looking for work are calling themselves Palestinian Arabs.  Jews who lived there were called Palestinian Jews.  The Arabs want to create a state and call it Palestine but they have been refusing every offer made since 1947.

17,000,000 Arabs live on 1,290,000 square miles while Palestine, after losing the 76% of land to Transjordan has been decimated to having only 8,000 square miles.  In 1967 Israel picked up what Jordan had taken of Samaria, Judah, East Jerusalem and Golan through winning against a gigantic Arab attack.  The proposals would have taken the 10,000 square miles they had and reduced it by 1/2 for Palestine to be carved out of it.  UNSCOP wanted to eliminate the Western Galilee from the Jewish state which would have meant taking Safed, my city which had been Jewish since time memorial.  It was the center of Kabballah.

In 1947 talk was If another state is to taken out of the remainder of the Jewish state, the Jews would be getting only 1/8th of their original promised Homeland.  Originally, their Israel and Judah had covered more space than this original allotted Jewish Homeland  including Trans Jordan was to be, but the Jews accepted the deal  called Resolution 181 or the Partition Plan and the Arabs refused.  this was a non-binding RECOMMENDATION  WHOSE IMPLEMENTATION HUNG ON ACCEPTANCE BY BOTH PARTIES.  Not only did the Arabs refuse but they threatened bloodshed if the UN adopted the Resolution.  This scared Britain since the Arabs proposed to attack and impede its work in every possible way.    This means that Resolution 181 was rejected by the Arab world.   Not only that, but it was the last straw.

Before that were many other recommendations from the Mandate people and other international commissions.
1. 1922:  Great Britain partitioned Palestine; Arabs wanted the whole country to be Arab.
2. 1937  Peel Commission
3. 1938 Woodhead Commission
4. 1946  Two proposals championed a bi-national state,
            a. Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, April- single state with equal powers
            b. Morrison-Grady Plan, July - federal state with 2 provinces

The Arabs rejected them all.

Now they want to divide and conquer.  They won't recognize Israel as the Jewish state and their charters all call to destroy Israel.  when Resolution 181 was read in the General Assembly of the UN, each Arab country spoke from the dais to sound off their rejections.  Iraq's Mr. Jamali said the decision was anti-democratic, illegal, impractical and contrary to the Charter (?) and Iraq doesn't recognize the validity of this decision and those who pass it are responsible for the consequences.  Syria's Amir. Arslan  said that the charter was murdered and his country would never recognize the partition, and the consequences were on the heads of others, not theirs.  Yemen's Prince Abdullah said that the partition plan is contrary to justice and to the UN Charter (?).  They did not feel bound by such a decision and would reserve its freedom of action towards it.  All the others were of the same mind.

 Israel was created May 14, 1948 through a UN vote  and within seconds was attacked by all the Arabs in a bloody war..  3 days later, the Palestine Commission adjourned sine die without picking a date after the General Assembly appointed a UN Mediator in Palestine, which relieves the UN Palestine Commission from the further exercise of its responsibilities.  181 then became a moot issue.  The establishment of an armistice-line (the "Green Line") was just a temporary ceasefire line expected to be followed by peace treaties.  No peace treaties were signed.  Since Israel was later attacked in 1956, 1967, 1973, etc. to this day, one wonders about peace treaties since states change hands, thus politics.  Egypt had a peace treaty signed by Sadat in 1979 after the 1973 war.  It's still in effect.  Jordan has a peace treaty signed October 26, 1994, still in effect.

By July 30, 1949 it was seen that the Arabs rejected the scheme entirely.  Armistice agreements were reached after much fighting between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Trans-Jordan with the help of UN Mediator, Dr. Ralph Bunche.  By now the UN had abandoned the recommendations of Resolution 181 and its ideas "were drained of all relevance by subsequent events."  The Arabs continued to reject 181 after the war.  This was possibly because they controlled Judea and Samaria (West Bank) from 1948 to 1967 when they, including  Jordan,  again attacked Israel.

Now, the Arabs are trying to revive Resolution 181.  For over 60 years they have rejected it and are now trying to bring it to life to use as a leverage to  make Israel withdraw from Western Palestine so they can attack the rest of Israel easier because  it would have no defensive borders.

Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht of Cambridge, Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice and renowned expert on international law said that from a legal standpoint, the Resolution 181 had no legislative character to give territorial rights to either Jews or Arabs.  Any binding force would have had to come from the principle pacta sunt servanda, or treaties must be honored.  This would be from agreement of the parties at variance to the proposed plan.  The right of a State to exist come from its factual existence.  When that existence is prolonged it shows every sign of continuance and is recognized by the generality of nations.

Professor Julius Stone, authority on the law of Nations, " one of the world’s best-known authorities in both Jurisprudence and International Law. His publications his activities and the many honours conferred on him are eloquent evidence of his high standing in these two fields.said that Israel's "legitimacy" or "legal foundation" for its birth does not reside with the UN Partition Plan, which as a consequence of Arab actions became a dead issue."

  He then said that its validity rests on assertion of independence by its people and government, on the vindication of that independence by arms against assault by other states, and on the establishment of orderly government within territory under its stable control.

He just described Israel.  This is a legal state, not matter how you look at it.  For a variety of reasons, it again lives.

Resource:  UN Resolution 181-The Partition Plan of November 29, 1947 by Eli E. Hertz http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=135
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim-majority_countries
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_Peace_Treaty
http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/peacetreaty.html
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/leagueofnations.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-united-nations-is-born
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel
Update: 12/7/13 videohttp://unitedwithisrael.org/the-video-that-is-driving-the-palestinians-crazy/ *****

So What? Did Abbas Really Leave the Peace Table?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

                                                      The Peace Table:  Is it now empty?

The word floating around Cairo's TV news was that the peace talks between Abbas and Israel faltered seriously yesterday or ended.  Today's headlines out of Amman, Jordan read, "Kerry warns of violence if peace talks fail."

 To divert people's attention from Abbas, the news just announced that Arafat's test shows that he just may have been poisoned by polonium after all which is pointing a finger towards Israel. It sounds more like something that Iran could have had in their cupboard of uranium-like ingredients.   Arafat's the one who wouldn't make peace, being the head of the PLO-the origin of Fatah.  It couldn't have been someone eager to take Arafat's place, G-d forbid, could it?  Abbas is an impatient soul.  After all, Arafat, after putting up with him for 56 years, was already an icon to Israel.  An enemy you know is better than one you don't know.  He was old already at age 75 and in poor health from some of his exploits.  So now Israel is going to poison him?  Come on, people.

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, warned Israel by telling this tiny state that they face international isolation and possibly more violence if it doesn't make progress in their efforts with the Palestinians.  Israel has already released violent criminals that should have been executed in any other Democratic state with such a penalty, but because Israel has no death sentence, were in prison.  Israel has been compliant to this Palestinian demand, as distasteful and dangerous as it was.    Now, what have they done in turn for Israel?  Oh yes, they've had a hissy over Israel building apartment buildings in Judea-Samaria.

 The article remains silent about any comments to the Palestinians from Kerry.  Only Israel is chastised and threatened by the USA.
                                                                     

All the Palestinians have to do is mention de-legitimization of Israel which is said to be already happening in certain circles.  I suppose international law, recognition of Israel by the UN by all the states isn't enough for Kerry to stand his ground for Israel.

Oh, if Israel doesn't comply, they may face the consequence of the Palestinians being led by a violent leader.  I imagine he's talking about Hamas, who already has much control and has been sending down mortars, rockets and missiles into Israel since 2001.  I don't think  that Kerry has done much about that in any leverage in defense for Israel.  He's not a speaker for Israel, anyway.  He's just a moderator with the job of keeping them talking till April 14th, 2014.  He's threatening more conflict.  Well, Israel has had that to put up with since 1948.  There's been very few people who ever stepped in to defend Israel's rights like there has been for the Palestinians, I note.

Jordan is making known what they  would like to have as well.  They expect a common border with this state of Palestine, the fate of the multiplying refugees displaced in 1967's war and of course, Jerusalem where Jordan has the custody now of the Christian and Muslim holy sites.  Will Jordan lose this to Palestine?  He's also complaining about Israel's building in what Palestine wants as their state, a state without any Jewish building on it.  Or people.  They do not want Jews to live in their state, only Muslims.  They don't have the altruistic attitude of   Israel or even the USA who are homes to diverse people.  They want to be the 23rd state of an all Arab all Muslim state, and they are in the act of trying to take over other religion's holy sites as well.
                                                                   
Netanyahu has explained to Obama many times that Israel will not withdraw to any pre-1967 lines because they are indefensible.  Are countries asking Israel to commit suicide?  There are other expectations that are important to Israel that are not being met.  They want to be recognized as the Jewish state.   Jews were treated as dhimmis in the Middle East, a 2nd class or lower status.  The Arabs find this a hard bone to swallow with their bloated pride.  They are planning to get back property they never owned in the first place in the heart of Israel.  Israel isn't about to give up 1/4th of Jerusalem called East Jerusalem to them, either.  It's a Jewish capital, the  capital of David, King of Israel, and not a Muslim holding.  They're doing just fine, better than ever when they were in Jordanian hands.

I wonder if anyone remembers that it was through Israel's blood and defense that they won in 1967.  Israel won that  attack.  Why should they be the ones to suffer and give  everything dear up when the losers lost?  Isn't that why people fight wars?

Sitting down and making peace with people who really have peace in their heart seems like a dream.  I know it has happened with other countries in the past.  It happened between the USA and Mexico and the USA and Japan.  It happened with USA and Canada.  It had happened with England and France and even the European  with countries and Germany.   Most all of us just want to enjoy life and live happily ever after.  We want to succeed in our endeavors to provide for our family a stable environment.  We want to enjoy the fruits of our culture; computers, I-pads, videos, movies, great schools,  our beliefs in G-d, have the right to visit and see the world.  Harboring only destruction of a people changes their view of all this.  This is what Israel is up against- a people who for for almost 66 years refuse to accept Israel and have fought them. Whereas Egypt and Jordan finally came around and signed peace accords, Palestinians have not. For people who never had a country, they are very demanding, if nothing else.  These Arabs are a hodgpodge from the surrounding areas in the first place, not a displaced people.  They came, they saw, they worked for the Jews and now they want their land.

The Palestinians had been offered their own state of Palestine in 1948 when Israel accepted a bad deal that was the remains of conferencing with the British for years with their offered deal in the Balfour Declaration.  That was a broken paper by the British, but Israel decided that something was better than nothing.;  However, the Palestinians' thinking is that nothing is better as they'll wait  to take everything.  No way, Abbas, you had your chance.  Now make peace and quit  with your demands and  braggadocia about your terrific suicide bombers and such and how this is your idea of a culture to live next to Israel who on your maps has been erased, or never posted at all.  I for one am not broken up if you leave this peace table.  You offer very little anyway but trouble.  I see no peaceful living at the end of the tunnel with you.

Resource:  http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/politics/article/Kerry-sees-some-clarity-from-Mideast-peace-talks-4962852.php
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/was-yasser-arafat-killed-by-polonium-poisoning/2013/11/06/bada9e82-472c-11e3-95a9-3f15b5618ba8_story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat

Three Palestines in the Making

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

                                          Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Plotting with Hitler to Destroy Jews

Instead of pushing for a democracy, Britain pushed for a monarchy and helped establish Jordan as one in 1923.  They felt they owed Emir Abdullah (1882-20 July 1951), 2nd son of the Sherif Hussein bin Ali,of Saudi Arabia, who asked to be a king for his fighting help in WWI.  After all, he had been a part of the Ottoman Empire legislature's ruling class.  The Brits understand things like that.   Abdullah was pretty clever having been educated in Turkey. He talked his father into become the Grand Sherif of Mecca.  He became the King of Transjordan.

  Britain had also made a deal with Jews through the Balfour Doctrine at the same time who also had helped Britain and her allies to win the war with their fighters, but mostly by Chaim Weizmann's invention of increasing the capacity of their weaponry.  Britain had also taken on the responsibility of creating the Jewish Homeland, something decided through the League of Nations that was signed in agreement by all the countries in the world at that time by accepting the mandate.

Jordan became the pet project of Britain which was under the rule of King Abdullah and assisted them in many ways.  Britain trained military units of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, the Persian Gulf states and Jordan, but Jordan held special status with them and saw to it that they continued the special British pattern well after WWII.  It was British officers who directed Jordanian military and paramilitary units.  Perhaps with Britain's off-stage help, King Hussein and his Royal Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan have managed to survive since Britain acted as their tutor.

Britain had made a private commitment to assist them.  They helped to establish after WWI the Jordanian border patrol which led to create the Royal Jordanian Guard and Arab Legion under Glubb Pasha.  Britain was looking out for their own interests since the oil pipelines from Kirkuk and a later Trans-Arabian Pipe Line from Saudi Arabia put Jordan in the right position for oil exports.  It was also strategically in the  right spot to help Britain defend the Suez Canal and Red Sea zone.  Jordan helped them carry out their Palestinian mandate that way, they told themselves.  This desert kingdom was a very special British client and of  high importance to the British foreign office.

In 1948, the UN had tried to get the Arabs to accept their partition of Palestine and establish their own state like Israel was doing, but the Arabs refused, intending to take all of Palestine eventually, not settle for half of it.  It's possible the Brits were backing off from seeing the   Palestinians create  a Palestinian state headed by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,  Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, born in Jerusalem in 1893, son of the Mufti of Jerusalem, the richest and most powerful clan in the Ottoman Empire. He was an Arab who was from the land for several generations.    "In the lead-up to the 1948 War against Israel, Husseini opposed both the 1947 UN Partition Plan and King Abdullah's designs to annex the Arab part of British Mandatory Palestine to Jordan.  He and King Abdullah were related to each other but opponents.  

The Grand Mufti, Al-Husseini,  was a new militant Palestinian Arab with nationalism in his being which was a new feeling among the Arabs.  Once he was in power, he began a campaign of terror and intimidation against all opposed to his rule and policies.  He killed Jews at every opportunity, and also eliminated Arabs who didn't support his violence.  He wouldn't negotiate or make any kind of compromise in the name of peace. He later went on to make pacts with Hitler against the Jews.    

Originally the UN had planned to make Jerusalem an international city, but King Abdullah I of Jordan went ahead and on his own without anyone's permission, annexed half of Jerusalem and all of the Palestinian highlands many call the West Bank, which are part of the original Jewish lands of Israel and Judah of which Samaria was the capital and surrounding land of Israel after the creation of Judah and was part and parcel of their promised Jewish Homeland.  When the king did this illegal act, the UN just looked the other way.  By doing this, he had added this fertile land of the West Bank of the Jordan River to his Hashemite Kingdom and more importantly,  increased the population of Jordan by one million people.

Now Jordan became physically very close to the new state of Israel since the border between the two was a haphazardly drawn one in the countryside and the streets and alleys of Jerusalem.

Two-thirds of the population of Jordan were now Palestinians.  There was a difference between them and the Bedouin Arabs, nomadic desert dwellers,  who lived on the East Bank of the Jordan River, for the Palestinians  were better educated and more politically aware of their position.  The Palestinian Arabs saw how King Abdullah manipulated and took land and they then thought how they could do the same thing.  So in July 1951, one of the Palestinians assassinated King Abdullah while he was in the Mosque of Aqsa in Jerusalem.  This was a case of jealousy of what Jordan's king had accomplished and he and his people coveted it.  After, all, there was this class difference between them, and they couldn't let nomads take over and be so successful.

Talal, Abdullah's son stepped into the kingship position but then abdicated due to illness which allowed his 18 year old son, Hussein to become king.  He had his hands full of strife between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jordanian Bedouins.  Then Nasser of Egypt rose to power,  and everyone thought he would overpower the Israelis so that they could take over their land.  Hussein found his position was not that easy and decided not to join the United Arabs or make peace with Israel without being dethroned by his angry coveting subjects.  He became afraid of being attacked by the UAR (United Arab Republic) which would be the open door for Israel to get their West Bank back.  At the same time, Hussein was taking money for military and economic aid from the USA which the Palestinian Arabs resented but without it, couldn't stay in power for long.

The Iraqis had a revolution in 1958, putting Hussein in more danger.  He cried out to his friend, Britain and 2,000 British troops came to protect Jordan against the other Arab nations.

The Arabs of UAR (heads of the Arab States) met in Cairo in 1964 and approved making the Palestinians a political entity and called them the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).  This was a conglomeration of factions with the biggest being Fatah under Yasser Arafat who became their leader.  Others were the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DPELP).  The Arab nations supported them by giving the PLO the funds to work with.  Most all the Palestinians were actually living right in Jordan which made 2 armies within its borders; one led by King Hussein and the other by Arafat.

This made Jordan the staging area for the many attacks on Israel's land, just like Gaza assumed today.  This resulted in Israeli retaliations, of course.  There was a Palestinian village called Karameh on the east bank of the Jordan River that had become a terrorist stronghold. In March 1968 Israel retaliated and hit it resulting in the UN blaming Israel but not the Palestinians who were attacking Israelis from there.  The Arabs used this "blame the victim" as a cause celebre, a psychological and a military victory for the PLA who were defending the village.  Now the PLO's prestige skyrocketed and this led to more of the same; airplane heists, political murders like killing the Israeli athletes in the 1976 Munich Olympics.  The Palestinian Arabs now concluded that only a disaster or an armed confrontation would make Europeans and Americans feel sorry for them.  Violent deeds were the key to their success!

The world didn't really seem to join their thinking so they went onto 1970's Black September in Jordan. It was then that King Hussein had had enough of their free-wheeling control of Amman, his capital.  They had actually taken over Jordan, he felt.  The king had the superior armed forces and the assistance of Britain and the USA.  Syria and Egypt were silent, so he went about crushing the PLO leadership.  In the act, hundreds of Palestinians were killed  and thousands fled to Lebanon and Syria.  The king had decided to win back his kingship powers and he closed the door to anymore cooperation with them.

At any rate, the Arabs of the Middle East again attacked Israel on their most sacred holy day, a day when they were fasting and attending a whole day in the synagogue asking G-d for forgiveness, Yom Kippur in October 1973.  Israel begged Jordan not to join in, but they weakened and wound up playing a rather passive role this time.  This angered Egypt and Syria who also held against King Hussein the fact that he played an active part in crushing the Marxist-Leninist Dhofari uprising against the Sultan of Oman so why didn't he fight more against Israel!

 A Rabat Conference was held in October 1974 making the sole rep of the Palestinians conferred upon Arafat.  Arafat, now with too much confidence, pleaded brazenly in the UN in November 1974. He wound up with observer status for his state he had not yet accepted.

 Arafat in 1983 tried to consider a possible federation of a joint Palestine-Jordan state. Hussein weakened by going along with the PLO status and like the others, condemned Sadat of Egypt for visiting Jerusalem  in 1977 and the Camp David Accords of 1979.

 This was following the Beirut and Tripoli evacuations. However, even today when approached about taking more Palestinians into his country, the King of Jordan is adamant against the idea.   There are so many Palestinians living in Jordan that it is actually a monarchy run by the Beduin Hashemite kingdom with a population of 5 million mostly Palestinian Arabs.  Today's King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein  has married a Palestinian girl, now called Queen Rania Al Abdullah.

Jordan has been a dependent state since its inception.   The Arab states have been conferring $1.25 billion annually since 1978 but decreased it to $850 million in 1983.    He is trapped and can't act on his own freely.  It's been dependent on the USA militarily for arms.  56 US senators signed a resolution against selling arms to Jordan finally because it has been an enemy of Israel.  Politically, he has been caught between Israel and Syria, one of the major Israel attackers in 73.  Syria gets its weapons from Russia and Israel gets theirs from the USA.

Today, Arafat has been replaced by Abbas of Fatah (formerly called the PLO). He is dickering with Israel and has pledged to stay in for 9 months of talks.  His goal is to create Palestine out of Judah and Samaria and Jerusalem.

We still have his other half left to deal with, the rest of the Palestinians led by Hamas, a declared terrorist group who have sworn never to make peace and who constantly shoot rockets, mortars and missiles into southern Israel, Eilat and anyplace their weapons can reach so far.  

Only a handful of the original Arabs were from Palestine.  Most all came into the area from the surrounding lands looking for work in the 1880's when Jews from Russia came, escaping pogroms and wishing to return to their roots.  Arabs were scarce in the land when  Mark Twain and his contingent toured the Middle East. in  February, 1867.  The average Arab considered themselves to be Syrian Arabs.  They had no burning desire or need for a state of their own, only decent wages.

As Theodore H. White put it, to understand what is happening in the Middle East is to begin with its past.  Joan Peters, in her research, has traced the history to the present with unmatched skill.  I'm afraid this has not been a strong requirement for government involvement from any other country dealing with the peace table and Israel and the Palestinians.  Without in-depth knowledge, drastic mistakes have already been assumed as far as I can see.  Where many men of the West haven't clamored for political positions of ruling, it seems that there is no end to men who have yearned for this position in the East.

Israel is looking at a next door neighbor already made up of Palestinians, a new one taking over the original Jewish lands of belonging to Israel and Judah and a despicable enemy in Gaza who will never make peace.  That's 3 Palestine states!  .  How secure can Israel become against this horde?  For the creation of a state means more money to create more weapons and even more voice in the UN than they have now.  It means the peacock will have brighter feathers and will attract more than the Palestinians number today being they want to take in all other Palestinians who have settled elsewhere.  For Israelis, this should be a nightmare.  There has been no regard among the advisers to alter the hateful attitude of any of the Palestinians.  All they teach is that they will take over Israel and that Jews of Israel are the enemy and are terrible people.  There can be no "peace" between two different people this way.

The Jewish Homeland was originally to include land east and west of the Jordan River.  Israel has had to see it chopped apart where they have received 20% of the original promised land, and now they are expected to give up  land again to the attackers that was Israel's  in the first place won back after being brutally attacked in the 1967 war.  To reward people who attack you with the land they covet just to see you destroyed is a first in this world.  It could only happen to Israel because they are a Jewish country and have been vilified by the losers of the many battles that have gone on since 1948.

Resource: Text: Middle East Past and Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
 http://www.alhelalat.8m.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haj_Amin_al-Husseini
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070905142855AAgf2XY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Rania_of_Jordan
From Time Immemorial, the origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine by Joan Peters, Christian reporter-researcher

Syrian Officials: Keeping Hatred Going Against Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                             
                          
                                     Palestine- Small Notch in the Arab World

Joan Peters wrote in her book, "From Time Immemorial,"  that Arab refugees "have been bred to believe that the fraudulent history they learn by rote is true."  They have been brought up to believe that their identity can only come true at the cost of the destruction of the Jews.  Their dream of their history has been drilled into them wherever they are; in or out of refugee camps; to return to their Palestinian homeland.

Jordan has many Palestinians living there.  Those taken in have citizenship rights now, but Jordan refuses to take in anymore.  Jordan had a Civil war with the Palestinians from September 1970 to July 1971 called "Black September,"  a fight to see who would have control of the kingdom, for the Palestinians, led by the PLO, demanded control of the whole state.  Many feel this is already a Palestinian state.

Syrian officials were interviewed in Damascus in June 1977 and said they wanted Americans to help them develop arable Syrian land.  They themselves did not have a population to develop the land as they all had jobs then, so they were in need of people and technology.   They were even willing to give land to those who would come and work on it.

Joan Peters asked them, "Why not give the land to those Palestinian Arabs who would choose to accept your offer?
One official answered angrily, "  We will give the land to anyone-the Ibos, the Koreans, Americans...anyone who comes---anyone but the Palestinians!  We must keep their hatred directed against Israel!"

Isn't it ironic?  Many of the so called Palestinians actually did come from Syria because when they did, they were looking for jobs and there were none in their own country.  The Jews living all the time in "Palestine" were not the builders, but the Jews that returned in the late 1800's from Russia were, and some did employ Arabs to help with building projects.  The Ottoman Empire was in power over the land then, but had very few Arabs living on the land.  They were getting preferential treatment over the Jews, however.

Levin's book tells about Palestine from the turn of the century around the 1880's to the Balfour Declaration, written November 2, 1917, covering about a quarter of a century of turbulent events.  It said, "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, 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."  Of course, the British themselves were the ones who screwed up the whole deal by practicing favoritism for the Arabs and rejected the Jews. They had also made promises to the Arabs at the same time to establish their kingdom and turn a Sheik into a king.   By doing this they did everything against the Jews to achieve the goal of establishing a national home.   

The first Jewish pioneers that came  had many hardships to endure, comparable to our American pioneers' living.  They had to deal with the Turkish overlords, the relationship between neighboring Jews and Arabs where the wars of the present were foreordained in blood feuds and hatreds of an earlier generation.  The First World War and the Russian Revolution caused great upheavals.  This all helped to create a Jewish fighting force.  The novel's main characters are the Chaimovitch family who had fled Czarist Russia's pogroms who came to their motherland which turned out to be rocky, parched arid land ruled by the cruel Turks and dominated by hostile Arab villagers, disease infested but yet, their Jewish land.

Joan Peters was studying the original documents about Palestine which were a part of Winston Churchill's papers and came across a dynamite statement.  It was the claim that Jewish settlement in Palestine had caused the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of Arabs, something they are using today to claim their "right of return."
                                                                         

Churchill said in 1939, when Hitler was closing the door on doomed Jews in Germany trying to get out, and  plotting their massacres with the 2nd most powerful Arab, Sayyid Amin al-Husseini, also known as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,   "So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population."

Because of real people who developed the land from neglect that had become a wasteland made up of sand, rocks and mosquito-infested swamps, we have a beautiful state of Israel today.  The land has returned to it's natural life-fulfilling state from all this hard work, but the Arabs are clinging to their dreamed up  imagined history.  They are clamoring for all of Jerusalem right now.  Tomorrow it is all of Israel as their charters call for as written in Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Arabs like to spread the false information that Ashkenazi Jews are not real Jews.  They keep the fallacy going that only the Jews of the Levant were from the 12 tribes of Jacob.  They should develop the habit of reading more about our history.  Jews, whether they are Ashkenazi (recently from Europe), or Sephardi (recently from Spain and Portugal) or Mizrachi (from Egypt and that area), are all from the same group that survived the Roman Empire's attack in 70 CE.  Even DNA is proving this.  It happens that many Jews were forcefully taken to Rome as slaves, and from there finally were able to break away and went into Germany, and then went northwards into eastern Europe where our Russian Jews fleeing from pogroms finally decided after 2,000 years to return and settle their own land once again.  This is one way they keep trying to stoke the hatred against the Jews.

There are 10 Palestinian camps in Syria created from 1948 till 1967 with 3 unofficial ones built from 1955 to 1962.   About 112,550 occupants are in Yarmouk built in 1957, located in Damascus, which is the largest.  The latest reports are that on a Sunday in July Syria gassed people in the camp by bombing it with chemical weapons.   22 were reported dead.  It is still home today to over 100,000 Palestinians.  Syria would rather keep them in  camps on the UN dole than have them work and own land.

Resource: Book:  "From Time Immemorial", by Joan Peters.  copyright 1984- non-fiction, p. 406 paperback
Book: Historical Novel:  "The Settlers" by Meyer Levin, copyright 1972
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_September_in_Jordan
http://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-accused-of-gassing-palestinian-refugee-camp/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_refugee_camps