There Goes the Neighborhood When the Jews Move In: Or-What Arabs Experienced

Nadene Goldfoot

The Arabs were not dispossessed from their land in Palestine.  Land was bought by Jews from Arabs.  Britain had given away large tracts of land to Arabs, including absentee landlords in Egypt and Syria when they sold their parcels to the Zionists.  Only 9% of land for Israel was received by concession from the government.  The Arabs selling land exploited Jews as the market was a closed one and the Jewish buyers were most eager.  The price for land kept rising so by 1944 Jews paid Arab sellers $1,100 per acre for arid or semiarid land that had lain fallow for hundreds if not thousands of years.  This was when rich soil in Iowa sold for about $100 per acre.  When Israel was established, 70% of all her land was from her allotment from the Mandate, and the British in turn had inherited it from the Ottoman regime.  The League of Nations had decided on the tract that was to become the Jewish Homeland and Britain was expected to carry out the decree. 

Arabs had been moving out of the area.  After all, what was there to keep them?  Mosquitoes, Malaria, flies, swamps or deserts and extreme heat or cold.    You could take your pick.  Very few Arabs really lived there.

Jews coming into the neighborhood were developers and brought the promise of jobs, causing a reversal of Arab migration.  The Zionists had been transforming the wasteland into farms and cities.  This resulted in modern health and sanitation.  The Arab death rate dropped.  Jewish methods of agriculture were adopted by the Arabs and their yields increased.  The standard of living was greatly improved.  No wonder the Arab potentates were alarmed.  Their citizens would clamor for such a change as well! 

After 1967 Judea, Samaria and Gaza fell into Israel's hands.  Jews  moved into these areas as well.  This land was loaded with ancient Jewish history.  The occupation has been extremely benevolent.  Israel established the principle of not interfering with the life of the Arab population except in education.  They insisted on replacing school texts containing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonology and justification of genocide with the textbooks they had.  Unfortunately,  the Arabs  have been replacing acceptable material with their own hateful propaganda.  The second thing Israel  did was to try to improve the Arab's economic situation with their own money.  Teams were sent to teach farmers modern methods and how to use modern equipment.  They loaned them money for new industrial plants or improvement of existing plants.  They opened up vocational centers.  Besides this, they opened the gates to Arab workers from Judea, Samaria and Gaza.  40,000 Arab workers came into Israel by 1972 to work.  The Arabs  were then able to sell  their products across the river  Jordan.  Thus unemployment was combatted, even for those living in refugee camps in Gaza.

In a few cases of an Arab preaching violence against Israel, the usual punishment was banishment into Jordan.  However, if somebody has given shelter to terrorists, the result is the destruction of their houses after due warning.   Israel has had the position of occupying a hostile conquered population and has had to take steps such as this to preserve law and order for both Arabs and Jews.  It's better than execution. 

Even when the cease-fire was not honored by the Arabs, when terrorists infiltrated, Israel kept the bridges open across the Jordan.  Arabs could visit their relatives and friends.  Students were allowed to go abroad to study in Cairo and other Arab universities.  Thousands of Arabs in Jordan cross the river each summer to visit relatives in Judea and Samaria.  In 1971 and 1972 Arabs at war with Israel and Arabs from Judea and Samaria went to the beaches in Israel for a holiday.  One Arab writer, Atallah Mansour, described his summer as "taking a vacation in the Zionist hell."  (Haaretz, July 30, 1971).  Life had been good for Arabs who had remained in Israel at the birth of its creation May 14, 1948.  These Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria were discoving how the Arab citizens had been faring. 

Zionism has taught a positive Jewish patriotism.  It has aimed at fostering love:  love of the Jewish people, love of the country, and has never taught to hate.  It has constantly sought ways and means to have relaxed relations with Arabs.  Zeev Jabotinsky strove for a peaceful Israel enjoying a happy and prosperous coexistence of Jews, Christians and Muslims.  The knesset has had Arab members and since 1971 had an Arab deputy minister in the government. 

But the Arabs have had no clone of Jabotinsky and probably the history about Emir Feisal has been erased from their records, a man who welcomed Jews into the neighborhood. Now,  after constant warring from Gaza, the Arabs of Gaza, Judea and Samaria are seeking their own  creation of a state of Palestine while still being in a state of war with Israel.  Their idea of a state is to have Judea and Samaria all Arab, so will no doubt want to kick out all the Jews.  Their charter has not changed.  They wish to do away with Israel.  They refuse to  recognize Israel as a Jewish state. 

Jews are an ancient people who established the world's first laws of common decency in relationships with other people.  Up to this time, the world was a pretty savage place.  Treating people decently is part and parcel to the Jewish religion and culture.  It's in their soul.  The last thing they would ever do is to treat people inhumanely, even though they have been treated that way themselves.  It's even more reason to bend over backwards and treat others well.  They have done their best to win over the Palestinian heart.  Only time can tell if they ever succeeded.  They've gone the mile to gain an inch. 

Resource: Battleground: Fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz

Other World Occupied Lands in Dispute

In most international situations of war, the territory is returned. After being attacked in an all out war of 6 days in 1967, Israel gained territories. In this case as with other situations in the world, the land remained under control of Israel. Most often land is not militarily occupied, but since belligerence continued from terrorists, the military had to step in often.

There are other unsolved occupations in the world, but all pressure is on Israel and not the other sites.

1. Tibet. The area is still claimed by the Republic of China. Tibet lies on the west side of China and is between China and India. Their empire was created in the 8th century and fell apart 100 years later. In the 13th century it became a part of a Mongol-ruled Chinese empire. In the 17th century the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty incorporated it into China. In 1914 the Dalai Lama (13th) signed a treaty granting Chinese suzerainty "rule" over Inner Tibet and Outer Tibet meaning they had rule over the inner part and left the outer autonomous. In 1945 China's sovereignty over Tibet was not questioned by the United Nations. Tibetans are Buddhists and are a non violent people. There is still discontent over this.

2. Western Sahara. this is disputed between Morocco and the Polisario Front who consider it to be occupied. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975 in violation of resolutions by the UN Security Council and a decision by the International Court of Justice.
The United States has provided military, economic, and diplomatic support for Morocco’s war effort.
A cease-fire and proposed referendum bring promise for peace in the territory, but U.S. leadership is thought to be needed to insure its implementation.

3.Lower Kuril Islands. Kunashir/Kunashiri, Iturup/Etorofu, Shikotan, Habomai was annexed by the USSR in 1945 which considers the matter non-negotiable. It is a dispute between Japan and Russia over sovereignty over the South Kuril Islands. The disputed islands, which were occupied by Soviet forces during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation at the end of World War II , are under Russian administration as South Kuril District of the Sakhalin Oblast , but are claimed by Japan, which refers to them as the Northern Territories.

4. Southern Cameroons. Their organization declares that the occupation of southern Cameroons is a military occupation by Cameroon and had infringed on the right of self-determination of the Southern Cameroons by forcibly occupying the territory since 1961 without the backing of any internationally recognized legal instrument.

5. Kashmir and Jammu. Parts are occupied by India and Pakistan calls it "Indian occupied Kashmir. There was occupation of parts of Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan in 1947.
The disputed territory of Kashmir shares borders with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Kashmir was partitioned as a result of the Indian Independence Act of 1947. About 65% of the territory is administered by India, the remaining 35% by Pakistan. Jammu Kashmir is the predominately Muslim state within India, which is mainly Hindu.
This conflict, between two of the world's most populous countries, both with nuclear capability has the ominous potential to escalate into theater nuclear war, or beyond.
Tensions between India and Pakistan increased after a series of nuclear tests in mid 1998, as both states sought to demonstrate military power. In May 1999 hostilities flared when India launched military strikes against Kashmiri insurgents.

6. Aksai Chin. This is occupied by China. It is a disputed region located in the northwestern region of the Tibetan Plateau north of the western Kunlun Mountains. It is entirely administered by the People's Republic of China as a part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region. It is, however, claimed by India as a part of its state of Jammu and Kashmir.

7. Macedonia. This had been called Yugoslavia but has gone back to the original name. Southern part has been occupied by Greece since 1913. . It lies north of Greece and between Albania and Bulgaria. See"Treaty of Bucharest".
Eastern part by Bulgaria since 1913
Small part of Western part "Prespa area" by Albania since 1913.
On October 8, 1912, the First Balkan War begun. Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece attacked the European positions of the Ottoman Empire. More than 100,000 Macedonians also took active part and contributed in driving the Turks out of Macedonia. Turkey capitulated soon, but Macedonia did not free itself. The victorious Balkan kingdoms convened in Bucharest in August 1913 to divide the spoils. Their fight with Greece is over the name, Macedonia because there is also a Macedonia in Greece, and Greece feels that Macedonia has plans to take over. "Macedonia will keep on being friendly with all of its neighbors, especially towards Greece," Milososki said.

8. Cyprus. Northern part by Turkey who invaded it in 1974. The Turkish invasion of Cyprus launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military operation in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus which had been staged by the Cypriot National Guard whose leaders deposed the Cypriot president and archbishop Makarios III and installed Nikos Sampson in his place. The Turkish invasion took place in two stages and ended in August 1974, when Turkish troops occupied 37% of the island's territory, which was followed by the establishment of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus that only Turkey recognizes, in contradiction of the terms of the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. Both the United States and NATO possibly supported the idea of a Turkish military intervention. Intercommunal strife that preceded the invasion had brought Greece and Turkey, two NATO allies, to the brink of total war in a number of occasions between 1963 and 1974; the most serious clash was prevented through the last minute mediation of the U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on June 5, 1964. The Greeks have blamed the U.S. administration of President Richard Nixon, and in particular Henry Kissinger for supporting Turkey before and during the Turkish military invasion, following a decision by the U.S. National Security Council in May 1974 to put an end to the Cyprus problem. I note that Jews were expulsed from Cyprus in 115 CE.

9. Mexico. Occupied by Spain. IN 1821, AFTER ENDURING 300 years of Spanish occupation, Mexico gained her independence. She desperately needed time to consolidate her population of some 6 million, but the U.S. pushed against her most vulnerable region, the northwest. Stephan Austin was among the first to found a settlement in Texas-San Felipe de Austin-in 1821, the very year Mexico won her independence from Spain:

10. California, New Mexico, Utah and Texas. By USA. In 1846 the United States claimed as its territory the land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, by virtue of prior claim by the newly-annexed Republic of Texas. By the same token, so too did it maintain that the annexation of Texas gave the U.S. title to what is now the eastern half of present-day New Mexico. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AGO, President Polk declared that it was his purpose "to ac-quire for the United States-California, New Mexico and some other of the Northern Provinces." This vision of North America as a "continent allotted by Providence" as the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States was widespread. The Congressional Globe declared, "We must march from ocean to ocean . . . . It is the destiny of the white race; it is the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race." The American Review contended that Mexicans would be "yielding to a superior population . . . out-living, out-trading, and exterminating [Mexico's] weaker blood."

In these ten cases, the people who are occupied do not continue to fight and harrass their occupiers. as the terrorists have done to Israel. Israel did everything possible to allow the Palestinians living in these places to have a good life, but they chose to be terrorists instead. They continued to be a part of the arsonal against Israel. In all this time since 1967 they have not worked but live off of the donations from the United Nations and receive more from them than any other group in the world. This allows them time to use their talents for bomb-making and terrorizing.

In Israel's case, land retaken was originally in Jewish hands centuries ago. Nothing is "new land." In this time of the rebirth of Israel with the Ingathering of it's peoples, something prophecized thousands of years ago of something happening at the end of times, it is a blessing to have inherited the land lost and now regained as if by a miracle. the Jewish people patiently waited for 2,000 years to regain their country after 2,000 years of inconceivable bloodshed, loss of life and hardships. They became the scapegoat of the world and suffered from anti-semitism so much that they were driven to the decision to return and to make something out of a barren desert that no one wanted . Now that it's blossoming like the people living there, the terrorists want it. Why didn't they do something with it before Jewish people returned? It's because they didn't want it. The land was waiting for its own people to take care of it.

Coveting is one of the commandments that we are told to not do. The Palestinians are coveting our land, a state that was officially created and blessed by the United Nations.
They made that decision but have not lived up to respecting the state and standing up for it when attacked. There was no proviso that they could be a state if they could live long enough. Yet they back the very terrorists who have attacked Israel with rockets, guns, knives, and whatever they can find to use against Jews. There still is no justice for Israel. There is no fairness in the U.N.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_occupation