Palestine? What Palestine?

In recent weeks, one of the leading stories around the world has been the Palestinian push for official statehood by the United Nations. Of course, while the world continues to beg the Israelis to "pursue peace" they conveniently overlook the terrorist acts of the Palestinians. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is perhaps the most high-profile struggle in the modern world. For generations, world leaders have sought to make their mark on history by resolving the issue. But, time and time again, those same leaders have proven a complete lack of understanding of the reality of the situation. The truth of the matter is simple: Palestinians do not have a "right" to a sovereign state, even if Israel returned to the 1967 borders. A bold statement? Perhaps it seems so, but only because the ability to tell even simple truths has been so lacking among the media and political figures who have controlled the debate for decades. Let's examine some of the reasons I can make that statement.

1. Who are the Palestinians?
The history of the Middle East is a complex and sweeping epic that would (and has) taken entire libraries to fully catalogue, but in the interest of brevity I'm going to keep things simple and relatively recent. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 at the end of World War I, the British took possession of a chunk of real estate in the Middle East. They named this territory "Palestine," which comes from the name the Roman Empire gave to the region: "Palaestina." The British wanted to help create a homeland for the Jewish people, but they decided to divide the territory between Arabs and Jews. The Arabs were to receive the British Mandate lands east of the Jordan River, an area referred to as Transjordan, while the lands between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River would be used to help create a Jewish homeland. The Transjordan became the Kingdom of Jordan in 1946 while the term "Palestine" would be used to refer to the rest of the British-held territory. It was from these lands that the Zionists would attempt to make a Jewish state, but the division of the land was not finished yet. Not by a long shot.

2. Why didn't the Arabs get a sovereign state alongside Israel?
The short answer is: they did. Or at least, that was the original plan. In November of 1947 the United Nations adopted the Partition Plan to further divide "Palestine" into two distinct states: one for Arabs and another for Jews. For those of you keeping score at home, that is two times that the British "Palestine" got narrowed down in order to give Arabs land so they would accept a Jewish state in their midst. And so, after the Partition Plan everyone shook hands and went home with nothing but love and peace in their hearts. Right? Eh, not so much. In fact, before the ink was dry a war had erupted between the Jews and Arabs (including an army of foreign fighters from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and even members of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt. Boy, none of those places are causing trouble right now). Despite fighting a numerically superior foe with significant foreign support, the Jews managed to achieve significant victories. In 1948 the British, who had grown tired of getting caught in the cross-fire, decided to pack up and head home for good. On May 14, 1948 the state of Israel was officially created as a sovereign nation. The very next day what had been a not-so-civil war became a massive international conflict with the armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia invaded the newly created Israel, hoping to eliminate it before it truly had a chance to begin. Naturally, the Israelis looked around at the massive waves of Arabs swarming towards them, yawned, and started to obliterate all comers. The Israeli fighting forces were so effective that they not only survived (obviously) but they captured significant portions of the lands set aside for the Arabs by the 1947 UN Partition Plan. When a ceasefire was declared in 1949, the remaining Arab lands of the Partition Plan were gobbled up by other Arab countries. The West Bank was seized by the Kingdom of Jordan. Meanwhile, the All-Palestine Government was set up in Gaza City by the Arab League, but it was not recognized by any non-Arab country. In reality, the Egyptians ruled the Gaza Strip completely, though they never officially annexed the land. While the Jordanians offered the people of the West Bank citizenship, no such offers were made by the Egyptians who kept the people of the Gaza Strip in refugee communities that relied heavily on the UN. When someone tells you how horrible the Israeli "occupation" is, bring up the Egyptian-run Gaza Strip or even the not-as-brutal Jordanian annexation.

3. If Israel returned to the 1967 borders, who would claim the West Bank and Gaza Strip?
President Obama made quite a stir when he said that the Israelis should expect a return to 1967 borders "with mutually agreed swaps" as part of peace negotiations. But think about it. During the Six Day War Gaza and the West Bank were not part of some Palestinian territory that got bulldozed in the fighting. Gaza was Egyptian territory while the West Bank was held by the Kingdom of Jordan. So, if we were to return to 1967 borders those lands should be returned to the country that owned them before their capture. If a Palestinian homeland is such a big deal, why are the Israelis the only ones expected to give away land? Where were the desperate pleas for a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank while those areas were turned into hellholes by the Palestinians' so called "allies" prior to 1967? The answer to that one is easy: prior to the Six Day War, it was believed in the Muslim world that a united Arab army would easily sweep the Jews into the sea and then the Arab world could truly unite and become a world power in their own right (maybe even restore a Caliphate). Only it didn't happen that way. Twice. So Arabs like Yassar Arafat decided to change tactics and began twisting history to tell a tragic tale of stolen lands and trampled rights that played right into the revolutionary mood sweeping across the world in the late '60s and into the '70s, particularly in America, hoping to turn the world's opinion against Israel. After that, it was simple inertia. Decades of propaganda have turned the story of Israel's stand against a sea of totalitarian enemies into a story of Israeli hatred and oppression. It is time we changed that. The tale of Israel is one of miracles, triumph, and hope in a dark world. What greater inspiration is there?

Of course this only scratches the surface of the true history of the Israeli/Arab conflict. I hope that this will be a beginning for you to seek out more of Israel's amazing true history. I have several links I will post at the bottom so you can continue to learn. I will close with a final observation. One of the Arab claims since the failed war of 1948 was that the United Nations had no right to create the state of Israel (which is an oversimplification in itself). Why, then, would the Palestinians go to the United Nations and seek a similar process? Using their own logic, would that Palestinian state not be illegal, as well? Round and round the circular logic goes; when it makes sense, no one knows.


Links-
Who Are The Palestinians? (video)

The Truth About The West Bank (video)

The Truth About The Peace Process (video)

Debunking The Palestinian Lie (video)

31 Opportunities for Statehood Squandered in Favor of Genocide