If Israel built a 100 foot high wall around herself and put her military within these walls, Palestine would still *not* be free! Why? Because Palestine has *never* been free.
If Israel were to be like North Korea – isolated and seperated from the rest of the world – the West Bank and Gaza would *not* even remotely resemble South Korea. Why? Because the oppressive PA/PLO and Hamas dictatorships would continue to hold hostage the Palestinian Arab people! … While they spend all the people’s money on themselves and their war efforts to find any way to get through Israel’s defenses – underground, over top, through some crack in the wall.
The truth is Palestine has *never* been free, since the Roman Empire’s occupation and renaming of Judea-Israel to Syria Palaestina (aka, Palestine). The Byzantine Christians took occupational control of Palestine next. Then Islamic Caliphates conquesting for Jerusalem, then the Crusaders conquesting back. Then the Persians came to occupy Palestine, and were historically the most peaceful occupiers of the land – for the most part, respecting the right of the indigenous, *Jews,* to live freely in the parent land, Palestine (aka, Judea!).
Then came the World-wide Wars. After the first World War, the British assumed occupational control of Palestine, calling it Mandatory Palestine. From here, indigenous and immigrant Jews fought the British until they left, and declared sovereignty on a portion of Palestinian land in 1948. With the British gone, Arabs had a chance now to create a free state for themselves, as well.
BUT, WAIT! No! Palestine has *never* been free. Because the very *next* day of Israel declaring Independence, the following nations attacked Israel to end Jewish sovereignty in its portion of Palestine (formerly, Judea): Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Jordan now took occupation of the West Bank from the British. And Egypt took occupation of Gaza from the British. The “nakba” (catastrophe) we hear about on social media has now occured (which Palestinians blame Israel for instigating)! Both authoritarian governments set up and supported terrorist organizations that operated within their controlled territories of Jordanian’s West Bank and Egypt’s Gaza, for the purpose of endlessly attacking Israel. All the while, expelled Jewish refugees from the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe are seeking asylum in Israel, turning Israel into the world’s *only* nation comprised of mostly refugees.
Then – on false information fed to them by the Soviet Union – Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq waged war *again* against Israel in 1967. This resulted in Israel gaining occupying control of both the West Bank and Gaza. The PLO terrorist organization was usurped by the Palestinian National Authority (the PA) – which took over both the West Bank and Gaza under the pretense of democracy, and promptly turned into a dictatorship that eventually stopped any real kind of elections processes for Palestinian citizens.
In the meantime, terrorist groups of the like of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the PLO, and *now* Hamas have continued to wage war by any means possible – both physical warfare and by social media *history revisionism* – to infiltrate Israel and end a *Jewish* state in Palestine. They literally kill their Palestinian subjects themselves for dissenting and indoctrinate their children in historical lies and hate, so they can blame Israel for these deaths. They attack Israel with rockets, incendiary-balloons, knives, and tunnels underground, so that they can provoke an appearance of disproportionate force wielded by Israel against “declared” innocents.
If Israel super-walled and shtetl’d like an ultra-Orthodox Jewish North Korea, Arab Palestine *would still not be free*! Not until the Palestinians are freed from the terrorist Marxist and Islamist dictatorships that daily impoverish and destroy their lives, and prevent Palestinians from having a secular and democratic future in Palestine. The war on history is a war on democracy, and the cruelty being brought upon all Palestinians is the point!
Truth hurts, but it must be brighter than the revisionist darkness!
————-
Timothy Snyder is a Levin Professor of History at Yale University, and he understands the extreme importance of fighting disinformation, misinformation, and revisionist history to appease the feelings of the oppressors in this world – specifically, structural white Christian supremacy and privileged impunity *and* structural ever-conquesting Islamic supremacy and privileged impunity within this world.
“History is not therapy, and discomfort is part of growing up. As a teacher, I cannot exclude the possibility, for example, that my non-Jewish students will feel psychological distress in learning how little the United States did for Jewish refugees in the 1930s. I know from my experience teaching the Holocaust that it often causes psychological discomfort for students to learn that Hitler admired Jim Crow and the myth of the Wild West.
Teachers in high schools cannot exclude the possibility that the history of slavery, lynchings and voter suppression will make some non-Black students uncomfortable. The new memory laws invite teachers to self-censor, on the basis of what students might feel — or say they feel. The memory laws place censorial power in the hands of students and their parents. It is not exactly unusual for white people in America to express the view that they are being treated unfairly; now such an opinion could bring history classes to a halt. …
My experience as a historian of mass killing tells me that everything worth knowing is discomfiting; my experience as a teacher tells me that the process is worth it. Trying to shield young people from guilt prevents them from seeing history for what it was and becoming the citizens that they might be. Part of becoming an adult is seeing your life in its broader settings. Only that process enables a sense of responsibility that, in its turn, activates thought about the future.”
Picture: Freedom of Speech “flag desecration” art by Faith Ringgold – who got arrested in the 1970’s for writing on the white Christian’s symbol for nation worship – aka, the symbol of white people’s feelings and perception of exceptionalism in this world (which should not be challenged, if not white).
2 Comments
החכם יוסף Chacham Yosef · July 14, 2021 at 6:52 am
“From 1890 to 1947, in less than sixty years, the population [of Arabs, Jews, and Europeans in Palestine] grew from 532,000 to 1,845,560. The Arab population of Palestine grew more from 1922 to 1947 than it had over the previous 400 years.” – UNSCOP*, pp. 12-13
The *myth* of “colonization” is meant to delegitimize Israel with every breath, with every statement. Even when those, who believe in and say this lie, claim to accept Israel’s right to exist, it is an act of “othering.” The Jew must always be the instigating villian, the reason for the social problems, according the supremacist structures and beliefs of historic Christianity and modern Islam. And, if Jews defend themselves, the aggressors inciting a response are the victims of disproportionate Jewish violence (a demonstrable optical illusion).
Nothing is new here in the history of Christian and Muslim ruled societies! It’s been this way for 1600 years now, since the formation of gentile Christianity in the 4th century CE. I’m not saying that Jews can’t be in the wrong. I’m just saying that the world treats Jews as always, somehow, *being* in the wrong and deserving oppression and rebuke! And, because the oppressors indoctrinate their own on the myth from childbirth, there is – for most – no convincing them of historically verifiable truths.
The true victims in the Palestine-Israel conflict is not the Muslim and Marxist dictatorial overseers of Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza – the Palestinian National Authority (PA) and Hamas – nor is it Israel’s Likud party that has taken up the hateful cause of Hamas in reverse. It is the impoverished, abused, and murdered Palestians in the West Bank and Gaza who have *never* known freedom from occupation in the entire history of historical Palestine (formerly Judea-Israel, until the Romans renamed it by force of sword upon Jews). And, Jews who are indiscriminately injured and murdered by knife and rockets or abuducted and tortured (often to death) – if Jews dare step outside the Green Line of IDF protection – unleashed by Hamas and the PLO, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah.
Reality sucks! The true victims of Islamic supremacy, both Arabs and Jews together, are punished daily for the sins of the religious supremacy and corruption of the region. Lawless actors with weapons who terrorize Palestinians and Jews with impunity. But, it’s always the Jews fault, somehow. So says the myths and antisemitic tropes of white Christianity, since 4th century founding, and Arab Islam, since they took up the Nazi cause and beliefs about Jews in the 1930’s. All lose in this region, because of this – until the PA/PLO and Hamas dictatorships have been removed permanently from the lives of Palestians and Israelis, and actual history of historic Palestine is taught to the youth!
* – a 3.47% sudden growth rate between 1890 to 1947, compared to a natural growth rate of .08% each year over the last 400 years. Source for immigration data for Arabs, Jews, and Europeans in Palestine is from the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, created on 15 May 1947 to “make recommendations under article 10 of the Charter, concerning the future government of Palestine.”
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hireview/content.php?type=article&issue=spring01/&name=myth
The Myth of Jewish “Colonialism”: Demographics and Development in Palestine
החכם יוסף Chacham Yosef · July 15, 2021 at 5:53 am
Who are the actual indigenous of Palestine (formerly Judea-Israel, until the Roman Empire renamed her)? Seriously! What do the *statistics* have to say, by population numbers per century over the last 21 centuries?
(Reference point: in 8th century BCE – Judah, 300,000; Israel, 600,000)
1st century CE – 1,250,000 Jews in Palestine, 3,375,000 Jews in the Diaspora (then Roman Europe, Middle East, North Africa, and non-Roman/Byzantine Europe); Samaritans, non-Jews ; majority Jews, no Christians, no Muslims
2nd to 3rd centuries CE – 1,000,000 Jews in Palestine, 3,625,000 Jews in the Diaspora (then Roman Europe, Middle East, North Africa, and non-Roman/Byzantine Europe); Samaritans, non-Jews ; majority Jews, no Christians, no Muslims
4th century CE – 1,000,000 in Palestine, majority Jews, minority Christians, no Muslims
5th century CE – 1,000,000, majority Christians, minority Jews, no Muslims (the Christian majority was formed by Byzantine Christian forced conversions of Jews and Samaritans and European migrations to Palestine)
6th and 7th centuries CE – majority Christian, minority Jews (estimated to be 1/4 percent of Palestine population)
8th through century 12th centuries CE – majority Christian, minority Jews, minority Muslims
(in 629 CE the Arabs invaded Palestine from the Hejaz, then again in 1187 CE and, this time, forced converted some Jews, Samaritans, and Christians to Islam)
13th through 15th centuries CE – majority Muslims, minority Christians, minority Jews in Palestine
1533–1539 CE – 5,000 Jews, 6,000 Christians, 145,000 Muslims
1690–1691 CE – 2,000 Jews, 11,000 Christians, 219,000 Muslims
1800 CE – 7,000 Jews, 22,000 Christians, 246,000 Muslims
1890 CE – 43,000 Jews, 57,000 Christians, 432,000 Muslims
1914 CE – 94,000 Jews, 70,000 Christians, 525,000 Muslims
1922 CE – 84,000 Jews, 71,000 Christians, 589,000 Muslims
1931 CE – 175,000 Jews, 89,000 Christians, 760,000 Muslims
1947 CE – 630,000 Jews, 143,000 Christians, 1,181,000 Muslims (both Jews and Muslim populations increased by 450,000 in the 16 year period of 1931 to 1947, one year away from British occupation overthrow of Palestine)
The point being made: the actual indigenous of the land never left, and Arabs migrated to the land in mass numbers after the 15th century CE. It is *imperative* that Jews and Arabs work together towards a confederation of two democratic nations on one land! This starts with joining together to rid Palestine of PA/PLO and Hamas, so West Bank and Gaza Palestinians *can* be free, finally!
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3262683
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Palestine_(region)