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Zionism was always a noble, and madly poetic undertaking. All intelligent dreamers should have supported it from the start. Possibly you have until now been misinformed about it. Possibly you live in one of those countries where the steady drip-drip-drip of pro-Arab propaganda has overwhelmed this fact. Possibly you live in area where there is complete inattention to:
1) The history of the Middle East;
2) The history of the Jews in the Middle East;
3) The history of that area known in Western Christendom as the Holy Land and to Jews as the Land of Israel and to Arabs, until the last few decades, when it has come to be known as nothing much at all except as the place that must be denied to the Jews and to the Christians;
4) The history of the area, particularly its land-ownership (90% of the land being state and waste land), governmental administration (two separate Ottoman vilayets and the sanjak of Jerusalem), and general condition, as described by visitor after visitor: "empty"; a place of "ruin"'; a place of "desolation";
5) The League of Nations Mandates, including the disposition of Lebanon-Syria under a French mandate, Iraq (as a Hashemite monarchy set up by the British) and Jordan (as a Hashemite emirate, later elevated to something grander, set up by the British);
6) The history of the attacks on Jews ("Zionists") before the state of Israel was declared, and the closing of Mandatory Palestine to all but a trickle of Jewish refugees when perhaps as many as a million might have been saved -- all in order to curry favor with the Arabs;
7) The history of the 1948 war, and the refusal after the war of the Arabs to make peace but to insist on the temporary nature of the armistice lines -- the very lines that some think Israel should be forced back to;
8) The 19,000 separate fedayeen attacks, from Egypt, on Israeli civilians, especially farmers, from 1949 to 1956, which explains Israel's Suez campaign;
9) The attacks from Jordan stopped by the activities of Unit 101 under Ariel Sharon, who engaged in punitive expeditions into Jordan;
10) Nasser closing the Suez Cana to Israel, blockading the Straits of Tiran, and demanding that the U.N. peace force in the Sinai be removed, all so that he could, as he told cheering Cairene crowds from mid-May 1956 on (their numbers ever increasing, their hysteria ever mounting), that this time Israel would be finished off;
11) The Six-Day War, followed by Resolution 242, in which Lord Caradon and Ambassador Goldberg beat back Arab attempts to have the resolution demand withdrawal from "all the territories" taken in the recent conflict;
12) Khartoum's Three No's: no negotiation, no peace treaty, and -- what was the third? I forget;
13) Oh yes: no recognition of Israel;
14) The post-1967 "birth of the Palestinian people" out of the local Arabs, based on the PLO charter of 1964, which did not mention such a people, but instead referred only the Palestinian Arabs as part of the great Arab people, etc.;
15) The PLO and the birth of plane hijackings, and all kinds of modern terrorism, which while officially deplored, led to ever greater legitimization of the PLO and proved that terrorism apparently worked;
16) Years of terror;
17) The surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in the Yom Kippur War;
18) More years of terrorist attacks on Israel;
19) The loser in the war, Egypt, instead of suing for peace, triumphantly demanding that Israel give up every last inch of the Sinai, including the oilfields discovered by Israel, the three modern airfields built by Israel, and other infrastructure -- which was worth, at the time, some $16 billion. Under pressure from Carter and Brzezinski, who despised Begin and had not the slightest sympathy for him or for Israel (Carter: "I"m sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust"), pushed Israel to give up the Sinai, constituting 95% of the territory Israel had won in the Six-Day War, a clear war of self-defense, and to which its claim was at least as strong as that, say, of Italy to the Austrian Sudtirol that, after World War I, became the Alto Adige, not to mention all the other territorial changes after every single war. Meanwhile, Carter and Brzezinski extracted nothing tangible from Saint Sadat, and what Egypt did promise -- not to engage in hostile propaganda and to encourage friendship with Israel, was completely ignored, and has been ignored since, as Egypt has shown television series based on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," allowed the smuggling of vast quantities of arms from Egypt to terrorists in Gaza, and otherwise done everything it could, diplomatically and in other ways, to damage Israel.
Shall I go on?
No need. Read up on the subject yourself. Possibly start with Battleground as a well-written summary of events, even if it does not pay any attention to Islam.
Possibly you have been fed that anti-Israel diet that makes you react badly to the word "Zionist," which is nothing more than the word given to those who think the Jews had a moral, legal, and historic right to return to the Land of Israel, to buy land. That's all they did before and during the entire Mandatory Period: buy land, from either the Ottoman government, or Arab landlords. And after the declaration of Israel's independence, in accordance with the clear intent of the Mandate for Palestine -- go read it, for god's sake -- the government of Israel inherited the "state and waste" lands that had been not the property of any individuals, but inherited from the now-defunct Ottomans by the British as Mandatory authority.
Time to see things afresh, if such is necessary. For others, time to be reconfirmed in what you knew all along.
Posted by Hugh at July 26, 2006 5:08 AM
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Question particularly to the Israeli posters here: What would be a good authority(ies) to refer to learn about the history of Jews in Israel, Judea and Samaria - from say, King Solomon, right down to 1948? I'm familiar with Israeli history since, thanks to the Encyclopedia Britannica (the ones I read were 1974 editions and earlier - way before the PC infestations afflicted the encyclopedias). Also, would any of these sources be available online?
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at July 26, 2006 12:34 PM
geekpunk,
Why do you think the muslims shall to agree to this scheme? And what makes you so confident that half the problems will be solved? No such problems involving muslims can be solved anywhere in the world to everyone's mutual advantage..not if the muslims can help it.
at July 26, 2006 1:55 PM
Hugh-
You should be hired by Israel as a consultant re their lousy PR. I mean that as a complement. I am amazed at how many people (including Jews!?) are conned by the collectivist left (note for special guest: I am not asserting all leftists are collectivist) and the totalitarian Dar-al-Islam crowd.
The perception of Israel as a thief and a bully is the result of a very carefully planned and executed PR campaign by Israel's enemies. That perception must change. Most average folks don't think-they perceive.
P.S. I am a lousy speller. Any chance of getting spell-check on the site? Really-it takes too much time to check my spelling-LOL...
Posted by: Frank at July 26, 2006 2:04 PM
Frank
Why not use the spell check provided by the Google toolbar? Available for both IE and Firefox (but unfortunately, not for Netscape).
Posted by: Infidel Pride at July 26, 2006 4:18 PM
Yes, I certainly could use all the hiring I can get. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that the official Israeli government line is not mine, and I doubt if anyone in it is going to be willing to raise the real, inescapable, and horrific issue: that there is no "solution" to the Lesser Jihad, or rather, the only "solution" can be found in the Muslim concept of Darura, or necessity -- which is another way of saying deterrence, but deterrence so easily and widely apprehended that no Arab or Muslim regime, or collection of them, would have difficulty invoking "Darura" as an excuse for failure to attack.
Posted by: Hugh at July 26, 2006 5:10 PM
IPride- Thanks for the advice. I will do exactly what you suggest re the Google toolbar.
Hugh- I grasp some of your knowledge on this issue. There is "no solution" because the "the devil is (really) in the details" re this issue and Islam. The issue is Dar-al-Islam and other details of Islam.
at July 26, 2006 5:37 PM
Not the details. The Big Picture. That's the Devil. Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. Believer and Infidel. The Manichaeism at the heart of Islam. The failure of "moderate" Muslims to own up to this, and by their failure, and by their presence in the West, to contribute to Jihad by prolonging Infidel innocence.
Posted by: Hugh at July 26, 2006 8:50 PM
Hugh wrote, "Zionism was always a noble, and madly poetic undertaking. All intelligent dreamers should have supported it from the start." I think that is exactly right. I have never been able to understand those who do not see it as such, or who (whatever position one might take on this or that historical fact, this or that action by one or the other side) did not think that their allegiance should be ultimately, deeply, unwaiveringly with the Jews and with Israel. Recently in Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn mentioned "the dream of a Palestinian state," and I had literally no idea what he meant. Again, while disagreeing vehemently with him (actually, I'm not sure if it is possible to "disagree" with someone you hold in complete contempt) or with anyone about what, say, abstract justice requires, I just can't even imagine how someone could "dream" about such a thing -- as if one more Arab state in the area were somehow necessary, and ignoring the fact that any such state would obviously end up looking like Baathist Iraq or Islamic Iran. But I think that like almost everyone who "supports" the "Palestinians," Cockburn has a different agenda from the one he is ostensibly pursuing, and as usual I think the real agenda is a dark and vicious one.
Posted by: Marc at July 27, 2006 2:21 AM
Hugh wrote, "Zionism was always a noble, and madly poetic undertaking. All intelligent dreamers should have supported it from the start." I think that is exactly right. I have never been able to understand those who do not see it as such, or who (whatever position one might take on this or that historical fact, this or that action by one or the other side) did not think that their allegiance should be ultimately, deeply, unwaiveringly with the Jews and with Israel. Recently in Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn mentioned "the dream of a Palestinian state," and I had literally no idea what he meant. Again, while disagreeing vehemently with him (actually, I'm not sure if it is possible to "disagree" with someone you hold in complete contempt) or with anyone about what, say, abstract justice requires, I just can't even imagine how someone could "dream" about such a thing -- as if one more Arab state in the area were somehow necessary, and ignoring the fact that any such state would obviously end up looking like Baathist Iraq or Islamic Iran. But I think that like almost everyone who "supports" the "Palestinians," Cockburn has a different agenda from the one he is ostensibly pursuing, and as usual I think the real agenda is a dark and vicious one.
Posted by: Marc at July 27, 2006 2:21 AM
Hugh wrote, "Zionism was always a noble, and madly poetic undertaking. All intelligent dreamers should have supported it from the start." I think that is exactly right. I have never been able to understand those who do not see it as such, or who (whatever position one might take on this or that historical fact, this or that action by one or the other side) did not think that their allegiance should be ultimately, deeply, unwaiveringly with the Jews and with Israel. Recently in Counterpunch, Alexander Cockburn mentioned "the dream of a Palestinian state," and I had literally no idea what he meant. Again, while disagreeing vehemently with him (actually, I'm not sure if it is possible to "disagree" with someone you hold in complete contempt) or with anyone about what, say, abstract justice requires, I just can't even imagine how someone could "dream" about such a thing -- as if one more Arab state in the area were somehow necessary, and ignoring the fact that any such state would obviously end up looking like Baathist Iraq or Islamic Iran. But I think that like almost everyone who "supports" the "Palestinians," Cockburn has a different agenda from the one he is ostensibly pursuing, and as usual I think the real agenda is a dark and vicious one.
Posted by: Marc at July 27, 2006 2:24 AM
Obviously I am an idiot when it comes to posting. I hope someone frm JW quickly deletes the redundant posts, and then this one, thus sparing me further shame. (Or as WFB might have said in another context, "delete your own damn redundant posts!"
Posted by: Marc at July 27, 2006 2:30 AM
Marc
Needn't be too hard on yourself. In future, hit 'Refresh' after you've posted the first time. It should work.
at July 27, 2006 2:50 AM
Great post, Hugh! If I see Samuel Katz anytime soon [I saw him receive an award about 1 1/2 year ago], I'll tell him that you recommended his book, Battleground. I'm sure he would be pleased.
InfidelPride, I can make a few suggestions of historians to read on Jewish history. Specifically on the Land of Israel:
Moshe Gil, Michael Avi-Yonah, and lastly Israel: People, Land, State, edited by Avigdor Shinan. The book has chapters on all the historical periods in Israel since very ancient times. Chapters are written by experts for each period respectively. The book was published in 2005 by Yad Ben Zvi in Jerusalem.
Jewish history generally:
Simon Dubnow [or Dubnov], Solomon Grayzel.
It's late and I can't recall other names although there are others. My blog too has a lot of info on the subject that you asked about with quotes from various authors and documents, etc.
Posted by: Eliyahu at July 27, 2006 2:51 PM
"If I see Samuel Katz anytime soon . . . ."?! I guess once I do the math I see that that is not so outrageous as it first seemed. Still, it sounds bit like saying "the next time I see Francis Marion" or "as I was saying to Light Horse Harry Lee the other night." Amazing. Tell him Battleground is on the shelves of every Borders and Barnes & Noble at least one california browser has visited.
And Eliyahu, as long as I am on the topic, and I hope you will forgive he question, what is it with the disressingly poor quality of Isreli bookstores? When I visited my son a year or so ago, he took me to a number of Steimatzkys in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and some little town just east of Haifa I forget the name. Not just a relatively poor selection, but politically it was all Tom Segev and points east. Of course I was only looking at their selection in English, but still I washoping for something better. Where should I go on my next trip?
at July 28, 2006 2:03 AM
InfidelPride:
IMHO Paul Johnson 'History of the Jews' is the best one volume history I've seen.
at July 28, 2006 1:35 PM
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