From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu Apr 18 2002 - 11:39:23 MDT
>From: David Lubkin <extropy@unreasonable.com>
>>Brian D Williams wrote:
>>The real fact of the matter is that the other Arab countries
>>ordered them to leave so they could attack Israel. They were told
>>any Arabs found living there would be considered traitors. They
>>also promised that they could keep the Israelis property after
>>they were destroyed. Didn't work out that way...
>In high school in Israel, I was taught this version of history as
>well. This may have occurred to some extent, but there are now
>revisionist histories that argue that there is credible evidence
>that Jewish Palestinians in the Haganah and later, Zahal, did
>violently "encourage" Arabs to leave their homes during the 1948
>establishment of Israel.
The book I mentioned earlier goes into this at considerable length.
There were Israelis who opposed (and still do) partioning of what
they see as the Jewish holy land, the Irgun and Sternists for
example. it talks about actions of the Haganah as well. Still, the
vast majority did leave at the Arabs urging however.
Israel took steps to encourage the Arabs to stay, the Assembly of
Palestine Jewry issued an appeal on Oct 2, 1947 and the
proclamation of independence issued May 14, 1948 invited the
Palestinians to remain and become equal citizens. Almost 190,000
did.
A British police report dated April 26: "every effort is being made
by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with
their normal lives" This at a time when the British were at odds
with the Jews in Israel.
There is considerable outside evidence that things happened this
way. The Arabs were blunt in taking credit for the war:
Jamal Husseini told the security council April 16 1948: "The
representative of the Jewish Agency told us yesterday that they
were not the attackers, that the Arabs had begun the fighting. We
did not deny this. We told the whole world we were going to fight."
In his memoirs Haled al Azm the Syrian Prime Minister in 1948-49
noted: "Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of refugees to
their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to
leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave and
our appeal to the United Nations to resolve on their return."
>If this is true, I don't have a problem with it.
Necessities of war, they did forcibly evacuate some towns, Lydda
and Ramle along the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway and Biram along the
Lebanon border.
>First, one could argue that it was a pre-emptive strike to
>increase the likelihood of Israel surviving an imminent massive
>attack that, in hindsight, might have made the difference,
>considering how under-armed Israel was and how close it was to
>losing at various points in the war.
The facts back this up.
>Second, war is always ugly and no state I know of has ever been
>peaceably established. I'm fine if you want to rage against all
>states. But in a scale of state offenses, Israel's rank fairly
>low, even compared with events in America's history (like the
>near-genocide of American Indians, which included deliberate
>biological warfare).
It is important to note that had the compromise been accepted by
the Arabs, no Palestinian would ever have been displaced. The two
nations might have grown up together in peace.
>For eighty years Israel (and the predecessor Jewish community) has
>been regularly pilloried for alleged misdeeds that are dwarfed by
>Arab behavior against Israel, Jews, other Arab states, or their
>own people. Every one of the states that has attacked Israel have
>outrageous barbarities in their recent past. Why is there a
>double standard?
I think in some cases it is anti-semitism, others merely anti-
Israeli-ism, and in some cases merely misguided understanding of
how it all came about. Maybe a little bit of common compassion,
although somewhat misunderstood, for the downtrodden.
>Lastly, I am a fervent libertarian (and wannabe but unconvinced
>Friedman anarchist). But I do live in the real world, where
>states exist, decisions must be made, and honorable people can
>reach different conclusions than I do.
I think the most important part is putting an end to the terrorism
so that negotiations can begin.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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