Brief facts on the Israeli Conflict Today:
It makes sense and it's
not slanted. Jew and non-Jew, it doesn't matter.
Nationhood and
Jerusalem
Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the
rise of Islam. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves
as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of
the modern State of Israel.
Since the Jewish conquest in 1272, B.C.E.,
the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with continuous
presence in the land for the past 3,300 years. The only Arab dominion
since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years. For over
3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the
capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied
Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not
come to visit.
Jerusalem us mentioned 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish
Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. King
David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward
Jerusalem.
Arab and Jewish Refugees.
In 1948, the Arab refugees
were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of
Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever having seen an Israeli
soldier. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to
Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms. The number of Arab refugees who
left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish
refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same. Arab refugees were
intentionally not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled,
despite the cast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War
II, theirs is the only refugee group in the whole world that has never been
absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were
completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the State of New
Jersey.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Arabs are represented by
eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish
nation. The Arab nations initiated five wars and lost. Israel
defended itself each of those times and won. The PLO's charter still calls
for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the
Palestinians most of the West Bank land. autonomy under the Palestinian
Authority and has supplied them with weapons. Under the Jordanian rule,
Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of
worship. Under Israeli rule all Muslim and Christian sites have been
preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
The UN Record on
Israel bad the Arabs Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before
1990, 97 were directed against Israel. Of the 690 General Assembly
resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel. The UN
was silent when 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
The UN was silent while Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish
cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The UN was silent while the Jordanians
enforced the apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the
Temple Mount and the Wetter Wall.
These are incredible times. We
have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren we did
when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a
difference?
Start now and send this to twenty others. Jew and
non-Jew, it doesn't matter. The truth and the cause of Peace are universal
values we all share.