November 2011 NEWSLETTER
From mandate to independent state
Years of gross injustice, loss of life and territory in Palestine
In the Balfour Declaration in1917, Britain pledged support for the establishment of a “Jewish National Home in Palestine”─a territory that included an area the size of today’s Israel and Jordan. The San Remo 1920 Conference Resolution guaranteed Jewish rights in the entire Palestine that came to be known as the British Mandate of Palestine (till 1948). However, in 1922 Britain already separated the Mandate of Palestine so that only the narrow western side of the Mandate was left for Jews. The large eastern side was designated for Arabs and no Jew was allowed to settle in the Arab side. No restrictions were imposed on Arabs living or settling in the Jewish side!
Separating the Mandate portions did not satisfy the Arabs, and they continued opposing Jews’ efforts to rebuild their ancestral home. Hatred toward Jews erupted in periods of intense violence in 1920, 1921, 1929 (Hebron Jews massacred) and again with the 1936 riots. Fields and forests were set on fire and unprovoked attacks were launched against Jewish population centers and individuals. All attempts to reach a dialogue with the Arabs failed. To resolve the situation, the British recommended a further partition (1937), to divide the Jewish side of the British Mandate of Palestine into two countries, one Jewish and one Arab. (In 1922, Britain had separated the original Jewish National Home into Jewish and Arab sides.) The Jewish leadership accepted the 1937 proposed plan but Arabs were uncompromisingly opposed to any partition.
Continuing large-scale Arab riots led Britain to issue a White Paper in May 1939, imposing drastic restrictions on Jewish immigration, despite its consequence of denying European Jewry a place of refuge from Nazi persecution. This policy caused David Ben-Gurion, later Israel’s first prime minister, to declare after the start of WWII, “We will fight the war as if there were no White Paper, and the White Paper as if there were no war.” During WWII (1939–1945), the Nazi regime deliberately and systematically carried out a master plan to liquidate the European Jews. Only a few managed to escape. After the war, the British intensified their restrictions on the number of Jews permitted to come and settle in Palestine. The Jewish community responded by instituting a wide underground network and managed to bring tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors to Palestine. As a measure of their own, the British then set up a naval blockade and border patrols to intercept Jewish refugees, and those who were caught were taken to detention camps in Cyprus.
Britain’s inability to reconcile the conflict in the Mandate of Palestine led the British government to request, in April 1947, that the “Question of Palestine” be placed on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. Subsequently, the Assembly voted on November 29, 1947, to adopt the recommendations to establish two states on the Jewish side of the Mandate, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish community accepted the UN Partition Plan for Palestine (resolution 181). Arabs , supported by the Arab League, rejected it . Therefore, the 1947 partition plan was never implemented. Britain accepted the plan but refused to enforce it, arguing that it was not acceptable to both sides.
The passing of the UN resolution marked the start of the 1947-1948 Civil War in the Mandatory Palestine. Local Arabs, aided by forces from neighboring Arab countries such as Jordan, launched violent attacks against the Jewish communities in an effort to frustrate the partition resolution and prevent the establishment of the Jewish state. Then, in September 1947, before any plan for a smooth transition of power had been formed, the British government unilaterally announced that the Mandate for Palestine would end on May 14, 1948. Turn over
“There has never been a sovereign Arab state in Palestine─the area between the Jordan Independence regained River and the Mediterranean Sea”
During their withdrawal, the British refused to hand over territory or authority to any successor. On May 14, 1948, the day that Britain had announced it would end the Mandate, and the day when the last high commissioner left the territory, the Jewish community in Palestine published a Declaration of Independence in Tel Aviv, announcing the creation of the State of Israel.
On the following day, May 15, most of the remaining British troops departed. And on the same day, five Arab armies (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq) crossed the borders of what had formerly been the Mandate of Palestine. This event marked the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israel War, or the War of Independence. Israel was now forced to defend the sovereignty it had regained in its ancestral homeland and which had been recognized by the international community at the UN. Fighting lasted for 15 months, claiming over 6,000 Jewish lives out of 600,000.
During the first few months of 1949, direct negotiations were conducted under UN auspices between Israel and each of the invading countries (except Iraq), resulting in armistice agreements which reflected the situation at the end of the fighting. Accordingly, the coastal plain, Galilee and the entire Negev were within Israel’s sovereignty, Judea and Samaria came under Jordanian rule, the Gaza Strip under Egyptian administration and the city of Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern part, including the Old City, and Israel the western sector.
(Resources: Give Peace A Chance–video documentary, Facts about Israel–Israel Information Center, and UN Partition Plan for Palestine-Wikipedia.org. The December 2011 Israelnews will focus on the years of the Six-Day War, Yom Kippur War and the beginning of the land-for-peace negotiations called the” Peace Process” in Madrid, Spain.)
Foundation for the Jewish State…
Theodor (Benjamin Ze’ev) Herzl’s famous statement from 1897 in Bazel, Switzerland. In his fist booklet, “The Jewish State,” Herzl developed the idea of re-establishing the Jewish State in their ancestral homeland as a modern solution for the Jewish question. A Palestinian state now has a good chance of becoming a rogue state, the kind of polity the United States is currently grappling with in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.
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The artificiality of a Palestinian identity is reflected in the attitudes and actions of neighboring Arab nations who never established a Palestinian state themselves.
The rhetoric by Arab leaders on behalf of the Palestinians rings hollow. Arabs in neighboring states, who control 99.9 percent of the Middle East land, have never recognized a Palestinian entity. They have always considered Palestine and its inhabitants a part of the great “Arab nation,” and historically and politically, as an integral part of Greater Syria-Syriyya al-Kubra, a designation that extended to both sides of the Jordan River. In the 1950s, Jordan simply annexed the West Bank since the population there was viewed as the brethren of the Jordanians.
The Arabs never established a Palestinian state when the UN in 1947 recommended to partition [the Mandate of] Palestine and to establish “an Arab and a Jewish state” [not a Palestinian state, it should be noted]. Nor did the Arabs recognize or establish a Palestinian state during 19 years prior to the Six-Day War when Judea and Samaria, known also as the West bank, were under Jordanian control and the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian control; nor did the Palestinian Arabs themselves clamor for autonomy or independence during those years under Jordanian and Egyptian rule.
And as for Jerusalem: Only twice in the city’s history has it served as a national capital. First as the capital of the two Jewish Commonwealths during the First and Second Temple periods, as described in the Bible, reinforced by archaeological evidence and numerous ancient documents.
And again, in modern times, as the capital of the State of Israel. It has never served as an Arab capital for the simple reason that there has never been a Palestinian Arab state.
According to investigative journalist Joan Peters, who spent seven years researching the origin of the Arab-Jewish conflict over Palestine (From Time Immemorial, 2001) the one identity that was never considered by local inhabitants prior to the 1967 war was “Arab Palestinian.”
(Resource: Eli E. Hertz, President of Myths and Facts Inc, New York City. Mr. Hertz is involved in the U.S.–Israel relations such as CAMERA and AIPAC and publishes books and articles regarding Israel and the Arab-Israel conflict.)
When you pray, say… (Luke 11:2a)
Israel’s Jewish identity in question
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asserted that no true peace could be made (in the Israel-Palestinian conflict) until officials in Ramallah (PA’s headquarters) accepted Israel’s essential Jewish identity, and also, the existence of the State of Israel. According to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the idea of a Jewish state is a “silly” idea because there are over 1 ½ million Arabs in Israel. This is President Sarkozy today. As recently as in September, he presented himself as a staunch ally of Israel.
PRAY strength for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold up God’s plan for Israel.
U.S. Congress blocks funds to PA
The Congress has blocked nearly $200 million in aid to the PA in response to their UN statehood request in September. In addition, the Obama Administration is unable to commit further funding to the PA unless Congress is persuaded to lift the freeze. Rep. Gary Ackerman, member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, said on October 3, that “there may need to be a total cutoff of all aid to the PA for pursuing this course of action [another Arab state] which is very dangerous and ill advised.”
PRAY that the Congress will hold their ground in matters concerning Israel and her enemies.
Turkey and Israel’s oil and gas operations
Turkey, under the current leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has now turned against Israel and is moving closer to the Islamic Brotherhood. It appears that Turkey wants to stop Israel’s offshore oil and gas operations, thereby robbing Israel of energy power status and substantial economic gains. Also, according to Pravda’s English language reports, Erdogan may want to re-establish the Ottoman Turkish Empire that ruled over 600 years, 1299–1923.
Pray for God’s protection for Israel’s natural resources and for survival in the hostile Middle East.
Drinkable sea water
For the past seven years, Israel and its surrounding countries have not had enough rain. Long periods of drought have forces the Israeli government to embark upon an ambitious program: to supply 80 percent of the nation’s domestic water needs through desalinated sea water by 2020. Today one of the world’s largest companies specializing in sea water desalination, the production of snow, thermal energy storage, deep mine cooling, district heating and water purification, is IDE Techologies Ltd.
Avshalom Felber, the president and the CEO, hopes that his company can ultimately take the regional water problem out of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
THANK the Lord for His unlimited resources to provide for His people.
Biblical Water Gate found
A large complex of ruins from the First Temple period was inaugurated during the summer in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park, right outside the Old City walls. It showcases one of the most complete excavations from the First Temple period, and the area is believed to be the Water Gate mentioned in the book of Nehemiah 8:1–3.
“And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the Law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and all the people were attentive to the book of the law.”
THANK the Lord God of Israel for another proof that Jews, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have dwelled in the land for thousands of years and are not outsiders from Europe and other regions.
November project: Gilad Shalit Release
Gilad Shalit comes home!
On October 18, 2011, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Gilad Shalit back to Israel at the Tel Nof Air Force base in Rehovot. A week earlier the Israeli cabinet had made a historic deal with Hamas to free the abducted soldier. Israel has agreed to release 1,027 terrorists from Israeli prisons in exchange for Shalit’s return. Many of the Israeli government ministers had been opposed to a deal that would include setting free high security prisoners; therefore, terrorists such as Marwan Bargouti and Abdullah Bargouti, who are serving 67 life sentences for murders in Israel, won’t be released. Also, the terrorist who assassinated the Israeli minister Rechavam Ze’evi in 2001 will stay in an Israeli prison.
Gilad Shalit (25), an Israeli and French national and an IDF staff sergeant, was captured in June 2006 by Hamas terrorists in a cross-border raid near Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel. Shalit was wounded and two of his fellow soldiers killed. Since then Hamas has kept him in captivity somewhere in the Gaza Strip. The only contacts between Shalit and the outside world have been three letters, an audio tape, and a short DVD of Shalit that Israel received in return for releasing 20 female Palestinian prisoners.
During the past five years, Israel has exhausted all possible diplomatic efforts and undertaken military rescues to find and free Shalit. The PA has offered no help. In 2007, the spokesman for the Hamas captors threatened that they had no problem keeping him in captivity for years, as they have. August 25, 2011, marked six years of Shalit’s captivity.
Please join us to lease join us to bless and encourage the Shalit family by replying to this November appeal. 
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