The area now called Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan has a long history of being ruled by many different kingdoms – including ancient Israel and Judah. The area was ruled by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire from 1516 until the end of World War 1. (The Turks had sided with the Germans). The entire area was known as “Ottoman Syria.”
The Partition
After the war, in 1920, the League of Nations created the “Mandate for Palestine” which assigned temporary administration responsibilities over the area to Britain. Britain created a separate administrative area for the 77% of Mandate land that was east of the Jordan river. They called this area “Transjordan.” Jordan became an independent state in 1946 when the British turned the land over to King Abdullah.
In November 1947, the United Nations passed a “Partition Plan” for the remaining 33% of Palestine. This plan was to create separate Jewish and Arab states with Jerusalem to be administered as a trustee of the UN.
The British Mandate was announced to end on May 15, 1948. On May 14th, 1948, the Jewish community (the Yeshuv) issued the “Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel.” On the 15th, at 11 minutes after midnight, the United States was the first country to officially recognize the new State of Israel. More countries followed. Israel was admitted to the United Nations on May 11, 1949.
It is important to note that before this time, the word “Palestinian” was often used to describe a Jewish person who lived in Palestine. After the formation of the country of Israel, the Jews began to refer to themselves as “Israeli,” meaning “citizen of the country of Israel.” It is also important to note that there are also Muslim and Christian Israelis. Israel is a democratic country with religious freedom.
The missing Arab state
So what happened to the formation of an Arab state in Palestine?
The Arab nations objected to the 1947 UN Partition Plan. They insisted that the entire land of Palestine should be an Arab State. So while the Jews declared their independence, set up a government, got that government recognized by other countries, and joined the United Nations, the Arabs just complained (and repeatedly attacked Israel).
The UN turned the remaining stateless land over to Egypt and Jordan to administer – Egypt over Gaza, and Jordan over the West Bank. The Arabs in the West Bank became citizens of Jordan. Egypt did not offer citizenship to the residents of Gaza. Jordan quickly destroyed or desecrated 58 synagogues in their new territory and expelled all the Jews from East Jerusalem.
Palestinian terror groups
In 1959, the militant group Fatah was founded. Fatah was designated as a terrorist group by both Israel and the United States until they renounced terrorism in 1988.
On May 28, 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded. Their founding document (later revised in agreement with the 1996 Oslo Accords) demanded that the state of Israel be eliminated. Fatah joined the PLO in 1967, and was given 33 of the PLO Executive Committee’s 105 seats. Fatah’s Yasser Arafat become the Chairman of the PLO in 1967.
The PLO claimed to be the “sole and legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people. The general use of the name “Palestinian” to describe the Arab people of the West Bank and Gaza didn’t really begin until then (mid-1960s). The first non-Arab state to recognize the PLO as the “sole and legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people was India in 1974.
Hamas was founded on December 10, 1987 as a violent breakoff group from the Muslim Brotherhood. Nine countries and the European Union consider Hamas to be terrorist group. Hamas has never recognized Israel’s right to exist.
In 2005, Israel withdrew all settlers and military forces from Gaza. This was done to allow Palestinian self-government in Gaza. Instead, of working to improve their condition, the Gazans fought amongst themselves.
In 2007 Hamas violently took control of the Gaza strip from their rivel Fatah. Representatives of Fatah, and of the Palestinian Authority, fled Gaza, leaving it in the hands of the terrorist group. As is well-documented, Hamas set to work digging tunnels and militarizing Gaza in such a way as to make it’s citizens into “human shields” to protect the terrorists.
Since then, both Israel and Egypt have blockaded Gaza to try to prevent weapons from being smuggled in. Nevertheless, Hamas managed to launch thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza over the next 17 years.
The “refugees”
When Israel defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan in the 1967 “Six-Day” War, Israel took control of the Sinai peninsula (Egypt), the Golan Heights (Syria), and the West Bank (Jordan). The Sinai was returned to Egypt in 1982 as a result of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty. Jordan gave up their claim to the West Bank in 1988 and stripped the West Bank Palestinians of their Jordanian citizenship – thus rendering them stateless.
This means that the West Bank Palestinians, if they are to be considered “refugees” at all, are “refugees” from Jordan, an Arab country that abandoned them, not refugees from Israel, where almost none of them have ever lived.
Persecuting the Palestinians
History shows that the worst persecutors of the stateless people now known as “Palestinians” are, and have always been, the Muslim countries, and the Palestinian’s own leaders in the PLO and Hamas. These Palestinian “leaders” are living in luxury outside of Palestine, while inciting their people towards repeated acts of violence against Israel.
When Israel defends itself, these ghouls then skillfully use the inevitable wartime suffering of their own people as a propaganda tool to attract political sympathy, and money, to themselves.
Author’s note: Regular readers of this blog know that I usually accompany my posts with a detailed source list. Very few of my readers actually click on any of the links I provide. This post is a short summary of the history that I learned by reading a number of books and online sources. Anyone seeking a quick confirmation of the basic dates and facts I have included above can find them on Wikipedia. The personal conclusions I draw from these facts are all in the last three paragraphs.
Very informative summary. Thanks.