by Kelp on Tue Apr 22, 2003 8:40 am
[s]Unregisted User history buff wrote on 18:17, 21st Apr 2003:
In the Six-Day War, Israel captured Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't capture these territories from Yasser Arafat. They captured them from Jordan's King Hussein. I can't help but wonder why all these Palestinians suddenly discovered their national identity after Israel won the war.
Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their homeland.
There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass.
I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites."
Not true. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem.
I realise I'm probably on a hiding to nothing here, but I've got better things to do, and so I'm going to waste some precious time disputing a few select assertions from your learned tract.
1) The Jordanian territory issue was dealt with a long time ago. The Jordanians do not, I believe, claim that they should have that land back from Israel, but that the occupied territories are Palestinian land. They 'discovered their national identity' at the point you identify because it was clear by that point that they were not going to be able to live properly under Israeli government, and King Hussein gave them the chance to do so under their own rule. So the West Bank is fundamentally theirs, since the Jordanians did not want to have to deal with the problem within the borders of their own state.
2) Whether 'Palestine' has ever existed as an autonomous nation state is irrelevant. Countless current nation states did not exist until very recently. What is the point is that the people who used to live in a geographical area known as Palestine, and who therefore describe themselves as Palestinians in the absense of any other identity, used, as I say, to live there. Why they should not be allowed to any more I'm not sure.
The British did, arguably, promise a place in Palestine to the Jewish people, just as they did, arguably promise a continued place in it to the Arabs. The definitely promised an independent Arab national state, which they failed to deliver. In any case, I'm not wholly sure that these promises can be used as justification for either point of view in a modern context.
3) The people of many nations share cultural links with their neighbours. This is no reason to move them over the border to live in lands with which the specific people being moved do not have a personal link.
4) As I understand the Koran, it is actually very short, and consequently many of the tenets held strongly by modern Islam are not specifically spelled out within it. Islam is significantly based on interpretation of it. Just because the Koran does not say "so-and-so" does not mean it is not important to the faith spiritually. Many significant aspects of Christianity were added to it long after the death of Jesus. This does not mean they have no right to be respected. But the point is, there Holy sites in Israel that are extremely important to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. That is incontrovertible.
Feel free to disagree, I'm sure you will.
One other point is that people seem to be casually referring to "Palestinians" killing Israeli civilians. This is misleading, as it implies an organised campaign by Palestinians in general, meaning all of them. Specific Palestinians have done so. Palestinians in general, the ones who run market stalls, or drive taxis, etc, are the ones who are victims of state organised retribution. This causes a cycle of violence. No state retribution against people not directly involved in a crime against that state = problem solved, as the incentive for a potentially radical minority to kill would no longer exist.
I'll go back to my essay now.