I wanted to express some of my personal thoughts after hearing the most articulate Palestinian woman in the last class.

 

First of all, my primary point is that while I will spend my efforts challenging many of the statements that this woman made, I feel that the most productive way to improve Arab-Israeli relations is to focus on changing the current inequities rather than focusing on the past. That is, both sides have very biased memories which inhibit meaningful prospects for resolving outstanding differences.

 

Last week, the spokesman said that Israel was a creation of the West. In fact, Israel was created by a vote of the United Nations, 33- 13. The vote was affirmed by countries all over the world—Guatemala, Australia, Liberia, Venezuela, New Zealand, etc.  In contrast of the 13 countries, that voted against Israel only Greece, Cuba, and India did not have a majority of Moslems. 

 

There has been much discussion of the percentage of land given to the Jews given their population. The Jewish state received 55% of Mandatory Palestine. In the north Israel got three fertile lowland plains, but this land was largely uninhabitable before 1900 due to silting caused by deforestation. Jewish settlers dried up swamps, cultivated and irrigated the land, which had gone largely unnoticed and barren for centuries.

 

The bulk of the proposed Jewish State’s territory consisted of the Negev Desert. The desert was not suitable for agriculture, nor for urban development at that time. The Jewish state was given sole access to the Red Sea and the Sea of Galilee.

 

Last week’s spokesman commented the small number of Jews in Palestine and therefore the unfair allocation of Palestine. First of all, the land for the most part was either improved by the Jews are was desert. Secondly, Jewish immigration to Palestine was thwarted by Arabs, especially after 1920. The Arab intransigence had disastrous repercussions for Jews of Europe in the 1930’s. In fact, one could argue that the inability of Jews to effectively leave Europe made them vulnerable to the Holocaust. Stated differently, Jewish population in Israel would have been multiples of their 600,000 population as of 1948 if the Arabs would have allowed Jewish immigration.

 

Last week’s spokesman spoke that the Jewish problem was a “Western” problem and not a function of Arab actions. However, this is not historically correct. Specifically, Arabs were for the most part supported of the Nazis during World War II. Moreover, if the Arabs could have militarily prevailed in the 1920s, 1930s, or in the 1948, their policy would have led to an annihilation of the Jewish population of Palestine. Arab leaders in exhorting their populace constantly used phrases such as “Drive the Jews into the Sea” which is a thinly veiled euphemism for massive annihilation. Interestingly enough, George Marshall, who was the senior commander of our Armed Services during World War II, predicted in 1948 that Jewish annihilation by the Arabs was just a matter of mathematical calculation. Stated differently, most military experts predicted that the Arab population advantage over the Jews of 100 to 1 would lead to a Jewish massacre.

 

Last week’s spokesman said that Palestinians favor the recognition of Israel if Israel returns to the 1967 borders and secondly readmits Palestinians back into Israel. While Israel has in the past shown flexibility on borders, the issue of readmitting Palestinians back into Israel is non-negotiable. Palestinians would be a fifth column within Israel and last week’s speaker knows that it would be unrealistic to expect Israel to allow these people to return.

 

While we should all be morally sensitive to the plight of Palestinians who have lived in refugee camps since 1948, we should understand that the Palestinians plight is unique relative to other groups who were forced to move following World War II. For example millions of Germans were forcibly evacuated from Poland and Czechoslovakia after World War II. Close to 800,000 Jews were forced out of Moslem lands in the late 1940’s. I am referring to their expulsion from Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, etc. For the most part, these Jews resettled in Israel. Israel does not demand that these Jews be economically compensated for their forcible deportation. In a nutshell, the unwillingness of Arab countries to allow their Palestinian population to lead normal lives has contributed to the horrendous hardship of the Palestinians. It is a human tragedy that 60 years following the creation of the State that unlike other displaced peoples the Palestinians have been combined to refugee camps.