http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0109/reisman011309.php3
Jan. 13, 2009
What Arab propagandists don't want you to know about Gaza
By Lawrence M. Reisman
The January 8 edition of The New York Times contained a provocative op-ed
article by Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi entitled "What You
Don't Know About Gaza." It presumes to inform its readers of "a few
essential points that seem to be missing" from the public knowledge of the
recent conflicts in Gaza. Several observers have already noted that
Professor Khalidi has played with the facts, even to the point of offering
outright falsehoods. WWW.CAMERA.ORG has two beautiful articles refuting the
good professor. However, missing from his "few essential points" are some
other facts which would illuminate the public's knowledge of Gaza and what
has been going on.
About the Gazans, Professor Khalidi writes that "Most of the people living
in Gaza are not there by choice," that they are the descendants of those who
lived outside of Gaza and were driven there "by the Israeli Army in 1948."
Whether they were expelled from their homes by the Israeli Army, the fled
from the fighting, or they left at the urging of Arab leaders is a question
that will be debated for years to come. However, the fact that they were
kept in Gaza for the past 60 years is due to the Arab regimes that have
ruled Israel's neighbors since 1948.
In the wake of Israel's War of Independence, the United Nations was ready to
resettle all the Palestinian refugees in other countries. This would have
been similar to the exchange of Greeks and Turks after World War I or the
exchange between Hindus, Moslems, and Sikhs in the wake of India's
independence from Great Britain and the creation of Pakistan. Initially,
Syria, was planning to resettle Palestinian refugees in its northern
regions. Palestinians, whenever they have been able to leave their refugee
camps, have thrived and made a positive contribution to their new places of
residence. The current prosperity of the Gulf States would not have been
possible without the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have gone there.
So why haven't the Palestinian refugees been resettled? Because the Arab
states have insisted on their repatriation in what is now Israel. The Arab
states have been the force keeping them in their camps and in their misery,
so they could be used as a weapon against Israel. In 1958, former UNRWA
director Ralph Galloway declared that "The Arab States do not want to solve
the refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront to
the United Nations, and as a weapon against Israel." In 1960, King Hussein
of Jordan accused the Arab countries of using the Palestinian people for
selfish political purposes. Note that both these statements were made prior
to Israel's occupation of Gaza in 1967. (1)
About the occupation of Gaza, Professor Khalidi writes that "The Gazans have
lived under Israeli occupation since the Six Day War of 1967. Israel is
still considered to be an occupying power even though it removed its troops
and settlers from the strip in 2005. ... As the occupying power, Israel has
the responsibility under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the welfare
of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip." I leave it to others to
answer the professor as to what extent Israel still "occupies" Gaza. CAMERA
has done so quite well, and I urge the reader to consult them. But still,
given the historical context of the occupation, there is more that has to be
said.
Reading Professor Khalidi, one would think that the occupation of Gaza began
in 1967, but it did not. It began in 1948, when Egypt occupied lands that
the UN intended for a Palestinian Arab state and in effect annexed them.
When Israel took Gaza in 1967, it became a successor occupier, and it is
therefore important to examine its record in comparison with the Egyptians.
At the height of the first intifada, Time Magazine noted that Gaza "in 1967
was one of the most underdeveloped swatches of land in the world." (2)
Israel took over a region that had an unemployment rate of 60%, an average
life expectancy of 48, an infant mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births.
No more than 20% of the population had electricity, 14% had running water,
and per capita income was $100 per year.
In 1988, Time was able to write that "half of Gaza's residents have running
water, compared with 14% two decades ago. Nearly 80% own refrigerators and
television sets, up from 3%. Per capita income rose in the West Bank from
$300 in 1968 to $1,400 today, and in Gaza from $100 to about $1,000." By
2002, the Israeli occupation had resulted in even more progress in both the
West Bank and Gaza. Per capita income had risen to $1,715, infant mortality
had decreased to 15 per 1,000 live births, life expectancy had risen to 72,
and Israeli-originated vaccination programs had virtually eradicated polio,
whooping cough, tetanus, and measles. 90% of all home had electricity, while
85% had running water. During the Israeli occupation, the first universities
in Gaza were established, while the percentage of children in schools rose
far out of proportion to the increase in population.(3)
One would think that Israel, far more than Egypt, complied with the
responsibilities imposed under the Fourth Geneva Convention to see to the
welfare of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. However, the
Palestinians seem to think otherwise. As PLO spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi put
it, "Those of us who came under Israeli occupation in 1967 have languished
in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip under a unique combination
of military occupation, settler colonization, and systematic oppression.
Rarely has the human mind devised such varied, diverse, and comprehensive
means of wholesale brutalization and persecution."(4)
I'm not surprised by the Palestinian mindset. One need not have been an
admirer of Meir Kahane to see some truth in his comment that toilets cannot
buy loyalty or gratitude. Nor do I deny the Gaza Palestinians the right to
decide for themselves which occupation, Egypt's or Israel's, was more
oppressive or which one more brutal.
Certainly the universal Palestinian tendency to demonize the Israelis should
come to no surprise. In the pre-state era, Arab League Musa Alami said of
Palestine and the Jews, "I would prefer that the country remain impoverished
and barren for another hundred years, until we ourselves are able to develop
it on our own." (5) However, the readers of The New York Times should be
allowed to see the Israeli occupation in its entirety and judge for
themselves just how oppressive it has been.
There is, however, one more thing about the Israeli occupation that The
Times's readers should keep in mind, and that is that Israel never intended
to occupy Gaza for all time. Immediately after the 6 Day War, Israel
announced its intentions to return all occupied territories in exchange for
recognition and peace negotiations. In the face of Arab intransigence,
Israel held on to the West Bank and Gaza. When negotiations finally came
with Egypt in 1979, Israel tried to hand back Gaza along with the Sinai, but
Egypt didn't want it back. At that point the only candidate to take Gaza was
the PLO, still openly dedicated to Israel's destruction. When the Oslo
process finally started, Israel couldn't wait to return Gaza to Arab
administration, and indeed, by 2002, 90% of its inhabitants lived under PA
jurisdiction.
With regard to what Professor Khalidi has said about the cease fire and
about "war crimes" has been answered adequately elsewhere. With regard to
Israeli attacks on civilians, even the Times is reporting, without
embellishment, how Hamas is placing its military installations near
hospitals, schools, and residences. The reader will learn how Hamas has
taught the civilian population to climb to the roofs of apartment buildings
which contain military targets to shield them. However, I would call
attention to Professor Khalidi's final paragraph:
This war on the people of Gaza isn't really about rockets. Nor is it
about "restoring Israel's deterrence," as the Israeli press might have you
believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli
Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: "The Palestinians must be made to
understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a
defeated people.
There is a valid question as to whether Moshe Yaalon said what he is quoted
as saying. Again, the reader is advised to consult the CAMERA web site.
However, the readers of The New York Times must be reminded of what this war
is about from the viewpoint of the Palestinians. If you ask them, they will
say it's about "ending the occupation." I will not quibble with that goal.
All I ask is that you consider how they define "the occupation" - what is
being occupied and who is doing the occupying. It is plain and open for
everyone to see. You can find it stated in the textbooks used in Palestinian
schools. It's set out in the curricula of the Palestinian Universities
established under Israeli occupation. It's their in the media, and in PA and
Hamas publications. To the Palestinian, the occupation is not just about the
West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. It's about West Jerusalem, Galilee, the
Coastal Plain, and the Negev. It's Beersheva and Tel Aviv as much as it's
Hebron and Nablus. And the occupier is not the State of Israel. The occupier
is every Jew who lives in what was once the British Mandate of Palestine.
This is the occupation they seek to end. And the readers of The New York
Times should not ignore that fact.
1. Both quoted in Joan Peters From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the
Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine, chapter 1.
2. Time Magazine, June 25, 1988 edition
3. See Professor Ephraim Karsh's "What Occupation?" in Commentary,
July-August, 2002
4. Quoted by Karsh, ibid.
5. Quoted in Bennny Morris, 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War, page 15
------------------------------------
--------------------------
Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list,
[email protected].
--------------------------
Brooks Isoldi, editor
[email protected]
http://www.intellnet.org
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe: [email protected]
Unsubscribe: [email protected]
*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has
not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of
The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT
YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of
intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods,
techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other
intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes
only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use
this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,'
you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
