Refutation of ANON

To ICJS Members and friends greetings from Israel.

I felt compelled to respond to the piece posted on the ICJS website by one "Anon" in response to receiving an article by Shmuel Katz titled "Palestinian State will not bring Peace".

I assume the writer's identity was protected by ICJS moderators rather than the author declining to have it published. .

Anon's response to the Katz does not in any way address the central issue of Katz's article but employs that oft seen left wing strategy of trotting out old well worn fables about Israeli terrorism, Israeli domination over the indigenous Arab population and Israel's responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian refugee population.

The Katz article highlights two fundamental issues overlooked by those wishing to make peace magically descend upon us here in this troubled part of the world I call home.

The first is the deep and longstanding antipathy of the Arabs toward the Jews. This has been consistently and unequivocally demonstrated for over a century by the majority of Arabs. They demonstrate an inability to tolerate Jews in their midst not only by the various instances of pogroms on communities of Jews some of whom lived in this land from the time of the Temple but also by the expulsion of 800,000 Jews from 10 Arab countries following the establishment of the state of Israel. The Sinai peninsula had to be returned to Egypt cleansed of Jews and it is true now of Gaza and Judea and Samaria. However, Arabs are prepared to live among us in Israel, participate in the running of the country and avail themselves of the services provided to all Israelis. And they call us an apartheid state!

The second point Katz makes is that all the wars fought by Israel since 1948 were against the neighbouring Arab states and not against the Palestinians.

Following the 1967 defensive war won by Israel the Palestinians struck a PR jackpot. They particularized the struggle between the Arab states and Israel to a struggle by the poor put-upon Palestinians who are "occupied," "victimized", "humiliated" by this superior force. They successfully and with the assistance and ongoing complicity of their Arab brethren, cast themselves in the eyes of the world, in the role of victim. The Arab states cynically and successfully exploited the Palestinians' situation to continue to batter Israel in the hope of attaining their goal – a Jew free Middle East. The hapless Palestinians are their tool.

In fact there was never a Palestinian country, language, national or ethnic unique entity. Palestinians suddenly materialized after 1967. Prior to 1948 thethe inhabitants of Palestine were under British mandate and before that under ottoman rule for 150 years.

There were a small number of people who had lived and worked the land for centuries, there were nomadic Bedouin tribes and there were immigrants from surrounding countries who came in the wake of the aliyot to improve their lives.

Anon writes: "Is there any country or race who have lived in one place for umpteenth generations that would be happy without any elections or say in the matter to suddenly be under a government that they had not elected. I don't see any democracy there do you?"

This is utter nonsense. There never was a government in Palestine, they never had elections and when the Peel Report 1937 offered to split the remaining 20% of what was left of mandated Palestine (80% had already been given to the Palestinians and was known as Transjordan) between the Jews and Arabs, the Jews agreed and the Arabs refused. They opposed it on the grounds that it was preferable to hand all the territory to the rule of the Imperialistic Syrian Pasha than have a Jewish presence.

The Arabs again rejected the UN partition plan of 1947 thinking they could have it all. The Jews agreed. In 1967 when Israel wanted to barter land for peace they were met with the 3 No's in Khartoum, no peace, no negotiations and no recognition of Israel.

Anon also writes of the terrorism of the Jews against the British. The Jews did not target innocent women and children and they gave forewarning to the British to enable them to evacuate buildings before they were blown up.

The third issue favoured by the left when discussing Israel is the forced flight of the Arabs in 1948. They had been encouraged by the Yishuv to stay and join with the Jews in building the country. Those who chose to stay now live far better lives in Israel than they would in any Arab country. There were no doubt instances in 1948 where Arabs were strongly encouraged by Jews to leave their homes and villages, particularly in strategic places.

It was Haj Amin al Husseini the grand mufti of Jerusalem, anti semite extraordinaire, with his virulent religious and racial hatred of Jews and his desire to impose his own version of the Nazi final solution, who encouraged his people to leave their homes and villages. He assured them of a triumphant return after the Jews were destroyed.

This brings me to the present and the situation here in Israel which prompted the article by Shmuel Katz.

A confidential memo written recently by Mahood al-Zahar hamas leader in Gaza stated they saw "Sharon's unilateral withdrawal as a capitulation to terror" and hamas is planning to "continue its armed struggle against the Jewish state until all territories are in Palestinian hands".

Many Israelis have a very real fear that Gaza and the evacuated territories of Judea and Samaria will become our own syndicated neighbourhood terror state with representation from every terror group in the world.

At this time, Hizballah in Lebanon and Islamic jihad in Damascus are busily funneling weapons into Gaza for the Palestinians to use in their next round. Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz this week said that the Palestinians aided by the PA police, had managed to smuggle shoulder held strella ground to air missiles into Gaza with a range of 3 km. If transferred to the west bank with its proximity to the airport, they are capable of bringing down a passenger plane arriving or leaving Ben Gurion Airport.

I would strongly recommend that Anon read some of the many authoritative works on the history of the Israel Palestinian conflict such as Benny Morris "Righteous Victims" New York Vintage Books or Alan Dershowitz " The Case for Israel" published by Wiley.