Purely Commentary
An Accumulation of Historic Facts
Proving Israel's Continuous Role in
Holy Land and Distortions by Antagonists
By Philip
Slomovitz
aided by Warsaw Pact troops, including the goose-stepping forces from while, asking only to be left in
East Germany, had come to Czechoslovakia at the behest of the peace. And it has declared before
patriotic and democratic citizens of that country to help put down a the world that it does not intend to
Israel's and Jewry's antagonists—men like Prof. Arnold Toynbee plot of "Zionist and imperialist bandits" from you know where. That is die—without a struggle, and to the
and his associates, Arab propagandists and those who seek to destroy what he said, and nobody believed him. Nobody? Not quite. Many com- last man. Perhaps there are some
the Jewish state—keep harping on the claim that Jews had driven rades who read the official party press believed him—or acted as if — on all sides of the political spec-
Arabs out of their land. It is the Jew who is the expansionist, the im- they did—which amount to the same thing. They being possessed of trum who would not feel too de-
perialist, and the Arab the one who has been robbed of his land: that's the veto, no censure was inflicted on the Russians, but, we are informed pressed by this outcome, but for
the propaganda line that may have hurt Israel as much as the refugee by the righteous reporter from Beirut, Israel has received "32 UN con- the Jews, perhaps for all of us, it
issue because of the hatred that has been fomented with such ideas. demnations," and still goes on its merry expansionist way. Gosh! No would be a tragedy. Says Eric
Hoffer:
The truth is that, in recorded history, Palestine was never ruled by respect for the UN at all!
"I have a premonition that will
an Arab government; that the Arab caliphates who ruled Palestine
Here a bit of Palestininan history is in order. There has been no
were foreign Moslem rulers who can claim 432 years of domination as "intervening ownership" of the land by an Arab state claiming hege- not leave me; as it goes with Is-
rael s o will it go with all of us.
compared with 2,000 years of Jewish rule.
mony over the land-mass known as Palestine from the beginning of his-
Should Israel perish the holocaust
torical times until the very recent past, that is, until the breakup of the
Here are the basic figures:
will be upon us."
Turkish
occupation
of
the
land
by
the
Allied
powers
after
World
War
I.
1350 BCE to 586 BCE
Israel Rule (biblical period)
What he meant, I think, is that
587 BCE to 538 BCE Never, at any time, except for about one hundred years during the Israel will be destroyed not by
Babylonian Conquest
Umayyad Caliphate (non-Mecca oriented) has any claim to an Arab
Israel Autonomy (under Persian and
Christians
but by Communists. And
538 BCE to 168 BCE hegemony been asserted by anyone over the land, especially that part if international communism can
Greco-Assyrian suzerainty)
168 BCE to 143 BCE of it now called Israel. Going back in time, the British mandatory accomplish this — and the world
Revolt of the Maccabeans
power ruled the land from 1918 to 1947; the Ottoman Turks occupied it
Rule of the Hasmoneans and their successors . 143 BCE to 70 CE
for four hundred years (with a slight Napoleonic interruption) from 1517 look on—it will soon be up with the
Jewish Autonomy (under Roman and
rest of us, that is those of us who
70 CE to 637 CE to 1917. Before that the land was ruled by marauding Mamelukes, the cherish freedom before anything
Byzantine !suzerainty)
637 CE to 1072 CE Seljuk Turks, the Crusaders (about two hundred years), the Abbasside else — including life. What be
Rule of Arab Caliphates
637 CE to 661 CE Caliphs and the Umayyads who occupied the land-mass of Palestine meant, finally, was that American
Mecca
k
661 CE to 750 CE after the Roman-Byzantine rule expired in 636 CE. All these occupa- interests in the Middle East can be
UmayyideS
750 CE to 870 CE tions—except the Umayyad—were directed from an outside center; best served by supporting Israel's
Abbasside
969 CE to 1071 CE from Rome or Mecca or Constantinople or London. Only in modern right to survival.
Fatimides
1072 CE to 1096 CE times—only with the UN partition resolution setting up an Arab state
Seljuks Rule
1099 CE to 1291 CE in Palestine west of the Jordan and a Jewish hegemony occupied by
Crusaders
1175 CE to 1291 CE Israel today (aside from the occupied territories since the June War
Ayynbids
One wonders whether the presen-
1291 CE to 1516 CE of 1967) can one speak of an Arab state in Palestine, the largest part
Mamelukes Rule
1516 CE to 1918 CE of which is made up of the Kingdom of Jordan, also a recent creation tation of these accumulated facts
Ottomans (Turks)
1918 CE to 1948 CE by the British during the time they occupied the territory. That the will accomplish anything in the
British Mandate
local Arab population refused to establish an independent state of its effort to dispel misunderstandings
Jews, in fact, never left the Holy Land. Even after the last destruc- own is nobody's fault—certainly not Israel's. That hundreds of thou- and to nail the lie regarding the
tion of the Temple and the exile of 1,900 years ago, Jews continued to sands preferred to leave Israeli Palestine (or were driven out; that is Arab possession of the territory
live in major Palestinian centers—Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias .
not at issue here) creating a serious problem is no reason to talk of that is the Land of Israel. But
Recently, as part of the Arab propaganda, the ultra-conservative Israel's appetite for "aggression," that will not be appeased until some every possible effort must be made
magazine National Review, edited by William F. Buckley, published a "neck-wringing" is resorted to. The facts are that the neighboring Arab to refute untruth.
And while dealing with untruths,
"Letter from Beirut" by Daniel daCruz in which the claim of illegal states, or rather Arabic-speaking states, sent their armies across
conquest of Palestine by Jews was again resorted to. One of the editors Israel's internationally established borders in an effort to destroy the let it be indicated again that
of Buckley's periodical, Max Geltman, has written a reply that is worth new-born nation—but the Israelis defeated them—all the five armies— the tragic refugee problem
in 1948 and so things stood until (with a passing adventure in 1956) is the creation of the Arabs, not
taking into account.
Egypt, bristling with Soviet armaments, thought to test its strength
Regardless of the political views of the rightist National Review, with Israel, and called for the destruction of the Hebrew nation, only the Jews; that the vast numbers
the fact is that it has published both sides of the Arab-Israel argument, to find itself and its Soviet-made armor shattered by superior Israeli of homeless commenced with a
much smaller number.
and Geltman's article is an expose of an untruth and an exaggeration.
Therefore his views must be taken into account and we present them force. Not by superior numbers, but by greater intelligence, leadership
The fact is that when Great Bri-
as a classic reply to a political untruth by those who claim that Israel and determination to survive. For survival was not vouchsafed them if tain assumed the mandate over
is an Arab country. Under the heading "The Open Question: The Israel Arab-Soviet arms had won the day. Yet the Jews in Israel persist in Palestine in 1918 there were 557,000
Haters," Geltman wrote: surviving, a fault the universal historian Arnold Toynbee cannot forgive Arabs in all of the country, includ-
them. And the Left—New and Old—rages with frustration since it ing Christians as well as Moslems.
demands identification with "liberation fronts"—any fronts of national The number of Arabs who fled
liberation—anywhere, any time. The fact that these receive instruc- from the newly - created Israel was
The Litani—"mark well the name," Daniel daCruz warns ("Letter tions from Cuba is enough to make Susan Sontag's heart leap with joy;
587,300.
the further fact that many Arab commandos are Viet Cong-trained
In 1947, in what was then Pale-
from Beirut," NR, April 8)—"may be the Sarajevo of World War III." makes the anti-America and anti-Israel identity even sweeter.
stine and is now Israel, there
Now, in truth, it may be, but just as likely may the Rio Grande. For,
If
Lebanon
is
a
free
nation
today,
it
is
due
to
the
fact
that
Egyptian
were
747,300 Arabs, and the Arabs
in fact, there are about as many Americans who want to annex Mexico
as there are Israelis who want to conquer Lebanon. Having planted his and Syrian-inspired leftists operating from within (and without) the who remained to become Israeli
country
in
1956
were
frustrated
in
their
attempts
to
take
over
the
nation
citizens were 160,000. (It is double
warning—as if it were something to fear for real—the correspondent
from Beirut tells of a plot that dates back to 1919 when "the Zionists when President Eisenhower sent 2,000 marines to occupy the Litani that now). Therefore the number of
first claimed the Litani—in fact all south Lebanon, as well as the pres- River banks that so concern your Beirut reporter. Never in all the time Arabs who left Palestine was:
ent Kingdom of Jordan," etc. Among the plotters one finds a few that I have been studying the Middle East situation—having spoken to
747,300
names. Men like Eban, Allon and Herzl are mentioned. "When the scores of Lebanese about the prospect of Israeli-Lebanese relations—
—160,000
Israeli push into Lebanon comes, as Abba Eban, Yigael Allon and have I heard of an attempted plot to seize the treasures of the Litani
Zionism's founder Theodor Herzl among others insisted it must, then Valley—"mark well the name." 587,300
the moment of truth"—but here we must interrupt this Byzantine nar-
These also are facts not to be
rative in order to bring some order out of this propagandistic morass. THE FACTS
ignored. If taken into account, per-
In the first place, there was no Lebanon in 1919 (Lebanon was separated
Mr. daCruz thinks he has hit upon something novel by accusing
from the constituent whole of Palestine in 1920 and it was not until 1943 Israel of "expansionist" dreams that date back to 2000 BCE. So he hays the distorted stories about the
that the country achieved national independence, just about five years conjures up names from the public press and attributes to the two most Middle East will be read in their
before Israel did); in the second place neither Allon nor Eban had yet moderate and accommodating of Israeli leaders expansionist ambitions true light.• • •
been born; while the "founder of Zionism" would just as soon have that are held by one or two friends of mine in Israel whose names I
With regard to the false claim of
settled for a river in Uganda as for the Litani. need not divulge at this time.
Arab possession of Israel, Max
Where Mr. daCruz speaks of the "self-promised" land he is guilty
The facts are: Israel has never initiated an unwarranted attack on Geltman's expose renders a great
of a bit of blasphemy since the land was promised by the Lord God to any of its neighbors—never, not even during the Suez adventure with service.
the children of Israel, and their legal claim for it has been upheld by
o f its dubious llie , France and England. It has over-reacted at
But there is another item to take
such distinguished authorities as William E. Blackstone and most of the times, it has retaliated, but it has never taliated. The land that it occu
occu-
consideration. There are false
legal luminaries of nineteenth-century England. According to Black- . pies was granted it by international charter, or was won
in self- into
claims about vast areas having
, din honorable comb
stone "the law of dereliction" could not be applied to the Jews since . ao
come
under Israel's possession
they never gave up their title to Palestine, "They never gave up the
Since when is it a crime for a
illegally. It has been established
land. They made no treaty, they did not even surrender. They simply!
succumbed, after the most desperate conflict, to the overwhelming sovereign nation to defend its bor- claim for a "Roman Catholic" ma- that 70 per cent of the land of Pal-
power of the Romans.... Since then, having no sovereign nor political ders from enemies domestic or jority in the land true nor the as- estine was the property of the Brit-
head through whom they could speak, they have disputed the possession foreign? Israel has both, and they sertion that Lebanon enjoys "West- ish Mandatory Government and is
now the property of Israel. The
of the land, by continued protest through their literature and their , are not always Arabs. In London ern-style democracy." As for the
today an Israeli New Leftist, a latter, perhaps their "style" of de- land of Palestine prior to the emer-
public and private worship."
Sabra, publishes Imperial Israel mocracy is better than ours, but it gence of Israel was distributed as
But daCruz marks the Jewish "claim" to Palestine—or to that part' that is as full of hatred for the He-
follows:
of it now known as Israel—by chiding them for ignoring the "interven- brew nation as are the radio broad- is not "Western-style." (Top lead-
8.6 per cent of the land was owned
mg ownership" of the territory since the Kingdom of David. Let us say casts from Cairo. The publication ership is equally divided—by fixed
by Jews.
understanding—between
the
Chris-
he means since the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE. That is the way the breathes a dual contempt for
3.3 per cent of the land was owned
historians—all the historians—Jewish, Christian, Moslem, understood it. America and its imperialist puppet tian and Moslem communities.) As
by Arabs.
So that for the last 1,900 years the author gives the impression there Israel. Already Bertrand Russell for the "Roman Catholic" major-
was an "intervening ownership" that was not only not Jewish, but has sent warm greetings for this ity, the facts are that the Maron- 16.5 per cent of the land was owned
by Arabs who fled the country.
Arab, which is, of course, so much dross, believed by nobody but the ! new ally in savaging the land of ites are indeed the largest segment
totally ignorant. Now ignorance, like murder, may be innocent or pre-1 his hate — America, with Israel of the Christian population, but the
Yet there is constant claim that
rest
of
the
inhabitants
(Moslems
meditated. It can be due to simple lack of information in which case the thrown in for good measure. The
Jews have taken possession of all
situation is soon corrected; or by an ideological commitment in which I pornoleft press—from Ramparts on and other Christians) outnumber of the land!
case argument is as futile as a dialogue with the devil. So that when the West Coast to Evergreen Re- the Maronites considerably, or so
There is a pledge of compensa-
one reads this kind of stuff in Arab propaganda or in the leftist press, view in New York, the official the Lebanese information office in- tion. It has been ignored. There has
like the argument in New Politics (December 1967) by Hal Draper, Communist press; the dirty under- forms me. Nevertheless, Lebanon to be some confidence that when
which makes similar claims of an "intervening ownership" of the land ground press, the Black Panther rules itself viably and efficiently peace is established there will be
by an independent nation of Arabs "for 2,000 years," one is tempted to press are all ablaze with hate for with its religious divisions "West: full payment for land from which
ern style" or not. One doesn't
dismiss it as one would the utterances of the Soviet ambassador to the
the "imperial puppet" in the Mid- quarrel with it. If it suits the Leba- Arabs fled unwisely and unneces.
United Nations.
dle East—Israel.
nese, fine. Perhaps the dream of a sarily.
At any rate, we are offering the
A PREMONITION
binational state in Palestine made
MARK WELL THE NAME
So what else is new? Only that up of Arabs and Jews, as Martin facts. Let's hope they'll serve to
One will recall that when the Soviets were called before the
set the record straight. Perhaps
Security Council to answer for their aggression in Czechoslovakia, Am- the reckless call for an Israeli Buber hoped for, would have work- arrival at truth also will lead to a
bassador Malik blithely—and innocently—remarked that Soviet tanks "neck-wringing" is reproduced as ed out differently—and better. Who greater desire for peace on the
if it meant in good earnest—or can tell? Meanwhile, Israel is here
Friday, June 6, 1969 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS as if it were true. Neither is the and means to stay around. for a part of the Arab potentates.
Arab's Claims Exposed. . . Palestine Was Never
Ruled by or Possessed by Any Arab Government
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