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To Tell The Truth
A few handy facts about what's really going on with Israel.
ELIZABETH APPT ,F,BAUM
AppleTree Editor
I is not unusual to see a grown man
run screaming from the room when
his child asks the seemingly inno-
cent question: "Dad, can you help me
with my math homework?"
Or how about the mother who must
suddenly spell "privilege" or define a
"parenthetical phrase" to her school-age
son? These are, indeed, terrifying times
in which to live.
Many parents find themselves equally
challenged when it comes to history —
specifically, the State of Israel. With so
many myths about Israel in books, on
the news, or in magazines, a mom or
dad can get dizzy.
If you've ever found yourself fumbling
as you try to answer your son when he
asks, "Mom, why don't Arabs have any
rights in Israel?" or tell your daughter
the truth about Israel and the land it
"occupies," here is your very own cheat
sheet:
1.) Myth: Both Israel and the Arabs have,
from the beginning rejected a two-state
proposal for peace, which is a major reason
there's still so much conflict.
Truth: The original United Nations
proposal of 1948 offered a "two-state
solution," with the creation of an Arab
and a Jewish state. The Jews accepted
the proposal; the Arab nations did not
and immediately united to attack Israel.
The 1948 U.N. resolution was not
the first time a two-state solution was
proposed. In 1937, the Peel
Commission suggested dividing the
region into a Jewish half and an Arab
half. Allan Gale, associate director of the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit, notes that the
Peel Commission report offered Jewish
leaders a mere 25 percent of the land
the U.N. would offer in 1948, and still
they accepted the proposal.
"It seems the Jews have always been
ready to accept whatever they could
get," Gale says. "The Palestinians just
don't have the same attitude."
2.) Myth: If only Israel would give the
Arabs some land we would have peace.
Truth: The land Israel has "occupied"
was land it won during war. You would
be hard-pressed to find any other coun-
try in the world so pressured to "return"
land it won in battle — especially when
that country didn't initiate the war
(every war in
which Israel
has been
engaged was
started by the
Arab coun-
tries).
In any case,
Israel has actu-
ally relin-
quished a great
deal of land.
Consider the
Allan Gale
entire Sinai
Desert, which Israel returned to Egypt
when it signed the 1978 Camp David
agreements. The desert amounted to 91
percent of the land Israel won during
the 1967 war.
In 2000, during Middle East negotia-
tions, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak
offered to give up virtually all the
administered territories to PLO
Chairman Yasser Arafat, who promptly
walked out of the meeting.
3.) Myth: The PLO has made great public
demonstrations to show it is ready for peace
with Israel.
Truth: Just check out the official
emblem of the Fatah wing of the PLO,
the so-called "moderate" wing of the
organization which Arafat founded and
continued to control until his death last
year. It shows the entire State of Israel
covered by two rifles and a hand
grenade.
The PLO Covenant still calls for the
destruction of the State of Israel. While
Arafat declared that part of the docu-
ment "null and void," the covenant was
never officially amended, Gale notes.
"In 1988, the PLO said it would
accept a two-state solution," he says.
"But words are just words. Look at their
actions."
Israel supported the new Palestinian
territory's right to form a 50,000-person
army which, Gale says, eventually used
its weapons against Israelis.
"In August 2,000, before Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon ever stepped foot
on the Temple Mount [supposedly what
prompted a Palestinian intifada against
Israel], Palestinians and Israelis were
supposed to be patrolling the area
together. A Palestinian policeman riding
with an Israeli soldier pulled out a gun
and killed the Israeli. That pretty much
tells you what things are like."
With Arafat gone, Gale adds, "we can
hope now that Palestinian moderates,
those more inclined toward negotiations
rather than terrorism, will prevail."
4.) Myth: The "settlers" are the main
obstacle to peace.
Truth: Some hold the mistaken
notion that it is only in the past few
years that Jews have started moving into
the territories and then only because
they are religious fanatics, born outside
Israel, who want to hold on to the land
at all cost.
Here are the facts:
• According to a 1995 poll taken by
the Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-
Ilan University in Ramat Gan:
— The average "settler" is well edu-
cated and has an above-average income.
— Most of these
men and women immi-
grated to Israel before
1988.
— The religious
make-up of the families
is diverse. Forty-five per-
cent identify as
Orthodox or haredz 34
percent are secular; 20
percent describe them-
selves as "traditional."
— More than 70 per-
cent were born in Israel.
— Eight-three per-
cent of the "settlers"
would not use force to
resist evacuation.
— Most of those liv-
ing in the West Bank
came there for economic
reasons (about 38 per-
cent). Another 34 per-
cent are living there for
religious or ideological
reasons.
• Jews have been living in the territo-
ries for centuries.
• Israeli "settlements" account for less
than 2 percent of residents in the terri-
tories.
5.) Myth: The primalry goal of the
Palestine Liberation Organization and the
other Arab nations has always been the
establishment of a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and Gaza.
Truth: The PLO was created in 1964,
its purpose being the destruction of the
State of Israel through armed struggle.
From 1948 until 1967, the West
Bank and Gaza were under the control
of Jordan and Egypt. At no time did
either Jordan or Egypt move to create a
Palestinian state while they oversaw
these areas.
During the war, which the Arabs lost,
Israel took control of the West Bank
and Gaza. Thus, the PLO was founded
a full three years before these two terri-
tories were even in dispute.
6.) Myth: Most Palestinians are against
the suicide bombings.
Truth: According to a report pub-
lished in 2002, sponsored by AVOT
(Americans for Victory Over
Terrorism), written by former Secretary
of Education Bill Bennett, Sen. Jack
Kemp and former U.N.
Ambassador Jeanne
Kirkpatrick, more than
three-quarters of the
Palestinians approve the
suicide bombings.
"In recent years," Allan
Gale adds, "the PLO
leadership has generally
come out after homicide
bombing attacks to say
they 'condemn violence
against innocents on
both sides of the con-
flict.' Then you hear
Arafat call them [suicide
bombers] 'martyrs.'
"You see the names of
these 'martyrs' every-
where: parks are named
after the homicide
bombers, they talk about
them in the [Arab]
media, their schools have
murals showing their
faces."
7.) Myth: U.N. Resolution 242 calls on
Israel to completely withdraw from the
West Bank.
Truth: Eugene Rostow was undersec-
retary of state for political affairs from
1966-1969. As such, he helped write
TRUTH on page 48
1/27
2005
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