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The Methodist Federation for Social Action Newsletter

Grossly Distorts The History of The Arab/Israeli Conflict: Part 2

The Methodist Federation for Social Action (“MFSA”) grossly distorts the history of the Arab/Israeli conflict in its January-February 2008 edition of “Social Questions Bulletin.” In an article entitled “A Synopsis of the Israel/Palestine Conflict,” the MFSA presents the history in a manner so replete with factual errors, misrepresentations, material omissions and distortions -- all aimed at portraying Israel as the sole aggressor in the region -- that it cannot be called an actual history. Rather, it is little more than propaganda and an all out attack on the state of Israel.

4. According to the “Synopsis,” after the 1948 war, which “inevitabl[y] . . . broke out,” Israel had “conquered 78 percent of Palestine” and “three-quarters of a million Palestinians had been made refugees,” while “all vestiges of the Palestinian culture were to be erased.” (p. 4)

WHAT ARE THE REAL FACTS?

• In November1947 after World War II, U.N. Resolution 181 recommended partition of the British Mandate for Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State. The U.N. partition plan was based on population demographics -- majority Jewish areas would be part of Israel, majority Arab areas would be part of a new Arab state. War was not inevitable and a two-state solution could have been achieved. But the Arab League met in December 17, 1947 and announced that it would prevent partition by force if necessary.

• Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. Over the next few days every surrounding Arab nation invaded the new Jewish State, openly vowing to wipe it off the face of the earth.

• Some 650,000- 800,000 Palestinians left their homes in 1947-48 and for a variety of reasons. Thousands left in anticipation of a war, some left to get out of harm’s way once the war started. Others left not to appear to be traitors. Many Arabs left after being encouraged to do so by the attacking Arab nations. Some Arabs were forced out by the Israelis -- especially Arabs living along supply routes and borders.

• The Arabs that stayed in what became the borders of Israel became Israeli citizens. 20 percent of the Israeli population was and remains Arab. While there is no doubt that they have still not attained the socio-economic status that many Israeli Jews enjoy, they enjoy religious freedom and full rights under Israeli law. Arabic culture is very visible in Israel and Arabic is the second official language of the state.

5. The “Synopsis” states that in 1967 “Israeli forces launched a highly successful, Pearl Harbor-like surprise attack on Egypt [and] occupied the additional 22 percent of Palestine that had eluded it in 1948.” (p. 4)

WHAT ARE THE REAL FACTS?

• On May 15, 1967, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai Peninsula and amassing near

the Israeli border. On May 16, Egyptian President Nasser ordered the U.N. buffer force out of the Sinai Peninsula and announced that “our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel.” On May 18, the Voice of the Arabs proclaimed: “We shall exercise patience no more. . . .The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence.”

• On May 22 President Nasser blocked the Straits of Tiran cutting off Israel’s only oil supply. The collective armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, with assistance from Iraqi, Saudi, Algerian Kuwaiti, Sudanese, Tunisian, Libyan and Moroccan troops, lined up on the borders of Israel. Israel was out manned and out weaponed by the collective Arab armies. It had to mobilize its entire reserve army. Israeli society and economy ground to a halt as it awaited a massive attack.

• Israel’s military leaders understood that their country’s survival hinged on a successful attack on Egypt’s air force. Israel launched a pre-emptive airstrike on June 5, 1967 after receiving intelligence that Egypt was within hours of attacking. Israel had about 200 war planes in its arsenal, compared to the Arab air forces’ combined 900 planes. It sent the bulk of those planes on what turned out to be for Israel a successful mission. If it had not been successful, Israel would not exist today; the stated goal of the Arab armies was to annihilate the Jewish state.

6. The “Synopsis” accuses Israel of being an “exclusionist . . . . ethnically preferential state” of “largely colonial origin.” (p. 4)

WHAT ARE THE REAL FACTS?

• That Jews immigrated to Palestine from Europe and Arab nations from 1880 - 1948 does not make them “colonialists.” Like other immigrants, they were mostly oppressed, impoverished people hoping to start a new life in their ancestral homeland.

• Today, some 50 percent of Jewish Israelis are the descendants not of European Jews, but of Jews from other Middle Eastern countries and North Africa.

• It makes no more sense to call the Jewish state “ethnically preferential” than it would make to call a Palestinian state “ethnically preferential.” Jews, like any other people, defined in terms of a shared ethnicity, language, history, culture and/or religion, have the right to constitute an autonomous, sovereign political community. To single out the Jewish state as “exclusionist” seems itself motivated by discriminatory intent.

7. The “Synopsis” blames the second Intifada on the Israeli occupation. (p. 4)

WHAT ARE THE REAL FACTS?

• The Oslo Accords were never fully implemented on either side. The Palestinians never dismantled the terrorist infrastructure or educated their children for peace. The Israelis continued the settlements.

• However, according to Oslo, a final accord was to be reached by September 13 of 2000, so a summit was held at Camp David in July of 2000. Both Israeli P.M. Barak and President Clinton put forth peace proposals. Arafat said no to both offers, made no counteroffer, and walked out of the Summit. The Second Initifada began soon afterward on September 29th.

• Five months later, Arafat rejected President Clinton’s final proposal whereby the Palestinians would have gotten all of Gaza and 97 percent of contiguous West Bank territory, a capital in East Jerusalem, three out of four quarters in the Old City in Jerusalem and a 30 billion dollar fund to compensate refugees.