FAIR Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle
East
WITNESS 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1960
New York, New York
10115
(212) 870-2320
www.christianfairwitness.com
THE USE OF HOLOCAUST TERMINOLOGY AGAINST ISRAEL
PART I
Recently, there have been attempts to portray the founding
of the modern state of Israel as an act of genocide or ethnic cleansing. These are heinous and false
accusations. Genocide is an attempt to
exterminate a people. Ethnic cleansing is an attempt to rid a particular land
of one group of people. During the
Second World War, Hitler embarked on a methodical campaign aimed at
exterminating every Jewish person in Europe.
A previous generation of Jews were victims in an actual attempt at
genocide. Now that tragic history
is being perversely convoluted and used
to incite hostility towards the current generation of Jews by portraying the
founders of the modern Jewish state as Nazis who are perpetuating a new ethnic
cleansing of their own.
The Jews Accepted a Two-State Solution Even Prior to 1948
Israel/Palestine was the historic homeland of the Jewish
people, although they had not been able to live there as a nation since 135
A.D.
From 1517 until 1917 Palestine was part of the Ottoman
Empire. Serious Jewish resettlement of
Palestine began in the early1880s.
There was also Arab immigration into Palestine during this
time which largely followed the waves of Jewish resettlement. Non-Arabic immigration also followed the
Jewish immigration.
In 1936 the British Peel Commission recommended
partitioning Israel/Palestine into Jewish and
Arab states. The Jewish state
would have comprised a tiny strip of land from Tel Aviv to Haifa and a little
strip east of Haifa. The Zionist
Congress accepted partition, but the Arab leadership rejected it. The British abandoned the plan.
In 1947 UN Resolution 181 partitioned Israel/Palestine to
form two separate Jewish and Arab Palestinian states. The Jews accepted this,
but the Arab League said that they would prevent the formation of a Jewish
state by force if necessary.
Jewish Immigrants Did Not Displace Palestinian Arabs in
Mandatory Palestine
The Arab population of Palestine grew at a tremendous rate
between 1922 and 1948. In 1922, at the start of the British Mandate
there were some 660,000 Arabs in Palestine.
By 1945, there were over 1.2 million Arabs. Analysis of population by subdistricts shows
that the Arab population tended to increase the most between 1931 and 1948 in
the same areas where there were large numbers of Jews
Israels Objective in 1948 Was to Survive an Attack by Every
Arab Army in the Region
There was a serious attempt to drive the Jewish, not the
Arab, population out of the region when Israel declared Independence on May 14,
1948. The very next day the League of
Arab States collectively attacked the new Jewish State, openly vowing to wipe
it off the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, because of the war there was dispossession
on both sides, Arab and Jewish, and in approximately equal numbers. Some 600,000- 800,000 Arabs living within
the borders of the new Jewish state left.
Some left voluntarily. Others,
especially those living along supply routes or near the border, were forced out
for security military purposes.
Had the Arabs accepted the 1947 UN resolution, not a
single Palestinian would have become a refugee and an independent Arab state
would now exist beside Israel.
At the same time a roughly equivalent number of Jews
became refugees -- fleeing or being forced out. There were Jewish refugees from the Arab-controlled areas of
mandatary Palestine and from the Arab
countries. There was in effect a
population exchange, similar to the one in India/Pakistan in 1947.
160,000 Arabs Chose to Stay in the Newly Established Jewish
State
A 1949 Government of Israel census counted approximately
160,000 Arabs living in the country after the war.
The Arab Population in Israel Has Grown to Over 1 Million According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics the
number of Arabs in Israel is calculated as 1,413,500 people or 19.8 % of the
Israeli population (2006).
This is more than an eight- fold increase in less than 60
years.
There was no genocide of Arabs in Israel.
There was no ethnic cleansing of Arabs in Israel.
Hitler Killed 57% of the Jews in Europe In an Attempt at
Genocide and
Ethnic Cleansing
The Arab Population in Israel has Grown More Than 8X Since 1948
Accusations of Israeli Ethnic Cleansing are Irresponsible and
Untrue