Israel: Myths & Facts

“The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and repeated.” – JFK

I tend to avoid the topic of Israel because I simply do not have the energy for it. I mentioned it once before in a post entitled “The Fashion of Politics” – 17 June 2005. When discussing Israel-Palestine issues with almost anyone, the first thing I notice is that they do not have any idea what they are talking about. Almost everyone I have ever met has been duped by propaganda without even realising it. The Israel-Palestine conflict is extremely complicated and to really understand it a person has to have extensive knowledge of the history of the Near East, as well as an understanding of the cultures, religions, politics and ways of life that have prevailed there.

But thanks to the “anonymous” commenter on my previous post, I feel I am forced into writing about Israel. The first thing I will say is that if you really want to learn about the history, the best book I know, touted as one of the most thoroughly researched and objective books ever written on the subject, is Joan Peters’ From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine, 1984.

The second thing I will say is that “anonymous” knows the history and politics of Israel and the Arab-Jewish conflict better than anyone else I know. I just wish he could express himself in a less offensive manner, i.e. without being a total asshole.

I am pro-Israel, meaning that I believe that Israel should and must exist.

I am pro-Palestinian, meaning that I think the Palestinians should also have their own state.

I am against a lot of the policies of the current Israeli administration, analogous to how I feel about the Bush administration.

I have lived in Israel and most recently visited there last Christmas; I probably know better than any of my regular blog mates what the day-to-day reality is there.

What I am going to offer you today is just a few historical points that most people have wrong. Again, I would like to emphasise that you must know the history before you can understand anything that is going on in that part of the world, just like anywhere else.

Myth: The Palestinians have always been in, and had an identity with, the land of Palestine.

Fact: In the late 1800s/early 1900s, Arabic-speaking migrants were wandering in search of subsistence all over the Middle East. Palestine was a wasteland. The Arabic-speakers who did end up in Palestine thought of themselves as Ottomans, Turks, Southern Syrians or simply Arabs, even despite the attempts of the Mufti and TE Lawrence to imbue them with nationalism.

Myth: Jews returned after 2000 years to displace the Palestinian Arabs.

Fact: Jews never left the land, even after the Roman conquest in 70 CE (AD).

Myth: In the 70 years or so leading up to the establishment of the modern state of Israel, the Jews stole the Arabs’ land.

Fact: Most of the Arab land in Palestine was owned by absentee landlords; the people that worked the land were penniless peasants. Jews tried to avoid purchasing land in areas where Arabs might be displaced. They sought land that was largely uncultivated, swampy, cheap and without tenants.

Myth: Palestine = Israel

Fact: The Palestine Mandate included areas both east and west of the Jordan River, i.e. all of Israel and all of the modern country of Jordan.

Myth: Only Jews immigrated to Palestine; Arabs have been there for millennia.

Fact: As an example, between WWI and WWII, the Jewish population increased by 470,000 while the non-Jewish population increased by 588,000.

Myth: Upon the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the Arabs were expelled from the country.

Fact: Israel asked the Arabs to stay as full citizens with full rights. Some Arabs left earlier in anticipation of a war, the neighbouring Arab countries told the Arabs to flee so as not to be in the way of the invading Arab armies, and many Arabs simply left to avoid being caught in a war zone.

I know this is not much, but as I said before, this subject exhausts me. If you do have any specific questions, please ask. I will try to answer and do the research if I don't know something straight off the top of my head.