5. Middle East History—A Distortion of the Truth
By
Andrew Tucker, Friday 25 March 2011
Even those who aren't particularly sympathetic to Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview aired on the BBC during the Gaza crisis:
The interviewer asked him: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?"
Interviewer: Why not?
Netanyahu: "Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?"
Apparently, Benjamin Netanyahu gave another interview and was asked about Israel's occupation of Arab lands. His response was, "It's our land." The reporter was stunned.
Journalist simply don't know the history. The problem is that many journalists simply do not know the history of this piece of land, and are propagating a distorted view on the Middle East conflict.
Here are overlooked facts in the current and past Middle East situation. These were compiled by a Christian university professor:
* * * * * * *
Some Brief Facts on the Israeli Conflict Today
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem: Israel became a nation in 1312BC, two thousand (2000) years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel (in 1948).
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272BC, the Jews had dominion over the land for one thousand (1000) years, and have had a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion over the land since the conquest in 635 lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit Jerusalem.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never even came to Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: in 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. No doubt the Jews, and individual Jewish soldiers, made mistakes during the war of Independence, and some Arab Palestinians suffered hardships. But it was war, and the fact is sixty-eight percent of the Arab refugees left (many in fear of retaliation by their own brethren, the Arabs), without ever seeing an Israeli soldier. The Arabs who stayed were afforded the same peace, civil rights and citizenship in the new State of Israel as everyone else.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab countries (Jordan, Syria, Egypt ...) due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same or only slightly higher.
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab countries to which they fled (Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt), despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. The Jewish refugees, on the contrary, were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
13. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: the Arabs are represented by eight separate nations in the Middle East, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation.
14. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.
15. The PLO and Hamas Charters still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them.
16. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
17. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
18. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
19. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians in the period 1948–1967.
20. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, and while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like a policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
These are incredible times.
St. Paul warned that the end times would be a time of deceit and lies (see eg. 2 Thessalonians 2). Who can deny that we are living in those days? We don't have to agree with or condone everything that Jews or Israel do. And we do have to recognize the miserable plight of the Palestinian refugees. But our attitude towards both the Jews and Arabs MUST at all costs be based on the truth. Without the truth, our supposed love will be misplaced.
What will we tell our grandchildren about what we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, and we had an opportunity to make a difference?
Source: http://tinyurl.com/6v6ylpe
Ed. Note: God promised the ancient Israelites to give them the land of Israel in perpetuity. As the Bible says, "Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever'" (Exodus 32:13, NIV).
In speaking about the land of Israel, God said
to Abraham, the father of the Israelites: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:2-3, NKJV).
And again, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels'" (Psalm 122:6-7, NIV). Let us make sure we hear this Word of God.
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