Palestine 101 History, culture, facts on the ground

Palestine 101 History, culture, facts on the ground

The purpose of this presentation is to

offer a brief survey of history to show the

Arab connection to the Holy Land before

highlighting key points in modern history,

from the rise of political Zionism to the

Partition of Palestine, Creation of the

state of Israel through the 1967 Six-Day

War.

Part II will focus briefly about current facts

on the ground and the Palestinian reality

of living under occupation.

Historic Palestine, known

today as Israel, is roughly the

size of New Jersey.

Population – 7.6 million total.

20%, or about 1.5 million, of

this total are Palestinian

citizens of Israel

At just under 2,300 square

miles, the West Bank is

smaller than Cook County,

home to Chicago, and the

collar counties of DuPage,

Will and Lake combined.

Population: About 2.6 million,

including 300,000 Israeli

colonial settler

The Gaza Strip is about the

size in area as the city of

Detroit.

Population: 1.7 million

This graphic depicts the loss of historic Palestine from the Partition of Palestine in 1947 until today. The West Bank,

which Israel occupied in 1967, is now carved up into small Bantustans because of settlements, by-pass roads and

the Apartheid Wall.

Brief history of Palestine

Palestine was always an Arab land.

First people migrated to Palestine

from Arabia thousands of years

ago.

1186-1155 BC – People from Crete

settled in the southern region of

Palestine called Baalist. They

became known as the Balistiniyyun,

or the Philistines

597 BC – The Babylonians invaded

Palestine, which by now was home

to both Philistines (Arabs) and

Jews

636 AD – Second Caliph – Omar ibn

Khattab conquers Jerusalem. He

signs the Omari Treaty with Christian

leaders, allowing them to worship

freely. He cleans the Al Aqsa mosque

site, which had become a garbage

dump. Eventually, he allows Jews to

return to Jerusalem.

1059 AD – First Crusade begins.

Christians slaughter Muslims and

Jews, drive remaining Jews out.

1187-1192 AD – Third Crusade –

Salah‟ al-Din reclaims Jerusalem and

allows Jews to return.

Rise of Zionism Theodore Herzl (1860 – 1904) wrote his seminal book, Der Judenstaat in 1896. In it, he advocated for a national homeland for Jews.

Father of Zionism

“Anti-Semitism can’t be cured.

It can only be avoided.” ~ Herzl

Rise of Zionism

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine was always at the

core of political Zionism since its inception.

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

“It must be clear that there is no room in the

country for both people … the only solution is a

Land of Israel … without Arabs …”

~ Yosef Weitz, director of the Jewish National Fund‟s land department

and founder of the Transfer Committee, 1944

1882 – First Zionist settlement created in Palestine, financed by the

Rothschild family

1896 – Herzl published “Der Judenstaat”

1897 – First official Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland.

Transferring Palestinians out of Palestine already major goal

1901- Jewish National Fund created – contained a Transfer

Department

Nov. 2, 1917 – Balfour Declaration through Great Britain‟s weight

behind Zionist aspirations for a „home for the Jews in Palestine‟

(Source: 1948 Lest We Forget)

Zionism timeline

November 1937 – Population Transfer Committee formed

Nov. 29, 1947 – United Nations adopts Resolution 181 and divides Palestine,

giving Jews – who owned less than 7% of the land and lived there less than

10 years – 54% of Palestine. The indigenous Palestinian population received

45% and Jerusalem was to be kept under UN administration.

March 10, 1948 – Plan Dalet distributed to the Haganah, the Zionist

paramilitary group

Plan Dalet contained guidelines for ethnic cleansing of Palestine

May 14, 1948 – Creation of the State of Israel. Zionists paramilitary keep

fighting and depopulating Palestinian villages.

Jan. 1, 1949 – Armistice signed. Zionists end up with 78% of historic

Palestine (Source: 1948 Lest We Forget)

Zionism timeline

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

Initial plans to transfer Palestinians had three stages to take 10 years

1.Tenant farmers

2. Landless villagers working as agricultural laborers

3. Farmers who owned less than 3 dunums per capita

But David Ben Gurion wanted the entire land immediately:

“…on the basis that after we build a strong force following the

establishment of the state, we will abolish the partition of the

country and we will expand to the whole Land of Israel.”

(Source: 1948:Lest We Forget)

“...We will not achieve this by preaching

sermons on the mount, but by machine-

guns, which we will need.”

~ Executive committee member of the Jewish Agency, 1937

(Source: 1948 Lest We Forget)

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

More proof of the Zionists‟ plans to eradicate the Arab population

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

Al-Tira December 1947

Haifa Oil Refinery December 1947

Balad el-Sheikh December 1947

Yehiday Massacre December 1947

Khisas Massacre December 1947

Qazaza Massacre December 1947

Jaffa Massacre January 1948

Semiramis Hotel Massacre

(Jerusalem) January 1948

Cairo-Haifa Train Massacre March

1948

(Source: 1948 Lest We Forget)

al-Lajjun Massacre April 1948

Deir Yasin Massacre April 1948

Qaluniya Massacre April 1948

Ayn el-Zaytoun Massacre May 1948

Abu Shusha Massacre May 1948

al-Tantura Massacre May 1948

Beit Daras Massacre May 1948

Lydda Massacre July 1948

al-Dawayima Massacre October 1948

Saliha Massacre October 1948

Eilaboun Massacre October 1948

Hula Massacre October 1948…

Massacres perpetrated by Zionist militants from, 1947-1948

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

From 1947 to 1949, Zionist

militants:

Killed 13,000 Palestinians

Forced 750,000 into exile

Depopulated and/or destroyed

more than 500 villages

They did this to claim more land

Source: “The Nakba: Preserving our Narrative,” AMP 2009

The Nakba (The Catastrophe)

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

The Naksa

350,000 Palestinians forced from their

homes; some for the second time since

1948

In six days, nearly 20,000 Arabs were

killed and the air forces of Egypt, Syria

and Jordan were destroyed

Israeli soldiers entered Al Aqsa mosque

compound and declared, “It was easy as

cake – Muhammad‟s religion is gone.”

(Source: “Palestine, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,”

by Dr. Tareq Suwaidan)

Zionism and ethnic cleansing

San Francisco Sentinel

Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin admitted Israel started

the Six-Day War.

“In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian army

concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser

was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves.

We decided to attack him. … We will take the initiative and attack

the enemy, drive him back, and thus assure the security of Israel

and the future of the nation.” ~ Former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Aug. 8, 1982

(source: “Fifty Years of Israel” by Donald Neff. p. 65)

“Up to Johnson‟s

presidency, no

administration had

been as completely

pro-Israel and anti-

Arab as his.”

~ Donald Neff, former

Jerusalem bureau chief for

Time magazine.

(Source: “Fifty Years of Israel,” by

Donald Neff.)

US attitude toward the Israeli aggressions: “Herewith the account,

with a map, of the first day’s turkey shoot.” ~ National Security Advisor Walt Rostow

Settlements started in 1967

Israel established its first

settlement just 5 weeks after

the end of the Six Day War.

A secret State Dept. cable

bound for the US embassy in

Tel Aviv expressed concern

that Israel was not interested

in peace:

“Israeli objectives may be

shifting from original position

seeking peace with no

territorial gains toward one of

territorial expansionism,”

Sept. 14, 1967

(Source: “Fifty Years of Israel”

by Donald Neff)

Palestine 101

Where are we today?

Settlements

By 1968, Israel had settlements in all the lands it occupied in the 1967

war: Egypt, Jordan and Syria and East Jerusalem.

By 1976, there were 68 settlements.

Each administration referred to settlements as illegal until the

administration of Ronald Reagan, who said they were “not illegal.” He

never said what settlements „were,‟ however.

The language changed from settlements being illegal to being an

“obstacle to peace.”

President Bill Clinton changed the language further by referring to the

settlements as “complicating” factors. (Source: “Fifty Years of Israel” by Donald Neff)

Since 1967, more than 224

settlements and outposts have

been constructed illegally on

Palestinian land in the West

Bank.

More than 500,000 Israelis are

living illegally in colonies on

Palestinian land – including

200,000 in East Jerusalem.

In East Jerusalem, settlements

are called “Israeli

neighborhoods.” They now ring

the Old City and its historic

religious sites.

Soon, Jewish-only compounds

will completely encircle the

history Old City.

Settlements

Settlements are being constructed in strategic areas to divide the West Bank from

north-south and east-west.

Settlements and the “buffer zones” surrounding them now account for more

than 40 percent of West Bank land

Israel offers incentives in the way of mortgage subsidies and other aid to encourage

Jews to move to the colonies.

In 2007, 40 percent of the settlements' population growth was comprised of Jews

emigrating from Israel and abroad.

In 2009, Israel issued only 200 building permits for Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

They need 1,500.

Nearly 300,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem, but only 13 percent of that area‟s

land is available to them, compared with 35 percent for Jewish settlements.

This open land in

front of the

Apartheid Wall is

within the

boundaries of

East Jerusalem.

Israel will not

grant building

permits there to

Palestinians.

They must build

outside the wall

and risk losing

their Jerusalem

residency status.

(Source:

Israeli Committee Against

House Demolitions)

East Jerusalem

Apartheid Wall When

completed, the

Apartheid Wall

will be about

450 miles long,

twice as long

as the 1948

borders.

85 percent of

the wall is

being built on

Palestinian

land, annexing

an additional

12 percent of

land into Israel.

In 2004, the International Court of

Justice ruled that building the wall

on Palestinian land is illegal.

Palestinians trapped on the

wrong side of the wall must now

obtain permits to remain in their

own houses.

About 500,000 Palestinians live in

areas severed by the wall.

77 percent of school children

reported they missed school

occasionally because the wall‟s

checkpoints are closed.

(Source: Grim Statistics:

The reality of living under occupation)

Myth: The Wall has stopped suicide bombings in Israel.

Fact: The Wall still is not finished; suicide bombings stopped in 2006.

Moral: The Wall is about annexing more land into Israel. It is not

about security.

Source: Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

Checkpoints and barriers

Entrance to al-Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron

There are about 600 checkpoints, roadblocks and obstacles, such as

trenches or earth mounds. Palestinians are forbidden from traveling –

sometimes even crossing – about 120 miles or roads. (Source: B‟Tselem

Home demolitions

Israeli Occupation

Forces have destroyed

25,000 homes in the

West Bank and Gaza

since 1967 and 2,000

in East Jerusalem.

Currently, there are

20,000 demolitions

orders outstanding in

East Jerusalem.

90% of West Bank

residents can no

longer enter

Jerusalem and 100%

of Gaza residents are

prohibited. Source: ICAHD

The US gives Israel nearly $3 billion in conditional military aid annually.

In per capita terms, that amounts to more than $500 per Israeli.

It amounts to $8 million per day.

Israel has been the largest recipient of US foreign aid since 1976.

20 percent of the US foreign aid budget is allotted to Israel.

The total cumulative U.S. aid to Israel from

1949 through 2010 is more than $114 billion.

This figure is not adjusted for inflation. Source: Congressional Research Service and The Israel Lobby by John Mearsheimer and Steve Walt.

US aid to Israel

Other US aid

In 2009, the United States pledged $900 million in emergency aid to

Palestinians.

$300 million of this was to help the victims of Israel‟s three assault on Gaza

that killed 1,400 people; destroyed thousands of homes, schools, mosques,

universities, municipal buildings and infrastructure like water treatment plants

and electrical plants.

The United States donated $228 million to the United Nations Relief and Works

Agency from January to August 2010.

UNRWA was established in 1949 to deal with the 750,000 Palestinians who

were made refugees by the creation of the state of Israel.

Source: Congressional Research Service and UNRWA.org

Other US aid

In February 2011, when the federal government nearly shut down due to

lack of funds:

AIPAC produced a letter for the Republican first-termers to sign in which

they pledged that, no matter what else they cut, Israel

would be exempt.

And almost immediately, 65 of the 87 Republican freshmen signed on,

with more signing on later.

„vehicle crossing

enhancement‟ is a

CHECKPOINT

Unemployed Palestinians and

their children „foster trade‟ by

selling goods to people waiting

to get through the checkpoint

Other topics of urgency

Random arrests

and detentions

Child prisoners

Palestinian

citizens of Israel

Unrecognized

villages

Displacement

of Bedouins

Resources

Reading list In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story

By Ghada Karmi

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

By John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt

Fifty Years of Israel

By Donald Neff

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

By Ilan Pappe

The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After

By Edward Said

A Doctor in Galilee: The Life and Struggle of a

Palestinian in Israel

By Hatim Kanaaneh

Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the Facts about the

U.S.-Israeli Relationship

By Paul Findley

Websites www.ampalestine.org

http://endtheoccupation.org/

www.unrwa.org

www.pchrgaza.org

www.btselem.org/

www.badil.org/

www.defenceforchildren.org/

www.bdsmovement.net

www.whoprofits.org

Contact AMP

American Muslims for Palestine

10101 S. Roberts Road

Palos Hills, IL 60465

708.598.4267

info@ampalestine.org

www.ampalestine.org