Helen Thomas, the former White House news correspondent for the Associated Press who had asked several presidents through the years "the tough questions" made a statement—that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine." Does bold talk speak the truth? What are the facts that stand behind her thoughts and words?
How did the modern-day conflict between Arab and Jew in historical Palestine begin?
The Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is joined by land within the boundaries of an area that once included the Kingdom of Jordan until 1922. The term "Land of Israel" is used to refer to this same geographic region, narrowly or broadly defined by Israelis Jews and Christians, but not by Arabs and Muslims who specify the region as Palestine.
Territory historically described as "Palestine" now framed by Israeli-occupied borders is delineated "a Jewish State" by the Israeli government, leaving the Palestinian people bereft of formal statehood while held politically at bay by the national government.
In the 7th Century the Islamic prophet Muhammad established an accord among Muslims, Jews and Christians on the Arabian peninsula followed by rapid expansion of power well beyond the peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire, which by the fourth decade had conquered the pre-historic land known as Palestine that remained under control of the empire for more than a dozen centuries.
The most conquered land in recorded history, ancient Palestine by the 20th Century had come under the force and effect of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) until World War I, when British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, promising to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.
Occupation of Palestine reinforced by a mandate, formally approved by the League of Nations in 1922, granted Britain the right to rule the land from 1920, a period known as the "British Mandate." The country's freedom from the grip of the Ottoman Empire had been passed into the hands of the British Empire with the consent of the Western World.
The "country" of Palestine has not existed beyond the spoils of war since recorded history.
Between the years of 1936-1939 the Arabs participated in an uprising, protesting both British rule and mass Jewish Immigration. First a strike then armed insurrection, which reached 10,000 Arab fighters at their peak during the summer and fall of 1938, sporadically became organized over time with attacks directed at British strategic installation such as the pipeline, railways, and Jewish individuals and groups. The reduction of violence lasted for a years during which time a commission deliberated until recommending the partitioning of Palestine. The insurrectionist opposed this solution and resumed their revolt full bore until 1939 as the revolt dissipated.
In the process, British forces greatly expanded in tamping down Arab dissent in the form of curfews, house demolitions, Arab leaders arrested or expelled, others imprisonment without formal charges or due process, and over 120 sentenced to death—around 40 hanged.
Meanwhile, an illegal Jewish paramilitary organization actively supported British efforts to quell the insurgency. Although the administration didn't officially recognize the Haganah (Hebrew: defense) the British security forces cooperated with this rogue organization by forming the "Jewish Settlement Police and Special Night Squads".
A terrorist splinter group of the Haganah called the Irgun (or Etzel) adopted a policy of violent retaliation against Arabs for attacks on Jews. A meeting in Alexandria in July 1937 between Jewish commander Col. Robert Bitker and chief-of-staff Moshe Rosenberg made plain the need for indiscriminate retaliation due to the difficulty of limiting operations against only the guilty, leading to the illegal Jewish militia launching deadly attacks against public Arab gathering places such as markets and cafes.
While the Arab revolt did not achieve its objective, it did signal birth of the Arab Palestinian identity and credited with the renouncing of Britain's strategem for creating a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as set forth in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
The British Mandate ended after World War II when world public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the policy that prevented Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, as in the case of Exodus 1947, sending such ships instead to internment camps on the island of Cyprus (or even back to Germany) as well as the U.S. Congress delaying a necessary loan to the British government for refusal in upholding a promise to President Harry S Truman that 100,000 Holocaust survivors would be allowed to emigrate to Palestine.
However, the British Administration rejected implementing any solution regarding the future of the country unacceptable to both the Jewish and the Arab communities, allowing no other authorities to take over responsibility for public security before the 15 May 1948 termination of its mandate.
On 14 May, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel. What followed was the U.N. partition of the country and the 1948 Palestine War. On the same day that Israel declared statehood, the Arab League announced setting up a solitary Arab civil administration throughout Palestine with the All-Palestine government declared 1 October 1948 in Gaza.
And for more than 60 years this fundamental conflict has continued ...a never-ending story.
Frederick Louis Richardson
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