Who’s land is the Holy Land?

In 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote a private letter to Baron Rothschild in which he declared British support for the creation of a Jewish National home in the area that is now Israel. The National Home included the land east of the River Jordan, then called the TransJordan, and now called the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (This changed in 1923 at the Treaty of Lausanne when the British made diplomatic concessions to Emir Faisal and his brothers after they lost control of the Hejaz to Ibn Saud) This dream gained support from the Arab leader, Emir Faisal. The agreement was that Faisal and the Arabs would support the creation of a Jewish state in the now British controlled area, and the Jews would support an Arab state in the majority of the rest of the area. Some reports claim that Faisal said “A Jewish state would be good for the area.”

The End of the British Mandate

What happened next was an outbreak of anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish violence by the Arab residents of the area. Many of the Arabs were second or third generation immigrants themselves. This eventually turned into all out war between the two populations over the Holy Land. The British were caught in the middle. At various times, the British Army and diplomatic staff supported one side or the other. Many soldiers and civilians were killed in direct confrontation, or more often, in crossfire trying to restore calm. Eventually this led, in 1947, to the UN agreement to partition the British Mandate of Palestine. The Jews received a small percentage of the land, and the Arabs received the rest, including TransJordan, Syria and Lebanon. But still, the Arabs rejected this and invaded Israel from multiple directions. Following Israel’s stunning victory in the War of Independence, the State of Israel emerged and many Arab residents fled of their own accord.

The Refugees

What became of these Arabs? There was never a national identity as such. However, Arab leaders fabricated a national identity for the refugees for political reasons between 1964 and 1967. Former PLO member Walid Shoebat even said, “We considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem [The reunification in 1967.] Then all of the sudden we were Palestinians. They removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag.” Most Arab countries where the descendants of these so -called “Palestinian Refugees” are denied many basic rights, including citizenship. The Arabs who are under PA or Israeli control tend to have better rights than their cousins in neighboring countries. Many of these rights are provided them by the Israeli State despite many not recognizing Israel’s right to exist.

The Arab League created the “Palestinian” identity as an excuse to not grant rights to their brethren. This way the Arab league criticized Israel in various international forums. Israel wants to find a solution for the refugees, but the Arab leadership does not want anything of the sort. They prefer to leave the “Palestinians” in the status quo. This is the best option for the Arab League to reach its true wish – the destruction of the state of Israel.

Who’s Responsible?

The “Palestinian” people are downtrodden and repressed by their own kind, other Arabs. The world refuses to accept this and ties everything bad that happens to the refugees to Israel. They have attempted to stay out of the civil war. But when they have been attacked, instead of blaming those who attack them, Israel gets blamed as “they are only there because of Israel.” This is a problem the world has but does not see and it is up to every supporter of Israel to do something and make their own governments and press see the truth.