Someone wrote and asked me, in view of the impending unilateral
application for Palestinian Statehood at the UN, to compare the
Islamic/Palestinian claim to the Land of Israel with that of the Jews.
1. Ancient claims: There is no doubt that the Jews inhabited the Land
for thousands of years before the Muslim Arabs arrived on the scene.
Not only do we have the Holy Bible, which gives minute details of the
History of the People of Israel in their Land, but we have an incredible
number of archaeological and historic sites, many of them still
retaining their ancient names. Often the Arabs, when they conquered the
Land adopted Arabic versions of these names, such a Silwan from Siloam
(the pool in Jerusalem), and Jaffa from Yaffe (meaning beautiful in
Hebrew).
2. Arrival of the Arabs: We know exactly when the Arabs arrived on the
scene, Jerusalem was captured by the Muslim Army in 637 ce under the
second Caliph Umar (or Omar). This was only 5 years after Mohammed died
in 632 ce. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran and there is no
actual evidence that Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. It was only after
Mohammed's death that the elected Caliphs started the conquests of areas
outside Arabia, and this was a case of pure imperialism.
3. The "northernmost mosque": There is a reference in the Koran to "the
northernmost Mosque" which has been identified by experts as a mosque in
Arabia. It was Caliph Umar who re-identifed the location of the
"northernmost mosque" with Jerusalem, and he built the first mosque
there after 637 ce (after Mohammed wrote the Koran) in order to
establish Moslem claims to Jerusalem. The current Mosque of Umar was
built in 1193 by Saladin on the site of the destroyed Byzantine Church.
3. The Balfour Declaration: The Land of Israel remained under Muslim
Arab rule from 637-1095, then under the Christian Crusaders from
1095-1291 and then the Ottoman Turks from 1517-1917. At no time did the
Muslims make Jerusalem their capital, they had Mecca, Cairo, Damascus
and Baghdad. When the British captured the Land from the Turks in WWI,
and renamed it Palestine, there was a movement among some British
Christians to re-settle the Jews there that was sympathetic to the aims
of the political movement of Zionism that had been started by Theodor
Herzl in 1897. One such Christian was Lord Balfour, the British FM who
formulated British policy to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in
1917. There was no provision for an Arab homeland there, since the
Arabs had Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Egypt.
4. The War of Independence: Jews had always lived in the Land and
started returning in large numbers from 1880 onwards, motivated by
Christian anti-Semitism in Europe. There were Arab anti-Jewish riots in
1929, 1936 and during WWII. After the War the sovereignty of the State
of Israel was recognized by the UN in the Partition Plan of 1948, but
the Arabs rejected this Plan and the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon and Iraq all attacked the nascent Jewish State. They were
defeated in the War of Independence, and they were defeated again in
1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. Finally Egypt and Jordan recognized the
existence of Israel. Note that if "wars of independence" were to be
nullified the US would cease to exist too!
5. Israel is the de facto State of the Jewish people. The Palestinians
have never had sovereignty over Palestine and further they did not exist
as a group distinct from other Arabs until the defeat in 1967. I would
not say they have no claim, but their claims are insignificant compared
to the claims of the Jews. Further, in their attempts to defeat and
destroy Israel they have used the most despicable and illegal means of
terrorism. Now they also demonize Israel and deny any Jewish historical
claim to the Land. Not only are the Palestinians split between the
Islamists of Hamas in Gaza and the nationalists of Fatah in the West
Bank, but they have never demonstrated the degree of organization and
stability required to justify having a state of their own.
application for Palestinian Statehood at the UN, to compare the
Islamic/Palestinian claim to the Land of Israel with that of the Jews.
1. Ancient claims: There is no doubt that the Jews inhabited the Land
for thousands of years before the Muslim Arabs arrived on the scene.
Not only do we have the Holy Bible, which gives minute details of the
History of the People of Israel in their Land, but we have an incredible
number of archaeological and historic sites, many of them still
retaining their ancient names. Often the Arabs, when they conquered the
Land adopted Arabic versions of these names, such a Silwan from Siloam
(the pool in Jerusalem), and Jaffa from Yaffe (meaning beautiful in
Hebrew).
2. Arrival of the Arabs: We know exactly when the Arabs arrived on the
scene, Jerusalem was captured by the Muslim Army in 637 ce under the
second Caliph Umar (or Omar). This was only 5 years after Mohammed died
in 632 ce. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Koran and there is no
actual evidence that Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem. It was only after
Mohammed's death that the elected Caliphs started the conquests of areas
outside Arabia, and this was a case of pure imperialism.
3. The "northernmost mosque": There is a reference in the Koran to "the
northernmost Mosque" which has been identified by experts as a mosque in
Arabia. It was Caliph Umar who re-identifed the location of the
"northernmost mosque" with Jerusalem, and he built the first mosque
there after 637 ce (after Mohammed wrote the Koran) in order to
establish Moslem claims to Jerusalem. The current Mosque of Umar was
built in 1193 by Saladin on the site of the destroyed Byzantine Church.
3. The Balfour Declaration: The Land of Israel remained under Muslim
Arab rule from 637-1095, then under the Christian Crusaders from
1095-1291 and then the Ottoman Turks from 1517-1917. At no time did the
Muslims make Jerusalem their capital, they had Mecca, Cairo, Damascus
and Baghdad. When the British captured the Land from the Turks in WWI,
and renamed it Palestine, there was a movement among some British
Christians to re-settle the Jews there that was sympathetic to the aims
of the political movement of Zionism that had been started by Theodor
Herzl in 1897. One such Christian was Lord Balfour, the British FM who
formulated British policy to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in
1917. There was no provision for an Arab homeland there, since the
Arabs had Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Egypt.
4. The War of Independence: Jews had always lived in the Land and
started returning in large numbers from 1880 onwards, motivated by
Christian anti-Semitism in Europe. There were Arab anti-Jewish riots in
1929, 1936 and during WWII. After the War the sovereignty of the State
of Israel was recognized by the UN in the Partition Plan of 1948, but
the Arabs rejected this Plan and the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon and Iraq all attacked the nascent Jewish State. They were
defeated in the War of Independence, and they were defeated again in
1956, 1967, 1973 and 1982. Finally Egypt and Jordan recognized the
existence of Israel. Note that if "wars of independence" were to be
nullified the US would cease to exist too!
5. Israel is the de facto State of the Jewish people. The Palestinians
have never had sovereignty over Palestine and further they did not exist
as a group distinct from other Arabs until the defeat in 1967. I would
not say they have no claim, but their claims are insignificant compared
to the claims of the Jews. Further, in their attempts to defeat and
destroy Israel they have used the most despicable and illegal means of
terrorism. Now they also demonize Israel and deny any Jewish historical
claim to the Land. Not only are the Palestinians split between the
Islamists of Hamas in Gaza and the nationalists of Fatah in the West
Bank, but they have never demonstrated the degree of organization and
stability required to justify having a state of their own.
By Jack Cohen
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