Middle Eastern History Part 2 The history of the Middle East is a very long one. It has been filled with controversy, joy, wars, and

the development of some of the most well-known monotheistic religions in world history. Presently,

history is still being established in the Middle East. The Middle Eastern story has been some of the

most debated stories among human history. The lands of the Middle East stretch from the Arabian

Peninsula to the Iranian Plateau. The first humans existed from Africa. Human beings from Africa

migrated into locations globally, which definitely includes the Middle East. In ca. 10,000 B.C., there

was the development of intensive flock MANAGEMENT in the Zagros Mountains. Back in the 8th

millennium B.C, Emmer wheat was domesticated and cultivated in southeast Turkey. Turkey

experienced many settlements during the Neolithic age like in Nevali Cori in ca. 8,000 B.C. and in

Cathalhoyuk in southern Anatolia. In Turkey and throughout the Middle East, crops grew and soon

the domestication of the cow came about in the Middle East by the 7th millennium B.C.

Irrigation existed in Mesopotamia by ca. 5,400 B.C. The growth of irrigation is a key part of any

civilization. Irrigation can grow cops and send food to human beings in a more efficient manner. The

wheel and plough was created in ancient Mesopotamia during the 5,000’s B.C. too including temples

being founded. Early civilizations were developed during the 4,000’s B.C. like the Civilization of Susa

and Kish (in Mesopotamia) by ca. 4,500 B.C. The Merimde culture developed on the Nile from 4,570

B.C. to 4,250 B.C. The famous Badari culture was in Egypt on the Nile from 4,400 B.C. to 4,000 B.C.

The Sumerian civilization developed in this time period as well. They are known for created writing in

Mesopotamia called cuneiform. The Sumerian civilization was a network of city states in the region of

Sumer (or southern Iraq). These city states had agricultural infrastructure, irrigation canals, markets

and a concentrated population. The two centers of Sumer were Eridu and Uruk, which are their

earliest cities. Although the earliest forms of writing in the region do not go back much further than

c. 3500 BCE, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c.

5500 and 4000 BCE by a non-Semitic people who may or may not have spoken the Sumerian

language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc. as evidence). They or the

Sumerians had priest kings, councils, polytheistic religions, and other forms of advanced civilization.

By ca. 2,400 B.C., the Semitic speaking people of the Akkadian Empire conquered them or the

Sumerians (who were not Semites). Native Sumerians re-emerged to rule for about a century in the

third dynasty of Ur of the 21st to 20th century B.C. There were mountain peoples who were farmers

and herders as well. The Anatolian peoples were farmers too. Many Semitic human beings were

sheep herders and farmers as well. From 3,500 to 2,500 B.C., the civilizations of Mesopotamia grew.

The peoples of the Middle East traded with Africa, India, and with the Indo-Europeans peoples of

Asia too. The period of 2,500 B.C. to 1,500 B.C. described the growth of civilizations, empires, and

new states.

During this time, Mesopotamia saw the rise of Babylonia into the next level. The Mitanni Empire

existed in Northern Iraq (which was influenced by Semites and Indo-Europeans). Syria and Canaan

grew. The Hittite Empire (as found in Turkey) flourished and they traded with ancient Egypt as well.

Elam developed and Elam is found in modern day Iran. During this time period, centralized states

became more sophisticated. A complex commercial life, bureaucracies, and well organized armies

existed (as a means for civilizations to maintain the strength of Empires). People used the chariot as a

means for warfare or travel. There were massive upheavals and power structures for influence in the

Middle East. Ancient Egypt was the most powerful empire in the region during that time period.

Some believe that ancient Egypt reached its apex of its civilization by the era of the New Kingdom.

The Middle East from 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C. experienced a lot of changes. From the beginning of this

era, invaders like the Hyksos (or Semitic peoples) and others have attacked ancient Egypt, the

Hittites, Assyria, and Babylon. New peoples started to develop. Also, in this period, the Iron Age

started to flourish. Iron was used in a widespread fashion and it probably started in Asia Minor.

Semitic peoples started to develop their own powerbase in Israel and the Phoenicians grew their

trading and financial civilization. Arabian Kingdoms developed in ancient Saudi Arabia too including

in ancient Yemen. In Iran, we see the rise of the Medes, the Persians, and the Parthians. Uratu is a

culture near Mount Ararat. In Asia Minor, the Hittite empire fall and the Phrygians and the Lydians

control many areas of Turkey. Assyria was a major Mesopotamian Semitic Kingdom. It is found in

Northern Iraq. It came about from 2,500 B.C. to 605 B.C. Smaller states existed during its existence

too. Its capital was the city of Ashur. The Assyrian Empire had chariots, temples, religious

infrastructures, and other parts of a strong civilization.

The Phoenicians traveled all over the Mediterranean Sea into North Africa, Spain, and they traded as

far as the UK. The Phoenicians invented the modern alphabet system of the modern age. The camel

has been domesticated in this period and new trade routes across the Arabian Desert came into

existence. The Israelites formed their own Kingdom. The first record of the name Israel (as ysrỉꜣr)

occurs in the Merneptah stele, ERECTED for Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah c. 1209 BCE, "Israel is laid

waste and his seed is not." William Dever sees this "Israel" in the central highlands as a cultural and

probably political entity, more an ethnic group rather than an organized state. The ancestors of the

Israelites are different to the Canaanites. The ancestors of the Israelites were Semites. Villages in

Israel have up to 300 or 400 people. They used farming, herding, and they were largely self-sufficient.

The Tel Dan Stele and the Mesha Stele described the occurrences in Israel by name. It is also

important to note that the ancients knew about Palestine too. In the mid-2nd Century A.D., ancient

geographer Polemon wrote of a place "not far from Arabia in the part of Syria called Palestine," while

Greek travel writer Pausanias wrote in his Description of Greece, "In front of the sanctuary grow

palm-trees, the fruit of which, though not wholly edible like the dates of Palestine, yet are riper than

those of Ionia." (9.19.8). The Persian Empire conquered the Middle East and it was defeated by

Alexander the Great’s Greco-Macedonian Empire. After Alexander the Great died at a young age, his

generals ruled the empire. The Roman Empire rapidly conquered the territory of Israel after the

Hellenistic age ended.

The Beginning of the First Millennium A.D.

During the era of Jesus Christ was one of the most controversial eras of Middle Eastern history. The

Parthian and Roman Empires governed Mesopotamia, Iran, etc. The Arabian Kingdoms grew in size

plus power and they traded with the black African peoples of Nubia and the Kingdom of Axum. The

Jewish people were not only found in Judaea (or Israel today), but they existed in Africa, Asia, and

Europe by the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Yeshua was a revolutionary rabbi who taught

love, peace, and that the Kingdom of God was at hand. To Christians, he is the Messiah (the Son of

God). To Muslims, he was a great prophet. To those who followed Judaism, he was a leader, but not

the Messiah. Yet, Yeshua was a person who will be very famous and debated long after 33 A.D. I

believe that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Son of the living God. Rebellions existed in Israel when

Jewish people rebelled against Roman Empire tyranny.

The Jewish historian Josephus (c. 37-100 A.D.) was born and raised in Jerusalem. He was a military

commander in Galilee during the First Jewish Revolt against the occupying Roman authority, acted as

negotiator during the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE and later penned vital volumes of Levantine Jewish

history. His works entitled, The Jewish War, Antiquities of the Jews, and Against Apion all contain

copious references to Palestine and Palestinians. Towards the end of Antiquities, Josephus writes, "I

shall now, therefore, make an end here of my Antiquities; after the conclusion of which events, I

began to write that account of the war; and these Antiquities contain what hath been delivered down

to us from the original creation of man, until the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, as to what hath

befallen the Jews, as well in Egypt as in Syria and in Palestine, and what we have suffered from the

Assyrians and Babylonians, and what afflictions the Persians and Macedonians, and after them the

Romans, have brought upon us; for I think I may say that I have composed this history with sufficient

accuracy in all things." (XX.11.2)

The Middle East from 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. was dominated by the Roman Empire, the Scythian

Empire, the Arabian Kingdom, Armenia, and other areas which traded with each other in a high level.

Asia Minor was heavily divided into various client states of the Roman Empire. Greco-Roman

influences are found throughout the region. Syria, Lycia, Judaea, Thrace, and other areas were having

their own cultures as well. By 200 A.D., the Parthian Empire was strengthened and it controlled a

large part of Mesopotamia. The Roman and Parthian Empire had a hostile and competitive

relationship with each other. The Kingdom of Armenia acted as a buffer between both empires. After

Yeshua died, many Christians said that he resurrected. The Christian religion grew with the help of

the apostles (or some of the first followers of Jesus Christ). The growth of Christianity continued in

the Middle East. It soon became larger in members than Judaism and other religions. In the Middle

East during this time, Jewish revolts for liberation were crushed by Roman imperialist armies. For

example, the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt (from 132 to 135 A.D.), which was about Jewish people trying

to be liberated from Roman tyranny was suppressed by Roman forces. Jewish people were later

barred from Jerusalem and the Emperor Harian built a new pagan city of Aelia Capitolina on the

ruins. Near 500 A.D., the Roman Empire is divided in East and West. The Eastern part of the Roman

Empire encompasses certain parts of the Middle East. The Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the

Byzantium Empire. The Parthian Empire was replaced with another Persian empire. The Sassanid

dynasty of Persia is powerful too. The Sassanid dynasty was very aggressive in its composition.

The Rise of Islam

The Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the Byzantine Empire with some of its own unique

architecture, culture, and government. By the 7th century, Arabic tribes united under the banner of

Islam. Islam was created by Muhammad. Islam is a monolithic religion who has influences from both

Judaism and Christianity. Islam believes that God is one and Muhammad is his prophet. Muslim

believes in zadat or almsgiving and in the Hajj (or in the pilgrimage of Muslims into Mecca as a way

for worshippers to spiritually connect with Allah. Allah is God to the Muslims). Muslims have dietary

and moral rules in their religion as well. Muslims believe that Yeshua was a great prophet, but not

the Son of the living God or the Messiah. Islam spread quickly in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe,

etc. Its armies were powerful. French armies repelled the Muslim military advances. Islam has

similarities and differences to Christianity and Judaism. All of the three religions are monotheistic.

The Persian Empire is gone by the 7th century. The new Islamic Caliphate or empire ruled the Middle

East politically and economically. Caliphate comes from the word “caliph” meaning “successor.”

Damascus, Syria was one capital of the caliphate and then it was moved into Baghdad, Iraq. The

Islamic world shifted eastward after ca. 750 A.D. Islam spread into Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Syria,

western India, and other parts of Asia. Caliphs have huge political powers. During this time,

technological and scientific developments came from China like paper, from India like the decimal

system, etc. Arabic scholars developed contributions as it relates to philosophy, medicine,

philosophy, optics, algebra, etc. This information was passed onto Europeans. There was the Fatimid

Caliphate in Egypt. There was the Kingdom of Armenia, the Emirate of Azerbaijan, the Buyid Emirate

of Iran, the Saminid Emirate of Central Asia, etc. Oman and Yemen developed.

Even in the 900’s A.D., Nubia and Ethiopia existed. By 979 A.D., we see the rise and fall of the Seljuq

Empire. This empire was made up of Muslim Turks from Central Asia who came into Iran, Iraq, Syria,

and Turkey. The Turkish sultans became the sultanate of Rum. The Ayyubid sultanate grew in size.

The Ayyubids were Turkish people. The Seljuq conquests even spread into the Arabian Peninsula.

There was the Kingdom of Georgia and the Empire of Khwarazm Shah in Iran. Oman and Yemen

existed too. The Seljuq placed strict conditions on Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem.

Later, European Christians lead a number of “Crusades” to not only fight Muslims, but to conquer the

Middle East in an imperialist fashion. The Catholic Church led the Crusades. The proponents of the

Crusades believe that they were protecting pilgrims to Israel and they wanted Christians to control

areas of the Holy Land from the Muslims (even with the use of force if necessary). Crimes against

humanity didn’t just exist in the Middle East, but many Crusades committed barbarous actions in

Europe too. The Europeans temporarily set up a number of Christian states in Syria. This influenced

the modern day Christian populations in Syria and Lebanon. The Crusaders established the Latin

Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1187. The Kurdish General Saladin (or Salah al-Din) defeated the

Crusades in 1187 at Hittin in northern Palestine (and he recaptured Jerusalem). Saladin was born in

Takrit, which is in northern Iraq (where Iraqi forces in 2015 are fighting the counterrevolutionary

forces of ISIS). The Khwarazm Shah was made up of Turks too. These Turks came from Central Asia.

They migrated via invasions for the next two centuries. In the 1230’s, the Mongols ruled much of the

Middle East. The Mongols conquered Iran and Iraq. By 1258 A.D, they captured Baghdad and killed

the last of the Caliphs. They were only stopped by the slave soldiers of the Mamluq Turks. These

Turks controlled Egypt, Syria, and western Arabia. They ousted the last Crusades strongholds on the

Syrian coast.

More on the Middle Ages

The Mongols introduced firearms in the region and the Mamluq armies used them. Genghis Khan

created the Mongol empire and his descendants ruled it too. Il-Khans were Mongols who converted

to Islam. The sophisticated armies of the Mongol Empire were so strong that they conquered

territories rapidly. The Mongol Empire became one of the largest empires in human history. The

Black Death struck the region in the 1340’s. Timur ruled much of the Middle East too. His empire

shrank back to Iran. The Black Sheep Turks ruled Iran too. The Ottoman Empire grew and by 1453,

the Ottoman captured the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire lasted for

centuries. Constantinople felt and many European scholars, monks, and researchers left into Greece,

Italy, and in other places of Europe. They had knowledge with them and these same researchers

influenced the development of the Renaissance movement of Europe. They brought some peace and

stability in the region. Still, it used its armies to conquer Syria in 1516, Egypt in 1517 and western

Arabia (like Hejaz and Yemen). The Ottoman Empire ruled Iraq in 1534. Architecture, cultural growth,

economic growth developed in the prime of the Ottoman Empire. The Safavid Empire was in Iran.

During the 1700’s, the Ottoman Empire maintained its power. Arabic people formed emirates and

the Saudi Kingdom. Western interests are more involved in the region too. The West wanted the oil

resources in the Middle East. Nations like Yemen, Oman, and Persia existed by the 1700’s. By the

1800’s, the Ottoman Empire declined. The reason is that the Ottoman Empire was overextended,

there were economic pressures, and nationalist movements (as found in the Middle East, Armenia,

etc.) grew throughout the Ottoman Empire. Egypt became independent of the Ottomans. Syria and

Iraq once were independent and then became under the control of the Ottomans. Bahrain, Kuwait,

and other areas of the Middle East developed. Persia has grown.

One of the most controversial part (if not the most controversial part) of Middle Eastern history is the

history of Zionism. For decades, very intelligent people among both sides of the issue (of those who

agree or disagree with Zionism) have debated its origin, its justifications, and its existence since its

formation. The man who modernized Zionism was Theodor Herzl, but the Zionist movement existed

long before Herzl was born. In 1160, David Alroy led a Jewish uprising in Kurdistan that wanted to

reconquer Israel. In 1648, the false prophet and false Messiah Sabbatai Zevi (from modern Turkey)

claimed that he would lead the Jewish people back to Palestine. In 1868, Judah ben Shalom led a

large movement of Yemenite Jewish people to Palestine. A dispatch from the British Consulate in

Jerusalem in 1839 reported that: "the Jews of Algiers and its dependencies, are numerous in

Palestine...." There was also significant migration from Central Asia (Bukharan Jews). Many Jewish

people started to travel into Israel in a high level by the late 1800’s.

Moses Hess, the German Orthodox Rabbi Kalischer, Mordecai Manuel Noah, and other Jewish

scholars advocated the return of Jewish people into Palestine (which is one core aspect of Zionism).

The major premise of Zionism is that the Jewish people have no homeland of their own, they are

oppressed, and so they have the right to return into Palestine. Yet, you have to take into

consideration the people already living in that land during that time period. Also, it is important to

note that many Jewish people were already in Palestine for centuries after the destruction of the

Temple. When Muslims came into Palestine, they found Jewish communities there. Even during the

Crusades, Jewish people and Muslims fought side by side against the European invading Crusaders

(at Haifa’s Point). Saladin even invited Jewish people back into the city after he reconquered

Jerusalem. Also, Jewish people in European nations suffered massive persecution in England, Ukraine,

Russia (people fought for giving Jewish people rightful emancipation or voting rights, but Jewish

people still suffered not only anti-Semitism but other forms of unjust oppression including

discrimination. That is wrong), Poland, Spain, etc. This inspired many Jewish people to travel into

Israel. Some of the early proto-Zionists were called “Hovevei Zion” (or Lovers of Zion) back during

the 1870’s. The First Aliyah (or massive migration of Jewish people into the Israel) came about from

1882 to 1903.

Theodore Herzl’s story must be explained fully. He lived a short life from 1860 to 1904. He promoted

Zionism more in a political sense not in a more spiritual sense. Herzl was a secular journalist. He

covered the Dreyfus Affair. That Affair was about an innocent Jewish man named Dreyfus being

falsely accused and falsely convicted of treason. Dreyfus suffered imprisonment on Devil’s Island. It

would take years for Dreyfus’ name to be fully cleared. His story proves that anti-Semitism is found in

the French Army and in the French press. So, Herzl believed that it was impossible for Jewish people

to have liberty except for them to come into Palestine. The first Zionist Congress was convened in

1897. Herzl was offered to set up a nation in Argentina and Uganda, but he refused. He wanted a

nation in Israel. In his famous book "Der Judenstaat" (The State of the Jews), Herzl wrote that the

Jews and their state will constitute "a rampart of Europe against Asia, of civilization against

barbarism," and again regarding the local population, "We shall endeavour to encourage the

poverty-stricken population to cross the border by securing work for it in the countries it passes

through, while denying it work in our own country. The process of expropriation and displacement

must be carried out prudently and discreetly--Let (the landowners) sell us their land at exorbitant

prices. We shall sell nothing back to them." Of course, I disagree with Herzel’s statement as they are

imperialistic and outright racist. Max Nordau, an early Zionist, visited Palestine and was so horrified

that the country was already populated that he burst out in front of Herzl: "But we are committing a

grave injustice!" Some years later, in 1913, a prominent Zionist thinker and writer, Ahad Ha'am (one

of the people), wrote: "What are our brothers doing? They were slaves in the land of their exile.

Suddenly they found themselves faced with boundless freedom...and they behave in a hostile and

cruel manner towards the Arabs, trampling on their rights without the least justification...even

bragging about this behaviour." So, the truth is that people can voluntarily live in a peaceful fashion

in other lands, but people have to respect the indigenous populations’ human rights too.

The 20th Century and the 21st Century

By the 1900’s, Egypt is under British economic control. The Ottoman Empire is crushed by WWI.

Britain, France, and other European powers split up the Middle East in their own images without

considerations of the aspirations of the Middle Eastern people at all. One major lie is that before

1900, Palestine was a desolate land for centuries. The truth is that Palestine was not an empty land as

many people there have developed culture and civilizations for centuries after the end of the Roman

Empire. Even Ben-Gurion in 1918 admitted that, “Palestine is not an empty country.” Even one of the

most ardent Zionists, Israel Zangwill, who stated as early as 1905, that Palestine was twice as thickly

populated as the United States. As regards the hill regions, the country is covered with olive

orchards, vineyards and other deciduous fruit trees; while the lands in the South were used for the

cultivation of grain, and those in the Jordan Valley for the production of vegetables and fruits.

During this time period (of the early 20th century), the Ottoman Empire controlled the land.

According to Ottoman records, in 1878 there were 462,465 subject inhabitants of the Jerusalem,

Nablus and Acre districts: 403,795 Muslims (including Druze), 43,659 Christians and 15,011 Jews.

Until the beginning of the 1900’s, the majority of Jewish people lived in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed,

and Tiberias. Most of them observed traditional, orthodox religious practices. They followed a

religious rather than a political, nationalist agenda. Many of them didn’t even want a Zionist, Jewish

state. Ironically, many of the secular living Jewish people wanted a modern, independent Jewish state

in Israel. After WWI, Jewish migration into Palestine exploded.

One big reason why we have such tensions in the Middle East is because of the actions of the

European imperialists. These imperialists issued contradictory policies among Jewish and Arabic

peoples in the region, which has exacerbated conflicts. One example is that Sir Henry McMahon

made a secret correspondence with Husayn ibn ‘Ali, the patriarch of the Hashemite family and

Ottoman governor of Mecca and Medina. McMahon convinced Husayn to lead an Arab revolt

against the Ottoman Empire, which was aligned with Germany against Britain and France in the war.

McMahon promised that him that if the Arabs supported Britain in the war, the British government

would support the establishment of an independent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arab

provinces of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine. Yet, the British organized the Skyes-Picot

Agreement, which divided the Middle East under French, English, and Saudi influence. In 1917, the

British foreign minister Lord Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration. This announced the

government’s support for the establishment of “a Jewish national home in Palestine.” In 1921, the

British caused the Mandate plan. It caused lands to the east of the Jordan River to be the Emirate of

Transjordan to be controlled by Faisal’s brother Addallah. The west of the Jordan River would be the

Palestine Mandate. This was the first time in modern history where Palestine became a unified

political entity. So, Great Britain had a huge role to play in the establishment of many Middle Eastern

nations from Saudi Arabia onward.

Could it be that the Western foreign elites used a divide and conquer strategy as a means to divide

up Jewish and Arabic peoples, so that they can be at each other throats (so a real solution can never

materialize and the Western imperialists can control Middle Eastern resources more effectively)?

History proves this to be so. According to William Ziff’s book, “The Rape of Palestine” there were

independent efforts to resolve the issues in the Middle East:

“Hussein of the Hejaz looked to the Zionists for the financial and scientific experience which the

projected Arab state would badly need. In May 1918, Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Hussein of the Hejaz

met in Cairo, where the latter spoke of mutual cooperation between Jews and Arabs in Palestine. In

early 19l9 a Treaty of Friendship was signed to provide for “the closest possible collaboration in the

development of the Arab state and the coming Jewish Commonwealth of Palestine.” On March 3,

19l9, another Arab leader, Feisal, son of Sherif, wrote: “We wish the Jews a most hearty welcome

home.”

The Arab newspaper Falastin claimed in an editorial that, “despite British allegations of an

unreachable enmity between Jews and Arabs, we cannot recall a single instance since the British

occupation here when they made the slightest effort to bring the Arabs and Jews together. Pre-war

Jewish residents lived here peacefully with Arabs for hundreds of years. To this day these Jews, in

addition to the Arabs, maintain that if it were not for the British policy of divide and rule, the Arabs

and Jews would again live in Palestine in peace and harmony.”

Dr. Gustavo Gutierrez, former president of Cuba’s Chamber of Deputies, stated after his visit to the

Holy Land in late 1936 that he saw “no evidence of friction or disagreement between the Arab and

Jewish people in Palestine,” and that “if Arabs and Jews were left to their own councils they could

settle the Palestine problem wisely and permanently.” I disagree with Dr. Gutierrez that there was no

violence back then, but he was right to say that a high chance of resolution could have been made if

the Arabic and Jewish people in Palestine set up councils to solve their problems and issues. To solve

the problem, the recognition of the political aspirations of the indigenous population of Palestine

must be respected. In other words, the recognition of Palestinian human personhood is a

prerequisite for justice in the Middle East.

This was not shown in the history books. Therefore, outside British forces did stir up much of the

strife in the Middle East. Tensions occurred between Jewish people and Arabic people. Arabic people

felt betrayed by the false promises of Britain to grant them an independent Arabic state in Palestine.

They also felt that the British people allowed the Jewish people too much leeway in forming

communities and establishing more settlements. Many of the Jewish people wanted more

immigration and more land as a way for them to set up an independent Jewish state. They felt that

the British were preventing that from occurring in a higher level. As early as 1920 and in 1921, violent

clashes broke out between Arabic people and Jewish people.

One of the most controversial, anti-Arabic racist (ironically, he condemned the racism that black

people suffered via Jim Crow in America. Jabotinsky was right to condemn anti-black racism in

America, but he was wrong to call Arabic culture backward), and reactionary Zionists was Ze’ev

Jabotinsky. He only wanted Arabic people to have human rights in Palestine if Jewish people ruled

Palestine. In other words, he wanted Arabic people to live in a Jewish state being granted “equal

rights” by Jewish leadership. He was born in 1880. He was a member of the reactionary Revisionist

movement. That movement evolved into the Likud Party today. He was also one founder of the

Haganah (or the Zionist paramilitary group before 1948). Back in 1926, he made the racist statement:

“…the tragedy lies in the fact the there is a collision here between two truths....but our justice is

greater. The Arab is culturally backward, but his instinctive patriotism is just as pure and noble as our

own; it cannot be bought, it can only be curbed ... force majeure." (Righteous Victims, p. 108)

Jabotinsky was an author, a poet, and a speaker. He spoke numerous languages. Many Revisionists

were openly sympathetic to fascists like Mussolini. Before Jabotinsky died in 1940, he advocated a

Jewish state where Arabic people would have what he deemed “equal rights.” His other writings

state, "We do not want to eject even one Arab from either the left or the right bank of the Jordan

River. We want them to prosper both economically and culturally. We envision the regime of Jewish

Palestine [Eretz Israel ha-Ivri] as follows: most of the population will be Jewish, but equal rights for all

Arab citizens will not only be guaranteed, they will also be fulfilled…” This is a halfhearted measure

because he wanted Palestine to be dominated by one group of people under the guise of “equal

rights.” In 1934, he wrote a draft constitution for the Jewish state which declared that Arabs would be

on an equal footing with their Jewish counterparts "throughout all sectors of the country's public

life." Jabotinsky was right to oppose the evil dictator and murderer Adolf Hitler.

In a radio broadcast on April 28, 1933, Jabotinsky strongly condemned any possible pact between

Zionism and Hitler. He’s right on that point. Jabotinsky upheld in his radio address the Revisionist

platform for an international economic boycott on German exports, suggesting in addition that the

British Mandate of Palestine should assume the lead in the boycott efforts Still, Jabotinsky was wrong

in advocating using force or violence against Palestinians, Jabotinsky was wrong to admire Benito

Mussolini (which Jabotinksy supporters fail to mention), and there is no justification for his other

extreme statements. Jabotinsky believed in more free market, laissez faire views economically (in

opposing to Chaim Arlosoroff’s more progressive views on economics. Arlosoroff was right to

promote more peaceful co-existence between Jewish people and Arabic people. Chaim Arlosoroff’s

promotion of the controversial Ha'avara Agreement with the Nazi government may have contributed

to his unfortunate, evil assassination in June 16, 1933). So, the legacy of Jabotinsky is complicated.

During the 1920’s, the Jewish National Fund purchased large tracts of land from absentee Arabic

landowners. The Arabic people like farmers, etc. living in those areas were evicted. These

displacements caused more tensions. Violence between Jewish settlers and Arabic peasant tenants

continued. This violence occurred in August 15, 1929. Members of the Betar Jewish youth movement

(a pre-state organization of the Revisionist Zionists) demonstrated and raised a Zionist flag over the

Western Wall. Fearing that the Noble Sanctuary was in danger, Arabs responded by attacking Jews in

Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. Among the dead were 64 Jews in Hebron. Their Muslim neighbors

saved many others. The Jewish community of Hebron ceased to exist when its surviving members left

for Jerusalem. During a week of communal violence, 133 Jews and 115 Arabs were killed and many

wounded. WWII again caused Jewish immigration to Palestine to increase, because Hitler rose to

power in Germany by 1933. Hitler has an explicit agenda to exterminate Jewish people and other

human beings in a racist, genocidal fashion. The controversial Royal (Peel Commission) existed in July

7, 1937. This desired a partition of Palestine into a Jewish and Arabic state (along with a neutral area

which contained the holy places). It also wanted to transfer or force Arabic people out of the Jewish

state, which is wrong. Arabic people opposed the Royal Commission proposal and desired a unitary

Palestinian state. Many Arabic people were angered at the British and the French control over Middle

Eastern territory as a violation of their right to human self-determination.

This is Haj Amin al-Husseini meeting and shaking hands with the evil male (not man) Heinrich

Himmler back in 1943.

The Arabic revolt of 1936-1937 in Palestine existed over the frustration over the growth of British

control and Zionist settlements. Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad was one military commander of

the Arabic revolt. Many military leaders of the Palestinian side were exited after the revolt ended.

This revolt was suppressed by the British with the help of Zionist militias (and the complicity of

neighboring Arabic regimes). The British issued the 1939 White Paper. That documented limited

future Jewish immigration and land purchased. It promoted independence in ten years with a result

of a majority-Arab Palestinian state. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Amin al-Husayni was

a notorious enemy of freedom and justice. The British High Commissioner Herbert Samuel appointed

him as Grand Mufti. He was the leader of the Arab Higher Committee and he was an Arab nationalist.

There is nothing wrong with being an Arabic nationalist, but the problem was that the Grand Mufti

allied with the Nazi regime. There are pictures of the Grand Mufti allying with Nazis (and he gave

propaganda radio broadcasts by helping the Nazis recruit Bosnian Muslims for the Warren-SS),

which was disgraceful. That is why Abdullah I of Jordan officially removed al-Husayni and banned

him from entering Jerusalem in 1948. By 1948, Jordan occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank. He

died in 1974.

After WWII, hostilities continued among Jewish people and Arabic people. There were clashes

between Zionist militias and the British army. So, Britain ended its mandate over Palestine and

requested that the newly formed United Nations will determine the future of Palestine. The British

government wanted the UN to establish Palestine as an UN trusteeship back to them. The UN

committee recommended that Palestine ought to be divided or portioned into 2 states (one state

dominated by Palestinian people and the other state dominated by Jewish people). To the United

Nations, this plan could satisfy the needs and demands of both Jewish and Palestinian peoples. At

the end of 1946, 1,269,000 Arabs and 608,000 Jews resided within the borders of Mandate Palestine.

Jews had acquired by purchase about 7 percent of the total land area of Palestine, amounting to

about 20 percent of the arable land.

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into two states, one

Jewish and the other Arabic. In the time, only a few Jewish settlements would within the proposed

Arabic state while hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabic people would be part of the

proposed Jewish state. The territory for Jewish people would slighter larger than the Arabic state (in

56 to 43 percent). The UN partition plan made the area of Jerusalem and Bethlehem an international

zone. Some Zionist leadership publicly accepted the UN partition plan (yet, privately, some of them

felt that it didn’t go far enough) while the Arabic people rejected the UN plan as an act of betrayal.

So, the United Nations wanted to solve the problem, but this plan was disputed by many people in

the region. Fighting began between Arabic and Jewish residents of Palestine days after the UN

partition plan (in 1947, so it is a lie to assume that all sides were just fighting each other in 1948

when Israelis declared themselves a nation). The Zionist military forces were heavily organized. By

early April 1948, Zionist forced control over most the territory that the partition required and then

went on the offensive to conquer more territory beyond the partition borders. International forces

played both the Jewish and Arabic peoples against each other. This caused tensions. Jewish and

Arabic peoples CONTINUE to fight to this very day. Both sides claim each side is unfair for different

reasons.

Here is David Ben Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel in 1948,

By May 15, 1948, the British evacuated Palestine. On that same day, Zionist leaders proclaimed the

State of Israel as a Jewish nation. It was a historic moment. Then, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq

invaded Israel. These nations said that they wanted to save Palestine from the Zionists. Lebanon

declared war, but they didn’t invade Israel. In the beginning, the winner of this war was uncertain.

Arms shipments from Czechoslovakia came into Israel. Later, Israel was defeating the Arabic military

forces and conquered additional territories beyond the UN partition borders. It would be in 1949

when the war between Israel and the Arabic states would end by the signing of armistice

agreements. Palestine was divided into 2 parts. The boundaries were in the 1949 armistice lines. The

State of Israel made up over 77 percent of the territory. Jordan occupied East Jerusalem and the

West Bank via the 1949 armistice agreement. Also, Egypt controlled the city of Gaza and the Gaza

Strip. The Palestinian Arabic state envisioned by the UN partition plan was never created. The 1947-

1949 war caused over 700,000 Palestinians to be refugees. Palestinians said that most were expelled

because Zionists wanted to rid the country of its non-Jewish inhabitants. The Israelis say that Arabic

political and military leaders forced the Palestinians to be refugees by force.

These are images of Palestinian refugees. Even today, Palestinians are not totally free and we have to

fight until all Palestinians have true justice and true equality in the region.

One Israeli military intelligence document indicates that through June 1948 at least 75 percent of the

refugees fled due to military actions by Zionist militias, psychological campaigns aimed at

frightening Arabs into leaving, and dozens of direct expulsions. The proportion of expulsions is likely

higher since the largest single expulsion of the war—50,000 from Lydda and Ramle—occurred in

mid-July. Only about 5 percent left on orders from Arab authorities. We know that massacres

occurred against Arabic people like the atrocity of Dayr Yasin (which is a village near Jerusalem). The

number of Arabic residents killed in cold blood by reactionary Zionist militias was about 125 people.

Many refugee camps of Palestinians are in the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, etc. Palestinians in

Israel were not full members of the Israeli trade union federation of the Histadrut until 1965. To this

day, Arabic Israeli citizens have been discriminated against. Until 1967, they were entirely isolated

from the Arab world and often were regarded by other Arabs as traitors for living in Israel. Since

1967, many have become more aware of their identity as Palestinians. In recent years it has become

illegal in Israel to commemorate the Nakba—the expulsion or flight of over half the population of

Arab Palestine in 1948. Israel’s Central Elections Committee has several times used patently political

criteria to rule that Arab citizens whose views it found objectionable may not run in parliamentary

elections.

During 1948–1967, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was ruled by Jordan, which annexed the

area in 1950 and extended citizenship to Palestinians living there. In the same period, the Gaza Strip

was under Egyptian military administration. In the 1967 war, Israel captured and occupied these

areas.

Yemenite Jewish people arrive in Israel via Operation “Magic Carpet.” They settled in the old British

camp while the nearby town of Rosh Ha-‘Ayin was being built in 1949-1950. The nation of Egypt on

1956 was headed by the charismatic nationalist named Gamer Nasser. He wanted Egypt to have

interdependence from colonialism. He wanted more control of the Suez Canal, which was opened in

1869. Egypt owned the canal and the operating company was sold to the British government of

Benjamin Disraeli (back during the 19th century). They were willing buyers and obtained a 44 percent

share in the canal's operations for less than £4 million; this maintained the majority shareholdings of

the mostly French private investors. In the late 1800’s, British imperialists took over the canal, its

finances, and operations. In October of 1951, the Egyptian government abrogated the Anglo-

Egyptian Treaty of 1936 (which granted Britain a lease on the Suez base for 20 more years). Britain

refused to withdraw from the Suez. The British refused to give the canal up. After the 1952 military

coup, the national President Gamal Abdul Nasser became President via the overthrow of King

Farouk. Nasser for a time allied with America since he wanted to use America as a buffer against

British aggression. Nasser rejected Dulles’ claim that the Soviet Union wanted to take over the

Middle East. Nasser later changed and viewed America (via Eisenhower, Dulles, etc.) as an ally of

Israeli expansion. Britain, France, and Israel united in attacking Egypt first (because Nasser

nationalized the Suez Canal and Israel wanted to neutralize Palestinian commando attacks on Israel

from the Gaza strip). Israeli forces captured Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula during the 1956 Suez canal

war. Egypt responded and a cease fire came about. America and the Soviet Union pressured Britain,

France, and Israel to enact a cease fire, because America and the Soviet Union wanted Egypt as an

ally. Tensions would rise into the 1960’s.

The Six Day War of 1967 had a complex history. During the Spring of 1967, the Soviet Union

misinformed the Syrian government that Israeli forces were massing in northern Israel to attack Syria.

There was no Israeli mobilization. There have been clashes between Israel and Syria for a time. Israeli

leaders contemplated bringing down the Syrian regime if it failed to end Palestinian guerilla attacks

from Syrian territory. Syria wanted assistance, so in May of 1967, Egyptian troops entered the Sinai

Peninsula bordering Israel. Days later, Nasser asked the UN observer forces stationed between Israel

and Egypt to redeploy from their positions. The Egyptians occupied Sharm al-Sheik at the southern

tip of the Sinai Peninsula. They proclaimed a blockade of the Israeli port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba

saying that access to Eilat passed through Egyptian territorial waters. Many Israelis felt that Egypt

was planning an attack on Israel. This crisis continued. On June 5, 1967, Israel preemptively attacked

Egypt and Syria. That destroyed their air forces within a few hours. Jordan joined the fighting and

Israel attack Jordan too. The Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian armies were decisively defeated. Israel

occupied the West Bank from Jordan, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula form Egypt, and the

Golan Heights from Syria. It lasted only six days which is why the war is called the 1967 Six Days War.

One source talks about this war:

“Moshe Dayan, the celebrated commander who, as Defense Minister in 1967, gave the order to

conquer the Golan...[said] many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked by

Israel, and the kibbutz residents who pressed the Government to take the Golan Heights did so less

for security than for the farmland...[Dayan stated] ‘They didn’t even try to hide their greed for the

land...We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn’t possible to do anything, in the

demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn’t shoot, we

would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot.

And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that’s how it was...The Syrians, on the

fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us.’” The New York Times, May 11, 1997

After the 1967 war, Israel began the dominant regional military power. Ironically, the PLO or the

Palestine Liberation Organization became more militant after the war. The PLO was created in 1964

as a way to promote Palestinian nationalism. After the 1967 war, the UN Security Council adopted

Resolution 242, which notes the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force,” and calls for

Israeli withdrawal from lands seized in the war and the right of all states in the area to peaceful

existence within secure and recognized boundaries. The grammatical construction of the French

version of Resolution 242 says Israel should withdraw from “the territories,” whereas the English

version of the text calls for withdrawal from “territories.” (Both English and French are official

languages of the UN.) Israel and the United States use the English version as an excuse to withdrawal

from some not all of the territories occupied in the 1967 war. Me personally, Israel should withdrawal

from all occupied territories. For many years, the Palestinians rejected resolution 242 as not going far

enough. They felt that it doesn’t recognize the Palestinian right to national self-determination and

the right of them to return to their homeland. Its call for “just settlement” for refugees is ambiguous.

By calling for recognition of every state in the area, Resolution 242 entailed unilateral Palestinian

recognition of Israel without reciprocal recognition of Palestinian national rights. From 1948-1967,

the West Bank including East Jerusalem was ruled by Jordan. Jordan annexed the area in 1950 and

gave citizenship to Palestinians living there. In the same period, the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian

military administration. After 1967, the occupied territories are today ruled by Israel. The occupied

lands of the West Bank and Gaza today are ruled by an Israeli military administration. From June

1967 to the present, Israel rules East Jerusalem too from Jordan. Most of the international

community views East Jerusalem as part of occupied West Bank.

Soon, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and other nations become independent after WWII.

The era of the 1970’s continued with controversy in the Middle East. In 1971, Egyptian President

Anwar al-Sadat (who had black Sudanese heritage too) indicated to UN envoy Gunnar Jarring that he

was willing to sign a peace agreement with Israel. Yet, Sadat wanted the return of Egyptian territory

lost in the 1967 Six Day war (which includes the Sinai Peninsula). The Jarring Initiatives lasted from

1967 to 1971. They failed. This overture was ignored by Israel and the U.S. including Syria decided to

act to break the political stalemate. They attacked Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan

Heights in October 6, 1973 on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. This surprise attack caught Israel

off guard. Soon, the Arabic people achieved some early military victories. Many know about the story

about how the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir begged then President Richard Nixon (a man not

known for his love of Jewish people per se. Nixon made anti-Semitic statements in private) to give

Israel military aid. Golda Meir was the first woman Prime Minister of Israel. Richard Nixon agreed to

give Meir foreign aid (i.e. military aid). European nations didn’t give Israel military forces. The Yom

Kippur war was won by Israeli forces. U.S. Secretary of State and the very controversial Henry

Kissinger wanted a diplomatic strategy of limited bilateral agreements to secure partial Israeli

withdrawals from the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Kissinger wanted to not talk about more

difficult issues like the fate of the West Bank and Gaza. This era begin the time of America talking the

role of mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Anwar al-Sadat later created a separate overture to Israel. He traveled to Jerusalem on November 19,

1977. He gave a speech to the Knesset (or the Israeli Congress). Sadat recognizes the state of Israel in

human history. In September 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister

Menachem Begin to Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. They worked out 2 agreements.

One is the framework for peace between Egypt and Israel and a general framework for resolution of

the Middle East crisis (like the Palestinian issue). In 1978, the Palestinian-American literary Edward

Said published the book called, “Orientalism.” This book influenced many critical thought. The book

wanted to expose the stereotypical Western view of the Middle East. The work about the Palestinian-

Israeli conflict extensively in works liked “The Question of Palestine” from 1979. The Iranian

Revolution came about in 1979. This occurred, because demonstrators protested the dictatorship of

the Shah in Iran. The Shah flees Iran by 1979 and the Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran on February

1, 1979 (he causes Iran to follow a strict code of Islamic law). This changed Middle East history

forever and we today deal with Shia leadership of Iran. The first agreement formed the basis of the

Egyptian/Israeli peace treaty, which was signed in 1979. This was very historic. The second agreement

proposed to grant autonomy to the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a five year

interim period (after which the final status of the territories would be negotiated). Only the Egyptian-

Israeli part of the Camp David Accords was implemented.

The peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was signed on March 26, 1979 in Washington, D.C. The

treaty allowed Egyptian and Israeli citizens to travel between both nations. Palestinians and other

Arab states rejected the autonomy concept because it did not guarantee full Israeli withdrawal from

areas captured in 1967 or the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Israeli sabotaged

negotiation by continuing to confiscate Palestinian lands and build new settlements in violation of

the commitments Begin made to Carter at Camp David. Saddam Hussein became President of Iraq

on July 16, 1979. On November 1979, 90 people (including 63 Americans) were taken hostage in the

American Embassy in Tehran by Iranian students. The students wanted the Shah to return to Iran, so

he can experience trial for crimes. Some hostages are released, but 52 of the Americans would be

held for 444 days before their release. The U.S. freezes all Iranian assets invested in the U.S. Anwar

Sadat would be assassinated by radical Islamist forces in October 6, 1981.

The 1980’s were some of the bloodiest times of modern Middle Eastern history. It was the decade

when the Palestinian freedom movement went into the next level of international prestige and

power. On September 22, 1980, Iraq invaded Iran. The war existed because of disputes over land and

water resources like the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The war was bloody and Iran seized thousands of

square miles including numerous oil fields. It lasted for 8 years and more than 500,000 Iraqis and

Iranians die. Neither side was able to claim victory.

Since 1968, the Israelis and the PLO fought each other. The Palestinian terrorist attack at Ma’alot in

May 1974, where 20 teenage youth were killed, was preceded by weeks of sustained Israeli

phosphorous and napalm bombing of Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon resulting in

the deaths of more than 300 people. Just two days before Ma’alot, an Israeli air attack on the village

of El-Kfeir in Lebanon had killed four civilians. By 1975, Israel had killed about 10 times as many

Palestinians and Lebanese in cross border attacks as the total number of Israelis killed in Palestinian

commando raids by 1982. As early as 1976, Israel assisted Lebanese Christian militias in their battles

against the PLO (who had a strong base in Lebanon). Israel also partnered with the Maronite

Phalange Party (which was a Christian militia group). It was headed by Bashir Gemayel or a rising

figure of Lebanese politics. The Lebanese Civil War continued. Gemayel wanted to provoke the

Syrians into retaliatory attacks on Christians, so Israel can’t ignore it and Israel would intervene. Israeli

used Operation Litani in 1978 in response to the Palestinian militants being involved in the Coastal

Road Massacre. In 1978, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin declared Israel would not allow the

genocide of Lebanese Christians while refusing direct intervention. Also, there were thousands of

Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon (who were expelled from their lands in Palestine). The

Maronites would train in Israel. Ariel Sharon wanted a plan to install a pro-Israel Christian

government in Lebanon.

During the period June to December 1980 the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)

recorded an increase in activities along the border zone. No attacks by Palestinian forces on Israel

were recorded, while the IDF incursions across the armistice line into Lebanon increased markedly,

with minefields being laid, gun posts established, and generally involving numerous violations of

Lebanese air-space and territorial waters. This was formally protested by the Lebanese government

to the UN Security Council and General Assembly in several communication citing violations by Israel

of United Nations Security Council Resolution 425. During the same period Israel protested

numerous attacks by Palestinian forces, unrelated to the Lebanese border zone. The IDF increased

their attacks in Lebanese territory from 1980-1981. There was a calm and then Israel renewed its air

strikes in Beirut on PLO buildings, etc. There was Palestinian retaliations as well in northern Israel. On

July 24, 1981, United States Undersecretary of State Philip Habib established a ceasefire that both

sides needed badly. The truce lasted from July 1981 to June 1982. A landmine killed an Israeli officer

on April 21, 1982 when he was visiting a South Lebanese Army gun emplacement in Taibe, Lebanon.

Israeli then attacked the Palestinian controlled coastal town of Damour killing 23 people. The mine

was probably laid in 1978. Major-General Erskine (Ghana), Chief of Staff of UNTSO reported to the

Secretary-General and the Security Council (S/14789, S/15194) that from August 1981 to May 1982,

inclusive, there were 2096 violations of Lebanese airspace and 652 violations of Lebanese territorial

waters. Arafat accepted the cease fire agreement. Yasser Arafat or the leader of the PLO relocated

the headquarters of the PLO in Tripoli in June 1982.

The June 3, 1982 shooting of Slomo Argov (or the Israeli ambassador to the UK) lit the fuse. The

person who shot him was not a member of the PLO, but they were part of the Iraqi backed Abu Nidal

terrorist organization. Abu Nidal wanted to kill PLO leaders too. The PLO denied complicity in the

attack. Israel still used punishing air and artillery strikes against Palestinian targets in Lebanon

including PLO camps. Sabra and the Shatila refugee camps were bombed for four hours and the local

Gaza hospital was hit there. About 200 people were killed in these attacks. The PLO retaliated by

using rockets attacks against northern Israel. Many Israelis were wounded. The pre-emptive invasion

of Lebanon by Israel occurred on June 6, 1982 under the direction of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.

They wanted to push the PLO forces back 25 miles to the north. Israeli used air attacks and military

actions in Lebanon and Syria. After Bachir Gemayel was assassinated when he was elected as

President of Lebanon (on September 14, 1982), Israeli forces occupied West Beirut the next day. The

Lebanese Christian Militia called the Phalangists (or allies of Israel) killed thousands of Palestinian

civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Furthermore, Israeli investigation by the Kahan

Commission of Inquiry found that Ariel Sharon bore "personal responsibility" for failing to prevent

the massacre, and for failing to act once he learned that a massacre had started, and recommended

that he be removed as Defense Minister and that he never hold a position in any future Israeli

government.

Sharon initially ignored the call to resign, but after the death of an anti-war protester following an

anti-war protest, he did resign as Israel's Defense Minister, however, he remained in Begin's cabinet

as a Minister without portfolio. On September 1982, the PLO withdrew most of its forces from

Lebanon. The May 1983 accord in Lebanon allowed Israeli forces to withdraw from Lebanon. Israeli

forces would not totally withdraw from Lebanon until the year of 2000. The Israeli invasion of

Lebanon came and the creation of Hezbollah existed. The UN investigation has found that the

government of Israel has violated international law in their invasion of Lebanon. The reactionary

Prime Minister Begin supported the expansionist “Greater Israel” strategy. U.S. Marines came in

Lebanon to oversee the peaceful withdrawal of the PLO from the Lebanese capital of Beirut. A suicide

bomber killed 241 U.S. Marines in October 23, 1983. It wounded over 199 people. The 241 Marines

who died were part of a 1,800 contingent of Marines. The civil war came about in Yemen in January

1986 between the government of Southern Yemen and Marxists.

On December 9, 1987, the first Palestinian Intifada existed. This uprising was against Israeli

occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza. Intifada is an Arabic word meaning “shaking off.” It was

not created by the PLO leadership in Tunis. It was created as a popular mobilization that drew on the

organizations and institutions that had developed under occupation. For years, the intifada involved

hundreds of thousands of people (with no resistance experience) including children and teenagers

using civil disobedience. Many Palestinians used general strikes, refusal to pay taxes, boycotts of

Israeli products, political graffiti, and the use of underground schools (as regular schools were closed

by the military as reprisals for the uprising). Some used stone throwing, Molotov cocktails, and the

creation of barricades to impede the movement of Israeli military forces. There were committees

supporting the intifada under the umbrella of the United National Leadership of the Uprising.

Ironically, the Palestine National Council (or the PLO’s leading body) convened in Algeria in

November 1988. They recognized the State of Israel and proclaimed an independent Palestinian

state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They renounced terrorism. The Israeli government rejected

these gestures since they claimed that the PLO was a terrorist organization and they would never

negotiate (as nothing has changed).

Yitzhak Rabin was the Defense Minister during this time. He tried to end the Intifada with “force,

power, and beatings.” Army commanders instructed troops to break the bones of demonstrators.

From 1987 to 1991, Israeli forces killed over 1,000 Palestinians, including over 200 under the age of

16. Israel arrested people massively. During this time period, Israel had the highest per capita prison

population on Earth. By 1990, most of the Palestinians leading the intifada were in jail. The intifada

lost its cohesive force, but it will continue for many more years. The targeting killing or targeted

assassination was instituted by Israel during the first Intifada in the Occupied Territories. The deal is

that these operations were done by undercover units and they disguised themselves as Arabic

people to approach and kill their targets. Some Palestinians were killed from a distance. To evade

war crimes allegations for years, Israel’s targeted killing policy was staunchly denied. The Palestinian

political moment became further divided. By 1990, we see the PLO, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc.

Palestinian militants killed over 250 Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the occupation

authorities and about 100 Israelis during this period. The U.S. and Israel rejected PLO policies of

moderation, so the PLO opposed the U.S. led attack on Iraq (who temporally occupied Kuwait).

Kuwait and Saudi Arabia cut off financial support they had been providing, bringing the PLO to the

brink of crisis.

The U.S. by the 1990’s took a more involved role in stabilizing the Middle East crisis and a resolution

of the Arabic-Israeli conflict. President George H. W. Bush pressed a reluctant Israeli Prime Minister

Yitzhak Shamir to open negotiations with the Palestinians and the Arabic states. This happened in the

multilateral conference convened in Madrid, Spain in October 1991. Shamir’s conditions, which the

U.S. accepted, were that the PLO would be excluded from the talks and that the Palestinian desires

for independence and statehood not be directly addressed. So, these talks were token moves not

revolutionary, courageous actions. Later, there were other negotiating sessions held in Washington.

Palestinians were represented by a delegation from the Occupied Territories. Residents of East

Jerusalem were barred by Israel from the delegation on the grounds that the city is part of Israel. The

PLO was formally excluded from the meeting. Yet, its leaders regularly consulted with and advised

the Palestinian delegation. Little progress was made when Israeli and Palestinian delegations met

many times. Prime Minister Shamir announced after he left office that his strategy was to drag out

the Washington negotiation for ten years. There was later the annexation of the West Bank. Yitzhak

Rabin became the Prime Minister in 1992. Soon, human rights conditions in the West Bank and the

Gaza Strip decreased rapidly. Many Palestinians delegates resigned.

The Washington talks were not progressing. So, a radical Islamist challenge to the PLO has been

going on. Violent attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets by Hamas and Islamic Jihad

further exacerbated tensions. Violent attacks against Israeli military and civilian targets by Hamas

and Islamic Jihad further exacerbated tensions. The first suicide bombing occurred in 1993. Before

the Intifada, Israeli authorities enabled the development of numerous Islamist organizations (so the

Palestinians can be divided in the Occupied Territories). These Islamists grew and they challenged the

moderation of the PLO. Later, Israel regrets this policy of encouraging political Islam as an alternative

to the PLO’s secular nationalism. Rabin believed that Hamas, Jihad, and the broader Islamic

movements of which they were part posed more of a threat to Israel than the PLO.

The Oslo Accords is one of the most important parts of the Middle Eastern story. The Rabin

government started to make talks with the PLO. The reason is that there was the fear of radical Islam

and the stalemate in the Washington talks. So, Israel initiated secret negotiations directly with PLO

representatives. Surprisingly, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin became more progressive in his policies.

These talks were held in Oslo, Norway. Finally, the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles was signed in

Washington on September 1993. The Declaration of Principles was based on the mutual recognition

of Israel and the PLO. It wanted Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and Jericho (along with further

withdrawals from unspecified areas of the West Bank during a five year interim period). There were

to be future final status talks. These final status talks will discuss about more difficult issues like: the

territories ceded by Israel, the water rights, the resolution of the refugee crisis, the nature of a

Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, etc. In 1994, the PLO formed a Palestinian Authority or the

PA with “self-governing” or municipal powers in the areas from which Israel forces were redeployed.

The PLO accepted this albeit flawed agreement with Israel. The agreement was fragile and it had little

diplomatic support in the Arabic world.

Rabin's widow Leah wrote in her memoir, Rabin: Our Life, His Legacy, that the inability to put down

the rebellion without resorting to unacceptable tactics changed her husband. "The Intifada made it

wholly clear to Yitzhak that Israel could not govern another people." By 1989, she continues, he "was

gradually moving toward advocating Palestinian autonomy and self-determination." Many Islamist

radicals, some local leaders in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip challenged Arafat’s leadership and

rejected the negotiations (because they believed that Oslo didn’t go far enough). Hamas introduced

the act of suicide bombings during this period. Some were done in retaliation for Israeli attacks like

the 1994 massacre by an American-born Israeli settler of 29 Palestinians who were praying at the

Ibrahim mosque in Hebron. Others seemed motivated by a wish to derail the Oslo process.

Regardless, there is no justification for suicide bombing at all period. The Oslo accords set up a

negotiating process without specifying an outcome. Rabin’s administration grew more progressive

and even handed with the Palestinians. The Palestinian National Authority via the Oslo Accords was

given partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Prior to the signing of the

accords, Rabin received a letter from PLO chairman Yasser Arafat renouncing violence and officially

recognizing Israel, and on the same day, September 9, 1993, Rabin sent Arafat a letter officially

recognizing the PLO. These were very historic times. Rabin was part of the Labour Party in Israel (this

party has a coalition with the left wing Meretz party and the Mizrahi ultra-orthodox religious party

called Shas). Many hardline, reactionary Israelis protested and opposed Oslo in viewing it as a sellout.

Yitzhak Rabin courageously stood up for peace. Yitzhak Rabin even shook hands with Yassir Arafat in

public. He said to him that: “… "We who have fought against you, the Palestinians, we say to you

today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears ... enough!” Rabin signed the Israel-

Jordan peace treated in 1994. Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Arafat received the Nobel Peace Prize in

1994 for their actions in the creation of the Oslo Accords.

A tragic event came later. On the evening of November 4, 1995 (on the 12th of Heshvan on the

Hebrew Calendar), Rabin was killed by the murderer Yigal Amir (with a semi-automatic pistol. Rabin

was killed via 2 shots. A third shot lightly injured Yoram Rubin or Rabin’s bodyguard. Rabin died in

Ichilov Hospital). Rabin bleed to death and he had a punctured lung. Amir was seized by Rabin’s

bodyguard, jailed, found guilty, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Amir was part of a

radical right wing Orthodox group who obviously opposed the Oslo Accords. Just before Rabin was

killed, Rabin attended a peace rally at the Kings Israel Square in Tel Aviv. Rabin spoke that that he

supported the Oslo Accords and that he wanted peace. Shimon Peres became the new Prime

Minister of Israel.

The Oslo Accords was to be finished by May of 1999. The Likud Party (in Israel) returned to power in

1996-1999. During that time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu avoided engaging seriously in the

Oslo process, which he fundamentally opposed. This will be a pattern as Netanyahu is the known

hardliner then and now. A Labor-led coalition government headed by Prime Minister Ehud Barak

came to power in 1999. Barak at first concentrated on reaching a peace agreement with Syria. That

strategy was done in trying to weakening the Palestinian. Barak failed to convince the Syrians to sign

agreement. So, Ehud Barack turned his attention to the Palestinians. During this interim period of the

Oslo process, the Israeli Labor and Likud governments allowed the escalation of dramatic settlement

building and land confiscations in the Occupied Territories. They constructed a network of bypass

roads to enable Israeli settlers to travel from their settlements to Israel proper without passing

through Palestinian-inhabited areas. These projects were understood by most Palestinians as

marking out territory that Israel sought to annex in the final settlement. The Oslo accords didn’t have

a mechanism to block these unilateral actions or Israel’s violations of Palestinian human and civil

rights in areas under its control. The final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians only

got underway in earnest in mid-2000. During this time, a series of Israel interim withdrawals left the

Palestinian Authority with direct or partial control of some 40 percent of the West Bank and 65

percent of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian areas were surrounded by Israel-controlled territory with

entry and exit controlled by Israel. President Bill Clinton on July of 2000 invited Barak and Arafat to

Camp David to conclude negotiations on the long overdue final status agreement. Before they met,

Barak proclaimed about his red lines.” This is about Israel would not return to its pre-1967 borders;

East Jerusalem with its 175,000 (now about 200,000) Jewish settlers would remain under Israeli

sovereignty; Israel would annex settlement blocs in the West Bank containing some 80 percent of the

180,000 (now about 360,000) Jewish settlers; and Israel would accept no legal or moral responsibility

for the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. The Palestinians, in accordance with UN Security

Council Resolution 242 and their understanding of the spirit of the Oslo Declaration of Principles,

sought Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including East

Jerusalem, and recognition of an independent state in those territories.

The Camp David summit didn’t result in an agreement, because both parties disagreed with issues of

Jerusalem and the refugees. Although Barak offered a far more extensive proposal for Israeli

withdrawal from the West Bank than any other Israeli leader had publicly considered, Barak wanted

Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Palestinians didn’t agree with that proposal including most in

the Muslim world. Arafat gained more stature after he left Camp David. The reason is that he was

seen as not bowing down to American and Israeli pressure. Barak had a political crisis within his own

government. There was the departure of the coalition partners who felt that he offered the

Palestinians too much. The future of Jerusalem question was very taboo. Some Israelis for the first

time ever believed that they will have to learn to live with the conflict indefinitely, because the

Palestinians would never accept their proposals being imposed on them. The second intifada

occurred on late September 2000. This new intifada started because a combination of Palestinians

suffering humiliations daily, Palestinian frustration over their plight in Occupied Territories, and

corruption found in the Palestinian Authority. On September 28, Likud candidate for Prime Minister

Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount (Noble Sanctuary) accompanied by 1,000 armed guards. This

was an outright provocation. In light of Sharon’s well-known call for maintaining Israel’s annexation

of East Jerusalem, this move provoked large Palestinian protests in Jerusalem. The following day,

Palestinians threw rocks at Jews praying at the Western Wall. Israeli police then stormed the Temple

Mount and killed at least four and wounded 200 unarmed protesters. By the end of the day Israeli

forces killed three more Palestinians in Jerusalem. These killing caused massive demonstrations and

clashes across the West Bank and the Gaza Strip In October of 2000, there were huge solidarity

demonstrations. A general strike in Arabic and mixed towns in Israel came about. The police killed 12

unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel. This second intifada was much bloodier than the first. During

the first three weeks of the uprising, Israeli forces shot 1 million live bullets at unarmed Palestinian

demonstrators.

The 2nd intifada continued for a long time during the early part of the 21st century. The international

community mostly during this time had sympathy for the Palestinians. On many cases, armed PA

policemen, often positioned at the rear of unarmed demonstrations, returned fire. Israel saw the

protests as acts of aggressive. Israel used tanks, helicopter gunships, and even F-16 fighter planes to

try to stop the intifada. We know that the Israeli army attacked PA installations in Ramallah, Gaza,

etc. Civilian neighborhoods were subjected to shelling and aerial bombardment. The Israeli response

happened in the occupied territories. Israeli officials said that they were in a war, because they

claimed that Israel had a right to “self-defense.” In November 2000, Hamas and Islamic Jihad (and

then later the PFLP and the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) began to use suicide bombings

and other armed operations. There were over 150 such attacks from 2000 through 2005, compared

to 22 incidents from 1993 to 1999 by Islamist opponents of the Oslo process. I don't agree with

suicide attacks at all. A Palestinian life is just as valuable as an Israeli life. In January 2001, Palestinian-

Israeli negotiations only briefly resumed. The negotiations came close to a final agreement according

to the lead negotiators. Yet, Ehud Barak called it off in advance of early elections he had called for

Prime Minister to forestall a likely vote of no confidence in the Knesset. Ariel Sharon handily won the

2001 elections. Ariel Sharon first term as the premier was marked with the most violent part of the

second intifada. Sharon allowed the targeted killings of Palestinian militants and Palestinian attacks

inside Israel continued too. Then, there was the suicide bombing in Netanya on March 27, 2002

during the Passover holiday. The attacked killed 30 Israelis. Israel of course retaliated. This retaliation

was called Operation Defensive Shield. This was about a full scale tank invasion of the West Bank that

lasted for several weeks. We know that armored Caterpillar bulldozers raze swathes of the Jenin

refugee camp and tanks ringed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Also, Israeli forces imposed

all-day curfews in seven of the West Bank’s eight major towns.

The George W. Bush administration backed Israel’s extreme measures. International opinion opposed

especially the attack on the Jenin refugee camp. Another, shorter tank invasion against Palestine

happened in June. The Likud Party dominated Israeli politics from that moment to the present in

2015. Sharon in 2002 authorized the construction of a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. This

was one of his biggest mistakes as Prime Minister. He wanted separation, which is nothing more than

apartheid. The wall runs to east of the Green Line marking the border between Israel and the West

Bank. The wall blocks locations of travel even within towns and villages. It has changed or

reconfigured the geography of the West Bank. The Wall has electronic fences, patrol roads, and

observation towers. The ICJ ruled that the wall is disproportionate and therefore constitutes a

violation of international law.

Many Palestinians resisted the wall. There were demonstrations and people trying to stop bulldozers

from digging the foundation of the barrier. The International Solidarity Movement and thousands of

Israelis, many of them organized by Ta‘ayush/Palestinian-Israeli Partnership and Anarchists Against

the Wall, have supported the Palestinian popular resistance and regularly participated in its activities.

The four-month “peace camp” at the village of Masha in the spring and summer of 2003 and similar

efforts in several other villages were critical experiences in forging solidarity among Palestinians,

Israelis and internationals. Living and struggling together with Palestinians at this level of intensity for

a protracted period raised the consciousness of the hundreds of Israeli participants to an entirely

new level. The Oslo peace process ended and we exist in a new situation. Likud opposed a new

Palestinian state and refused territorial compromises. Most Palestinians came to reject the limitations

of the Oslo Declaration of Principles and its two decades of “process without peace or a Palestinian

state." Still, the peace process continued mainly as a way for the U.S. to control Palestinian-Israeli

negotiations. The 2002 Arab peace Plan developed. By 2002, the Beirut summit of the Arab League

endorsed a peace initiative, which was proposed by Saudi Arabia (as it was a close ally of Israel even

today. Libya didn’t attend the summit). The plan offered an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. It wanted

the recognition of Israel, peace agreements and normal relations with all the Arabic states in

exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 (This included the Golan

Heights). The plan wanted a “a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in

accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194,” and establishment of an independent

Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Arab League

renewed its peace initiative in 2007. In 2002, the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty lasted for almost a

quarter of a century. In 1994, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel. Israel established mutual

interest sections with Morocco and Tunisia in 1996. Oman and Qatar initiated trade relations with

Israel in 1998. Many people wanted a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. Only the treaties with

Egypt and Jordan survived the second intifada. The Arab League did talk about the Palestinians

returning to their homes, but it didn’t use the term “right to return.” Sharon rebuffed the Arabic

initiative and Benjamin Netanyahu became prime Minister in 2006. Netanyahu of course rejected the

Arabic peace plan in 2007. Mahmoud Abbas, who succeeded Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority

president, enthusiastically supported the Arab League proposals and urged the US to embrace them.

In 2009 President Barack Obama announced that he would “incorporate” the Arab proposals into his

administration’s Middle East policy. But no public statement by the Obama administration suggests

any substantive step in this direction. Today, in 2015, Benjamin Netanyahu is the current Prime

Minister of Israel.

The 21st century in Israel begin with new challenges.

The image to the right is the city of Doha, Qatar.

Both sides have made errors and mistakes. The oil industry in the Middle East has grown

considerately. In the 21st century, the Middle East has been dominated with the issues of terrorism,

oil, Israel/Palestinian matters, wars, trade, and other geopolitical affairs. These issues have been very

complex with not only Israeli and Palestinian divisions. There are Sunni and Shia divisions (there are

Kurds in the region as well) too. Ironically, Israel has grown to be an ally of Saudi Arabia. Israel has

the responsibility to end the occupation and to promote real human beings in its nation. Israel must

be honest in its errors and the war crimes in which many of its residents have done. Likewise, the

Arabic states must also promote democratic rights (as human rights violations are common in Saudi

Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, etc.) and handle the issues of poverty, educational problems, and economic

inequality in their countries as well. There is racism not only found in Israel, but in many mostly

Arabic nations too. Racism must end in any nation of the Middle East and throughout the Earth. Anti-

Semitism ought to be condemned and Islamophobia too. There are many Jewish people and Arabic

people who want peace and justice. The Western imperialist policies which have damaged the

Middle East must be condemned and opposed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Middle East is made up of an interesting, long history. Its history involves joy,

happiness, pain, turmoil, and obviously controversies. We all condemn the racism shown by some

(not all) Israelis. We all condemn the racism shown by some (not all) Palestinians too. Its residents are

diverse with various ethnicities, agendas, creeds, and ideologies. There is no justification for terrorism

done by either side. Innocent human beings should never be killed. Yet, they share one region and

all of the people in the Middle East have diversity and human value. Certainly, we do want the Jewish

and Arabic peoples (including all peoples of the Middle East) to live there in peace, harmony, and

equality including justice.

By Timothy