WE HAVE ALL BEEN HAD
Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq.
and Beth Ann Kennedy 22 03 2002
naderlaw@earthlink.net
Did you know that there was never any country called Palestine? Did
you
know that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people?
The ideas that the West Bank and Gaza are occupied Palestinian land,
and
that the Palestinian people are fighting for their land, have been
accepted by most of the governments of the world and by most of the
media in the world. But if you read on, you will see that these two
claims are the biggest lies ever deliberately perpetrated on humanity.
Check out any map of the Middle East and see for yourself. You will
find
Palestine listed as a region as it always has been, but definitely not
a
country. We can locate the Mojave Desert on the map, but we still do
not recognize it as our 51st state, let alone a country. Similarly, the
region of Siberia is a region not a state. Or the Sahara is a region
not
a state, etc., etc. Neither is Palestine a state. It never was a
country, just a region.
Importantly, the Jews did not displace anyone, because no one
permanently resided there. It was a land inhabited by nomadic, Bedouin
tribes. The whole region was nothing but deserts and swamps. Only
about 120,000 Arabs resided in an area that covered the territories,
the
State of Israel and Jordan. When Mark Twain visited the area he wrote
he
found nothing but a wasteland.
During the 19 years that the territories, including Jerusalem and Gaza,
were occupied by the Kingdom of Jordan and Egypt, no on talked about a
Palestinian state; not the Arab countries, not the United Nations.
Nobody asked Jordan or Egypt to abdicate their ownership and give it to
the Palestinians. Not even the Palestinians themselves said anything
about a Palestinian state or a Palestinian people, because nobody heard
of a Palestinian people. It never existed.
The fact simply is that there are no Palestinians. These people are
Arabs like all other Arabs, and they happen to live in a region called
Palestine. They are not a separate people.
What makes a separate people? Religion, language, culture, garb,
cuisine, etc., etc. The Arabs in Palestine speak the same language,
practice the same religion, have the same culture, etc., etc., as all
the other Arabs. The few minor differences that exist between them are
like the minor differences that exist between the Welsh, the Scots, and
the Londoners. They are still all Britons. Yankees and Southerners
have the same minor differences, but they are still all Americans.
People in the south of France are quite different from the people in
the
north, but they are still all French. These inconsequential
differences
do not make a people.
The Arabs living in Syria or Jordan, etc., etc., are also the same
Arabs, but they are each a separate nation because they each have a
separate country. The so-called Palestinians want a separate country
because they claim to be a separate nation. They are not. They were
never a separate people before the new State of Israel. How did they
become one now?
Because of these lies the so-called Palestinians feel justified in
sending suicide bombers to kill women, children, babies, old men, old
women and noncombatant citizens. Because of these lies the United
Nations and the media of the world are condemning Israel who is acting
less harshly than any other country would act in retaliation for such
heinous attacks. What is the United States doing in Afghanistan, a
totally foreign country? Killing Afghanistanis. Why? Because they
attacked us on September 11. I understand this. But why do not they
understand that that is exactly what Israel is doing, only on a much
smaller scale?
Ask yourself this: Should the use of terror ever be rewarded? When is
the use of terrorism justified as a military tactic? As a political
tactic? As an economic tactic? What implications does this hold for
future conflicts?
Let us examine the truths here:
1) There never was a Palestinian state or a Palestinian nation. There
are no Palestinian people, per se. Rather, these are Arabs living in a
region that historically has been called many things, including
“Palestine.”
2) Israel did not go to war against a Palestinian state and occupy its
land. Rather, Israel was attacked by six Arab countries at once. She
defended herself, defeated her attackers, and won the so-called
territories, not from the Palestinians, but from Jordan and Egypt.
3) Jerusalem was never the capital of any state but Israel. It was
certainly never the capital of a country that never existed. Why should
the Palestinians get any part of it? Because they want it? Because
they have terrorists?
4) Jerusalem, under the current Israeli control, is a free and open
city. Israel, as a democracy, guarantees freedom of religion within
its
borders. Contrast this fact with areas that have come under Palestinian
occupation. What percentage of Christians have left in recent years
because they cannot stand the harassment and persecution?
5) Most Arabs living in Palestine today are not indigenous to the
region. It was not until after the Jews had changed deserts and swamps
into a productive and thriving land that the Arabs started migrating
there. Arafat himself was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. Did you
know
that?
The belief that giving the Palestinians a state will bring peace is a
delusion. The truth is that they want it all. The short-term goal is
a
state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza. The long-term goal is a
state which includes all of “historical Palestine,” including Jordan.
How do I know this?
The late Faisal Husseini, Arafat’s Jerusalem representative, a man who
was cultured, sophisticated and considered the most moderate of all the
Palestinians, shortly before his death on May 31, 2001 expressed his
true feelings in an interview with the popular Egyptian newspaper el
Arav. Husseini said: “We must distinguish the strategies and
long-term
goals from the political-phased goals which we are compelled to accept
due to international pressures.” But the “ultimate goal is the
liberation of all of historical Palestine.” Explicitly he said: “Oslo
has to be viewed as a Trojan Horse.”
He even added and clarified that it is the obligation of all the
Palestinian forces and factions to see the Oslo Accords as “temporary”
steps, as “gradual” goals, because in this way, “We are setting an
ambush for the Israelis and cheating them.” He also differentiated
between “strategic,” long-term, “higher” goals, and “political,”
short-term goals dependent on “the current international establishment,
balance of power, etc., etc.”
All historical Palestine! Does not this include all of Israel and all
of Jordan?
What does this say to you?
Unless the Arabs recognize and accept these truths, even if they are
given a state of their own, and no matter how many agreements and
treaties they sign, they will always feel wronged, cheated, and forced
into giving up what they now claim is theirs. They will continue to
plot and look for an opportunity to destroy Israel in order to take
back
what they claim is theirs, especially the younger generation that has
been brainwashed to hate the “occupying enemy.” Whether there is a
Palestinian state or not, there will be no peace.
Only a massive and ongoing reeducation of the Arab people to these
truths will enable meaningful negotiations to begin; followed by a
lasting peace between Arabs and Jews. It is therefore critical that
everyone who has an audience, whether in print or other media, use the
forum they have available to repeat these truths again and again until
they reach the consciousness of those waging war in the Middle East.
Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq.
Lebanese-American
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