- History and backgroundIn 1920 the world organization of nations [League of Nations] proclaimed that Palestine was to be a homeland for the Jews. Around the same time, Lebanon was made a place for Arab Christians, and Syria, and Iraq were to be homelands for Arab Moslems. In 1922 England [the occupying power in Palestine] gave all of Palestine east of the River Jordan [77% of Palestine] to Arab Moslems, forbidding Jews to live there.Further UN estimates put the property loses of Jews kicked out of Arab countries after 1948 at 10 times those lost by Palestinian Arabs.
[In World War I] Turkey, with an expansive empire that compassed the Middle East (including Palestine) and North Africa, fought with Germany and the Central Powers against the Allies. At the breaking up of the Turkish Empire by the victorious Allies, both Jews and Arabs requested independent states. The world powers were generous in the extreme to the Arabs by granting them twenty-two independent Arabs states – encompassing 5,414,000 square miles. The Jews asked for less than one percent of that vast territory. The Allies agreed to this request (which included both sides of the Jordan) in the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the 1920 San Remo Conference of World Powers.
For imperialistic interests, however, in 1921 Great Britain reneged on the Balfour Declaration, lopped off 77 percent of the Land promised in the Balfour Declaration and set up the Arab Emirate of Transjordan. Then in 1922 the League of Nations gave Great Britain a Mandate to prepare the remaining 23 percent of Palestine (including Samaria, Judea, Gaza, Golan Heights and Eastern Jerusalem) for a Jewish National Home. But under French pressure, in 1923 the Golan Heights was ceded by the British to the French mandate of Syria. They partitioned His Land and the Lord was angry.
- Oil diplomacyOil was then discovered in the Arab countries. Consequently, “oil diplomacy” was instituted. British foreign policy simply appeased the Arabs. In 1939 the British White Paper banned further immigration to Palestine. Also, with brutal callousness, the United Sates and most nations refused to accept the beleaguered Jews of Europe. Consequently, 6 million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust.How many millions of these hapless victims would have found a haven in Palestine if Britain had not reneged – with the silent consent of the other nations of the world – on its own mandate obligations by banning Jewish immigration? What a heinous, collective crime of history! Lloyd George, the Prime Minister of Great Britain when the Balfour Declaration was issued, went on national radio to call the British 1939 White Paper, “an act of national perfidy which will dishonor the name of Britain.”
This time the nations actually denied the Jews any of God’s Land and the Lord was angry. Finally, the gentile nations, guilt-ridden after defaulting on their promise since 1922, felt a moral obligation to grant the Jews an independent state. But, unfortunately, the UN Partition Plan of 1947 further reduced the size of the new Israeli State. They partitioned “My Land” and the Lord was angry…
When Israel became an independent State in 1948, armies from six Arab nations invaded the newborn State. Outnumbered 100 to one, Israel’s ragtag army pushed back the invaders and took more of its rightful Land. Divine Providence was telling the world something about whose Land it is.
- Jordan occupied East Jerusalem However, the Arab State of Transjordan captured East Jerusalem, expelled all Jews and destroyed or desecrated all Jewish holy sites. This is the time when Jerusalem became “occupied territory.” In addition to defying the U.N. Mandate, Transjordan also occupied the west bank of the River Jordan. No longer limited to being “Trans” (across) Jordan (the east bank), Transjordan reduced its name to simply Jordan, now ruling over both the occupied west bank and the original east bank of Jordan.But this annexation of the “West Bank” by Jordan was not recognized by any nation of the world – except Great Britain and Pakistan. Jordan was even denounced by its Arab allies, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who wanted to expel Jordan from the Arab League! It is claimed that 600,000 Arabs fled “temporarily,” but temporarily became permanently when the Arab invaders failed to destroy the new State of Israel. David Ben-Gurion adamantly argued that the 600,000 figure was a lie. “The refugee issue is one of the biggest lies, even among our own people…I have all the figures. From the area of the State of Israel, only 180,000 Arabs left in 1948. There were 300,000 Arabs altogether in Israel and 120,000 remain.”
In the 1967 Six Day War, under the threat of being “pushed into the sea” by Egypt, Syria and Jordan, Israel actually liberated the “occupied territory” of Jerusalem and granted free access to Jews, Christians and Moslems to worship at their respective holy sites. Israel also liberated the “West Bank” and Gaza. How easily recent history is forgotten. By comparison, Israel’s administration, despite its faults, has been much more humane.
– Bible Students Congregation of New Brunswick
