It seems that Washington, in an effort to convince the Muslim world that it’s even-handed, is getting heavy-handed.
Recent reports have indicated pressure from Washington to freeze new Jewish construction on any territory controlled by Israel outside its 1967 borders. This demand has lately focused on apartments in East Jerusalem.
On Sunday, responding to the reports that Washington had asked Israel not to build 20 apartments in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem, near Mount Scopus and the National Police headquarters, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would not bar Jews from buying apartments in east Jerusalem.
A few words of history are in order.
In 1947, the United Nations mapped out its Partition Plan for Palestine, which created two states, one Jewish and one Arab (does this sound familiar?). When the British mandate expired in 1948, five Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq) immediately launched a war to destroy the nascent Jewish state. The 1949 Armistice Agreements determined the “final” (internationally accepted) borders of Israel (that is, the “Green Line”). This left the Gaza Strip under Egyptian control and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) in the hands of Jordan.
In 1967, Egypt expelled the U.N. peacekeepers and launched a naval blockade of Israel and massed its tanks and armies on Israel’s border. This began the Six-Day War, which left the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and Golan Heights under Israeli control.
These events are endlessly hashed over and editorialized and spun. I don’t want to add to the cacophony, other than to mention some basic facts that are sometimes lost in the shuffle. As a point of sad irony, the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem was in that part of Jerusalem under control of Jordan in the 1948 war. Some snippets from Wikipedia:
The Jewish Quarter is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. The 45,000 square meter area lies in the southeastern sector of the walled city…The quarter has had a rich history, with a nearly continual Jewish presence since the eighth century B.C.E. At the turn of the 20th century the Jewish population of the quarter reached 19,000.
In 1948 during the Arab-Israeli War, its population of about 2,000 Jews was besieged, and forced to leave en masse. Colonel Abdullah el Tell, local commander of the Jordanian Arab Legion, with whom Mordechai Weingarten negotiated the surrender terms, described the destruction of the Jewish Quarter, in his memoirs: “…the operations of calculated destruction were set in motion…. I knew that the Jewish Quarter was densely populated with Jews who caused their fighters a good deal of interference and difficulty…. I embarked, therefore, on the shelling of the Quarter with mortars, creating harassment and destruction…. Only four days after our entry into Jerusalem the Jewish Quarter had become their graveyard. Death and destruction reigned over it…. As the dawn of Friday, May 28, 1948, was about to break, the Jewish Quarter emerged convulsed in a black cloud – a cloud of death and agony.”
The Jordanian commander who led the operation is reported to have told his superiors: “For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews’ return here impossible.”
The quarter remained under Jordanian rule until its capture by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. During the 1960s American town planners, together with the Jordanian authorities, had planned that the quarter be transformed into a park. During the nineteen year Arab administration, a third of the Jewish Quarter’s buildings had been demolished by the Jordanians. All but one of the thirty-five Jewish houses of worship that graced the Old City were wantonly destroyed. The synagogues were razed or pillaged and stripped and their interiors used as hen-houses or stables. The Western Wall, one of the most sacred sites in Judaism, was used as a garbage dump. Tombstones were used as paving stones.
For further details, look at this article about “Jordan’s Desecration of Jerusalem”.
This context should be understood as the world, now joined by Washington, condemns Israel’s building of apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem as an act of provocation.
The m0dern nation of Israel has been so shamefully treated by her “friends” at times, (Great Britain and the USA) that I would wish Obama and Hillary would apologize for our historical mistreatment and subterfuge concerning modern Israel, and not all the idiotic crap that liberals think is wrong with the US.
I know Israel could not have come into existence without the US and Great Britian. And it was a miracle of timing and personalities that brought her into nationhood. But God forgive us, our national leaders have treated Israel shamefully and cowardly at times since then. I would wish the US, as international policy, would have the guts to totally support Israel 100% of the time or just completely turn our backs on her, so at least Israel would know what to expect from us. Our little scheming games behind the scenes to try and make the Arab world “happy” with the US and still act publicly like we were “friends” of Israel has not bought us one bit of respect from the Arab/Moslem world. Our gutless, craven, behind the scene ass-kissing of Moslem terrorists has not solved the Middle East problem one tiny bit and must really be confusing to a friend (Israel) who truly could use decent relationship.
I know there are millions in the US that love Israel, which is why I detest the way our “few” national leaders have treated her most of the time since 1948. Israel’s existence is not the problem. Our national gutless, lukewarm policies concerning Israel is the problem.
Lukewarm, look it up in your Bible dictionary and see what happens to lukewarm fools. At least the Moslem terrorists aren’t lukewarm.
Great post Maynard. This is why it’s so important to teach history, which is so lacking in our schools today (every child is left behind) From the beginning the Jews wanted only to live in peace…. they did everything they could to maintain it and to avoid war, to the point of risking their own destruction. Everyone should rent “A Woman Called Golda” it was a tv movie starring Ingrid Bergman as Golda Meir, who was a Russian Jew- her family immigrated to America when she was a child… she later moved to a kibbutz around 1920 or so and through her efforts saved Jewish lives, raised money in America, and eventually was elected Prime Minister. She was one of the most pivotal figures in those early days of the creation of Israel. ( She even saved David ben Gurion’s life when a terrorist threw a grenade at him. )
This amazing movie is about the life’s work and calling of a great leader who just happened to be a woman, but it also is an accurate portrayal of the history…. I watched it recently and realized and that a movie like that could never get made in today’s politically correct climate. I saw the movie as a kid and it added to what I was already being taught at home…. great, educational tv movies are a thing of the past I’m afraid. They used to be a staple of our cultural diet.
There was also another great American Jew who is due much credit for Israel’s early military success… a name that should be honored– David “Mickey” Marcus. Look him up. He was a WWII veteran and Israel’s first great general— led them in the first war in ’48. He’s the father of the great Israeli military that still exists today.
Kirk Douglas played him in a movie “Cast a Giant Shadow” … not a great movie, but still you get the idea.
America has been Israel’s greatest friend, bound by our history and our values. I pray that continues.
Excellent post by Maynard. Gives a concise and informative background to the Middle East conflict, just in case you find yourself arguing with a Left-wing ignoramus spouting the usual drivel. I just read that the Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz (btw, pronounced ‘hah-AH-retz,’ and means ‘The Land’) quotes Benjamin Netanyahu, who called David Axelrod and Rahm Emmanuel “self-hating Jews.” I guess Netanyahu was “just sayin’ ”
I would add ‘Exodus’ with Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint to Tinker’s movie list. And isn’t it interesting that when the Eva Marie Saint character inquires about the Paul Newman character, she is told, “He’s a young Palestinian” !!! Meaning, the Jews who lived there before ’48 were called Palestinians……