Many on the political left, especially but not only on university campuses, angrily attack Israel and support the Palestinian cause. What they do not tell you is that for over a century, the Palestinians have chosen to kill Jews instead of building a civil society – and show every intention of continuing to pursue more of the same. Americans who attack Israel and support the Palestinian cause are also supporting more of the same. They are supporting another century of killing Jews.
1920-1939. The murderous Palestinian century started in 1920. In the two decades before World War II, while Britain administered the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea then known as Palestine, Jews there built civil institutions and peacefully laid the foundation for what they hoped would eventually become a state. The then far more numerous Arabs, on the other hand, prioritized blocking Jewish immigration, stopping Jewish economic development, and – particularly but not only in the violent campaigns of 1920, 1929, and 1936-1939 – killing Jews.
World War II, the Partition Plan, and the Birth of the State of Israel. During World War II, the Jews in Palestine supported and fought alongside the Allies. The Arabs there worked with the Nazis to maximize the killing of Jews. After the war, the United Nations voted in 1947 for a plan to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. The Jews accepted this plan. The Arabs rejected it and again attacked the Jews.
In 1948, when the British departed, the Jews declared the independence of the State of Israel. The Arabs – together with the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and other Arab counties – attempted to destroy the new state and annihilate the greatly outnumbered Jews. Jordan invaded and conquered the West Bank and the eastern part of Jerusalem and its Old City. Egypt seized Gaza. Israel stopped the advancing Arab armies and emerged from the war with the Galilee, the Negev Desert, a narrow strip along the Mediterranean coast, and a slim corridor from the coast to the western part of Jerusalem.
The West Bank and Gaza Arabs did not object to Jordanian and Egyptian rule despite governance that kept them in miserable poverty. They instead committed terrorist attacks against Israel, founded the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964 dedicated to this cause, and began calling themselves Palestinians.
The 1967 War and Aftermath. In 1967, Israel – again facing threats of annihilation – defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan during the Six-Day War and conquered the Old City, the rest of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. Subsequent Israeli administration dramatically increased the Palestinians' prosperity, vastly raising their incomes, improving their housing, and expanding their access to electricity, water, and sanitation services.
For about a quarter century, the Palestinians (and the Arab countries other than Egypt) nevertheless rejected Israeli peace overtures. The Palestinians instead intensified their murderous terrorism against Jews, both in Israel and around the world.
The Corrupt and Repressive Palestinian Authority and Draconian Islamic Hamas Reject Generous Israeli Peace Proposals and Instead Kill More Jews. Palestinians finally started substantial peace talks with Israel in the early 1990s. These talks culminated in 1994 with the formation of the Palestinian Authority to administer Arab communities in Gaza and much of the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority quickly became a corrupt and repressive regime that impoverishes Palestinians and incites and supports the killing of Jews. It pays the families of terrorists who murder Jews, glorifies these murderers, and uses geographical depictions of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that show it entirely as Palestine with no reference to the existence of Israel.
In 2000, the Palestinian Authority rejected an Israeli peace proposal that would have created a Palestinian state consisting of Gaza, almost the entire West Bank, and parts of East Jerusalem. It instead launched a campaign of suicide bombings and other murderous terrorism against Jews, known as the second intifada, that did not end until 2005.
In 2005, as part of its effort to reduce conflict with the Palestinians, Israel withdrew from Gaza. In 2007, Hamas violently seized power there from the Palestinian Authority and imposed draconian Islamic rule.
In 2008, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority rejected another generous Israeli peace proposal that not only would have created a Palestinian state consisting of Gaza, almost the entire West Bank, and parts of East Jerusalem, but also would have placed the Old City (sacred to both Jews and Arabs) under international administration.
In December 2008-January 2009, Hamas attacked Israel with missiles and fought the first of its wars against the Jewish state. Hamas launched and fought more wars against Israel in 2012, 2014, 2019, and 2021.
From the River to the Sea. Hamas continues to declare to the world what the Palestinian Authority says more discreetly and generally only in Arabic: They seek to kill Jews, violently wipe Israel off the map, and replace it with a Palestinian state from “the River to the Sea.”
Americans who attack Israel and support the Palestinians – who have spent the last century killing Jews instead of building a civil society, and show every intention of continuing to pursue more of the same – may not want to admit it, but they too are supporting more of the same. They are supporting another century of killing Jews.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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