A Reality Check as Israel Turns 60
Of all that has been said and written by Arabs about their encounter with Zionism and Israel, nothing I have seen approximates the truth and poignancy of what a distinguished Moroccan historian, Abdallah Laroui, has written: "On a certain day everything would be obliterated and instantaneously reconstructed and the new inhabitants would leave, as if by magic, the land they had despoiled; in this way will justice be dispensed to the victims, on that day when the presence of God shall again make itself felt."
The Arab imagination could never reconcile itself to the permanence of the Jewish state. No victories could secure this state the acceptance of its neighbors. It was a fluke of history, they believed, and history itself provided the means of evasion, a way of stubbornly refusing to accept the verdict of what happened in 1948. Modern-day Arabs took to the history of the Crusader Kingdom that had risen in the Levant, lasted for two centuries (1099- 1291), then pulled up stakes and left on the soil its castles and bridges and ruins. This, too, shall pass, it was believed, and the weight of demography and the brutal geographical facts shall prevail.
In its short history, Israel has held up a mirror for the Arabs, who have not liked what they have seen. In the first Arab-Israeli war, in 1948, the paramilitary and volunteers of the new state turned back Arab armies. Although outgunned and outnumbered, the Jews prevailed. There was the embarrassment of the numbers. The population of the new state was a mere 650,000, while that of the surrounding Arab states was approximately 40 million. No Arabs had been prepared for what had unfolded: The war was thought to be a routine endeavor, the defeat of the Jewish state preordained. There were men of public affairs in these Arab states who knew better, but they hadn't had the courage to tell the truth to the unsuspecting crowd.
When the dust of battle settled, the Arabs could see the harvest of their history. The Palestinian upper classes had abandoned their towns, left the destitute and the peasantry to their fate. In their fantasy, the Arabs were a martial people, while the Jews they had known in Baghdad and Cairo and Damascus had been timid souls keen to avoid the dangers of politics and the envy of the crowd. These were different Jews, the Zionists, steeled by the horror of the Holocaust, who would hold their own in the field of battle.
In the succeeding decades, the prophecies of calamity for this Jewish state would not materialize. On a barren, small piece of land, the Zionists built a durable state. It was military but not militaristic. It took in waves of refugees and refashioned them into citizens. It had room for faith but remained a secular enterprise. Under conditions of a long siege, it maintained a deep and abiding democratic ethos. The Arabs could have learned from this experiment, but they drew back in horror. The Arab militaries and the demagogues stepped forth and claimed that they would win the war lost by the old order. But they would fare no better.
Arab perfidy. In their utterances, the Arabs were bound by a code of brotherhood, and the "restoration" of Palestinian rights was the creed of their political world. But in the mirror, Arabs could see their fratricide, the chasm between what they said and what they did. The rulers who professed fidelity to Palestine helped themselves to the fragments of Palestine unclaimed by the Zionists. The Arabs who bemoaned the loss of Palestine were in truth made uneasy by the Palestinian refugees. It would have been the humane thing to tell the refugees that huge historical verdicts are never overturned. But it was safer to offer a steady diet of evasion and escapism.
Israel's 60th anniversary suggests what might have been. In those days of battle, when history was fluid, partition of Palestine was the way out—a Jewish state and an Arab state, side by side. The Zionists opted for moderation and rescue; they would take a state, said their legendary leader Chaim Weizmann, even if it were the size of a tablecloth. The Palestinians held out for the whole thing. This month's festivities marking the return of the Jews to the world of nations should be an occasion for some honest Palestinian (and Arab) retrospect on how Arab history has played out in the intervening decades.
Reader Comments
israeli success
i am glad my country israel is celebrating 60 years of being a moden nation and still is the oldest nation of all to come back to life in modern times. nations and empires have come an gone, israel has never been gone. 6000 years of history still endures today in the modern state of israel. i have been celebrating our 60th anniversary as a modern nation. iam glad to be jewish.
Events of 1948
Ajami repeats Israeli mythology by claiming that the Zionist terrorists in Palestine were "outnumbered and outgunned".
It is true that there were more Arabs than Jews both in Palestine and in the neighboring Arab countries. It is also true that there were many mistakes made by the leadership of the Arab nations that ultimately led to the tragedy that was the loss of Palestine.
The Zionist terrorists outnumbered and were better armed and trained than the courageous Arab soldiers who entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians and face a vicious enemy. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist terrorists had begun and something had to be done.
Perhaps Fuad Ajami can explain to his readers why he blames the Palestinian people for not accepting the theft of their land.
I wonder if Ajami is celebrating "Israel's birthday", or commemorating the suffering of the Arab people at the hands of Israel, as well as their own governments.
Deed to the property
The Scriptures record the title deed of this land from the Eternal All Mighty to the Hebrews. That was a done deal. Also, there is a little passage in Gensis 12:3 that has not been superceded or changed. The Arabs, and anyone else for that matter would be well served to heed these words,"...I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him, that curseth thee".
Just a thought.
Giving an arab to write about 60's to Israel
bhaaaaaaaaa
check this out
colectionarul.com/becali.html
Arabs refuse responsibility
Perhaps Sam of CA can explain why Arab nations, who pretend to care so much about Palestinians, refuse to allow them to become citizens of their countries for sixty years.
Palestinian Arabs are uniquely considered "refugees" even generations after they left Palestine. Other larger refugee populations managed to integrate into their adopted countries within a decade or so; but because of Arab policy the Palestinians have no such recourse. Arab nations resisted replacing camps with permanent towns and UNRWA job creation initiatives that would have settled the refugee problem long ago.
Whether or not one believes that Israel was responsible for the flight of the Arabs in 1948, one cannot escape the fact that the reason that Palestinian Arabs are stateless today is because of a policy of malice and hate towards them by their Arab "brethren" - and that this policy continues. All the talk about "justice" is a joke to the people who are actually being hurt.
Two State Solution
To add one more historical fact, Trans Jordan (now know as Jordan) was created at the same time and from the same land as was Israel. In 1948, the United Nations created a "two state solution".
So aren't we now talking about creating a "three" state solution?
Wonderful Piece
Thank you, Mr. Ajami. Bravo for such a well thought out piece. As long as one group of people is being led by men (for lack of a better term) who call for the destruction of an entire group of people, there will be no peace. I pray that the decent Palestinian people will one day rise up and overthrow there own government, a government which has had held them back from achieving peace for far too long. Israel's leadership has not been perfect, but if (for example) missiles were being sent over my borders daily and innocent civilians were being targeted on public busses and school busses, I would regrettably fight back and, yes, sometimes innocent civilians would be caught in the middle. Now in my mid 40's, I hope to live long enough to see peace between both groups of people. There has been enough death and destruction over land.
What Arabs were told what to believe:
"The Zionist terrorists outnumbered and were better armed and trained than the courageous Arab soldiers who entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians and face a vicious enemy. The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist terrorists had begun and something had to be done."
Talk about mythology!
This is about as far from reality as one can get in this world. This is how the horrendous Big Lie that has been force-fed to Arabs for 60 years has degenerated into a total distortion and fabrication of facts.
Essentially, what Arabs have resorted to is this self-delusion of fanciful lies, that turns history on its head by claiming that the "Zionist enemy" HAD to be stronger and more evil than the five Arab nations that waged a war of extermination on Israel.
To say that Israel was better armed and equipped is laughable.
Mr. Ajami topping himslef
He, as always tops himself when criticizes anything related to Arabs. A good way, as always, to keep gaining economically but to loose morally; regardless if his half truth seems appealing to some!
The "War Process
Currently it seems that there is no Fundamental desire amongst Arabs to form a "Palestinian State" just a desire that Jews should not have a Jewish state in any stretch of land in the region. The story of the land is a complicated one;
But a lot of people are unaware of the fact that a great deal of the land that the Jews
Supposedly stole from the Arabs was actually bought from the Arabs at a premium; and this land was actually being reacquired because clearly it once belonged to the Jews. The truth is that Israel was owned by the Israelites and the invading nations stole it from them. The authoritative deed is the Bible itself. "Redemption of the Land" in modern times is the purchase, reclamation and settlement of land in Eretz Israel by the Jewish National Fund, by private individuals and organizations and later by the State of Israel.
Now here is the point that should blow your mind. There is no "peace process,"
there is only a "war process" that is being orchestrated by the super powers that don't wish the Arab and Jew to ever live in peace because if they ever did, they would form an entity that would be very powerful. England promised the same stretch of land to the Arabs and the Jews in order to sow war for the generations; so as to divide and conquer. If us Jews and Arabs would ever wake up
And realize how much we have in common and how we are being systematically pitted against one another by the east and the west, we'd form the biggest supper power the world has ever seen. The super powers are doing everything in their power to make sure we never wake up to what I just said.
The truth is, there is no reason to fight over the land. In the Arab's heart of hearts, he or she knows that know the Jews belong in Biblical Israel and they know that if they lived in peace with the Jews and stopped trying to destroy them that the Jews would loosen up and grant them a good and easy life. The only reason why some Jews want to encourage Arabs to leave is because the Arabs in general want to strike Israel down. But that is what the super powers want, only that the Jew and Arab fight.
Arabs and Jews of good faith do live in peace in Israel but you never hear about them because the game plan is to keep the image of war alive and well. The ugly truth is that nobody that is part of the "peace process" actually want peace, they just want to make sure that it looks like they are working for peace. The way for peace to come is for Jews and Arabs that are reading this to wake up and realize what is really going on. The Arabs should let the Jews have their Jewish country-- we all know that there are many many Arab countries not the least of which is Saudi Arabia. Ross Perot got right several years ago when he said, "All I know is that the
Arabs have the money and the Jews have the management ability... put them together and what you get is unbelievable prosperity."
I know it seems like this is impossible because of the hate out there between
Arabs and Jews, but that is only because of ignorance. If Jews and Arabs ever woke up to what I am saying, the light would go on and not only peace would come in a blink of an eye, but the biggest and most prosperous world power would be born. It may even be called the "The United States of the Middle East."
Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver
"RabbiRock"
www.rabbirock.org
To Sam from CA
Sam it is you who repeats Arab mythology. Even Benny Morris, in his new book on the 1948 war, argues that the Arabs were not concerned with their state, but were driven by tribal loyalties. Israel didn't take over their country, it was ruled by the Turks for centuries beforehand. The Arabs that invaded Palestine were not there to protect the Palestinians as you say, but to take Palestine for themselves. What happened to the West Bank after 1948? It became a part of Jordan, exactly Jordan's intent. Egypt wanted the Negev. If Israel lost the war, there would be no Palestine, only Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
Sadness of the arabs is this...
Wonderful piece BTW.
They are leaderless nomads, always have been. Always will be.
Arafat was a con artist from the getgo and lined his pockets.
The saddest part is what the Israelis leave behind that blooms is allowed to whither and die under Palestinian "rule". So, they starve and cry for help from Egypt.
Someone among them needs to develop a backbone. Forget the hate. Just work.
Plant a garden. Feed yourselves. It's not that hard. Raise some cattle.
Sadness of the arabs is this...
Wonderful piece BTW.
They are leaderless nomads, always have been. Always will be.
Arafat was a con artist from the getgo and lined his pockets.
The saddest part is what the Israelis leave behind that blooms is allowed to whither and die under Palestinian "rule". So, they starve and cry for help from Egypt.
Someone among them needs to develop a backbone. Forget the hate. Just work.
Plant a garden. Feed yourselves. It's not that hard. Raise some cattle.
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Jewish success
The work ethic and willingness to do good, to forgive, to start over, and a host of other character quailties have made Israel what it is today..."Happy Birthday". Unfortunately for Israel's neighbors, these qualities are sadly lacking. Even the availability of tons of petro dollars, huge building programs, and the cause celeb' of the Palestinians doesn't seem to help.
May 07, 2008 20:59:34 PM [permalink] [report comment]