Israel is not the enemy of Palestinians

JP reports today on Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Monday: Netanyahu: PA must recognize Israel as Jewish state for there to be peace.

"We are willing to work hard for peace," but added that "Without recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, we simply cannot reach peace."

I have been saying for some years now:

Israel is not the enemy of the Palestinian people.

I believe that to be true to the bottom of my heart; so when I saw this same statement in Natanyahu's speech it resonated deeply within me.

"This is also the hour for leaders of the Arab states in the area to tell the truth to their people - that the State of Israel is not the enemy of Islam."

Israel is not the enemy of the Palestinian people. Who is? I offer this short list:

Responsible for Palestinian Terror

1. Venomous leaders who follow in the footsteps of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, appointed by the British mandate in 1921 until he fled in 1937 
2. Militant Islam which preaches vitriolic hatred of Jews and consequently of Israel
   
3. The cynical use of Palestinian as pawns in the politics of most of the Arab world (a disregard for the well-being of the Palestinian people sacrificed to the 'sacred cow' of Islam which is the land not the people)
4. The liberal / leftist media in the western world which fail to present an accurate historical picture of the situation, and by their role as apologists for violent terrorism - become enablers of violent terrorism

I am not going to discuss all four in detail here, they are intertwined and deserve some careful consideration in several future posts at Lux et Veritas. However I will comment briefly on the first.

I call Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the Father of Islamic Terrorism, there may be other claimants but as far as I know he takes the title.

In 1921, the British appointed Mohammad Amin al-Husayni to be the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a choice that was to have disastrous consequences.

Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, was a hate-monger who incited Arabs to attack Jewish settlers, and the Jewish who had lived in the region for many generations.

I believe that prior to his successful campaign to incite Arabs to hatred of Jews, the Jewish settlers were living in relative harmony with their Arab neighbours. The settlers paid a premium for the land, frequently the worst land was sold, but they were making a success. The Jewish settlers were bringing some economic improvements to an impoverished area (This will be reviewed in more detail in a future post). 

1. 1920 - 1929 A total of 133 people were killed, and 339 injured. The British authorities were demonstrably passive during the riots.

• 1920, six Jews were killed and more than 200 wounded in Jerusalem
• 1921, seventeen people were killed in Abu Kabir and the Ajami neighborhood of Jaff
• 1929, worshippers at the mosques were harangued and incited against Jewish rights of worship at the Western Wall. The next day, Arabs broke into the Jewish Quarter of Hebron, where Jews had lived for 2,000 years and murdered 68 people, including men, women and children. Dozens of Jews were saved by Arab neighbors, but the city was abandoned by Jews until the early 1970s. 
• 1929 Seventeen people were killed in Jerusalem, and 20 were killed in the Jewish Quarter of Safed. The rioters fell upon the small Jewish settlement of Motza, on the road to Jerusalem, and killed an entire family and its guests. Rural settlements throughout Palestine were attacked, and some had to be abandoned.

2. 1936 - 1939 Approximately 630 people were killed in the disturbances of 1936-39, some 2,000 people were injured and large amounts of Jewish property were damaged.

• First stage - 1936: Jews were murdered near Jaffa, and on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The Arab Higher Committee, headed by the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, demanded a cessation of Jewish immigration, a ban on the sale of land to Jews, and Arab independence in Palestine. The committee called for a general strike and an economic siege on the yishuv (the body of Jewish settlers). The strike lasted 175 days. Jewish settlements and roads were attacked, forests and fields were set on fire and orchards cut down. Nearly 100 Jewish lives were lost and severe economic damage was done.
• Second stage - 1937: attacks targeted both the yishuv and the British authorities, and volunteers from neighboring countries joined local Arabs. This time, however, they encountered a different reaction; the yishuv had organized for defense and counter-offensives and its cooperation with the British increased. The Arab Higher Committee was outlawed, and the mufti was deposed and fled the country.

Before his emergence in Palestine, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni,was an an officer in the Ottoman Empire, Army, and participated first-hand in the Armenian genocide. One and a half million Christians were slaughtered under the sword of Islamic Jihad by the Ottoman Army.  

The terrorist extremist organisation known as the Muslim Brotherhood" was established in Egypt in 1928, and Amin Al-Husseini becomes a central figure and ideological inspiration for the group, which spawned the terrorist groups "Egyptian Islamic Jihad" and Hamas The Muslim Brotherhood preaches Wahhabi Islam, which justifies violent means to rid the ‘Muslim world’ of its non-Islamic element. It envisions a Pan-Islamic Empire, where strict Islamic law rules over all.

In 1933 Arab Nazi political groups spring up throughout Middle East. Mohammad Amin al-Husayni became a favoured ally of Hitler, and was appointed direct responsibility for forming divisions of Waffen-SS, consisting of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, who fought for Nazi Germany.

Muslim Waffen-SS divisions were formed from Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, Chechnya, Turkistan, plus the Arab Legion and Arab Brigade, and a Tartar regiment.

In conclusion I return to Netanyahu's speech

 "We are willing to work hard for peace," but added that "Without recognition of Israel as the Jewish state, we simply cannot reach peace."

If there is to be peace in the Middle East, first there must be recognition of Israel by all the Arabic countries in the region, plus by Iran and Turkey. Not just lip-service, but full recognition, which must be accompanied by a vigorous education policy against the vitriolic hatred which is endemic..

But before that can happen, those countries have to confront the history of the region honestly. But the genie is out of the bottle; the hate they have spawned for political and ideological reasons has taken root in the region. Can the genie ever be put back in its bottle? (see the post on Anti Semitism in Egypt)

I pray that will happen, but I see that if anything, hatred is increasing amongst Arab countries, not diminishing.

As always happen, the voice of the moderates are drowned-out by the screaming mob.

It is always easier to incite hatred than moderation.

Remember, that blood of the moderates is also on the head of the leftist media. They risk their safety to speak for moderation; but the people see that the west, according to the bulk of its media, does not support moderation.

NOTE:

"The next day, Arabs broke into the Jewish Quarter of Hebron, where Jews lived for 2,000 years and murdered 68 people, including men, women and children."

These Jews were not Zionists, many were actually opposed to Zionism on theological grounds. However they were most vulnerable of all targets. Whereas settlers had organised themselves to resist attacks, these Orthodox Jews were without any defences whatsoever.

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, AB