Author: Silenstalker
The upcoming weekend will mark 68th anniversary of the Israeli Declaration of Independence and the major conflict that followed. On the 14th of May 1948, the independence declaration, read by David Ben-Gurion, was broadcast by radio to the entirety of Israel. Israel celebrates this date as its Independence Day, one of its most important holidays.
This act was followed by the Arab invasion. On the 15th of May 1948, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Syria invaded the Jewish-held territory that would become Israel with the intention of destroying the newly-born entity. It is not possible to describe all the events that led to the creation of Israel within one book, let alone one article, but some events that led to the Declaration of Independence should be mentioned.
By 1947, Britain was on the verge of bankruptcy. The Second World War was victorious, but also completely exhausted any reserves the country had and the upkeep of several of the colonial territories, including the Palestinian Mandate, was staggering. Under the circumstances, Britain – mostly through the actions of Ernest Bevin, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs – sought to release itself from this burden.
By that time, Palestine was a powder keg for several years – even decades. During the Second World War, Palestinian Arabs – under the influence of Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – sided with the Axis forces. Mufti himself was a known anti-Semite and a personal friend of Adolf Hitler, going so far as to recruit Muslim soldiers for Nazi Germany in the Balkans for Waffen SS divisions (these units were however more a rabble than an effective combat force). Mufti fled Germany during the last days of the war – he was caught attempting to enter Switzerland, but managed in the end to evade arrest. He fled over France to Egypt, where he continued to exercise his immense personal power (stemming from both his position as the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and his ties to one of the most important families in Jerusalem) through a body called Arab Higher Committee (the central Arab political organ of the Palestine region).
The British hated Mufti for both his wartime Axis support and for inciting unrest amongst the Arab populace in Palestine before, during, and after the war, he was a persona non grata during all of the post-war Mandate negotiations. This considerably influenced the Arab negotiating strategy that focused on blocking all the British and Jewish attempts to resolve the situation instead of participating in constructive debates and no attempts from moderates such as Azzam Pasha (First Secretary of the Arab League at the time) could change this position.
And of course there were the Jewish immigrants to Palestine. While the attempts to establish Palestine as the true Jewish homeland went back to the Balfour declaration of 1917 (on the British side) and the Zionist movement (from Jewish side), it was the tragedy of the Holocaust that caused mass numbers of surviving European Jews to attempt to move away from the continent ravaged by war to Palestine, which many of them viewed as the promised land.
The British strategy in this matter was based on the simple fact that the Arabs were far more numerous than Jews and that this superiority alone (conveniently kept in place by restrictive British Mandate policies) justified the attempts to appease the Arabs. Britain’s precarious economic situation demanded peace with the Arab countries in order to access their oil reserves and to negotiate the best deals for British companies (something the Americans agreed on).
The Palestinian Jews were led by men whose reputation was nothing short of legendary, such as Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion, who understood that the British position could only be changed by a show of force that would convince Britain and the United States that the Jews are just as strong partners as the Arabs were. Apart from some shrewd talks, this unfortunately also led to a wave of anti-British violence in Palestine by radical Jewish elements such as Irgun on even more radical Lehi.
Partition Plan
There were several stages of planning regarding the fate of Palestine between 1945 and 1948 that can be divided into two types:
- An Arab-Jewish federation (or a cantonal system), single state
- Partition (separating the Jewish and Arab territories, leaving each to govern itself)
Through series of convoluted events and negotiations, the perhaps defining moment was the support of the so-called Partition Plan by the United Nations from the 29th of November 1947. This plan was uncharacteristically supported by both the Soviet Union and the United States, albeit for different reasons:
The American position, while influenced by the needs to gain access to middle-eastern oil (just like in the British case) was ultimately decided by Harry Truman, the President of the United States at the time. Harry Truman was personally deeply moved by the tragedy of the Jewish people and also influenced by his personal friendship with the Jewish leader Chaim Weizmann. On the other hand, he did write in his memoirs that the people who nearly “sunk” the partition support were the representatives of radical American Jews themselves (such as Abba Hillel Silver), whose rude demands strongly contrasted with Weizmann’s calm dignity.
The Soviet position on the other hand was mostly based on opportunism. The Soviets clearly recognized the rising strength of the Jewish movement in comparison to the backward nature of the Arab social structure in the region and considered it a great opportunity to earn Jewish gratitude and to undermine British influence at the same time.
Britain of course was against partitioning. This was not only influenced by the above mentioned British interests in the Arab World, but also by the fact that the British forces lost 127 men (with 331 more wounded) to Jewish irregulars between May 1945 and October 1947. Last but not least, the position of the British leadership was strongly shifted at that time against the Jews on personal level – the pressure on Ernest Bevin to resolve the situation one way or another was immense. During one meeting, Richard Crossman (British Member of Parliament at the time) commented on how Bevin’s opinions on Jews could have been described as roughly corresponding to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a well-known pre-war anti-Semitic hoax. Bevin was also heard saying that it’s possible the Nazis learned their worst atrocities from the Jews – as a result of this meeting Crossman assumed that Bevin had not only been exhausted from the matter, but completely unhinged.
On the other hand, some British politicians were not too worried. Even if the plan succeeded, it was considered a certainty that the numerous Arab forces would simply invade and destroy the Jewish state and the British interests in the region would not be threatened in the long run if the British had proved themselves as the allies to the Arabs. In the meanwhile, they were starting with the planned military evacuation of the region.
However, to make their intentions clear, the British formally obstructed the United Nations committee sent to the region on a fact-finding mission as best as they could – the members of the UN committee had to for example live in a flimsy shed and were reduced to spend their days procuring food and water. While they did what they could, under the circumstances they achieved nothing.
The Infiltration
The military policies of British armed forces in Palestine are easily understood in the light of the previous information. The military staff in London and (including Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery) was generally convinced that the Jewish armed forces would stand no chance against the Arabs, but the local British forces in Palestine went even further, selling arms to the local Arabs and occasionally going even further. Iraqi General Taha al-Hashimi, tasked with the training of Arab volunteers in Damascus reported that Arab irregulars were getting detailed pieces of information about British deployment and withdrawal plans so that they could immediately occupy the “vacant” military installations.
In the meanwhile, the Arab reaction was just as violent as the British had expected it to be with attacks on synagogues, Jewish housing and shops, supported by Mufti and his followers. At the same time, Mufti’s Arab Higher Committee started recruiting irregular forces from Palestinian Arabs with the task of ambushing Jewish transports and terrorizing outlying Jewish settlements. Their attacks were however largely ineffective due to the hostility between various factions within them.
Other Arab countries didn’t want to stay away either and the result was the creation of “Arab Liberation Army”, a volunteer organization consisting of Syrian mercenaries, a few Muslims from Yugoslavia and even of some German Waffen SS veterans. This force was commanded by the feared Fawzi al-Qawuqji, a guerrilla commander who had previously been active in the pro-Axis anti-British riots. Unlike Mufti’s gangs that terrorized even local Arab populace, the ALA was generally a competent military force that was very active in ambushing Jewish supply transports and caused a lot of damage later on. By March 1947, the unit consisted of roughly 7000 men. Another 5000 men were commanded by Abd al-Qadir al-Husayn, Mufti’s nephew.
The Jewish forces were considerably smaller. They consisted of roughly 3000 members of elite Palmach units, 5000 members of Irgun (very poorly armed) and around 1000 members of Lehi. Another 21000 men formed the reserves of Haganah (Jewish paramilitary organization that would later on become the core of the Israeli Defence Force), but these had no arms. Weapons were very hard to export under the British prohibition (all the while the Arab weapons were often supplied by the British themselves) but the Jewish forces managed to smuggle a large number of small arms (mostly from France and Czechoslovakia) to Palestine.
Soon, the war began in earnest. Arab infiltrators attacked unprotected Jewish targets while the poorly-armed members of the Jewish resistance were desperately trying to keep the major routes open. Very few believed in their ability to do so and under the circumstances the American support for the Partition Plan started waning. It was again Harry Truman who overrode the American establishment (especially the attempts of the Secretary of State, George Marshall) to return to some sort of British Mandate in the region. Ironically enough the British were now supporters of the Partition, as they were afraid that the Americans would ask them to return to the costly Mandate system.
Faced with this situation, David Ben-Gurion recognized that to prove the abilities of the Jewish forces once again, a successful offensive against the Arabs had to be mounted to show the world that the forces of the future Jewish state could prevail even against odds. It was a difficult decision – by the end of March 1948, the British were still in the region and Ben-Gurion was afraid that they’d intervene in Arab favor.
The Jewish forces found however an unlikely ally in the hostility between Arab factions. What started as conflict for power between Fawzi al-Qawuqji and Mufti soon grew into an open hostility. ALA commanders were bitterly complaining about the incompetence of Mufti’s gangs while Mufti was insulting Fawzi al-Qawuqji personally, calling him a coward. As a result even the last remnants of coordination between the two factions broke down completely. The rivalry culminated in March 1948, when the Palmach veterans launched an offensive against Abd al-Qadir al-Husayn’s fortified position near Jerusalem. Al-Husayn called al-Qawuqji for help, but none was sent, resulting not only in the loss of the positions but also in his death.
This event was a part of the larger Jewish offensive to liberate the roads leading to major settlements and was quite successful, if only for a time. It however did save countless Jews from starving, since Haganah sent several relief convoys using the liberated communications to the settlements (including Jerusalem itself).
The offensive saw Safed liberated from ALA forces, a significant political blow to Mufti, who chose the city as his future seat in Palestine. More importantly however, the demonstration of strength showed the world that the Jewish forces were not only capable of holding their own, but also of winning against an enemy who boasted superior numbers. Under the circumstances, the British proclamations about restoring “peace and order” in Palestine were not taken seriously by anyone.
The chaos of the conflict heavily influenced the common people of Palestine. The basic services (such as telephones, postal service, railways and many more) completely broke down. The Arab population was unable to fulfil this void in any way – the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs were the first to flee before the advancing Jewish troops in fear of repercussions for the acts of terror committed by Mufti’s gangs.
The Jewish Agency on the other hand became extremely active in restoring the state to working order, starting by re-establishing all the offices left vacant by the British and the Arabs, including all branches of administration, the tax system and many more. The effort was colossal but in the end paid off, as by mid-May 1948 the administrative core for the new Jewish state was read. The Arabs on the other hand panicked – the Higher Committee eventually issued a proclamation that Arab officials were to remain in their places, but it was too little and too late and this collapse resulted in an exodus of an unprecedented scale with practically all the members of Arab elite leaving Palestine to live in exile.
In the end, the Jewish offensive broke the back of the paramilitary Arab forces in Palestine and established a new political reality. On the 14th of May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of Israel from the Tel Aviv Museum.
The armies of four Arab nations invaded Israel the very next day.
Am Yisroel Chai. Still waiting on that tech tree though.
A small, virtually unarmed state with only paramilitary forces in action, and the arabs still struggle to take it over without shouting at each other and fighting themselves.
Some things just wont change will they?
Sadly they are not joining forces together. Otherwise this mid-west problem would be solved and palestinians could live in peace as they deserve, IN THEIR LAND.
Kind of simplified. The Jews don’t deserve to live in their land after centuries of persecution and a genocide?
And you mean all Palestinians or just the islamic ones? I somehow doubt that Hamas would tolarate jews and christians.
Actually before British colonial rule when it was under Muslim control. Jews and Christians did live there in peace and we’re allowed to participate their religions freely.
Their land? Who says is their land? I wonder why did they suffer centuries of persecution? They have no right to treat palestinians like they do, and kill their kids, push them out of their properties, steal all their possessions etc. By the way, if holohoax was true as they state, how people that suffered so much does that to others? History is so full of s**t (because they wrote it)…
In whose land? You need to do some research.
Unarmed? lol Who told you that?
“By that time, Palestine was a powder keg for several years – even decades.”
SS, I love to nitpick, and you are in my sights right now.
The Palestine region was a powderkeg for almost a century at that point in time. Jewish immigration got big in the mid-19th C, and the muslim Arabs were having anti-Jewish pogroms by the 1880s AFAIK.
Isn’t “Mufti” more of a title than a name, though?
Yes, it’s a title, but in this context, al Husseini was known as THE Mufti.
I remember spending weeks on the history of Israel and Palestine in my senior history class. Even wrote a lengthy research paper on the subject too. Very interesting stuff, albeit very convoluted at times. Great article.
SilenTstalker perhaps?
Next post from rita.
“Remember that glorious day when we created the glorious crusader state in the holy land.
By spilling the blood of heathens all over Jerusalem!”
And then those heathens started hating on that glorious state because of some magical mystical reason and because they are heathens. Yeah. and all they are good at is, hate.
BY THE GODS!
Those were the days!
When there were no SJWs to bitch about our glorious acts!
The jewish state is illegal, the UK was legally bound by law and treaties to prevent the jews from landing in Palestine. There was no Israel, just Palestine.
All the shit going on now with terrorists and ISIS and Syria can all be traced to that single moment in history when Great Britain let the jews invade Palestine.
I suppose that you are avoiding use of an Intel Processor while typing thy venom.
Made in Israel it is.
I suppose that the wanton acts of violence being committed in Europe right now by muslims are also tied to Israel, and not the actual natural tendency of muslims to gravitate towards violence when they do not get their way (sounds like a 5 year old child no?)
Israel is also in fact, the only country established from the British and French mandates in the middle east, that did not receive all of the originally allocated land it was to receive.
57 muslim states in the world. Fifty Seven. And their (and motherfuckers like siralexice) biggest problem is that there is 1 country in the world that is Jewish.
This 1 Jewish country, has more contribution to modern civilization than most countries in the world, yet attempting to lower the price of filling up a tank of petrol or diesel is more important.
“This 1 Jewish country, has more contribution to modern civilization than most countries in the world”
Excuse me, but on what planet are you living?
Aquila,
You have no clue.
Research what Israel has contributed to the modern world.
The muslims have only contributed oil and murder. Soon enough, oil will run out, and then they can only contribute murder.
My problem is that before Israel was forcibly created – because there were about 0 jews grand total there – Arabs and Muslims were quite happy to fight among themselves.
Now they have a reason to cooperate against Israel, the US and the EU countries.
“This 1 Jewish country, has more contribution to modern civilization than most countries in the world”
Lol, way to go, Schlomo.
Siralexice,
Read up about travelers that visited Palestina in the 17th and 18th Century.
Look up photographs of the Temple Mount, and the abomination that muslims built on it, such a holy site to islam, that the mosque was in total disrepair up until the early 20th century.
The land was empty. There were only Beduin travelling from Egypt to Syria and Lebanon, and small communities in Safed, Jaffa, Acre, and of course Jerusalem.
The majority of modern day “”Palestinians”” emigrated to the land seeking work offered by Jews who emigrated to Palestina in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Then, in the mid 30’s, a massive wave of arabs moved there, (it is on record in the British Government Archives) in order to thwart a possible Homeland for the Jews.
I realize that you dislike (at best) Jews and Israel. I don’t mind. I don’t like you or your kind either. But at least have the integrity to know the facts before you spout out bullocks!!!
Yes muslims start world war 1 and 2 and muslims invade iraq and afganistan and vietnam and syria they just cant stop attacking!!!
true enough, Einstein was jewish, Chaplin , Freud, and many other scientist. ( The nuclear ones like Szilard and E. Teller are my favourites 😀 ). But then there are also the bankers who are about to crash the world economy, so I kinda have mixed feelings, wheter any group of people should have that much power without any checks an ballances to keep order .
Pretty much all the foundings of nations all over the world is based on blood. If that makes a country illegal, there are a LOT of illegal countries, including for example the US. So I’d say that argument is invalid.
Breaking of international law makes it illegal, not blood spilled. The mandate system created to govern the middle east among other places was very clear about what can be done and what cannot be done with the terrain in question. Israel as a state in the current form is a violation of that law.
I am not saying that Syonist don’t deserve a country, but saying it legal because they deserve a country of their own is pretty much the most twisted justification you can imagine…
Nothing can really be done atm, on one hand we have oil that makes us all look away from barbaric shitstates brutality of Arabic countries, on the other hand we have semi-facist Isreal supported by international finacial mobsters and US that we have to accept no matter what they do… Atrocities comminted on both sides and yet somehow the world is forced to not give a fudge because of geopoliticsc – oil and US presence in the region is to important. Sad reality, when blood of people is spilled because it is needed to upkeep the spere of influence some countries need to manage their worthless economy.
International law has nothing to do with founding a country. Almost all foundings are based on war. Just look at the balkan, the US, Taiwan and so on and so forth.
The ONLY thing that really makes a country legal is if enough other countries legitimately recognize it as a foreign entity. Just look at Taiwan and Kosovo.
So, EOK.
Jordan is also illegal state, so is Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Egypt, and Libya, and Saudi Arabia, and Kuweit, and UAE, and all states created following the mandates of UK and France.
You cannot just pick on Israel for being illegal, when it’s creation was under the same context as the rest of the countries created at same time, (1918-1948) What is 30 years in the context of world history.
Not pickind on Isreal, stating a fact. And no, most countries in the region got created according to the mandate system, that was the whole idea, to create countires for the ethnical groups of the region. It was done poorly due to lack of understanding how the groups interacted between themselves, but Syonist/Jews were marginal group in the region up until the Israel was created…
By the same logic China could just said Florida is now w new, independent state inhabitated by Chinese folks and then send 30m people there to validate it legitimacy… Because it pretty much went like that for Isreal. Not even gonna bother talking about modern state of Israel and how nicely it fits with barbaric bullshit that goes in the whole region.
I can give you whole lists of nations founded through conflict. Maybe you shouldn’t just count current nations, but look a little further.
By the way, conflict doesn’t necessarily mean there was actual war or combat.
Eok, where is your protest against Turkey over Northern Cyprus? Kurdestan?
Where is your protest over Kashmir?
All 3 have the same legal status as Judea (Let’s see if you can guess where the name Judea comes from) and Samaria. Land that is under dispute. It is not occupied territory,
Always love when someone runs out of arguments and go on with ‘then what about X, you should surely protest/support X then’. It has no connection to the question whether Israel creation was legal.
This is talk about creation of a country given in title, and the proccess was not only against the international law at the time (and we are still talking about XX century, time when international law already existed strongly and governed such matters as Mandate Teritories), it was based on voilence and what we would call today terrorism. Against people that were not even occupants of the said place. High moral ground was taken, eh?
To be clear – Turkey is yet another barbarbic bullshit state, if Libia was bombed to hell there are 10 times more reasons to do this against Turkey. Sad thing NATO needs them, but yes, the Kurds matter is of similiar kind to the situation of Palestinian civilians. Maybe even worse nowdays, since Turkey bombs whoever the hell they want.
Can you please state exactly WHICH international law was broken? You seem to be keen on saying that, but make no references to source material…
Also, the UN officially recognised is as a legal country a few years later, that makes it legal regardless. So it’s original issues don’t even matter to us. Only to those few countries who don’t.
Some say ignorance is bliss. But, in the case shown above, its just stupidity at its best.
Watch “Louis Theroux – Ultra zionists” documentary and try not to vomit… To all of those that believe all this jewish propaganda and holohoax… Watch how poor palestinians live, and how this (pejorative adjective) treat them. Disgusting…
Looks like it didn’t take long to get holocaust denier here. (unsurprising) And still with old bad propaganda rubbish of ultra-right wing. Still trying to unmake holocaust. Sorry, Germans were too perfect in organization to succeed in unmaking it.
Hi, I lost the entire Polish side of my family to the holocaust.
Kindly shove your keyboard up your ass and choke on the keys.
No lube.
You don’t even deserve that.
KLIMAX Why I can’t be doubtful about that? Where were the gas chambers? Where were those 6 million bodies (even when jewish population in Europe was way lower than that)? Why are you SO SURE that it happened? Why British/American bombing attacks on cities full of civilians wasn’t a genocide/holocaust (Dresden, Hamburg, Munich)? Oh sorry, they were only germans, no jews there, poor jews, they are such good people, so kind with no jews… Their harassment on palestinians, their invasion on foreign land, their bombings on kids, that’s nothing, all lies, they are the victims… Ok, believe what you want…
EXOCET Only one half? Sadly… Without lube is coming for you, people is opening their eyes. Someday arab countries will join forces and you will pay for everything you are doing, your banks, your media is not going to save you…
Roland, this is extremely racist of you.
actually, not racist, anti-Semite, because you only have something against the Jews.
There is proof to every single thing you said. look it up. or you can also go to Poland and see it with your own eyes. educate yourself boy, because you are clearly stupid or just blind.
And about your last sentence. bring it on! we are not afraid of all of you Arab brain-dead cockroaches.
If you didn’t know, you already tried to join forces several times before, and every time you lost. so why should it be any different “someday”?
VERMILION I’m not arab, I just hope they will make you pay for everything. If Palestine is your promised land why aren’t you all there? Leave every country in the world, join together and build a 10 m tall wall, stay there and don’t come out again… Nobody likes you, nobody wants you around, and you don’t like any other race either, so save us time…
@Roland: Some of those camps are still well preserved and they conduct tours. Might want to go there. Also you might want to peruse various evidence including Nazi documentation and video evidence. (Either by Nazi’s themselves or by investigators)
As I said: It is damn too well documented by Nazi’s themselves. (Including mass graves)
As for your assertions on city bombing: Simple: It was not recognized as war crimes until Fourth Geneva convention in 1949 and another by provisions in Protocols of 1977. That’s why no German official was prosecuted for their bombing of British cities either. (Also Dresden and similar firestorms ere unintended and never could be replicated at will – and apparently causalities weren’t as high as reported originally by propaganda of Soviets)
It was discussed at length on IS Forums: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129326
(former JREF Forums)
Yeah, a single event where a tiny strip of land was given to less than a million people, and 70 years later, children are being used as suicide bombs, and grown ass men are destroying monuments and artifacts thousands of years old thta have nothing to do with the West, nor Judaism
Totally no deep rooted issues with the region, no.
It’s all those mean old Isrealis.
If they have been persecuted for 2000 years, by all other religions, countries and kings there must be a reason. That you are just poor innocent victims… Sure
@anon top fucking kek.
In the 70 years Europe left the Middle Eastern colonies, things have turned to shit, and they started killing each other and other cultures. But surely it’s the Jews’ and Isreal’s fault some extremists and blowing up Bhudda statues, right?
Or those extremely jewish Babylonian artifacts, from the very region the extremists are from.
I’m repeating myself, it’s not in 70 years time this sort of thing happens. You don’t go from peaceful to tearing down thousand year old status from your ancestors’ culture in 3 generations.
“If they have been persecuted for 2000 years, by all other religions, countries and kings there must be a reason.”
What reasons did they have? I don’t know, let’s see…
– Some of the Jews were bankers, loaners or merchants and only because they’re so greedy, it’s not like they were forbidden by law from most jobs.
– While most Christians considered that any knowledge outside the Bible was “pagan”, many Jews had contacts with the Muslim world (and vice-versa, those living in Muslim territories had contacts with Christians) or preserved parts of the ancient knowledge.
– They formed tight, closed communities and were very weary of outsiders (because they’re such a mean people, not because those same outsiders were so keen on butchering them wherever they could find them).
– And especially they were the perfect scapegoats, being completely defenceless, having no Jewish state that could protect them. Start butchering Christians and you’d wake up with crusaders knocking with a battering ram at your castle door.
Take your pick.
I put it to anyone to deny anything from the truth brought out by SilentStalker.
I am an avid student of the Israel-Arab conflict. Absolutely 100% truthful and unbiased article.
I hope that all read it in full, and try to understand it, it can lead to a further understanding of the situation.
ESPECIALLY THE FINAL 3 PARAGRAPHS.
“The Arab population was unable to fulfil this void in any way – the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs were the first to flee before the advancing Jewish troops in fear of repercussions for the acts of terror committed by Mufti’s gangs.”
And what is this supposed to mean ? We already know you’re an Israel fan but you needn’t shove it in our faces. I dont see you talking about Tunisia’s independence day or any other . I came here for tanks. Not for fanboyism. I already know this from history class so no ty.
As funny as it is, the same person above me in the comments appears whenever the slightest Israel mention is sighted. Freeking lost cause.
I am not an Israel Fan, I am an Israeli.
I don’t care about Tunisia, why would I? It has nothing to do with me or my country.
And if you have a problem with that, might I suggest finding a nice cliff, and take a nose dive.
Same here i don’t give a sh*t about your country when i feel interested enough i will search. iam here to learn more about the history of tanks not the history of your country
“I don’t care about Tunisia, why would I? It has nothing to do with me or my country.”
According to your logic, why should we care for Israel?
FYI 1: Before bashing other cultures (in this case the Islamic one), if you have such an avid interest in history as you claim, you’d do well to remember that during the Middle Ages, when your ancestors were being burned alive in Christian Europe during an epidemic, they were tolerated and sometimes even welcomed in the Ottoman empire. You know, Ottomans, Muslims?
FYI 2: “This 1 Jewish country, has more contribution to modern civilization than most countries in the world,” For almost 2,000 years there was no Jewish country. And while the contribution of the Jewish PEOPLE to civilization is important, so is the other people’s legacy, no matter their religion (or lack of), color or place of residence. Great history skills, Zohan. GG WP.
The fact that your people were hunted throughout history by many imbeciles (inb4 you accuse me of Holocaust denial) doesn’t give you a moral high ground. So please, stop with the blue-and-white flag weaving and the “chosen people” speech. An Israeli is nor better, nor worse than any other human being. There, now I’m also an antisemite. Sue me.
Hmmm. A little light on tank content.
… Although if SS is the author he is possibly setting this up for a history of the Arab-Israeli tank battles across the decades.
there are a lot of them too,
History Channel has some of them featured.
Battles in 6 day War, and Sinai front and Golan Front in 1973 War.
Israel got very lucky in the 1st and 2nd nights of the 1973 war on the Golan front. The Syrian command did not take advantage of their clear advantage in night fighting due to Syrian tanks being equipped with IR projectors and gunners having IR sights, while Israeli tanks only had drivers equipped with IR capability for night driving, and TC’s with IR bino’s. The gunners in Israeli tanks were completely dependant on the TC lining up the turret with enemy tanks using the TC turret override.
Had the Syrian command realized this, and capitalized on this, Israel would have been over run on the Golan front, and the Syrians would have been attacked with nuclear weapons.
Roland,
Just out of interest, what is your opinion about the 850,000 Jews that were expelled from Syria/Lebanon/Iraq/Egypt/Yemen/Libya/Tunisia/Algeria?
850,000 Jews lived in those countries prior to 1948. Now fewer than 100 live in all those countries combined, recently, the remaining Jews in Yemen were given a choice, convert to Islam and stay, Stay and die if you remain Jewish, or Leave.
Is Israel to be blamed that it integrated the 850,000 Jewish Refugees into it’s society, and the arab nations refused to integrate the refugees of 1948 that were arab?
What is Israel supposed to do? Give Palestinians an allotment of how many Jews they can murder a week without retribution?
How many? 5? 10? How many? before Jews are “”allowed”” to shoot back?
Of the billions of Dollars and Euro given to the Palestinian authority, how much of it got to the people? & how much of it was stolen by the PA officials?
Mahmoud Abbas is worth over $100 million. His books did not sell well enough to justify a net worth like that you know….
Arafat was a billionare.
Hamas leaders like Khaled mashal are worth hundreds of millions.
Building materials that are supposed to be used for homes and schools and hospitals are being used to build terror tunnels.
Hamas are heavily taxing the gazans on everything, even though the median income in gaza is under $2 US a day.
Gaza was given a ready made agricultural industry from the settelements that were evacuated in 2005-6. What did hamas do with those settlements? They turned them into military bases.
Is Israel supposed to assist those who intend to murder Israeli’s?
Tunisia and Algeria u say? i can’t speak for other countries,but i spent half of my life in these two, i can tell you that the locals helped the jews by telling the german special unit who was sen there ( not a regular wehrmacht unit) that the jews are muslims, and helped hiding many others, till now they are still living freely in Tunis and Djerba. the locals especially in Tunisia helped also Germans and americans and british alike not to fall in their captives in the their enemies hands, so stop spreading ur ballshit everywhere and read some books.
Independance declared on the 14th of May, arabs declared war on the 15th.
Religion of peace.
as always 5mil of Jews are 10000x time more than 75mill of other ppl dead in ww2. and the same goes for sound they make. this is the main problem why ppl hesitate or being negative towards Jews. as for Israel no doubt it was planned in advance, and Arabs just got their destiny, but as always with history, you just let it be. Lets not die today for better past, lets die for better future
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transfer_Agreement
Not a mention of the sykes-picot agreement which is the 16th of mai, signed 100 years ago.
The proclaiimation of the state of israel is just a effect of that agreement.
Not a mention of the sykes picot agreement, wich is the 100 year anniversary next 16th of mai,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement
This is the most influential agreement and root cause for all conflict in the middle east the last century, and makes the declaration of the state of israel and the arab-israel conflict a mere consequense. The balfour declaration is merely building on the sykes=picot agreement.
I would say a nice try, but the material in the arab-israel conflict is much deeper longer and wider then discussed here. and this barely scratches the surface.
But i am guessing you know this and just went for the some what sensational parts.
Reminds me a lot the Polish fight for independence in the wake of WW1.
Could we get a bibliography? just interested on reading up from the source.
It’s absolutely OK to have an independent Israel right where it is – in Palestine, but what Israelis do to the Palestinians and Palestinian people right now is simply outrageous. They annexed land that was not given to them and are colonizing Palestinian territory to grab even more land and they are surprised that muslims hate them.
Of course, that is why arabs commited pogroms against Jews in the 1920’s and 30’s as well. Before Israel declared it’s independence.
This is a really interesting article. I’m always interested in the events of the 20th century. Israel definitely has a very complex history.
Sad to see the holocaust deniers and the anti-Semites and the islamaphobes using this article as an excuse to go full keyboard warrior in the comments…
Who sold the land to the founders of Israel back then?
Anways – one can still criticize the politics of a state without mentioning any religious stuff. By which I mean not every Israeli is a jew and not all jewish isralei like the politics of their government, but at this time, the government needs support of ultra-nationalistic orthodox parties to work.
I have some friends from israel (jews and muslims alike) who came to europe because they either dont want to get forced to serve in military or are just fed up with the situation there…
peace!
Israel forever
forever hehehehehe even them know that it won’t last forever, it’s in their book
I dont usually comment on the internet, especially on delicate matters like this.
Israel’s war crimes will never be answered for. it’s a shame that they can commit genocide so freely with the support of the most powerful countries.
Yes, Genocide.
Palestnian Arab population has more than trebled since 1948.
We Rock!!! at genocide.
Ignorant sack of pig vomit that you are.
Palestine..Gaza…biggest concentration camp…. 🙁
Free Palestine!
Gaza is part of Egypt.
Gazans had an Egyptian passport in May 1967.
Why are they suddenly Palestinian?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSbAiA2U8AA6712.jpg:large
Allow me to put this in context of WoT.
Would you attack an E100 with a Hetzer?
If so, don’t be surprised that you get crushed.
Obviously, after you get crushed, it is totally the fault of your team that the E100 crushed u in a hetzer too.
They try to defend their HOMELAND against E100 horde. We dont forgot heroes with Hetzer, and one day they will pay for their war crimes against palestinians. Israhell will pay for that one day…thats my opinion. We still have the keys…
“The higher you fly, the harder you fall.” That pathetic pride on their superiority over other races, is their biggest weakness They are going to learn the hard way, hopefully, it will be their last lesson.
You know who else invaded over territories with the claim ” we need land’, “we are a great nation and we need resources”, “we are entitled to the country worthy of our needs”?
Nazis.
USA, UK, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Italy (romans), Turkey, Russia, Germany, China, Japan, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Iran did as well.
Well played Rita.. why would you have such a fanatical blog post… especially from silentstalker.. which I highly doubt he would post on AW forums to begin with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGam7PAE0Y
i am from russia
So its englishman fault that it is a mess in palestine and israel go figures y’all
1. I don’t understand why this post was published here.
2. Israel is state which has been accepted by other states with no regards for justice for people who lived there before – created on unjustice, and now justifed for its acts by its self and its creators as victim – and right to defend it self propaganda – also widly supported by it frendly creators
3. You can see facts in any way u like or want but that doesn’t change them – Israel was, is and will be state created on crime, blood and unjustice which is not corrected and shows how things work in global political floor – this issue is way older then 1948 – Britain has also blood on her hands in this story.
4. Dilema is: If Israel can exist today regardlles of how it became – by that logic then anyone can do the same – create his own state the same way Israel did and defend it because it is his right to do so. If u don’t see anything wrong with Israel then when you invite me to your house i will take half and it will be my. U have no right to argue with that. It is my. My friends will say that it is my.
5. Ask your self one question: Why does so many civilians, mostly old people, women and childern are injured and killed in past conflicts.
Sorry for my bad english
Best regards
To all those posting that Israel is an illegal creation, or “crime, blood and unjustice” – please tell us which country you are from so that we can also examine how your country was created.
Rita why oh why are you bringing politics into this blog? The topic of Israel is as Hot now as it was the day that state was created, ppl just tend to ignore it these days but ppl from both sides are still dying there .
Because this site is not like WoT EU forum, where big bad puke, neillos the fucktard, or fireflydivision the faggot rein supreme, zapping posts like George orwell’s 1984 mind control shit.
Kissing dinger ass.
People can voice opinions here, even if it is slightly controversial or even more.
I have yet to see one argument proving that Israel is illegal. Only classic BDS rhetoric, that is meant for the feeble minded antisemetic scum that infest Europe, spawn of the Antisemetic scum that bore Nazi and Nazi sympathizer scum.
Voicing opinions on whether or not Israel has a right to exist. HA!!!
If you want to stop Israel from existing, pick up a gun, and join the arabs. That is the only way you have a chance. Think about it, if the 1930’s-1945 German Nazi’s failed, what chance do you have?
Who the fuck said anything about nazis and antisemetism? All i said is that ppl are fucking dying and it is a touchy subject for lots of ppl. This is a blog that talks about a fucking game i think , if you want to talk about politics there are plenty of forums that do that so go there. Now go puke somewhere else you stupid ass.
Who the fuck do you think you are to say that?
I will post what I think is right to post. If you don’t like it, you can go fuck yourself.
So if someone posts a wall of swastikas and starts screaming 88 is that OK too, Zohan? Because well, “If you don’t like it, you can (also) go fuck yourself”. Amirite?
You think you are entitled to say whatever you want ? no person alive has that right, your rights end where my rights begin. So fuck you and your fucking bigot mind.
It is not possible to describe all the events that led to the creation of Israel within one book.
Where any written by Benjamin Freedman?
Hey Zohan you seem like an educated guy, with real knowledge and backing up everything you write but could you at least be a little less caustic to others. You lose your reason there.
SS, while the Arab atrocities against the Jews are real, let’s not forget that the Jews weren’t saints either. Count Folke Bernadotte (a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of people from the Nazi concentration camps, including many Jews, and was later assassinated by Lehi members while trying to forge an agreement for a mixed Jewish-Muslim state) should at least deserve a mention. The guy was trying to find a peaceful solution and in the end got gunned down in what was basically a terrorist act, identical to what Muslim fanatics are doing today.
Ah a story how terrorist groups invaded, slaughtered innocents and are still doing today after justifying their legal state. Yet the side who lived and owned that land are being persecuted simply because they live there and because of their religions.
Gg…..how the world works huh….
Moses fled from egypt with the jews to get the promised land from god and died within the sight of IT before he died but his people the israelites with king David established Jerusalem to be the capital for the jewish nation, and his son Solomon built the first temple in the city. Israel was first called the United kingdom of Israel and then the kingdom of judah and the temple solomon built was the religiuos center of the israelites . Then the Babylonian fucktard nebuchadnezzar lade waste to the temple and killed and captured many jews…. Thats some history that for me just proves that Israel is and has from the beggining allways been the jews land…and im from sweden and i support the jews in this 100% they have all right to whole Israel and they have the rights to defend themselves just as i have the right to defend my land when the muslim terrorist starts killing swedes….
RITA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, PLEASE stop posting this shit !. Muslim all around the world just getting more hate from the others because of this. THOSE IDIOT MASS MURDERING “ISIS” make things worst. and by nailing something which is happen till these day make the hate between the two even worse. JUST STOP posting this nasty political issue here.
Reading these posts are just sickening. People, before posting a stupid post, do an hour of research, I promise, that is all it will take for u to know the truth and stop making yourselves look unintelligent. Israel was a nation in that land before the Arabs even took it, They built the city and the culture of Israel. However, God allowed them to be conquered because they lost trust in their Lord and refused to see Jesus as Messiah. However, God has re-given them their land and yet everyone hates Israel and blames them for illegally stealing that land. I just can’t believe u guys. Israel and Jerusalem was worth nothing to the Arab countries compared to what significance Jerusalem has to Israel. Israel is now one of the largest food baskets in the world. Plus, if they really didn’t belong there, then the Arabs would have surely crushed them by now. Rest assured, Israel will rise to greater heights than the US ever was or China will ever be. The country is miniscule, yet is causing more problems than the rest of the world combined. What is causing that? Plz research before responding to this comment
U guys have failed arguements. The Jewish peoples of Israel were in control of that land LOOOOONG before any Arab country. In 1848, Israel reclaimed their land and have been desperately defending it ever since. Plz do research before making youself look stupid on a international blog
Sickening are your prophetic facts . God did this , God did that.
Actually according to Bible when something happens to Jews it was Always Because of their disbelieve in God , So maybe it is Gods intention to put them in a state of all time War , Massacre………
Facts from a Fictional Book as not fact , even if you like to believe it as such.
Just a Player, just the oposite. He wants to prove to the world that He can protect Israel against impossible odds. Israel has never been in a peaceful place and never will until He comes back. But until then, God will use Israel to prove that He is in control. Let me know when Israel falls. I’ve got plenty of time.
I think that Palestinians aren’t very productive. Israel and a lot of Red Cross and NATO countries chipped in building supplies after the gaza raid in (2008?). Some of the bags and supplies were marked. Most of these marked supplies were found in the tunnels running rockets into gaza. My opinion: If all their going to do is complain “free Palestine”, go collectively build your own damned country and fix your own problems, then come back and talk to us. If you have a problem living under Israeli rule, leave. So far, Palistine has been less useful over a mellenia than Israel has been in half a decade. Heck if your reading this, you support Israel, because Intel processors are built there. Robots, computers, hydroponics, Synthetics, and advanced weapons systems will all link to Israel. Food for thought :). Anyways, I’ll get off the soap box now. (I’m not even going to mention the wars they have had to go through to keep their lives, I think you all understand that. And holocost deniers, wow. You people are the scummiest, rudest, most pathetic people to live. I suggest carrying a tree with you, so you don’t waste everyone else’s air.) thank you and have a good night everyone 🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱
so sick of the damn holocust shit, u say something about israel and the holocust bombs starts to fart everywhere, ‘ i lost my polish part family, i lost two grand parents from my mother side, i lost freinds and blablabla’ hell with u, how about the german POWs in the russian camps, how about all the raped women in Berlin and others raped by americans but no one talks about them, how about the dead civilians in Dresden and Berlin, look at the world today and you will know who is the evil part.
Jews did suffer , but mostly by the hand of Romans ,Germans ,French and Russians, coming from Middle east (Persian) never heard any massacre of Jews in our land , even wee are praised in their holy book. So if Jews have suffered let the one how caused it pay for it.
Christians act like they are the best on the planet , again go read what you have done in Dark ages ,and recently to Africa and original people of America , Iraq ………………
Land of Jews , I guess People refer to Old testament, If people believe in old testament let them live it to the last detail,
You shall not murder.
Really ? Christians and Jews never killed anyone. WWI ,WWII .American wars , French wars, Vietnam wars, Korea wars , Nuking Japan, attacking Iraq for no reason , Attacking Libya for no reason………………………
And by the way , according to Jews Jesus never came so Christians most be bunch of hypocrites.
But we all know, many people even here acclaiming some sort of religion , don’t really believe it or live it.
Rita , Please keep this forum about WOT.
Just A Player, I don’t know where you are from, but only in the non-Christian/non-Muslim East have Jews truly never met with persecution. Perhaps you refer to how the Jewish experience in Christian Europe was far more brutal than in Muslim lands (Crusades to Nazi Holocaust). It is also true that Muslim society many times provided refuge for Jews fleeing Christian persecution (Ottoman invitation to Jews expelled from Spain, or even hiding Jews from Nazis).
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t times when Jews faced persecution and murder in the name of Islam too (Mufti Husseini’s anti-Jewish violence in ’20s, ’30s, 40’s, plus his influence on pro-Nazi action in ’40s Iraq).
In the context of this discussion:
1) Sad to see people posting that Nazis *didn’t* commit genocide, or that Jews *deserved* it, and then turn around and claim the Jews *did*.
2) To post claiming there were no Arabs living in the area before Jewish immigration increased, that is a vast oversimplification: there were very few of any people before modern medicine/economy came, but Jews were a large minority among a larger Christian/Muslim Arabic-speaking population, ruled by the Muslim Turks. Either way, it in no way would negate the current presence there of millions of Palestinians who believe in their own rights even if one proved they came from Mars (and they didn’t).
3) To the posts claiming 0 Jews lived in what became Israel before its founding, I’ll simply point that Jews were a majority in Jerusalem at least as far back as the 1850s, before the Zionist movement, and there was always a significant Jewish presence (in fact, while Jews were at times expelled from places like Jerusalem or Gaza, there are some small villages that have a continuous presence going back thousands of years).
4) Israel’s combatant-to-civilian kill ratio (according to Hamas and UN’s likely inflated numbers), is 1:1, which is as low or lower than every Western military. It is decreases in every round of conflict. Every death is a tragedy, but the talk about ‘Israel’s genocide/killings/concentration camps’ etc., beyond the curious inversion of Holocaust terminology, is preposterous, mostly because there are so many more Palestinians today than ever before.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28688179?fb_ref=Default
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2014/07/gaza_civilian_casualties_a_closer_look_at_the_death_toll_israel_s_warnings.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_casualty_ratio#Israeli.E2.80.93Palestinian_conflict
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Palestine_riots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Jerusalem
I am from Iran ( yes, Jew haters according Western Media) wait we have Jews in our parliament!!!
I don’t like to read news these days cause last decade is full of bullshit anti-Islamic, Anti Iranian Anti Middle eastern……..
Why: Media is in the hand of few who like this kind of chaos of hate.
I didn’t claim that Jews didn’t suffer in Middle east , but Jews were not the only ones , during every period one or other minority are picked up and discriminated.
Many Other countries have suffered from time to time. Genocide didn’t only happen to Jews ,it did to many others too. WWII didn’t happen only to Jews but also millions of Russians died to defend their lands , Many Gypsies and polish had the same fate.
Do Jew have the right to live in peace and happy life? Of course , as any other human beings but never at expense of someone else.
If Jews claim ownership of a land base of 3000 years Ago and we all find that ok , let’s do it for the rest of the world too , Put al Europeans out of America and Australia Continent , Give back south Africa to Blacks. It would be only fair.
And if someone have Claim based on a Holy book , in mine Says : World is for Pour people , So I Like to claim some Lands for myself without paying of course. Let say in the Hart of New York or something.
But let’s not argue anymore , it has no effect , people will claim this or that based on anything.
Borders are defined by Power, it has always be and it will be.
And that peace of shitty land will change ownership every few hundred Years , I hope someday it sinks like Atlantis and World will be a better place.
Peace.
sorry for few Errors : can’t edit the text.
Peace = piece
Always be = Always been.
……….
“the Arab invasion. On the 15th of May 1948 !!”
wow now its the Arab who invade israel.!
not israel who kind of invade palestine, and the Arab try to get it back
Silentstalker – Nazi SS