PART I
The Name "Palestine"
The definite origins of the word "Palestine" are unclear, but it is believed that the name is derived from the Hebrew word "peleshet." It is roughly translated as "rolling" or "migratory," the term was used to describe the inhabitants of the land to the northeast of Egypt, the Philistines. The Philistines were an Aegean people, more closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguistically, or historically with Arabia.
A derivative of the name first appears in Greek literature in the 5th Century B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) when Herodotus called the area "Palaistine." In the 2nd Century C.E. (Common Era), the Romans crushed the revolt of Shimon bar Kochba (132 C.E.), during which Jerusalem and Judea were regained, the Romans renamed the area Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel.
Under the Ottoman Empire (1517-1917), the term Palestine was used loosely as a term to describe the land south of Syria. Many Ottomans and Arabs instead used the term "Souther Syria" rather than "Palestine."
After WWI, the name was applied to the land that was under the British Mandate (present day Israel and present day Jordan). Prior to 1948, it was customary to use the term "Palestinian" to the Jews that lived in the area. Only years after Israel's independence did the Arabs living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank (of the Jordan) call themselves Palestinians. They themselves pronounce it "Filastin," a term which does not appear in the Qu'ran.
The Birth of Israel
On September 3, 1947, the UNSCOP (United Nations Special Committee on Palestine) submitted its report to the UN General Assembly declaring its majority recommendation that Palestine be divided into separate Jewish and Arab states. The Arab Higher Committee rejected the issuance of the Report, issuing a statement on September 29th, saying that the "Zionists are conducting an invasion of that country [Palestine]" and claiming that they advocate freedom and independence for an Arab state in the whole of Palestine which would respect human rights, fundamental freedoms and equality of all persons before the law, and would protect the legitimate rights and interests of all minorities whilst guaranteeing freedom of worship and access to the Holy Places. Not once did the Arab Higher Committee use the term "Palestinian," instead only using the term "Arabs of Palestine."
On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181 (33 votes in favor, 13 votes against, 10 abstentions). Resolution 181 was a recommendation that the partition plan be implemented and requested that the Security Council take up the matter from there.
More discussions took place and on February 6, 1948, the Arab Higher Committee again objected to the Jews getting a state of their own, declaring, "The Arabs of Palestine will never recognize the validity of the extorted partition recommendations or the authority of the United Nations to make them." They continued, saying that they would consider "that any attempt by the Jews or any power or group of powers to establish a Jewish state in Arab territory is an act of aggression which will be resisted in self-defense by force" (emphasis added). The Arabs of Palestine also stated,
"It is very unwise and fruitless to ask any commission to proceed to Palestine because not a single Arab will cooperate with the said commission ... The only way to establish partition is first to wipe them out -- man woman and child." Id.Further, it wasn't just the Arabs within Palestine. According to the First Special Report, "powerful Arab interests, both inside and outside Palestine, are defying the resolution ... and are engaged in a deliberate effort to alter by force the settlement envisaged herein." Guerrilla groups from numerous adjacent Arab states were recorded as coming in to assist in attacking the Jews of Palestine, civilian and security personnel alike. Id.
The argument raged on for months since the UN was afraid of causing increased violence in the Mideast (borne of Arab dissatisfaction). The US (along with other countries) tried to find a solution. Mindful of the worsening situation, and wishing to avoid further debate, the US proposed another draft resolution calling for a truce between Jewish and Arab groups. It was adopted as Resolution 43 on April 1, 1948. Several more resolutions were passed to calm everything down, but after nothing but violence and hopeful ideas continued, on May 14, 1948, the Zionist leadership declared the existence of the State of Israel, citing Resolution 181 as constituting "recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their state."
Palestine, which had not been in existence for very long, was no more. It was divided into Israel -- for the Jewish people of Palestine (between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and Trans-Jordan, which became Jordan -- for the Arabs of Palestine (the land east of the Jordan River).
[Note: Prior to this time, the term "Palestinian" referred to both Jews and Arabs, though the Arabs who lived in the area were generally from other, surrounding Arab countries.]
Attacks on Israel
Not one of the 22 Arab states were pleased with this and not only did they reject the declaration, but decided they also needed to wipe Israel off the map. Surrounding Arab countries urged the Arabs who lived there to flee, to get out of the way so that they could run the Jews into the sea. Despite being urged to stay by Palestinian Jews (civilians and government), they ran away, abandoning their houses, land, and property, in the hopes that they would be able to return and take the property back tenfold -- after all the Jews were murdered. See There Are No Palestinian Jewish Refugees; There Are No Palestinian Arab Refugees.
to be continued...
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