Times Of Swaziland: THE TRUTH SURROUNDING GAZA

THE TRUTH SURROUNDING GAZA
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Editor on 21/02/2024 08:21:00


Sir,
In response to an article published in the Comments and Analysis section of this
publication on January 30, 2024, I wish to submit the following, particularly
with regard to what the writer mentioned under the column 1948 Nakba or
cleansing of Palestine. In the second paragraph the writer states; “The
Zionist movement captured 78 per cent of historic Palestine. The remaining 22
per cent was divided into what are now the occupied West Bank and the besieged
Gaza Strip. An estimated 750 000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes
then, and now millions are displaced,” end of quote. This paragraph contains a
number of points, the majority of which contain very little truth. So, let‘s
break this down, taking note of the words in italics:
1. 78/22 per cent
2. Occupied West Bank
3. Besieged Gaza Strip
4. 750 000 Palestinians forced out of their homes.
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine was a proposal by the United
Nations (UN), which recommended a partition of Mandatory Palestine at the end of
the British Mandate. In October 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted the plan
as Resolution 181 (2). The Arab State was to have a territory of 11 100 square
kilometres or 42 per cent, the Jewish State a territory of 14 100 square
kilometres or 56 per cent, while the remaining two per cent comprising the
cities of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the adjoining area, would become an
International Zone.
A glance at the map of that day regarding the division of land was that 56 per
cent was to be given to Israel. However, 60 per cent consisted of the Negev
Desert - an area where only 13 per cent of Israel’s populace currently live.
Added to this, the proposed plan was that an almost equal number of Arabs and
Jews would live as citizens in the State of Israel, with almost no Jews in the
Arabs’ portion. What is of significance here is that the Arabs rejected the
proposal, while Israel accepted. And, had the Arabs accepted, there would have
been peace. In other words, the Arabs wanted ALL of Israel, with nothing for the
Jews. So, all their talk about a State of their own is a lie; devised to gain a
better position to attack Israel as they’ve just done in Gaza; a State which
was incidentally returned to the Arabs in its entirety.
Now, concerning the popular media term ‘occupied territory,’ how can the
Jews be occupiers of’ the land to which they hold the title deed, grated to
them approximately 3 500 years ago? The truth of the matter is that a large part
of the Middle East does not belong to men, but to God. In a number of places God
refers to the land He greed Abraham as His land (Joel 3:2; Ezekiel 38: 16; 36:
5; Jeremiah 16: 18; 2:7 etc), and that Abraham and his offspring were to be the
caretakers of His land, and not anyone else. And as such they would remain until
He would return to govern the earth from His city Jerusalem.
Added to the above, the so-called West Bank and Gaza, which are now referred to
as ‘Occupied Territory’, was part of Jordan and Egypt until the Arabs lost
it in the 1967 ‘Six-day War’. The question is why was there no cry of
‘occupied territory’ at that time? Moreover, the ‘Palestinians’ had what
they now claim as the basis of their struggle, and so their claim that their
struggle is to regain the ‘occupied territories’ they possessed before the
‘Six-day War’ is another blatant lie.
Next, the idea of Gaza being besieged: How come the media never says anything
about Gaza‘s southern border with Egypt, and the wall she’s built to keep
the ‘Palestinians’ from entering Egypt? The Egyptians are a people with the
same language, religion and culture, yet it’s only Israel that’s the
besieged. As well, Israel would never have built walls between herself and the
Arabs had the Arabs chosen to live in peace with her. Consider this: If the
leaders in Gaza and the West Bank had only invested the aid received from the
West in building a State for their people, she could have been the new Singapore
of the Middle East. Instead, they’ve built a military arsenal and underground
tunnels worth billions of dollars! And then they cry about the oppression and
poverty of their people!
Then the matter of 750 000 ‘Palestinians’ being forced out of their homes:
First, they were not Palestinians; that name was adopted by the Arabs after the
1967 ‘Six-day War’; a name that was adopted to brainwash the West that these
Arabs were a separate nation and people. The fact is they were part of the same
tribe as the Jordanians, to which both Arafat and King Hussein openly admitted.
Secondly, the 750 000 Arabs that the writer says were expelled, is not true.
Those Arabs were not expelled. Rather, they chose to leave Israel on the advice
of the Jordanians and Iraqis who told them to vacate, so that they could better
drive the Jews into the sea; after which they could then return to possess what
the Jews had lost. On the other hand, those Arabs who chose to disregard their
leaders’ advice and remain in Israel enjoy full citizen rights as any Israeli
Jew; even to the point of having their people appointed to Israel’s High
Court, together with the right to vote. Now, where’s the apartheid in that?
Lastly, why don’t we hear of the 900 000 Jews that were expelled from the
surrounding Arab lands without compensation – and then absorbed into tiny
Israel, while the surrounding Arab lands with 640 times more land than the Jews
chose not to do? Added to this, none of these lands where the Jews were expelled
have Jews living in them today, while Israel has approximately 1.5 million Arab
citizens. And then the media talks of ethnic cleansing! Friends, the Bible says
God’s people are destroyed/or lack of knowledge. Really, we need to take
seriously what God says, for He means what He says. Consider these words that
have far-reaching consequences for every individual and nation: “I will bless
them that bless you, and curse him that curses you,” Genesis 12: 2, 3.