Categorie archief: Divers

Western governments have come under pressure to halt arms sales to Israel over how it is waging the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel is a major weapons exporter, but its military has been heavily reliant on imported aircraft, guided bombs and missiles to conduct what experts have described as one of the most intense and destructive aerial campaigns in recent history.

Campaign groups and some politicians among Israel’s Western allies say arms exports should be suspended because, they say, Israel is failing to do enough to protect the lives of civilians and ensure enough humanitarian aid reaches them.

On Monday, the UK said it was suspending about 30 export licences for military equipment to Israel for use in military operations in Gaza following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.

UK arms exports to Israel are relatively small compared to Israel’s total, but Israel’s prime minister denounced the UK’s decision as “shameful”.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says.

Israel insists that its forces are working to avoid civilian casualties, accuses Hamas of deliberately putting civilians in the line of fire, and says there are no limits on aid deliveries.

United States

The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, having helped it build one of the most technologically sophisticated militaries in the world.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US accounted for 69% of Israel’s imports of major conventional arms between 2019 and 2023.

The US provides Israel with $3.8bn (£2.9bn) in annual military aid under a 10-year agreement that is intended to allow its ally to maintain what it calls a “qualitative military edge” over neighbouring countries.

Part of the aid – $500m annually – is set aside to fund missile defence programmes, including the jointly developed Iron Dome, Arrow and David’s Sling systems. Israel has relied on them during the war to defend itself against rocket, missile and drone attacks by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, as well as other Iran-backed armed groups based in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

In the days after Hamas’s 7 October attack, President Joe Biden said the US was “surging additional military assistance” to Israel.

SIPRI said the US rapidly delivered thousands of guided bombs and missies to Israel at the end of 2023, but that the total volume of Israeli arms imports from the US that year was almost the same as in 2022.

Last December, the Biden administration made public two urgent sales to Israel after using emergency authority to skip congressional review. One sale was for 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth $106m, while the other was for $147m of components to make 155mm artillery shells.

With Israel attacking Gaza for a second week, United States President Joe Biden and his administration are sticking to a long-established script in Washington, expressing unequivocal support for Israel and its “legitimate right to defend itself” from Hamas rocket attacks.

That narrative fails to acknowledge the profound advantages the state of Israel enjoys over the Palestinians when it comes to military prowess, wealth and resources. It also turns a deaf ear to growing cries from progressive Democrats in Congress to take a harder line with Israel over its military assault on Gaza.

This latest escalation in violence has killed at least 213 Palestinians, including 61 children, while ten Israelis have died, including two children,

So why is the US so unwavering in its support for Israel?

When did the US start supporting Israel?

From the beginning. Former US President Harry Truman was the first world leader to recognise Israel when it was created in 1948.

Why was Truman so quick to do that?

In part because of personal ties. Truman’s former business partner, Edward Jacobson, played a pivotal role in laying the groundwork for the US in recognising Israel as a state. But there were also strategic considerations driving the decision.

What were the strategic stakes at the time?

This was right after World War II, when the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union was taking shape.

The Middle East, with its oil reserves and strategic waterways (think the Suez Canal) was a key battleground for superpower hegemonic influence. The US was taking over from severely weakened European powers as the primary western power broker in the Middle East.

But even then, support for Israel was not unequivocal.

So when did it become unequivocal?

That is partly rooted in the aftermath 1967 war in which Israel defeated the poorly led armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan and occupied the rest of historical Palestine – as well as some territory from Syria and Egypt.

Since then, the US has acted unequivocally to support Israel’s military superiority in the region and to prevent hostile acts against it by Arab nations.

Were there other developments that played a role?

There was also the 1973 war that ended with Israel defeating Egyptian and Syrian forces.

Partly to drive a wedge between Egypt and Syria and thwart Soviet influence, the US used the aftermath of the 1973 war to lay the groundwork for a peace deal between Israel and Egypt that was eventually cemented in 1979.

Has that influenced US aid to Israel?

You bet. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid in the post-World War II era.

In 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed a defence agreement with Israel providing $38bn in US military support over 10 years including funding for the Iron Dome missile defence system.

Bear in mind, Israel is not exactly in need of aid. It is a high-income country with a thriving high-tech sector.

Is this all just about practical geostrategic stuff?

Like all things foreign policy-related, public opinion, money – and the influence money buys in politics – have also played a role in US policy towards Israel and the Palestinians.

What role has public opinion played?

American public opinion has long tilted in favour of Israel and against the Palestinians, in part because Israel had a superior PR machine.  But headline-grabbing, violent actions by pro-Palestinian groups such as the 1972 Munich Massacre in which 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were killed also generated sympathy for Israel.

Has that sympathy wavered at all?

More Americans are warming to the Palestinian cause, according to an annual survey conducted by Gallup.

The February poll found that 25 percent of Americans sympathise more with Palestinians – a 2-percentage-point increase over the previous year and a full six percentage points higher than 2018.

Favourable ratings for the Palestinian Authority also hit a new high of 30 percent – a 7-percentage-point improvement over 2020.

But Israel still holds far more sway in the court of US public opinion.

That same Gallup poll found that 58 percent of Americans sympathise more with Israel, while 75 percent of Americans rate Israel favourably.

What about pro-Israeli political influence?

There are a number of organisations in the US that advocate for US support of Israel. The largest and most politically powerful is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Members of the organisation wield influence through grassroots organising, advocacy and fundraising among American Jews in the US as well as Christian evangelical churches.

How powerful is AIPAC?

AIPAC holds an annual conference in Washington, DC, with about 20,000 attendees that feature personal appearances by top US politicians. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have made appearances. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also a regular attendee.

Is there a rival to AIPAC?

A smaller, pro-Israel group called J Street organised by Democrats has sought to build a constituency in US politics that is supportive of Israel and Palestinian rights.

What about influence in dollar terms?

Pro-Israel interest groups donate millions to US federal political candidates. During the 2020 campaign, pro-Israel groups donated $30.95m, with 63 percent going to Democrats, 36 percent to Republicans. That is about twice as much as they donated during the 2016 campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Who are some of the US political heavyweights in Israel’s corner?

Former President Trump, driven by support for Israel from evangelical Christians and a like-minded leader in Netanyahu, was a staunch defender of Israel during his four years in office.

Large majorities of the US Congress in the Democratic and Republican parties are avowedly pro-Israel.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – all Democrats – have long track records of supporting Israel and can be counted on to voice strong support for Israel’s right to self-defence in moments of conflict.

When asked last week whether more needed to be done to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza, Pelosi responded: “The fact is that we have a very close relationship with Israel, and Israel’s security is a national security issue for us, as our friend, a democratic country in the region.”

“Hamas is threatening the security of people in Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself,” Pelosi said.

Who is in the Palestinians’ corner?

The Palestinian point of view has long been represented by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), founded in 1980 and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, an activist network founded in 2001, among others. But pro-Palestinian groups are not nearly as active in US federal campaign spending.

Are there any heavyweights in Washington backing Palestinians?

Within the US Democratic Party, a growing faction of progressives who support the Palestinians has gained prominence on the national stage.

Lead among them are Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both former contenders for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020. Sanders and Warren have called for conditioning US military aid to Israel on Palestinian human rights.

In the House of Representatives, new progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib – the first Palestinian American elected to Congress – have emerged as leading voices for Palestinians.

These younger newcomers are not as reliant on the traditional fundraising structures of US politics and are more motivated by concern about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and in Israel.

Former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, had paved the way for today’s progressives with a 2006 best-selling book titled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

END

ALJAZEERA

HOW THE US FUNDED ISRAEL’S WARS ON

GAZA, LIBANON, IRAN

7 OCTOBER 2025

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/10/7/reports-israel-couldnt-wage-wars-on-gaza-lebanon-iran-without-us-support

Twin reports from the Costs of War Project find the US has backed Israel with more than $21bn since October 2023.

Israel would not have been able to sustain its wars across the Middle East without the United States’s significant financial backing of more than $21bn since October 2023, according to a pair of new reports.

The reports, which were released by the Costs of War Project at Brown University, found that: without US weapons and money, Israel wouldn’t have been able to sustain its genocidal war on Gaza, start a war with Iran, or repeatedly bomb Yemen.

The report’s findings are also backed up by analysts who said Israel’s wars in Gaza and in the wider region could not have continued without US financial and diplomatic support.

“US support for Israel at all levels is indispensable to the prosecution of Israel’s war both in Gaza and across the region,” Omar H Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera.

Israel’s war on Gaza alone has killed at least 67,160 people and wounded another 169,679 since October 2023.

Thousands are still believed to be under the Gaza Strip’s ruins, while Israel has killed dozens in strikes on Yemen and killed more than 1,000 people when it attacked Iran in June.

Israel needs US financing for war

Two years ago, 1,139 people died during a Hamas-led attack on Israel, and more than 200 were taken captive.

Israel’s response was to devastate Gaza and to wage a wider war against any group it considered hostile in the region.

It increased raids in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem; killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon while eviscerating swaths of villages; invaded and occupied Lebanese and Syrian land; bombed Iran’s consulate in Damascus and started a 12-day war with Iran; and traded attacks with Yemen’s Houthis.

But Israel couldn’t have maintained these wars without constant US support, researchers found.

“Given the scale of current and future spending, it is clear the [Israeli army] could not have done the damage they have done in Gaza or escalated their military activities throughout the region without US financing, weapons, and political support,” read the report – US Military Aid and Arms Transfers to Israel, October 2023–September 2025 – by William D Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Hartung’s report was jointly released by the Costs of War and the Quincy Institute, which describes itself as promoting “ideas that move US foreign policy away from endless war, toward military restraint and diplomacy in the pursuit of international peace”.

Hartung’s findings and a companion report by Linda J Bilmes, an expert on budgeting and public finance at the Harvard Kennedy School, found that the US spent “a total of $31.35 – $33.77 billion and counting” since October 7, 2023 in military aid to Israel and in “US military operations in the region”.

They show how US support for Israel has helped it continue to wage war on multiple fronts for two years, and analysts backed up the reports’ conclusions.

“Israel needs US arms in order to do what it is doing,” Rahman said.

“It has dropped an excessive amount of ordinance on Gaza and elsewhere. It produces certain weapons and technology, but it doesn’t manufacture the bombs, so without the US, it couldn’t drop those bombs.”

Bipartisan support

The US has long been Israel’s most fervent backer. When it comes to US foreign aid, Israel is the largest annual recipient (at around $3.3bn yearly) and the largest cumulative one (more than $150bn until 2022).

Over decades and despite the changing of administrations, US support for Israel was constant.

Hartung’s report specifically mentions that the administrations of both US President Joe Biden and his successor, Donald Trump, committed tens of billions of dollars in arms sales agreements, including services and weapons that will be paid for in the coming years.

“[This] bipartisan support … allowed a serial violator of international law for pretty much its entire existence with the support of the democratic West without being questioned in a significant way in the political and social mainstream,” Rahman said.

However, many Americans have started to move away from the mainstream position on Israel. In recent months, as scholars declared Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, public perception of Israel in the US has severely degraded.

This drop is also true among American Jews. According to a recent Washington Post poll, four in 10 US Jews believe Israel is committing genocide, while more than 60 percent say Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza.

US always finds billions to assist Israel

And analysts believe that could have a big impact going forward for anyone in US politics.

“Some former Biden administration officials may hope that they won’t have to deal with this, but they are living in a fantasy world,” Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.

“I don’t think any Democrat can win a primary in 2028 without acknowledging the Biden administration inflicted and helped perpetrate a genocide,” he said.

In addition to US public criticism of Israel’s actions in the Middle East, analysts say figures like the ones shown by the Costs of War Project’s reports may also draw ire from Americans frustrated by where their tax dollars are going.

“Budgets are about priorities, but even though Americans have the thinnest social safety net of any modern country, somehow we always seem to find billions upon billions of dollars to assist Israel in its various wars,” Duss said.

“Anyone who has ever tried to do a household budget can see how absurd it is, but it is also reflective of the broader corruption of American politics.

“It’s not just Israeli interests, it’s also the US industrial complex, who are making money hand over fist, because so much of this aid and assistance is not just arms sales but granting of assistance that’s going to a lot of US companies.”

END

This month june, it had been 40 years ago, Resolution 242 has passed, which urged Israel to withdraw from among else the Palestinian areas, which it had conquered in the june-war in 1967
As you all shall know, Israel completely has ignored, over 40 years, to fullfill this resolution

The occupation was the last fullfillment of the conquest of ”historical Palestine”, which was the very aim of zionism

Another aim was the expulsion of the original and autochton Palestinian population from their own country, which has been executed in 1948 [750.000 people] and 1967 [250.000 people]

In contrary with the allegations of zionist non-deniers [regarding the expulsion] this, however, was not an ad hoc war-crime, but a deliberate strategy, which was based on the views of the early zionist thinkers and is a ‘necessity” for the fullfillment of the political zionism

To expose and unmask this process and in remembrance of all the nameless victims of this ethnic cleansings, I have written underlying article

May justice be like a river

Kind regards
Astrid Essed
The Netherlands

See for picture of Palestinian refugees:

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story1649.html

The Naqba

Disaster over Palestine
The Palestinian Refugee-problem and the ideology of transfer

Dedicated to the anonymous Palestinian victims of expulsion

In solemn remembrance and respect for Count Folke Bernadotte, who, being UN mediator for Palestine in 1948, has paid with his life by defending the rights of the Palestinian Arabs, who were victims of the expulsion by the Israeli-zionist militias. [1]

“The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war.”

Part of a letter of the zionistic-Israeli politician David Ben Gurion, to his son, dd 1937

UN General Assembly Resolution 194 dd 11-12-1948

The General Assembly,
Having considered further the situation in Palestine

………….
………….
………….
………….

Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible

Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;

Few things in life are so tragic like streams of refugees, who, fleeing for the violence of war or directly expelled, are moving painfully forward, towards an uncertain future.
Those images are daily seen on TV and leave behind a non-erasable memory

A Refugees and military activities:

There are few photographs and archives about this tragic fate of Palestinian refugees, on the eve of the one-sided exclamation of the State of Israel, by the zionistic politician Mr Ben Gurion [2] and the military confrontations thereafter, between the Israeli-zionistic military organisations [the Hagana, Palmach and the terrorgangs Irgun and Stern] on the one hand, and the armies of several Arabic countries [3], on the other hand

However, contrary with the pro-Israeli-propaganda, no great impression should be made of the strength of the Arabic troops, since it concerned countries, which had become independent recently [for that time under British or French mandatory or ”protective” authority], and therefore couldn’t have formed an extended army, while the zionist troops were very well armed, partly due to own effort, partly due to British military training

Also the Transjordanian army [the present Jordan], which was the biggest army, only fought in the evironments of Jerusalem
A further problem was also the lack of harmony on Arab side, because of mutual conflicts

The result of the military confrontation between the zionist-Israeli troops and the Arab troops is known.
Not only the zionist army won the war, also it occupied 20% of the area, which was granted to the Arabs according to the UN Partition Plan for Palestine [resulting in UN General Assembly-resolution, nr 181,which was accepted dd december 1947]
The rest of the curtailed Arab area was occupied by respective Trans-Jordan [namely the present Westbank and Eastern-Jerusalem] and Egypt [the present Gaza-area]

Jerusalem, which would have a corpus separatum-status [an international character], according to the Partition Plan, was partly occupied by the newly exclaimed State of Israel [Western Jerusalem], partly by Trans-Jordan [Eastern Jerusalem]

B The humanitarian toll of the war

The humanitarian toll of the war was very high, especially on the Arab-Palestine side.

Although it has to be admitted, that war-crimes and grave human rights violations took place on both sides [4], the fact remains, that, yet apart from the horrible character as such, a number of massacres in Arabic villages, instigated by zionist/Israeli terrorgangs, has had disasterous consequences for the Palestinian/Arab population in Palestine

The most notorious was the massacre in the Arab village of Deir Yassin in the night of april the 9th to the 10th, in which 100 to 120 Palestinian/Arab inhabitants were killed.
Those responsible, who have been actually never brought to justice, were units of the Israeli-zionistic terror-gangs Irgun and Stern [with knowlegde of the regular zionist army the Haganah, which would later deny any responsibility], with as commanders the later Israeli prime-ministers mr Begin and mr Shamir.

Moreover, in his book ”The Revolt”, the Israeli prime-minister Mr Begin alleged, that without the ”victory” (his words) of Deir Yassin, the State of Israel probably wouldn’t be founded at all.
Although this allegation could have referred to the intimidating effect on the Palestinian civilian population, without a deliberated plan to provoke this, it must be noticed, that this bery allegation was made by one of the responsible commanders for the attack on Deir Yassin.

Yet apart from the massacres and the following immense stream of refugees, on which I shall refer, also 400 Arab villages were destroyed [5]

C Military aims of Plan Dalet and other Israeli military operations:

Although I will not go as far as to assume, that the massacres were aimed deliberately to expell the Arab population, it is highly probable, that Plan Dalet (the zionist-Israeli military operations between april the 1st and may the 15th 1948] has had as main goals as well the occupation of parts of the Arab area [according to the decision by UN resolution 181], as the destruction of Arab villages in the Jewish area [according to the decision by UN resolution 181]

Referring to that occupation, I quote the ”introduction” to Plan Dalet:

´´a) “The objective of this plan is to gain control of the areas of the Hebrew state and defend its borders. It also aims at gaining control of the areas of Jewish settlements and concentration which are located outside the borders (of the Hebrew state) against regular, semi-regular, and small forces operating from bases outside or inside the state.´´

Regarding the deliberate destruction of Arab villages I quote Section B of the Plan:

´´Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously. … Mounting search and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the armed force must be destroyed and the population expelled outside the borders of the state. ´´

Also the later Israeli-zionist plans were embroidering on the mourning clothes of military attacks on Arab villages and the occupation of as much as Arab area as possible.

D Stream of refugees:

It will not be a surprise to the reader, that as a consequence of this dirty war, hunderd-thousands of Arab people fled, due to the ditect and indirect expulsion from their houses and lands

Indirectly because of fear for new massacres, directly because of expulsions by the Israeli-zionistic regulary troops, as well the terrorgangs Irgun and Stern.
More than 750.000 Arab refugees were the victims of those expulsions

Not only those expulsions are definitely inhuman, morover, being ethnic cleanings, they belong to the gravest war-crimes

The humanitarian toll has its consequences till today and is still enlarged by the second ethnic cleansing in 1967, after the Israeli victory in the Six Day war [the socalled ”june-war], by which more than 250.000 people fled or were expulsed.

Further it needs to be said, that this expulsion of the Arab-Palestinian population was not only one of the aims of Plan Dalet, but was also rooted in the political-ideological ideas of great number of prominent zionist leaders
I will refer to this later

1 Israeli version of the cause of the Refugee-stream:

Evidently, the need of an official apologetic Israeli version of the tragic events was high, not only as a justification for the ”outside world”, but also to keep up the myth of the ”high standard” principles of the ”Jewish State”, in contrast with the ”barbarism” of the Arabs, thus corresponding with the Western-European racist views about Arab people.

Except for those racist views, there were more reasons for believing the Israeli version and supporting the new-founded State of Israel, like Western guilt-feelings about the holocaust, religious fantasies about the refoundation of the ”Promised Land” by people, who called themselves ”christians” and colonial thought [which didn’t consider it as unacceptable to ”found a State” in the country of the autochtonous people, in casu the Palestinian Arabs]

In the Israeli version, the emphasis was being laid on the voluntarily departure of the Arab-Palestinian population, in response to an Arab broadcast-call, which urged the Palestinian Arabs to leave Palestine, waiting for the victory over ”the Jews” [thus referring to the zionist-Israeli armies]

However, neither the official Israeli ”first generation” historians, nor the later New Historians, who are contradicting the official version, ever have found any proof of the existence of this socalled ”broadcast-call”

2 Unmasking of the official Israeli version: The New Historians

However, another important discovery, which would throw a whole different light on the official Israeli history, was made by the New Historians like Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe and others, namely the evident proof, that no ”voluntarily depart” had taken place, but either a mass expulsion or a flight in panic, out of fear for future massacres

The proof was found in Israeli governmental and army papers, archive-materials and other documentation.

Yet apart from the official governmental and army material, it is highly unlikely anyway, that a great deal of the civilian population, consisting of complete families, would abamdon homes and lands to depart because of a broadcast-call of one or more Arab leaders.
Further, the flight behaviour [a mother without her children, a man without his wife, a family without an old father or mother], as well as the leaving behind of neccessary tools [like clothes] shows a hurried and unvoluntarily depart.

To complete the zionist ”hall of shame”, some films have been discovered, which show pictures of the actual expulsion of the civilian population by Israeli military units.

E The deeperlying motivation for the ethnic cleansings:

1 The views of the zionist leaders

Untill recently the reality of the expulsions, as well as the criminal character of them, has been unmasked, but yet too little, the deeperlying causes have been emphasized

It must be said, that there are critical zionists, who have the moral decency, not to deny the scientific findings of the New Historians, but they assumpt mosltly, that the ethnic cleansings were not a part of a deliberate plan.

That is not correct

The historian Ilan Pappe states in his book ”The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”, that the decision to this ethnic cleansing has been made in the socalled ”Red House” [located on the present Sheraton Tel Aviv], on the 30th of march 1948, during a meeting, headed under the chairmanship of the Israeli politician David Ben Gurion.

That this isn’t a new view, is being confirmed by a number of statements, made by zionist leaders in the past, who obviously have shown no moral objections against the expulsion of the Arab-Palestinian population.

In the introduction to this article I have quoted already a sentence of a letter, the already named politician David Ben Gurion wrote to his son in 1937.

Another notorious example is article III of the draft charter, which Theodor Herzl [6] proposed to the Sultan of Turkey [7] in 1901, which would give the Jews the right to deport the existing rural population [8]

However, it needs to be said, that not all zionist leaders hold this opinion.
So at the 7th zionistic Congress in Basel in 1905, Hillel Zeitlin [9] challenged the defenders of the transfer-idea by stating:

”Everyone seems to forget, that Palestine belongs to others and that the country is fully populated” [10]
The removal of the Jews to Palestine couldn’t be succesfull, according to Zeitlins opinion, unless the others should be transferred ”which shouldn’t be executed by anyone ”

Probably without realizing fully, this conscientious man referred to the very essence of the latter unscrupulous actions of the zionist leaders in the war of 1948.

2 The demografical problem

Although is being shown, that the perversity of the ethnical cleansing is based on zionist views from the time of Theodor Herzl, which are related to the then colonial contempt for the autochton population, also another motive must be named, the socalled ”demografical problem”

This ”demografical problem” has played a part in early Israeli politics till nowadays and can be in shortly characterized as the fear for a Palestinian population-majority in Israel.

It is clear

When a society is based on equal rights for everyone, regardless race, religion or descent, the number of different population-groups are of no importance.
However, when State policy is based on unequal rights, or stronger, on the denial of the right of existence of a certain part of the population, the demografical situation does matter.

It is clear also, that the Arab Palestinians were the autochton population of Palestine.
Further it is a fact, that they would have obtained the de facto political power in Palestine, when there had been a normal decolonization-process, like in the surrounding countries [Syria, Jordan, the then Trans-Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon etc]

However, due to Jewish immigration from the outside and the unjust claim of zionist leaders on Palestine, with the Balfour Declaration in their hands, the Palestinian right on selfdetermination was fundamentally and seriously violated.

The international legitimation for the violation of their own UN/Charter [11] was consolidated in UN resolution 181, by which Palestine was divided in a Jewish and Arab part, completely ignoring the right of selfdetermination of the autochton Arab population.
Quite rightly, the representive of the Arabic High Committee called the resolution a colonial decision

However, to legimate this ”Jewish State” [12] [the part of Palestine, that according to Resolution 181, was granted to the zionists] as much as possible [13], it was of the utmost importance, to make it as ”empty” as possible [14], since the zionist idea was hardly to defend, when there was an Arab majority.

Further the zionist leaders wanted to make ”room” for the immigration of Jewish peope from Europe and the rest of the world.

F After the june-war, ethnic cleansing again

It is of importance, to focus on the relation between the zionist idea and the ethnic cleansings, because of its next role in the ethnic cleansings after the Six Day War [june war] in 1967.

Of course the zionist leaders knew, that the occupation of the remaining Palestinian areas [the Westbank and Gaza, which were conquered by Jordan and Egypt in the war of 1948] would meet important critics, especially because of the extension of members of the UN, since 1948.

The old bastion of colonial powers with some subject semi-colonies [like a number of South-American countries, the Fillippines and the very poor Haiti] had been extended with a large number of ex-colonies, which could see a comparison between the fate of the Palestinians and their own colonial past.

However, given the nature of zionist ”necessity”, again ethnic cleansings took place, with as tragic result 250.000 Palestinian refugees.
Only this time the zionists didn’t succeed in fullfilling the dirty game, because of the above named extension of the UN and the Palestinians, who had become wiser by the former bitter experiences.

The occupation of the remaining of historial Palestine was a fact and despite the unanimously accepted Security Resolution 242 [15], which Israel summoned to withdraw from the Palestinian territories [The Westbank, the Gaza-area and Eastern Jerusalem] , the occupation still lasts, 40 years later, with as humanitarian consequences, numerous human rights violations of the Palestinian civilian population, mass-expropriations by the illegal settlementspolicy and the building of the Israeli Wall through occupied Palestinian area.

5 june 2007
A sad jubilee.

G Tragical fate of the refugees and UN General Assembly resolution 194:

When it was too late for the 750.000 fled or expelled Palestinian Arabs, the international community reacted.
In General Assembly Resolution 194 [dd december 1948] Israel was summoned to permit the refugees to return to their homes or that compensation should be paid for their property.
It is a known fact, that Israel is ignoring this resolution now for 59 years, with as a consequence, that the most of the refugees are living since 1948 in refugee-camps, in often miserable circumstances, without much chance on better conditions, as well in the occupied Palestinian territories as in surrounding countries.

Yet apart from the bad conditions, for which Israel is head-responsible, at least in the occupied territories [16], it has been said already, that Israel always has refused to acknowledge the right to return of the Palestinian refugees or to compensate them for their loss of property.

Except inhuman, it is also discriminatory, since every Jew in the world has the right to ”return”, while this right has been denied to the original autochton population.

Epilogue:

I have tried to make clear, that the Palestine refugee-problem is not only the tragic result of the warcrimes in 1948, but is founded on a conscious ideology of transfer, which is a ”necessity” in the concept of an artificially created ”Jewish State”

On this ”Jewish State” concept, the idea of transfer has been based, which is still vivid in Israeli society

As long as there is an artificially created ”Jewish State”, which came to this world with the assistance of unholy midwives, being the UN countries, who approved the UN partition-plan, resulting in resolution 181, there will be no peaceful existence with the neigbouring Arab countries.

Neither a peaceprocess, based on International Law, is possible, since occupation, the construction of the Wall and settlementspolicy are considered as the very tools for the safety of the State of Israel.

Therefore, lasting peace and a just solution of the refugee problem will be possible only in a non-zionist, secular Palestine with equal rights for all inhabitants, based on a one man, one vote government

Astrid Essed
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Notes:

[1] Count Folke Bernadotte was assissinated in september 1948 by 3 members of the Stern gang, among else the later Israeli prime-minister Shamir, who was also responsible for the Deir Yassin massacre in april 1948
The reason for this assisination was his courageous defence of the human rights of the Palestinian Arabs, trying to prevent their expulsion

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folke_Bernadotte

http://www.counterpunch.org/himmelstein09162004.html

http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/0995/9509083.htm

[2] Although the UN partition-plan for Palestine had been approved by the UN [by means of UN resolution 181], it didn’t imply yet the official acknowledgment of the ”Jewish State”, since there was still UN-discussion about the ”tutelage” of Palestine
Of course this ”tutelage” would be based on the approved UN resolution 181, in respect with the percentage of Palestine, which would be ”Jewish” [56,4] and ”Arab” [42,8] and Jerusalem, being a ”corpus separatum” [international status]

[3] The respective Arabic States were Egypt, Trans-Jordan [the present Jordan], Syria, Lebanon and Iraq

[4] At april 13th, 4 days after the Deir Yassin massacre, there was an Arab military attack on a medical convoy travelling to Haddassah Hospital, with as a tragic result the death of 77 doctors, nurses, and other Jewish civilians.

[5] The Israeli Prof I Pappe is referring to even 531 villages

[6] Founder of the zionism

[7] The draft charter was part of the request to the Sultan of Turkey dd 1901, to establish a ”Judisch-Ottomanische LandCompagnie zur Besiedlung von Palestina und Syrien”, simply said, the establishment of a Jewish community in Palestine [which has been often described as a ”Syrian province”]

[8] See: Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons, A Historical Survey of Proposals to
Transfer Arabs from Palestine
1895 – 1947

For the part III of the draft charter: See

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/transfer03.html

[9] About Hillel Zeitlin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Zeitlin

[10] By this he challenged the early zionist propaganda, that Palestine was barely populated, embodied in the slogan of
“A land without a people for a people without a land”, which was uttered and propagated by the Jewish writer Israel Zangwill

[11] Article 1, 2, about the selfdetermination of all people, referring among else to the decolonisation-process
Evidently this principle was being ignored regarding the Arab-Palestinian population of Palestine
See
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/

[12] the part of Palestine, that according to UN Resolution 181, was granted to the zionists

[13] In the ”Jewish” part of Palestine [according to UN Resolution 181], the Arab Palestinians formed during the fisrt months of 1948, nearly the half of the whole population

[14] ”free” from the Arab Palestinian population

[15] The text of the UN Security Resolution 242
See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_242#Text_of_Resolution

[16] in respect with the international judicial obligation, according to the 4th Geneva Convention, of an occupying power for the welfare, wellbeing and safety of the ”protected persons” [people, who live under an occupation]

Further backgroundinformation:

About UN General Assembly resolution 194

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_General_Assembly_Resolution_194

About the Deir Yassin massacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre

http://www.deiryassin.org/index.html

Testimony of Mr de Reynier, head of the Red Cross-delegation in Palestine

http://www.debriefing.org/1026.html

Eyewitness-testimony of Colonel Meir Pael [the former mr Meir Pilevsky], who had been a Palmach-soldier during the tragic events in Deir Yassin

http://www.ariga.com/peacewatch/dy/dypail.htm

Further information about Deir Yassin:

http://www.deiryassin.org/shimontzabar.html

http://www.deiryassin.org/mh2001.html

About the Israeli human rights organisation Zochrot, trying to raise awareness of the Naqba, at the Israeli public opinion:

http://www.afsc.org/israel-palestine/profiles-of-peace/eitan-bronstein.htm

http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?lang=english

About Theodor Herzl:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Herzl

http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Famous-Zionist-Quotes/Story643.html

Theodor Herzl: The Jewish State

http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/6640/zion/judenstaadt.html

Rabbi Dr. Chaim Simons, A Historical Survey of Proposals to
Transfer Arabs from Palestine
1895 – 1947

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7854/transfer.html

Hillel Zeitlin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Zeitlin

About the historian Mr Benny Morris:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Morris

http://hnn.us/articles/3166.html

Website of Prof Ilan Pappe:

http://www.ilanpappe.org/

http://www.ilanpappe.org/Articles/Ilan%20Pappe%20on%20how%20Israel%20was%20founded%20on%20ethnic%20cleansing.html