How Israel was reborn and became a powerful nation - YJ Draiman

How Israel was reborn and became a powerful nation

1.     In 1919 the Ottoman Empire disintegrated and the winners decided which of its provinces would become independent. In 1919 Faisal Weizmann Agreement was signed. The Arabs agreement to the Balfour Declaration. In 1920 The San Remo Conference allocated Ottoman Empire territories which the Arabs were allocated over 5 million sq. mi. and the Jewish people were allocated their historical land in Palestine as international law, while incorporating the 1917 Balfour Declaration to its terms. In 1922 the League of Nations following the San Remo edict, implemented the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine west of the Jordan River, cheating the Jewish people of their territory east of the Jordan River, that the British set-up as the new Arab state of Jordan, an old Ottoman province that was now administered by Britain as trustee for the Jewish people to reconstitute The National Home of the Jewish people in their historical land. The Jewish state was supposed to comprise all the territory west of the Jordan River. Britain was interested in the Arab oil resources and this desire initiated pressure by the Arabs to abort Britain duty and responsibility in implementing the terms of the Mandate for Palestine aka The Land of Israel. The British refused to abide by the Mandate terms and incited the Arabs against the Jews in Palestine. The Jews responded with militia actions against Britain’s forces in Palestine that killed hundreds of British soldiers. The Arabs were not satisfied with the British progress and blamed the British and started attacking and killing British military and civil personnel

2.     In 1947 Britain notified the U.N that they gave up on managing the Mandate for Palestine and its terms of 1922. The armistice lines of 1948 were not as set by international law in 1920. Israel decided for peace to succeed the Arabs have Jordan which is over 3 times the size of Israel and that created for the Arabs their own state. The Arab countries attacked Israel on the day of it declared its sovereignty and self government. Israel, armed with very limited weapons it had purchased from the communist countries of Eastern Europe, had to fight for survival, after losing over 6 million Jews to Nazi extermination camps during WWII; miraculously won the war (see later) and protected some of its territory, The advancing Arab armies instructed the local Arab population to vacate their homes while they are annihilating the Jewish people and promised them the spoils of war causing the exodus of about 420,000 Arabs from Palestine (280,000 remained and their grandchildren are still Arab citizens of Israel). (Today the Arabs want a second Palestinian state that will be an additional to Jordan which has over 80% Arabs who relocated from west of the Jordan River.

3.     It is true that the Arabs attacked Israel because they wanted another Arab Palestinian state on Jewish territory. Ironically, Israel was willing to compromise for the sake of peace. Moreover the Arabs were not willing to settle, they wanted all of Israel and the Jews out. The local Arabs west of the Jordan River were mostly illegal Arabs that crossed the territorial boundaries, while the British turned a blind eye to these violations. The Arabs after instructions from Russia decided to assume the former identity of the Jews as they were named by the Romans and called themselves Palestinians; after 1964 they started to set themselves as a political force. In 1948 Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon wanted to split the territory of Palestine aka The Land of Israel among themselves. That is also the reason why they sent 4 armies plus local militias to that first war: the Israelis were poorly armed and numerically inferior, but the Arabs overconfidence and false bravado was partly their downfall. The Arab kings and leaders coordinated their attacks poorly, and the Jewish people in Israel managed to fight (and win miraculously) five individual wars against each of the Arab attackers. It was brains fight or be extinct, and the will to survive won. Israel itself was elated. For some months every thing was at a stand still. Then Israel received additional weapons and new survivors of the holocaust who were untrained but fought for the lives after surviving Nazi extermination camps. Israel’s counter-attacked and regained some of its territory; the Egyptian army suffering heavy loses retreated. As Bernard Lewis wrote, "it was a victory of desperation and the will to survive against over-confidence".

4.     The second war (1956) was a British and French war. The British and France wanted to force Egypt to open the Suez Canal. The British and France managed to get Israel to join the war, since Israel’s shipping lanes were blocked by the Egyptians. Israel managed to overcome the Egyptians and reached all the way to the Suez Canal.

5.     The third war (1967) was the first one in which the Arab dictators appealed to the Arab masses, which had largely been indifferent to Israel (previous Arab dictators were mostly kings, now most Arab dictators were the winners of more or less popular revolutions). It is a monument to human stupidity what Nasser did: he forcefully isolated Israel, forced the United Nations troops to leave the buffer zone, amassed artillery, tanks and over 100,000 troops against the border with Israel, developed an air force that was twice as large as that of Israel... and forgot to protect the borders of Egypt. He never contemplated that Israel in defensive move, might respond and attack, while he was building up his forces and having other Arab allied join him. That is precisely what Israel did. The Israeli Air Force and the Armored Division headed by Ariel Sharon, a seasoned commander, went around the stronger and better equipped Egyptian army (over Syria and Jordan) and the greater and stronger Egyptian air force (over the Mediterranean sea). In less than eight hours the mighty Egyptian and Syrian air force was destroyed. In two days the small Israeli army had defeated the large Egyptian and well equipped army and was marching towards Egypt crossing the Suez Canal. On the sixth day of the war, Egypt "surrendered" and the Israeli prime minister had to stop the generals who had already crossed the Suez Canal. At the same time the Syrian Army was defeated and Israel liberated its territory on the Golan Heights; Thus preventing Syria from shelling Israeli communities from the higher elevation of the Golan. On the Eastern front King Hussein of Jordan refused Israel’s plea to stay out of the war. Jordan kept shelling and firing at Israeli positions. Israel responded with an all out offensive across its armistice lines with Jordan. It liberated the Ancient Jewish City of Jerusalem and its forces liberated Judea and Samaria aka West Bank; all the way to the Jordan River.

6.     Until this point, the USA had largely ignored the Middle East because 1. The US was the main oil producer of the world (unlike France and Britain that were already depending on Arab oil imports); 2. The US was busy with Vietnam (which France had gracefully started and dumped on the Americans); 3. The US's closest ally in the Middle East was the shah of Iran, who was friendly to Israel (the USA started Iran's nuclear program, whereas the Israeli one was started by France, that included the French supplied Jet fighters and other weapons to Israel).

7.     In the 1970’s the US turned to the Middle East because: 1. The US wanted the unrestricted flow of oil and its own oil resources were diminishing; 2. The Arabs had decided to ally with the Soviet Union (which was during the cold war). The US realized that Israel was a valuable and faithful ally, and the US helped it for its own interests. Israel technology, the necessity to survive and advanced education provided the seed to develop its own defense industry which is one of the best in the world; that helped Israel to become the superpower that it is now.

8.     In my opinion, the Arab dictators made all the mistakes they could possibly make. (When asked how a general wins a war, Moshe Dayan replied "first of all, you pick the Arabs as your enemy..." and you outsmart them).

9.     In 1967 the Arabs were pumped up by their leaders to fight the Jewish state. The Israeli counteroffensive and its meticulous execution took the Arabs by surprise. The Arabs had more men power, more fire power and more advanced weaponry. They gave it their all but lost anyway. Israel counteroffensive in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria aka West Bank against the Jordanian legion, which is one of the best in the Arab world. It took Israel 3 days of fierce fighting with heavy loses but Israel finally liberated its own territory. Arafat's great deception and invention was to turn the Arabs into Palestinians and declare them as a separate Arab entity, which they are not. In part, his decision was prompted by the training of Communist Russia who was fighting the cold war against the US and the Arab leaders jumped on the wagon. The Arab nations realized that they cannot win a war against Israel. They started inventing false facts, assume other peoples identity and push the propaganda war to the hilt, persuading the world at large that BLACK is WHITE like the poor fictitious Arab Palestinians are the defenseless people and Israel is the culprit for their lot in life. Ignoring completely how their leaders educate and promote, terror and violence to their children and the masses. If you play with fire expect to get burned and suffer the consequences. When you repeat a lie enough times in enough places for a long period of time, people start believing the lies and deception as true. The Muslim religion permits lying and deception if it furthers the cause of the Muslim religion

10. An often neglected "detail" is how the population has changed. In 1967 there were 2.8 million Jews and 1.4 million Arab Palestinians in the "liberated territories formerly occupied by Jordan". In 1999, the Jewish population had increased to 5 million (doubled), due to birthrate among the ultra orthodox and immigration, but the Arab Palestinian population in what has been formerly called Palestine had increased to 4.1 million (tripled) due to many coming in from east of the Jordan River, of which over one million lived in Israel. (Israel is the only multi-ethnic country in the Middle East).

11. It is an economic hindrance for the Arabs to continue fighting against Israel and among themselves. A true peace in Israel and the Middle East will bring about an economic prosperity that the world would envy. It seems that the Great powers of the world know it and that is why they keep inflaming the Arabs to fight. They do not want to give up their economic advantage.