WhatsappThe normal method of discussing the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East usually revolves around lies and gross exaggerations about the modern and ancient history of the Land of Israel. The anti-Israeli narrative generally revolves around the argument that the Jewish people largely came from Russia in 1948 and supposedly kicked out the Arabs who have lived in an ancient land called Palestine for thousands of years. This narrative consists of 1-2% truth, and 98-99% exaggeration or outright lies.
Have there indeed been Arabs in the Land of Israel for thousands of years? Yes. Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? The answer is that there are probably no more than a few thousand Arab families who have been living in what is today the State of Israel for more than a few hundred years. There are probably a few hundred that go back more than a thousand years.
This is due to the fact that for many hundreds of years the Land of Israel that the State of Israel is in was predominantly an empty wasteland – without many Jews, Arabs, or Christians. The time periods wherein the Land of Israel was largely empty were the years of the 9th , 10th, and 11th centuries. Additionally, for most of the years of the 15th, 16th century and 17th centuries, the Land was largely empty and not developed. This has been corroborated many times over by world travelers and was the case well into the 19th century. Mark Twain’s travels were just one of many instances when this simple truth was clearly on display and recorded for the world’s archives on the history of the Land of Israel.
The fact of the matter is that the entire narrative of an ancient Arab nation that has been living in what is today the State of Israel is simply a massive fabrication. The areas in the Middle East that were most populated with
Arabs were what is today Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Morooco, and other areas outside the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The only continuous connection that has been maintained in the Land of Israel for thousands of years belongs to the most ancient of people – the Jewish people. For more than 1,500 years, the Jewish people lived – in the millions – in the Land of Israel. That was until they were forcibly kicked out by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago. The two Jewish Temples stood in Jerusalem for more than 800 years and were the clear epicenter of Jewish life for millions of Jews.
The focal point of the Jewish people never changed, despite thousands of years of exile to every continent on the planet. The Jewish people were exiled, but the Land patiently waited for their return. Individual Jews were always coming back, but it was never much more than a strong trickle until the early 19th century when the trickle grew into a stream. Then, towards the end of the 19th century, the winds of nationalism affected the Jewish people too. This coupled with widespread pogroms led the stream to grow into a torrent of Jews looking for alternatives. Most Jews chose to take the long voyage to America. Many ended up in Great Britain, France, Germany, and Poland. Some ended up in South Africa, South America, and Australia. A chosen few, thousands, and then tens of thousands of idealistic Jews chose to return to the Land of Israel despite the many economic challenges.
They did not find millions of Arabs living under the Ottoman Empire. But there most certainly were tens of thousands of Arabs, many of whom had moved from neighboring Arab areas that are today Syria, Egypt, or Jordan, in order to have better paying jobs and a better life than they had in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.
When the Jewish people began their struggle to become a recognized Jewish State in the early 20th century, the Zionist leaders saw clearly that Jewish immigration was of utmost importance. They understood that with only 100-200,000 Jews, it would be difficult to argue for the Jewish right to a State when the Arab population was larger. How many Arabs were there is a question mark, but the consensus opinion is that there were at least twice to five times as many Arabs as Jews.
The massive Aliyah of Jewish refugees from the newly formed Communist Russia following World War I coupled with a high birth rate helped propel the Jewish people to reach 300-400,000. But, the Arab birth rate was higher and the Arab population numbers were growing too. By 1947, when the UN had to decide on the resolution to support or not support the formation of the State of Israel next to an Arab State, the number of Jews in what became the small State of Israel at the end of the War of Independence was approximately 600,000. Most of the Arabs who lived between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean ended up living under Jordan in cities such as Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, and Jenin. A large Arab presence was in Gaza in Gaza city. The State of Israel was formed with a clear Jewish majority. The Arabs could have had a State, but they preferred to attack the nascent State of Israel and ended up swallowed up under three other Arab countries.
But between 1948 and 1967, Israel was forced into 3 wars of defense against aggression from these very Arab countries that surrounded her. Abba Eban endlessly explained to the world that the 1948 borders of Israel were indefensible. He coined them the Auschwitz borders. In 1967, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria lost the areas of Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and the Golan to the State of Israel following their failed attempt to throw all of the Jews into the Sea and perform yet another Holocaust on the Jewish people. Since 1967, the State of Israel has had to deal with the reality of around 1-2 million Arabs who live under the State of Israel. Israel has been forced into this reality as Jordan, Egypt, and Syria were using all of these areas as launching pads to attack the Jewish State. Today, these are all areas that Israel is at present cleaning out of it’s terror networks.
But, one day, there will be a minority of Arabs who live in these areas who will be incentivized to clean out their terror networks. Otherwise, against the will of the Jewish State, Israel will be forced to clear them out as they are being forced to do in Gaza.
One thing must be said loud and clear at all times. There will only be peace in the Middle East when the Arabs lay down their weapons or move out. If they continue to fight endlessly, they will either be killed or sent away. The Jewish people are here to stay. Plain and simple – it’s our Land. It always has been.
