The Truth About the Arab-Palestinian People The 1948 Israeli War of Independence was between the neighboring Arab countries and the newly formed state of Israel. The Arab countries did not send troops to help the people that are today known as "Palestinians" but rather they sent troops to drive the Jews into the sea. Most of the "Palestinian Arabs" fled to avoid the fighting. Remember, in 1948 they were not referred to as "Palestinians". This name was was created by the Soviet disinformation masters in 1964 when they created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The term "Palestinian People" as a description of Arabs in Palestine appeared for the first time in the preamble of the 1964 PLO Charter, drafted in Moscow. The Charter was affirmed by the first 422 members of the Palestinian National Council, handpicked by the KGB. This term was formally used by newspapers around the world after 1967. United Nations Resolution 181 recommended a partition of the territory from the British Mandate for Palestine into two states - one for Jews and one for Palestinian Arabs. But the rejection of partition by the Arabs left in place as the legally operative Mandate for Palestine, the 1924 Anglo-American Convention, and Article 80 of the United Nations Charter. All of the Arab countries objected to the creation of the Jewish state and fought a war against its creation. This was Israel's War of Independence in 1948. Despite their superior numbers, the Arab countries lost the war and the Palestinian state never materialized because of this loss. In the war that was waged, the territory allotted to be the Palestinian state by the UN partition resolution was divided between Israel and Jordan. The "Palestinian Arabs" were rejected by every single Arab country, with the exception of the small percentage that ended up in refugee camps in Jordan where they remain to this day.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=09pmTh64vD8 The History of the Region To understand the truth of modern day Israel, you must first have a clear understanding of the history of the region. Judea was an autonomous state in the Persian Empire following the return from Babylonian exile thanks to Cyrus, King of Persia. Following the death of Alexander the Great who had captured the Persian Empire, it became part of two Hellenistic. Following the Maccabean revolt, Judea became an independent state. Following the death of King Herod, the Romans seized it and it then became a Roman province. Judea was briefly independent during the first revolt against the Romans until it was finally destroyed when the Romans put down the revolt and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in the year 70. Judah lost its independence to Rome in the year 70 and became again a colony. In the year 135, the Romans gave the country the name "Palaestina". The name Palaestina, which became Palestine in English, is derived from Herodotus, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria." This was to add insult to injury against the Jewish people. The intent was to remove any memory of a Jewish presence. The name was kept by the next possessors, the Byzantine Empire, and then by the conquering Arabs and their successors, the conquering Turks. Note that we have a succession of different nationalities, none of whom thought of themselves as Palestinians. They were the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, or Turks. About 61 B.C., Roman troops under Pompei invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea had become a client state of Rome. During the seventh century (A.D. 600's), Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including Palestine. The Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1071, but their rule in Palestine lasted less than 30 years. During the 7th century, Muslims invaded and the Crusaders from Europe ruled for a time until they were driven out. The Crusaders left Palestine for good when the Muslims captured Acre in 1291. During the post-crusade period, crusaders often raided the coast of Palestine. To deny the Crusaders gains from these raids, the Muslims pulled their people back from the coasts and destroyed coastal towns and farms. This depopulated and impoverished the coast of Palestine for hundreds of years. In the mid-1200's, Mamelukes, originally soldier-slaves of the Arabs based in Egypt, established an empire that in time included the area of Palestine that lasted until the Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamelukes in 1517, and Palestine became part of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish Sultan invited Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic inquisition to settle in the Turkish empire, including several cities in Palestine. The Ottoman Empire ruled until the British took control of the area in 1917. In 1922, the British declared that the boundary of Palestine would be limited to the area west of the river. The area east of the river, called Transjordan, which is now the country of Jordan, was made a separate British mandate and eventually given independence. The British maintained control until 1948. There was always a Jewish population in the region, most of them resided in the religious communities in Jerusalem, Tz'fat, Tiberius, and Hebron. With Jewish immigration suddenly on the rise from the 1880's on, the economy of this very under populated and very poor country began to rise dramatically, attracting a parallel stream of Arabs from the surrounding countries who came in looking for jobs. At the same time, Arab/Muslim nationalism and extremism began to rise, spurred by the influx of what they considered "Infidel Jews" and the breakup of the Turkish Empire followed by the occupation by European countries of much of the Middle East. From this time through the War of Independence in 1947-49, there were local Arab leaders who called for an independent Palestine (Arab state) in the entire country with not a single inch for a Jewish state. During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, the local Arab armies and leaders identified with Syria, Jordan, and Egypt and thought of themselves as such. At the end of the war, the Arab allotted land was divided between Israel, Egypt (Gaza), and Jordan. The Egyptians refused to let the Gazans become independent or Egyptian citizens. Eventually, the Jordanians did allow some refugees become citizens, but not all. The Arab states are content to let their brother Arabs remain in those refugee camps that are really crowded and squalid towns and live like that since the UN supported them. Because of this, they make a great political tool used to invoke sympathy, especially in regard to the European countries. That is crass, unfeeling politics, but these same people do not hesitate to strap bombs to their young men and women. Another reason why the Palestinian Arabs fled is that they refused to live in a Jewish dominated state. Ironically, had they accepted the partition and those in Israel not fled, Israel would have had a huge and growing Arab population and indefensible borders. A Few Forgotten Facts 1. Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE, two thousand years before the rise of Islam. 2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel. 3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years. 4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 CE lasted no more than 22 years. 5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit. 6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. 7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem. 8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem. 9. In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier. 10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution, and slaughter. 11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same. 12. Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey. 13. The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won. 14. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them. 15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths. 16. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel. 17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel. 18. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians. 19. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. 20. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like a policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. The Modern Day Conflict From the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, "Palestinian Arabs"have been sacrificed as pawns by all other Arab countries as they are to this day. No other Arab country has ever offered to accept any of these people into their own countries even though they are well able to do so. To the Arab countries and the rest of the anti-Semitic world, the "Palestinian Arabs" are useful only as a tool to exterminate Israel and the rest of the Jews in the Middle East. Otherwise, their welfare is of no concern to the rest of the Arab world. What about the ingrained notion that the Palestinians are fighting for their ancient homeland annexed by the Jews? The truth about this matter has been so deliberately obscured that even to raise the issue seems strange to many people. In the 1967 war, also known as the Six Day War, did Israel annex territory from a Palestinian nation? No, Israel did not take a single inch of territory from Palestine. That is because there is not, nor has there ever been, a Palestinian nation. Israel captured the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem from Jordan's King Hussein and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, after they declared war against the Jewish State. It was only following the Six-day War in 1967 that Arab refugees living in these territories began identifying themselves as the "Palestinian People"because the global media labeled them as such. One cannot help but wonder why these Palestinians suddenly discovered a national identity after Israel won the war, but not during the "Jordanian Occupation" or the "Egyptian Occupation"? There Was Never A Country Called Palestine If you consider Palestine to be a "Sovereign" and "Independent" country that goes back through most of recorded history as many would have you to believe, then a few questions need to be answered: When was it founded and by whom? What were its borders? What was its capital? Who was the President? What was its form of government? What were its major cities? What constituted the basis of its economy? Who was the Palestinian leader before Yasser Arafat? Was Palestine ever recognized by a country whose existence, at that time or now, leaves no room for interpretation? What was the language of the country of Palestine? What was the prevalent religion of the country of Palestine? What was the name of its currency and what was the approximate exchange rate of the Palestinian monetary unit against the US dollar, German mark, GB pound, or Japanese yen on any particular date? And, finally, since there is no such country today, what caused its demise and when did it occur? If these so-called "Palestinians" are anything but a generic collection of Arabs from all over the rest of the Arab world and if they really have a genuine ethnic identity that gives them right for self-determination, then why did they never try to become an independent and sovereign nation until Arabs suffered their devastating defeat in the Six Day War in 1967? The Ten Commandments of Arab Lies The "Palestinian People" have an historic connection to the land. This is very interesting since there is no such thing as a "Palestinian People". When the Romans changed the name of Israel to Palestine, the people living there at the time were Jews, not Arabs. If there had been a "Palestinian People", which there never was, they would have been Jews. The Palestinian People have been in the land from time immemorial. For centuries pre-Israel Palestine was a forgotten, desolate wasteland inhabited by a remnant of Jews, along with some Christians and wandering Bedouins who certainly had no thought of a national identity of any kind. There were no Jews in Palestine until Israel became a state in 1948. The Romans officially banished the Jews from Israel (Palestine) in 135 CE. However, historical records show there was always a Jewish presence in the land. While many were scattered, other Jews simply moved out of harm's way until a less hostile power ruled the land. Jews were returning to what is now Israel well before 1948. Many left Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Arabs and Jews lived in harmony before Israel became a state. Throughout the centuries, Jews as well as Christians, living under Islamic rule suffered persecution and humiliation, the intensity of which was determined by the character of a particular Moslem ruler. As second-class citizens, there was never a "good time" for non-Muslims living under Islamic rule. Because of the way that most Islamic countries look down on non-Muslims, they are always considered second-class citizens and less than equal. Arabs have rarely lived in harmony with anyone if they were the majority. The returning Jews displaced the Palestinian Arabs The ancestors of most of the present-day Arab population migrated to the land after Jewish pioneers began to reclaim the land. They came from many different countries and were not original inhabitants of the land. The Jews stole Arab land Jews returning to the land settled on unclaimed, unoccupied land or bought land from absentee Arab landowners at outrageously high prices. This is a matter of record. The Jews forced Arabs to flee Palestine When Israel was declared a state in 1948, leaders from the surrounding Arab countries declared war on Israel and instructed the Arab civilians living in the land to flee until the Jews were annihilated. Israeli leaders, to no avail, urged the Arabs to stay. Property that they owned was abandoned. The Jews caused the Arab refugee problem If Arab countries would assimilate and care for the "Palestinian" refugees, as Israel did for their Jewish refugees, there would be no refugee problem. Instead they use the refugees as political pawns in their struggle against Israel. No Arab country that wants "Palestinian Arabs" in their country as they would rather use the "Palestinian Arabs" as pawns rather than assimilate them into their populations and bring peace to the Middle East. Israel is the aggressor against defenseless Palestinians In its brief history, Israel has had one war after another and each time they are blamed as the aggressor. The Arabs do not recognize the right of Israel to exist and are in a constant state of hostility against Israel. Their aim is to destroy Israel. Jerusalem is holy to Muslims While Jerusalem is mentioned over eight hundred times in the Bible, it is not mentioned one time in the Koran. Muslims have had little or no interest in Jerusalem until the Jewish presence in modern times. THE JEWISH SITUATION by Larry Miller A brief overview of the situation is always valuable, so as a service to all Americans who still do not get it, I now offer you the story of the Middle East in just a few paragraphs, which is all you really need. Don't thank me. I am a giver. Here we go: The Palestinians want their own country. There is just one thing about that: There are no Palestinians. It is a made up word. Israel was called Palestine for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan", "Palestinian"sounds ancient but is really a modern invention. Before the Israelis won the land in war, Gaza belonged to Egypt and there were no "Palestinians" then. The West Bank belonged to Jordan, and there were no "Palestinians" then. As soon as the Jews took over and started growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to the "Palestinians", weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and "nation." So for the sake of honesty, let us not use the word "Palestinian" any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone points out they are being taped. Instead, call them what they are: "Other Arabs From The Same General Area Who Are In Deep Denial About Never Being Able To Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death." I know that is a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: "Adjacent Jew-Haters." Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing. No, they do not. They could have had their own country any time in the last thirty years, especially two years ago at Camp David. But if you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks and Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living. That is no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course - that is where the real fun is - but mostly they want Israel. Why? For one thing, trying to destroy Israel - or "The Zionist Entity" as their textbooks call it - for the last fifty years has allowed the rulers of Arab countries to divert the attention of their own people away from the fact that they are the blue-ribbon most illiterate, poorest, and tribally backward on God's Earth, and if you have ever been around God's Earth, you know that is really saying something. It makes me roll my eyes every time one of our pundits waxes poetic about the great history and culture of the Muslim Mideast. Unless I am missing something, the Arabs have not given anything to the world since Algebra, and, by the way, thanks a hell of a lot for that one. Chew this around and spit it out: Five hundred million Arabs; five million Jews. Think of all the Arab countries as a football field, and Israel as a pack of matches sitting in the middle of it. And now these same folks swear that if Israel gives them half of that pack of matches, everyone will be pals. Really? Wow, what neat news. Hey, but what about the string of wars to obliterate the tiny country and the constant din of rabid blood oaths to drive every Jew into the sea? Oh, that? We were just kidding. My friend Kevin Rooney made a gorgeous point the other day: Just reverse the numbers. Imagine five hundred million Jews and five million Arabs. I was stunned at the simple brilliance of it. Can anyone picture the Jews strapping belts of razor blades and dynamite to themselves? Of course not. Or marshalling every fiber and force at their disposal for generations to drive a tiny Arab state into the sea? Nonsense. Or dancing for joy at the murder of innocents? Impossible. Or spreading and believing horrible lies about the Arabs baking their bread with the blood of children? Disgusting. No, as you know, left to themselves in a world of peace, the worst Jews would ever do to people is debate them to death. Mr. Bush, God bless him, is walking a tightrope. I understand that with vital operations coming up against Iraq and others, it is in our interest, as Americans, to try to stabilize our Arab allies as much as possible, and, after all, that cannot be much harder than stabilizing a roomful of supermodels that have just had their drugs taken away. However, in any big-picture strategy, there is always a danger of losing moral weight. We have already lost some. After September 11th our president told us and the world he was going to root out all terrorists and the countries that supported them. Beautiful. Then the Israelis, after months and months of having the equivalent of an Oklahoma City every week and then every day, start to do the same thing we did, and we tell them to show restraint. If America were being attacked with an Oklahoma City every day, we would all very shortly be screaming for the administration to just be done with it and kill everything south of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan. (Hey, wait a minute, that is actually not such a bad idea... uh, that is, what a horrible thought, yeah, horrible.) To see the true agenda of what the "Palestinians" and the rest of radical Islam really stand for and the hatred that is at their core beliefs, look at "Islam - A Religion Based on Terrorism". Palestinian terrorists use the "Road Map to Peace" to plan their next attack Courtesy of John Pritchett Below are some additional links on the true dangers of Islam that might prove informative. 10 Obvious Reasons Why Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace 15 Iraqi War Myths HAMAS Charter of 1988 Islam - A Religion Based on Terrorism Islamic Terrorism in Israel ISIS Forces Iraqi Christians To Pay Jizya,... Jews and Muslims - An Intellectual Comparison Quotes From The Islamic World When World War III Started On a final note, in all of the writing and reporting on Israel, there is one undisputed fact that is consistently forgotten and ignored. That fact is that Israel is the only nation in the Middle East who has ever properly protected sites holy to each religion and the rights of all to worship in Jerusalem and all of Israel. No Islamic nation can come close to making that claim.

Supreme Muslim Council: Temple Mount is Jewish - by YJ Draiman

Supreme Muslim Council: Temple Mount is Jewish - by YJ Draiman

Supreme Muslim Council: Temple Mount is Jewish

Click here for the 1925 Temple Mount Guide.
http://www.raptureforums.com/IsraelMiddleEast/guide.pdf
https://www.templeinstitute.org/wakf-1925-guidebook.htm

The widely-disseminated Arab Muslim position that the Temple Mount is not Jewish has been debunked - by the Supreme Muslim Council (Waqf) of Jerusalem, in a Temple Mount guide published in 1925.

Wakf guidebook, 1925, cover
The Temple Institute

Guidebook Puts the Lie to Current Arab Campaign In 1997, the chief Muslim cleric of the Palestinian Authority, Mufti Ikrama Sabri, stated, "The claim of the Jews to the right over [Jerusalem] is false, and we recognize nothing but an entirely Islamic Jerusalem under Islamic supervision..."

Thus began a campaign to convince the world that the millennia-old natural association between Jerusalem and Jews was untrue. As Islamic Movement chief Raed Salah stated in 2006, "We remind, for the 1,000th time, that the entire Al-Aqsa mosque [on the Temple Mount], including all of its area and alleys above the ground and under it, is exclusive and absolute Muslim property, and no one else has any rights to even one grain of earth in it."

However, it is now known that this "absolute" Muslim claim is actually not as absolute as claimed. In fact, back in 1925, the Supreme Muslim Council - also known as the Waqf, which has overseen Temple Mount activities on behalf of the Muslim religion for hundreds of years - boasted proudly that the site was none other than that of Solomon's Temple.

The Jerusalem-based Temple Institute (http://www.templeinstitute.org) reports that it has acquired a copy of the official 1925 Supreme Muslim Council Guide Book to Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Muslim name for the Temple Mount). On page 4, the Waqf states, "Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which 'David built there an altar unto the L-rd...', citing the source in 2 Samuel XXIV,25.

Wakf guidebook, 1925, excerpt close-up
The Temple Institute

In addition, on page 16, the pamphlet makes reference to the underground area in the south-east corner of the Mount, which is refers to as Solomon's Stables. "Little is known for certain of the history of the chamber itself," the guide reads. "It dates probably as far back as the construction of Solomon's Temple. According to Josephus, it was in existence and was used as a place of refuge by the Jews at the time of the conquest of Jerusalem by Titus in the year 70 A.D."

The Temple Mount in Jerusalem was in fact the site of the two Jewish Holy Temples which stood for nearly 1,000 years (see below).

Wakf guidebook, 1925, excerpt
The Temple Institute

Proof of Muslim Anti-Jewish Revisionism The Temple Institute's Rabbi Chaim Richman writes that the pamphlet provides proof that the Waqf's current position is a departure from traditional Muslim belief. "In recent years," he writes, "the Muslim Waqf has come to deny the historic existence of the Holy Temple, claiming that the Temple Mount belongs solely to the Muslim nation, and that there exists no connection between the Jewish nation and the Temple Mount. It is clear from this pamphlet that the revised Waqf position strays from traditional Muslim acknowledgment of the Mount's Jewish antecedents."

"The current denial of historical reality is merely one tool in the war being waged by Muslims against the G-d of Israel and the entire 'infidel' world," Richman declares.
Posted by YJ Draiman

Napoleon Bonaparte's Letter to the Jews April 20,, 1799 - TO THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS OF PALESTINE.- Posted by YJ Draiman

Napoleon Bonaparte's Letter to the Jews April 20,, 1799 - TO THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS OF PALESTINE.

Napoleon Bonaparte's Letter to the Jews
April 20,, 1799

Introduction

In 1799, the French armies under Napoleon were camped outside of Acre. Napoleon issued a letter offering Palestine as a homeland to the Jews under French protection. The project was stillborn because Napoleon was defeated and was forced to withdraw from the Near East. The letter is remarkable because it marks the coming of age of enlightenment philosophy, making it respectable at last to integrate Jews as equal citizens in Europe and because it marked the beginning of nineteenth century projects for Jewish autonomy in Palestine under a colonial protectorate. After the defeat of Napoleon, it was largely the British who carried forward these projects, which have in hindsight been given the somewhat misleading name of "British Zionism."

Letter to the Jewish Nation from the French Commander-in-Chief Buonaparte
(translated from the Original, 1799)

General Headquarters, Jerusalem 1st Floreal, April 20th, 1799, 
in the year of 7 of the French Republic

BUONAPARTE, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
IN AFRICA AND ASIA, TO THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS OF PALESTINE. The Jewish People

POPULATION of Palestine aka The Land of Israel:

POPULATION of Palestine aka 

The Land of Israel:  

                                       

Before the name change to the State of Israel, "Arab/Palestinians" were the same Arab people living in the area called Palestine aka the Land of Israel. By the 1940’s, the vast majority of Arab-Palestinians (Muslims, Jews, and Christians) were immigrants or descendants of those who immigrated after 1870, since the land was so VERY sparsely populated in the mid 1800’s and desolate. "Truth is stranger than fiction."

[Note the mere 2 year period of residence for claiming refugee status: Arab Palestine refugees are defined as “persons whose normal place of residence was Palestine aka the Land of Israel during the period 1 June 1946 to 15 May 1948, and who lost both home and means of livelihood as a result of the 1948 conflict.” Of all the refugees, they are the ONLY ones to perpetuate the status to all partrilineal descendants. The Arab League has instructed its members to deny them citizenship.]

Since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in year 70 AD (after 12 CENTURIES of the Children of Israel in the Holy Land), there have continuously been some of the Jewish family and communities living in the Holy Land, and whenever possible this included the heart of the Holy Land, Jerusalem.

Jews had been a constant presence in the Holy Land, long before there were Zionists; largely poor, they were largely concentrated, in separate Jewish quarters, in the towns of Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberius. A few were merchants and shopkeepers, some were petty craftsmen, and some spent their days praying and studying, living off contributions from abroad. The newcomers, the Zionists, were to concentrate, not on merely living (or dying) in the Holy Land, but on making a living, with the distinct idea of re-forming an autonomous Jewish community in the ancient Jewish homeland.
Overall the Jewish population, like the population in general, had remained fairly stable from the earliest days of Ottoman rule until the 19th century. The introduction of stable Turkish government, and their promoting Jews to return to their homeland and revive its desolation into a producing land; and the Christian influence from outside, and in particular the abolishment of the laws discriminating against non-Muslims, led to a disproportionately larger growth of Jews in the Holy Land. According to Ben-Aryeh, the pre-eminent student of 19th century geography, Jews increased from 28,500 in 1800’s to about 65,000 by 1880, his figures including Jews who were not Ottoman citizens.

By the mid 1800’s, the land was VERY sparsely populated.

1857: British consul, James Finn, reported "The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is that of a body of population."

1859: British Consulate report: The Muslims of Jerusalem do not exceed a fourth of the entire population.

1867: Charles Wyllys Elliott, president of Harvard University, wrote: "A beautiful sea lies unbosomed, among the Galilean hills in the mist of that land once possessed by Zebulon and Naphtali, Asher and Dan. Life here was one idyllic... now it is a scene of desolation and misery."

1867: American author Mark Twain visited the Holy Land, and wrote about it in his book “The Innocents Abroad”: “…[a] desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds -a silent mournful expanse….A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action….We never saw a human being on the whole route….There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.” "There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation." "One may ride ten miles hereabouts, and not see ten human beings."

1874: Reverend Samuel Manning wrote in his book, "Those Holy Fields" But where was the inhabitants? This fertile plain which might support an immense population is almost solitude."

Starting in 1878, enormous waves of Muslim immigration began arriving in what was essentially an empty territory. The Ottoman Sultan launched a resettlement policy to bring foreign Muslims, mainly from Circassia & Algeria.

⇨Unlike Arabs, when Jews immigrated to the Holy Land, it was the indigenous people returning.⇦

1921- : Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the United States, said on May 17, 1939, "The Arab immigration to Palestine since 1921 was much greater than Jewish immigration." It was the British who turned a blind eye while hundreds of thousands of Arabs crossed the border into Palestine aka the Land of Israel.

1922 – 1947: Arab population increased the most in cities with large Jewish populations that had created new economic opportunities. The non-Jewish population increased 290 percent in Haifa, 131 percent in Jerusalem and 158 percent in Jaffa. The growth in Arab towns was more modest: 42 percent in Nablus, 78 percent in Jenin and 37 percent in Bethlehem.

1934: The governor of the Syrian district of Hauran, Tewfik Bey El Hurani, admitted in 1934, which in a single period of only a few months, over 35,000 Syrians from Houran had moved to Palestine aka the Land of Israel.

1939: Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister and a veteran of the British Mandate in the Holy Land, noted in 1939 the Arab illegal invasion: The Arabs have crowded into the country by over two hundred thousand and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all worlds Jewry could lift up the Jewish population.

June 1948: The Jews point with pride to the fact that over 500,000 Arabs, in the 12 years in-between 1932-1944, came into Palestine to take advantage of living conditions existing in no other Arab state. - Robert F. Kennedy visited the British Mandate of Palestine in 1948, one month before Israel declared its independence, and reported this for the Boston Post.
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"The Arab Palestinian people have no national identity. I Yasser Arafat, man of destiny, will give them that identity through conflict with Israel." -Yasser Arafat.

"The Arab Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of an Arab Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity." –Arab PLO executive committee member, Zahir Muhsein, 1977.

The late military commander of the Arab PLO, as well as member of the Arab PLO Executive Council, Zuhair Muhsin. Said the following to James Dorsey in a 1977 interview in the Dutch newspaper "Trouw" - There are no differences between Jordanians, Arab Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Arab Palestinian identity....yes; the existence of a separate Arab Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of an Arab Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.

"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."
- Ahmed Shuqeiri, later the chairman of the PLO, to the UN Security Council

"There is no such country [as Palestine]! ’Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Arab Palestine in the Qur’an. Our country was for century’s part of Syria."
- Auni Bey Abdul-Hadi, a local Arab leader, to the Peel Commission, 1937

Zuheir Mohsen uniquely both an Arab PLO leader and an official in the ideologically Pan-Arabism Syrian Ba'ath party at the same time. As such, he stated that there were no differences between Jordanians, Arab Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese", though Arab Palestinian identity would be emphasized for political reasons. This originated in a March 1977 interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw: "Between Jordanians, Arab Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese there are no differences. We are all part of ONE people, the Arab nation. Look, I have family members with Arab/Palestinian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Syrian citizenship. We are ONE people. Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Arab Palestinian identity. Because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Arab Palestinians to balance Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Arab Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons. The establishment of an Arab Palestinian state is a new tool to continue the fight against Israel and for Arab unity."

"There is no Arab Palestinian nation! There is an Arab nation, but no Arab Palestinian nation. This was invented by the colonial powers. When are the Arab Palestinians mentioned in history? Never!" - Azmi Bishara, Arab Palestinian intellectual and former Arab Knesset member who fled to Qatar to avoid prosecution for aiding the enemy.

The Arab-Palestinian Violence must be stopped at all costs, no holds barred, zero tolerance r4

Israel and the Jewish people must stand United against evil terror and violence. This is no time to be selfish and score political points on the dead bodies of Jewish souls.
The situation today with terror attacks on a daily basis is no different than July 2014 when Hamas - a recognized terrorist organization firing thousands of missiles against Israel's population centers.
These are very difficult days. The escalating Arab violence and attack after attack carried out by Arab savage knife wielders and inhuman vehicular use and knifing as a weapon of terror are again putting to a test the spiritual strength and resolve of the Israeli people. Our enemies, both foreign and domestic, should know that we will never lose our will to live as a free people in our homeland; NEVER AGAIN is not just words, because we have no other home in the world. Israel is the only Jewish country for over 4000 years. We must defend it no matter what, damn the torpedoes. Jews who are not willing to grasp a sword will not be able to hold onto life, we will not let a Holocaust decimate us. We will not give up and we will not capitulate or cower to terror, threats and intimidation, because this is our mission in life. Weakness is not leadership and endless fruitless concessions do not constitute a vision.
While we preach and pursue peace and coexistence, the Arabs are pursuing terror, death and violence. They, the Arabs clearly state in no ambiguous terms that they want to kill the Jews and destroy Israel.
The Israeli government must send a clear and determined message and act with all the force necessary to put the murderous violence to a halt. This is war, and we have no choice but to win at all costs, if we want to live and prosper. "Let us all as a unified nation go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." We have turned a desert into a flourishing country; we can and will defend our homeland at all costs.

Jewish celebrating the Liberation of Jerusalem has been the hope and aspirations of the Jewish people for close to 2000 years. The Romans significantly outnumbered, the Maccabee's succeeded against great odds by combining strategy, devotion to God and a willingness to sacrifice themselves in their unified battle against both assimilation and religious persecution. They returned to rededicate the ransacked and desecrated temple in Jerusalem with renewed faith and hope for the future. Today is no different, The Jewish nation is fighting for its survival, let us follow in the footsteps of our ancestors.

The increased Arab terrorism and violence in Greater Israel is promoting Arab-Palestinian population transfer out of the land of Israel.

The Arab attacks on Jews and continued violence explicitly raising the option of population transfer by recommending that Israel "find an outlet for this [Arab-Palestinian] population east of the Jordan River and elsewhere. It is also promoting the venue of relocating the Arab-Palestinians in Israel to the Million homes and over 120,000 sq. km. of land of the Jewish people that was confiscated by the Arabs who terrorized the Jews and expelled them from the Arab countries.

YJ Draiman

P.S.

Mahmoud Abbas has no right to demand anything, he belongs in jail.
The Arabs cannot be trusted – Mahmoud Abbas aka Abu Mazen the financier of the Munich Olympics massacre and mastermind of the Achille Lauro, a multiple Murderer and convicted murderer on the run. (Where-ever the Muslims are in the world there is upheaval, killing and destruction).

It is time to put Mahmoud Abbas in jail where he belongs and charge him with crimes against humanity and murder charges for being complicit in terror attacks and the death of many people and inciting terror and violence.

Israel's rights to the land are ingrained in history, archaeological findings, international law and possession - YJ Draiman

Israel's rights to the land are ingrained in history, archaeological findings, international law and possession. 

Just like the Arab States have not been required to defend their legitimacy, Israel should also not be required to defend its' legitimacy while Israel’s Jewish legitimacy to Jerusalem and The Land of Israel predates Islam by over a thousand years. 
The 21 Arab States received over 12 million sq. km. of territory with a wealth of oil reserves and the State of Israel was allocated about 120,000 sq. km (but today they have about 21,000 sq. km., since the new Arab state of Jordan was occupying over three quarters of Jewish allocated territory) these territories were set up by the Supreme Allied Powers after WWI, when the Ottoman Empire relinquished its title to the territories to the Supreme Allied Powers.
The British were assigned as trustee for the Jewish people to help reconstitute the Jewish State as Implemented by the San Remo Treaty of 1920 and the 1919 Faisal Weizmann Agreement. 
The San Remo Treaty adopted the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the Balfour Declaration emulated Napoleon’s 1799 intent to reconstitute The Land of Israel for the Jewish people. 
Moreover, of importance is the fact that treaty terms and documents and minutes of the deliberations proving there was no state allocation of land to any other people or nation other than the Jewish people in The Historical Land of Israel. It should also be noted the League of Nations implementing the Agreement set up the Mandate for Palestine as a State for the Jewish people with exclusive political rights and with the provision that Jewish communities and habitation is granted in all the territory of The Mandate for Palestine aka The Land of Israel.
The Jewish people who lived in The Land of Israel for over 4,000 years had additional Jewish immigration in the mid-1800’s. Joining the local Jewish people with the infusion of more Jewish immigration, capital, resources, funding and with the explicit permission by the Ottoman government, started developing the desolate land. Within a short time the Jewish people started turning the desert and desolation into green pastures, thus, building an economy, agriculture, housing and industry. Many Arabs from neighboring depressed states, who viewed this development as an opportunity for work and an improved standard of living, came to work in Palestine aka The Land of Israel.
An important tragedy in this conflict which we must take into consideration. The Arab countries expelled over a million Jewish families and their children, confiscated all their assets, personal valuables, businesses, homes and land 6 times the size of Israel (120,440 sq. km. or 46,332 sq. miles valued today in the trillions of dollars). Most of these expelled Jewish families from Arab countries were resettled in The Land of Israel Israel.
Over the past 69 years Israel has become a thriving nation with exemplary innovation in education, technology, high tech industry and medicine. Many nations admire Israel's outstanding development and innovation, and the world nations have come to depend on it. Israel has always been extending a helping hand to any nation that wants to learn and advance in industry, technology and medicine.
The Arab-Palestinians saw an opportunity to get land and a country that was developed and flourished by the Jewish people. They decided that through intimidation, harassment and violence to usurp the Jewish habitants into capitulating to their scheme of an Arab-Palestinian State on Land allocated to the Jewish people. The Arab-Palestinians live on charity from the nations of the world. They are unwilling to help themselves. 
After the 1967 war when Israel defeated the 5 Arab armies who tried to destroy it, Israel started employing many of the Arabs in the liberated Jewish territory, educating them in agriculture and water resources. In the following years the standard of living of the Arabs jumped 5 fold and more, and their economy and housing blossomed. 
When the terrorist organization entered the picture and instigated the Arab population to start suicide bombing terror and violence against the Israelis, the economic advancement was slowed down if not halted. The dire predicament of the Arab-Palestinians is of their own making.

If you look at Arab land it is desolate and barren, with few exceptions. At the same time, the Jewish land is blooming and developing at an accelerated tempo. The Arabs, rather than follow the example set by Israel, tried to take the Jewish land by force and lost 4 wars in a span of 25 years.

The Arab-Palestinians current actions and activities in the political and legal arena is a result of losing 4 wars and various battles with Israel. They not only could not win ground, but in fact have caused themselves a downward spiral toward economic desolation.

The Arab-Palestinians have switched tactics and have now gained more ground and concessions by playing the peace game. 
The Arab-Palestinians obfuscation and disinformation campaign along with various pleadings in front of the U.N. (which issues non-binding resolutions with no legal standing) and other International bodies has gained them more inroads. 
The economic power of oil reserves and the Arab Countries, who do not want the Arab-Palestinians to return to their countries, are helping them promote the false and deceptive information, utilizing their numerical control in the U.N. to pass any non-binding resolution that they deem necessary to advance their cause.

Money, power and greed promoted hate and anti-Semitism by the Arabs in order to force Israel into surrendering territory to the Arab-Palestinians. The Arabs are trying to initiate land piracy camouflaged as legal rights to The Land of Israel.

Jewish resistance to persecution by the Arabs and the world at large: Any level headed individual would think that after WWII and the 6 million Jews exterminated in the Holocaust (plus another 5 million of other ethnic groups) would diminish, if not eliminate anti-Semitism and baseless hatred. 
It seems that no matter the amount of unwarranted persecution, and no matter the sacrifices the Jewish people have endured through the ages, Anti-Semitism continues to raise its ugly head.

The Media is guilty of escalating hostilities and violence in Israel and elsewhere. The Media has a responsibility to deliver fair and unbiased reporting. They influence the information that people rely on. It is an awesome responsibility and it must be handled with factual un-slanted reporting. People’s lives depend on it; maybe yours or someone you love. Do we need a legal task force to discipline the Media when they intentionally distort the truth and or stage events for Media sensationalism? I would like your comments and input.

The affects on the world at large: Has humanity lost its values and fairness? The answer is no. In order to lose something, one must first possess it and the truth is, the world has never had total control of values and fairness. In today's world, where money and power is pursued at all costs (see Machiavelli), the core family unit is disintegrating and family values deteriorating. Honesty, integrity and fair-play seem to be a thing of the past. Where are we as human beings of the 21st century heading? Obviously downward.
Take some time to reflect on the truth of what is stated here. Do you really want this kind of world for your children? Senseless hate and destruction must not be tolerated. I urge you to wake up, take the bull by the horn and pursue a path of correction, or we are doomed as a civilized people.
YJ Draiman

P.S. How many holidays do the Arabs-Muslims celebrate due to historical events in the land of ancient Israel and Jerusalem. r9
The Jewish people celebrate most of their holidays and fast days in memory of Jerusalem and Israel since 70 AD (that is over 2,000 years).
Jewish people pray at least 3 times a day, remembering Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple destruction. Pleading the Jewish goal and aspiration to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem - where it was before it was destroyed and desecrated by the enemies of the Jews. Most of the Jewish prayers for thousands of years recite the love of Israel and the Jewish aspirations to return to their ancestral land and bring back its glory and holiness.
At Jewish weddings they break a glass in memory of Jerusalem and the aspiration to return and build the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
Every day at the end of the meal the Jews recite a blessing and thank G-d for providing sustenance and beseech G-d to return and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
Most Jewish prayers mention our glorious memory of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple and pleading to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Jewish Temple.
YJ Draiman

In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
Ben Gurion

"Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its 'right to exist.' [As a Jewish State] Israel's right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel's legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement. . . .There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its 'right to exist' a favor, or a negotiable concession."

Abba Eban

Israel - So who does this land belong to anyway?

So who does this land belong to anyway?

The Palestinians claim that this land "belongs" to them and that Israelis are the invaders, who should give it back to its "rightful owners", the Palestinians. Take a look at the following condensed history timeline (also click "Next" below for a crash course in Middle East history), and you will see that nothing could be farther from the truth. There has been a continuous Jewish presence in what is today Israel since the 13th century BC, while the first Arabs only arrived in the area with the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD...
The Hebrews arrived in the area known today as Israel ca. 1250 BC, and the first Kingdom was established under Saul in 1020 BC. The Kingdom of Israel continued under the rule of David and Solomon (during which time the first temple was built in Jerusalem) until the land was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC, and subsequently by various other conquering armies.
When the Babylonians conquered the land in 586 BC, the temple was destroyed.
When the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 538 BC, beginning a period of Persian rule, the second temple was built in Jerusalem.
There were several exchanges of power in the centuries to follow, including of course the Romans, who took control in 63 BC.
The second temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans, and was never rebuilt. All that remains of it is the "Wailing Wall", or "Western Wall", at the base of the Temple Mount. This is the holiest site of the Jews.
It is of interest to note that it was the Romans who first coined the name "Palestine", based upon the name of the "Philistines", an Aegean people who had arrived in the area shortly after the Hebrews arrived from exile in Egypt. This was in order to attempt to dissociate the land from its Jewish history. It is based upon this that the Arabs now living in the area refer to themselves as "Palestinians", even though there were no Arabs here at the time the name Palestine was first used.
The Roman Byzantine period continued until 638 AD, when the Muslim conquests brought the first Arabs into the area. It is only at the end of the seventh century that Jerusalem was declared by the Arabs to be a holy site for Islam (Jerusalem is not mentioned a single time in the Koran).
In 691 AD, during the reign of the Omayyad dynasty, the Dome of the Rock was built and inaugurated by Abd Al-Malik ibn Al Marwan.
The Omayyad dynasty did not last long, and was succeeded by the Abbasids, who transferred their capital from Damascus to Baghdad.
After 460 years of Muslim rule, Jerusalem fell to the crusaders, who declared the city the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
The crusaders were succeeded by Saladin, and then the Mamelukes, until the Ottoman Turks defeated the Mameluke forces in 1517 AD and began a 400 year Turkish domination of the Near East.
In 1917, near the end of World War I, the Turks surrendered to British forces, beginning the 31 year period of the British mandate over Palestine.
In 1947, the United Nations voted for a plan to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, Israel.
In May, 1948, the State of Israel was declared within the boundaries defined by the U.N. resolution. The Arabs refused to accept this, and less than 24 hours after the Declaration of Independence, five Arab armies attacked the new Jewish State. The rest is, as they say, history...
It is noteworthy that throughout the history of Israel/Jerusalem/Palestine, while Jewish political fortunes since the time of the first Jewish commonwealth have fluctuated, Jews always regarded Jerusalem as their capital. In the Islamic tradition, Jerusalem served as a spiritual center, but has NEVER served as a political center. Even after the Muslim conquests of the 7th century AD, the administrative center of Palestine was Ramle, not Jerusalem. Jerusalem has NEVER served as an Islamic capital.
Moreover, under Israeli rule, everyone from any religion is allowed free access to their holy sites in Jerusalem. In stark contrast to this, Jordanian rule over East Jerusalem (including the Old City and all the holy sites) between 1948 and 1967 led to the complete denial of access to Jews (from anywhere in the world) and Christians (from Israel) to the holy sites in Jerusalem. Indeed, after the fall of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem in 1948, its Jewish inhabitants were expelled, and fifty-eight of its synagogues were either destroyed or desecrated by being used as stables by the Palestinian Arabs.

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Click "Next" for a crash course in Middle East history

Crash course in Middle East history

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Nationhood and Jerusalem

Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE -- 2,000 years before the rise of Islam.Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for 1,000 years, with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 CE lasted no more than 22 years.
For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has always been the Jewish capital.Jerusalem has never once been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. In the 20 years that Jordan occupied Jerusalem (1948-1967), they never sought to make it their capital, nor did Palestinians demand it as theirs.
Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Bible.Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
King David founded the city of Jerusalem 3,000 years ago.Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
Jews pray facing Jerusalem, wherever they are in the world.Moslems at the mosque in Jerusalem pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

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Arab and Jewish Refugees

In 1948, approximately 630,000 Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

In that same era, approximately 850,000 Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to brutality, persecution and pogroms (click "Next" below to read details on the treatment of Jews in several Arab countries).

Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.

Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of 100 million worldwide refugees since World War Two, these Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has not been integrated into their own peoples' lands.

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The Arab - Israeli Conflict

The Arab world includes 22 separate nations.There is only one Jewish nation; collectively, the Arabs have 50 times the population of Israel, and 800 times the territory! And yet, Israel is the one who must always exchange "land for peace".

The Arab nations initiated five wars against Israel, and lost.Israel defended itself each time and won.

The P.L.O. Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with weapons.

Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated: all synagogues in the Old City were torched, and tombstones from the ancient Mount of Olives cemetery was used to pave roads and build latrines. Jews were also denied access to places of worship at the Western Wall, Tomb of Rachel, Tomb of Joseph, and cave of the Patriarchs. The Palestinians have recently destroyed Joseph's Tomb and a number of synagogues under their "protection".Under Israeli rule, all Moslem and Christian holy sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.

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The U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs

Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.

Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.

The U.N. was silent while 58 Jerusalem synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.

The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetary on the Mount of Olives.

The U.N.was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism.

The U.N. has been totally silent on the Palestinian history of suicide bombings, lynchings, terrorist attacks, bus hijackings, cafe bombings, etc.

Treatment of Jews in Arab Countries

(source: Middle East Digest - November/December 1999)

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Egypt:
Approximately 75,000 Jews lived in Egypt in 1948, a community whose origins date back to the Babylonian captivity some 2700 years prior. In the preceding decade, Muslim elements, believing that Hitler would be successful in completing the 'Final Solution' in Europe, carried out almost continuous pogroms against Jewish communities, killing and injuring thousands. The Egyptian Company Law of July 1947 introduced prohibitive quotas against employing Jews, precluded them from most areas of employment, and confiscated many Jewish-owned businesses, properties and other assets. Then, in the days after the passage of the Partition Plan, Muslims in Cairo and Alexandria went on a rampage, murdering, looting houses and burning synagogues. In one seven-day period in 1948, an eyewitness counted 150 Jewish bodies littering the streets.
During the War of Independence, Egyptian Jews were barred from travelling abroad. In August 1949, Egypt lifted the ban and 20,000 Jews fled the country, many going to Israel. Conditions for Jews improved somewhat under General Naguib, but when General Abdul Nasser rose to power in Egypt, he ordered mass arrests of Jews and confiscated huge quantities of Jewish property, personal and commercial. Nasser issued deportation orders to thousands of Jews, concurrently confiscating all their property and assets. Most of the deportees were limited to one suitcase apiece. In 1964, Nasser boldly declared, in an interview with a German publication, that Egypt still adhered to the Nazi cause: 'Our sympathy,' he said, 'was with the Germans.' With the outbreak of the 1967 Six-Day War, Jews were arrested en masse and sent to concentration camps, where they were tortured, denied water for days and forced to chant anti-Israel slogans. By 1970, Egypt's Jewish population numbered in the mere hundreds.
Algeria:
Like other Muslim nations, Algeria possesses a long history of anti-Semitism, legal and popular. The colonization of Algeria by the French in 1830, though, liberated the 2500-year-old Jewish community from much of the humiliation and persecution it had sustained under Islamic rule. But the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany augured a reversion to anti-Semitic activities. In 1934, twenty-five Jews were massacred in Constantine. During the subsequent trial by French authorities, evidence revealed the attack was organized by the city's leading Muslim authorities. When the French Vichy government took power in 1940, it immediately stripped Jews of their French citizenry, banned them from schools and declared them 'pariahs.' Only the Allied landing soon thereafter saved the Jews from mass deportation to European death camps. With the fall of the Vichy regime, more than 148,000 Jews enjoyed the full benefits and affluence of French society. A civil war erupted in Algeria, and as it intensified, thousands of Jews fled the country, mostly for France.
Algeria achieved independence in 1962, by which time more than 75,000 Jews had departed. State-sanctioned persecution began the following year with the passage of the 1963 Nationality Code, limiting citizenship to those residents whose father and paternal grandfather were Muslim. The new state confiscated or destroyed Jewish private, commercial and communal property and ordered most of the nation's synagogues converted into mosques. Following a flood of anti-Semitic violence in 1965, the majority of the remaining Jewish community of 65,000 departed. Today, the once vigorous Algerian Jewish community numbers a paltry 300.
Libya:
Today, no Jews are known to live in the north African nation of Libya. Like Egypt and Algeria, massive pogroms decimated the once-thriving Jewish communities in the 1940s. From 1941-1942, great waves of persecution washed over Libya. Jewish property in Benghazi was pillaged and 2,600 were sent into the desert to a forced labor camp, where 500 perished. On November 5, 1945, a horrendous bloodbath ensued in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. According to New York Times reporter Clifton Daniels: 'Babies were beaten to death with iron bars. Old men were hacked to pieces where they fell. Expectant mothers were disembowelled. Whole families were burned alive in their houses.' Several hundred Jews died in the attack.
After the approval of the Partition Plan, another 130 Jews were murdered in anti-Semitic rioting. The following year saw another Tripoli-like massacre. In 1948, Libya's Jewish population was 38,000; by 1951 only 8,000 remained. After the Six-Day War, another pogrom erupted, driving all but 400 from the country. On July 21, 1967 Libyan strongman Colonel Qadhafi nationalized all Jewish property, and soon thereafter, all remaining Jews left the country.
Syria:
The Syrian Jewish community in 1948 dated to the First Century destruction of Jerusalem, approximately 1900 years earlier. Under Islamic rule, Jews were routinely subject to cruel and inhumane treatment, including forced conversions, routine pogroms and severe commercial and personal restrictions. By early 1947, only 13,000 Jews lived in Syria; 20,000 had fled throughout the course of the previous decade, as Nazi zeal permeated the region and made their lives especially difficult. Immediately after Syria gained independence from France in 1945, vitriolic anti-Semitic propaganda was broadcast on television and radio, inciting the Arab masses to violence. In December 1947, one month after the Partition Plan's acceptance, a pogrom erupted in the Syrian town of Aleppo, torching numerous Jewish properties, including synagogues, schools, orphanages and businesses. Eyewitnesses to the violence noted Syrian firemen and police dispatched to the scene actively participated in the rioting.
A flurry of anti-Semitic legislation passed in 1948 restricted, among other things, Jewish travel outside of government-approved ghettos, selling private property, acquiring land or changing their place of residence. A decree in 1949 went a step further, seizing all Jewish bank accounts. Under threats of execution, long prison sentences and torture, 10,000 Jews were able to depart between 1948 and 1962. A report published in 1981 indicated Syrian Jews were subject to "the Mukhabarat, the [Syrian] secret police, [who] conduct a reign of terror and intimidation, including searches without warrant, detention without trial, torture and summary execution." Due mainly to US influence in the context of the Madrid peace process, all but about 800 of the Jewish community have fled, most settling in the United States. Syria has confiscated all Jewish property aside from those who remain.
Yemen:
The Yemenite Jewish community existed in what historian S.D. Goitein described as the "worst aspect" of the Arab mistreatment of the Jew. Jewish life in Yemen, up to the time of Israel's modern evacuation of the community, contained the harshest elements imaginable under dhimmitude status. Jews could not testify in court, and were regularly murdered, limited to employment in the most demeaning of positions and forced to relinquish their property on demand, to name a very few deprivations. An "age-old" custom of stoning Jews, permissible by Muslim law, was still regularly practiced up to the time the Jews fled Yemen. Conditions for the community were exacerbated by Israel's victory over Arab armies in 1948, making the swift extraction of the community a matter of rescue or extinction. Arab mobs swarmed through Tsan'a and other towns, burning, murdering, raping and looting in the city's Jewish quarters. The region's imam - or religious authority - permitted the Jewish community to leave Yemen, provided they forfeit all property to the state. Israel launched Operation Magic Carpet in 1949, and over the course of one year, successfully airlifted some 50,000 Yemenite Jews - almost the entire ancient community - to Israel.
Iraq:
The 135,000 strong Iraqi Jewish community in 1948 traced their origins to the pre-exilic Jewish community of Babylon, 2700 years previous. Anti-Semitic legislation in 1948, declared "Zionism" - a crime accorded to Jews automatically - an offence punishable by a seven-year jail term. Additional legislation barred Jews from government, medicine and education, denied merchants import licenses and closed Jewish banks. The Jewish community faced economic ruin. During Israel's War of Independence, immigration to Israel was declared a capital offense while public Law No. 1, passed in 1950, stripped Jews of their Iraqi nationality. In 1950, Israel launched Operation Ali Baba to extricate the destitute remnant. Iraq, intrigued at the prospect of inheriting large quantities of abandoned Jewish property, allowed the Jews to leave, reassuring emigrants they would receive fair compensation for property and other assets they were forced to abandon. The airlift spirited 123,000 Jews out of the country, with 110,000 choosing to remain in Israel. Despite it's promise, the Iraqi government announced on March 10, 1951 - the day after the deadline for exit registration - that emigrant's property, businesses and bank accounts were forfeit. That same year, Law No. 5 was expanded to include all Jewish holdings in Iraqi banks. By itself, this extension looted $200 million in Jewish assets. By January 1952, as Iraq again closed the doors to Jewish emigration, only 6,000 remained. All remaining Jewish communal property was confiscated in 1958. Today, only 200 Jews remain in Iraq, forced to reside in a Baghdad ghetto.