The Big Lie - "The West Bank is occupied Palestinian land."

The Big Lie - "The West Bank is occupied Palestinian land." 

by Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq. naderlaw@earthlink.net
Lebanese-American

"The West Bank is occupied Palestinian land."  This phase is repeated, as a given, by all the governments of the world and by the entire news media, etc., etc.

This idea that the West Bank is occupied Palestinian land has been accepted by almost everyone.  Yet, it is, in fact, the greatest lie ever perpetrated on the whole of humanity.

If you think this is an outlandish statement please read on and decide for yourself.

Palestinians claim that Palestine is their land, and that Jerusalem is their capital, and that Israel is occupying their land.  To resist occupation they have the right to send suicide bombers into crowded bus stations, pizza parlors, etc., and kill innocent men, women, and children.  And all Arab and Muslim countries support them in their claims and actions against Israel.

Because of this occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, because of this crime committed against their Palestinian brothers, all Arabs hate Israel and want to destroy it.

To anyone who is familiar with the facts, and has an objective eye, all this must be fascinating.  Because never before has a complete lie, on such a large scale, been so successful.

First, if Arab animosity toward Israel is based on their love and support for their Palestinian brothers, and in wanting their Palestinian brothers to have their own state, where was that love and support before the Jewish state existed?  Where were they when the Kingdom of Jordan ruled Palestine?  Why were they not accusing Jordan of occupying Palestinian land?  Why did not the Arab world and the United Nations call on Jordan to stop occupying Palestinian land?  Second, where were the Palestinians themselves, with all their grievances and claims, when Jordan occupied the whole West Bank, including Jerusalem?

Did you know that?  Did you know that for 19 years Jordan occupied and ruled the whole West Bank, including Jerusalem?  Why didn't they
clamor for a Palestinian state then?

All this time, did we hear a word about Palestine being occupied by the Kingdom of Jordan?  Did we hear anything about a Palestinian state?  Or about Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine?  No, we did not.  Why not?
Because there never existed a Palestinian state.

And in the entire history of nations, Jerusalem was never the capital of any country other than that of ancient Israel and modern Israel.  So how can there be a claim on Jerusalem as the capital of a state that never existed?

One of the problems here is that so few people know the history of the world.  Hence, lies and more lies, repeated often enough, are assumed to be facts.

I have heard many scholars, including an Arab journalist, question the very notion of a Palestinian people.  What, they ask, makes a people? Well, there are four elements that define a people:  language, religion, culture, and cuisine.  For example, the Chinese and Japanese are both Oriental.  Still, they are two different peoples, because they each have a different language, a different religion, a different culture, and a different cuisine.

The Palestinians speak the same language, follow the same religion, manifest the same culture, and eat the same cuisine as all the other Arabs.  They are really Arabs who happen to live in a region called Palestine.

Palestine is not, and never was, the name of a country, or the name of a people.

It is the name of a region - just like Siberia is a region, not a country.  There is no Siberian country, nor is there a Siberian people.  It is a region.  Just like the Sahara is a region, not a country.  There is no Saharan country, nor is there a Saharan people.  The Arabs living in that region are Libyans, Moroccans, etc., etc.  It is a region.

Because Palestine is a region, not a country, England was able to carve out half of it and give it to the Arabs living on the other side of the Jordan River and call it the Kingdom of Jordan.  Because Palestine is a region the United Nations was able to divide the rest of it between the Jews and the Arabs living there.  Had the Arabs accepted the United Nations resolution there would have been a newly created Arab state called Palestine.  Instead they rejected the United Nations compromise and went to war to destroy Israel.  They lost the war.  Hence, no Palestinian state.

Here are some cold facts.

King David built the city of Jerusalem, and King Solomon, David's son, built the holy temple.  This commonwealth of Israel lasted for a
thousand years.  There was only one break, when, 400 years after King David, the Babylonian invaders occupied the land for 70 years.  Then, with the help of Cyrus the Great of Persia - yes, Persia - Israel came back to the land, rebuilt the temple, and ruled for another 600
years.

Then the Romans came and ruled the land, then the Crusaders ruled the land, then the Ottoman Empire ruled the land, then the British Empire
ruled the land, then Israel returned to its homeland and built a modern Jewish state.  It was never - repeat, never - a Palestinian state.  So what is all this talk about occupied Palestinian land?

They certainly have a right to live there freely and happily.  Nobody wants to move them away from their land.  But from where comes the
right for a Palestinian state?  Is it because they live there?

Imagine, if the Mexican-American community in California, whose numbers are greater than the number of Palestinians in the West Bank,
decides tomorrow to claim that the United States is occupying their land, because they live there and they want their own Mexican state.
Imagine, if when the U.S.  government says, "No, you can live here but you cannot have sovereignty, you cannot have your own state,"
they start sending suicide bombers, shooters, mortars, etc., etc.  into the rest of the country, what do you think would happen?

This is precisely why there was never any suggestion of a Palestinian state; not under the Romans, not under the Crusaders, not under the
Turks, not under the English, and not under the Arab Kingdom of Jordan, not until after Israel was again established in its homeland.

I believe it is the big lie of our generation and we are all buying into it.

Whatever you believe, don't you think these facts deserve to be raised when discussing Middle East policies?

Thank you for reading this paper.

Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq., Lebanese-American []


This  is a followup

I have received a number of inquiries basically asking:  What about the United Nations’ resolution?  Didn’t the U.N. allocate part of the region for the Arabs?  This is an argument many people use to justify the creation of a Palestinian state.  Let me address this.

Yes, the first United Nations resolution in that conflict was to partition the region between Jews and Arabs.  The Jews accepted that resolution notwithstanding the fact that such acceptance would inevitably create another Arab state called Palestine.  The Arabs, on the other hand, not only rejected the resolution, they trampled on it by declaring war on the new State of Israel.  Five Arab nations attacked her from all sides in order to destroy her.  Well, that did not happen.  The Arabs lost the war and have been whining ever since about United Nations resolutions.

Too late, fellas.

It does not work that way – not in international affairs, nor in human relations.  If you refuse an offer and attempt to destroy it, you no longer have a right to that offer.

I did not address this issue in my first paper, nor did I cover many other details of the Arab-Israeli conflict.  And I did not presume to offer a definitive solution to this painful problem.  Who am I to assume such a role for myself?  Most likely it will be the United States, the European Union, the Russians, the Arabs, and the Israelis who will determine the final outcome of this conflict.

The reason for my paper was to bring forth certain truths and trust that these truths will effect an honorable solution to the problem.

Sooner or later all the parties involved will attempt a serious solution to this problem.  When that happens these truths must be recognized and placed on the negotiating table, or there will never be peace between Arabs and Jews.

Because, unless the Arabs recognize and accept these truths, even if they are given a state of their own, and no matter how many agreements and treaties they sign, they will always feel wronged, cheated, and forced into giving up what they now claim is theirs.  They will continue to plot and look for an opportunity to destroy Israel in order to take back what they claim is theirs, especially the younger generation that has been brainwashed to hate the “occupying enemy.”  Whether there is a Palestinian state or not, there will be no peace.

In fact, a Palestinian state without recognition of these truths will more than likely end up in a full-scale war with Israel, engulfing the entire Middle East.

Peace between the Jews and Arabs can be achieved only in one of two ways.  Either one side completely defeats the other side (given existing circumstances, this is not likely to happen), or all the Arabs recognize and accept the truths around this conflict.

One undeniable truth is that there never was a Palestinian state or a Palestinian nation.  In fact there are no Palestinians.  These are Arabs living in a region that, historically, has been called many things, including Palestine.  But there is no Palestinian people.

They have the same ethnicity, the same language, the same religion, the same culture, the same dress, the same cuisine, etc., etc., as all the other Arabs.  Yes, there are minor differences, the same minor differences that exist between the Welsh, the Scots, and the Londoners.  They are still all Englishmen.  The same minor differences that exist between Yankees and Southerners.  They are still all Americans, etc., etc.  These inconsequential differences do not make a “people.”

The small Arab Christian minority, whose religion is different from the religion of all other Arabs, is not the problem.  Most of them have stated openly that they would rather be Israeli citizens than live under Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.  The problem is the Muslim majority that lives in this region and thinks that living in the region equals sovereignty over the region.

Are the Arabs living in the Sahara region a Saharan people with their own Saharan government?  Are the Russians living in Siberia Siberians with their own Siberian government?  I explained all this in detail in my paper “The Big Lie.”

Again, there are no Palestinians.  Hence, the terrorists are not freedom fighters fighting for their Palestinian independence.  They are simply Arab terrorists.  And the so-called territories are not occupied lands.  They are occupied by their owners.

Another truth is Jerusalem.  The other day Yasser Arafat again talked about Jerusalem being his capital.  Jerusalem was never the capital of any nation other than the nation of Israel.  And Arafat wants it to be the capital of a nation that never existed, nor does it exist today.

Why?  Because he wants it?

Jerusalem is not just sitting there waiting for an owner.  It has an owner.  It belongs to someone.

Leaving out history, religion, the Bible, etc., etc., it belongs to Israel simply by right of conquest; no less than the Falkland Islands are English by right of conquest, even though the English people are foreigners to that land.  They were never there before they took it.  The same with Tahiti.  It is French by right of conquest, even though they are foreigners, etc., etc.  The same with Texas and California.  They are American by right of conquest, even though, etc., etc.  Conversely, Israel ruled and owned that land for a thousand years and now has it again by right of conquest.

Arafat wants the world to take Jerusalem and the so-called territories away from Israel and give them to him.  Why?

Iraq went to war against Kuwait and occupied its land.  This was a peaceful sovereign nation invaded and conquered by an outside enemy.  Hence, it was rightfully called “occupied land.”

Israel did not go to war against a Palestinian state and occupy its land.  Israel was attacked by five Arab nations with intentions to destroy her, and had to defend herself.  In that war Israel conquered the territories, not from Arafat and the Palestinians, but from Jordan and Egypt.

A third truth is that most of the Arabs living in Palestine today are not indigenous to that region.  It was after the Jews changed deserts and swamps into a productive and thriving land that the Arabs migrated there.  Before that time there were only approximately 120,000 Arabs in the entire region, including Jordan.

Arafat himself is not a native of Palestine.  He was born and raised in Cairo.  Few people know this.

Jews, Babylonians, Syrians, Romans, Muslims, crusaders, Ottomans, and the British; they all ruled this land at one time or another.  But never did the Palestinians rule this land.  Never.

Now it is again the land of Israel.  God’s promise, biblical prophecy, 1000 years of historically owning that land (including, during the time of Jesus), or simply “the right of conquest.”  Whatever the reason, the land is now back in the hands of Israel.  It is, therefore, outrageous and deceitful for the Arabs to claim sovereignty over land that was never theirs, and is now owned by someone else.

And it is fascinating, and sad, to watch the nations of the world, and the media, eagerly embrace this deception.  It is the same kind of hypocrisy that allows Syria, a known sponsor of terrorists and an occupier of the sovereign nation of Lebanon, a seat on the Security Council of the United Nations.

We need to repeat these truths over and over again in order to dispel the lies that are being repeated over and over again.

Unless there is a massive and long-term re-education of all the Arab people to these truths, with or without a state of their own, the so-called Palestinians will never, willingly, allow the existence of a State of Israel.  Only when these truths come to light and are accepted by most of the Arab people can meaningful negotiations begin.

Anyone who is not mesmerized by the repetition of the “the big lie” and not victim to political corruption, and seeks justice for everyone, including the so-called Palestinians – they who have been suffering for years due to the lies perpetrated upon them by their political, spiritual, and militant leaders; those who keep them mired in the refugee camps and incite them to die by jihad – anyone whose heart has not turned to stone, cannot help but shout these truths wherever, whenever, and to whomever possible.

I can do no more than bring this to your attention.  Perhaps you can do more.  I pray you will.

Cordially yours,

Sharon Nader Sloan, Esq.
Lebanese-American