May 28, 1936: Chaim Weizmann predicts peace while Arabs destroy trees

Dr. Weizmann may have been a very wise man, but he underestimated Jew-hatred - even when it was happening under his nose. In the same issue of the Palestine Post, the major headline was "Armed Hooligans Fire on Jewish Settlements."

Another interesting story that May was this one:

Today, Palestinians as well as the Israeli Left and even acting premier Ehud Olmert are accusing Jews of destroying Arab olive trees. The settler movement hotly denies any involvement, and in some cases it was proven that Arabs and leftists in fact lied about these charges.

We've touched on this topic before - Arabs have destroyed fruit trees in Palestine, and in much greater numbers, way before any Jews allegedly destroyed Arab trees.

But the accusations and lies have remained constant now for 70 years. Dr. Weizmann's prediction, unfortunately, did not come true - because the "political agitation" that he downplayed in fact became Arab policy vis a vis Israel.

Note also the last paragraph of the first story - the fact that Arabs were immigrating to Palestine in huge numbers in the 1930s shows that a large percentage of today's Palestinian Arabs in fact originated elsewhere.