Israel and Morocco have agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday, marking the fourth Arab-Israel agreement in four months.As part of the announcement, Trump said that the US would recognize Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.As his time in office winds down, Trump said Israel and Morocco would restore diplomatic and other relations, including the immediate opening of liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv and the eventual opening of embassies. US officials said it would also include joint overflight rights for airlines.
Friday, December 11, 2020
- Friday, December 11, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- Trump Lame Duck Test
Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Arsen Ostrovsky: Religious freedom as a universal message of Hanukkah
On Thursday evening, Jews around the world will begin the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah, one of the most beautiful and meaningful holidays in Judaism.Western Wall Hanukkah candle lighting to continue amid COVID-19 pandemic
Although Hanukkah is a uniquely Jewish story, its lessons about the importance of preserving our religious freedom are universal, irrespective of individual faith or background.
The ancient story of Hanukkah itself occurred more than 2,000 years ago, around the 2nd century B.C., when the Jews, led by Judah Maccabee, successfully repelled their Greek-Syrian oppressors, led by the tyrant, Antiochus, who ruled the Land of Israel at the time.
Prior to the rebellion, Antiochus sought to forbid the practice of Judaism, and ordered the Jews to turn instead to the Greek gods and pagan-worship, the very antithesis of the Jewish faith, which gave birth to monotheism. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories
In a miraculous victory against all odds, the Jews fought back, defeating Antiochus’s army—restoring their right to worship, and rededicating the Second Temple in their ancient capital, Jerusalem.
But what does this struggle for religious freedom teach us today?
The lighting of the large hanukkiah (candelabra) by the Western Wall will take place this year on Thursday with a small gathering of rabbis and public figures due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, rabbi of the Western Wall and holy sites Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Rafi Peretz and Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel will take part in the Hanukkah candle lighting. The event will take place according to Health Ministry guidelines.
Tours of hanukkiot in Jerusalem will also take place throughout the holiday, both in person according to Health Ministry guidelines and online. More details are available at the Western Wall's website or by calling *5958.
It is still unclear if the government will impose new restrictions and what those restrictions could be, so tours and other activities during the holiday may be affected. The government is set to convene on Thursday to discuss tightening restrictions over the Hanukkah holiday.
The lighting of the Hanukkah candles by the Western Wall will be livestreamed Sunday through Thursday on the Western Wall's website, YouTube channel, Facebook and other media platforms.
The bronze hanukkiah used at the Western Wall is two meters high and about two meters wide, weighs about a ton and took about seven months to make. The candles will use olive oil and will be in special wind and rain resistant vessels in order to stay lit throughout the night.
Jews are asking for protection from their universities from antisemitism. David Feldman’s ‘All Lives Matter’ response is not helpful
This is a response to an article by David Feldman, ‘The government should not impose a faulty definition of antisemitism on universities’, published by The Guardian on 2 December 2020. David Hirsh is author of Contemporary Left Antisemitism (Routledge 2018). This opinion piece first appeared at the Engage blog and is reproduced here with thanks to David.CUNY Professors Attempted to Bar Orthodox Jewish Professor from Meeting, Report Says
After recently co-writing a decent article on antisemitism, David Feldman, the Director of Birkbeck’s Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, has now reverted back to the politics that drove his meek complicity with the Chakrabarti whitewash of Labour antisemitism in 2016. And he didn’t even get a seat in the House or Lords.
The Union of Jewish Students and other institutions of the Jewish community, as well as the government’s independent advisor on antisemitism John Mann, have been campaigning for universities to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. They say that the adoption of IHRA would give Jewish students and members of staff some confidence that they could hope for protection if they experienced antisemitism on campus.
And such antisemitism is commonplace in UK universities. Last week I was contacted by a student whose lecturer taught that IHRA was a pretext to silence criticism of Israel and by another whose Masters dissertation was failed because she wrote in the ‘wrong’ framework about Israel and Palestine. This kind of antisemitism is harder to sustain in institutions which have adopted IHRA.
In the Guardian article, Feldman characterises the universities which make a point of not allowing IHRA to be part of their official armoury against antisemitism as ‘refusenik’.
The refuseniks were overwhelmingly Jews in the Soviet Union who were refused permission to go to Israel, although there were others too who were refused permission to leave. They were denounced as Zionist agents of imperialism, they were purged from their jobs, they were deported to Siberia, they were imprisoned, murdered and tortured. The refuseniks were victims of antisemitism at the hands of a totalitarian state which called itself ‘Marxist’ and which demonised Zionism as the enemy of mankind.
Feldman turns this upside down. Today, for him, the refuseniks are the ideological descendants not of the Soviet Jews but of their oppressors, the apparatchiks and Party men who denounced Jews as particularist, pro-apartheid and privileged.
The New York Post has obtained a report providing evidence that a group of progressive professors at the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Kingsborough Community College (KCC) attempted to bar an Orthodox Jewish professor from attending one of their meetings.
The December 7 Post report stated that the Orthodox Jewish professor and head of KCC’s department of business, Jeffrey Lax, filed a complaint in March 2018 claiming that the Progressive Faculty Caucus (PFC) on campus intentionally scheduled a meeting during Shabbat so Lax would be unable to attend. The KCC proceeded to hire the Jackson Lewis law firm to investigate the matter and produced a report in June; it is this report that the Post obtained.
According to the Post, three witnesses said in the report that the PFC attempted to schedule the meeting during Shabbat because Lax tended to be critical of the PFC during these meetings. The PFC also disliked Lax because, according to a witness in the report, “he was pro-Trump, pro-Israel, he’s a Zionist, conservative American,” although he does have some progressive stances on social issues.
“Although the primary objective was to exclude Lax, the PFC’s decision to schedule the meeting at a time that [Lax] could not attend due to his religious observance had the potential of creating a disparate impact on other Jewish faculty who observe the sabbath who wanted to attend the PFC meeting,” the report stated. “Allegations that respondents discriminated against them based on their religion can be substantiated in part…Observance of the Jewish Sabbath was at least part of the reason for the PFC to schedule a meeting on a Friday night.”
Ultimately, the meeting was canceled following backlash over the matter.
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.
Check out their Facebook page.
Boston, December 10 - A Massachusetts silversmith admitted chagrin today following an incident last night in which he misinterpreted a Jewish festival ritual as a signal that he must warn fellow patriots of the route, destination, and purpose of an incoming British body of troops.
Paul Revere, 41, of this seaside colonial city, acknowledged this morning that he caught sight of Chabad of Boston's candelabrum from his window Thursday evening and mistook the flames for a prearranged sign from a lookout that Redcoats had begun boarding vessels to take them up part of the Mystic River, as opposed to route that followed only roads. Only this morning did Revere discover he had erred, and that the two flames he espied came not from the North Church overlooking the harbor, but the Chabad House menorah and the two candles that Jews kindle on the first night of Hanukkah - one to mark the first night and the other as an auxiliary flame.
"Oops," he muttered. "Awkward."
Chabad House Rabbi Mendel Kahan chuckled at the confusion his ritual had sparked. "Wouldn't be the first time people have confused some Lubavitch activities with Christian institutions," he observed with a wry smile, referring to a prominent sect of the movement that maintains the late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, that last leader of the movement, who died in 1994, is the Jewish Messiah.
Colonist espionage efforts include an elaborate messaging system to alert inland strongholds of impending British military action, in this case a move against a significant stockpile of militia weapons and ammunition at the town of Concord, and including an effort to apprehend separatist leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The candlelight signal - "one if by land, two if by sea," i.e. the river - is designed to set off a chain of couriers to sound the alarm throughout the Massachusetts colony, summoning thousands of volunteers to grab their muskets and converge on the anticipated battle sites. A chagrined Revere confessed to reporters Thursday morning that his reaction was unjustified and careless, and that he vowed to apply a better sense of topography and geography henceforth.
"I also hope I didn't prickle any British Army regular intelligence antennae," he allowed with a sheepish grin. "If the wrong people become aware of this alert system we have in place, a few well-placed roadblocks could foil the whole operation. I could get arrested and interrogated, and that might compromise everything I've worked for."
Israel, Morocco Agree to Normalize Relations in Latest US-Brokered Deal
Israel and Morocco agreed on Thursday to normalize relations in a deal brokered with the help of the United States, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months.
As part of the agreement, US President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, where there has been a decades-old territorial dispute with Morocco pitted against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory.
Trump sealed the agreement in a phone call on Thursday with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, a senior US official said.
Morocco is the fourth country since August to strike a deal aimed at normalizing relations with Israel. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
Under the agreement, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel, grant overflights and also direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis.
“They are going reopen their liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately with the intention to open embassies. And they are going to promote economic cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan companies,” White House senior adviser Jared Kushner told Reuters.
“Today the administration has achieved another historic milestone. President Trump has brokered a peace agreement between Morocco and Israel — the fourth such agreement between Israel and an Arab/Muslim nation in four months.
Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to full diplomatic relations – a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2020
Trump Administration Plans to Release List of BDS Groups
The Trump administration plans to release a list of organizations that support the anti-Israel BDS movement, a senior Trump administration official told JNS.Norwegian Parliament Endorses Cutting Aid to Palestinians Over Antisemitism and Incitement in Educational Materials
The groups are still in the works and being decided this month, according to the official.
The move follows US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement last month in Israel that America would withdraw funding from groups that support the BDS movement, which he called “anti-Semitic.”
In a statement released by the State Department afterwards, Pompeo said he has instructed the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, led by Elan Carr, “to identify organizations that engage in, or otherwise support, the Global BDS Campaign” in which Carr’s office “will consider whether an organization is engaged in actions that are politically motivated and are intended to penalize, or otherwise limit, commercial relations specifically with Israel or persons doing business in Israel or in any territory controlled by Israel.”
He continued: “To ensure that department funds are not spent in a manner that is inconsistent with our government’s commitment to combat anti-Semitism, the State Department will review the use of its funds to confirm that they are not supporting the Global BDS Campaign. Furthermore, the State Department will conduct a review of options consistent with applicable law to ensure that its foreign assistance funding is not provided to foreign organizations engaged in anti-Semitic BDS activities.”
The Norwegian parliament has endorsed cuts in aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to racism, antisemitism and incitement to violence in Palestinian educational materials.
The cuts would amount to 30 million Norwegian krone, equivalent to $3.4 million.
The Progress Party led the push to cut the aid funds, with MP Himanshu Gulati saying, “Not a single krone should go to Palestinian education until this is clarified and they have stopped” using educational materials containing hate speech.
He added that he “regrets that it has taken us so many years to take a strict line against these things. It is very good that it is now happening.”
MP Sylvia Listhaug, deputy leader of the Progress Party, said, “The Palestinian school curriculum abounds with calls for violence and hatred against Israel and for martyrdom to be glorified. It is quite clear that Norway cannot support this, therefore we want to cut this item.”
Foreign Affairs Committee member MP Geir Toskedal of the Christian Democrats remarked, “We have long been uneasy about both textbooks and teaching programs in the Palestinian territories. It is very important that the school focuses on peace and cooperation.”
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Palestine refugees did not choose to be refugees.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) December 7, 2020
Until a just and durable solution to their plight is found, 5.7 million #PalestineRefugeesAtRisk will continue to need access to health care, education, protection and emergency assistance.
UNRWA must be there to provide it. pic.twitter.com/H48TWmuBEF
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- Thursday, December 10, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, December 09, 2020
Natan Sharansky’s real-life Hanukkah fairy tale - opinion
Sharansky’s story counters the lie our foes – and some fellow Jews – peddle about Judaism, Israel and Zionism today. Those who claim that Judaism is “just” a religion have to acknowledge the power of peoplehood, of national pride, that courses through that story, just as those secular types who say the religion is meaningless, should admit the tale’s spiritual, theological magic.Remembering Hanukkah 1917 and the Liberation of Jerusalem
In fact, the entire holiday refutes all these false choices. Try telling the Hanukkah story without any religious dimension, or while pretending the Jews are not a people with a national consciousness, or while claiming we have no ties to the land. The fight was about our freedom of religion. The Maccabees were nationalist warriors. And the Temple that had to be purified was in Jerusalem in Eretz Israel, the land yearning to be liberated.
Similarly, try telling the Hanukkah story as an either-or fanatic, choosing only freedom or only identity, only liberalism or only nationalism. Hanukkah reminds us that we need freedom just as we need the air we breathe; it represents the world of possibilities and open doors. But we also need our own particular identity, just as we need the substantive food that sustains us, just as we need guardrails and milestones, maps and a sense of mission, in the journey of life once the doors swing open.
And through it all, we feel blessed by that sense of Jewish national consciousness, that Zionist sense of peoplehood, that reminds us that wherever we are, whatever challenges we face, when we are part of this amazing network called the Jewish people we are never alone.
NATAN TOLD his story as we filmed an episode of “Drinking with Adam” (Bellos) for Wine on the Vine. I noted how remarkable it is that despite my never having suffered, spending the 1980s studying history at Harvard, and Natan’s having spent much of the ’80s suffering in the gulag, we remain ideologically on the same page.
Natan wondered: “Who really suffered most?” He quipped: “In the gulag, I had moral clarity; at Harvard, there was moral confusion.”
How sad that our universities so often fail to stand for moral clarity – or for open, critical inquiry. And how unnerving that the problems transcend partisanship, as cancel culture on the far Left oddly parallels the bullying totalitarianism of the far Right.
But how lucky we Jews are to have this holiday of freedom, along with freedom fighters in our own lives who stand up for personal liberty, for national identity, for the constructive, creative confusion of both – and against the false choices so many wish to impose on us. Happy Hanukkah.
On December 9, 1917, British forces accepted the Turkish surrender of Jerusalem. Two days later, British forces officially entered the walls of the city.Germany sorry for snubbing Aboriginal protest at persecution of Jews
As the world was engulfed in brutal armed conflict of an unprecedented scope, fighting raged in the Holy Land between Allied troops and the Ottoman-Turks (allied with the Central Powers) who had ruled the land for most of the past 400 years. On October 30, the strategic city of Be’er Sheva fell to the allies who then drove towards Jerusalem.
A London dispatch, on November 24, reported that the mosque containing the tomb of the prophet Samuel was bombarded. The ancient site of Mitzpeh, 5,000 yards west of the Jerusalem-Nablus road, was stormed by the British. The major battle for Jerusalem was in full swing. British cavalry ferociously fought their way into Jerusalem.
On December 11, the second day of Hanukkah, British troops marched into Jerusalem. British commander General Edmund Allenby respectfully entered its walls by foot through the Jaffa Gate.
Excited crowds lined Jerusalem’s streets to welcome the city’s liberators. Their very presence signified an end to the terrible suffering the people of Jerusalem had endured during the war.
One British officer described his entry into Jerusalem and the reception by its residents this way: “Swarms of children, Arab, Jew, and Christian, ran with us as we marched along, and the populace clamored to any point of vantage, waving and clapping their hands, cheering and singing. Jews clad in European dress came running up, singled out any one of us, wrung him by the hand, and — talking excitedly in broken English — said that they, the people of Jerusalem, had been waiting for … two and a half years.”
The German government has officially apologised after its consulate in Melbourne refused 82 years ago to accept a letter of protest from the Australian Aborigines' League about the Nazi persecution of the Jews.
On Sunday Felix Klein – the Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism – issued the historic apology via video link on behalf of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.
The apology was screened at an event marking the anniversary of the 1938 delegation of the Australian Aborigines’ League – led by Aboriginal spokesman William Cooper [Yad Vashem] – to the German consulate in Melbourne.
According to The Argus newspaper, the delegation wanted to convey a resolution voicing "on behalf of Aborigines of Australia, a strong protest at the cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany, and ask that this persecution is brought to an end".
The Australian Aborigines' League, which used Mr Cooper's home in Footscray as its meeting place, drew a parallel between the treatment of Aboriginal people and a pogrom against Jews carried out by the paramilitary wing of the Nazis on November 9-10, 1938, that became known as Kristallnacht.
The league felt moved to protest at the violence from the other side of the world, and a delegation walked from Footscray to the German consulate in Melbourne on December 6, 1938.
But the consulate refused to admit the delegation.
"Officially, on behalf of the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, we are sorry that the 1938 Consul General in Melbourne would not accept the letter of the Australian Aborigines' League, nor forward it onto the political leadership here in Berlin as would have been the right and morally correct thing for a consulate official to do," Dr Klein said on Sunday.
Yorta Yorta activist and educator Lois Peeler said she was happy to accept the apology on behalf of her people.
"It’s a long time coming but we accept the apology," she said.
- Wednesday, December 09, 2020
- Varda Meyers Epstein (Judean Rose)
- Judean Rose, Opinion, Varda
The Jewish Agency
for Israel is actively partnering with evangelical Christians who seek to
bring Israeli Jews to Jesus. That’s because 1) These missionaries are saving
the Jewish Agency money by setting up and running absorption centers for new
immigrants, lone soldiers, and young pre-army students and 2) The missionaries
swear up and down until they’re blue in the face that they’re not missionaries—they
swear they’re not here to bring Israeli Jews to Jesus.
That promise of innocence is of course, ridiculous. They are
missionaries. Full stop. If the Jewish Agency believes them, I’ve got a bridge
I can sell them for cheap.
As mentioned in an earlier column: Shannon
Nuszen is working to expose the mission of evangelical Christians in Israel—Jews
are trying to shut her down, regular Jewish Israelis, not unlike the Jewish
Agency, are happy to save money. And just like the Jewish Agency, these Jews
swear up and down that the missionaries aren’t missionaries. The evangelicals,
meanwhile, harvest grapes in the Jewish orchards of Samaria for free—a dream
come true for any farmer. (But at what ultimate cost?)
With all that free labor, is it any wonder that some Israeli
Jews fight the notion that in actual fact, these Christians are here to bring
Israeli Jews to Jesus? But Jews looking the other way on the presence of
missionaries in Israel has, perhaps, another subtext: some Israeli Jews retain a
pathological need to seek constant approval from outsiders. These remaining
vestiges of the ghetto mentality of these Israelis living free and easy in
Israel is almost understandable: What happened to past generations in the
diaspora has no doubt scarred the less emotionally hardy of our people.
So if just regular Israeli Jewish Joes support the
evangelicals in their mission, it only stands to reason that the Jewish Agency
believes it can get away with underwriting projects like the Aliyah Return
Center for Lone Soldiers, run by, yes, missionaries.
Now it wouldn’t happen in America. This is made clear in
this most recent clip from Beynenu, narrated by Rabbi Tovia Singer.
From the film:
"What's going on here in Israel would not go on in the United States. Both the Reform and Conservative movements have bylaws that they will not work with messianics, who are evangelical fundamentalist Christians who use Jewish terminology, symbols, and icons in order to bring Jewish people to know Jesus in a Jewish way.
“Here in Israel there seems to be no separation.
“The Reform Movement [in America] is the most liberal, and even they would not allow anybody of the messianic movement to be involved in any aspect of their education, much less run their programs.
"Jewish Community Centers around the world deal with the problem of messianics working to infiltrate their centers and social networks all the time, and they work very hard to address it.
"Yet here in Israel we have messianics partnering with the Jewish Agency running absorption centers for new olim, lone soldiers, and young pre-army students. Nowhere else in the world would Jews think to cross this line!
"The Jewish Agency is partnering with the Aliyah Return Center, a Christian organization headed in this country by a Messianic Jew. It's astounding!"
This latest—some would say shocking—clip from Beynenu is, in
part, a response to the Jewish Agency, which has accused the organization of
doctoring footage to back the narrative that the evangelical Christians are
missionaries. Here is the official press release from the Jewish Agency for
Israel on the subject:
“The Jewish Agency runs an educational facility near the Sea of Galilee called Bikat Kinarot. The site, fully managed by The Jewish Agency, includes facilities for lone soldiers, new immigrants, preparation for service in the IDF and serves as a regional center for those involved with civic projects.
“We have a formal agreement with the Canadian Christian Zionist organization Return Ministries to provide volunteers and to assist with construction, maintenance and landscaping work on the campus. This is done within a very clear contractual framework, stipulating that any kind of missionary activity is strictly prohibited.
“We are familiar with Beynenu and while the videos are heavily edited, using old and irrelevant footage and containing many false statements, they do raise grave questions and concerns for us regarding our relationship with Return Ministries.
“Let us emphasize that Return Ministries has no involvement whatsoever with any Jewish Agency programming. Any involvement of Return Ministries or the Aliyah Return Center beyond the very clearly demarcated roles mentioned above is in clear violation of their agreement with The Jewish Agency. The Jewish Agency will make no compromise on allowing any missionary activity. We are examining the allegations and intend to take firm action if they are found to be correct. We reject any effort to apply pressure on our internal process by any outside body, who is trying to tarnish our good name. If necessary, we will take steps to prevent this besmirching of The Jewish Agency’s reputation and unwavering dedication to keeping the Jewish people connected to each other and to Israel.”
That’s the official statement to the press. An internal
email from the Jewish Agency, however, tells a different story:
“From this examination we have issued a very strong formal
letter of complaint sent to Return Ministries. As we have searched for the
facts, numerous violations of our contractual agreement have been discovered
which have been included in our letter.”
As a result, Beynenu, went ahead and sent the following
letter to the Jewish Agency:
As for claims by the Jewish Agency that Beynenu is using doctored,
old, and irrelevant clips to prove a specific and unfounded point, Shannon
Nuszen has this to say:
"We wish we could say that this is Hollywood, but these
videos are real and it's happening in Israel. We understand that leaders are
upset about this, and I think we all understand that mistakes happen. However,
it would be a bigger mistake to be defensive rather than taking this seriously
and addressing the problem.
"Whether they are baptizing olim, or just doing the gardening,
we should not be partnering with Messianics. Legitimizing Messianics undermines
Jewish communities, and as the Jewish Agency emphasizes, these communities are
the building blocks of Jewish life.
"This would not happen anywhere else in the world, but
for some reason this grave mistake has happened here in Israel.
"I assure you we are on the same side, and we would be
happy to help the Jewish Agency address this serious matter."
So what exactly is Beynenu, and why are they going after
these evangelical Christians like a dog with a bone that just won’t let go? Nuszen
says that Beyneynu is a team of former missionaries, counter missionary experts,
and “concerned persons of influence.” Here is Beynenu’s official mission
statement:
Beyneynu is a
non-profit organization that monitors missionary activity in Israel and works
with government and community leaders to create awareness of the challenges
facing the public and to facilitate the establishment of proper boundaries in
their partnerships with faith-based organizations.
Establishing “proper boundaries” would seem to be something sorely
lacking here between the Jewish Agency and organizations like Return
Ministries, Hayovel, and the Aliyah Return Center. As a Jewish Israeli, I
am happy that organizations like Beynenu exist. Because the last thing I want
Jewish Israelis (such as my children) to encounter, is a missionary hiding the
fact that what he really wants is for you to come to Jesus.
(h/t Shannon Nuszen
of Beyneynu)
- Wednesday, December 09, 2020
- Elder of Ziyon
- analysis, Daled Amos
We are the descendants of the Canaanites who lived in the land of Palestine 5,000 years ago, and continuously remained there to this day. Our great people remains rooted in its land. The Palestinian people built their own cities and homeland, and made contributions to humanity and civilization. [emphasis added]Two years earlier, in 2016, Abbas expanded on this. On official PA TV Abbas said
They [the Jews] are thieves who stole the land, and who want to steal the history, but history cannot change and cannot be falsified. The facts bear witness to it. We have been here for the last 5,000 years, and have not left this land. We have not left this land. Our forefathers are the monotheist Canaanites and Jebusites. They are the ones who built Jerusalem, before Abraham was even here. [emphasis added]What drives the Palestinian Arabs in general -- and Abbas in particular -- to such obvious fabrications?
Many of the Arab countries in the Middle East are newly created as a result of British, French and Italian machinations. The straight borders of many of those Arab countries testify to the arbitrariness of both the borders and the states themselves.
It is remarkable how rapidly the population of each of the newly created Arab states developed a national consciousness and patriotic feelings of its own. This process was facilitated in the major Arab states by historical memories that the leadership soon learned how to utilize. Sentiments in French mandatory, and later independent, Syria were thus related back to the great days when Syria, with Damascus as its splendid capital, was the center of the great Umayyad caliphate, while the newly reestablished Iraq saw herself as heir to the Abbasid empire whose center was the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. However, no other Arab country had as solid a basis for priding itself of its glorious past as Egypt, which, although its greatest age lay far back in the millennia of the jahiliyya [Arabia before the advent of Islam], nevertheless came to view that early Pharaonic period as part of its national history.Some Arab countries could create a national consciousness based on their place in Arab history. Other Arab countries, lacking that tie, could instead boast of their ancient history -- even if that history belonged to a land they had conquered and was not actually their own.
In Palestine, such attempts at establishing a great Arab national past ran into a vexing problem. Since Palestine had never been an independent Arab country, its period of pride had to be sought in the biblical Israelite age. As we have seen in an earlier chapter, the Arabs considered themselves heirs of Abraham the hanif [maintained pure monotheism], and claimed that Abraham, with his son Ishmael, was the founder of the sanctuary at Mecca. One writer even claimed that Abraham himself was an “Arabian.” Thus the more general claim could be made, even though it retained tenuous at best, that Palestine was the scene of part of Arab prehistory. [emphasis added]That is where Jewish history got in the way.
The difficulty arose in connection with the long period between Abraham (whose Arab progeny settled in Arabia) and the end of the Hebrew monarchy, during which there was no Arab presence in Palestine, while the Banu Isra’il (“Children of Israel”) were undeniably masters of the land. Hence, in contrast to Egypt, the Arabs could not claim that they had also in Palestine a national history going back to the long millennia of the jahiliyya. (p.309; emphasis added)But according to Patai, a sense of Palestinian nationalism did develop, and Patai describes it as a slow process that started with Arab differences with the Jews of the Second Aliyah who -- unlike the First Aliyah -- insisted that only Jews be employed as workers to work the land.
At the same time Arab nationalist leaders recognized that their cause could benefit from Jewish help. In June 1913 was held in Paris the first conference of Arab nationalists which was an overt anti-Turkish demonstration, and in preparation for which Arab approaches were made to the Jews with a view to setting up an Arab-Jewish alliance. In the course of these contacts it appeared that most Arab leaders in Cairo and Beirut took a positive view of Zionism were basically in favor of Jewish immigration to Syria and Palestine, and expressed their understanding of “the valuable assistance that the capital, the diligence, and the intelligence of the Jews can provide to the accelerated development of the [Arab] areas of Turkey.” (p.312; emphasis added)Patai quotes Ahmad Mukhtar Bayham, an Arab leader from Beirut at that conference who declared, “The entry of Jews--yes! But the entry of Turks--no!”
Because they [the Jews] are our brothers in race, and we regard them as Syrians who were forced to leave the country at one time but whose hearts always beat together with ours, we are certain that our Jewish brothers the world over will know how to help us so that our common interest may succeed and our common country will develop both materially and morally (p. 313)It sounded promising, but in the end, no agreement was reached on Zionist issues such as Jewish immigration and land purchases.