Arab-Israeli Conflict: Basic Facts
PowerPoint slide show with vivid pictures: Education of Arab Palestinian children.
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NEW BOOK: The Case for a Larger Israel.
Arab countries versus Israel
Maps of Arab countries (green) and Israel (red).
Note that Israel is like a tiny island in a sea of Arab countries.
The Arab nations are represented by 21 separate countries
(see Table). There is only one Jewish nation with a tiny country,
Israel. The combined territories of Arab countries is 650 fold greater than Israel
(see map above comparing size of Israel versus those of Arab
countries). Their population is 50 fold greater than Israel. The average
per capita GDP in Arab countries is $3,700 versus $18,000 for Israel.
This despite the fact that many Arab countries have world's richest oil
resources.
Country | Government | Territory (sq km) | Population (2001 est.) | GDP (Billions) |
---|---|---|---|---|
ARAB Total | Mostly monarchies | 13,486,861 | 292,400,267 | $1,195.49 |
Israel | Democracy | 20,770 | 5,938,093 | $110.20 |
Arabs > Israel | 649 fold | 49 fold | 11 fold | |
Algeria | Republic | 2,381,740 | 31,736,053 | $171.00 |
Bahrain | Monarchy | 620 | 645,361 | $10.10 |
Comoros | Republic | 2,170 | 596,202 | $0.42 |
Djibouti | Republic | 22,000 | 460,700 | $0.57 |
Egypt | Republic | 1,001,450 | 69,536,644 | $247.00 |
Iraq | In transition | 437,072 | 23,331,985 | $57.00 |
Jordan | Monarchy | 89,213 | 5,153,378 | $17.30 |
Kuwait | Monarchy | 17,820 | 2,041,961 | $29.30 |
Lebanon | Republic | 10,400 | 3,627,774 | $18.20 |
Libya | Dictatorship | 1,759,540 | 5,240,599 | $45.40 |
Mauritania | Republic | 1,030,700 | 2,747,312 | $5.40 |
Morocco | Monarchy | 446,550 | 30,645,305 | $105.00 |
Oman | Monarchy | 212,460 | 2,622,198 | $19.60 |
Qatar | Monarchy | 11,437 | 769,152 | $15.10 |
Saudi Arabia | Monarchy | 1,960,582 | 22,757,092 | $232.00 |
Somalia | None | 637,657 | 7,488,773 | $4.30 |
Sudan | Military regime | 2,505,810 | 36,080,373 | $35.70 |
Syria | Military regime | 185,180 | 16,728,808 | $50.90 |
Tunisia | Republic | 163,610 | 9,705,102 | $62.80 |
UAE | Emirates | 82,880 | 2,407,460 | $54.00 |
Yemen | Republic | 527,970 | 18,078,035 | $14.40 |
ARAB Total | Mostly monarchies | 13,486,861 | 292,400,267 | $1,195.49 |
Israel Total | Democracy | 20,770 | 5,938,093 | $110.20 |
Arabs > Israel | 649 fold | 49 fold | 11 fold |
Figures in the table were compiled from The World Fact Book.
Arab-Israeli wars
The Arab nations initiated four wars against Israel:
- 1948 War of Independence
- 1956 Sinai War
- 1967 Six Day War
- 1973 Yom Kippur War
Israel defended itself each time and won. After each war Israeli army withdrew from most of the areas it captured (see maps). (see Camp-David Accords).
This is unprecedented in World history and shows Israel's willingness
to reach peace even at the risk of fighting for its very existence each
time anew.
Anonymous quote:
If the Arabs (Moslems) put down their
weapons today there would be no more violence. If the Israelis put down
their weapons today there would be no more Israel.
Think about it...
Nationhood
Quote from Charles Krauthammer - The Weekly Standard, May 11, 1998
"Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store."
Israel became a nation about 1300 BCE, two thousand years before the
rise of Islam. The people of modern day Israel share the same language
and culture shaped by the Jewish heritage and religion passed through
generations starting with the founding father Abraham. 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.
After the Romans conquered Jerusalem about 2,000 years
ago, Jewish people were expelled and dispersed to the Diaspora, and the
Land of Israel was ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by
the Ottoman Empire, and by the British Empire.
Throughout centuries Jews prayed to return from the Diaspora to
Israel. During the first half of the 20th century there were major waves
of immigration of Jews back to Israel from the Arab countries and from
Europe. In 1948 Jews reestablished their sovereignty over their ancient
homeland with the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
It was only after the Jews re-inhabited their historic homeland of
Judea and Samaria, that the myth of a Palestinian nation was created and
marketed worldwide. Jews come from Judea, not Palestinians. There is no
language known as Palestinian, or any Palestinian culture distinct from
that of all the Arabs in the area. There has never been a land known as
Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs
indistinguishable from Arabs throughout the Middle East. The Palestinian
National Charter adopted by the PLO states this fact in the first
article (See the covenant)
The area called Palestine included the territories of present day
Israel and Jordan. Under Lausanne agreement of 1923 Turkey transferred
all claims to Palestine to mandatory power Britain. In 1922 Britain
allocated nearly 80% of Palestine to Transjordan. In 1947 UN partitioned
this remaining land into two states, a second Arab state, Palestine,
and Israel. The great majority of Arabs in greater Palestine and Israel
share the same culture, language and religion. The Arabs in the area
began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967,
two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
Virtually all the Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the West Bank of
Jordan River have complete autonomy under the rule of the Palestinian
Authority.
Jerusalem
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 (1948-1967), they never sought to
make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
In the Jewish Bible, Jerusalem is mentioned over 669 times and
Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154
times, or 823 times. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times
and Zion 7 times. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. Jerusalem is also not mentioned in the Palestinian Covenant.
King David established the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the
whole Land of Israel. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem. Jerusalem
remained under Turkish Ottoman Empire rule from 1517 to 1917, and under
British rule from 1917 to 1948.
Arab and Jewish Refugees
The UN partition plan of 1947 was rejected by all the Arab countries.
Arab leadership in Israel and in the countries surrounding Israel,
planned a Jihad, holy war, against Israel and encouraged the Arabs to
leave Israel promising their return after they purge the land of Jews.
The great majority of Arabs left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier (see article and Arab sources that describe what happened during the war of 1948 that caused the Palestinian refugee problem).
During 1940's through 1950's nearly ALL the Jews had to flee from Arab countries to avoid persecution and pogroms. The
number of Jewish refugees from Arab countries is estimated to be a
million. This number is greater than the number of Arab refugees who
left Israel in 1948, estimated as 343,000 (see Peters' book cited below).
Most of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries rapidly integrated
into the modern society of Israel. This, despite the fact that Israel is
a tiny country (about size of New Jersey) without any of the world's
richest resources of petroleum in Arab countries. Today, the majority of
the people in Israel are the descendants of Jews from Arab countries.
(European Jews and their descendants constitute less than half the
population of Israel).
The development of the Jewish community under British mandate led to
economic growth in the region providing job opportunities for Arab
workers. Consequently, the Arab population of Palestine swelled by the
influx of Arab immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and other Arab
countries until 1947 (The trend of Arab migration into Israel to find a
job continues to the present day). While the British forces limited
Jewish immigration, they allowed free entry of Arab migrants. The UN
agency UNRWA defined a "Palestinian refugee", as any Arab who stayed in
the country for two years prior to 1948. Thus, UNRWA included in their
statistics migrant workers greatly swelling the ranks of so called
"Palestinian refugees" (for best reference on the subject see: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters).
Arab refugee problem was created by the seven Arab countries that
attacked Israel in 1948. Arab refugees were intentionally not integrated
into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the fact total
territory of Arab countries is about 700 times greater than that of
Israel. Out of about 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is
the only refugee group in the world that has not been absorbed into
their own peoples' lands. Arab nations still maintain generations of the
descendants of the refugees in so called "refugee camps" under squalid
conditions with the hope that someday they will dislodge the Jews in
Israel. The money spent by the Arab countries on armaments would be
sufficient to build houses for all so called "refugees". Arab countries
should be encouraged to care for their poor population instead of
spending their richest resources in the world on armaments and
development of terrorist groups such as Osama Bin Laden from Saudi
Arabia.
Since 1948, after three generations the descendants of the Arab
refugees are still called "refugees" and are supported by UN "refugee"
funds! With the highest birth rate in Arab countries this population has
now grown to about four million. In negotiations, Arab leadership
requests the "right of return" of this mass of millions into the tiny
land of Israel. The settlement of millions of Arabs in Israel would
immediately eliminate Israel as a Jewish state. This is the real aim of
the Arab countries, to achieve by supposedly "peaceful" means what they
could not achieve by unceasing violence in whole scale wars and daily
terrorism.
The responsibility for keeping the Arab population who are
descendants of the Arab refugees, rests only on the shoulders of the
Arab countries that created the problem by attacking Israel in 1948.
Quote from Ralph Galloway, a former head of the UN Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in Amman,
capital of Jordan, in August 1958:
"The Arab states do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don't give a damn whether the refugees live or die."
Related resources:
Holy Places
The Temple Mount in Jerusalem
is the holiest site for Jews. It was the site of the Beit HaMikdash
("Temple") built by King Solomon (950 BCE), which was destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar (587 BCE), rebuilt in 541 BCE, and then destroyed again
by the Roman army in 70 CE leading to the exile of Jews from Israel. Al
Aqsa Mosque and Shrine Of Omar were built at the site of the ancient
Jewish temples. The Arabic name for Jerusalem "el-KuDS" is derived from
the Arabic name "BeT el-MaKDeS", a translation of the Hebrew "BeiT
ha-MiKDaSH", the name of the Jewish Temple (see articles).
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. Arabs recently burnt the Tomb of Joseph and the ancient
synagogue in Jericho (see pictures).
To this days Arab Waqf in control of the Temple Mount does not allow
Jews to pray in the Temple Mount. Jews pray facing Jerusalem as the
location of the Beit Hamikdash. Muslims pray facing their holy city
Mecca with their backs toward Jerusalem. Throughout the ages the Arabs
have ignored The Temple Mount and renewed interest only recently because
of their political exigencies and not religious history (see pictures and articles).
U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs
Of the 175 United Nations 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 destroyed 58
Jerusalem Synagogues and systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish
cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The U.N. was silent while the
Jordanians prevented Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western
Wall.
This anti-Israel stance of the UN is a natural consequence of its
membership structure. 21 members of the UN are Arab countries, and 52
members represent Islamic countries. Since the Arab Israeli conflict is
represented as a religious conflict (see article) Israel as the only Jewish state has no chance for a fair hearing in the UN.
Related articles
Oslo accords and "Peace Process"
The Oslo "Peace" accords have not brought peace. The number of terror
attacks against Israel and the number of Israelis killed by Arab terror
bombings greatly escalated after Oslo to a level that has not been seen
since 1948 (see statistics). The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly violated all aspects of the agreement (see full report of violations).
Recent armed violence by the army of Arafat confirm the predictions
that this agreement would escalate the conflict rather than subdue it (see article).
In the history there are many examples of international "peace
agreements" that were rapidly followed by major wars. A well known
relevant case is the Munich agreement signed by Chamberlain from Great
Britain and Hitler from Germany in 1938, which was rapidly revoked by
Hitler as German armies invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939.
The P.L.O.'s Charter
still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Fatah
Constitution that is adopted as the unofficial constitution of the
Palestinian Authority also calls for the destruction of the Jewish State
in most of its clauses.
Education
One of primary means to promote peace between nations is the
educational system. In Israeli high schools Arabic is taught as one of
required languages. Special educational programs greatly emphasize the
need for peaceful coexistence with Israel's Arab neighbors. In contrast,
textbooks used in Palestinian Authority schools portray Jews and
Israelis in most derogatory and hateful terms (see reports).
In summer camps and kindergartens, Palestinian Arab children undergo
paramilitary training against Israel. Some Arab Institutions and parents
train children at an early age as suicide bombers (see article from USA Today, and video).
This educational atmosphere makes peace impossible in this generation,
and plants the seeds of hatred among the coming generations of Arab
children as well.
Related articles:
Is improving economic conditions for Palestinian Arabs conducive to peace?
No, the opposite is true! A landmark study on the subject indicates
that the prerequisite for Peace-seeking is not better economic
conditions but rather democratic forms of government. Since most Arab
countries are far removed from multi-party democracy (see table above),
the conditions are not ripe for overall peace in the Middle East. The
study concludes that "making inherently aggressive dictatorships of the
region more prosperous will not make them more pacific only more
powerful" and more willing to pursue armed violence (see article).
This is true not only for conflict with Israel but for Intra-Arab
conflicts as well (see most recent examples of Iran-Iraq war, Gulf War,
etc.).
One of the assumptions of the "Oslo Peace Process" was that it would
increase stability by improving the economic conditions for the Arabs of
the region. Ironically, since the establishment of the Palestinian
Authority (P.A.) the per capita GDP among the P.A. Arabs dropped from
$3,500 in 1987 to around $1,000 in 1999. There are many factors
responsible for this drop, prominent among them is the corruption of the
P.A.
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