- POINT 1: Israel is an apartheid state.
- COUNTERPOINT: This use of the term apartheid is an insult to the blacks in South Africa. Apartheid was their special and unique tragedy. By using the term to describe an altogether different situation, you trivialize and degrade their suffering and the uniqueness of their particular experience. You should be ashamed.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about apartheid. It was an official policy in South Africa, enacted in law and enforced through police violence, of brutal political, legal and economic discrimination against people of color. It was based upon minority control over a majority population. Israel has nothing remotely comparable. It is a multiethnic, multicultural majority-rule democracy like the U.S.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. Israelis come from over 100 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's Arab minority has all the same civil and legal rights as its Jewish majority. Israeli Arabs have five political parties. Arab-Israelis held 12 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Parliament in 2002. Arabic is an official language of Israel and is on equal footing with Hebrew. [1]
- Supporting Evidence: All Arab municipalities are controlled and administered by Arabs and they receive government funding for education and infrastructure. [2]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israeli regime is not apartheid. It is a unique case of democracy." Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South Africa's Minister for Home Affairs, 2003. [3]
- Supporting Evidence: "….I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy."
Martin Luther King 1968 [4]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is a democracy; it is multi-racial; Arab citizens can vote freely and enter civil society; there is freedom of religion and a free press. An openly gay man just won election to the Knesset." Andrew Sullivan. Sunday London Times [5]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. Israelis come from over 100 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israeli citizens struggle with prejudices among its many minorities, just as all multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracies do, but Israel's laws prohibit-not endorse-prejudices and discrimination.
- COUNTERPOINT: Arab countries, not Israel, have despotic regimes that oppress people and actively discriminate against minorities in legal systems that resemble apartheid.
- Supporting Evidence: "A non-Muslim in an Islamic state is required to pay jaziya, which in the Koranic language is a Humiliation Tax. In fact, the life of an unbeliever is a series of humiliations in a Muslim country…Since it is the Islamic way of life which requires an unbeliever to yield way to the Muslim when they happen to be walking on the same path, it can safely be called the forerunner of South African apartheid." Anwar Shaikh, 1998 [6]
- Supporting Evidence: The UN Arab Human Development Report of 2002, written by Arab scholars, underscored the immense "freedom deficit" of Arab countries which "undermines human development…While de jure acceptance of democracy and human rights is enshrined in constitutions…de facto implementation is often neglected and, in some cases, deliberately disregarded…Representative democracy is not always genuine and sometimes absent. Freedoms of expression and association are frequently curtailed. Obsolete norms of legitimacy prevail…." [7]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian leaders and preachers, guided by history and religion, have traditionally seen the Jews as an inferior race whose proper place was as an abased minority in a Muslim polity; and the present situation, with an Arab under Jewish rule, is regarded as a perversion of nature and divine will." Historian Benny Morris, 2003 [8]
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "the government prohibits the public practice of other religions;" in Egypt, "religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited" and "Christians cower[ed] in fear of violence from Islamic militants and systematic human rights violations by Egypt…." In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed and most evangelical churches must function underground." American Department of State First Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Professor Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman. [9]
- Supporting Evidence: "A non-Muslim in an Islamic state is required to pay jaziya, which in the Koranic language is a Humiliation Tax. In fact, the life of an unbeliever is a series of humiliations in a Muslim country…Since it is the Islamic way of life which requires an unbeliever to yield way to the Muslim when they happen to be walking on the same path, it can safely be called the forerunner of South African apartheid." Anwar Shaikh, 1998 [6]
- COUNTERPOINT: This use of the term apartheid is an insult to the blacks in South Africa. Apartheid was their special and unique tragedy. By using the term to describe an altogether different situation, you trivialize and degrade their suffering and the uniqueness of their particular experience. You should be ashamed.
- POINT 2: Zionism is racism and Israel is a racist state that discriminates against people of color.
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionism is not racism. It is a movement for national liberation, based on the principle that the Jewish people, like any other nation, are entitled to their own homeland, to self-determination, independence and freedom from oppression.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die." Theodore Herzl, The Jewish State, 1896 [10]
- Supporting Evidence: "Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land... the fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord to all other nations of the globe."
--Martin Luther King [11]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is manifestly right that the scattered Jews should have a national center and a national home and be reunited and where else but in Palestine with which for 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?" Winston Churchill [12]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die." Theodore Herzl, The Jewish State, 1896 [10]
- COUNTERPOINT: To call Zionism racism perverts the very meaning of the term racism and is itself a form of racism.
- Supporting Evidence: "..[T]he definition of 'racism' has been perverted for political ends by including Zionism as one of its forms." President Jimmy Carter OK. Source?
- Supporting Evidence: "Terms such as 'genocide', 'holocaust,' 'ethnic cleansing' and even 'anti-Semitism,' have been hijacked by the defamers (of Israel) and are now being used against the Jews, who have been key victims of all these phenomena." Manfred Gerstenfeld Jerusalem Viewpoints OK [13]
- Supporting Evidence: To single out the Jewish nationalist movement as racist is itself a form of racism and simply repeats the anti-Semitism of the Nazi era. "And what is anti-Zionism? It is the denial to the Jew of the fundamental right that we…freely accord to all other nations of the globe. It is discrimination against Jews because they are Jews. In short it is anti-Semitism." --Martin Luther King [14]
- Supporting Evidence: "Zionism…is the idea that led to the creation of a home for the Jewish people…And to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in WW II and indeed throughout history." President George Bush, 1991 [15]
- Supporting Evidence: "..[T]he definition of 'racism' has been perverted for political ends by including Zionism as one of its forms." President Jimmy Carter OK. Source?
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. Israelis come from over 100 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and almost 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy. [16]
- Supporting Evidence: "As a meeting point of Asia, Europe, and Africa, Israel is a melting pot of religions, nationalities, temperaments, and ideologies, and although Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages, many European languages are also widely spoken." Entry on Israel, Organization of American States, Office of External Relations, 2002 [17]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is home to a widely diverse population from many ethnic, religious, cultural and social backgrounds. A new society with ancient roots, it is still coalescing and evolving today. Of its 6.4 million people, 77.8 percent are Jews, 17.3 percent are Arabs (mostly Muslim) and the remaining 4.9 percent comprise Druze, Circassians and others not classified by religion." Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2003 [18]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's Arab minority has all the same civil and legal rights as its Jewish majority. Israeli Arabs have five political parties. Arab-Israelis held 12 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Parliament in 2002. Arabic is an official language of Israel and is on equal footing with Hebrew. [19]
- Supporting Evidence: All Arab municipalities are controlled and administered by Arabs and they receive government funding for education and infrastructure. [20]
- Supporting Evidence: "By any fair measure, Israel is light-years ahead of the Arab world in terms of racial and religious tolerance. Privately, Arabs would concede that they are treated far better in Tel Aviv than any Jew would be now in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus or Amman. Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [21]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and almost 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy. [16]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim grossly distorts reality. Palestinians do not look different from and are racially little different from the average Israeli. Palestinians only look different than the Israelis of color-the African and Asian Israelis. The conflict is not about color or race.
- Supporting Evidence: Over half of Jewish Israelis are Jews of Middle Eastern descent, that is Jews who had not left the Middle East after the Roman defeat in the first century and who settled in Arab countries. "In Israel, a little more than half of all Jews are Mizrachim, descended from Jews who have been in the land since ancient times or who were forced out of Arab countries after Israel was founded…. About 1% of the Israeli population are the black Ethiopian Jews who fled during the brutal Ethiopian famine in the late 1980s and early 1990s." "Judaism 101" [22]
- Supporting Evidence: Israeli citizens come from over 100 countries and include people of every color of skin and racial background--Latin Americans, Arab Jews, Asian Jews and Black African Jews from Ethiopia. [23]
- Supporting Evidence: Over half of Jewish Israelis are Jews of Middle Eastern descent, that is Jews who had not left the Middle East after the Roman defeat in the first century and who settled in Arab countries. "In Israel, a little more than half of all Jews are Mizrachim, descended from Jews who have been in the land since ancient times or who were forced out of Arab countries after Israel was founded…. About 1% of the Israeli population are the black Ethiopian Jews who fled during the brutal Ethiopian famine in the late 1980s and early 1990s." "Judaism 101" [22]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel does not discriminate against people of color. Quite the contrary. Israeli Jews themselves come from over 100 countries and from every continent and 20% of Israelis are non-Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: Over 50% of Israel's Jews are Arab Jews with the same coloring as other Arabs, including Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: Israeli Jews include black Ethiopian Jews whom Israel rescued from Ethiopia in its famous "Operation Solomon" in 1992. [24]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel also has Jewish citizens who come from Asia and India. [25]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1979, Israel gave refuge and instant citizenship to 250 desperate Vietnamese boat people whom other nations refused to accept. As one Vietnamese refugee told the Jerusalem Post in 1996: "I don't feel as though I'm in the minority. It doesn't bother me that I'm Vietnamese, because in my head I'm Israeli." [26]
- Supporting Evidence: Over 50% of Israel's Jews are Arab Jews with the same coloring as other Arabs, including Palestinians.
- COUNTERPOINT: Despite Israel's commitment to political pluralism, it amended its Basic Law (the equivalent of its Constitution) in 1985 to prohibit political groups that are "racist" or that "incite to racism" from participating in elections. The small Kach and Kahane Chai groups that advocated expelling Palestinians from Israel were barred from participating in elections. (http://www.ict.org.il/ )
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is such a successful multicultural society that Cookie Lommel, an African-American woman, began a program in 1994, Operation Unity, to bring inner city African-American and Latino kids to spend summers in Israel. Their reactions attest to the fact that Israel is NOT a racist state:
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israeli people did not care what color we were. It was such a special feeling to know that adults and teens my age were interested in me as a person like themselves." Merle Chopha, when she was a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. [27]
- Supporting Evidence: "In America, where we all seem so divided, it was refreshing to see the mixture of people on the kibbutz who have learned to relate well in many ways," Enrique Carmona, Roosevelt High School in East LA. [28]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israeli people did not care what color we were. It was such a special feeling to know that adults and teens my age were interested in me as a person like themselves." Merle Chopha, when she was a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. [27]
- COUNTERPOINT: Arab states and the Palestinian Authority are racist, not Israel. They promote one of the oldest and most vicious kinds of racism-anti-Semitism.
- Supporting Evidence: "The demonization of Jews [in Arabic literature] goes further than it had ever done in Western literature, with the exception of Germany during the period of Nazi rule." Historian Bernard Lewis in 1987 [29]
- Supporting Evidence: We do not read in the Jerusalem Post, as we do in the Arab dailies, that Palestinians are "monkeys" and "vampires." Nor is there a sizeable literature in Israel-as there is in the Arab world-devoted to proving their enemies are subhuman. Real racism and hatred exist in the present conflict, but they are expressed almost entirely by Arabs, not Jews. Had a paper in Tel Aviv alleged that Arabs drink blood and are related to primates, the world's outrage would be second only to the moral indignation in Israel itself." Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [30]
- Supporting Evidence: "…in its founding charter or "Covenant," which was composed in 1988, Hamas (which today commands the support of about one-half of the Palestinians and probably a far greater proportion in Gaza and the refugee camps) described "the Jews" as "an instrument of evil"; and it ascribes the outbreak of the French and Russian revolutions, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the eruption of World War I and World War II to Jewish machinations. The "Covenant" posits the destruction of Israel as the organization's main political goal, and jihad as its method. Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) pamphlets during the first intifada, from 1987 to 1991, regularly described the Jews as "sons of apes and pigs." Historian Benny Morris, "The Rejection," 2003 [31]
- Supporting Evidence: "In Palestine the Arab reaction to Zionism was shaped from the start by cognitive dissonance. The Jews had always been seen as "children of death (doom)"-hapless, helpless victims. The Zionists did not fit that image, but the Arabs long refused to adjust their perception to the reality. Some still refuse, which is one reason why Arabs prefer to see Israel as the creature of some outside power: it makes everything more understandable." Historian David Landes [32]
- Supporting Evidence: "The demonization of Jews [in Arabic literature] goes further than it had ever done in Western literature, with the exception of Germany during the period of Nazi rule." Historian Bernard Lewis in 1987 [29]
- COUNTERPOINT: If racism does play a role in the conflict, it is the Palestinians' and Arab culture's endemic racism-anti-Semitism.
- Supporting Evidence: "Depictions of Jews in Arab and Muslim media are akin to those of Nazi Germany, and medieval blood libels, including claims that Jews use Christian and Muslim blood in preparing their holiday foods-have become prominent and routine." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp, Jeanne Kirkpatrick Open Memorandum April 24, 2002 [33]
- Supporting Evidence: The "Jews "were behind the French Revolution, the Communist revolution and most of the revolutions we heard and hear about…They were behind World War I and were able to destroy the Islamic Caliphate…and they were behind World War II." "The Zionist plan is limitless….Their plan is embodied in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Hamas Charter Articles 22 and 32 [34]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000. [35]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian leaders and preachers, guided by history and religion, have traditionally seen the Jews as an inferior race whose proper place was as an abased minority in a Muslim polity; and the present situation, with an Arab under Jewish rule, is regarded as a perversion of nature and divine will." Benny Morris [36]
- Supporting Evidence: "In Palestine the Arab reaction to Zionism was shaped from the start by cognitive dissonance. The Jews had always been seen as 'children of doom'-hapless, helpless victims. The Zionists did not fit that image, but the Arabs long refused to adjust their perception to the reality. Some still refuse, which is one reason why Arabs prefer to see Israel as the creature of some outside power: it makes everything more understandable." (Harvard historian David S Landes in Commentary Magazine, February 1976.)
- Supporting Evidence: "Depictions of Jews in Arab and Muslim media are akin to those of Nazi Germany, and medieval blood libels, including claims that Jews use Christian and Muslim blood in preparing their holiday foods-have become prominent and routine." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp, Jeanne Kirkpatrick Open Memorandum April 24, 2002 [33]
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionism is not racism. It is a movement for national liberation, based on the principle that the Jewish people, like any other nation, are entitled to their own homeland, to self-determination, independence and freedom from oppression.
- POINT 3: Israel is an expansionist, imperialist state that seeks "an irreversible conquest of Palestinian land and society."
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not an expansionist state. Jews were an indigenous oppressed minority in the Arab world and especially in Palestine. After World War I, the world community recognized their right to independence and self-determination in Palestine. To call the small state the Jews established-1/6th of 1% of the Middle East-an expansionist state is to defy credulity and justice.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not an expansionist, imperialist state nor do any of its actions indicate it seeks the "irreversible conquest of Palestinian land and society." Throughout its history, Israel has always been willing to compromise and accept partition of Palestine, though the world community had designated all of Palestine for a Jewish homeland.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1922, Britain cut off 4/5 of the Palestine Mandate and made it an exclusively Arab state, today known as Jordan. Zionists and today Israel accept this severance of land that was to be "closely settled by Jews" according to the Palestine Mandate. . [37]
- Supporting Evidence: "In terms of territory, Transjordan represented a full four-fifths of the original Mandatory Palestine… [the British hoped] the Arabs would now wave their claim to the remaining fifth." Historian Benny Morris [38]
- Supporting Evidence: Zionists accepted the Peel Commission's 1937 plan and the United Nations 1947 Plan (Resolution 181) to partition the remaining 22% of Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel tried to negotiate directly with local Palestinian leaders between 1967-1969 to establish autonomy in the West Bank. [39]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered autonomy to the Territories in an exchange of letters attached to the Camp David Accords that established peace between Egypt and Israel in 1979. [40]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state with the Oslo Accords in 1993. By 1996, Israel had deployed from all major Palestinian population centers and 98% of Palestinians were self-governing under the Palestinian Authority. "Under the Oslo framework, Israel transferred some measure of control to the Palestinian Authority in Areas A and B encompassing 40 percent of the West Bank….These were the areas where 97 to 98% of Palestinians live." Foundation for Middle East Peace, June 19 2002 [41]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state on 100% of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank with a land exchange that would bring the total area to 100% and a shared capital in Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000 and Taba in 2001. Dennis Ross, US Envoy to Camp David and Taba, Egypt. [42]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1922, Britain cut off 4/5 of the Palestine Mandate and made it an exclusively Arab state, today known as Jordan. Zionists and today Israel accept this severance of land that was to be "closely settled by Jews" according to the Palestine Mandate. . [37]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not expansionistic or imperialistic. In wars in 1955, 1967 and 1973, Israel was able to reach Cairo and Damascus. It always pulled back and refrained from capturing them.
- COUNTERPOINT: When an Arab country was willing to reach out its hand in peace, Israel has been willing to relinquish captured land and dismantle settlements in the interests of peace.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979 and returned the whole Sinai, 91% of the land it had captured during the 1967 War. [43]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel had discovered oil in the Sinai and set up the industrial infrastructure to extract it. It turned this heavy industrial infrastructure over to Egypt. [44]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel dismantled its settlements in the Sinai over the protest of many of the Jewish residents. The Israeli government offered a huge sum of money to the residents to induce them to leave. Ariel Sharon finally was sent to dismantle the community of Yamit whose residents had built a corner of the Sinai into "a green and prosperous agricultural adjunct of Israel" and who were especially resistant. Historian Howard Sachar [45]
- Supporting Evidence: When Jordan was willing to make peace in 1994, Israel made peace and returned a small portion of disputed land.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979 and returned the whole Sinai, 91% of the land it had captured during the 1967 War. [43]
- COUNTERPOINT: Some critics have suggested that Israel was too generous in its peace treaty with Egypt and was establishing a dangerous international precedent-"no lose" wars -- whereby a nation did not have to pay a price for its aggression. This could pose an incentive for other aggressor states.
- Supporting Evidence: "In longer retrospect, the terms of the treaty can be seen to have set an unfortunate precedent. Egypt had been an aggressor against Israel four times and had lost four times…..But under the peace treaty, Israel returned to the aggressor, Egypt, everything the aggressor had lost. This had never been done before in the long history of warfare between nations, and is very bad policy because it makes aggression a "no lose" bet for the aggressor country." [46]
- Supporting Evidence: "To regard those who have initiated aggressive wars and lost as equal bargaining partners is to encourage the waging of war as an adjunct to negotiation. There must be a price paid for starting and losing wars. That price includes a diminished status in the postwar peace negotiations." Professor Alan Dershowitz, Harvard School of Law [47]
- Supporting Evidence: "In longer retrospect, the terms of the treaty can be seen to have set an unfortunate precedent. Egypt had been an aggressor against Israel four times and had lost four times…..But under the peace treaty, Israel returned to the aggressor, Egypt, everything the aggressor had lost. This had never been done before in the long history of warfare between nations, and is very bad policy because it makes aggression a "no lose" bet for the aggressor country." [46]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinians who have been expansionistic and refused to accept compromise on Palestine or accept Jews in Palestine.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian leadership rejected all compromise proposals that would have allowed a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian Arab state-1937, 1947, 1969, 1979, 2000.
- Supporting Evidence: When Israel offered the Palestinians autonomy in 1967, "eighty-two West bank notables signed an open manifesto berating as ludicrous the attempts to create a Palestine entity." Historian Howard Sachar [48]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian national movement, from its inception…has stuck fast to the vision of a 'Greater Palestine,' meaning a Muslim-Arab populated and Arab controlled state in all of Palestine, perhaps with some Jews being allowed to stay on as a religious minority." Historian Benny Morris [49]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is impossible for us to make an understanding with them [the Jews] or even to live with them….Their history and all their past proves that it is impossible to live with them. In all the countries where they are at present they are not wanted…because they always arrive to suck the blood of everybody…If the league of Nations will not listen to the appeal of the Arabs this country will become a river of blood." 'Aref Pahsa Dajani, Jerusalem notable, 1919 [50]
- Supporting Evidence: "Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews. The answer I got was: 'The Jews are yours.'" Mufti of Jerusalem, Leader of the Palestinian Arabs, Memoirs [51]
- Supporting Evidence: Arab representatives told the UN that they "rejected partition and advocated a unitary, democratic state from which the illegal immigrants [i.e. Jews] would be expelled and where the remaining Jews would have no political rights." 1947 Historian Benny Morris [52]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians." All others would be forced to leave. Article 6, PLO Charter, 1968(*) The Arabs who had immigrated to Palestine from other Arab countries (estimated at a minimum of 100,000) in the same period would apparently be allowed to stay and would be considered Palestinians. [53]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians don't have a state because they have had "an all or nothing policy," unlike the Zionists. "The Zionists never demanded the impossible….Our leadership….enabled the Zionists to succeed at every opportunity…by rejecting every proposal for compromise, rejecting proposals to give it a state on most of the land of Palestine…" Tawfiz Abu Bakr, Palestinian columnist, 2003 [54]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of "this irrational nihilist behavior [of Palestinians about accepting compromise], "Haj Amin Al-Husseini…rejected the settlement offered him by the Peel Commission in 1937…Then, he repeated his mistake by rejecting the Partition Plan that this time would have given 55% to the Jews and the rest to Palestine…." Al-'Afif Al-Akdhar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [55]
- Supporting Evidence: "The mania for armed struggle….is the cause for [us] missing …historical opportunities since 1937 to 2000, with…pristine excuses such as 'we have the right[s] on our side…" Al-'Aff Al-Akhdar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [56]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian leadership rejected all compromise proposals that would have allowed a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian Arab state-1937, 1947, 1969, 1979, 2000.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not an expansionist state. Jews were an indigenous oppressed minority in the Arab world and especially in Palestine. After World War I, the world community recognized their right to independence and self-determination in Palestine. To call the small state the Jews established-1/6th of 1% of the Middle East-an expansionist state is to defy credulity and justice.
- POINT 4: Zionists long-term goal was always to transfer Arabs out of their future Jewish state and to ethnically cleanse it.
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the opposite was true. Zionist leaders from Theodore Herzl to Chaim Weizman to David Ben Gurion were dedicated to peaceful co-existence with the local Arab residents and to having them benefit from Zionist development.
- Supporting Evidence: Herzl's vision of the future Jewish state: "Arabs and Jews lived in friendship side-by-side. 'The Jews have enriched us,' observed one Arab notable, Reshid Bey. 'Why should we have anything against them? They live with us like brothers, why should we not love them?'" Theodore Herzl's utopian novel, Alteneuland, 1902 [57]
- Supporting Evidence: "I explained to [Feisel]…the fact that there was a great deal of room in the country if intensive development were applied, and that the lot of the Arabs would be greatly improved through our work there. With all this I found the Emir in full agreement…" Chaim Weizman letter 1918 [58]
- Supporting Evidence: "All our aspiration is built on the assumption-proven through all our activity in the land-that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs…. "The Arab policy of the Jewish state must be aimed not only at full equality for the Arabs but at their cultural, social, and economic equalization, namely, at raising their standard of living to that of the Jews. David Ben Gurion Letter to his son, 1937 and Protocol meeting, 1938 [59]
- Supporting Evidence: Early Zionists planned to have Arabic taught in their schools, and to have their children learn the Arabs' ways "in order that they learn how to live, not fight with them." 1883 [60]
- Supporting Evidence: "The State of Israel... will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture." Israel's Declaration of Independence 1948. [61]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel established Arabic as an official language when it became a state in 1948.
- Supporting Evidence: Herzl's vision of the future Jewish state: "Arabs and Jews lived in friendship side-by-side. 'The Jews have enriched us,' observed one Arab notable, Reshid Bey. 'Why should we have anything against them? They live with us like brothers, why should we not love them?'" Theodore Herzl's utopian novel, Alteneuland, 1902 [57]
- COUNTERPOINT: Jews repeatedly accepted partition plans to share the land-in 1937 (Peel Commission), 1947 (UN Partition Plan), 1993-2000 (Oslo Accords).
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Palestinian leaders who have always hoped to "ethnically cleanse" Palestine-of Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian national movement, from its inception…has stuck fast to the vision of a 'Greater Palestine,' meaning a Muslim-Arab populated and Arab controlled state in all of Palestine, perhaps with some Jews being allowed to stay on as a religious minority." Historian Benny Morris [62]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is impossible for us to make an understanding with them [the Jews] or even to live with them….Their history and all their past proves that it is impossible to live with them. In all the countries where they are at present they are not wanted…because they always arrive to suck the blood of everybody…If the league of Nations will not listen to the appeal of the Arabs this country will become a river of blood." 'Aref Pahsa Dajani, Jerusalem notable, 1919 [63]
- Supporting Evidence: "Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews. The answer I got was: 'The Jews are yours.'" Mufti of Jerusalem, Leader of the Palestinian Arabs, Memoirs [64]
- Supporting Evidence: Arab representatives told the UN that they "rejected partition and advocated a unitary, democratic state from which the illegal immigrants [i.e. Jews] would be expelled and where the remaining Jews would have no political rights." 1947 Historian Benny Morris [65]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians." All others would be forced to leave. Article 6, PLO Charter, 1968 [66]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian leadership rejected all compromise proposals that would have allowed a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian Arab state-1937, 1947, 1969, 1979, 2000.
- Supporting Evidence: Arab leaders even rejected the UN's alternate suggestion for Palestine to be one state with Arab and Jewish cantons joined in a federal government-known as the minority proposal. "Indeed, both the majority and the minority plans horrified them." Historian Howard Sachar [67]
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian Authority has demanded that all "settlers"-i.e. Jews-leave its future homeland. "You understand that we plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; the Jews will not want to live among us Arabs! I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews." Yassir Arafat, Speech to Arab Diplomats in the Spiegel Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, January 30, 1996 [68]
- Supporting Evidence: The Jews "must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said, 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands.'…Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Sermon in Gaza broadcast on PA television. October, 2000 PA-appointed religious leader. Sermon broadcast on PA television. [69]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian national movement, from its inception…has stuck fast to the vision of a 'Greater Palestine,' meaning a Muslim-Arab populated and Arab controlled state in all of Palestine, perhaps with some Jews being allowed to stay on as a religious minority." Historian Benny Morris [62]
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the opposite was true. Zionist leaders from Theodore Herzl to Chaim Weizman to David Ben Gurion were dedicated to peaceful co-existence with the local Arab residents and to having them benefit from Zionist development.
- POINT 5: Israel started all the Arab-Israeli Wars beginning in 1948
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a patent distortion of the historical record. Arab states initiated all the wars in the region because they refused to accept a small, independent Jewish state in their midst. They have never tried to disguise their absolute refusal to accept the existence of Israel but have turned conquering Israel into their most impassioned cause celebre.
- Supporting Evidence: 1948 War: "The representatives of the Jewish Agency told us yesterday that they were not the attackers, that the Arabs had begun the fighting. We do not deny this. We told the whole world we were going to fight." Jamal Huseeini, the Arab Higher Committee's spokesman, to the UN Security Council, April 16, 1948 [70]
- Supporting Evidence: 1948 War: "The Egyptian government has declared in a cablegram to the President of the Security Council on 15 May that Egyptian armed forces have entered Palestine and it has engaged in 'armed intervention' in that country. On May 16 I received a cablegram from the Arab League making similar statements on behalf of the Arab states. I consider it my duty to emphasize to that this is the first time since the adoption of the [UN] Charter that Member states have openly declared that they have engaged in armed intervention outside their own territory." Trygve Lie, UN Secretary General, Report to UN Security Council, May 16, 1948 [71]
- Supporting Evidence: 1967 War: "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel…to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical hour has arrived. We have reached the stage of serious action and not declarations." King Hussein of Jordan, May 30, 1967 [72]
- Supporting Evidence: 1967 War: "Our forces are now entirely ready…to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland…the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation." Hafez Assad, Syrian Defense Minister and later President of Syria. [73]
- Supporting Evidence: 1973 War: "The Yom Kippur started at noon, October 6, 1973, with the combined assault of the Egyptian and Syrian military forces against Israeli forces on the Suez Canal in the south and the Golan Heights in the north. With the declared intention of avenging the disgrace of 1967, Arab forces surprised the unready Israelis and won a number of initial victories." [74]
- Supporting Evidence: 1948 War: "The representatives of the Jewish Agency told us yesterday that they were not the attackers, that the Arabs had begun the fighting. We do not deny this. We told the whole world we were going to fight." Jamal Huseeini, the Arab Higher Committee's spokesman, to the UN Security Council, April 16, 1948 [70]
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a patent distortion of the historical record. Arab states initiated all the wars in the region because they refused to accept a small, independent Jewish state in their midst. They have never tried to disguise their absolute refusal to accept the existence of Israel but have turned conquering Israel into their most impassioned cause celebre.
- POINT 6: Israel continually thwarts the will of the international community by refusing to comply with UN Resolutions.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is in complete compliance with the UN's Security Council Resolutions which are binding, including Resolutions 242 and 334 which concluded the 1967 and 1973 Wars. Arab states defied these resolutions or twisted their meaning and intention to suit their own political agendas.
- Supporting Evidence: When Egypt was willing to make peace, Israel traded land for peace and negotiated new borders in the peace treaty of 1979, in compliance with UN Resolution 242. Israel gave Egypt 91% of the land it had captured during the 1967 War-the entire Sinai Peninsula.
- Supporting Evidence: "Having been rebuffed both in the Security Council and in the General Assembly, the Arab states came to the conclusion that the language of Resolution 242 was the best that they could hope to obtain at the time. They obviously counted on its ambiguities to enable them to assert their own interpretations of the language." National Committee on Foreign Policy, April 2002 [75]
- Supporting Evidence: When Egypt was willing to make peace, Israel traded land for peace and negotiated new borders in the peace treaty of 1979, in compliance with UN Resolution 242. Israel gave Egypt 91% of the land it had captured during the 1967 War-the entire Sinai Peninsula.
- COUNTERPOINT: In recent years, Israel could not be expected to comply with the welter of anti-Israel resolutions and pronouncements generated by the UN. The UN became a forum for virulent anti-Semitism and bias against Israel as it grew from 58 member states in 1948 to 191 members today. The block of Muslim-Third World countries wield political power (27% of voting power) that has permitted it to churn out resolution after resolution attacking Israel for trumped up offenses.
- Supporting Evidence: "I was very deeply shocked by the simple anti-Semitism that pervaded the place [the UN]….I felt for the first time in my life that I could understand how the Holocaust happened." Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former US Ambassador to the UN under President Reagan. Speech October 2002. [76]
- Supporting Evidence: The UN's PLO observer "…can almost always get the majority to support ….his accusations, justified or not." Jane Rosen, Manchester Guardian correspondent, New York Times Magazine, September 16, 1984
- Supporting Evidence: Only a half-century after its founding, the UN has become "the focal point for the marginalization and demonization of the Jew and the Jewish state. It is one of the more shameful ironies of our time that it is human rights that is the rhetorical weapon of choice of the anti-Semite in the 21st century." Anne Bayefsky, Human Rights Attorney and Professor of York University, Canada. Speech in Spring, 2003.
- Supporting Evidence: "I was very deeply shocked by the simple anti-Semitism that pervaded the place [the UN]….I felt for the first time in my life that I could understand how the Holocaust happened." Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former US Ambassador to the UN under President Reagan. Speech October 2002. [76]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN began to become a mouthpiece for the Palestinians because of the politics of the United Nations, and because for many member states, friendship with Arab countries is far more valuable and serves their self-interest far more than supporting Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: "We must never forget the crass self-interest of states-a trait that Greek historians felt was at the heart of most conflict, albeit often crudely disguised by pretexts such as 'justice' and 'fairness.' There may be nearly half a billion Arab-speaking peoples. Millions of Islamic citizens now reside in the West. Just a few hundred miles of Mediterranean separate Europe from medieval regimes in Libya, Algeria, and Syria….Were Israel large-say 400 million Jews-and the Arabs around them scarce…then we would see dozens of UN resolutions condemning Mr. Arafat for everything from murdering US diplomats in the past to his present complicity in ordering suicide bombing." Historian Victor Davis Hanson, 2002 [77]
- Supporting Evidence: "We must never forget the crass self-interest of states-a trait that Greek historians felt was at the heart of most conflict, albeit often crudely disguised by pretexts such as 'justice' and 'fairness.' There may be nearly half a billion Arab-speaking peoples. Millions of Islamic citizens now reside in the West. Just a few hundred miles of Mediterranean separate Europe from medieval regimes in Libya, Algeria, and Syria….Were Israel large-say 400 million Jews-and the Arabs around them scarce…then we would see dozens of UN resolutions condemning Mr. Arafat for everything from murdering US diplomats in the past to his present complicity in ordering suicide bombing." Historian Victor Davis Hanson, 2002 [77]
- COUNTERPOINT: Since the early 1970's, the UN has become so permeated with anti-Semitism that members can make outrageous anti-Semitic statements without being censured.
- Supporting Evidence: "Is it not the Jews who are exploiting the American people and trying to debase them?" Ali Treiki, UN Representative from Libya. Speech December 8, 1983 [78]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Talmud says that if a Jew does not drink every year the blood of a non-Jewish man, he will be damned for eternity." Marouf al-Dawalibi. Speech to the UN Human Rights Commission on Religious Tolerance, 1984. [79]
- Supporting Evidence: The Syrian ambassador to the UN claimed that Jews killed Christian children to use their blood to make matzos. 1991 Speech [80]
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Commission claimed that the Israeli government had injected 300 Palestinian children with the HIV virus. Despite the efforts of Israel, the United States and others to have this scurrilous, unfounded charge removed from the record, this blood libel remained on the UN record. [81]
- Supporting Evidence: "Is it not the Jews who are exploiting the American people and trying to debase them?" Ali Treiki, UN Representative from Libya. Speech December 8, 1983 [78]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is in complete compliance with the UN's Security Council Resolutions which are binding, including Resolutions 242 and 334 which concluded the 1967 and 1973 Wars. Arab states defied these resolutions or twisted their meaning and intention to suit their own political agendas.
- POINT 7: Israel has consistently refused to make peace with its neighbors.
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is the case. Israel has repeatedly tried to make peace with neighboring Arab states and when they have stretched out a hand in friendship, Israel has responded.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979 when Egypt agreed to recognize Israel and its right to exist. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula which comprised 91% of the land it had captured in the 1967 War, and dismantled settlements there.. [82]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel made peace with Jordan in 1994 once Jordan was willing to accept its right to exist as an independent Jewish state.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, without any peace agreement or assurance from Lebanon that hostilities would cease.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel made peace with Egypt in 1979 when Egypt agreed to recognize Israel and its right to exist. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula which comprised 91% of the land it had captured in the 1967 War, and dismantled settlements there.. [82]
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is the case. Throughout its history, Israel has attempted to compromise with Palestinian Arabs and share Palestine with them even though the Palestine Mandate had originally designated all of Palestine for Jewish settlement.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1923, Britain cut off 4/5ths of the Palestine Mandate and made it an exclusively Arab state, today known as Jordan. Zionists and today Israel accept this severance of land that was to be "closely settled by Jews" according to the Palestine Mandate. . [83]
- Supporting Evidence: "In terms of territory, Transjordan represented a full four-fifths of the original Mandatory Palestine… [the British hoped] the Arabs would now waive their claim to the remaining fifth." Historian Benny Morris [84]
- Supporting Evidence: Zionists accepted the Peel Commission's 1937 plan and the United Nations 1947 Plan (Resolution 181) to partition Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel tried to negotiate directly with local Palestinian leaders between 1967-1969 to establish autonomy in the West Bank, but Jordan's King Hussein and the PLO thwarted these efforts. [85]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered autonomy to the Territories in an exchange of letters attached to the Camp David Accords that established peace between Egypt and Israel in 1979. [86]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state with the Oslo Accords in 1993. By 1996, Israel had deployed from all major Palestinian population centers and 98% of Palestinians were self-governing under the Palestinian Authority. Even anti-Israel sources admit that the areas designated for PA control in the Oslo II Accords (1995), Areas A and B, included almost the entire Palestinian population. Area A included the "majority of the Palestinian population" and Area B included the "majority of the remainder of the Palestinian population." PLO Negotiations Support Unit and Article XI, "Land," of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, September 28 1995 [87]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state on 100% of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank with a land exchange that would bring the total area to 100% and a shared capital in Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000 and Taba in 2001. Dennis Ross, US Envoy to Camp David and Taba, Egypt. [88]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1923, Britain cut off 4/5ths of the Palestine Mandate and made it an exclusively Arab state, today known as Jordan. Zionists and today Israel accept this severance of land that was to be "closely settled by Jews" according to the Palestine Mandate. . [83]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Arab nations and the Palestinians who have consistently refused to make peace with the Jewish state. All of them, except for Jordan and Egypt, remain in a technical state of war with Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: After the 1967 War, Arab leaders met in Khartoum and declared "[N]o peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel." August, 1967 [89]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians don't have a state because they have had "an all or nothing policy," unlike the Zionists. "The Zionists never demanded the impossible….Our leadership….enabled the Zionists to succeed at every opportunity…by rejecting every proposal for compromise, rejecting proposals to give it a state on most of the land of Palestine…" Tawfiz Abu Bakr, Palestinian columnist, 2003 [90]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of "this irrational nihilist behavior [of Palestinians about accepting compromise], "Haj Amin Al-Husseini…rejected the settlement offered him by the Peel Commission in 1937…Then, he repeated his mistake by rejecting the Partition Plan that this time would have given 55% to the Jews and the rest to Palestine…." Al-'Afif Al-Akdhar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [91]
- Supporting Evidence: "The mania for armed struggle….is the cause for [us] missing …historical opportunities since 1937 to 2000, with…pristine excuses such as 'we have the right[s] on our side…" Al-'Aff Al-Akhdar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [92]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is the tragedy of Jewish religious and national aspirations that they should have as their focus a land in the middle of a great sea of peoples whose own history, self-image, and self-fulfillment leave no room for the self-fulfillment and self-determination of others. It is this as much as anything else that has made the Arab-Jewish conflict so special in its absolutism, its fierceness, its resistance to compromise." Historian David Landes [93]
- Supporting Evidence: After the 1967 War, Arab leaders met in Khartoum and declared "[N]o peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel." August, 1967 [89]
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is the case. Israel has repeatedly tried to make peace with neighboring Arab states and when they have stretched out a hand in friendship, Israel has responded.
- POINT 8: Israel denies freedom of worship to non-Jews.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge is a patent distortion of the facts. Israel protects religious pluralism and is the only state in the Middle East that permits freedom of worship.
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is the only country in the region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Memorandum April 24, 2002. [94]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has greater religious pluralism than the USA. 20% of Israelis are non-Jewish while in the US only 4% of the population adheres to a non-Christian religion. [95]
- Supporting Evidence: Each religious community in Israel (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) is allowed to have jurisdiction over the marriage, divorce and burial of its members, and representatives of each of each religion are state officials. [96]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel gave the Druze, a group "traditionally persecuted by Moslem Arabs," the status of an official religious community, with their own religious council and courts. [97]
- Supporting Evidence: "The highest body of the Baha'i faith…declared the Israeli port city of Haifa the `Mecca' for the religion's five million members" in 1992 in part because of Israel's tolerance and the persecution the Baha'is faced in other Middle Eastern states. [98]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian population in Israel has quadrupled in the last forty years while it is precipitously declining in the Middle East and particularly in the Palestinian Authority. Israel's Christian population has grown from 51,000 in 1961 to over 137,000 today . [99]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is the only country in the region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Memorandum April 24, 2002. [94]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge is a patent distortion of the facts. Israel has protected all religious sites and access to them since it gained control of East Jerusalem in 1967, sometimes even to the disadvantage of Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: "There is unimpeded access today [to holy sites]. There wasn't from 1948-1967" ( when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and prevented access to Jews and Christians). President Jimmy Carter [100]
- Supporting Evidence: In one of its first act after the 1967 War, Israel announced that it would let the Waqf (the Muslim Trust) maintain control over the mosques on Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, and promised that Jews would be allowed to pray only at the adjacent Wailing Wall, not on the Temple Mount itself, in order to not offend Muslims. [101]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel entrusted administration of the Christian and Muslim holy sites to their respective religious authorities. [102]
- Supporting Evidence: "There is unimpeded access today [to holy sites]. There wasn't from 1948-1967" ( when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and prevented access to Jews and Christians). President Jimmy Carter [100]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Arab states that impose an official religion and persecute other religious groups, especially Christians and Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. Good [103]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of persecution, "Throughout the entire Middle East, once significant Christian communities have shrunk to a miniscule portion of their former robust selves. In 50 years they may well be extinct…2 million [fled] in the last 20 years alone." Professors Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman, 2002
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "the government prohibits the public practice of other religions;" in Egypt, "religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited" and "Christians cower[ed] in fear of violence from Islamic militants and systematic human rights violations by Egypt…." In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed and most evangelical churches must function underground." American Department of State First Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Professor Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman. [104]
- Supporting Evidence: Persecution and violence forced the over one million Jews who had lived in the Middle East for millennia to flee between 1947 and 1967. In 1947, approximately 881,000 Jews lived in Arab lands; by 1976 that number had plummeted to 25,620. Only a small and dwindling fraction of them remain..Historical Society of Jews from Egypt [105]
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. Good [103]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that imposes religious uniformity.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. [106]
- Supporting Evidence: PA Information Ministry declared that "The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law…with issues pertaining to religious matters…..any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment." [107]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA demands that all Jews leave their future state. It will become Judenrein, emptied of all Jews, just as Adolf Hitler hoped to make all Europe Judenrein.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA arrests Palestinian converts to Christianity. In late June 1997, the PA's Preventive Security Forces arrested a convert to Christianity for regularly attending church and distributing Bibles. He is still in prison and has been subjected to physical torture and interrogations.(*) In December, 2002, Saeed and Nasser Salamah, escaped from prison and from a death sentence for converting to Christianity in the PA and sought asylum in Israel.(**) [108]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. [106]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that harasses and persecutes other religious groups, including Christians.
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [109]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian rate of emigration from the Territories has accelerated and the Christian population of the Territories has dropped from 15% in 1950 to barely 2% today. Many fear that soon few if any Christians will be left in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, or in Nazareth though they once were Christian majority cities. . [110]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000, [111]
- Supporting Evidence: Graffiti in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur reads, "First the Saturday people [the Jews] then the Sunday people [the Christians]," according to the New York Times.(*) The same lines are often chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies.(**) [112]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian Muslims will not sell land to Christians. Muslim extremists have attacked Christian facilities and clubs, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 1994. Christian graves, crosses and statues have been desecrated. Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their phone lines cut and there have been break-ins at convents. [113]
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [109]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Jordan and the Palestinian Authority that prohibit freedom of worship, deny that holy shrines belong to any religion but Islam and discriminate against Christians and Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [114]
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Jews were evicted from lands they had inhabited for thousands of years. No Jews were allowed to visit the holiest sites of Judaism. 58 Jewish synagogues were destroyed or converted to stables in the Old City and slums were built abutting the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism. [115]
- Supporting Evidence: "We expect the Israelis to give us back these holy places…We believe in freedom of religion. But Jews won't have rights there because these are our places." Hasan Tahboub, head of the PLO-backed Supreme Muslim Council. 1993 [116]
- Supporting Evidence: "Just as Jews can't come to Ka'aba in Mecca, they can't come to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These are holy Islamic places." (These are Judaism's two most sacred sites.) Ra'fat Al-Najjar, Palestinian Legislative Council Member, 2003 [117]
- Supporting Evidence: "That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Moslem shrine." Yassir Arafat, Ma'ariv, October 11, 1996
- Question: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled.(*) Is this the legacy of religious tolerance you spoke of when Arabs ruled Jerusalem? [118]
- Question: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Jews were evicted from lands they had inhabited for thousands of years. No Jews were allowed to visit the holiest sites of Judaism. 58 Jewish synagogues were destroyed or converted to stables in the Old City and slums were built abutting the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism.(*) Is this the religious tolerance and freedom you laud and claim existed during Arab rule of Jerusalem? [119]
- Question: Given the Palestinian Authority officials' comments and views, how can you say that under Palestinian rule there would be freedom of religion and free access to religious sites for all religions?
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [114]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge is a patent distortion of the facts. Israel protects religious pluralism and is the only state in the Middle East that permits freedom of worship.
- POINT 9: Israel uses state terrorism under the pretext of defending itself against terrorism.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is a perversion of any meanings of the term state terrorism to call Israel's actions state terrorism. The Palestinians in effect declared a terrorist war on Israel in September, 2000. Israel is responding to a direct and lethal threat to its citizens.
- Supporting Evidence: After rejecting Prime Minister Barak's compromise proposals, the Palestinians effectively declared war on Israel on September 29, 2000.
- Supporting Evidence: "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque is wrong... This Intifada was planed in advance." - PA Communications Minister, Imad al Faluji. In Al-Safir, March 3, 2001. [120]
- Supporting Evidence: "Imad Faluji, the Palestinian National Authority's Communications Minister, said during a PLO rally in Ain al-Hilweh refutifada [...] that the five-month-old uprising against Israel had been planned since the Camp David peace talks failed in July, contradicting past contentions of a spontaneous outburst from Palestinians on the street." - Semi-governmental Lebanese Newspaper, Beirut "Daily Star", March 3, 2001. [121]
- Supporting Evidence: "Mr. Falouji went on to state that Arafat launched this intifada as a culminating state to the immutable Palestinian stance in the negotiations." - Al-Ayyam, the Palestinian Authority daily newspaper. December 6, 2000. [122]
- Supporting Evidence: "The issues of Jerusalem, the refugees and sovereignty are one and will be finalized on the ground and not in negotiations. At this point it is important to prepare Palestinian society for the challenge of the next step because we will inevitably find ourselves in a violent confrontation with Israel in order to create new facts on the ground. [...] I believe that the situation in the future will be more violent than the Intifada." - Abu-Ali Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority. July 23, 2000 (two months before the outbreak of the current Intifada). [123]
- Supporting Evidence: From September 2000 until the Hudna on June 29, 2003, there were 18,144 attempted or successful terrorist attacks against Israelis, the equivalent of 17 a day in a population of only 6 million people.
- Supporting Evidence: Between 9/29/00 and 4/14/04, 924 Israelis had been killed, over 70% of them civilians, including children, the elderly and women. 4452 civilians have been injured, some so seriously that they are permanently crippled. Children have become orphans; parents have lost their children when they go or return from school. [124]
- Supporting Evidence: After rejecting Prime Minister Barak's compromise proposals, the Palestinians effectively declared war on Israel on September 29, 2000.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's counter-terrorist measures can be considered a pretext only by the most ill-informed or twisted mind. The Palestinian leadership in effect openly declared war against Israel. These attacks are not the work of marginal criminals. Violence was planned and coordinated long before Ariel Sharon walked on the Temple Mount on September 28, 2000.
- Supporting Evidence: "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton." PA Communications Minister, Imad Al-Faluji Al-Safir (Lebanon), March 3, 2001 [125]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he Palestinian people did not cease throughout the seven years of negotiations [since Oslo] from carrying out Intifadas against Israel and stating its positions by means other than the negotiating table." "The choice is not at all between options of negotiation and fighting: You can have negotiations and fight at the same time... the Palestinian people fight with weapons, with jihad, with Intifadas and suicide actions... and it is destined to always fight and negotiate at the same time…" Nabil Sha'ath, PA Minister of Planning and International Cooperation. October 7 2000 [126]
- Supporting Evidence: "The popular recruitment in the PA's territories has significantly increased, and a Palestinian Liberation Army was established under the Fatah Leadership. The PA has already distributed weapons to the citizens and is supervising training and preparation for the possible confrontation with the forces of the Israeli occupation." Statement by PA security official, July 21, 2000 (two months before the Intifada erupted). Reported in Kul Al-Arab, Israeli-Arab newspaper. Good [127]
- Supporting Evidence: "The failure to reach a final agreement [at Camp David] will force the Palestinians to opt for military action."-Hasan Al-Khashef, Director-General of the PA Ministry of Information inAl-Quds Al Arabi [London] August 24, 2000. ) [128]
- Supporting Evidence: "Violence is around the corner, and the Palestinians are willing to sacrifice even 5,000 casualties." Freih Abu Middein, PA Justice Minister, August 24, 2000 in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA newspaper). [129]
- Supporting Evidence: "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton." PA Communications Minister, Imad Al-Faluji Al-Safir (Lebanon), March 3, 2001 [125]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has overwhelming justification for defending itself. The PA has maintained the machinery of war and incitement throughout its governance. In its children's schoolbooks, its mosques, and government-controlled media, the PA has kept up a campaign of hate and vilification of Israelis and Jews, denied the legitimacy of the Jewish state, insisted that all the land belongs to Palestinians, and called for the killing of Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: The Jews "must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said, 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands.'…Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Sermon in Gaza broadcast on PA television. October, 2000 PA-appointed religious leader. Sermon broadcast on PA television. [130]
- Supporting Evidence: An end-of-the-year ceremonyfor 1650 kindergarten students run by Hamas 'included a skit by children that encouraged the murder of Jews as a religious commandment. 2002 [131]
- Supporting Evidence: "Notice, oh worshippers of Allah, the Jews are the most loathsome creatures on the face of the earth. For the Christians, despite their abominations, asked of Omar bin Al-Khattab one condition from among four-not to permit the Jews to live in Palestine. We want people like [Saladin] to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque…." Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris, Friday sermon on PA TV August 15, 2003 [132]
- Supporting Evidence: The Jews "must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said, 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands.'…Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Sermon in Gaza broadcast on PA television. October, 2000 PA-appointed religious leader. Sermon broadcast on PA television. [130]
- COUNTERPOINT: No nation can or should tolerate this assault on its people. No nation can neglect to take defensive security measures to protect its citizens.
- COUNTERPOINT: Given the definition of "state terrorism," it is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel, that uses state terrorism..
- Supporting Evidence: According to the United Nations, state terrorism is a "police state's practices against its own people to dominate through fear by surveillance, disruption of group meetings, control of the news media, beatings, torture, false and mass arrests, false charges and rumors, show trials, killings, summary executions and capital punishment." [133]
- Supporting Evidence: According to the United Nations, state terrorism is a "police state's practices against its own people to dominate through fear by surveillance, disruption of group meetings, control of the news media, beatings, torture, false and mass arrests, false charges and rumors, show trials, killings, summary executions and capital punishment." [133]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is a perversion of any meanings of the term state terrorism to call Israel's actions state terrorism. The Palestinians in effect declared a terrorist war on Israel in September, 2000. Israel is responding to a direct and lethal threat to its citizens.
- POINT 10: Israel has engaged in genocide against the Palestinian people.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has not committed genocide of Palestinians and to suggest that it has is to pervert the very meaning of the term. Israel has used enormous restraint in trying to quell the terrorist war launched by the Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: Even when Edward Said recited his long list of supposed atrocities Israel commits against Palestinians, he admitted that what they did was "short of genocide." Edward Said, Lecture at UCLA 2/20/03
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has one of the largest and most advanced militaries in the world. It could have attacked Palestinian cities much as the US attacked in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, Israel chose tactics that would minimize civilian casualties even as it risked greater casualties among its own troops. In Jenin in the spring of 2002, Israel sent in troops to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure instead of bombing from the air. As a result, 23 Israeli troops were killed as against the 52 Palestinians.Report of the UN Secretary General pursuant to General Assembly Resolution ES-10/10 [134]
- Supporting Evidence: Even when Edward Said recited his long list of supposed atrocities Israel commits against Palestinians, he admitted that what they did was "short of genocide." Edward Said, Lecture at UCLA 2/20/03
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's tremendous restraint is especially praiseworthy when compared to how other nations have handled similar problems. They have risked their own troops to spare civilian casualties.
- Supporting Evidence: An op-ed piece urged American commanders to use Israel as a model for urban combat. "Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers were killed in these battles, all but six of them in the battle for the Jenin refugee camp. Although the number of Palestinian deaths is, of course, hotly debated, the Israeli estimate is 132 killed in Nablus and Jenin. Compared with casualty figures from urban combat in recent years-such as the fighting in Chechnya, where Russia's army lost at least 1500 soldiers during its first assault on Grozny-these numbers are astonishingly low." Yigal Henkin, "The Best Way into Baghdad,: New York Times Op Ed, April 20, 2003.
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n battle, the Israeli army regularly accepted risks to its own men in order to reduce the risks that it posed on the civilian population. The contrast with the way the Russians fought at Grozny, to take the most recent example of large-scale urban warfare, is striking, and the crucial mark of that contrast is the very small number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian cities despite the fierceness of the fighting." Professor Michael Walzer of Princeton University. 2002 [135]
- Supporting Evidence: An op-ed piece urged American commanders to use Israel as a model for urban combat. "Twenty-nine Israeli soldiers were killed in these battles, all but six of them in the battle for the Jenin refugee camp. Although the number of Palestinian deaths is, of course, hotly debated, the Israeli estimate is 132 killed in Nablus and Jenin. Compared with casualty figures from urban combat in recent years-such as the fighting in Chechnya, where Russia's army lost at least 1500 soldiers during its first assault on Grozny-these numbers are astonishingly low." Yigal Henkin, "The Best Way into Baghdad,: New York Times Op Ed, April 20, 2003.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's tremendous restraint is a direct contrast to how Arab states have treated Palestinians and their own recalcitrant populations.
- Supporting Evidence: During Black September Jordan massacred more than 10,000 Palestinians. On February 2nd 1982 Syria massacred between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians in Hama, a city housing an opposition group. [136]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel does possess a stronger fighting force than the Palestinians, Jordan and Syria, however in three years of fighting casualty numbers nowhere approach those produced by Jordan in one month or Syria in one day. The Palestinian uprising in Jordan and the insurgency in Syria ended immediately after the massacres. The uprising in Israel has continued for years and resulted in the deaths of over a thousand Israelis. Notwithstanding Israel's superior military strength and the loss of a great number of its civilians, Israel has never resorted to the same brutality exerted by Syria and Jordan. [137]
- Supporting Evidence: Kuwait unceremoniously expelled 300,000 Palestinians who had lived in the country for at least two generations because the PLO sided with Iraq during the Gulf War in 1991. "If people pose a security threat, as a sovereign country we have the right to exclude anyone we don't want." Saud Nassir Al-Sabah, Kuwait Ambassador to the US. 1991 [138]
- Supporting Evidence: During Black September Jordan massacred more than 10,000 Palestinians. On February 2nd 1982 Syria massacred between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians in Hama, a city housing an opposition group. [136]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians themselves, not Israelis, caused a significant proportion of the Palestinian deaths in both the first and second intifadas.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians caused about one-third of the Palestinian deaths during the first Intifada (Dec. 1987-1992). Of an estimated 1377 casualties, 473 were Arabs killed by Palestinians. [139]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians caused close to 20% of Palestinian casualties in the current Intifada (September 29, 2000-September 17, 2003). Of 2405 casualties, 306 were Palestinians killed by Palestinians; 131 were suicide bombers. [140]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian terrorists have used civilians and put them at risk by encouraging them to join violent demonstrations and by hiding in civilian centers, putting them at high risk for becoming "civilian casualties."
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian residents of Al Barka and areas close to the community of Kfar Darom have called on the Nationalists and Islamic forces to stop firing, and especially from firing mortar bombs, from areas close to inhabited houses. Firing from densely populated areas just brings damage and destruction to the residents and their property." Al-Hayat Al Jadida (PA daily newspaper) November 7, 2002. [141]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians caused about one-third of the Palestinian deaths during the first Intifada (Dec. 1987-1992). Of an estimated 1377 casualties, 473 were Arabs killed by Palestinians. [139]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Palestinians who have consistently tried to perpetrate genocide-killing innocent civilians-not Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: "The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute war crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes…." Amnesty International, July 13, 2002 [142]
- Supporting Evidence: Suicide bombers consistently target civilian sites and people-public buses, Bar Mitzvah celebrations, University cafeterias, young adult hang-outs like night clubs and cafes.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians have targeted innocent civilians. Since the current Intifada began, 36% of Palestinian casualties have been civilians. In contrast, 77% of Israeli casualties have been civilians. [143]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target women. Since the current Intifada began, 31% of Israeli casualties have been women. Only 4% of Palestinian casualties have been women. [144]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target older people who are not combatants. Since the Intifada began, 25% of Israeli casualties have been over the age of 45. Only 3% of Palestinian casualties have been over the age of 45. [145]
- Supporting Evidence: "The only civilians deliberately targeted and killed in large numbers, indeed massacred, are Israeli-by Palestinian suicide bombers." Historian Benny Morris [146]
- Supporting Evidence: "The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute war crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes…." Amnesty International, July 13, 2002 [142]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has not committed genocide of Palestinians and to suggest that it has is to pervert the very meaning of the term. Israel has used enormous restraint in trying to quell the terrorist war launched by the Palestinians.
- POINT 11: "Since 1988, the Palestinians have officially recognized the state of Israel and accepted its existence on 78% of historic Palestine, with the understanding that a sovereign and viable Palestinian state would be established on the remaining 22%. This is the historic Palestinian compromise for peace which Israel refuses to accept."
- COUNTERPOINT: The claim that this is what Palestinians want is not true. They rejected Ehud Barak's offer in 2000 at Camp David which met precisely these demands according to those involved in the peace process and to knowledgeable observers.
- Supporting Evidence: The offer made in 2000 would have given the Palestinians 100% of Gaza, a contiguous 97% of the West Bank with a 3% land compensation from within Israel, and a shared capital in East Jerusalem, according to US Envoy Dennis Ross who was present at the meeting. [147]
- Supporting Evidence: "Barak, a sincere and courageous leader, offered Arafat a reasonable peace agreement that included withdrawal from…100% of the Gaza Strip; the uprooting of most settlements; Palestinian sovereignty over the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; and the establishment of a Palestinian state. As to the Temple Mount (Haram ash-Sharif)….Barak proposed Israeli-Palestinian condominium or UN security council control or "divine sovereignty" with actual Arab control. Regarding the Palestinian refugees, Barak offered a token return to Israel and massive financial compensation to facilitate their rehabilitation in the Arab states and the Palestinian state-to-be……[and Barak and Clinton] upped the ante to 94-96% of the West Bank (with some territorial compensation from Israel proper)…." Historian Benny Morris. 2002 [148]
- Supporting Evidence: Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who was an intermediary in the negotiations, called Arafat's refusal to accept the Camp David offer "a crime against Palestinians, in fact against the whole region." (New Yorker interview March 24, 2003)
- Supporting Evidence: "[Hamas, you] rejected Clinton's proposal, which gave your people 96-97% of the West Bank, citing the religious ruling that you rejected it because it was an American-Jewish conspiracy against the Palestinian people…[This is] irrational, nihilist behavior." Tunisian liberal writer Al-'Afif Al-Akhdhar in Al Hayat [London} , July 14, 2002 [149]
- Supporting Evidence: The offer made in 2000 would have given the Palestinians 100% of Gaza, a contiguous 97% of the West Bank with a 3% land compensation from within Israel, and a shared capital in East Jerusalem, according to US Envoy Dennis Ross who was present at the meeting. [147]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinians did not "compromise" and they quite clearly have not accepted Israel's right to exist. If they intended to accept a two-state solution-one Jewish, one Palestinian--they would have relinquished their demand for a 'right of return.' In effect, the right of return would create two Palestinian-majority states.
- Supporting Evidence: The PLO and Israel agreed to establishing two states-one Palestinian and one Jewish. The Palestinians cannot continue to claim they have rights to both states or that Palestinians settled in a new Palestinian state are not finally "home."
- Supporting Evidence: "It is the Palestinian leadership's rejection of the Barak-Clinton peace proposals of July-December 2000, the launching of the Intifada, and the demand ever since that Israel accept the "right of return" that has persuaded me that the Palestinians, at least in this generation, do not intend peace: they do not want, merely, an end to the occupation-that is what was offered back in July-December 2000, and they rejected the deal. They want all of Palestine and as few Jews in it as possible. The right of return is the wedge with which to prise open the Jewish state. Demography-the far higher Arab birth rate-will, over time, do the rest…" Historian Benny Morris, 2002 [150]
- Supporting Evidence: "You cannot expect Israel to acknowledge an unlimited right of return to present day Israel and, at the same time, to give up Gaza and the West Bank…for that would threaten the very foundations of the state of Israel, and would undermine the whole logic of peace…and for creating a Palestinian state…And it shouldn't be done." President Bill Clinton. January 8, 2001. [151]
- Supporting Evidence: The PLO and Israel agreed to establishing two states-one Palestinian and one Jewish. The Palestinians cannot continue to claim they have rights to both states or that Palestinians settled in a new Palestinian state are not finally "home."
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians have not accepted Israel's right to exist. A large percentage of Palestinians believe the goal of the current Intifada should be the elimination of Israel as an independent Jewish state.
- Supporting Evidence: 43% of Palestinians believed the goal of the Intifada should be the "liberation" of all of Palestine-i.e. eliminating Israel-according to a poll taken in September 2002 by the Palestinian polling organization, Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [152]
- Supporting Evidence: 48% of Palestinians believed the goal of the Intifada should be some form of one-state solution-i.e. eliminating Israel as a sovereign Jewish nation-according to a poll taken in April 2003 by the Palestinian polling organization, Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [153]
- Supporting Evidence: 43% of Palestinians believed the goal of the Intifada should be the "liberation" of all of Palestine-i.e. eliminating Israel-according to a poll taken in September 2002 by the Palestinian polling organization, Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [152]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority has not accepted Israel's right to exist. In its textbooks, its symbols, its maps, its information centers and its media, it depicts Palestine as Israel and the Territories and it denies or omits the Jewish presence in the region's history. Consider what the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace found in PA schoolbooks in 2002: (Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace: Reports at http://www.edume.org/reports/11/1.htm )
- Supporting Evidence: "."The tendency to ignore Israel as a sovereign state continues. Accordingly, Israel's name does not appear on any map. Moreover, some of the maps refer to the whole country as Palestine and Israeli cities and geographical sites are presented as Palestinian., The Palestinian Authority, however, unlike Israel, is referred to as an independent state." [154]
- Supporting Evidence: "Jerusalem is presented as an exclusively Arab city and as the capital of the State of Palestine. The Jews' presence there and their historical religious and national connections with it are not mentioned, except for a brief reference to its being holy to "the three monotheistic religions". Jerusalem is also personified as a suffering Arab entity." [155]
- Supporting Evidence: "There is a systematic effort in the textbooks to demonize Israel and the Israelis. The establishment of the State of Israel caused a catastrophe; Israel is an aggressive state; Israelis shoot civilians, demolish houses, "kill" cities and villages by expulsion and destruction, seize Palestinian land for the establishment of Jewish settlements and cause economic distress and environmental pollution and even bring about family violence among the Palestinians. A major theme is the Israeli occupation, but there are passages that in this context clearly refer to parts of Israel within the pre 1967 borders and not just to the West Bank and Gaza." [156]
- Supporting Evidence: "."The tendency to ignore Israel as a sovereign state continues. Accordingly, Israel's name does not appear on any map. Moreover, some of the maps refer to the whole country as Palestine and Israeli cities and geographical sites are presented as Palestinian., The Palestinian Authority, however, unlike Israel, is referred to as an independent state." [154]
- COUNTERPOINT: The claim that this is what Palestinians want is not true. They rejected Ehud Barak's offer in 2000 at Camp David which met precisely these demands according to those involved in the peace process and to knowledgeable observers.
- POINT 12: Israel has kept the Palestinians defenseless and disarmed to continue to oppress them.
- POINT 13: Israel violates human rights with its targeted assassinations.
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian's targeted killing of civilians is immoral. Israel's targeted killing of terrorists is necessary to save innocent lives.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism.(*) This is because Israel targets terrorists while Palestinians primarily target civilians. [157]
- Question: Why do you condemn Israel's targeted killing of known terrorists? Palestinian terrorists attempt targeted killings of civilians almost daily, by blowing up women, children, and elderly in ice cream shops, buses, and weddings. Is it worse to conduct targeted killings against students, as Hamas did when it killed nine students in a university cafeteria, than it is to conduct a targeted killing against the person that organized the massacre?
- Question: Last year a suicide bomber walked into a crowded college cafeteria in Israel and incinerated himself along with 11 people Four American students were among those killed. Please explain why you do not condemn the targeted killing of those students, but you do condemn the targeted killing of the terrorists that planned their death.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism.(*) This is because Israel targets terrorists while Palestinians primarily target civilians. [157]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel does not violate human rights with its targeted assassinations. Through them, it attempts to protect human life.
- Supporting Evidence: The terrorists Israel targets are armed combatants who organize, arm and direct the attacks against Israel. They are no different than military commanders and soldiers in a regular army and they have declared war on Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel uses targeted assassinations only when it is not possible to arrest or apprehend the terrorists in question. Since the PA has refused to arrest them, as it was obligated to do under the OSLO Accords, Israel must perform those policing functions.
- Supporting Evidence: In assassinating terrorists, Israel not only protects the lives of Israelis, it also protects the lives of Palestinians whom terrorists encourage to become suicide bombers and who are also victims of this terrorist war.
- Supporting Evidence: The terrorists Israel targets are armed combatants who organize, arm and direct the attacks against Israel. They are no different than military commanders and soldiers in a regular army and they have declared war on Israel.
- COUNTERPOINT: Targeting the terrorist leaders of a terrorist war is legitimate under international law and the rules of war.
- Supporting Evidence: "Targeting the military leaders of an enemy during hostilities is perfectly proper under the rules of war, which is what Israel-as well as the United States and other democracies-has done." Alan Dershowitz, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School [158]
- Supporting Evidence: "In line with Security Council resolutions 1368 (2001), 1373 (2001), 1377 (2001) and others, this action [targeted assassination] makes clear that those who harbour or tolerate terrorists, let alone those who forge alliances with them, must be held accountable. The Palestinian leadership and other regimes in our region cannot brazenly violate international law by supporting terrorists and then seek to deny Israel the right to protect itself against them - a right guaranteed under that very same law." Dan Gillerman, Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Statement to the UN Security Council, April 19 2004 [159]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he army and Shin Bet (the Israeli security service) have tried to hit the guilty with 'targeted killings' of bomb-makers, terrorists and their dispatchers, to me an eminently moral form of reprisal, deterrence and prevention: these are {barbaric} "soldiers" in a mini-war and, as such, legitimate military targets. Would the critics prefer Israel to respond in kind to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv?" Historian Benny Morris, 2002 [160]
- Supporting Evidence: "Targeting the military leaders of an enemy during hostilities is perfectly proper under the rules of war, which is what Israel-as well as the United States and other democracies-has done." Alan Dershowitz, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School [158]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian's targeted killing of civilians is immoral. Israel's targeted killing of terrorists is necessary to save innocent lives.
- POINT 14: Israel violates human rights by targeting civilians.
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian suicide bombers target civilians, not Israel. Israel takes great pains to prevent civilian deaths..
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism.(*) This is because Israel targets terrorists while Palestinians target civilians. [161]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism.(*) This is because Israel targets terrorists while Palestinians target civilians. [161]
- COUNTERPOINT: Collateral deaths are an unfortunate but inevitable part of warfare, including the war on terror.
- Supporting Evidence: During the NATO operation against Serbia over the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, hundreds of civilians were inadvertently killed. "Human Rights Watch concludes that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force." [162]
- Supporting Evidence: In the October 2002 raid on a Moscow theater full of hostages, Russian commandos accidentally killed well over 120 of their own civilians in the process of disabling around 50 armed terrorists. That doesn't mean that Russians targeted their own civilians but rather that necessary anti-terror operations are not always as precise as governments would like.
- Supporting Evidence: During the NATO operation against Serbia over the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, hundreds of civilians were inadvertently killed. "Human Rights Watch concludes that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force." [162]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian suicide bombers target civilians, not Israel. Israel takes great pains to prevent civilian deaths..
- POINT 15: The Israeli army abuses human rights and holds no regard for the lives of Palestinians.
- COUNTERPOINT: The Israeli army has one of the strictest rules of engagement of any country in the world. One example is the battle at the Jenin refugee camp in May 2002.
- Supporting Evidence: Despite its overwhelming firepower superiority to the terrorists hiding in Jenin, the Israeli army fought house to house in a booby-trapped and extremely crowded refugee camp in order to minimize the loss of civilian lives. The army could have flattened the city from afar without losing a single soldier but instead lost 23 of its own soldiers in what was described as the fiercest fighting the IDF saw in 20 years. Few countries besides Israel faced with such open hostility and constant terrorism would take such risks to its own soldiers when eliminating terrorists in populated areas with so relatively few civilian casualties, by all credible accounts, including the UN, only approximately 22 deaths were civilians. [163]
- Supporting Evidence: Despite its overwhelming firepower superiority to the terrorists hiding in Jenin, the Israeli army fought house to house in a booby-trapped and extremely crowded refugee camp in order to minimize the loss of civilian lives. The army could have flattened the city from afar without losing a single soldier but instead lost 23 of its own soldiers in what was described as the fiercest fighting the IDF saw in 20 years. Few countries besides Israel faced with such open hostility and constant terrorism would take such risks to its own soldiers when eliminating terrorists in populated areas with so relatively few civilian casualties, by all credible accounts, including the UN, only approximately 22 deaths were civilians. [163]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Israeli government has gone to greater lengths to preserve the lives of Palestinians than Jordan (a majority-Palestinian state) did when faced with a comparable threat.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's High Court of Justice has gone to great lengths to protect individual human rights while the country faces a terrorist war.
- Supporting Evidence: "Has the High Court of Justice succeeded in this difficult task of striking a proper balance between the protection of human rights and Israel's right to defend itself against existential threats? Many think it has failed. Palestinians and Israeli human rights organizations claim that the HCJ gave in to populist, militant public opinion, and did not find the courage to withstand the dangerous tendency toward legitimize the infringement of basic human rights. Right-wing criticism, on the other hand, accuses the HCJ of endangering the lives of Israeli soldiers and ruling against Israeli interests just for the sake of preserving its reputation abroad as a defender of human rights. A former Cabinet member has recently demanded that the Chief Justice be removed from office. In my view, the HCJ is doing the best that can be done under these very difficult circumstances. The detention and other measures that were put in place and others even more Draconian that were seriously proposed in the U.S. in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, indicate that few courts in other countries, if any, could have done better than this under similar conditions." Israel Gilead, Dean, Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem [165]
- Supporting Evidence: "Has the High Court of Justice succeeded in this difficult task of striking a proper balance between the protection of human rights and Israel's right to defend itself against existential threats? Many think it has failed. Palestinians and Israeli human rights organizations claim that the HCJ gave in to populist, militant public opinion, and did not find the courage to withstand the dangerous tendency toward legitimize the infringement of basic human rights. Right-wing criticism, on the other hand, accuses the HCJ of endangering the lives of Israeli soldiers and ruling against Israeli interests just for the sake of preserving its reputation abroad as a defender of human rights. A former Cabinet member has recently demanded that the Chief Justice be removed from office. In my view, the HCJ is doing the best that can be done under these very difficult circumstances. The detention and other measures that were put in place and others even more Draconian that were seriously proposed in the U.S. in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, indicate that few courts in other countries, if any, could have done better than this under similar conditions." Israel Gilead, Dean, Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem [165]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian terrorist organizations show utter disregard for human lives whether Arab or Jewish, child or adult, male or female.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians, not Israelis target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism. In Herlizya [166]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians, not Israelis target children and women. 57.7% of all Israeli civilians killed between September 2000 and May 2002 were children under the age of 15 while 11.7% of Palestinians killed were in that age bracket. In the same period, 25% of Israelis killed were women while only 2.8% of Palestinians were women. [167]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians, not Israelis attack civilian centers in order to create maximum carnage. In the past three years alone Palestinian terrorists have attacked an ice cream parlor (May 2002), a University cafeteria (July 31, 2002), a Pizzeria (August 2001), Popular teen night clubs (April 30, 2003; June 1, 2001), Commuter buses (15 since October 2000, often timed for when schoolchildren are on them), a school playground (May 28, 2002), and children's bedrooms (November 11, 2002).
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians, not Israelis target civilians. 80% of Israelis killed between Sept. 27, 2000 and July 22, 2003 were civilians. Only 36% of Palestinians killed were civilians, according to the Institute of Counter-Terrorism. In Herlizya [166]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian leadership has created a cult of death, a fascination with violence and carnage, and a general disregard for human life.
- Supporting Evidence: "This irrational nihilist behavior has a name: 'worst -case nihilist philosophy.'...This indifference to human pain, considering their blood to be cheap, being contemptuous of their lives, and expropriating their future on the altar of the naïve illusion of 'liberating Palestine to the last grain of soil' expresses a hallucinatory kind of paranoia that views murder and suicide as goals in themselves, and the kind of identity beloved by those who hunger for power and blood, who despise religious values as well as the values of the world....It is nihilistic because it effectively negates all the values and norms underpinning the international community" - Al-'Afif Al-Akhdar in Al-Hayat. July 14, 2002. [168]
- Supporting Evidence: "This irrational nihilist behavior has a name: 'worst -case nihilist philosophy.'...This indifference to human pain, considering their blood to be cheap, being contemptuous of their lives, and expropriating their future on the altar of the naïve illusion of 'liberating Palestine to the last grain of soil' expresses a hallucinatory kind of paranoia that views murder and suicide as goals in themselves, and the kind of identity beloved by those who hunger for power and blood, who despise religious values as well as the values of the world....It is nihilistic because it effectively negates all the values and norms underpinning the international community" - Al-'Afif Al-Akhdar in Al-Hayat. July 14, 2002. [168]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians celebrate the carnage caused by suicide bombers.
- Supporting Evidence: Students at Al-Najah University in Nablus mounted a celebratory exhibit that was a "grisly re-enactment" of the suicide bombing at Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem that had occurred a month earlier (August 2001). The exhibit included fake severed body parts and splattered blood. Seven of the fifteen people killed had been children, including a four-year old and a two-year old, and one American woman. 130 people were wounded. [169]
- Supporting Evidence: A suicide bomber's mother, Haleema Titi of Balaata and her neighbors spoke proudly of her son's suicide mission against an ice cream parlour in Tel Aviv in May 2002. He had murdered a 56-year old woman and her 18-month old granddaughter. Several dozen bystanders were wounded, including a toddler who was listed in serious condition. [170]
- Supporting Evidence: The mother of the first female Palestinian suicide bomber, Wafa Idris, "said she is proud of her daughter and hopes more women will follow her example." She had already become "a heroine on the streets" of Balaata, the BBC reported in January, 2002. A Palestinian summer camp was named after her in 2003. Ms Idris killed an 81-year-old man and seriously wounded three others, including a 12 year-old American boy and an Arab man, and injured over 100 other people. [171]
- Supporting Evidence: Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza celebrated, dancing in the streets, clapping, singing and distributing sweets to celebrate the suicide bombing at Hebrew University's cafeteria that killed 7 students and injured over 90 on July 31, 2002. At least 4 of the victims were Americans. Hebrew University was known for the collegial relations between its Arab and Israeli students. [172]
- Supporting Evidence: There are "marches and celebrations after each attack...." reports David Brooks in the Atlantic Monthly in June 2002. [173]
- Supporting Evidence: Students at Al-Najah University in Nablus mounted a celebratory exhibit that was a "grisly re-enactment" of the suicide bombing at Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem that had occurred a month earlier (August 2001). The exhibit included fake severed body parts and splattered blood. Seven of the fifteen people killed had been children, including a four-year old and a two-year old, and one American woman. 130 people were wounded. [169]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian security forces and civilians have participated in mob lynches. Reporters witness to one lynch related a scene of savage jubilation.
- Supporting Evidence: In Ramallah, a Palestinian mob mutilated and killed two Israeli policemen in October 2000. The soldier "was dead...but they were still beating him, madly, kicking his head. ..His head was beaten so badly that it was a pulp, like red jelly....They were like animals....It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen and I have reported from Congo, Kosovo, ....but it wasn't like this," reported eyewitness Mark Seager, a London photographer. Sunday Telegraph, October 15, 2000. [174]
- Supporting Evidence: In Ramallah, a Palestinian mob mutilated and killed two Israeli policemen in October 2000. The soldier "was dead...but they were still beating him, madly, kicking his head. ..His head was beaten so badly that it was a pulp, like red jelly....They were like animals....It was the most horrible thing I have ever seen and I have reported from Congo, Kosovo, ....but it wasn't like this," reported eyewitness Mark Seager, a London photographer. Sunday Telegraph, October 15, 2000. [174]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians glorify suicide bombers and encourage children to aspire to blow themselves up to kill Israeli civilians.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians turn suicide bombers into heroic martyrs, naming streets, playgrounds and children's summer camps after them, plastering posters of them throughout the Territories, replaying their martyrdom videos on TV, and even selling 2002 Suicide Bomber calendars displaying the faces of all the dead bombers and Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Yessin. Even the Nazis did not single out or honor those who slaughtered Jews. - London Observer Dec. 16, 2001. [175]
- Supporting Evidence: "Why doesn't a single one of the leaders... expressing joy and ecstasy on the satellite channels every time a young Palestinian man or woman sets out to blow himself or herself up-send his own son?" - Abu Saber M.G., the grieving father of a suicide bomber, in a letter to Al Hayat (London) October 1, 2002. [176]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian children grow up in a culture in which suicide bombers are rock stars, sports heroes, and religious idols rolled into one...suicide bombing has become phenomenally popular. According to polls, 70 to 80% of Palestinians now support it." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [177]
- Supporting Evidence: Gaza City's walls "are shrines to suicide bombers and the death toll they have inflicted on the Israeli occupiers. Many of the city's mosques are plastered with 'martyrdom' posters extolling the deeds of suicide bombers....Even the Sbarro attack, where most of the victims were young children, is celebrated with news photos of the aftermath." - London Observer, December 16, 2001. [178]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians celebrate the "weddings" between the martyrs and dark-eyed virgins in paradise. "Announcements that read like wedding invitations are printed in local newspapers so that friends and neighbors can join the festivities." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [179]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians promote Paradise Camps-"summer camps in which children as young as eight are trained in military drills and taught about suicide bombers." Atlantic Monthly June 2002. [180]
- Supporting Evidence: Rallies commonly feature children wearing bombers' belts-sometimes children as young as two years old. In commercials and children's TV shows, Palestinian children are urged to glorify martyrs and become like them. On the Palestinian version of "Sesame Street," children sing songs about wishing to become suicide warriors and spilling their blood in Jerusalem.
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians turn suicide bombers into heroic martyrs, naming streets, playgrounds and children's summer camps after them, plastering posters of them throughout the Territories, replaying their martyrdom videos on TV, and even selling 2002 Suicide Bomber calendars displaying the faces of all the dead bombers and Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Yessin. Even the Nazis did not single out or honor those who slaughtered Jews. - London Observer Dec. 16, 2001. [175]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Israeli army has one of the strictest rules of engagement of any country in the world. One example is the battle at the Jenin refugee camp in May 2002.
- POINT 16: Israel has used disproportionate, inhumane force against the Palestinians.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is praised even by its usual critics for the care it exercises in ensuring the safety of civilians.
- Supporting Evidence: "In battle, the Israeli army regularly accepted risks to its own men in order to reduce the risks that it posed on the civilian population. The contrast with the way the Russians fought in Grozny, to take the most recent example of large-scale urban warfare, is striking, and the crucial mark of that contrast is the very small number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian cities despite the fierceness of the fighting." - Professor Michael Walzer, Princeton University. Author of Just and Unjust Wars and strident critic of Israel. [181]
- Supporting Evidence: "In battle, the Israeli army regularly accepted risks to its own men in order to reduce the risks that it posed on the civilian population. The contrast with the way the Russians fought in Grozny, to take the most recent example of large-scale urban warfare, is striking, and the crucial mark of that contrast is the very small number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian cities despite the fierceness of the fighting." - Professor Michael Walzer, Princeton University. Author of Just and Unjust Wars and strident critic of Israel. [181]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has exercised extreme restraint in the use of its military might in order to spare civilians, in direct contrast to the methods used by NATO in the former Yugoslavia and the US and its allies in Afghanistan.
- Supporting Evidence: "While suicide bombers did elevate terror from a tactical to a strategic problem, Israel did not even begin to use the military means available to it, like heavy artillery, and held back when using its air force. Instead of conducting a campaign from the air which would have meant virtually no Israeli casualties and thousands of Palestinian fatalities, a method employed by the NATO allies in the former Yugoslavia and by the U.S. and its partners in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Israel used its infantry and occasionally armored forces preemptively and preventively to stymie its main enemy, the terrorists." Jerusalem Report, June 2004 . [182]
- Supporting Evidence: "While suicide bombers did elevate terror from a tactical to a strategic problem, Israel did not even begin to use the military means available to it, like heavy artillery, and held back when using its air force. Instead of conducting a campaign from the air which would have meant virtually no Israeli casualties and thousands of Palestinian fatalities, a method employed by the NATO allies in the former Yugoslavia and by the U.S. and its partners in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, Israel used its infantry and occasionally armored forces preemptively and preventively to stymie its main enemy, the terrorists." Jerusalem Report, June 2004 . [182]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel exercises extreme restraint in the use of its military might. The numbers bear this out.
- Supporting Evidence: During Black September Jordan massacred more than 10,000 Palestinians. On February 2nd 1982 Syria massacred between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians in Hama, a city housing an opposition group. Israel does possess a stronger fighting force than the Palestinians, Jordan and Syria, however in three years of fighting casualty numbers nowhere approach those produced by Jordan in one month or Syria in one day. The Palestinian uprising in Jordan and the insurgency in Syria ended immediately after the massacres. The uprising in Israel has continued for years and resulted in the deaths of over a thousand Israelis. Notwithstanding Israel's superior military strength and the loss of a great number of its civilians, Israel has never resorted to the same brutality exerted by Syria and Jordan. [183]
- Question: During Black September Jordan massacred more than 10,000 Palestinians. On February 2nd 1982 Syria massacred between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians in Hama, a city housing an opposition group. Israel does possess a stronger fighting force than the Palestinians, Jordan and Syria, however in three years of fighting casualty numbers nowhere approach those produced by Jordan in one month or Syria in one day. In addition a third of the casualties in this conflict have been Israelis. Do these comparative figures indicate that Israel is using the full force of their military against the Palestinians? [184]
- Question: You have said, and the world recognizes, that Israel has one of the most powerful and advanced militaries in the world-even the US uses Israel's military developments and innovations. My question is what you think the reasons are that Israel hasn't used its full military might in its so-called fight against Palestinian terrorism. For example, why didn't Israel just aerial bomb Jenin as the US did in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of sending in its soldiers and having casualties it would otherwise not have had? Do you think it's because Israel is playing a PR game so it looks humane to the world? What do you think Palestinians would have to do to provoke Israel to use its full military might?
- Supporting Evidence: During Black September Jordan massacred more than 10,000 Palestinians. On February 2nd 1982 Syria massacred between 20,000 and 40,000 civilians in Hama, a city housing an opposition group. Israel does possess a stronger fighting force than the Palestinians, Jordan and Syria, however in three years of fighting casualty numbers nowhere approach those produced by Jordan in one month or Syria in one day. The Palestinian uprising in Jordan and the insurgency in Syria ended immediately after the massacres. The uprising in Israel has continued for years and resulted in the deaths of over a thousand Israelis. Notwithstanding Israel's superior military strength and the loss of a great number of its civilians, Israel has never resorted to the same brutality exerted by Syria and Jordan. [183]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is praised even by its usual critics for the care it exercises in ensuring the safety of civilians.
- POINT 17: Israel commits daily, horrible human rights abuses in the territories with "a kind of refined viciousness that is absolutely stupefying."
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority and Palestinian spokesmen make charges as part of their PR campaign that have no grounding in reality.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian Authority (PA) has emerged as a virtual kingdom of mendacity where every official, from Arafat down, spends his days lying to a succession of western journalists. The reporters routinely give the lies credence equal to or greater than what they hear from straight, or far less mendacious, Israeli officials. One day Arafat charges that the IDF uses uranium-tipped shells against Palestinian civilians. The next day it's poison gas. Then, for lack of independent corroboration, the charges simply vanish-and the Palestinians go on to the next lie, garnering headlines in western and Arab newspapers." Historian Benny Morris [185]
- Supporting Evidence: "For years, our people have been subjected to a daily, intensive use of poison gas by the Israeli forces, which has led to an increase in cancer and other horrible diseases among women and children ... Israel has chemically contaminated about 80 percent of water sources used by Palestinians." Soha Arafat (Yassir's wife) in a prepared speech during Hillary Clinton's visit in November 1999. These lies were caught only because the meeting was such a high-profile event. When President Clinton strenuously objected to the PA, an official told him that Mrs. Arafat really meant the Israel was using tear gas and simply had confused her terms. [186]
- Supporting Evidence: The purported Jenin "massacre" is the most notorious example of wild fabrications. When Israel entered the Jenin refugee camp in April, 2002, Palestinian spokespeople cried that it was a massacre. Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erakat charged during a CNN interview on April 10, 2002, that Israeli troops had killed "more than 500 people" and he claimed there were mass graves. The truth, when it came out, was quite different:
"As of May 1, there were 54 bodies found in Jenin -- not 500 -- according to Israeli military sources. Palestinian officials, on the ground, now verify the Israeli numbers: Mousa Kadoura, director of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization for the northern West Bank, claims 56 Palestinians died in Jenin (Washington Times, May 1, 2002)…..These limited Palestinian casualties were due to the fact that Israel did not employ massive air strikes or artillery barrages in Jenin, but rather sent its vulnerable ground forces to engage in house-to-house combat. As a result, Israel lost 23 soldiers in the battle. Essentially, Israeli soldiers lost their lives in order to keep the collateral deaths of Palestinian civilians to a minimum."
[187]
- Question: Given the history of so many fabrications about Israeli abuses: the use of poison gas, distribution of poison candy, the deliberate spread of AIDS to Palestinian children, the deliberate spread of mad cow disease, Israeli female stripper murder squads, poisoning of drinking water and Palestinian body part harvesting, among other baseless allegations ---how can we judge when PA accusations against Israel are true? Can you give us some guidelines so we can better understand the facts on the ground?
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian Authority (PA) has emerged as a virtual kingdom of mendacity where every official, from Arafat down, spends his days lying to a succession of western journalists. The reporters routinely give the lies credence equal to or greater than what they hear from straight, or far less mendacious, Israeli officials. One day Arafat charges that the IDF uses uranium-tipped shells against Palestinian civilians. The next day it's poison gas. Then, for lack of independent corroboration, the charges simply vanish-and the Palestinians go on to the next lie, garnering headlines in western and Arab newspapers." Historian Benny Morris [185]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is in a difficult position. It is a democracy committed to human rights and the rule of just laws but today it is caught in a terrorist war that doesn't seem to end. It has tried to live up to the highest standards while fighting this war and yet preserving the safety of its citizens.
- Supporting Evidence: "It may well be Israel, not the United States, that provides the best hope for building a jurisprudence that can protect civil liberties against the demands of national security….The struggle to establish civil liberties against the backdrop of these security threats, while difficult, promises to build bulwarks of liberty than can endure…I [would not] be surprised if in the future the protections generally afforded civil liberties during times of world danger owed much to the lessons Israel learns in its struggle to preserve simultaneously the liberties of its citizens and the security of its nation." US Chief Justice William Brennan 1987 [188]
- Supporting Evidence: "It may well be Israel, not the United States, that provides the best hope for building a jurisprudence that can protect civil liberties against the demands of national security….The struggle to establish civil liberties against the backdrop of these security threats, while difficult, promises to build bulwarks of liberty than can endure…I [would not] be surprised if in the future the protections generally afforded civil liberties during times of world danger owed much to the lessons Israel learns in its struggle to preserve simultaneously the liberties of its citizens and the security of its nation." US Chief Justice William Brennan 1987 [188]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority and Palestinian spokesmen make charges as part of their PR campaign that have no grounding in reality.
- POINT 18: Israel violates human rights by targeting innocent refugee camps.
- COUNTERPOINT: The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) has been co-opted by terrorists.
- Supporting Evidence: On July 6, 2001 UNRWA representative Saheil Alhinadi praised Hamas suicide attacks, saying " the road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". [189]
- Supporting Evidence: The Jenin refugee camp is popularly known as the A'simat Al-Istashidin - the suicider's capital. Twenty-three suicide bombers, responsible for killing 57 Israelis and injuring 1,000, came from the UNRWA camp in Jenin alone. When Israel entered the camp they found an explosives factory in its center. [190]
- Question: Textbooks used in schools funded and run by the UNRWA claim that according to the Talmud the Jews believe that the human animal was created to serve them and that it is permitted to deceive the gentiles who have satanic souls. These books do not recognize Israel, contain Zionist conspiracies, and encourage children to engage in Jihad against Jews. Should we continue to fund UNRWA without demanding that they stop inciting hatred and genocide in their schools?
- Supporting Evidence: On July 6, 2001 UNRWA representative Saheil Alhinadi praised Hamas suicide attacks, saying " the road to Palestine passes through the blood of the fallen, and these fallen have written history with parts of their flesh and their bodies". [189]
- COUNTERPOINT: The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) has been co-opted by terrorists.
- POINT 19: Israel violates human rights by using collective punishment such as home demolitions and checkpoints.
- COUNTERPOINT: The PA and Palestinian terrorists, not Israel, use the most morally reprehensible form of collective punishment. They don't target military installations. Instead, they detonate themselves in civilian centers, killing and crippling men, women, children and babies simply because they don't like Israel's policies in the Territories. The victims may not even agree with those policies. They are targeted simply because they are Jewish Israelis. This is the most vicious form of collective punishment.
- COUNTERPOINT: Collective punishment is a price people pay when their leaders engage in warfare and terrorism.
- Supporting Evidence: Not all Germans supported Hitler, but all Germans suffered the consequences of defeat, including the expulsion of 10 million Germans from Central and Eastern Europe.
- Supporting Evidence: The United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Iraq even though the vast majority of its citizens did not support Saddam Hussein. This was a collective punishment they had to suffer because of their leadership.
- Supporting Evidence: "The US policy of confiscating cars, boats, airplanes, and homes used to facilitate the drug trade is also a form of collective accountability designed to deter people from allowing their property to be used by drug smugglers." Alan Dershowitz, Professor, Harvard Law School [191]
- Supporting Evidence: Not all Germans supported Hitler, but all Germans suffered the consequences of defeat, including the expulsion of 10 million Germans from Central and Eastern Europe.
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolition is an extremely limited form of collective punishment. It affects only the family of the suicide bomber. Those families are rarely innocent. They support and abet the campaign of terrorism against Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: A poll in 2002 found that 87% of Palestinians supported continuing terrorist attacks; another poll in April 2003 found that 65.3% of Palestinians supported continued terrorist attacks. Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [192]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians turn suicide bombers into heroic martyrs, naming streets, playgrounds and children's summer camps after them, plastering posters of them throughout the Territories, replaying their martyrdom videos on TV, and even selling 2002 Suicide Bomber calendars displaying the faces of all the dead bombers and Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Yessin. Even the Nazis did not single out or honor those who slaughtered Jews. - London Observer Dec. 16, 2001. [193]
- Supporting Evidence: "Why doesn't a single one of the leaders... expressing joy and ecstasy on the satellite channels every time a young Palestinian man or woman sets out to blow himself or herself up-send his own son?" - Abu Saber M.G., the grieving father of a suicide bomber, in a letter to Al Hayat (London) October 1, 2002. [194]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian children grow up in a culture in which suicide bombers are rock stars, sports heroes, and religious idols rolled into one...suicide bombing has become phenomenally popular. According to polls, 70 to 80% of Palestinians now support it." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [195]
- Supporting Evidence: Gaza City's walls "are shrines to suicide bombers and the death toll they have inflicted on the Israeli occupiers. Many of the city's mosques are plastered with 'martyrdom' posters extolling the deeds of suicide bombers....Even the Sbarro attack, where most of the victims were young children, is celebrated with news photos of the aftermath." - London Observer, December 16, 2001. [196]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians celebrate the "weddings" between the martyrs and dark-eyed virgins in paradise. "Announcements that read like wedding invitations are printed in local newspapers so that friends and neighbors can join the festivities." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [197]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians promote Paradise Camps-"summer camps in which children as young as eight are trained in military drills and taught about suicide bombers." Atlantic Monthly June 2002. [198]
- Supporting Evidence: Rallies commonly feature children wearing bombers' belts-sometimes children as young as two years old. In commercials and children's TV shows, Palestinian children are urged to glorify martyrs and become like them. On the Palestinian version of "Sesame Street," children sing songs about wishing to become suicide warriors and spilling their blood in Jerusalem.
- Supporting Evidence: A poll in 2002 found that 87% of Palestinians supported continuing terrorist attacks; another poll in April 2003 found that 65.3% of Palestinians supported continued terrorist attacks. Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [192]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel uses these measures precisely because it values human life and wants to avoid civilian casualties. It could use the full force of its military to attack the Territories in aerial bombardments as the US has done in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, it has chosen deterrent measures that cause no physical harm and spare lives.
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolition is a counter-terrorism measure that effectively deters potential suicide bombers.
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [199]
- Supporting Evidence: A 24-year-old Palestinian woman who had planned to be a suicide bomber turned herself in to Israeli authorities in February 2002. "[S]he said she had decided to turn herself in to the army, she said that she was afraid her parents' home would be demolished." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [200]
- Supporting Evidence: "A 17-year-old youth from Jenin…told the Shin Bet…he had decided not to go ahead with the [car bomb] mission because he was worried about what would happen to his family." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [201]
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n the Hebron area, a father informed on his son's plans to go on a suicide mission, fearing that the family would be expelled." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [202]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he militants themselves concede that the measures have made it harder to stage attacks…." New York Times, April 5, 2003 [203]
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [199]
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolitions may be a harsh reality of life but are something that administrative authority bodies reserve the right to do and is nothing new to the region. During the Palestine Mandate period British authorities demolished thousands of homes, both Jewish and Arab, for a variety of reasons, from public health and security to anti-terrorism operations and punitive demolitions. (http://www.progressiveaustin.org/cooley.htm)
- COUNTERPOINT: Checkpoints cannot be considered collective punishment. They are unpleasant and a nuisance, but they cause no physical harm. They are an unfortunate necessity, one that is commonly used by all nations that are on high terrorist alerts.
- COUNTERPOINT: The PA and Palestinian terrorists, not Israel, use the most morally reprehensible form of collective punishment. They don't target military installations. Instead, they detonate themselves in civilian centers, killing and crippling men, women, children and babies simply because they don't like Israel's policies in the Territories. The victims may not even agree with those policies. They are targeted simply because they are Jewish Israelis. This is the most vicious form of collective punishment.
- POINT 20: Israel violates human rights when it demolishes homes of terrorists.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is morally perverse to condemn Israel for demolishing terrorists' homes and yet not condemn the terrorists who are slaughtering men, women, children and babies. The implication is that Jewish lives are worth less than physical structures.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel demolishes buildings to deter suicide bombers and to protect a higher human right: saving lives and avoiding human casualties.
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. [204]
- Supporting Evidence: "The intifada is a strange, sad sort of war, with the underdog, who rejected peace, simultaneously in the role of aggressor and, when the western TV cameras are on, the victim. The semi-occupier, with his giant but largely useless army, merely responds, usually with great restraint, given the moral and international political shackles under which he labors. And he loses on CNN because F-16s bombing empty police buildings appear far more savage than Palestinian suicide bombers who take out 10 or 20 Israeli civilians at a go." Historian Benny Morris [205]
- Supporting Evidence: "Houses or physical property can be destroyed, but they can also be rebuilt; human bodies beyond a certain point have no possibility of survival or return, and military commanders have the right to balance on the one hand the military necessity, with on the other hand… the well-being of the residents of those buildings. Unfortunately, simply their presence[the houses in Rafah] facilitated the acts of terrorists against Israelis. These houses also facilitated, as I understand, the tunneling under the border from Egypt into Rafah -- bringing in large quantities of deadly weaponry intended for terrorists. If it is necessary to demolish structures in order to prevent or to reduce the smuggling of weapons for terrorists, it is certainly a reasonable action to be taken not just by the Israeli army. Any army, after nearly four years of daily terrorism would likely do the same, or more." Human Rights Attorney, Justice Reid Weiner May 17 2004 [206]
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. [204]
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolition in the Middle East is a common counter-terrorism measure.
- Supporting Evidence: House demolitions may be a harsh reality of life but are something that administrative authority bodies reserve the right to do and is nothing new to the region. During the Palestine Mandate period British authorities demolished thousands of homes, both Jewish and Arab, for a variety of reasons, from public health and security to anti-terrorism operations and punitive demolitions. [207]
- Supporting Evidence: House demolitions may be a harsh reality of life but are something that administrative authority bodies reserve the right to do and is nothing new to the region. During the Palestine Mandate period British authorities demolished thousands of homes, both Jewish and Arab, for a variety of reasons, from public health and security to anti-terrorism operations and punitive demolitions. [207]
- COUNTERPOINT: Arab countries and the PA practice house demolition.
- Supporting Evidence: Following a 1982 uprising, the Syrian government demolished a large portion of the town of Hama with relentless heavy bombing, artillery and infantry units, killing civilians inside their homes or as they tried to escape. Between 30,000 and 40,000 men, women and children were killed. [208]
- Supporting Evidence: British, American and Israeli media have reported on the PA demolishing Arab dwellings in Gaza. To mention one, a Washington Post story (February 27, 1995) told of Fatima Abu Suayed's house being "flattened" with all her possessions inside because it was on "Palestinian state property." According to the account, "a bulldozer plowed down more than 20 homes." [209]
- Supporting Evidence: Following a 1982 uprising, the Syrian government demolished a large portion of the town of Hama with relentless heavy bombing, artillery and infantry units, killing civilians inside their homes or as they tried to escape. Between 30,000 and 40,000 men, women and children were killed. [208]
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolition is an extremely limited form of punishment. It affects only the family of the suicide bomber. Those families are usually accessories to the crime by supporting and abetting the campaign of terrorism against Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: A poll in 2002 found that 87% of Palestinians supported continuing terrorist attacks; another poll in April 2003 found that 65.3% of Palestinians supported continued terrorist attacks according to the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [210]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians turn suicide bombers into heroic martyrs, naming streets, playgrounds and children's summer camps after them, plastering posters of them throughout the Territories, replaying their martyrdom videos on TV, and even selling 2002 Suicide Bomber calendars displaying the faces of all the dead bombers and Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Yessin. Even the Nazis did not single out or honor those who slaughtered Jews. - London Observer Dec. 16, 2001. [211]
- Supporting Evidence: "Why doesn't a single one of the leaders... expressing joy and ecstasy on the satellite channels every time a young Palestinian man or woman sets out to blow himself or herself up-send his own son?" - Abu Saber M.G., the grieving father of a suicide bomber, in a letter to Al Hayat (London) October 1, 2002. [212]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian children grow up in a culture in which suicide bombers are rock stars, sports heroes, and religious idols rolled into one...suicide bombing has become phenomenally popular. According to polls, 70 to 80% of Palestinians now support it." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [213]
- Supporting Evidence: Gaza City's walls "are shrines to suicide bombers and the death toll they have inflicted on the Israeli occupiers. Many of the city's mosques are plastered with 'martyrdom' posters extolling the deeds of suicide bombers....Even the Sbarro attack, where most of the victims were young children, is celebrated with news photos of the aftermath." - London Observer, December 16, 2001. [214]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians celebrate the "weddings" between the martyrs and dark-eyed virgins in paradise. "Announcements that read like wedding invitations are printed in local newspapers so that friends and neighbors can join the festivities." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002. [215]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians promote Paradise Camps-"summer camps in which children as young as eight are trained in military drills and taught about suicide bombers." Atlantic Monthly June 2002. [216]
- Supporting Evidence: Rallies commonly feature children wearing bombers' belts-sometimes children as young as two years old. In commercials and children's TV shows, Palestinian children are urged to glorify martyrs and become like them. On the Palestinian version of "Sesame Street," children sing songs about wishing to become suicide warriors and spilling their blood in Jerusalem.
- Supporting Evidence: A poll in 2002 found that 87% of Palestinians supported continuing terrorist attacks; another poll in April 2003 found that 65.3% of Palestinians supported continued terrorist attacks according to the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. [210]
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolition is a counter-terrorism measure that effectively deters potential suicide bombers.
- Supporting Evidence: Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [217]
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [218]
- Supporting Evidence: A 24-year-old Palestinian woman who had planned to be a suicide bomber turned herself in to Israeli authorities in February 2002. "[S]he said she had decided to turn herself in to the army, she said that she was afraid her parents' home would be demolished." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [219]
- Supporting Evidence: "A 17-year-old youth from Jenin…told the Shin Bet…he had decided not to go ahead with the [car bomb] mission because he was worried about what would happen to his family." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [220]
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n the Hebron area, a father informed on his son's plans to go on a suicide mission, fearing that the family would be expelled." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [221]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he militants themselves concede that the measures have made it harder to stage attacks…." New York Times, April 5, 2003 [222]
- Supporting Evidence: Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [217]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is morally perverse to condemn Israel for demolishing terrorists' homes and yet not condemn the terrorists who are slaughtering men, women, children and babies. The implication is that Jewish lives are worth less than physical structures.
- POINT 21: Israel's "wall" violates Palestinian human rights. It is a unique form of apartheid.
- COUNTERPOINT: This use of the term apartheid is an insult the to the blacks in South Africa. Apartheid was their special and unique tragedy. By using the term to describe an altogether different situation, their suffering is trvilized and degraded..
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's security fence is in no way related to Apartheid. Israel is not trying to keep out people of another race or color. The security fence was built to protect Arabs living in Israel, who make up 20% of the population, as well as Jews. The fence was built to protect people of all colors, races and ethnicities from terrorists who target them and openly claim their goal is mass murder.
- COUNTERPOINT: A security barrier between Israelis and Palestinians would not have been necessary if Palestinian suicide bombers did not enter Israeli civilian centers to blow themselves up.
- Supporting Evidence: "In the end, the Palestinian leadership has only itself to blame for the fence. Had there been the necessary moves to curb terrorism and stop the infiltration of suicide bombers, the Israelis would not have undertaken such a hugely costly barrier. In that Arafat thwarted the attempt by Mahmoud Abbas to confront Hamas, he made the extension of the fence inevitable. The new Palestinian prime minister must take the initiative against terrorism if he is not to see his country irrevocably split." (London Times Editorial October 2, 2003) [223]
- Question: You imply that Israel closed access to Jerusalem for West Bank Palestinians out of sheer malice or racism. Don't you think it would have been important to explain the context--WHY Israel had to impose these closures? For decades, Israel had allowed open access between Jerusalem and the West Bank. It had to impose closures because in Jerusalem alone over 120 Israelis had been killed and 100s more injured in 13 suicide bombings by Palestinians coming from the West Bank. Don't you think you need to make these contexts clear so that your audience understands the issues and one side isn't demonized?
- Supporting Evidence: "In the end, the Palestinian leadership has only itself to blame for the fence. Had there been the necessary moves to curb terrorism and stop the infiltration of suicide bombers, the Israelis would not have undertaken such a hugely costly barrier. In that Arafat thwarted the attempt by Mahmoud Abbas to confront Hamas, he made the extension of the fence inevitable. The new Palestinian prime minister must take the initiative against terrorism if he is not to see his country irrevocably split." (London Times Editorial October 2, 2003) [223]
- COUNTERPOINT: The security fence around the Gaza Strip has prevented Palestinian Suicide bombers from entering Israel to kill civilians.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's security fence impacts Israelis in many of the same ways Palestinians complain it impacts them. Nonetheless, it is necessary to save lives.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's security fence is no less justified than the fences that separate other countries and peoples.
- Supporting Evidence: A massive wall, reaching up to 15 feet in height and guarded by electric sensors and patrolmen, is being erected between the US and Mexico. It exists to prevent illegal immigration into the US by people who want to work to improve their lives. In comparison, Israel's security fence exists to prevent infiltration by Palestinian suicide bombers who want to blow themselves up to destroy the lives of average Israelis.
- Supporting Evidence: Heavily fortified walls and a broad demilitarized zone separate North and South Korea splitting families and rendering passage between the two countries impossible. This is a regrettable situation that may be changed if political animosities subside, but for now it is necessary to prevent renewed war. Israel regards its fence in the same light - with regret, but also with an understanding of its necessity.
- Supporting Evidence: India is constructing an eight-foot-high wall and three tiered border fence through the disputed Kashmir province to separate it from Pakistan. Along much of its length, the fence does not follow any recognized border. It cuts farmers off from their land, and separates families. Nonetheless, the fence has calmed border tensions and failed to arouse the ire of International Organizations, NGOs, and Peace groups. [224]
- Supporting Evidence: Dilip Trivedi, head of India's Border Security Force in Jammu and Kashmir said of India's fence, "The fence will be a permanent barrier . . . to prevent militants from entering. Why should we wait for them to come in and attack our people? Why not stop them at the border?" [225]
- Supporting Evidence: A massive wall, reaching up to 15 feet in height and guarded by electric sensors and patrolmen, is being erected between the US and Mexico. It exists to prevent illegal immigration into the US by people who want to work to improve their lives. In comparison, Israel's security fence exists to prevent infiltration by Palestinian suicide bombers who want to blow themselves up to destroy the lives of average Israelis.
- COUNTERPOINT: This use of the term apartheid is an insult the to the blacks in South Africa. Apartheid was their special and unique tragedy. By using the term to describe an altogether different situation, their suffering is trvilized and degraded..
- POINT 22: Israel violates human rights by using torture.
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian prisoners aren't tortured. Many in fact receive free educations, courtesty of the Israeli government, and many of the complaints prisoners level against Israel are trivial.
- Supporting Evidence: Upon being released as part of an Israeli good-will gesture, a Palestinian prisoner jailed for the murder of 14 people unwittingly revealed both the privileges he received in Israeli prison and the general lack of concern he needed to have for his personal safety there. His principle grievance was random prison cell searches. Meanwhile, he gloats that he and 200 of his fellow inmates received a fully-subsidized education at Israel's premier universities. [226]
- Supporting Evidence: "I would like to tell the leadership of our Arab and Islamic nations that we are living in camps where there is no less suffering than in the Nazi camps in Germany. In fact, at any given moment the Israelis could burst into our rooms and check us. And, thank God, as Palestinian prisoners, more than 200 of us have been accepted into the Hebrew University and the Ben Gurion University, and our brother Hisham Abed Al-Razak [PA Minister for Prisoners] is paying the tuition fees .Even in the prisons we are studying, and we are looking forward to the future and live in hope." - Ahmad Jabara, Palestinian Authority Television, June 23, 2003. [227]
- Supporting Evidence: Upon being released as part of an Israeli good-will gesture, a Palestinian prisoner jailed for the murder of 14 people unwittingly revealed both the privileges he received in Israeli prison and the general lack of concern he needed to have for his personal safety there. His principle grievance was random prison cell searches. Meanwhile, he gloats that he and 200 of his fellow inmates received a fully-subsidized education at Israel's premier universities. [226]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's prohibitions on the use of torture are as high, if not higher, than those commonly practiced by the United States and Western European nations even though Israel is facing a terrorist war.
- Supporting Evidence: Law professor Sadiq Reza argued that Israel's stance on torture provides a model to follow: "'The State of Israel has been engaged in an unceasing struggle for both its very existence and security, from the day of its founding,' began the Israeli high court's opinion, but '[a] democratic, freedom-loving society does not accept that investigators use any means for the purpose of uncovering the truth.' The 'destiny of democracy' is often to fight "with one hand tied behind its back," the opinion eloquently concluded, and 'not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it.' One can oppose Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza and still applaud this stand by its high court -- and learn from it." Sadiq Reza, Associate Professor of Law, June 14 2004 [228]
- Supporting Evidence: On September 6, 1999, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that even the non-lethal physical coercion that is used in the US-"sleep deprivation, forced uncomfortable positions, loud music, shaking, hoods over the head"-could no longer be used in Israel, even in cases where the information might prevent a terrorist attack. [229]
- Supporting Evidence: "[W]e declare that the GSS does not have the authority to "shake" a man, hold him in the "Shabach" position…force him into a "frog crouch" position and deprive him of sleep in a manner other than that which is inherently required by interrogation. Likewise, we declare that the 'necessity' defense, found in the Penal Law, cannot serve as a basis of authority for the use of these interrogation practices…." Professor Aharon Barka, President of the Israeli Supreme Court. [230]
- Supporting Evidence: Law professor Sadiq Reza argued that Israel's stance on torture provides a model to follow: "'The State of Israel has been engaged in an unceasing struggle for both its very existence and security, from the day of its founding,' began the Israeli high court's opinion, but '[a] democratic, freedom-loving society does not accept that investigators use any means for the purpose of uncovering the truth.' The 'destiny of democracy' is often to fight "with one hand tied behind its back," the opinion eloquently concluded, and 'not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it.' One can oppose Israel's policies in the West Bank and Gaza and still applaud this stand by its high court -- and learn from it." Sadiq Reza, Associate Professor of Law, June 14 2004 [228]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel engages in strictly non-lethal information extraction much like the UK and many other western nations. Moreover, Israel is one of the few nations in the world that does NOT engage in lethal and more brutal forms of torture. Singling out Israel for condemnation is both absurd and reveals a biased political agenda.
- Supporting Evidence: "One major benefit of putting possible terrorist in the hands of foreign services, according to intelligence sources, is that most countries do not have the same legal rights and procedures as are practiced in the United States. Many foreign countries fighting terrorism use interrogation methods that include torture and threats to family members." Washington Post, October 15, 2001 [231]
- Supporting Evidence: "Reports of beating have been received from more than 150 countries-virtually all the countries from which torture and ill-treatment have been reported since 1997." Amnesty International [232]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 40 countries use" electric shock. Amnesty International [233]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 50 countries" commit rape and sexual abuse on those in custody. Amnesty International [234]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 40 countries" use suspension of the body. Amnesty International [235]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 30 countries" use suffocation. Amnesty International [236]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 50 countries" use mock execution or the threat of death. Amnesty International [237]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than 50 countries" use prolonged solitary confinement. Amnesty International [238]
- Supporting Evidence: "Other methods (of internationally used torture) included submersion in water, stubbing out of cigarettes on the body, being tied to the back of a car and dragged behind it…." Amnesty International [239]
- Supporting Evidence: "One major benefit of putting possible terrorist in the hands of foreign services, according to intelligence sources, is that most countries do not have the same legal rights and procedures as are practiced in the United States. Many foreign countries fighting terrorism use interrogation methods that include torture and threats to family members." Washington Post, October 15, 2001 [231]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's detractors accuse it of torture, though it uses techniques that are not uncommon in the West. They are silent, however, about the Palestinian Authority's violent and brutal torture methods.
- Supporting Evidence: "People detained by the Palestinian Authority are frequently subjected to torture and denied access to fair trials." - Human Rights Watch 2001 [240]
- Supporting Evidence: "The practice of incommunicado detention exacerbates the routine use of torture. Detainees are frequently subjected to "shabah" (prolonged sitting or standing in painful positions); "falaqa" (beating on the soles of the feet); punching; kicking; and suspension from the wrists. Five Palestinians are known to have died in police or security force custody since the current intifada began." - Human Rights Watch [241]
- Supporting Evidence: "Khaled al-?Akkeh was arrested by the PSS in Gaza on February 14, 2001 and convicted by the Gaza State Security Court on August 12, 2001 of helping Israeli forces kill Mas'ud Ayyad on February 13, 2001. Over a period of eighteen days after his arrest al-?Akkeh was allegedly subjected to shabah and punched repeatedly in the face with his head hooded. He is said to have lost some vision in his right eye and some of his hearing in his left ear. He was able to receive visitors about twenty to thirty days after his arrest. Khaled al-?Akkeh was shot by police on September 9, 2001, apparently while trying to escape from custody." - Human Rights Watch [242]
- Supporting Evidence: "Sometimes torture is used to obtain false testimony to strengthen a case against another person. Yusra al-Ramlawi, a 29-year-old woman from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip, was arrested in June by the GIS. Al-Ramlawi was not accused of being a collaborator herself, but was tortured in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade her to give false evidence that would implicate another person as a collaborator. A confidential source told Human Rights Watch al-Ramlawi was two months pregnant at the time of the arrest and had informed her interrogators of this. Nevertheless, she was beaten into unconsciousness, which caused her to miscarry and lose the fetus. Some days later an interrogator threatened to rape her, but stopped when al-Ramlawi screamed. Despite a complaint to other officers, that interrogator was back at work three days later… Three months after being arrested, F.M. was released without charge. She has continuing medical effects of the torture, including constant headaches and difficulty walking." - Human Rights Watch [243]
- Supporting Evidence: "People detained by the Palestinian Authority are frequently subjected to torture and denied access to fair trials." - Human Rights Watch 2001 [240]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is set amidst countries with the worst torture records in the world. By singling Israel out for condemnation without mentioning cross amputations and stonings, genital mutilation and rape in neighboring Muslim countries a speaker reveals his prejudice and political agenda.
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "Torture methods range from techniques involving sticks, electric shocks, cigarette burns, nail-pulling and threats of sexual attack on the detainee or relatives, to beatings. Torture and ill-treatment are used to extract confessions and to enforce discipline. They are also inflicted apparently without reason - simply because it is the culture of the prison. Sometimes, prisoners die as a result." - Amnesty International, Canada. [244]
- Supporting Evidence: "Flogging and amputation of limbs are used extensively in Saudi Arabia as judicial punishments. They are prescribed by Saudi Arabian law despite the fact that such punishments contravene the UN Convention against Torture. They are applied to many offences, ranging from alcohol and "sexual offences" to theft, and can be handed down by courts with little regard to fair trial procedures." - Amnesty International, Canada [245]
- Supporting Evidence: "Judicial amputations are still being carried out with disturbing frequency in Saudi Arabia - at least 90 have been recorded by Amnesty International in the past 18 years, including at least five cases of cross amputation (right hand and left foot)." - Amnesty International, Canada [246]
- Supporting Evidence: Reports indicate that Libyan security officials torture prisoners by, "chaining to a wall for hours; clubbing; applying electric shock; applying corkscrews to the back; pouring lemon juice in open wounds; breaking fingers and allowing the joints to heal without medical care; suffocating with plastic bags; depriving of food and water; hanging by the wrists; suspending from a pole inserted between the knees and elbows; burning with cigarettes; attacking with dogs; and beating on the soles of the feet."- U.S. State Department [247]
- Supporting Evidence: "The nongovernmental Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) has continued to campaign in 1998 against police abuse of ordinary citizens. In a report issued in May, EOHR charged that "torture and ill-treatment have become systematic and widely practiced by policemen during the interrogation of suspects." It said that the most common acts of torture were the use of electricity and hanging victims "in the position of a slaughtered animal." EOHR also noted that police abuse included the detention and torture of family members both to obtain information and force the surrender of suspects, an abuse that Human Rights Watch documented with respect to the practices of State Security Investigation in a report published in 1995." - Human Rights Watch [248]
- Supporting Evidence: " A twenty-four-year-old Egyptian , Wahid el-Sayid Ahmed Abdallah… was arrested on suspicion of theft. He was brought to the local police station, bound, and then "whipped and beaten with sticks and the butt of a machine gun," and electric-shocked on "the ears, nipples and penis," according to EOHR [the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights}. An officer and other policemen returned the body to the family, saying only that Wahid had lost consciousness. When the family realized that he was dead, they brought the body back to the police station, where authorities initially refused to accept it and prepare a report. Family members, including Wahid's grandmother and three aunts, were arrested before police permitted the body to be buried under tight security." - Human Rights Watch, 1998 [249]
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "Torture methods range from techniques involving sticks, electric shocks, cigarette burns, nail-pulling and threats of sexual attack on the detainee or relatives, to beatings. Torture and ill-treatment are used to extract confessions and to enforce discipline. They are also inflicted apparently without reason - simply because it is the culture of the prison. Sometimes, prisoners die as a result." - Amnesty International, Canada. [244]
- COUNTERPOINT: When Palestinians or the Palestinian Authority accuse Israel of human rights abuses and torture, they must be corroborated by independent sources. Too often, such charges are part of the Palestinian PR campaign.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian Authority (PA) has emerged as a virtual kingdom of mendacity where every official, from Arafat down, spends his days lying to a succession of western journalists. The reporters routinely give the lies credence equal to or greater than what they hear from straight, or far less mendacious, Israeli officials. One day Arafat charges that the IDF uses uranium-tipped shells against Palestinian civilians. The next day it's poison gas. Then, for lack of independent corroboration, the charges simply vanish-and the Palestinians go on to the next lie, garnering headlines in western and Arab newspapers." Historian Benny Morris [250]
- Supporting Evidence: Soha Arafat, wife of Yasser Arafat, was exposed as having lied to Hillary Clinton about Israeli abuses. "For years, our people have been subjected to a daily, intensive use of poison gas by the Israeli forces, which has led to an increase in cancer and other horrible diseases among women and children ... Israel has chemically contaminated about 80 percent of water sources used by Palestinians." Soha Arafat (Yassir's wife) in a prepared speech during Hillary Clinton's visit in November 1999. These lies were caught only because the meeting was such a high-profile event. When President Clinton strenuously objected to the PA, an official told him that Mrs. Arafat really meant the Israel was using tear gas and simply had confused her terms. [251]
- Supporting Evidence: The purported Jenin "massacre" is the most notorious example of wild fabrications. When Israel entered the Jenin refugee camp in April, 2002, Palestinian spokespeople cried that it was a massacre. Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erakat charged during a CNN interview on April 10, 2002, that Israeli troops had killed "more than 500 people" and he claimed there were mass graves. The truth, when it came out, was quite different:
"As of May 1, there were 54 bodies found in Jenin -- not 500 -- according to Israeli military sources. Palestinian officials, on the ground, now verify the Israeli numbers: Mousa Kadoura, director of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization for the northern West Bank, claims 56 Palestinians died in Jenin (Washington Times, May 1, 2002)…..These limited Palestinian casualties were due to the fact that Israel did not employ massive air strikes or artillery barrages in Jenin, but rather sent its vulnerable ground forces to engage in house-to-house combat. As a result, Israel lost 23 soldiers in the battle. Essentially, Israeli soldiers lost their lives in order to keep the collateral deaths of Palestinian civilians to a minimum."(*) UN Report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution ES-10/10, May 2002 (**)
[252]
- Question: Given the history of so many fabrications about Israeli abuses, how is it possible to accept PA accusations against Israel as true? Can you give us some guidelines so we can better understand the facts on the ground?
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian Authority (PA) has emerged as a virtual kingdom of mendacity where every official, from Arafat down, spends his days lying to a succession of western journalists. The reporters routinely give the lies credence equal to or greater than what they hear from straight, or far less mendacious, Israeli officials. One day Arafat charges that the IDF uses uranium-tipped shells against Palestinian civilians. The next day it's poison gas. Then, for lack of independent corroboration, the charges simply vanish-and the Palestinians go on to the next lie, garnering headlines in western and Arab newspapers." Historian Benny Morris [250]
- COUNTERPOINT: By the very definition of torture, it seems much more accurate to say that the Palestinian Authority and terrorists groups have been inflicting torture on Israelis as part of an officially sanctioned campaign.
- Supporting Evidence: "The UN Convention against Torture…refers to an "act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person" for a purpose such as obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or coercion, 'or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind.'" Amnesty International (*)
This appears to be precisely what Hamas and other terrorist groups intend to do when they attack Israel. [253]
- Supporting Evidence: "The UN Convention against Torture…refers to an "act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person" for a purpose such as obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation or coercion, 'or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind.'" Amnesty International (*)
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinian prisoners aren't tortured. Many in fact receive free educations, courtesty of the Israeli government, and many of the complaints prisoners level against Israel are trivial.
- POINT 23: Israel's settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's settlements in the Territories do not violate the Fourth Geneva Convention which refers to "forcible" transfers. The only relevant section of the Fourth Geneva Convention is Article 49, paragraph 6 which provides that "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Israel is doing neither. (Fourth Geneva Convention available at http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/0/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5?OpenDocument )
- Supporting Evidence: The Convention developed from the ashes of World War II and was designed to prohibit Nazi Germany's practices that included forced transfers of population such as those that took place in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary before and during World War II. [254]
- Supporting Evidence: Paragraph 6 was intended "to prevent a practice adopted during the Second World War by certain powers, which transferred portions of their own population to occupied territory for political and racial reasons or in order, as they claimed, to colonize these territories." International Committee of the Red Cross [255]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has not forcibly moved settlers to the Territories. They have moved there voluntarily, in some cases reclaiming land and communities they had owned prior to the 1948 War.
- Supporting Evidence: The Territories still operate under the Palestine Mandate rules because they have never been assigned to a sovereign nation. Therefore, "The right of the Jewish people to settle in Palestine has never been terminated for the West Bank…." "The Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing Palestinian population to live there." Eugene S. Rostow, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 84, July 1990, p. 718 [256]
- Supporting Evidence: "But the Jewish settlers in the West Bank are volunteers. They have not been "deported" or "transferred" by the government of Israel, and their movement involves none of the atrocious purposes or harmful effects on the existing population the Geneva Convention was designed to prevent." Eugene V. Rostow, Former Under-Secretary of State, 1990 [257]
- Supporting Evidence: The Convention developed from the ashes of World War II and was designed to prohibit Nazi Germany's practices that included forced transfers of population such as those that took place in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary before and during World War II. [254]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Red Cross does not consider Israeli settlements to be a war crime and rebuked its representative in Gaza who suggested that they did constitute war crimes..
- COUNTERPOINT: The United States government does not believe that Israeli settlements violate international law. The US has periodically objected to the settlements for political, not legal, reasons.
- COUNTERPOINT: The areas of Jewish settlement cover only a miniscule part of the Territories and do not constitute a threat to Palestinians in the region.
- Supporting Evidence: The existing settlements take up only 1.36% to 1.7% of the entire West Bank, according to Peace Now and B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights watch group. [259]
- Supporting Evidence: 80% of the settlers live in communities that hug the 1967 border and could be easily accommodated into Israel with slight border adjustments. [260]
- Supporting Evidence: The existing settlements take up only 1.36% to 1.7% of the entire West Bank, according to Peace Now and B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights watch group. [259]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's settlements in the Territories do not violate the Fourth Geneva Convention which refers to "forcible" transfers. The only relevant section of the Fourth Geneva Convention is Article 49, paragraph 6 which provides that "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Israel is doing neither. (Fourth Geneva Convention available at http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/0/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5?OpenDocument )
- POINT 24: Israeli settlements violate human rights.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is untenable to argue that building homes and communities violates anyone's human rights. People may not like their neighbors, but Israel has every right to build homes and communities on legally purchased land.
- Supporting Evidence: The Territories still operate under the Palestine Mandate rules because they have never been assigned to a sovereign nation. Therefore, "The right of the Jewish people to settle in Palestine has never been terminated for the West Bank…." "The Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing Palestinian population to live there." Eugene S. Rostow, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 84, July 1990, p. 718 [261]
- Supporting Evidence: The Territories still operate under the Palestine Mandate rules because they have never been assigned to a sovereign nation. Therefore, "The right of the Jewish people to settle in Palestine has never been terminated for the West Bank…." "The Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the existing Palestinian population to live there." Eugene S. Rostow, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 84, July 1990, p. 718 [261]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority'demands that NO Jews live in their future state . This violates the most essential human right-the right not to be discriminated against because of race or religion.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is untenable to argue that building homes and communities violates anyone's human rights. People may not like their neighbors, but Israel has every right to build homes and communities on legally purchased land.
- POINT 25: Israel doesn't want peace. Even during the peace process Israelis have been building settlements and demolishing Palestinian homes.
- COUNTERPOINT: No honest person can claim that Israel does not want peace after the U.S. brokered offer made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat at Campo David in the summer of 2000.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state on 100% of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank with a land exchange that would bring the total area to 100%; a shared capital in Jerusalem and removal of most settlements at Camp David in 2000 and Taba in 2001. Dennis Ross, US Envoy to Camp David and Taba, Egypt. [262]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians a state on 100% of Gaza, 97% of the West Bank with a land exchange that would bring the total area to 100%; a shared capital in Jerusalem and removal of most settlements at Camp David in 2000 and Taba in 2001. Dennis Ross, US Envoy to Camp David and Taba, Egypt. [262]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israeli Public Opinion Polls consistently show that Israelis want peace and are willing to abandon the West Bank, Gaza and most of the settlements to achieve it. That this has not happened is only a testament to the Israeli public's rational fear of withdrawing unilaterally, without any guarantees of security and in the midst of a terrorist war.
- Supporting Evidence: If, "The Terror stops and Arafat does not rule the Palestinian Authority any more," 64% of Israelis would support the establishment of a Palestinian state, 61% would support the evacuation of settlements in Gaza, and 55% would support the evacuation of settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Ma'ariv poll, December 6, 2002. [263]
- Supporting Evidence: "A large majority of the roughly 240,000 settlers - 83 percent in a recent poll - would agree to leave in exchange for financial compensation or relocation to comparable homes inside Israel." Peace Now. September 22, 2003 [264]
- Supporting Evidence: If, "The Terror stops and Arafat does not rule the Palestinian Authority any more," 64% of Israelis would support the establishment of a Palestinian state, 61% would support the evacuation of settlements in Gaza, and 55% would support the evacuation of settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). Ma'ariv poll, December 6, 2002. [263]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians, not Israel, refused the offer at Camp David which included uprooting of most of the settlements.
- Supporting Evidence: Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who was an intermediary in the negotiations, called Arafat's refusal to accept the Camp David offer "a crime against Palestinians, in fact against the whole region." (New Yorker interview March 24, 2003)
- Supporting Evidence: "[Hamas, you] rejected Clinton's proposal, which gave your people 96-97% of the West Bank, citing the religious ruling that you rejected it because it was an American-Jewish conspiracy against the Palestinian people…[This is] irrational, nihilist behavior." Tunisian liberal writer Al-'Afif Al-Akhdhar in Al Hayat [London} , July 14, 2002 [265]
- Supporting Evidence: Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, who was an intermediary in the negotiations, called Arafat's refusal to accept the Camp David offer "a crime against Palestinians, in fact against the whole region." (New Yorker interview March 24, 2003)
- COUNTERPOINT: Israeli settlements and their growth do not violate any peace agreements, including the Oslo Accords.
- Supporting Evidence: "I am not ready for there to be a law in Israel to forbid building houses in existing settlements, or a kindergarten or a cultural center in a place where people live today…I wish to remind you…we made a commitment to the Knesset not to uproot any settlement in the framework of the Interim Agreement, nor to freeze construction and natural growth." Yitzhak Rabin 1995 [266]
- Supporting Evidence: "Although certain Palestinian negotiators demanded a settlement freeze, the peace agreement ultimately reached by Israel and the Palestinians at Oslo, along with the Interim Agreement of 1995, allow settlement growth as well as the growth-and creation-of Palestinian communities in the disputed territories. The Palestinians acquired planning and zoning rights in Area A while Israel retained the same rights in Area C where the settlements were located." [267]
- Supporting Evidence: "I am not ready for there to be a law in Israel to forbid building houses in existing settlements, or a kindergarten or a cultural center in a place where people live today…I wish to remind you…we made a commitment to the Knesset not to uproot any settlement in the framework of the Interim Agreement, nor to freeze construction and natural growth." Yitzhak Rabin 1995 [266]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israeli settlements, even with their growth to accommodate growing families and needs, cover only a miniscule portion of land in the West Bank, and the vast majority is concentrated along the 1967 borders.
- Supporting Evidence: The existing settlements take up only 1.36% to 1.7% of the entire West Bank, according to Peace Now and B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights watch group. [268]
- Supporting Evidence: 80% of the settlers live in communities that hug the 1967 border and could be easily accommodated into Israel with slight border adjustments. [269]
- Supporting Evidence: The existing settlements take up only 1.36% to 1.7% of the entire West Bank, according to Peace Now and B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights watch group. [268]
- COUNTERPOINT: House demolitions have nothing to do with Israel's commitment to peace. They are an effective part of Israel's counter-terrorism policy. If Palestinians put an end to terrorism, house demolitions would end.
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [270]
- Supporting Evidence: A 24-year-old Palestinian woman who had planned to be a suicide bomber turned herself in to Israeli authorities in February 2002. "[S]he said she had decided to turn herself in to the army, she said that she was afraid her parents' home would be demolished." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [271]
- Supporting Evidence: "A 17-year-old youth from Jenin…told the Shin Bet…he had decided not to go ahead with the [car bomb] mission because he was worried about what would happen to his family." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [272]
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n the Hebron area, a father informed on his son's plans to go on a suicide mission, fearing that the family would be expelled." Ha'aretz, February 8, 2002. [273]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he militants themselves concede that the measures have made it harder to stage attacks…." New York Times, April 5, 2003 [274]
- Supporting Evidence: The houses that Israel demolishes belong to the families of known terrorists or are fronts used to conceal bomb-making facilities or weapons smuggling tunnels found in Gaza. Destroying these homes serve as a clear deterrent to terrorists that their actions, even a suicide martyrs' death, will hurt their families. There is no other way to deter someone from dying for a cause. [270]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's house demolitions in Jerusalem have nothing to do with its commitment to peace. They are ways to enforce municipal zoning and safety regulations and as many Jewish homes are demolished as Palestinian homes.
- Supporting Evidence: "[W]e can build inside Jerusalem, legal, illegal, rebuild a house…Maybe we lose ten houses, but in the end we build 40 more houses in East Jerusalem." Khalil Tufakji, Palestinian demographer, CNN interview 1997. [275]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1996, there were 12 demolitions in Jerusalem. Half of them (6) were in the Arab sector; half of them were in the Jewish sector (6). [276]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1997, there were 28 demolitions in Jerusalem. Seventeen of them were in the Arab sector; fourteen in the Jewish sector. [277]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1998, there were 25 demolitions. Twelve of them were in the Arab sector; thirteen in the Jewish sector. [278]
- Supporting Evidence: "[W]e can build inside Jerusalem, legal, illegal, rebuild a house…Maybe we lose ten houses, but in the end we build 40 more houses in East Jerusalem." Khalil Tufakji, Palestinian demographer, CNN interview 1997. [275]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israelis were deeply committed to the peace process and developed a culture of peace when Oslo began. The Palestinians did not.
- Supporting Evidence: From school curriculums to pop culture and music, the peace movement gained enormous popularity in Israel following the signing of Oslo and subsequent peace offers, up to the 2000 Taba offer of all of Gaza and a contiguous West Bank as a Palestinian state. In contrast, the Palestinian Authority used the time after Oslo to accumulate illegal arms and prepare the Palestinian people for war, resulting in the unprecedented wave of terrorism since 2000. [279]
- Supporting Evidence: In Israeli textbooks, "Islam, the Arab culture and the Arabs' contribution to In Israeli textbooks, "Islam, the Arab culture and the Arabs' contribution to human civilization are presented in a positive light. No book calls for violence or war. Many books express the yearning for peace between Israel and the Arab countries," according to the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace in 2001. [280]
- Supporting Evidence: In PA authorized textbooks, "There is no attempt to encourage reconciliation with Israel. Israel is presented exclusively as inhumane and greedy...The struggle for the liberation of Palestine is presented mainly as a military one. ...the Feda'I and Shahid are praised as the spearhead of this struggle....Jihad continues to be glorified and martyrs praised, with special attention given to the martyrs of Palestine," according to the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace in 2001. [281]
- Supporting Evidence: "We are teaching the children that suicide bombs make Israeli people frightened and we are allowed to do it… We teach them that after a person becomes a suivide bomber he reaches the highest level of paradise." - Palestinian "Paradise Camp" counselor speaking to BBC interviewer. [282]
- Supporting Evidence: From school curriculums to pop culture and music, the peace movement gained enormous popularity in Israel following the signing of Oslo and subsequent peace offers, up to the 2000 Taba offer of all of Gaza and a contiguous West Bank as a Palestinian state. In contrast, the Palestinian Authority used the time after Oslo to accumulate illegal arms and prepare the Palestinian people for war, resulting in the unprecedented wave of terrorism since 2000. [279]
- COUNTERPOINT: No honest person can claim that Israel does not want peace after the U.S. brokered offer made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Yasser Arafat at Campo David in the summer of 2000.
- POINT 26: Israel violates international law by not allowing ambulances into military zones and detaining ambulances at checkpoints.
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians violate international law and humanitarian standards by using ambulances to transport weapons and terrorists. They have been caught using Red Crescent ambulances to smuggle weapons and terrorists throughout the territories and into Israel to carry out attacks.
- Supporting Evidence: "Reuters has a video cassette of pictures taken during the Israeli army operation in the Zeitun quarter of Gaza City on May 11, 2004. which shows armed Palestinians using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists and possibly also remains of fallen Israeli soldiers." Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) May 2004 [283]
- Supporting Evidence: "Police have uncovered a network that smuggled Palestinian Authority officers, including members of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 personal protection unit, into Israel in fake ambulances. Police said the ring may also have smuggled terrorists into Israel using the same method." Ha'aretz May 27 2004 [284]
- Supporting Evidence: "Ma'aleh Adumim police recently arrested a man suspected of posing as an ambulance driver and illegally bringing into Israel dozens of Palestinians disguised as sick patients…..The "patients" were hooked up to medical devices inside the ambulances and presented soldiers or police officers with forged documents at Israeli checkpoints." Ha'aretz May 27 2004 [285]
- Supporting Evidence: In January 2002, a Palestinian Red Crescent employee carried out a suicide bombing on the main road in Jerusalem killing a senior citizen and wounding 150. [286]
- Supporting Evidence: On March 27, 2002, two suicide explosive belts were found hidden under a sick child in a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance. A member of the International Committee for the Red Cross witnessed the discovery, removal, and detonation of the explosives. [287]
- Supporting Evidence: "Reuters has a video cassette of pictures taken during the Israeli army operation in the Zeitun quarter of Gaza City on May 11, 2004. which shows armed Palestinians using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists and possibly also remains of fallen Israeli soldiers." Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) May 2004 [283]
- COUNTERPOINT: International officials admit that terrorists have used and abused ambulances.
- Supporting Evidence: "Partial confirmation came from the statement made on May 13 by a UN spokesman, that during the incident (which occurred in Gaza on May 11), armed Palestinians threatened an UNRWA ambulance team and forced them to transport an armed and wounded Palestinian and his two armed escorts to a Gaza hospital. The spokesman noted that UNRWA censured the action "in the strongest terms possible." He also noted that armed personnel are not permitted to enter UNRWA vehicles on any pretext whatsoever, and called upon Israel and the Palestinians to respect the agency's neutrality." Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) May 2004 [288]
- Supporting Evidence: Amnesty International acknowledges that, "Explosive materials were found in an ambulance of the Palestine Red Crescent Society". [289]
- Supporting Evidence: The International Committee for the Red Cross expressed "shock" and "dismay" over the reports of explosives being found in a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance. [290]
- Supporting Evidence: "Partial confirmation came from the statement made on May 13 by a UN spokesman, that during the incident (which occurred in Gaza on May 11), armed Palestinians threatened an UNRWA ambulance team and forced them to transport an armed and wounded Palestinian and his two armed escorts to a Gaza hospital. The spokesman noted that UNRWA censured the action "in the strongest terms possible." He also noted that armed personnel are not permitted to enter UNRWA vehicles on any pretext whatsoever, and called upon Israel and the Palestinians to respect the agency's neutrality." Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S) May 2004 [288]
- COUNTERPOINT: Police have found that Palestinian Arabs in Gaza disguise ordinary vehicles as ambulances in order to transport terrorists.
- Supporting Evidence: "A police probe revealed the detainee does not hold an ambulance driver's license and that the license plates of his vehicle were forged. The vehicle itself was probably stolen. Police recently raided an Azzariyeh warehouse in which commercial vehicles were transformed into ambulances." Ha'aretz May 27 2004 [291]
- Supporting Evidence: "A police probe revealed the detainee does not hold an ambulance driver's license and that the license plates of his vehicle were forged. The vehicle itself was probably stolen. Police recently raided an Azzariyeh warehouse in which commercial vehicles were transformed into ambulances." Ha'aretz May 27 2004 [291]
- COUNTERPOINT: Palestinians violate international law and humanitarian standards by using ambulances to transport weapons and terrorists. They have been caught using Red Crescent ambulances to smuggle weapons and terrorists throughout the territories and into Israel to carry out attacks.
- POINT 27: Israel has systematically covered up evidence of its true racist intentions and sordid past that the "new historians" are finally uncovering.
- COUNTERPOINT: The 'new' historians are not uncovering anything new. Since the inception of Zionism, there have also been anti-Zionist views that stress the 'ugly aspects' of Zionist history. All these views have been readily available to the Israeli public.
- Supporting Evidence: "An anti-narrative of Zionism, counterposed to the Zionist (and Israeli) narrative…had existed since the very inception of the Zionist movement. Opponents of the movement, Jewish and non-Jewish, had created an entire literature explaining what was foul in Zionism and why…Israel was an illegitimate and unjust construct that had to be resisted." Historian Anita Shapira [292]
- Supporting Evidence: "Far from unearthing new facts or offering fresh interpretations that would transform the general understanding of events, the new historians were effectively reiterating the standard Arab narrative of the conflict, in an attempt to give it academic respectability." Historian Efraim Karsh [293]
- Supporting Evidence: "An anti-narrative of Zionism, counterposed to the Zionist (and Israeli) narrative…had existed since the very inception of the Zionist movement. Opponents of the movement, Jewish and non-Jewish, had created an entire literature explaining what was foul in Zionism and why…Israel was an illegitimate and unjust construct that had to be resisted." Historian Anita Shapira [292]
- COUNTERPOINT: The new historians are not exposing Zionist 'propaganda.' They are peddling a highly politicized view of events, a propaganda of their own.
- Supporting Evidence: The 'new historians' have a "a political-ideological axe to grind." "It would be erroneous to call this 'myth debunking'. The work done before our eyes is merely the rewriting of the one-hundred-year Zionist history in the spirit of its enemies and opponents." Aharon Megged. Ha'aretz Weekly Magazine [294]
- Supporting Evidence: "Since the advent of the 'new historians,'…a new polarization has set in. For the 'new historians' dismissed all previous historiography as aplogogetic. Whoever dares to oppose or criticize the pronouncements of these self-styled iconoclasts is savagely maligned…..[T]hey sought to undermine the state's moral and philosophical foundations, to dismantle the Jewish identity of the state and reconfigure it as a state of 'all its citizens.'" Historian Anita Shapira [295]
- Supporting Evidence: "[S]uch is the politicization of modern Middle Eastern studies, especially in relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict, that partisan rewriting of history in line with contemporary political agendas has not only become the norm, its practitioners are even applauded as courageous revisionists…." Historian Efraim Karsh [296]
- Supporting Evidence: The 'new historians' have a "a political-ideological axe to grind." "It would be erroneous to call this 'myth debunking'. The work done before our eyes is merely the rewriting of the one-hundred-year Zionist history in the spirit of its enemies and opponents." Aharon Megged. Ha'aretz Weekly Magazine [294]
- COUNTERPOINT: The 'new historians' are not presenting anything new. Mainstream scholars criticize their findings and methods. Their research doesn't meet scholarly standards, they distort evidence and the larger historical context and, in some cases, fabricate evidence to match their political views.
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truth-seekers." Ilan Pappe, 1999. [297]
- Supporting Evidence: "Violating every tenet of bona fide research, the misrepresentation of the historical record by the 'new historiography' has ranged from the more innocent act of reading into documents what is not there, to tendentious truncation of documents in a way that distorts their original meaning, ot 'creative rewriting' of the original texts by putting words in people's mouths and/or giving false descriptions of the contents of these documents." Historian Efraim Karsh [298]
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truth-seekers." Ilan Pappe, 1999. [297]
- COUNTERPOINT: The 'new historians' work is hotly contested. Established scholars have severely criticized them for their methods and their conclusions.
- Supporting Evidence: "It would be erroneous to call this [new history] 'myth debunking.' The work done before our eyes is merely the rewriting of the one-hundred-year Zionist history in the spirit of its enemies and opponents." Aharon Megged 1994 [299]
- Supporting Evidence: "The theses of the 'new historians' and their research methods have precisely been questioned by fellow historians…Violating every tenet of bona fide research, the misrepresentation of the historical record by the 'new historians' has ranged from the more 'innocent' act of reading into documents what is not there, to tendentious truncation of documents in a way that distorts their original meaning, to 'creative rewriting' of original texts by putting words in peoples' mouths and/or giving false descriptions of the contents of these documents." Professor Efraim Karsh [300]
- Supporting Evidence: "[A] large number of professors who espouse extremist views have flourished despite a record of minimal academic publishing and performance. In some cases, they publish mainly or exclusively in politicized journals, such as those published by the Palestine Liberation Organization and its affiliates…" Solomon Socrates 2001 [301]
- Supporting Evidence: Bona fide scholars are especially disturbed by comments like the following by Ilan Pappe: "Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truth-seekers." [302]
- Supporting Evidence: "It would be erroneous to call this [new history] 'myth debunking.' The work done before our eyes is merely the rewriting of the one-hundred-year Zionist history in the spirit of its enemies and opponents." Aharon Megged 1994 [299]
- COUNTERPOINT: Scholars have especially criticized Benny Morris and Ilan Pappe.
- Supporting Evidence: On "the issue of "transfer," Morris has been prepared systematically to falsify evidence in an attempt to create history in an image of his own devising. There is scarcely a single document he has not twisted either by creative rewriting, taking things out of context, truncating texts, or giving a false description of the contents of the documents." [303]
- Supporting Evidence: Pappe"is perhaps the most tendentious of the New Historians. Unlike Morris, who purports to search archives and present facts, Pappe has been the most contemptuous of any necessity to base the charges against Israel on facts and insists that creating some sort of Palestinian narrative suffices." Solomon Socrates, 2001 [304]
- Supporting Evidence: Ilan Pappe's academic credibility was seriously challenged in 2000, when one of his students at Haifa University was forced to retract libelous and falsified accusations in his Masters thesis about an alleged 1948 Israeli massacre on Palestinians no evidence could substantiate. The student, Theodore Katz, was forced to retract his claims and was found by the University to have falsified testimony "gravely and severely" in 14 different places in his thesis. The university ultimately denied his research M.A. In spite of the seriousness of the academic fraud perpetrated, Pappe continued to support Katz's original findings, nearly costing him his job at the university in the process. [305]
- Supporting Evidence: On "the issue of "transfer," Morris has been prepared systematically to falsify evidence in an attempt to create history in an image of his own devising. There is scarcely a single document he has not twisted either by creative rewriting, taking things out of context, truncating texts, or giving a false description of the contents of the documents." [303]
- COUNTERPOINT: The 'new' historians are not uncovering anything new. Since the inception of Zionism, there have also been anti-Zionist views that stress the 'ugly aspects' of Zionist history. All these views have been readily available to the Israeli public.
- POINT 28: Israel silences those who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, especially the "new historians."
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a patently absurd charge. Israel has a boisterous, rambunctious political culture with 17 different political parties. They range from the extreme left Communist party, the Peace-Now-oriented parties, and the five Israeli-Arab parties to the right wing religious parties. Israel also has one of the freest and most self-critical presses in the world.
- Supporting Evidence: "No other country in the Middle East and few countries in the world would permit this kind of public self-criticism of its actions. Israel is a vibrant democracy with freedom of the press and a long tradition of self-criticism. Indeed, most of the books published by Israeli writers are deeply critical of Israeli policies and actions. That is why I decided to write "The Case for Israel," since few Israelis ever bother to make the case for the embattled democracy." Alan Dershowitz, 2003 [306]
- Supporting Evidence: "No other country in the Middle East and few countries in the world would permit this kind of public self-criticism of its actions. Israel is a vibrant democracy with freedom of the press and a long tradition of self-criticism. Indeed, most of the books published by Israeli writers are deeply critical of Israeli policies and actions. That is why I decided to write "The Case for Israel," since few Israelis ever bother to make the case for the embattled democracy." Alan Dershowitz, 2003 [306]
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a patently absurd charge with regard to the "new historians." Their own lives contradict these accusations. Most of them are professors in Israel's university system and they have become prominent public figures.
- Supporting Evidence: There is no "state-sponsored persecution" of post-Zionist scholars. "Not only are Israeli universities teeming with academics holding far more extreme views than [Benny] Morris regarding the essence of Zionism and the State of Israel, but they constitute the heart of the academic establishment in the social sciences and the humanities: Ilan Pappe, Benjamin Beit Hallahmi and Uri Ben-Eliezer at the University of Haifa; Joseph Grodzinsky, Yoav Peled, and Tania Reinhardt at Tel Aviv University; Israel Shahak, Baruch Kimmerling, Ze'ev Sternhell, and Moshe Zimermann of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Gabriel Pieterberg and Uri Ram from Ben Gurion University-even this far from complete list would easily refute Morris's claim of ideological persecution." Historian Efraim Karsh [307]
- Supporting Evidence: "[M]any of the arguments of the 'new historians' are widely accepted today in liberal Israeli circles." Historian Joel Beinin, Stanford University. [308]
- Supporting Evidence: "And 'new historian' Tom Segev…put a lighter touch on this group's growing popularity. 'We perform at weddings and bar mitzvahs,' he jokingly told an admiring American journalist." [309]
- Supporting Evidence: There is no "state-sponsored persecution" of post-Zionist scholars. "Not only are Israeli universities teeming with academics holding far more extreme views than [Benny] Morris regarding the essence of Zionism and the State of Israel, but they constitute the heart of the academic establishment in the social sciences and the humanities: Ilan Pappe, Benjamin Beit Hallahmi and Uri Ben-Eliezer at the University of Haifa; Joseph Grodzinsky, Yoav Peled, and Tania Reinhardt at Tel Aviv University; Israel Shahak, Baruch Kimmerling, Ze'ev Sternhell, and Moshe Zimermann of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; Gabriel Pieterberg and Uri Ram from Ben Gurion University-even this far from complete list would easily refute Morris's claim of ideological persecution." Historian Efraim Karsh [307]
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a patently absurd charge. Israel has a boisterous, rambunctious political culture with 17 different political parties. They range from the extreme left Communist party, the Peace-Now-oriented parties, and the five Israeli-Arab parties to the right wing religious parties. Israel also has one of the freest and most self-critical presses in the world.
- POINT 29: Israel has never done anything good for the world. From its inception, Zionists' intent has only been to set up a racist state.
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionism's goals and practices were never based on prejudice against any racial or other minority group.
- Supporting Evidence: "The State of Israel... will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture." Israel's Declaration of Independence.
- Supporting Evidence: Israeli's citizens come from over 100 countries and include people of every color of skin and racial background--Latin Americans, Arabs and Arab Jews, Asian Jews and Black African Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: "….I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy."
Martin Luther King 1968 [310]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is a democracy; it is multi-racial; Arab citizens can vote freely and enter civil society; there is freedom of religion and a free press. An openly gay man just won election to the Knesset." Andrew Sullivan. Sunday London Times [311]
- Supporting Evidence: "The State of Israel... will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants, irrespective of creed, race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture." Israel's Declaration of Independence.
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionists also sought to make contributions to humanity, not just preserve a Jewish homeland.
- Supporting Evidence: In no other millennial movements "was the ultimate restoration of the community (of Israel) in its own land so intimately linked …to an era of universal peace and justice." Sociologist Anthony D. Smith [312]
- Supporting Evidence: "There is still one other question arising out of the disaster of nations which remains unsolved to this day, and whose profound tragedy only a Jew can comprehend….[O]nce I have witnessed the redemption of the Jews, my people, I wish also to assist in the redemption of the Africans." Theodore Herzl on slavery. [313]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel became the 4th largest high tech economy in the world in the 90's; its biomedical innovations included the ingestible camera for diagnosing gastrointestinal diseases, it has developed a vaccine for the West Nile virus. Christopher Reeves visited Israel in the summer of 2003 because Israeli researchers have developed the most advanced techniques for treating paralysis. [314]
- Supporting Evidence: Shortly after its founding, Israel developed programs to aid underdeveloped countries. "[M]ost of the 4,000 Israeli advisers, scientists and technicians abroad in the Third World since 1958 [in aid programs] concentrated upon areas in which Israel had developed a unique expertise….agriculture and irrigation, rural planning and development, the formation of pioneer and youth movements, medical, academic and vocational education and community development." Historian Howard Sachar [315]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's humanitarian missions include the Ethiopian airlifts in 1985 and 1991 when Israel rescued 28,000 black African Jews and brought them to Israel; assistance to Turkey and Greece after their devastating earthquakes; setting up its first class complete field hospitals in war-torn Rwanda and flood devastated Djibouti in 1994. [316]
- Supporting Evidence: In no other millennial movements "was the ultimate restoration of the community (of Israel) in its own land so intimately linked …to an era of universal peace and justice." Sociologist Anthony D. Smith [312]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's achievements have been a model for other developing countries and Israel is assisting these countries.
- Supporting Evidence: "Besides defence and agriculture there is another facet of Israel's nation building that we [India] need to emulate…[its] commitment to give primacy to investment in human resource development and technology. Being a small, arid country without natural resources it had no other alternative. Some statistics that Sharon gave on this occasion were indeed notable. The country has the highest ratio of engineers to population in the world. Similarly, its investment in Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of its GDP is not matched by any other country. Again, each year its people to patents ratio is well above the others. The message is that we should be fired by the size of our population, instead of being frightened." Lt. Gen. Vinay Shankar (Retd), The Asian Age, October 2003 [317]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1958, only ten years after Israel was founded, Israel opened its Center for International Cooperation, MASHAV. MASHAV conducts nearly 300 courses annually to offer emerging nations its knowledge and development experience. Through Mashav, Israel has trained almost 200,000 participants - in over 130 countries from Albania to Zimbabwe - in desert agriculture, water management, desertification prevention, early childhood education, community development, emergency and disaster medicine, refugee absorption, and employment programs. [318]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's Center for International Cooperation, MASHAV, has participated in innumerable emergency relief efforts throughout the world - from El Salvador to Kenya. One example of these efforts was Operation "Interns for Hope", an Israeli medical aid program for Rawandan refugees in war-torn Zaire.
- Supporting Evidence: In the year 2000 alone, Israel has helped to build hospitals in areas as diverse as Mauritania, Gaza, the Ukraine, and Turkey.
- Supporting Evidence: Only ten years after its founding, Israel became a major participant in international aid projects in Sub Saharan Africa. One example of Israel's ongoing aid efforts is a program, begun by Hadassah hospital in 1959, that sends Israeli eye doctors to Africa to treat preventable blindness and disease.
- Supporting Evidence: An Israeli charity, Save a Child's Heart (SACH), is the largest program in the world providing children from Third World and developing countries with heart surgery and follow-up care. At no charge to its patients, SACH has treated over 700 children from the Congo, to China, and from the Palestinian Authority to Nigeria. [319]
- Supporting Evidence: With over 25% of its work force in technical professions, the highest percentage of scientists and technicians per capita in the world, and the highest ratio of university degrees to population in the world, Israel has made innumerable contributions to science, medicine, technology, and humanities. Among the innovations that have emerged from Israel are: the cell phone (Motorola), the Pentium MMX and Centrino chips (Intel), and most of the Windows NT operating system (Microsoft). [320]
- Supporting Evidence: "Besides defence and agriculture there is another facet of Israel's nation building that we [India] need to emulate…[its] commitment to give primacy to investment in human resource development and technology. Being a small, arid country without natural resources it had no other alternative. Some statistics that Sharon gave on this occasion were indeed notable. The country has the highest ratio of engineers to population in the world. Similarly, its investment in Research and Development (R&D) as a percentage of its GDP is not matched by any other country. Again, each year its people to patents ratio is well above the others. The message is that we should be fired by the size of our population, instead of being frightened." Lt. Gen. Vinay Shankar (Retd), The Asian Age, October 2003 [317]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has been a model of democracy and civil rights even in Palestinian eyes.
- Supporting Evidence: Since polls were first taken in 1996, Palestinians have consistently rated Israel's democracy as the one they most admire in the world, according to the Palestinian Center for Palestine Research and Studies. "Every year Israel has been the top performer, at times receiving 80% approval. The American system has been the next best [67% in 1999], followed by the French…." Center for Palestine Research and Studies. [321]
- Supporting Evidence: I "remain constantly amazed by the high standards of the [Israeli] legal system." Raji Sourani, Director of Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, 2003. [322]
- Supporting Evidence: "I envy them [Israelis and their democracy] and desire a similar regime in my future state. It is true that I am appalled by the culture of curses and profanities in the Israeli political arena, but I respect the democratic discussion, debate, decision, the sovereignty of law, and the freedom of the press…" Columnist Ata Al-Qemari, in Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam, May 22, 1999. [323]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel has proved that for fifty years its real power is in its democracy, guarding the rights of its citizens, applying laws [equally] to the rich and poor, the big and small…and in the participation of the nation in the development of institutions according to ability and efficiency and not according to closeness to [the ruler]…." Columnist Dr. Talal Al-Shareef, Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, May 27, 1999. [324]
- Supporting Evidence: Since polls were first taken in 1996, Palestinians have consistently rated Israel's democracy as the one they most admire in the world, according to the Palestinian Center for Palestine Research and Studies. "Every year Israel has been the top performer, at times receiving 80% approval. The American system has been the next best [67% in 1999], followed by the French…." Center for Palestine Research and Studies. [321]
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionism's goals and practices were never based on prejudice against any racial or other minority group.
- POINT 30: Israel must show remorse and apologize for the suffering it has caused the Palestinians.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not morally or in fact responsible for the Palestinian refugees and should not apologize for a war that Arab leaders started in 1947 and continue to wage until today.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has no control or authority over how other nations treat their Palestinian refugees. The refugees in Lebanon are suffering. Israel cannot influence Lebanese policy. Kuwait unceremoniously expelled 300,000 Palestinians in 1991. Israel has no control over Kuwaiti policy.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israelis have shown concern and compassion for the well-being of Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: The Israeli government and a host of independent Israeli human rights groups have monitored Israel's behavior toward Palestinians, such as Bet'selem, Rabbis for Human Rights, Peace now and other groups.
- Supporting Evidence: All Palestinians have access to the Israeli Supreme Court. Many have brought their complaints to the Supreme Court, and the Court frequently decides in their favor.
- Supporting Evidence: The Israeli government and a host of independent Israeli human rights groups have monitored Israel's behavior toward Palestinians, such as Bet'selem, Rabbis for Human Rights, Peace now and other groups.
- COUNTERPOINT: During its administration of the Territories, Israel enacted measures to protect and promote the welfare and freedom of Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab population grew and grew even faster than the Israeli population during Israel's administration. In 1967, there were 954,898 Arabs in the Territories; by 1995 there were 2,534,604. [325]
- Supporting Evidence: Life expectancy soared from 48 years in 1967 to 72 in 2000 while infant mortality plummeted from 60 per thousand live births to 15 per 1000 and childhood diseases disappeared due to systematic Israeli programs to eradicate them. [326]
- Supporting Evidence: The Territories became the fourth fastest growing economy in the world in the 1970's due to Israeli investment in business, industry and infrastructure and to the opening of its borders to labor. Unemployment dropped from an average of 40% or more to below 5%. [327]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel fostered educational development, building 7 universities and 20 community colleges for the Palestinians. Illiteracy dropped from 50% to 30% just between 1967 and 1980. By 1990, only 14% of adults over age 15 were illiterate. [328]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered political and civil freedoms, including freedom of association, trade unions, civic organizations and opposition parties, none of which had been allowed under Jordan. It also established freedom of the press, even for newspapers hostile to Israel, giving the Palestinians the freest press in the Arab world. [329]
- Supporting Evidence: "They [Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank] don't know what freedom is. If anyone over there dared to say one word against Hussein, they would throw him into prison. They don't believe that I can go to Dizengoff Square and shout at the top of my voice against Golda Meir without anything happening to me." Member of the village council of J'at, an Israeli-Arab village. 1970 [330]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel launched something entirely new, the first authentically Palestinian administration the local Arabs had ever known. Under Israeli auspices, departments were established for West Bank agriculture, education, posts and telegraphs, commerce and industry. As they operated these departments, the Israelis dealt exclusively with local civil servants…." Historian Howard Sachar [331]
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab population grew and grew even faster than the Israeli population during Israel's administration. In 1967, there were 954,898 Arabs in the Territories; by 1995 there were 2,534,604. [325]
- COUNTERPOINT: Indeed, Arab nations and Palestinians should be the ones apologizing for the carnage, suffering and destruction they caused in the 1948 War.
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1948 War, the Jews "had endured much. The war had taken 6,000 lives and five times that many wounded, an appreciable number for a nation of less than 600,000. Military expenditures alone had consumed nearly $500 million. Once again, as in the 1917-1918 period, the land was desolated. Many of its most productive fields lay gutted and mined. Its citrus groves, for decades the basis of the Yishuv's economy, were largely destroyed." Historian Howard Sachar [332]
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1948 War, the Jews "had endured much. The war had taken 6,000 lives and five times that many wounded, an appreciable number for a nation of less than 600,000. Military expenditures alone had consumed nearly $500 million. Once again, as in the 1917-1918 period, the land was desolated. Many of its most productive fields lay gutted and mined. Its citrus groves, for decades the basis of the Yishuv's economy, were largely destroyed." Historian Howard Sachar [332]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel owes no apology. It has acknowledged the Palestinians national aspirations and tried to help them fulfill those aspirations in the Oslo Accords and Camp David. In doing so, Israel has offered them more than any other nation, Arab or Western, has ever offered them.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is, contrarily, Palestinian Arabs who need to take responsibility for their actions and apologize for their chronic rejectionism, and for the death, war and suffering they have inflicted on Israelis and on themselves? When will Palestinian extremists stop killing the moderates among them? I
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed, one of the characteristics of the Palestinian national movement has been the Palestinians' view of themselves as perpetual victims of others-Ottoman Turks, British officials, Zionists, Americans-and never to appreciate that they are, at least in large part, victims of their own mistakes and iniquities. In the Palestinian Weltanschauung, they never set a foot wrong; their misfortunes are always the fault of others. The inevitable corollary of this refusal to recognize their own historical agency has been a perpetual Palestinian whining-that, I fear, is the apt term-to the outside world to save them from what is usually their own folly." Historian Benny Morris [333]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinians don't have a state because they have had "an all or nothing policy," unlike the Zionists. "The Zionists never demanded the impossible….Our leadership….enabled the Zionists to succeed at every opportunity…by rejecting every proposal for compromise, rejecting proposals to give it a state on most of the land of Palestine…" Tawfiz Abu Bakr, Palestinian columnist, 2003 [334]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of "this irrational nihilist behavior [of Palestinians about accepting compromise], "Haj Amin Al-Husseini…rejected the settlement offered him by the Peel Commission in 1937…Then, he repeated his mistake by rejecting the Partition Plan that this time would have given 55% to the Jews and the rest to Palestine…." Al-'Afif Al-Akdhar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [335]
- Supporting Evidence: "The mania for armed struggle….is the cause for [us] missing …historical opportunities since 1937 to 2000, with…pristine excuses such as 'we have the right[s] on our side…" Al-'Aff Al-Akhdar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [336]
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed, one of the characteristics of the Palestinian national movement has been the Palestinians' view of themselves as perpetual victims of others-Ottoman Turks, British officials, Zionists, Americans-and never to appreciate that they are, at least in large part, victims of their own mistakes and iniquities. In the Palestinian Weltanschauung, they never set a foot wrong; their misfortunes are always the fault of others. The inevitable corollary of this refusal to recognize their own historical agency has been a perpetual Palestinian whining-that, I fear, is the apt term-to the outside world to save them from what is usually their own folly." Historian Benny Morris [333]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not morally or in fact responsible for the Palestinian refugees and should not apologize for a war that Arab leaders started in 1947 and continue to wage until today.
- POINT 31: Israel targets international peace activists like Tom Hurndall and Rachel Corrie.
- COUNTERPOINT: People like Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and other ISM members cannot be called peace activists. They are partisans, self-declared activists committed to publicize, support and internationalize the Palestinian cause. They support the most extreme Palestinian demands, such as the Right of Return, and give support and succor to the most extreme Palestinian groups, including terrorists committed to violence.
- Supporting Evidence: ISM is "a Palestinian-led, non-violent movement of Palestinian and international activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to the Occupation." ISM Website [337]
- Supporting Evidence: Susan Barclay, an ISM leader, "said in an interview with the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad….'We are open to working with any political party as long as they are interested in non-violent resistance…" (Seattle Post Intelligencer, March 20, 2003) [338]
- Supporting Evidence: Adam Shapiro and other ISM members broke through a closed military zone to reach Arafat's compound in Ramallah to protect him and his supporters from IDF actions.(*) Ten ISM members stormed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on May 2, 2002 to bring food and support to armed terrorists who were trying to escape the IDF and had seized the Church.(**) [339]
- Supporting Evidence: George Orwell's comments about pacifists in World War II apply to "human rights" activists today who support Palestinian extremism. "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist. This is elementary common sense. If you hamper the war effort of one side you automatically help that of the other….pacifist propaganda can only be effective against those countries where a certain amount of freedom of speech is still permitted; in other words it is helpful to totalitarianism….But though not much interested in the 'theory' of pacifism, I am interested in the psychological processes by which pacifists who have started out with an alleged horror of violence end up with a marked tendency to be fascinated by the success and power of Nazism." George Orwell 1942 [340]
- Supporting Evidence: ISM is "a Palestinian-led, non-violent movement of Palestinian and international activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to the Occupation." ISM Website [337]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel does not target international "peace activists" or any other innocent civilians. The rare cases when "peace activists" were injured were inadvertent accidents, caused by their entering closed military zones. This was true in Rachel Corrie's case.
- Supporting Evidence: "The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie," a military source told the Jerusalem Post. "She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in." "The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. Both the driver and his commanders were cleared of any wrongdoing. An autopsy of Corrie's body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her," the source stated. [341]
- Supporting Evidence: "The driver at no point saw or heard Corrie," a military source told the Jerusalem Post. "She was standing behind debris which obstructed the view of the driver and the driver had a very limited field of vision due to the protective cage he was working in." "The driver and his commanders were interrogated extensively over a long period of time with the use of polygraph tests and video evidence. They had no knowledge that she was standing in the path of the tractor. Both the driver and his commanders were cleared of any wrongdoing. An autopsy of Corrie's body revealed that the cause of death was from falling debris and not from the tractor physically rolling over her," the source stated. [341]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's military rules of engagement are among the highest in the world. Israel does not tolerate indiscriminate killing especially of innocent civilians. Currently, a military court is trying the Israeli soldier who wounded and caused the death of Tom Hurndall on charges of manslaughter. BBC Report February 12 2004 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3482869.stm)
- COUNTERPOINT: "Peace activists" engage in risky behavior and put themselves in harm's way by violating laws, entering closed military zones and associating with wanted terrorists.
- Supporting Evidence: "It was a tragic accident that never should have happened," the [IDF] source said. "The International Solidarity Movement, which Corrie belonged to, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy," the source concluded. [342]
- Supporting Evidence: "They come into a war zone without experience. They don't know how to behave and they think that because they're holding an international passport, nothing will happen to them." Sharon Feingold, IDF spokeswoman. [343]
- Supporting Evidence: Susan Barclay, an ISM leader, "said in an interview with the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad….'We are open to working with any political party as long as they are interested in non-violent resistance…" (Seattle Post Intelligencer, March 20, 2003) [344]
- Supporting Evidence: Adam Shapiro and other ISM members broke through a closed military zone to reach Arafat's compound in Ramallah to protect him and his supporters from IDF actions. Ten ISM members stormed the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on May 2, 2002 to bring food and support to armed terrorists who were trying to escape the IDF and had seized the Church. [345]
- Supporting Evidence: "As far as we are concerned, ISM is not an international organization or a peace organization. It's a pro-Palestinian organization, set up by Palestinians, funded by Palestinians and linked to Palestinian terror." Senior IDF Officer [346]
- Supporting Evidence: "It was a tragic accident that never should have happened," the [IDF] source said. "The International Solidarity Movement, which Corrie belonged to, was directly responsible for illegal behavior and conduct in the area of Corrie's death and their actions directly led to this tragedy," the source concluded. [342]
- COUNTERPOINT: Rachel Corrie put herself in harm's way and was aiding terrorist activity. The "home demolition" she was trying to stop was not a home demolition, but an IDF effort to close a tunnel in Rafah through which illegal arms were being smuggled to terrorists.
- Supporting Evidence: "Columnist Adli Sadik, also of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, last Monday spoke out critically, in a manner unparalleled in Palestinian journalism, against the Palestinian security services. He called the smuggling tunnels in Rafah, which is why the Israel Defence Forces is razing homes, "the tunnels of [security] services and gangs," and charged the services with responsibility for the "Rafah catastrophe." Haaretz Jan 6 2003 [347]
- Supporting Evidence: "The "tunnel industry" in Rafah…which, according to our estimates, involves millions of dollars a year, serves as a main route for the smuggling of arms and ammunition from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. Currently, arms and ammunition transported along this route make up the lifeblood of terrorist organizations active in the Gaza Strip. The IDF uncovered and demolished 33 tunnels in 2002 and over 40 tunnels in 2003; however, it may well be the case that approximately 10 to 15 tunnels continue to function even now." IDF Website [348]
- Supporting Evidence: "Columnist Adli Sadik, also of Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, last Monday spoke out critically, in a manner unparalleled in Palestinian journalism, against the Palestinian security services. He called the smuggling tunnels in Rafah, which is why the Israel Defence Forces is razing homes, "the tunnels of [security] services and gangs," and charged the services with responsibility for the "Rafah catastrophe." Haaretz Jan 6 2003 [347]
- COUNTERPOINT: Even members of ISM were shocked by Rachel Corrie's death precisely because the IDF had always been so careful NOT to harm activists.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinians, not Israelis, who kill innocent American civilians and refuse to express condolences, to hunt for the killers and their accomplices or take measures to ensure that such killing will not happen again. Palestinian terrorists have murdered fifty-one Americans in the last 10 years. Yet human rights groups have not raised one cry of outrage against Palestinian terrorists or the PA for these murders. They only express outrage about the two Americans accidentally killed by the IDF. This is hypocrisy and a clear example of crass political manipulation.
- Supporting Evidence: On October 15, 2003, Palestinian terrorists killed three Americans who were part of an American group traveling to Gaza to interview Palestinian applicants for Fulbright scholarships, a humanitarian mission. President Bush "blamed Palestinian officials for the attack." Fox News (*) When the US threatened to withhold money from the PA because it was not seriously hunting for the criminals, the PA abruptly accused four men and within hours put them on trial in a military court on February 8, 2004. Even the Palestinian Center for Human Rights protested against the unorthodox procedures and the trial had to be postponed to a later date.(**) [350]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian terrorists have killed 51 Americans in the past 10 years, none of whom had been participating in military activities. They were simply visiting, studying or residing in Israel. [351]
- Supporting Evidence: Marla Bennett, a young idealistic woman from San Diego, was killed in the Hebrew University cafeteria bombing on July 31, 2002. She was 24 years old. Where is the outrage about her senseless death or about the deaths of 25-year-old Benjamin Blustein (*), and 24-year old David Gritz, Americans who were also killed in the attack? Where is the demand for an investigation into the causes of their deaths as there is for the death of Rachel Corrie? [352]
- Supporting Evidence: On October 15, 2003, Palestinian terrorists killed three Americans who were part of an American group traveling to Gaza to interview Palestinian applicants for Fulbright scholarships, a humanitarian mission. President Bush "blamed Palestinian officials for the attack." Fox News (*) When the US threatened to withhold money from the PA because it was not seriously hunting for the criminals, the PA abruptly accused four men and within hours put them on trial in a military court on February 8, 2004. Even the Palestinian Center for Human Rights protested against the unorthodox procedures and the trial had to be postponed to a later date.(**) [350]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority, not Israel, threaten human rights workers and even condemn them to death.
- Supporting Evidence: "Yassir Arafat's PA announced Tuesday it had condemned an Arab human rights worker to death…'Heidar Mahmoud Hussein Ghanim was condemned to death for cooperating with the enemy,' declared VOP anchorman …during the main morning newcast…It said the condemned man, an employee for the left-wing, Israeli human-rights group B'TSELEM, was guilty of giving information to Israel." Journalist Michael Widlanski, October 29 2002 [353]
- Supporting Evidence: "Yassir Arafat's PA announced Tuesday it had condemned an Arab human rights worker to death…'Heidar Mahmoud Hussein Ghanim was condemned to death for cooperating with the enemy,' declared VOP anchorman …during the main morning newcast…It said the condemned man, an employee for the left-wing, Israeli human-rights group B'TSELEM, was guilty of giving information to Israel." Journalist Michael Widlanski, October 29 2002 [353]
- COUNTERPOINT: People like Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and other ISM members cannot be called peace activists. They are partisans, self-declared activists committed to publicize, support and internationalize the Palestinian cause. They support the most extreme Palestinian demands, such as the Right of Return, and give support and succor to the most extreme Palestinian groups, including terrorists committed to violence.
- POINT 32: Jewish underground terrorist groups such as Haganah, Irgun and the Stern Gang had the mission to terrorize the Palestinian street, destroy villages and slaughter entire Palestinian families. They introduced modern political terrorism to the region.
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is true. This was the goal of Palestinian armed groups, not Jewish defense groups. The Palestinian armed groups, led by Haj Amin al-Husseini who became the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, started terrorism in the Palestine Mandate. They repeatedly led riots and pogroms against the Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929, 1933 and 1936-39 (when 415 Jews were killed).
- Supporting Evidence: The 1920 and 1921 riots "was begun by the Arabs and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties….The fundamental cause of the riots was a feeling among the Arabs of discontent with, and hostility to, the Jews…." British Government's Haycraft Commission of Inquiry into the 1920-21 Arab Riots. [354]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he causes of the outbreaks of 1920 and 1921 [and] of 1929 and 1933…[and 1936] …were similar in character to the four previous outbreaks…As in 1933, it was not only the Jews who were attacked, but the Palestine Government." British Peel Commission Report, 1937 [355]
- Supporting Evidence: During the Peel Commission hearings to investigate the causes of the 1936 disturbances, "Haj Amin emphasized that the 400,000 Jews then domiciled in Palestine were more than the country could absorb. When asked by Peel if this did not mean that in an independent Arab Palestine some Jews would have to be removed, the Mufti replied: 'We must leave all this to the future.' Other Arab witnesses made the same point, although rather less obliquely." Historian Howard Sachar [356]
- Supporting Evidence: The Mufti of Jerusalem supporting Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic program. The Mufti of Jerusalem received millions of dollars from Nazi Germany and Italian fascists for his violence against the Jews between 1936 and 1939. The German SS provided financial and logistical support for anti-Semitic programs in Palestine. [357]
- Supporting Evidence: The 1920 and 1921 riots "was begun by the Arabs and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties….The fundamental cause of the riots was a feeling among the Arabs of discontent with, and hostility to, the Jews…." British Government's Haycraft Commission of Inquiry into the 1920-21 Arab Riots. [354]
- COUNTERPOINT: During the 1933 and 1936-39 Arab revolts, Palestinians also attacked and sabotaged the British in a pattern of terrorism, long before the Jews began to direct any animosity to the British.
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, "…British patrols also were cut down by snipers, the new airport at Lydda was burned, troop trains were derailed, and the oil line from Mosul to Haifa was badly damaged. As the killings and sabotage increased, so did British reprisals….From July to November 1938…perhaps 16,000 local and imported guerillas were engaged in the insurrection, and they succeeded almost completely in paralyzing civil authority outside the nation's larger cities and in the Jewish agricultural areas. All interurban transportation was prohibited at night, as Arab infiltrators laid mines and explosives along roads and highways." Historian Howard Sachar [358]
- Supporting Evidence: "There have been widespread acts of murder and other outrages by [Arab] gangs of armed terrorists. Apart from attacks in which British soldiers, airmen and police as well as many Arabs and Jews have lost their lives, the activities of these armed gangs have included repeated attempts to disorganize the means of communication, cutting of telegraph and telephone wires, derailing of trains, and attempts to prevent roads from being used by traffic. Considerable material damage has been done seriously affecting the economic life of the country and several attempts have been made to damage and set fire to the oil pipe-line between Haifa and `Iraq." Report by His Majesty's Government to the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-jordan 1936 [359]
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, "…British patrols also were cut down by snipers, the new airport at Lydda was burned, troop trains were derailed, and the oil line from Mosul to Haifa was badly damaged. As the killings and sabotage increased, so did British reprisals….From July to November 1938…perhaps 16,000 local and imported guerillas were engaged in the insurrection, and they succeeded almost completely in paralyzing civil authority outside the nation's larger cities and in the Jewish agricultural areas. All interurban transportation was prohibited at night, as Arab infiltrators laid mines and explosives along roads and highways." Historian Howard Sachar [358]
- COUNTERPOINT: At no time did the Haganah, Irgun or the Stern Gang develop a policy to terrorize Palestinians or destroy villages and slaughter Palestinians. Quite the contrary. Jewish defensive forces were formed to protect Jews from Arab terrorism, not to terrorize Palestinians. The Haganah, a grassroots Jewish militia, formed in 1920 to protect Jews from the Arab violence unleashed that year, not to attack Arabs. Jews felt that the British authorities were not providing sufficient protection for them. The Haganah was committed to acting with restraint against Arab attacks. (http://palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riots_1920-21.php)
- Supporting Evidence: The Hagnah's stated purpose was "to safeguard the national and social content of popular defence in this country". [360]
- Supporting Evidence: A small group split off from the Haganah in 1931 to form the Irgun precisely because it did not accept the Haganah's policy of "restraint" as opposed to "retaliation" against Palestine's Arabs. [361]
- Supporting Evidence: The Hagnah's stated purpose was "to safeguard the national and social content of popular defence in this country". [360]
- COUNTERPOINT: Even the Irgun was never committed to "slaughtering" Palestinians. It was composed of a small group of Haganah commanders who formed their own splinter group in 1931 because they disagreed with the Haganah's policy of restraint instead of retaliation against Arab terrorism which returned with a vengeance in 1929. The mainstream Jewish government nonetheless condemned their retaliatory measures.
- Supporting Evidence: "It should be noted that Jabotinsky [head of the Irgun] was greatly troubled by the issue of restraint and retaliation. He was opposed to acts of reprisal which claimed innocent lives, but at the same time understood that the havlaga [restraint] policy was turning the Yishuv into a community of cowards, and that the Arabs and British perceived it as a sign of weakness." [362]
- Supporting Evidence: "It should be noted that Jabotinsky [head of the Irgun] was greatly troubled by the issue of restraint and retaliation. He was opposed to acts of reprisal which claimed innocent lives, but at the same time understood that the havlaga [restraint] policy was turning the Yishuv into a community of cowards, and that the Arabs and British perceived it as a sign of weakness." [362]
- COUNTERPOINT: When the Stern Gang (Lehi) formed and split off from the Irgun in 1940, its goal was NOT to attack Arabs, but rather to fight against the British. Stern split from the Irgun because it believed that fighting Germany took precedence over trying to alter British policies.
- Supporting Evidence: "Stern claimed that the fight against the British should continue, even though Great Britain was at war with Germany. To his mind, as long as the British ruled Palestine, they were the main foe and had to be driven out of the country. For Raziel, on the other hand, the Germans were the arch enemy of the Jewish people, and he argued that no impediments should be placed in the path of the British as long as they were fighting Hitler."
- Supporting Evidence: "We must draw the necessary conclusions without wavering. There can no longer be a truce between the Hebrew nation and youth and the British administration of Eretz Israel, which is betraying our brethren to Hitler. Our nation will fight this regime, fight to the end." Lehi statement, 1944 [363]
- Supporting Evidence: "Stern claimed that the fight against the British should continue, even though Great Britain was at war with Germany. To his mind, as long as the British ruled Palestine, they were the main foe and had to be driven out of the country. For Raziel, on the other hand, the Germans were the arch enemy of the Jewish people, and he argued that no impediments should be placed in the path of the British as long as they were fighting Hitler."
- COUNTERPOINT: When Lehi, the Irgun and the Haganah joined forces in the Hebrew Resistance Movement in 1945, their target was not Palestinians, but rather the British government which refused to alter its restrictive immigration policies so Holocaust survivors could settle in Palestine.
- Supporting Evidence: The Hebrew Resistance Movement's agreement included:
a. The Haganah organization has entered upon a military struggle against British rule.
[364]
b. The Irgun and Lehi will not implement combat plans without the approval of the command of the United Resistance.
c. The Irgun and Lehi will carry out combat missions assigned to them by the command of the United Resistance Movement
- Supporting Evidence: "Immigration was the key. Even to a maximalist like Ben Gurion, assurance of free immigration was more important than statehood. If, as late as 1946, [British Prime Minister] Bevin had managed to devise a scheme for keeping Palestine with the Commonwealth and simultaneously assuring the unhampered flow of refugees from Europe, Ben-Gurion and the Agency Executive would have acquiesced." Historian Howard Sachar [365]
- Supporting Evidence: The Hebrew Resistance Movement's agreement included:
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is true. This was the goal of Palestinian armed groups, not Jewish defense groups. The Palestinian armed groups, led by Haj Amin al-Husseini who became the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, started terrorism in the Palestine Mandate. They repeatedly led riots and pogroms against the Jews in 1920, 1921, 1929, 1933 and 1936-39 (when 415 Jews were killed).
- POINT 33: Zionists engaged in terrorism as in their bombing of the King David Hotel.
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionist groups resisting British policy in Palestine never targeted innocent civilians. The resistance group, Etzel, targeted the King David Hotel in July 1946 because the British had requisitioned part of it and used it for their military command and for their Criminal Investigation Division. The British had invaded the head offices of the Jewish government at the end of June, confiscated secret documents about the Jewish resistance to their rule and placed them in the King David offices. The hotel was a legitimate military target. (Professor Yehuda Lapidot, “The Irgun Site,” “The Bombing of the King David Hotel,” at http://www.etzel.org.il/english/index.htm)
- COUNTERPOINT: Etzel did not want to cause civilian casualties. Twenty-five minutes prior to the bombing, the Irgun made three phone calls: one to the hotel operator, one to the Palestine Post (now known as the Jerusalem Post) and one to the French Consulate located next door to the hotel. The first two calls warned of the impending explosion and told people to evacuate the building. The third call told the French Consulate to open its windows to avoid blast damage. These measures were taken to avoid human casualties. The British chose to ignore the warning. (Professor Yehuda Lapidot, “The Irgun Site,” “The Bombing of the King David Hotel,” at http://www.etzel.org.il/english/index.htm and Howard Sachar, A History of Israel, 2000, p. 267)
- COUNTERPOINT: When the full extent of the casualties became known, with 91 dead, the official leadership of the Jewish community was outraged, denounced the act and ended the United Hebrew Resistance which had lasted just 10 months.
- Supporting Evidence: The Jewish Agency "was no less horrified than the British by the King David bombing. Ben-Gurion, who had never before brought himself totally to disavow earlier underground raids on British installations, now furious anathematized Etzel and urged Palestine Jewry o turn its members in wherever they were discovered." Historian Howard Sachar [366]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Hebrew press, and the Haganah publications, continued to condemn the Irgun in the strongest possible terms. They were echoed by the British press, which was briefed by the Mandatory government." Etzel website [367]
- Supporting Evidence: "[A]t a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive in Paris on August 5, 1946, it was decided to terminate the armed struggle against the British in Palestine. This marked the end of the… ten-month period when all the Jewish forces in Eretz Israel (Haganah, Irgun and Lehi) fought together against foreign rule." Etzel website [368]
- Supporting Evidence: The Jewish Agency "was no less horrified than the British by the King David bombing. Ben-Gurion, who had never before brought himself totally to disavow earlier underground raids on British installations, now furious anathematized Etzel and urged Palestine Jewry o turn its members in wherever they were discovered." Historian Howard Sachar [366]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Zionists did not introduce terrorism against the British to Palestine. Palestinian Arabs had introduced it in 1933 and again in 1936-39 during the Arab Revolt.
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, "…British patrols also were cut down by snipers, the new airport at Lydda was burned, troop trains were derailed, and the oil line from Mosul to Haifa was badly damaged. As the killings and sabotage increased, so did British reprisals….From July to November 1938…perhaps 16,000 local and imported guerillas were engaged in the insurrection, and they succeeded almost completely in paralyzing civil authority outside the nation's larger cities and in the Jewish agricultural areas. All interurban transportation was prohibited at night, as Arab infiltrators laid mines and explosives along roads and highways." Historian Howard Sachar [369]
- Supporting Evidence: "There have been widespread acts of murder and other outrages by [Arab] gangs of armed terrorists. Apart from attacks in which British soldiers, airmen and police as well as many Arabs and Jews have lost their lives, the activities of these armed gangs have included repeated attempts to disorganize the means of communication, cutting of telegraph and telephone wires, derailing of trains, and attempts to prevent roads from being used by traffic. Considerable material damage has been done seriously affecting the economic life of the country and several attempts have been made to damage and set fire to the oil pipe-line between Haifa and `Iraq." Report by His Majesty's Government to the League of Nations on the Administration of Palestine and Trans-jordan 1936 [370]
- Supporting Evidence: In the 1936-39 Arab Revolt, "…British patrols also were cut down by snipers, the new airport at Lydda was burned, troop trains were derailed, and the oil line from Mosul to Haifa was badly damaged. As the killings and sabotage increased, so did British reprisals….From July to November 1938…perhaps 16,000 local and imported guerillas were engaged in the insurrection, and they succeeded almost completely in paralyzing civil authority outside the nation's larger cities and in the Jewish agricultural areas. All interurban transportation was prohibited at night, as Arab infiltrators laid mines and explosives along roads and highways." Historian Howard Sachar [369]
- COUNTERPOINT: Zionist groups resisting British policy in Palestine never targeted innocent civilians. The resistance group, Etzel, targeted the King David Hotel in July 1946 because the British had requisitioned part of it and used it for their military command and for their Criminal Investigation Division. The British had invaded the head offices of the Jewish government at the end of June, confiscated secret documents about the Jewish resistance to their rule and placed them in the King David offices. The hotel was a legitimate military target. (Professor Yehuda Lapidot, “The Irgun Site,” “The Bombing of the King David Hotel,” at http://www.etzel.org.il/english/index.htm)
- POINT 34: Israel persecutes Christians.
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a preposterous claim. Israel grants complete religious freedom to Christians and other religious groups.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has greater religious pluralism than the USA. 20% of Israelis are non-Jewish while in the US only 4% of the population adheres to a non-Christian religion. [371]
- Supporting Evidence: Each religious community in Israel (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) is allowed to have jurisdiction over the marriage, divorce and burial of its members, and representatives of each of each religion are state officials. [372]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has greater religious pluralism than the USA. 20% of Israelis are non-Jewish while in the US only 4% of the population adheres to a non-Christian religion. [371]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Christian population in Israel has quadrupled in the last forty years while it is precipitously declining in the Middle East and particularly in the Palestinian Authority. Israel's Christian population has grown from 51,000 in 1961 to over 137,000 today. (http://www.bridgesforpeace.com/publications/dispatch/signoftimes/Article-14.html and http://www.nclci.org/news_middle_east_news.htm)
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a preposterous claim. Persecuted Christians in the Middle East go to Israel for sanctuary from persecution.
- Supporting Evidence: Two Palestinian converts to Christianity who were persecuted by the PA decided "their only hope was to escape to Israel" for asylum. The PA had imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to death Saeed and Nasser Salame for converting from Islam to Christianity. In December 2002, they sought asylum in Israel until they could move to a Western country. US representative Jo Ann Davis (R-Va) and the Religious Freedom Coalition have taken up their cause. [373]
- Supporting Evidence: Two Palestinian converts to Christianity who were persecuted by the PA decided "their only hope was to escape to Israel" for asylum. The PA had imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to death Saeed and Nasser Salame for converting from Islam to Christianity. In December 2002, they sought asylum in Israel until they could move to a Western country. US representative Jo Ann Davis (R-Va) and the Religious Freedom Coalition have taken up their cause. [373]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Arab states that impose an official religion and persecute other religious groups, especially Christians and Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. [374]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of persecution, "Throughout the entire Middle East, once significant Christian communities have shrunk to a miniscule portion of their former robust selves. In 50 years they may well be extinct…2 million [fled] in the last 20 years alone." Professors Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman, 2002 [375]
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "the government prohibits the public practice of other religions;" in Egypt, "religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited" and "Christians cower[ed] in fear of violence from Islamic militants and systematic human rights violations by Egypt…." In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed and most evangelical churches must function underground." American Department of State First Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Professor Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman. [376]
- Supporting Evidence: Persecution and violence forced the over one million Jews who had lived in the Middle East for millennia to flee between 1947 and 1967. Only a small and dwindling fraction of them-33,200-remain.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. [374]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that imposes religious uniformity.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. . [377]
- Supporting Evidence: PA Information Ministry declared that "The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law…with issues pertaining to religious matters…..any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment." [378]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA arrests Palestinian converts to Christianity. In late June 1997, the PA's Preventive Security Forces arrested a convert to Christianity for regularly attending church and distributing Bibles. He is still in prison and has been subjected to physical torture and interrogations.(*) In December, 2002, Saeed and Nasser Salamah, escaped from prison and from a death sentence for converting to Christianity in the PA and sought asylum in Israel.(**) [379]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. . [377]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that harasses and persecutes Christians.
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [380]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian rate of emigration from the Territories has accelerated and the Christian population of the Territories has dropped from 15% in 1950 to barely 2% today. Many fear that soon few if any Christians will be left in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, or in Nazareth though they once were Christian majority cities. . [381]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000, [382]
- Supporting Evidence: Graffiti in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur reads, "First the Saturday people [the Jews] then the Sunday people [the Christians]," according to the New York Times.(*) The same lines are often chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies.(**) [383]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian Muslims will not sell land to Christians. Muslim extremists have attacked Christian facilities and clubs, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 1994. Christian graves, crosses and statues have been desecrated. Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their phone lines cut and there have been break-ins at convents. [384]
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [380]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the PA, not Israel, that violates Christian religious sites and property..
- Supporting Evidence: In 1997, the Waqf (Muslim religious property) authorities attempted to break through into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is adjacent to the al-Hanaqa Mosque in order to install toilets on the roof of the Church. The illegal construction was halted only after Israeli and world pressure. [385]
- Supporting Evidence: When the Intifada began, the PA's Tanzim specifically "positioned themselves in or near Christian homes, hotels, churches (eg St. Nicholas) and the Greek Orthodox club so fire would harm Christian institutions and homes," according to an AP report. [386]
- Supporting Evidence: 150-180 Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity on April 2, 2002, triggering a 39 day siege during which they ate all the stores of food, Bibles were torn up and used for toilet paper, many valuable sacramental objects were stolen, and the monks trapped inside were under a "regime of fear." [387]
- Supporting Evidence: The militants who took over the Church of the Nativity in April, 2002, had "imposed a two-reign of terror [on Bethlehem Christians] that included rape, extortion and executions, according to Bethlehem residents. 'Finally the Christians can breathe freely,' said Helen, 50, a Christian mother of four. 'We are so delighted that these criminals who have intimidated us for such a long time are now going away.'" [388]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1997, the Waqf (Muslim religious property) authorities attempted to break through into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is adjacent to the al-Hanaqa Mosque in order to install toilets on the roof of the Church. The illegal construction was halted only after Israeli and world pressure. [385]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the PA, not Israel, that persecutes Christians.
- Supporting Evidence: In August, 1997, Palestinian policemen in Beit Sahur opened fire on a crowd of Christian Arabs, wounding six of them. Arafat attempted to cover up the incident and warned the Arab media against publicizing the story. [389]
- Supporting Evidence: In February 2002, Palestinian Muslims rampaged against Christians in Ramallah, burning apartments and stores owned by Christians and attempted to burn down the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The PA failed to intervene, according to the Boston Globe. [390]
- Supporting Evidence: In August, 1997, Palestinian policemen in Beit Sahur opened fire on a crowd of Christian Arabs, wounding six of them. Arafat attempted to cover up the incident and warned the Arab media against publicizing the story. [389]
- COUNTERPOINT: This is a preposterous claim. Israel grants complete religious freedom to Christians and other religious groups.
- POINT 35: Baruch Goldstein committed a massacre in the Hebron Mosque in 1994. This is evidence that Israel engages in vicious terrorism against innocent civilians.
- COUNTERPOINT: The example of Dr. Baruch Goldstein proves just the opposite. This was a singular, individual case of an individual who reportedly "snapped" and became "deranged" because of Arab violence against Jews and because he reportedly had learned of a planned Arab attack against the Jews of Hebron. There was no organization supporting and orchestrating his action as there is with Palestinian terrorists whose sponsoring organizations proudly take credit for terrorist acts.
- COUNTERPOINT: The example of Dr. Baruch Goldstein proves just the opposite. The Israeli government and all Israeli and Jewish leaders were outraged and condemned Goldstein and the murders he committed, unlike the official Palestinian response to Palestinian terrorist actions.
- Supporting Evidence: "Goldstein's individualist terrorist attack against Palestinian civilians was strongly condemned by the Israeli government and the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews throughout the world. This is in sharp contrast to the Palestinian reaction to their 'martyrs' who blow up innocent Israelis and Jews. These people are praised and their families are rewarded for their well-planned crimes." Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. [392]
- Supporting Evidence: "Goldstein's individualist terrorist attack against Palestinian civilians was strongly condemned by the Israeli government and the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Jews throughout the world. This is in sharp contrast to the Palestinian reaction to their 'martyrs' who blow up innocent Israelis and Jews. These people are praised and their families are rewarded for their well-planned crimes." Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. [392]
- COUNTERPOINT: The example of Dr. Baruch Goldstein proves just the opposite. The political party to which Goldstein belonged was marginal, on the fringes of Israeli life. Nonetheless, the Israeli government outlawed the political party with which Goldstein was affiliated, Kahane, because of its anti-Palestinian views and took further action against the party immediately after Goldstein's rampage. This is in direct contrast to how the Palestinian Authority promotes, supports and encourages its terrorist groups.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1985, Israel amended its Basic Law (which serves as its Constitution) to bar parties that "incite to racism" from participating in elections. The government's specific target was the Kahane-Chai party, and in 1988, it disqualified the Kahane-Chai candidates from the country's elections. [393]
- Supporting Evidence: "Both organizations were declared terrorist organizations by the Israeli Cabinet in March 1994. This followed the groups' statements in support of Dr. Baruch Goldstein's attack in February 1994 on the al-Ibrahimi Mosqueand and their verbal attacks on the Israeli Government. Goldstein was affiliated with Kach." ICT Website [394]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1985, Israel amended its Basic Law (which serves as its Constitution) to bar parties that "incite to racism" from participating in elections. The government's specific target was the Kahane-Chai party, and in 1988, it disqualified the Kahane-Chai candidates from the country's elections. [393]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Goldstein example proves just the reverse. Immediately after the Goldstein killings in 1994, the Israeli Knesset passed a law banning the erection of memorials to those who commit terrorist acts. In 1999, the Israeli government dismantled the shrine that extremists had erected in honor of Baruch Goldstein. This is in marked contrast to how Palestinians praise, glorify and build shrines to their terrorists.
- Supporting Evidence: "A law passed by the Knesset after the Goldstein killings banned the erection of memorials to those who carried out acts of terror." BBC News report Dec. 29 1999 [395]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israeli troops have dismantled a shrine at the grave of a Jewish settler, Baruch Goldstein, who was beaten to death by Palestinians after he shot 29 worshippers in Hebron five years ago. Israeli soldiers stood guard as bulldozers ripped down lamp posts and other embellishments at the graveside….The fact that authorities have now dismantled it will be seen by many as an important and long overdue symbol of reconciliation." BBC News report Dec. 29 1999 [396]
- Supporting Evidence: "A law passed by the Knesset after the Goldstein killings banned the erection of memorials to those who carried out acts of terror." BBC News report Dec. 29 1999 [395]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Goldstein example proves just the reverse. On the tenth anniversary of Goldstein's attack, the Jewish holiday of Purim on March 7, 2004, the Israeli government again imposed stringent measures against the few Israelis who wished to commemorate his death.
- Supporting Evidence: "Some 50 police officers prevented activists from approaching Goldstein's Kiryat Arba grave site, and declared the area around a closed military zone. During the service, police arrested a man handing out stickers with a picture of Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin's murderer, Yigal Amir. Two other activists were arrested for distributing a poem that incited against Rabin, and another person wearing a "Kahane was right" shirt, was also arrested." Jerusalem Post , March 7 2004 [397]
- Supporting Evidence: "Some 50 police officers prevented activists from approaching Goldstein's Kiryat Arba grave site, and declared the area around a closed military zone. During the service, police arrested a man handing out stickers with a picture of Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin's murderer, Yigal Amir. Two other activists were arrested for distributing a poem that incited against Rabin, and another person wearing a "Kahane was right" shirt, was also arrested." Jerusalem Post , March 7 2004 [397]
- COUNTERPOINT: The example of Dr. Baruch Goldstein proves just the opposite. This was a singular, individual case of an individual who reportedly "snapped" and became "deranged" because of Arab violence against Jews and because he reportedly had learned of a planned Arab attack against the Jews of Hebron. There was no organization supporting and orchestrating his action as there is with Palestinian terrorists whose sponsoring organizations proudly take credit for terrorist acts.
- POINT 36: The military law that governs the Territories is similar to apartheid law.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about apartheid. It was an official policy in South Africa, enacted in law and enforced through police violence, of brutal political, legal and economic discrimination against people of color. It was based upon minority control over a majority population. Israel imposed no such legal system in the Territories.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about the legal system in the Territories. Israel never annexed the Territories and hence Israeli law never governed the Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens. When it began its administration of the Territories, Israeli left intact Jordanian and local law that had governed the Territories prior to the 1967 War. These are the laws that prevail in the West Bank and Gaza. There are two systems of law precisely because Israel did not annex the Territories and impose its own system on the Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: After 1967, "At [Moshe] Dayan's suggestion…the cabinet agreed that Jordanian law would remain operative throughout the West Bank and that it would continue to be enforced largely by the prewar Arab administration, and that in the Gaza enclave civil government would also be directed mainly by resident Arab officials. Ultimately, fewer than 220 Israeli army and civilian personnel oversaw these local regimes. It became the hope of the military government that Arab citizens in the occupied areas should be able to carry on their activities without so much as setting eyes on an Israeli official…." Historian Howard Sachar [398]
- Supporting Evidence: After 1967, "At [Moshe] Dayan's suggestion…the cabinet agreed that Jordanian law would remain operative throughout the West Bank and that it would continue to be enforced largely by the prewar Arab administration, and that in the Gaza enclave civil government would also be directed mainly by resident Arab officials. Ultimately, fewer than 220 Israeli army and civilian personnel oversaw these local regimes. It became the hope of the military government that Arab citizens in the occupied areas should be able to carry on their activities without so much as setting eyes on an Israeli official…." Historian Howard Sachar [398]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about the facts. Under Israeli administration of the Territories, the Palestinians achieved more self-government and more self-rule than they had ever enjoyed in the 19 years of Jordanian rule. Israeli administration dramatically improved Palestinian self-rule. There was nothing that remotely resembled apartheid law.
- Supporting Evidence: "In the West Bank…the Israelis encountered an Arab population whose economic and political development had been systematically aborted for years by the distrustful Hashemite government. Citizens living west of the river had been refused even the mildest degree of administrative autonomy….When, therefore, Israel instituted a military regime in the West Bank, it launched something entirely new, the first authentically Palestinian administration the local Arabs had ever known. Under Israeli auspices, departments were established for West Bank agriculture, education, posts and telegraphs, commerce and industry…" all run by local civil servants. Historian Howard Sachar [399]
- Supporting Evidence: "In the West Bank…the Israelis encountered an Arab population whose economic and political development had been systematically aborted for years by the distrustful Hashemite government. Citizens living west of the river had been refused even the mildest degree of administrative autonomy….When, therefore, Israel instituted a military regime in the West Bank, it launched something entirely new, the first authentically Palestinian administration the local Arabs had ever known. Under Israeli auspices, departments were established for West Bank agriculture, education, posts and telegraphs, commerce and industry…" all run by local civil servants. Historian Howard Sachar [399]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about how the Territories have functioned since the Oslo Accords. In accord with Oslo's interim agreements, 98% of Palestinians came to be under the governance of the Palestinian Authority by 1997. The PA has its own legislature, administrative, educational and legal system. If there is apartheid in the Territories, then it was instituted by the Palestinian leadership, not Israel.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can only be made by confusing Israel's security measures and the legal system that governs the Territories. Israel's security measures-closures, checkpoints, curfews-were temporary measures instituted in response to terrorism. The PA has done nothing to eliminate terrorism, and under the Oslo Accords, Israel has the right to act to maintain the security of its citizens. There is nothing racist or apartheid-like about these measures. Palestinian Arabs are not subject to security measures because of their race, color or religion, but rather because they are declared enemies of Israelis and wish to murder Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: In the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, editor Jubran Tuweini wrote, "Once again, we realize that the Arabs are their own worst enemy - just as the worst enemy of the Palestinian cause is the Palestinians, who have endorsed a policy of refusal and fundamentalist extremism as a way of behavior. How many times have they already served Israel with their deeds? How many times has the behavior of these groups already saved Ariel Sharon and his government?" December 24 2003 [400]
- Supporting Evidence: The liberal-leaning Hazem Abd Al-Rahman wrote in his Al-Ahram column:"… Are these scum of the earth [Palestinians who attacked the Egyptian Foreign Minister] capable of accomplishing something for the Palestinian people? It is reasonable to assume that they, like the supporters of suicide bombings, are the first to damage the Palestinian cause, and are bringing death upon the Palestinian people…" December 24 2003 [401]
- Supporting Evidence: On the liberal Arab website Elaph, Egyptian columnist Sami Buheiri wrote: "[T]he rabble majority of the Arab and Palestinian street today….refuse to accept any kind of a peace agreement with Israel... It is they who applaud the bus and restaurant bombings in order to destroy any spark of hope for peace... They are Arab nationalists who have failed completely in all their wars with Israel and in all attempts to achieve peace with Israel, because they were not serious, and they were not men - neither in fighting nor in peacemaking..." [402]
- Supporting Evidence: In the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, editor Jubran Tuweini wrote, "Once again, we realize that the Arabs are their own worst enemy - just as the worst enemy of the Palestinian cause is the Palestinians, who have endorsed a policy of refusal and fundamentalist extremism as a way of behavior. How many times have they already served Israel with their deeds? How many times has the behavior of these groups already saved Ariel Sharon and his government?" December 24 2003 [400]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about apartheid. It was an official policy in South Africa, enacted in law and enforced through police violence, of brutal political, legal and economic discrimination against people of color. It was based upon minority control over a majority population. Israel imposed no such legal system in the Territories.
- POINT 37: Israel may be progressive in the areas of gay and women's rights, but it discriminates on the basis of religion and ethnicity, therefore it cannot be called a champion of human rights.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. Israelis come from over 100 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Many Jews and non-Jews have come to Israel to flee ethnic, racial, and religious persecution.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's Arab minority has all the same civil and legal rights as its Jewish majority. Israeli Arabs have five political parties. Arab-Israelis held 12 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Parliament in 2002. Arabic is an official language of Israel and is on equal footing with Hebrew. All Arab municipalities are controlled and administered by Arabs and they receive government funding for education and infrastructure. [403]
- Supporting Evidence: "By any fair measure, Israel is light-years ahead of the Arab world in terms of racial and religious tolerance. Privately, Arabs would concede that they are treated far better in Tel Aviv than any Jew would be now in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus or Amman." Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [404]
- Supporting Evidence: 55% of Israel's Jews are Arab Jews, in many cases physically indistinguishable from Palestinians. Tens of thousands more are Ethiopian Jews whom Israel rescued from poverty and civil war. Yet others come from Asia and India.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1977, Israel gave refuge and instant citizenship to desperate Vietnamese boat people whom other nations refused to accept. As one Vietnamese refugee told the Jerusalem Post in 1996: "I don't feel as though I'm in the minority. It doesn't bother me that I'm Vietnamese, because in my head I'm Israeli." [405]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel protects religious pluralism and is the only state in the Middle East that permits freedom of worship. Because of it tolerance, religions persecuted throughout the Muslim world enjoy unprecedented freedoms. The Persian Bahai faith has even established its religious 'Mecca' in Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is the only country in the region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Memorandum April 24, 2002. [406]
- Supporting Evidence: Each religious community in Israel (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) is allowed to have jurisdiction over the marriage, divorce and burial of its members, and representatives of each of each religion are state officials. [407]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel gave the Druze, a group "traditionally persecuted by Moslem Arabs," the status of an official religious community, with their own religious council and courts. [408]
- Supporting Evidence: "The highest body of the Baha'i faith…declared the Israeli port city of Haifa the `Mecca' for the religion's five million members" in 1992 in part because of Israel's tolerance and the persecution the Baha'is faced in other Middle Eastern states. [409]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian population in Israel has quadrupled in the last forty years while it is precipitously declining in the Middle East and particularly in the Palestinian Authority. Israel's Christian population has grown from 51,000 in 1961 to over 137,000 today . [410]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is the only country in the region that permits citizens of all faiths to worship freely and openly." Bill Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeanne Kirkpatrick. Memorandum April 24, 2002. [406]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is such a successful multicultural society that Cookie Lommel, an African-American woman, began a program in 1994, Operation Unity, to bring inner city African-American and Latino kids to spend summers in Israel. Their reactions attest to the fact that Israel is NOT a racist state:
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israeli people did not care what color we were. It was such a special feeling to know that adults and teens my age were interested in me as a person like themselves." Merle Chopha, when she was a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. [411]
- Supporting Evidence: "In America, where we all seem so divided, it was refreshing to see the mixture of people on the kibbutz who have learned to relate well in many ways," Enrique Carmona, Roosevelt High School in East LA. [412]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israeli people did not care what color we were. It was such a special feeling to know that adults and teens my age were interested in me as a person like themselves." Merle Chopha, when she was a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. [411]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is Arab states that impose an official religion and persecute other religious groups, especially Christians and Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. [413]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of persecution, "Throughout the entire Middle East, once significant Christian communities have shrunk to a miniscule portion of their former robust selves. In 50 years they may well be extinct…2 million [fled] in the last 20 years alone." Professors Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman, 2002 [414]
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "the government prohibits the public practice of other religions;" in Egypt, "religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited" and "Christians cower[ed] in fear of violence from Islamic militants and systematic human rights violations by Egypt…." In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed and most evangelical churches must function underground." American Department of State First Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Professor Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman. [415]
- Supporting Evidence: Persecution and violence forced the over one million Jews who had lived in the Middle East for millennia to flee between 1947 and 1967. Only a small and dwindling fraction of them-33,200-remain.
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab states in the Middle East all established Islam as their official religion and have "very serious issues of religious restrictions, discrimination, persecution….lack of tolerance and pluralism…[and] impose significant legal obstacles to religious freedom, contrary to the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Steven J. Coffey, US Principal Deputy Assistant of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations May 1, 1997. [413]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that imposes religious uniformity. As a result most non-Muslims have fled the PA and converts to Christianity have sought asylum in Israel to avoid being killed. The PA demands that its future state be free of Jews. Some fear it will be free of Christians too.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. . [416]
- Supporting Evidence: PA Information Ministry declared that "The Palestinian people are also governed by [Islamic] Shari'a law…with issues pertaining to religious matters…..any Muslim who [converts] or declares becoming an unbeliever is committing a major sin punishable by capital punishment." [417]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA demands that all Jews leave their future state. It will become Judenrein, emptied of all Jews, just as Adolf Hitler hoped to make all Europe Judenrein.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA arrests Palestinian converts to Christianity. In late June 1997, the PA's Preventive Security Forces arrested a convert to Christianity for regularly attending church and distributing Bibles. He is still in prison and has been subjected to physical torture and interrogations.(*) In December, 2002, Saeed and Nasser Salamah, escaped from prison and from a death sentence for converting to Christianity in the PA and sought asylum in Israel.(**) [418]
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [419]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian rate of emigration from the Territories has accelerated and the Christian population of the Territories has dropped from 15% in 1950 to barely 2% today. Many fear that soon few if any Christians will be left in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, or in Nazareth though they once were Christian majority cities. . [420]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000, [421]
- Supporting Evidence: Graffiti in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur reads, "First the Saturday people [the Jews] then the Sunday people [the Christians]," according to the New York Times.(*) The same lines are often chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies.(**) [422]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian Muslims will not sell land to Christians. Muslim extremists have attacked Christian facilities and clubs, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 1994. Christian graves, crosses and statues have been desecrated. Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their phone lines cut and there have been break-ins at convents. [423]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA declared Islam its official religion. No Palestinian law protects religious freedom. . [416]
- COUNTERPOINT: During the two decades that Judea and Samaria were occupied by Jordan, non-Muslims were either suppressed or ethnically cleansed. The Palestinian Authority has vowed to reinstitute those policies once a Palestinian State is formed.
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [424]
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Jews were evicted from lands they had inhabited for thousands of years. No Jews were allowed to visit the holiest sites of Judaism. 58 Jewish synagogues were destroyed or converted to stables in the Old City and slums were built abutting the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism. [425]
- Supporting Evidence: "We expect the Israelis to give us back these holy places…We believe in freedom of religion. But Jews won't have rights there because these are our places." Hasan Tahboub, head of the PLO-backed Supreme Muslim Council. 1993 [426]
- Supporting Evidence: "Just as Jews can't come to Ka'aba in Mecca, they can't come to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These are holy Islamic places." (These are Judaism's two most sacred sites.) Ra'fat Al-Najjar, Palestinian Legislative Council Member, 2003 [427]
- Supporting Evidence: "That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Moslem shrine." Yassir Arafat, Ma'ariv, October 11, 1996.
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [424]
- COUNTERPOINT: Arab states and the Palestinian Authority are racist, not Israel. They promote one of the oldest and most vicious kinds of racism-anti-Semitism.
- Supporting Evidence: "The demonization of Jews [in Arabic literature] goes further than it had ever done in Western literature, with the exception of Germany during the period of Nazi rule." Historian Bernard Lewis in 1987 [428]
- Supporting Evidence: We do not read in the Jerusalem Post, as we do in the Arab dailies, that Palestinians are "monkeys" and "vampires." Nor is there a sizeable literature in Israel-as there is in the Arab world-devoted to proving their enemies are subhuman. Real racism and hatred exist in the present conflict, but they are expressed almost entirely by Arabs, not Jews. Had a paper in Tel Aviv alleged that Arabs drink blood and are related to primates, the world's outrage would be second only to the moral indignation in Israel itself." Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [429]
- Supporting Evidence: "…in its founding charter or "Covenant," which was composed in 1988, Hamas (which today commands the support of about one-half of the Palestinians and probably a far greater proportion in Gaza and the refugee camps) described "the Jews" as "an instrument of evil"; and it ascribes the outbreak of the French and Russian revolutions, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the eruption of World War I and World War II to Jewish machinations. The "Covenant" posits the destruction of Israel as the organization's main political goal, and jihad as its method. Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) pamphlets during the first intifada, from 1987 to 1991, regularly described the Jews as "sons of apes and pigs." Historian Benny Morris, "The Rejection," 2003 [430]
- Question: Palestinians criticize Israel for discriminating against them. This is ironic. Palestinians are in a terrorist war against Israel. Palestinian teenagers, pregnant women, police officers, and even medics have blown themselves up in crowded Israeli streets. Israelis are cautious, not racist, in their encounters with Palestinians. Still, 20% of Israel's population is ethnically Palestinian and is subject to the same rights as Jews. Palestinians are not only safe in Israel, they are protected. By contrast, the PA demands that its state be free of Jews, and Jews traveling PA territories have been lynched - their bodies mutilated by crowds of Arabs. Which society, Palestinian or Israeli, can be better characterized as racist?
- Question: You criticize Israel for allocating less funds to Arab-Israeli villages than to Jewish Israeli towns. Arab Israeli municipalities have refused to collect taxes for years and therefore generate no funds for local infrastructure. Could this be why Arab-Israeli villages have substandard public works? If the city of Los Angeles collected no taxes, wouldn't it have the same problem? Isn't it notable that Arab Israelis still enjoy a higher standard of living than Arabs elsewhere in the region, even though their self-elected municipal governments refuse to collect taxes?
- Question: Many in the audience are aware that Arabs in Israel are served by many different affirmative-action style programs they are much deeper and further reaching than affirmative action in America. Despite the fact that a large percentage of Arab Israelis support the violent Intifada against lsrael, do not serve in the military, and refuse to pay taxes, they enjoy full political and civil rights in Israel, and they have better access to college scholarships, land use entitlements, and other benefits. To show a reciprocal effort to combat discrimination in Palestinian society, shouldn't the PA stop demanding that all Jews leave their future state, shouldn't they stop using their official media to incite hatred against Jews, and shouldn't they promote the idea of coexistence instead of genocide in their textbooks?
- Supporting Evidence: "The demonization of Jews [in Arabic literature] goes further than it had ever done in Western literature, with the exception of Germany during the period of Nazi rule." Historian Bernard Lewis in 1987 [428]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. Israelis come from over 100 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Many Jews and non-Jews have come to Israel to flee ethnic, racial, and religious persecution.
- POINT 38: Israel committed a massacre in Jenin in April 2002.
- COUNTERPOINT: No massacre occurred in Jenin, and it is odd that anyone still makes this claim. During Israel's 12-day operation in Jenin, Palestinian officials repeatedly claimed the IDF was committing atrocities, massacres and burying the dead in mass graves. But once the battle ended, human rights groups, the UN, and others investigated and concluded nothing of the sort had happened. Even Palestinian fighters said no massacre had occurred. Israel lost 23 soldiers, Palestinians 52, in the fierce combat.
- Supporting Evidence: Human Rights Watch found no signs of a massacre. "There is simply no evidence of a massacre" and "no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp." Peter Bouckaert, Senior Researcher of Human Rights Watch. April 2002 [431]
- Supporting Evidence: he United Nations found no evidence of a massacre or mass graves. "Fifty-two Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by the hospital in Jenin by the end of May 2002. …A senior Palestinian Authority official alleged in mid-April that some 500 were killed, a figure that has not been substantiated in the light of the evidence that has emerged." UN Report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution ES-10/10, May 2002 [432]
- Supporting Evidence: Amnesty International found no evidence of a massacre. [Major David] "Holley told Agence France-Presse that he did not see "any evidence of a massacre. The Israeli army was fighting against some desperate [Palestinian] fighters here." Maj. David Holley, Biritish military adviser to Amnesty International. Agence France-Presse, April 28 2002 [433]
- Supporting Evidence: "[W]e've been hearing sensationalist claims of a massacre in the Jenin refugee camp ….But in recent days hundreds of reporters have descended on the camp, and not one has verified these claims." Senator Joseph Biden. May 6 2002 [434]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian fighters in Jenin claimed there was no massacre. "But if you're asking did I see tens of people killed? Frankly, no." Tabaat Mardawi of Islamic Jihad to CNN [435]
- Supporting Evidence: Human Rights Watch found no signs of a massacre. "There is simply no evidence of a massacre" and "no evidence to sustain claims of massacres or large-scale extrajudicial executions by the IDF in Jenin refugee camp." Peter Bouckaert, Senior Researcher of Human Rights Watch. April 2002 [431]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian charge of massacre and mass deaths was a public relations hoax, according to multiple sources.
- Supporting Evidence: "But we should acknowledge that the public relations campaign mounted to convince the world of a massacre in Jenin was a politically motivated lie." Senator Joseph Biden. May 6 2002 [436]
- Supporting Evidence: "A massacre is the deliberate mass murder of the defenseless. The "Jenin massacre" is more than a fiction. It is a hoax. "Palestinian Authority allegations," reported the Boston Globe (April 29), ". . . appear to be crumbling under the weight of eyewitness accounts from Palestinian fighters who participated in the battle and camp residents who remained in their homes until the final hours of the fighting. . . . All said they were allowed to surrender or evacuate." Charles Krauthammer, May 3 2002 [437]
- Supporting Evidence: "Throughout the operation, Palestinian officials had said that as many as 800 had been killed. As is the case in the Middle East, the figure was inflated to fit local beliefs of Israeli depravity and Palestinian victimization…The Jenin Hospital, meanwhile, says 52 camp residents died…" Time Magazine, May 13 2002 [438]
- Supporting Evidence: "But we should acknowledge that the public relations campaign mounted to convince the world of a massacre in Jenin was a politically motivated lie." Senator Joseph Biden. May 6 2002 [436]
- COUNTERPOINT: After the real facts about Jenin emerged, the media, embarrassed, began to research why journalists believed and spread the myth.
- Supporting Evidence: "The U.S. and Western European media coverage of the Battle of Jenin last month raises troubling and far-reaching questions about the reliability of the modern mass media and press in conflict situations… the Western European media fell for the "Massacre Myth" in Jenin in a big way. Even though the final Palestinian Authority figure acknowledged only 56 dead in Jenin, media coverage in major Western European nations gave credence to early claims by the PA's top officials that as many as 3,000 civilians had been killed in the fighting there." UPI Report, Part 1 May 4 2002 [439]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he Western media coverage of Jenin, especially in the Western European press and broadcast media, largely proved to be factually wildly inaccurate in the light of what later emerged. And there was also a hysterical tone to many of them. What made these unreliable and misleading reports all the more remarkable was that many of the worst of them emerged in the most respected and influential organizations in the British media." UPI Report, Part I May 4 2002 [440]
- Supporting Evidence: "The only thing massacred at Jenin was the reputation of the European press….. The reasons for the European media's "rush to judgment" over Jenin were many, but one conclusion was inescapable: The "rush to judgment" was an "hour of shame." UPI Report, Part 2, May 23 2004 [441]
- Supporting Evidence: "The U.S. and Western European media coverage of the Battle of Jenin last month raises troubling and far-reaching questions about the reliability of the modern mass media and press in conflict situations… the Western European media fell for the "Massacre Myth" in Jenin in a big way. Even though the final Palestinian Authority figure acknowledged only 56 dead in Jenin, media coverage in major Western European nations gave credence to early claims by the PA's top officials that as many as 3,000 civilians had been killed in the fighting there." UPI Report, Part 1 May 4 2002 [439]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel's incursion into Jenin was not an incursion into a camp of helpless, peace-loving refugees. Palestinians themselves called Jenin the "suiciders' capital." It was a center of terrorist activity.
- Supporting Evidence: "Jenin is characterized by an exceptional presence of fighters who take the initiative (on behalf of) nationalist activities. Nothing can beat them; nothing bothers them; they are ready for self-sacrifice by any means. It is not surprising that Jenin (has been termed) the suiciders' capital" (A'simat Al-Istashidin, in Arabic). Fatah Jenin branch report to Marwan Barghouti, September 25, 2001 [442]
- Supporting Evidence: "According to the Israeli government-and the Palestinian terrorist organizations that proudly took credit-23 suicide bombers came from Jenin. These 23 were responsible for the deaths of 57 Israelis and the injury of 1000 more." Senator Joseph R Biden, May 6 2002 [443]
- Supporting Evidence: "Jenin is characterized by an exceptional presence of fighters who take the initiative (on behalf of) nationalist activities. Nothing can beat them; nothing bothers them; they are ready for self-sacrifice by any means. It is not surprising that Jenin (has been termed) the suiciders' capital" (A'simat Al-Istashidin, in Arabic). Fatah Jenin branch report to Marwan Barghouti, September 25, 2001 [442]
- COUNTERPOINT: The battle in Jenin was not remotely a massacre of innocent civilians. Terrorists in Jenin had united to wage a fierce battle against Israeli troops. Palestinian terrorists boasted about how bravely they fought, how they prepared for the impending battle by arming and booby-trapping Jenin, and how they recruited women and children for the battle.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jenin refugee Camp was prepared as a "reinforced fortress" where nearly 200 Palestinian terrorists had fathered for battle…." [444]
- Supporting Evidence: "Of all the fighters in the West Bank, we (Jenin fighters) were the best prepared…We started working on our plan: to trap the invading soldiers and blow them up from the moment the Israeli tanks pulled out of Jenin last month [March 2002]." Omar, a one-armed Islamic Jihad bomb-maker from Jenin in an interview with the Egyptian government-sponsored weekly, Al-Ahram. [445]
- Supporting Evidence: "We are proud [of the battle] and hope that it will serve as a model for the rest of the cities…The Arab peoples must learn from these victories…." Sheikh Abu Al-Hija, April 20. 2002 on Palestine-info [446]
- Supporting Evidence: "Omar and other engineers made hundreds of explosive devices and carefully chose their locations. 'We had more than 50 houses booby-trapped around the camp. We chose old and empty buildings and the houses of men who were wanted by Israel because we knew soldiers would search for them….We cut off lengths of main water pipes and packed them with explosives and nails. Then we placed them about four meters apart throughout the houses-in cupboards, under sinks, in sofas.' The fighters hoped to disable the Israeli army's tanks with much more powerful bombs placed inside garbage bins on the street. More explosives were hidden inside the cars of Jenin's most wanted men. Connected by wires, the bombs were set off remotely, triggered by the current from a car battery." Omar, a one-armed Islamic Jihad bomb-maker from Jenin in an interview with the Egyptian government-sponsored weekly, Al-Ahram. [447]
- Supporting Evidence: "Some of the youths stood fast, and filled their school bags with explosive devices." …." Sheikh Abu Al-Hija, April 20. 2002 on Palestine-info [448]
- Supporting Evidence: "Ian Rimell, a 52-year-old Brit, is an explosive-ordnance-disposal expert. Ian's Scandinavian-funded de-mining team has cleared thousands of "improvised terrorist devices" from the rubble of the camp. 'We found 4668 items, of which 804 were live,' Ian says….But most of it was Palestinian. We found six factory sites with components for making bombs. They were even making their own gunpowder." Village Voice, Nov 6-12, 2002 [449]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Jenin refugee Camp was prepared as a "reinforced fortress" where nearly 200 Palestinian terrorists had fathered for battle…." [444]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel was not even responsible for all of the 52 deaths. Some Palestinian Arabs had literally blown themselves up in an attempt to kill Israeli soldiers.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israelis say they found 46 dead in the rubble, including a pile of five bodies that had been booby-trapped." Time Magazine, May 13 2002 [450]
- Supporting Evidence: "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that in Jenin, a Palestinian woman named Iham 'Ali Dasouqi had blown herself up among Israeli soldiers, killing two and wounding six. The paper quoted a source in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, who said that she had 'followed the path of Nasser 'Uweis, who, the paper said had blown himself up near soldiers in Nablus." Al-Sharq Al-Awsat , London, April 7 2002. [451]
- Supporting Evidence: "But there is a world of difference between deliberately targeting civilians and the unintentional and inevitable casualties that were bound to occur in Jenin, where terrorists deliberately hid themselves among civilians." Senator Joseph R Biden, May 6 2002 [452]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Israelis say they found 46 dead in the rubble, including a pile of five bodies that had been booby-trapped." Time Magazine, May 13 2002 [450]
- COUNTERPOINT: Not only was there no massacre. Israel's Jenin operations have been held up as the tactical-and ethical-ideal for urban combat because its purpose was to protect innocent civilians. Instead of bombarding the town from the air, Israeli soldiers risked their lives in house to house combat in order to spare the lives of innocent civilians.
- Supporting Evidence: "Many of today's critics (of the Jenin operation) know that Israel holds itself to a higher standard….The relatively high number of Israeli casualties is itself an indicator of what went on in the camp. Had the Israelis chosen, they could have easily pummeled the camp from afar and starved the terrorists out. Instead, they chose to do things the hard way, house to house-in part to avoid civilian casualties, not to inflict them. Were there civilian casualties? Almost certainly. But there is a world of difference between deliberately targeting civilians and the unintentional and inevitable casualties that were bound to occur in Jenin, where terrorists deliberately hid themselves among civilians." Senator Joseph R Biden, May 6 2002 [453]
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n battle, the Israeli army regularly accepted risks to its own men in order to reduce the risks that it posed on the civilian population. The contrast with the way the Russians fought in Grozny, to take the most recent example of large-scale urban warfare, is striking, and the crucial mark of that contrast is the very small number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian cities despite the fierceness of the fighting." Professor Michael Walzer of Princeton University. [454]
- Supporting Evidence: "Not only was Jenin not a massacre or an unparalleled catastrophe but it is regarded by many as a model of how to conduct urban warfare against terrorists hiding among civilians." "Instead of bombing the terrorists' camp from the air, as the United States did in Afghanistan and as Russia did in Chechnya, with little risk to their own soldiers but much to civilians, Israeli infantrymen entered the camp, going house to house in search of terrorists and bomb-making equipment, which they found." Alan Dershowitz [455]
- Supporting Evidence: "Many of today's critics (of the Jenin operation) know that Israel holds itself to a higher standard….The relatively high number of Israeli casualties is itself an indicator of what went on in the camp. Had the Israelis chosen, they could have easily pummeled the camp from afar and starved the terrorists out. Instead, they chose to do things the hard way, house to house-in part to avoid civilian casualties, not to inflict them. Were there civilian casualties? Almost certainly. But there is a world of difference between deliberately targeting civilians and the unintentional and inevitable casualties that were bound to occur in Jenin, where terrorists deliberately hid themselves among civilians." Senator Joseph R Biden, May 6 2002 [453]
- COUNTERPOINT: No massacre occurred in Jenin, and it is odd that anyone still makes this claim. During Israel's 12-day operation in Jenin, Palestinian officials repeatedly claimed the IDF was committing atrocities, massacres and burying the dead in mass graves. But once the battle ended, human rights groups, the UN, and others investigated and concluded nothing of the sort had happened. Even Palestinian fighters said no massacre had occurred. Israel lost 23 soldiers, Palestinians 52, in the fierce combat.
- POINT 39: Israel has carried out daily ethnic cleansing in the Territories.
- COUNTERPOINT: This is an absurd claim. Israel's policies promoted just the opposite. When it administered the Territories between 1967 and 1993, the Palestinian population grew dramatically as did its standard of living because of Israel's progressive, humanitarian policies. This would never have happened had Israel's goal been ethnic cleansing.
- Supporting Evidence: Under Israeli governance, the Palestinian population grew even faster than the Israeli population. The Arab population in the Territories grew 2.5 times between 1967 and 1995, from 954,898 to 2,534,604. [456]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel brought economic prosperity to Palestinians. Israeli investment in business, industry and infrastructure and the opening of its borders to labor made the Territories the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world in the 1970's and unemployment dropped from an average of 40% or more to below 5%. [457]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel built up and developed the Territories and gave freedoms, rights, and opportunities to Palestinians that Jordan, during its 19-year rule, had denied them. Palestinians may not have wanted to be under Israeli rule, but they flourished. [458]
- Supporting Evidence: Under Israeli governance, the Palestinian population grew even faster than the Israeli population. The Arab population in the Territories grew 2.5 times between 1967 and 1995, from 954,898 to 2,534,604. [456]
- COUNTERPOINT: Since the Oslo Accords in 1993, Israel clearly has not done anything remotely resembling ethnic cleansing. Just the opposite is true. Israel turned more and more of the Territories over to Palestinian control. Between 1996 and 1999, the Palestinian Authority gradually came to govern 99% of the Palestinian people and the Territories' main urban centers.
- Supporting Evidence: "Very few Palestinians live in occupied territory. 97% of the Palestinians are under the control of the PA since Israel's redeployment. Israel does not exert military authority over the Palestinians. The PA fully controls all the major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as mandated by the signed agreements. The PA controls 98% of the territory in the Gaza Strip and 40% of the territory in the West Bank, with the remainder to be decided in the negotiations." Institute of Public Affairs [459]
- Supporting Evidence: In Oslo II (1995) "The Palestinians were given complete civilian and security control over "Area A," which initially consisted of the seven major Palestinian towns--Jenin, Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Hebron. "Area B"--comprised of all other Palestinian population centers (except for some refugee camps)--remained under the "overriding security responsibility" of Israel. Israel retained sole security and civil control over "Area C," which includes all Israeli settlements, military bases and areas, and state lands." Geoffrey Ahronson, Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine [460]
- Supporting Evidence: "In short, since the beginning of 1996, and certainly following the completion of the redeployment from Hebron in January 1997, 99 percent of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have not lived under Israeli occupation." Historian Ephraim Karsh [461]
- Supporting Evidence: "Very few Palestinians live in occupied territory. 97% of the Palestinians are under the control of the PA since Israel's redeployment. Israel does not exert military authority over the Palestinians. The PA fully controls all the major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as mandated by the signed agreements. The PA controls 98% of the territory in the Gaza Strip and 40% of the territory in the West Bank, with the remainder to be decided in the negotiations." Institute of Public Affairs [459]
- COUNTERPOINT: The only Palestinian Arabs that Israel has "ethnically cleansed" -that is, arrested or killed-are the terrorists who have attempted to mass murder Israeli civilians and who have wreaked havoc on civil society in the Territories.
- Supporting Evidence: In the first three months of 2002, Palestinian terrorists launched 40 terrorist attacks within the Green Line. In March 2002 alone, 17 suicide bombers detonated themselves among innocent civilians. In 2003, innocent Israelis experienced 3838 terrorist attacks-the equivalent of 320 a month or 10 a day, according to recent IDF summaries. Reported in the liberal newspaper Ha'aretz. [462]
- Supporting Evidence: In the first three months of 2002, Palestinian terrorists launched 40 terrorist attacks within the Green Line. In March 2002 alone, 17 suicide bombers detonated themselves among innocent civilians. In 2003, innocent Israelis experienced 3838 terrorist attacks-the equivalent of 320 a month or 10 a day, according to recent IDF summaries. Reported in the liberal newspaper Ha'aretz. [462]
- COUNTERPOINT: The idea that Israel's recent offensive is part of a policy of expulsion and expropriation turns the facts upside down. Israel had withdrawn from the Territories so that Palestinians could govern themselves. Israel's recent offensive is an effort to fight the war against it initiated by the Palestinians-a campaign of rampant terrorism that murdered 900 innocent Israeli civilians between October 2000 and March 2004.
- Supporting Evidence: Since the beginning of the Intifada, Israeli intelligence has received approximately 40 terrorist warnings a day. [463]
- Supporting Evidence: "whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa mosque is wrong... This Intifada was planned in advance." - PA Communications Minister, Imad al Faluji. In Al-Safir, March 3, 2001. [464]
- Supporting Evidence: "Imad Faluji, the Palestinian National Authority's Communications Minister, said during a PLO rally in Ain al-Hilweh refutifada [...] that the five-month-old uprising against Israel had been planned since the Camp David peace talks failed in July, contradicting past contentions of a spontaneous outburst from Palestinians on the street." - Semi-governmental Lebanese Newspaper, Beirut "Daily Star", March 3, 2001. [465]
- Supporting Evidence: "Mr. Falouji went on to state that Arafat launched this intifada as a culminating state to the immutable Palestinian stance in the negotiations." - Al-Ayyam, the Palestinian Authority daily newspaper. December 6, 2000. [466]
- Supporting Evidence: "The issues of Jerusalem, the refugees and sovereignty are one and will be finalized on the ground and not in negotiations. At this point it is important to prepare Palestinian society for the challenge of the next step because we will inevitably find ourselves in a violent confrontation with Israel in order to create new facts on the ground. [...] I believe that the situation in the future will be more violent than the Intifada." - Abu-Ali Mustafa of the Palestinian Authority. July 23, 2000 (two months before the outbreak of the current Intifada). [467]
- Question: Quoting from the semi-governmental, Beirut "Daily Star" (March 3, 2001), "Imad Faluji, the Palestinian National Authority's Communications Minister, said during a PLO rally in Ain al-Hilweh refutifada [...] that the five-month-old uprising against Israel had been planned since the Camp David peace talks failed in July, contradicting past contentions of a spontaneous outburst from Palestinians on the street." Why, in light of the Palestinian Authority's admission that the current Intifada was planned and orchestrated from above, do you still claim that it is spontaneous?
- Supporting Evidence: Since the beginning of the Intifada, Israeli intelligence has received approximately 40 terrorist warnings a day. [463]
- COUNTERPOINT: If any government is causing "ethnic cleansing"-the migration of some of the local population to other countries--, it is the Palestinian Authority. The PA's failure to establish a viable, uncorrupt government, its hostility to Christians, and its launching of the Intifada in 2000 created impossible living conditions. The corrupt regime, the proliferation of competing terrorist groups, and the corruption in the PA itself have created anarchy in the Territories. It is little wonder that some have chosen to leave if they can.
- Supporting Evidence: "The fawda (anarchy) is running rampant in the territories, notwithstanding Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's statements about the need to fight it." In Jenin and Nablus militias are engaged in both criminal and terrorist activity. They extort protection fees from merchants and kidnap businesspeople to supplement their income. Or they threaten political activists in an attempt to squeeze benefits from the PA." Ha'aretz January 2 2004 [468]
- Supporting Evidence: "Speaking off the record, residents in Nablus admit that they welcomed the curfew that Israel Defense Forces troops enforced in their city on Thursday. The curfew prevented, or at least delayed, a collapse of internal order and security in the large West Bank city, a locale which in recent months has been convulsed by a series of killings and reprisal murders and by shooting sprees on the street perpetrated by gunmen whose aim is to intimidate the locals or to carve out turf for themselves." Ha'aretz, August 27 2003 [469]
- Supporting Evidence: "Since the start of the intifada a year ago, there has been a dramatic rise of hundreds of percent in the number of Palestinians who want to leave the Territories and move to a Western country…The impression gleaned in embassies here (Israel) and in immigration offices around the world is that a visa to a Western country is the most sought after commodity in the Territories…" "The Secret Exodus-Palestinian Emigration" in Ha'aretz Magazine October 5, 2001 [470]
- Supporting Evidence: "In a survey we conducted two years ago (1999), we found that even then 20 to 25% of the Palestinians were considering the possibility of emigrating. The number of young, educated people who said they were thinking of leaving was double the average. People wanted a democratic society, they wanted work, and they didn't get what they wanted." Bassem Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Ha'aretz Magazine October 5 2001." Bassem Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Ha'aretz Magazine October/5/2001 [471]
- Supporting Evidence: "The [World Council of Churches] report notes with alarm that more and more Palestinian Christians - two to three families per week - are emigrating because of the violence and economic crisis." August 6 2001 [472]
- Supporting Evidence: "The emigration phenomenon, Eid says, is a well-kept secret. 'No Palestinian journalist has written about the wave of emigration, which is still increasing. The thinking is that from a national point of view, that story shouldn't be given publicity. There are journalists who think that the emigration story could be detrimental to the national interest…." ." Bassem Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Ha'aretz Magazine October 5 2001 [473]
- Supporting Evidence: "The fawda (anarchy) is running rampant in the territories, notwithstanding Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's statements about the need to fight it." In Jenin and Nablus militias are engaged in both criminal and terrorist activity. They extort protection fees from merchants and kidnap businesspeople to supplement their income. Or they threaten political activists in an attempt to squeeze benefits from the PA." Ha'aretz January 2 2004 [468]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinians who throughout the Peace Process proclaimed that their goal was the conquest of all of Israel--and the expulsion of Jewish Israelis.
- Supporting Evidence: "You understand that we plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; the Jews will not want to live among us Arabs! I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews." - Yassir Arafat, speech to Arab diplomats in the Spiegel Salon at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, Jan 30, 1996. [474]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Oslo Accords were a Trojan horse; the strategic goal is the liberation of Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea." - Faisal Husseini, PA Administrator for Jerusalem Affairs, July 13, 2001. [475]
- Supporting Evidence: "You understand that we plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian State. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; the Jews will not want to live among us Arabs! I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews." - Yassir Arafat, speech to Arab diplomats in the Spiegel Salon at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, Jan 30, 1996. [474]
- COUNTERPOINT: This is an absurd claim. Israel's policies promoted just the opposite. When it administered the Territories between 1967 and 1993, the Palestinian population grew dramatically as did its standard of living because of Israel's progressive, humanitarian policies. This would never have happened had Israel's goal been ethnic cleansing.
- POINT 40: Israel will not be satisfied with an end to terror. Instead it wants a visible clash between [competing Palestinian groups]….amounting to a civil war.
- COUNTERPOINT: This is an absurd claim. Israel wants all violence to end, both between Palestinians and between Palestinians and Israelis. Israel has nothing to gain from an unstable, anarchic neighbor that descends into civil war.
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is absurd. Israel wants terrorist groups dismantled so Israeli citizens will have safety and security, not because it wants to create a civil war in the Territories.
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim distorts reality. Israel has demonstrated again and again that once terrorism stops and former enemies commit to resolving disputes without violence, it is satisfied and makes many concessions as it did in the peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, with Jordan in 1994 and with the PLO in 1993 and later.
- Supporting Evidence: When Egypt committed to ending violence and hostilities, Israel immediately responded in the 1979 peace treaty. Israel gave Egypt the whole Sinai Peninsula, dismantled its desert communities and uprooted Jewish citizens, turned over the oil fields it had found and the oil rigs it had built, thus sacrificing its ability to be energy-independent. In return, Israel got an Egyptian promise of peace. Historian Mitchell Bard [476]
- Supporting Evidence: "The terms of the [Egyptian] treaty are unprecedented, said [Moshe] Arens [Member of the Knesset and former Cabinet member]. Egypt had been an aggressor against Israel four times and had lost four times. Israel was the country that had been attacked four times and had won four times, and the attacked country had returned to the aggressor everything the aggressor had lost. "It was unprecedented in human history. Inconceivable," he said." Reported in Jerusalem Post March 24 2002 [477]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel demonstrated its willingness to trust former enemies when it signed the letters of agreement in the Oslo Accords with Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO, an organization whose primary goal had been to destroy Israel. When Arafat specified in the letters of agreement that this was no longer the PLO's goal, Israel accepted the good intentions even though the PLO had not amended its Charter to eliminate clauses calling for Israel's destruction. [478]
- Supporting Evidence: "Farouk Kaddoumi, the PLO's hard-line "foreign minister," …admitted in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab …that the PLO charter, which denies Israel's right to exist, was never changed." April 22, 2004 [479]
- Supporting Evidence: When Egypt committed to ending violence and hostilities, Israel immediately responded in the 1979 peace treaty. Israel gave Egypt the whole Sinai Peninsula, dismantled its desert communities and uprooted Jewish citizens, turned over the oil fields it had found and the oil rigs it had built, thus sacrificing its ability to be energy-independent. In return, Israel got an Egyptian promise of peace. Historian Mitchell Bard [476]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is absurd. It tries to absolve the Palestinians of responsibility for living up to their core commitment in the Oslo Accords and in all subsequent agreements with Israel: dismantling terrorist groups and ending terrorism. . If dismantling illegal, terrorist militias in the Territories will lead to civil war, then there is no strong central government that will honor its agreements or with whom Israel can make peace.
- Supporting Evidence: "The PLO considers that the signing of the Declaration of Principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability. Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators." Yasser Arafat Letter to Prime Minister Rabin, September 9 1993 [480]
- Supporting Evidence: The Wye agreement requires the PA to "take all measures necessary in order to prevent acts of terrorism" and to wage a "comprehensive... continuous and constant" campaign against the "terrorists, the terror support structure, and the environment conducive to the support of terror." The PA must also submit a security work plan detailing the measures they intend to take against terror organizations.
- Supporting Evidence: "The PLO considers that the signing of the Declaration of Principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability. Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators." Yasser Arafat Letter to Prime Minister Rabin, September 9 1993 [480]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is absurd. Even Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Queri said that the Palestinians cannot afford to let fear of civil war keep them from dismantling terrorist groups and ending the anarchy and chaos those groups have produced and that the danger in not confronting those groups is greater than the danger of civil war.
- Supporting Evidence: "We must not combine the struggle against the occupation with anarchy in [domestic] security. We must not accept the [notion] that confronting this anarchy and loss of security control will lead to civil war. The time has come to act with all our might to distance our people from a situation of submission to the worst [situation]: [that of] confusing the legitimate resistance to the occupation with the anarchy of using arms." Prime Minister Queri's Report to the Palestinian Legislative Council, March 31, 2004 [481]
- Supporting Evidence: "The hesitation in confronting the anarchy is graver than the damage caused by this anarchy, and is likely to lead to the collapse of the [Palestinian] National Authority. It harms the credibility of the national sources of authority, and opens a way to defeat in the domestic arena." Prime Minister Queri's Report to the Palestinian Legislative Council, March 31, 2004 [482]
- Supporting Evidence: "We must not combine the struggle against the occupation with anarchy in [domestic] security. We must not accept the [notion] that confronting this anarchy and loss of security control will lead to civil war. The time has come to act with all our might to distance our people from a situation of submission to the worst [situation]: [that of] confusing the legitimate resistance to the occupation with the anarchy of using arms." Prime Minister Queri's Report to the Palestinian Legislative Council, March 31, 2004 [481]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is absurd. The Palestinians themselves recognize that failure to control militants out of fear of civil war is hurting them and their national goals more than it is hurting Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian government will continue with the dialogue [with the Palestinian factions] in order to stabilize the domestic arena and to mobilize every effort to cope with the [current] situation of anarchy, absence of security, and weakness of the rule of law and public order. This situation has become a grave danger that threatens our national enterprise from its very foundation. The hesitation in confronting the anarchy is graver than the damage caused by this anarchy, and is likely to lead to the collapse of the [Palestinian] National Authority. It harms the credibility of the national sources of authority, and opens a way to defeat in the domestic arena." Prime Minister Queri's Report to the Palestinian Legislative Council, March 31, 2004 [483]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian government will continue with the dialogue [with the Palestinian factions] in order to stabilize the domestic arena and to mobilize every effort to cope with the [current] situation of anarchy, absence of security, and weakness of the rule of law and public order. This situation has become a grave danger that threatens our national enterprise from its very foundation. The hesitation in confronting the anarchy is graver than the damage caused by this anarchy, and is likely to lead to the collapse of the [Palestinian] National Authority. It harms the credibility of the national sources of authority, and opens a way to defeat in the domestic arena." Prime Minister Queri's Report to the Palestinian Legislative Council, March 31, 2004 [483]
- COUNTERPOINT: The accusation that Israel wants a Palestinian civil war is based on twisted logic. It presumes that because some predict a civil war will result if the Palestinian leadership dismantles terrorist groups, then this is the result Israel actually hopes to achieve by demanding their dismantlement. In fact, Israel wants the PA to dismantle its criminal elements so that violence and terrorism will end and peace can be achieved.
- COUNTERPOINT: This is an absurd claim. Israel wants all violence to end, both between Palestinians and between Palestinians and Israelis. Israel has nothing to gain from an unstable, anarchic neighbor that descends into civil war.
- POINT 41: Israel seeks to erase all traces of Islam and Christianity in Jerusalem.
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is true. When Israel captured the Territories in 1967, it immediately restored religious freedom to Jerusalem, a freedom that had been denied during Jordanian control from 1948-1967.
- Supporting Evidence: "There is unimpeded access today [to holy sites]. There wasn't from 1948-1967" when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and prevented access to Jews and Christians. President Jimmy Carter [484]
- Supporting Evidence: In one of its first act after the 1967 War, Israel announced that it would let the Waqf (the Muslim Trust) maintain control over the mosques on Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, and promised that Jews would be allowed to pray only at the adjacent Wailing Wall, not on the Temple Mount itself, in order to not offend Muslims. [485]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel entrusted administration of the Christian and Muslim holy sites to their respective religious authorities. [486]
- Supporting Evidence: "There is unimpeded access today [to holy sites]. There wasn't from 1948-1967" when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and prevented access to Jews and Christians. President Jimmy Carter [484]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has not tried to eradicate traces of other religions. To the contrary, Israeli scholars and archeologists research and preserve the remains of all ancient peoples, not just Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: Israeli archeologists and the Israeli Antiquities Authority have carefully excavated and preserved pre-Biblical, Jewish, Christian and Muslim sites and those of other people such as the Philistines to promote scholarly study of the past. Its archeologists have unearthed major Muslim structures, such as the Omayad palaces south of the Temple Mount, the Muslim Nimrod Fortress as well as Neolithic and Canaanite sites, Crusader Churches and the Church of John the Baptist. [487]
- Supporting Evidence: "Twentieth-century histories of ancient Israel are distinguished from their predecessors precisely by their attention to the literature of inhabitants of ancient Canaan/Palestine, who were hitherto known only from tendentious portraits in Biblical and other sacred texts." Professor Benjamin D. Sommer 1998 [488]
- Supporting Evidence: Israeli archeologists and the Israeli Antiquities Authority have carefully excavated and preserved pre-Biblical, Jewish, Christian and Muslim sites and those of other people such as the Philistines to promote scholarly study of the past. Its archeologists have unearthed major Muslim structures, such as the Omayad palaces south of the Temple Mount, the Muslim Nimrod Fortress as well as Neolithic and Canaanite sites, Crusader Churches and the Church of John the Baptist. [487]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the PA, not Israel, that violates Christian religious sites and property..
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian Authority has commandeered, vandalized, or destroyed many Christian shrines. On July 5, 1997 Palestinian policemen violently took over Abraham's Oak Russian Monastery - located in the Palestinian-controlled part of Hebron. In the process, Palestinian police forces beat both the Abbess and a monk severely causing both to be hospitalized. On another occasion, the PLO seized the Greek Orthodox Monastery adjacent to the Church of Nativity to provide Yasser Arafat with a Bethlehem residence. [489]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1997, the Waqf (Muslim religious property) authorities attempted to break through into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, which is adjacent to the al-Hanaqa Mosque in order to install toilets on the roof of the Church. The illegal construction was halted only after Israeli and world pressure. [490]
- Supporting Evidence: When the Intifada began, the PA's Tanzim specifically "positioned themselves in or near Christian homes, hotels, churches (eg St. Nicholas) and the Greek Orthodox club so fire would harm Christian institutions and homes," according to an AP report. [491]
- Supporting Evidence: 150-180 Palestinian terrorists took over the Church of the Nativity on April 2, 2002, triggering a 39 day siege during which they ate all the stores of food, Bibles were torn up and used for toilet paper, many valuable sacramental objects were stolen, and the monks trapped inside were under a "regime of fear." [492]
- Supporting Evidence: The militants who took over the Church of the Nativity in April, 2002, had "imposed a two-year reign of terror [on Bethlehem Christians] that included rape, extortion and executions, according to Bethlehem residents. 'Finally the Christians can breathe freely,' said Helen, 50, a Christian mother of four. 'We are so delighted that these criminals who have intimidated us for such a long time are now going away.'" [493]
- Supporting Evidence: In February 2002, Palestinian Muslims rampaged against Christians in Ramallah, burning apartments and stores owned by Christians and attempted to burn down the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The PA failed to intervene, according to the Boston Globe. [494]
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian Authority has commandeered, vandalized, or destroyed many Christian shrines. On July 5, 1997 Palestinian policemen violently took over Abraham's Oak Russian Monastery - located in the Palestinian-controlled part of Hebron. In the process, Palestinian police forces beat both the Abbess and a monk severely causing both to be hospitalized. On another occasion, the PLO seized the Greek Orthodox Monastery adjacent to the Church of Nativity to provide Yasser Arafat with a Bethlehem residence. [489]
- COUNTERPOINT: The Palestinian Authority, not Israel, destroys the religious shrines and holy places of other religions. The Palestinian Authority violated its agreement to protect Jewish holy sites.
- Supporting Evidence: According to Annex III, Appendix I, Article 32 of the Oslo 2 accord which was signed on September 28, 1995:
2. Both sides shall respect and protect the listed below religious rights of Jews, Christians, Moslems and Samaritans:
a. protection of the Holy Sites;
b. free access to the Holy Sites; and
c. freedom of worship and practice."In addition to this general obligation, the Oslo 2 accord (Article V of Annex I) also spells out specific arrangements concerning particular sites such as the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus, the Shalom al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho, and the Tomb of Rachel near Bethlehem. These arrangements are designed to ensure free access to the sites and their protection.
[495]
- Supporting Evidence: Tomb of Rachel - The Tomb, located on the outskirts of Bethlehem, is the burial site of the Biblical matriarch Rachel and is under Israeli control. During the September 1996 riots, the PA orchestrated riots near the Tomb in which a Palestinian mob assaulted the site and hurled rocks and firebombs at it, causing damage to the outer part of the structure. Palestinian policemen on the scene shot and wounded Israeli soldiers guarding the Tomb. [496]
- Supporting Evidence: Tomb of Joseph - Located in Nablus, the Tomb is the burial site of the Biblical figure Joseph. During the September 1996 riots, a Palestinian mob led by Palestinian policemen assaulted the Tomb. Palestinian security agents opened fire on Israeli troops at the site, killing 6 Israeli soldiers. After the Israeli forces temporarily withdrew, the Palestinian mob entered the site and set fire to it. They burned the Jewish prayer books, Bibles and religious articles inside the structure and caused extensive damage. Palestinian forces took Joseph's tomb again in October of 2000, completely destroying the Jewish shrine and Yeshiva. The PA converted the site into a mosque. [497]
- Supporting Evidence: The Waqf (Muslim authorities who control the Temple Mount in Jerusalem) began carelessly destroying layers of archeological remains when they started a series of renovations in late 1999. The site is filled with precious artifacts vital for reconstructing pre-biblical, biblical, Jewish and Muslim history, but the Waqf refused to cooperate with archeologists. They bulldozed the area and threw the artifact-rich soil in landfills. Archeologists periodically recover the artifacts from dumping areas, as students from Bar-Ilan University did in piles of fill in the Kidron Valley in 1999. [498]
- Supporting Evidence: According to Annex III, Appendix I, Article 32 of the Oslo 2 accord which was signed on September 28, 1995:
- COUNTERPOINT: During the two decades that Judea and Samaria were occupied by Jordan, non-Muslims were either suppressed or ethnically cleansed. The Palestinian Authority has vowed to reinstitute those policies once a Palestinian State is formed.
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [499]
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Jews were evicted from lands they had inhabited for thousands of years. No Jews were allowed to visit the holiest sites of Judaism. 58 Jewish synagogues were destroyed or converted to stables in the Old City and slums were built abutting the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism. [500]
- Supporting Evidence: "We expect the Israelis to give us back these holy places…We believe in freedom of religion. But Jews won't have rights there because these are our places." Hasan Tahboub, head of the PLO-backed Supreme Muslim Council. 1993 [501]
- Supporting Evidence: "Just as Jews can't come to Ka'aba in Mecca, they can't come to the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. These are holy Islamic places." (These are Judaism's two most sacred sites.) Ra'fat Al-Najjar, Palestinian Legislative Council Member, 2003 [502]
- Supporting Evidence: "That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Moslem shrine." Yassir Arafat, Ma'ariv, October 11, 1996.
- Supporting Evidence: During Jordanian rule of East Jerusalem, Israeli Christians were denied the right to make pilgrimage to holy places, Christian schools were required to teach the Koran, and the appointed head of the Armenian Church was expelled. [499]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority, not Israel that harasses and persecutes other religious groups, including Christians.
- Supporting Evidence: The PA arrests Palestinian converts to Christianity. In late June 1997, the PA's Preventive Security Forces arrested a convert to Christianity for regularly attending church and distributing Bibles. He is still in prison and has been subjected to physical torture and interrogations.(*) In December, 2002, Saeed and Nasser Salamah, escaped from prison and from a death sentence for converting to Christianity in the PA and sought asylum in Israel.(**) [503]
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [504]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian rate of emigration from the Territories has accelerated and the Christian population of the Territories has dropped from 15% in 1950 to barely 2% today. Many fear that soon few if any Christians will be left in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, or in Nazareth though they once were Christian majority cities. . [505]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000, [506]
- Supporting Evidence: Graffiti in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur reads, "First the Saturday people [the Jews] then the Sunday people [the Christians]," according to the New York Times.(*) The same lines are often chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies.(**) [507]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian Muslims will not sell land to Christians. Muslim extremists have attacked Christian facilities and clubs, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 1994. Christian graves, crosses and statues have been desecrated. Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their phone lines cut and there have been break-ins at convents. [508]
- Supporting Evidence: In August, 1997, Palestinian policemen in Beit Sahur opened fire on a crowd of Christian Arabs, wounding six of them. Arafat attempted to cover up the incident and warned the Arab media against publicizing the story. [509]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA arrests Palestinian converts to Christianity. In late June 1997, the PA's Preventive Security Forces arrested a convert to Christianity for regularly attending church and distributing Bibles. He is still in prison and has been subjected to physical torture and interrogations.(*) In December, 2002, Saeed and Nasser Salamah, escaped from prison and from a death sentence for converting to Christianity in the PA and sought asylum in Israel.(**) [503]
- COUNTERPOINT: Just the reverse is true. When Israel captured the Territories in 1967, it immediately restored religious freedom to Jerusalem, a freedom that had been denied during Jordanian control from 1948-1967.
- POINT 42: The military law that governs the Territories is similar to apartheid law.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about apartheid. It was an official policy in South Africa, enacted in law and enforced through police violence, of brutal political, legal and economic discrimination against people of color. It was based upon minority control over a majority population. Israel imposed no such legal system in the Territories.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about the legal system in the Territories. Israel never annexed the Territories and hence Israeli law never governed the Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens. When it began its administration of the Territories, Israeli left intact Jordanian and local law that had governed the Territories prior to the 1967 War. These are the laws that prevail in the West Bank and Gaza. There are two systems of law precisely because Israel did not annex the Territories and impose its own system on the Palestinians.
- Supporting Evidence: After 1967, "At {Moshe] Dayan's suggestion…the cabinet agreed that Jordanian law would remain operative throughout the West Bank and that it would continue to be enforced largely by the prewar Arab administration, and that in the Gaza enclave civil government would also be directed mainly by resident Arab officials. Ultimately, fewer than 220 Israeli army and civilian personnel oversaw these local regimes. It became the hope of the military government that Arab citizens in the occupied areas should be able to carry on their activities without so much as setting eyes on an Israeli official…." Historian Howard Sachar [510]
- Supporting Evidence: After 1967, "At {Moshe] Dayan's suggestion…the cabinet agreed that Jordanian law would remain operative throughout the West Bank and that it would continue to be enforced largely by the prewar Arab administration, and that in the Gaza enclave civil government would also be directed mainly by resident Arab officials. Ultimately, fewer than 220 Israeli army and civilian personnel oversaw these local regimes. It became the hope of the military government that Arab citizens in the occupied areas should be able to carry on their activities without so much as setting eyes on an Israeli official…." Historian Howard Sachar [510]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about the facts. Under Israeli administration of the Territories, the Palestinians achieved more self-government and more self-rule than they had ever enjoyed in the 19 years of Jordanian rule. Israeli administration dramatically improved Palestinian self-rule. There was nothing that remotely resembled apartheid law.
- Supporting Evidence: "In the West Bank…the Israelis encountered an Arab population whose economic and political development had been systematically aborted for years by the distrustful Hashemite government. Citizens living west of the river had been refused even the mildest degree of administrative autonomy….When, therefore, Israel instituted a military regime in the West Bank, it launched something entirely new, the first authentically Palestinian administration the local Arabs had ever known. Under Israeli auspices, departments were established for West Bank agriculture, education, posts and telegraphs, commerce and industry…" all run by local civil servants. Historian Howard Sachar [511]
- Supporting Evidence: "In the West Bank…the Israelis encountered an Arab population whose economic and political development had been systematically aborted for years by the distrustful Hashemite government. Citizens living west of the river had been refused even the mildest degree of administrative autonomy….When, therefore, Israel instituted a military regime in the West Bank, it launched something entirely new, the first authentically Palestinian administration the local Arabs had ever known. Under Israeli auspices, departments were established for West Bank agriculture, education, posts and telegraphs, commerce and industry…" all run by local civil servants. Historian Howard Sachar [511]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about how the Territories have functioned since the Oslo Accords. In accord with Oslo's interim agreements, 98% of Palestinians came to be under the governance of the Palestinian Authority by 1997. The PA has its own legislature, administrative, educational and legal system. If there is apartheid in the Territories, then it was instituted by the Palestinian leadership, not Israel.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can only be made by confusing Israel's security measures and the legal system that governs the Territories. Israel's security measures-closures, checkpoints, curfews-were temporary measures instituted in response to terrorism. The PA has done nothing to eliminate terrorism, and under the Oslo Accords, Israel has the right to act to maintain the security of its citizens. There is nothing racist or apartheid-like about these measures. Palestinian Arabs are not subject to security measures because of their race, color or religion, but rather because they are declared enemies of Israelis and wish to murder Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: In the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, editor Jubran Tuweini wrote, "Once again, we realize that the Arabs are their own worst enemy - just as the worst enemy of the Palestinian cause is the Palestinians, who have endorsed a policy of refusal and fundamentalist extremism as a way of behavior. How many times have they already served Israel with their deeds? How many times has the behavior of these groups already saved Ariel Sharon and his government?" December 24 2003 [512]
- Supporting Evidence: The liberal-leaning Hazem Abd Al-Rahman wrote in his Al-Ahram column:"… Are these scum of the earth [Palestinians who attacked the Egyptian Foreign Minister] capable of accomplishing something for the Palestinian people? It is reasonable to assume that they, like the supporters of suicide bombings, are the first to damage the Palestinian cause, and are bringing death upon the Palestinian people…" December 24 2003
- Supporting Evidence: On the liberal Arab website Elaph, Egyptian columnist Sami Buheiri wrote: "[T]he rabble majority of the Arab and Palestinian street today….refuse to accept any kind of a peace agreement with Israel... It is they who applaud the bus and restaurant bombings in order to destroy any spark of hope for peace... They are Arab nationalists who have failed completely in all their wars with Israel and in all attempts to achieve peace with Israel, because they were not serious, and they were not men - neither in fighting nor in peacemaking..."December 30 2003 [513]
- Supporting Evidence: In the Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, editor Jubran Tuweini wrote, "Once again, we realize that the Arabs are their own worst enemy - just as the worst enemy of the Palestinian cause is the Palestinians, who have endorsed a policy of refusal and fundamentalist extremism as a way of behavior. How many times have they already served Israel with their deeds? How many times has the behavior of these groups already saved Ariel Sharon and his government?" December 24 2003 [512]
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge can be made only out of complete ignorance about apartheid. It was an official policy in South Africa, enacted in law and enforced through police violence, of brutal political, legal and economic discrimination against people of color. It was based upon minority control over a majority population. Israel imposed no such legal system in the Territories.
- POINT 43: Sharon is part of the leadership group in Israel that has resisted, since the establishment of their state, giving up one square foot of historic Palestine.
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is totally at odds with today's realities. Just the reverse is true. Since becoming Prime Minister in 2001, Ariel Sharon has supported the goal of granting independence to Palestinians in the Territories. Ariel Sharon endorsed the Road Map which called for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the land of "historic Palestine"-ie Mandate Palestine.
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel, like others, has lent its strong support for President Bush's vision expressed on June 24, 2002, of two states, Israel and the Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security. The government and people of Israel welcome the opportunity to renew direct negotiations according to the steps of the road map as adopted by the Israeli government to achieve this vision." Ariel Sharon, Statement at Aqaba Summit June 4 2003 [514]
- Supporting Evidence: "For years, he was considered a hard-liner, but now he has become a midwife for a peace plan that represents a radical departure for Israel because it endorses a Palestinian state." LA Times, May 27 2003 [515]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday offered his strongest endorsement of a US-sponsored framework for peace. The process ends with the creation of a Palestinian state and he promised to push for its approval if re-elected." Irish Times Examiner, December 6 2002 [516]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel, like others, has lent its strong support for President Bush's vision expressed on June 24, 2002, of two states, Israel and the Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security. The government and people of Israel welcome the opportunity to renew direct negotiations according to the steps of the road map as adopted by the Israeli government to achieve this vision." Ariel Sharon, Statement at Aqaba Summit June 4 2003 [514]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is totally at odds with today's realities. Just the reverse is true. Ariel Sharon conceived and is pushing his Disengagement Plan. It calls for Israel to unilaterally withdraw from a good portion of "historic Palestine"-Gaza--and dismantle Jewish communities there and some communities in Judea-Samaria. Sharon is committed to this plan, even though the Palestinian leadership has offered nothing in exchange for the withdrawal.
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is concerned to advance and improve the current situation. Israel has come to the conclusion that there is currently no reliable Palestinian partner with which it can make progress in a bilateral peace process. Accordingly, it has developed a plan of unilateral disengagement…:
• Israel will evacuate the Gaza Strip, including all existing Israeli towns and villages, and will redeploy outside the Strip.
[517]
• Upon completion of this process, there shall no longer be any permanent presence of Israeli security forces or Israeli civilians in the areas of Gaza Strip territory which have been evacuated.
• Israel will evacuate an Area in the Northern Samaria Area (see Map), including 4 villages and all military installations, and will redeploy outside the vacated area.
• Upon completion of this process, there shall no longer be any permanent presence of Israeli security forces or Israeli civilians in the Northern Samaria Area."
- Supporting Evidence: " Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will push ahead with a plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip even if members of his divided Likud Party reject the proposal in a coming referendum, senior Israeli officials said Thursday." AP Report April 22 2004 [518]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]here is no sense of partnership. It's not a land for peace; it's land for nothing; land for terror. The partnership has just been shattered. So at this juncture that Sharon is willing to move forward, in my view, is pretty remarkable and it will facilitate whether there will be future withdrawals now that he set the precedent." David Makovsky, PBS Online NewsHour [519]
- Supporting Evidence: "Had Israel proposed an agreement on withdrawal from Gaza to [the Palestinians], they would have been required to give something in return. Now they are getting it for free. "For us, the withdrawal from Gaza will not come at the expense of anything else, and we certainly won't agree to give anything in exchange on the West Bank," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath." Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz, February 23 2004 [520]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel is concerned to advance and improve the current situation. Israel has come to the conclusion that there is currently no reliable Palestinian partner with which it can make progress in a bilateral peace process. Accordingly, it has developed a plan of unilateral disengagement…:
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is totally at odds with the realities of the past ten years. Just the reverse is true. Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel's conservative Likud party, signed the Wye Agreement in 1998. In it, Israel agreed to withdraw from another 13% of 'historic Palestine' and hand it over to the Palestinian Authority. In return, the PA was to amend clauses in its Charter calling for the destruction of Israel and control terrorist groups.
- Supporting Evidence: "Pursuant to the Interim Agreement and subsequent agreements, the Israeli side's implementation of the first and second F.R.D.[Further Redeployments] will consist of the transfer to the Palestinian side of 13% from Area C as follows: 1% to Area (A) and 12% to Area (B) ." Wye River Memorandum [521]
- Supporting Evidence: Netanyahu also committed to discuss further redeployments in a third stage. "Third Phase of Further Redeployments. With regard to the terms of the Interim Agreement and of Secretary Christopher's letters to the two sides of January 17, 1997 relating to the further redeployment process, there will be a committee to address this question. The United States will be briefed regularly." Wye River Memorandum [522]
- Supporting Evidence: "Pursuant to the Interim Agreement and subsequent agreements, the Israeli side's implementation of the first and second F.R.D.[Further Redeployments] will consist of the transfer to the Palestinian side of 13% from Area C as follows: 1% to Area (A) and 12% to Area (B) ." Wye River Memorandum [521]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is totally at odds with the historical realities that date from the founding of "historical Palestine" or the Palestine Mandate. The original Mandate included present-day Jordan, Israel and the Territories, all of which were considered the "cradle" of the Jewish people and was to be part of the restored Jewish homeland. Yet the Jewish leadership consistently showed its willingness to compromise about this Territory for peace. Intransigent groups were not able to prevail.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1922, Britain sliced off four-fifths of the Mandate and awarded it exclusively to the Arabs in what became the country of Jordan. The Zionists raised no serious objections. "In terms of territory, Transjordan represented a full four-fifths of the original Mandatory Palestine… [the British hoped] the Arabs would now wave their claim to the remaining fifth." Historian Benny Morris [523]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1937, Britain's Peel Commission recommended partitioning the remaining portion of Palestine between Arabs and Jews. The Jews were willing to consider the compromise though they were awarded only 20% of the land; and the Arabs 80%. [524]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel accepted the United Nations Partition Plan in 1947 (Resolution 181) that would have divided Palestine into a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel tried to set up Palestinian self-government and autonomy in the Territories between 1967 and 1969 after the 1967 War. [525]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians autonomy in the Camp David Accords of 1979 as part of its peace plan with Egypt in the "Attached Letters" to the agreement, March 26, 1979. [526]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel offered the Palestinians autonomy and independence in the Oslo Accords of 1993 and at the Camp David and Taba negotiations in 2000 and 2001. [527]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1922, Britain sliced off four-fifths of the Mandate and awarded it exclusively to the Arabs in what became the country of Jordan. The Zionists raised no serious objections. "In terms of territory, Transjordan represented a full four-fifths of the original Mandatory Palestine… [the British hoped] the Arabs would now wave their claim to the remaining fifth." Historian Benny Morris [523]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim defies the facts. It is Palestinians, not Israel, who have consistently refused to give up "one square foot of historic Palestine" and to compromise for peace.
- Supporting Evidence: "Our leadership….enabled the Zionists to succeed at every opportunity…by rejecting every proposal for compromise, rejecting proposals to give it a state on most of the land of Palestine…" Tawfiz Abu Bakr, Palestinian columnist, 2003 [528]
- Supporting Evidence: Because of "this irrational nihilist behavior [of Palestinians about accepting compromise], "Haj Amin Al-Husseini…rejected the settlement offered him by the Peel Commission in 1937…Then, he repeated his mistake by rejecting the Partition Plan that this time would have given 55% to the Jews and the rest to Palestine…." Al-'Afif Al-Akdhar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [529]
- Supporting Evidence: "The mania for armed struggle….is the cause for [us] missing …historical opportunities since 1937 to 2000, with…pristine excuses such as 'we have the right[s] on our side…" Al-'Aff Al-Akhdar, Tunisian columnist, 2002 [530]
- Supporting Evidence: "You understand that we plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion; the Jews will not want to live among us Arabs! I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews." Yassir Arafat, Speech to Arab Diplomats in the Spiegel Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, January 30, 1996 [531]
- Supporting Evidence: "The Palestinian national movement, from its inception…has stuck fast to the vision of a 'Greater Palestine,' meaning a Muslim-Arab populated and Arab controlled state in all of Palestine, perhaps with some Jews being allowed to stay on as a religious minority." Historian Benny Morris [532]
- Supporting Evidence: "Our leadership….enabled the Zionists to succeed at every opportunity…by rejecting every proposal for compromise, rejecting proposals to give it a state on most of the land of Palestine…" Tawfiz Abu Bakr, Palestinian columnist, 2003 [528]
- COUNTERPOINT: This claim is totally at odds with today's realities. Just the reverse is true. Since becoming Prime Minister in 2001, Ariel Sharon has supported the goal of granting independence to Palestinians in the Territories. Ariel Sharon endorsed the Road Map which called for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the land of "historic Palestine"-ie Mandate Palestine.
- POINT 44: Israel commits more human rights abuses than any other nation as evidenced by the multiple UN resolutions that have condemned and criticized it. In contrast, the UN has never condemned the Palestinians.
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN has repeatedly condemned Israel not because of what Israel has done, but because of the UN's well-known prejudice against the Jewish state. Unfortunately, though the UN has admirable, high ideals, as UN membership grew over the years, an Arab-Muslim-Third World voting block emerged that systematically singles out and condemns Israel, allows anti-Semitism, and ignores the flagrant human rights abuses of other countries and of the Palestinian Authority.
- Supporting Evidence: "The UN has the image of a world organization based on universal principles of justice and equality. In reality, when the chips are down, it is nothing other than the executive committee of the Third World dictatorships." Jeane Kirkpatrick, former US Ambassador to the UN [533]
- Supporting Evidence: "As the UN Commission on Human Rights meets for its annual session in Geneva, one can understand why Israel feels picked on. Many commission members are abusive governments that will spend an inordinate amount of time condemning Israel while doing everything possible to protect themselves and their allies from critical scrutiny." Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, 2004 [534]
- Supporting Evidence: "We [Muslims]are now 1.3 billion strong. We have the biggest oil reserve in the world. We have great wealth…. We are familiar with the workings of the world's economy and finances. We control 50 out of the 180 countries in the world. Our votes can make or break international organizations." Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, Malaysian Prime Minister, Speech at Organization of the Islamic Conference, October 16 2003 [535]
- Supporting Evidence: "Last week, the U.N. once again proved itself incapable of rising to the moral challenges embraced in its founding Charter: "tolerance," "the dignity and worth of the human person" and "equal rights." A draft resolution on anti-Semitism--which would have been a first in the U.N.'s 58-year history--was withdrawn in the face of Arab and Muslim opposition…. In marked contrast…a special rapporteur mandated by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights reports regularly to the U.N. on "discrimination against Muslims and Arab peoples in various parts of the world" including any "physical assaults and attacks against their places of worship, cultural centers, businesses and properties." Anne Bayefsky, Associate Professor Columbia Law School, December 8 2003 [536]
- Supporting Evidence: " Emergency Special Sessions of the UN General Assembly are rare. No such session has ever been convened with respect to the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, the slaughters in Rwanda, the disappearances in Zaire or the horrors in Bosnia. In fact, during the last 15 years they have been called only to condemn Israel." In 1998, it called an emergency session because Israel was building an apartment in the suburbs of Jerusalem. Morris B. Abram, Chairman, UN Watch 1998 [537]
- Supporting Evidence: "The UN has the image of a world organization based on universal principles of justice and equality. In reality, when the chips are down, it is nothing other than the executive committee of the Third World dictatorships." Jeane Kirkpatrick, former US Ambassador to the UN [533]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN's anti-Semitic bias is so rampant that a conference was finally called to address it: "Confronting Antisemitism: Education for Tolerance and Understanding" on June 24 2004. Even Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted that the UN's record was poor.
- Supporting Evidence: "It is hard to believe that, 60 years after the tragedy of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is once again rearing its head. But it is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations….Let us acknowledge that the United Nations' record on anti-Semitism has at times fallen short of our ideals….let us actively and uncompromisingly refute those who seek to deny the fact of the Holocaust or its uniqueness, or who continue to spread lies and vile stereotypes about Jews and Judaism….. The fight against anti-Semitism must be our fight. And Jews everywhere must feel that the United Nations is their home." Kofi Annan, June 24 2004 [538]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is hard to believe that, 60 years after the tragedy of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is once again rearing its head. But it is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations….Let us acknowledge that the United Nations' record on anti-Semitism has at times fallen short of our ideals….let us actively and uncompromisingly refute those who seek to deny the fact of the Holocaust or its uniqueness, or who continue to spread lies and vile stereotypes about Jews and Judaism….. The fight against anti-Semitism must be our fight. And Jews everywhere must feel that the United Nations is their home." Kofi Annan, June 24 2004 [538]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN bias against Israel is well known. Because of the pro-Palestinian politicization of the Arab-Muslim-Third World block at the UN, Israel has been systematically deprived of member privileges.
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN repeatedly condemns Israel and singles it out for blame, but it has not condemned the Arab nations for launching wars and terrorism against the Jewish state or condemned other states with clear records of human rights abuses.
- Supporting Evidence: The Security Council passed 97 resolutions condemning Israel and only 4 against all the Arab states from 1947 to 1989. The last time a resolution criticized Arab actions was on September 1, 1949 [539]
- Supporting Evidence: The General Assembly adopts an average of 19 anti-Israel Resolutions annually. The last anti-Arab vote by the General Assembly was in May, 1949. [540]
- Supporting Evidence: The General Assembly strongly censured Israel 321 times from 1947 to 1989. It condemned an Arab nation 0 times. Israel is the only country ever to have been branded a "non-peace loving state." [541]
- Supporting Evidence: The UN passed 34 resolutions deploring Israel but not one against terrorists between 1993 and 1998 when 259 Israelis were killed and 5000 injured by terrorist attacks. [542]
- Supporting Evidence: Only Israel, a democratic nation, has been singled out as requiring a special, permanent UN body, directly under the UN Secretariat, to monitor its human rights abuses: "Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices." The UN has never assigned such a permanent monitoring body for any other nation in the world, including those with long records of violence, suppression, and human rights abuses, such as Sudan, Liberia or Cuba. [543]
- Supporting Evidence: "More than a quarter of the [Human Rights] commission's resolutions condemning a state's human rights violations passed over the last 30 years have been directed at Israel. There has never been a single resolution on China, Syria or Saudi Arabia. The current session ended by defeating a resolution to criticize anything about the situation in Zimbabwe, and by eliminating the 10-year-old position of rapporteur on human rights in Sudan. This was despite a report of the U.N. rapporteur on torture informing commission members of the Sudanese practice of "cross-amputation"--amputation of right hand and left foot for armed robbery, and various cases of women being stoned to death for alleged adultery." Anne Bayefsky 2003 [544]
- Supporting Evidence: The Security Council passed 97 resolutions condemning Israel and only 4 against all the Arab states from 1947 to 1989. The last time a resolution criticized Arab actions was on September 1, 1949 [539]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN has even condemned Israel for no reason.
- COUNTERPOINT: The US has withdrawn from some UN organizations because of their blatant and unjustifiable bias against Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: Between 1974 and 1987, UNESCO instituted financial sanctions against Israel, passed hundreds of resolutions criticizing Israel's activities on the West Bank and denounced Israel'' archeological and restoration efforts in Jerusalem. In 1984, the US left UNESCO because of its extreme anti-Israel stance. [546]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1977, the US withdrew from the International Labor Organization for two years because of its anti-Israel stance. [547]
- Supporting Evidence: Between 1974 and 1987, UNESCO instituted financial sanctions against Israel, passed hundreds of resolutions criticizing Israel's activities on the West Bank and denounced Israel'' archeological and restoration efforts in Jerusalem. In 1984, the US left UNESCO because of its extreme anti-Israel stance. [546]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN accepts anti-Semitic behavior, resolutions and libel and allows incitement against Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: Struck by the anti-Semitism at the UN where she served as a delegate for four years during President Regan's administration, Jeanne Kirkpatrick commented: "I felt for the first time in my life that I could understand how the Holocaust happened." [548]
- Supporting Evidence: The UN equated Zionism with racism in Resolution 3379 in 1975. The Resolution was not repealed until 1991.
- Supporting Evidence: The UN refused to condemn anti-Semitism until 1998 when the condemnation was tacked on the end of General Assembly Resolution. A/53/623.
- Supporting Evidence: "The Algerian delegate recently told the Human Rights Commission that 'The Israeli war machine has been trying for five decades to arrive at a final solution.' Anne Bayefsky 2003 [549]
- Supporting Evidence: Anti-Semitic libels go unchallenged and uncensored.
"The Talmud says that if a Jew does not drink every year the blood of a non-Jewish man, he will be damned for eternity," Saudi Arabia's delegate told the 1984 UN Human Rights Commission. (ADL News, Feb 7, 1985)
In 1991, Syria's UN delegate told the UN Human Rights Commission that Jews used Christian blood to make matzos. (Human Rights Commission proceedings E/CN.4/1991/80)
The Palestinian delegate to the Human Rights Commission claimed in 1997 that the Israeli government had injected 300 Palestinian children with HIV virus and was conducting dangerous pharmaceutical tests on more than 4,000 people. Despite the efforts of Israel, the US and others, this blood libel remains on the UN record.
[550]
- Supporting Evidence: Struck by the anti-Semitism at the UN where she served as a delegate for four years during President Regan's administration, Jeanne Kirkpatrick commented: "I felt for the first time in my life that I could understand how the Holocaust happened." [548]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN's Conference on Racism in Durban in 2001 became a stage for anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed, the anti-Jewish campaign of the United Nations reached extraordinary heights at the United Nations Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance that convened in Durban, South Africa, just prior to September 11, 2001. In the words of one observer, "A coalition led by regimes that persecute their own people--and in some cases harbor international terrorists--sought by formal declaration to delegitimize the Jewish state, demonize its people, and mobilize a global movement against its existence as a country." Even longtime students of anti-Semitism were shocked by the level of anti-Jewish invective at the conference, which was obviously intended to deflect criticism from many of the regimes mounting the attacks." Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse [551]
- Supporting Evidence: Signs at the conference read, "Hitler should have finished the job." Anne Bayefsky [552]
- Supporting Evidence: The Arab Lawyers Union distributed pamphlets depicting hook-nosed Jews as Nazis spearing Palestinian children. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, did not protest. [553]
- Supporting Evidence: The Plenary Session at Durban deleted the one clause out of 475 that dealt with anti-Semitism. It is place, it inserted "Anti-Arab racism is another form of anti-Semitism that has led to violence and hate crimes." Anne Bayefsky [554]
- Supporting Evidence: "Indeed, the anti-Jewish campaign of the United Nations reached extraordinary heights at the United Nations Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance that convened in Durban, South Africa, just prior to September 11, 2001. In the words of one observer, "A coalition led by regimes that persecute their own people--and in some cases harbor international terrorists--sought by formal declaration to delegitimize the Jewish state, demonize its people, and mobilize a global movement against its existence as a country." Even longtime students of anti-Semitism were shocked by the level of anti-Jewish invective at the conference, which was obviously intended to deflect criticism from many of the regimes mounting the attacks." Harvard Professor Ruth Wisse [551]
- COUNTERPOINT: In contrast, the UN has repeatedly singled out the Palestinian people to support them in their war against Israel and endorses the Palestinians' right to use "armed struggle"-terrorism and suicide bombing-- against Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: The General Assembly affirmed and reaffirmed "the legitimacy of the people's struggle for independence…and liberation…by all available means, including armed struggle," and specifically cited the Palestinian people's right in 1973, 1982 and 2002. (G A Resolution a/3070 and 37/43) [555]
- Supporting Evidence: The Human Rights Commission approved terrorism against Israelis. "The current chair is Libya. Yes, Libya. In addition to Libya, three of the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism are current members--Cuba, Sudan and Syria. On April 15, the commission adopted a resolution sanctioning the use of "all available means including armed struggle"--which includes suicide bombing--as a legitimate tactic against Israelis. Only five countries, including the U.S., voted against. The U.K. and France abstained, and Russia approved." Anne Bayefsky 2003 [556]
- Supporting Evidence: The United Nations Commission on Human Rights reaffirmed the right of Palestinians to struggle "against foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle" twice in its April 9, 2002 Resolution concerning Palestine. [557]
- Supporting Evidence: The April 9 2002 Human Rights Resolution called the Palestinians who had died in the conflict "martyrs." [558]
- Supporting Evidence: The General Assembly affirmed and reaffirmed "the legitimacy of the people's struggle for independence…and liberation…by all available means, including armed struggle," and specifically cited the Palestinian people's right in 1973, 1982 and 2002. (G A Resolution a/3070 and 37/43) [555]
- COUNTERPOINT: In contrast, the UN broke all precedent and honored Yassir Arafat with an invitation to speak in 1974 though he was an avowed terrorist still carrying out terrorist attacks against Israelis and Americans around the world.
- Supporting Evidence: Arafat's speech received a standing ovation even though he had bitterly denounced Israel as imperialist and colonialist, and had closed with a threat to Israel. [559]
- Supporting Evidence: Arafat was still committing terrorist acts. In1973 a PLO faction took America's ambassador, his deputy and a Belgian diplomat hostage in Khartoum and murdered them when President Nixon refused to negotiate. Robert Pollock, Wall Street Journal 2001 [560]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1974, the PLO killed 18 Israelis in a terrorist attack at Kiryat Shimona and it killed 20 Israelis, mostly schoolgirls, at Maalot. Robert Pollock, Wall Street Journal 2001 [561]
- Supporting Evidence: Arafat's speech received a standing ovation even though he had bitterly denounced Israel as imperialist and colonialist, and had closed with a threat to Israel. [559]
- COUNTERPOINT: In contrast, the UN General Assembly passed resolutions urging the world to support the PLO and its extreme demands even when its Charter called for destroying the Jewish state through violent means.
- Supporting Evidence: In 1974, Resolution 3236 urged "all States and international organization to extend their support to the Palestinian people in its struggle…" a position repeated again and again in UN Resolutions, such as Resolution 37/43 in 1982. [562]
- Supporting Evidence: The General Assembly annually reaffirms its commitment to the "inalienable rights of the Palestinian people" and to their "inalienable right…to return to their homes and property from which they have been displaced and uprooted, and calls for their return…" General Assembly Resolution 3236, November 1974. [563]
- Supporting Evidence: In 1974, Resolution 3236 urged "all States and international organization to extend their support to the Palestinian people in its struggle…" a position repeated again and again in UN Resolutions, such as Resolution 37/43 in 1982. [562]
- COUNTERPOINT: In contrast, the UN has turned the UN into a mouthpiece for the Palestinian cause, gives them financial and political support, and provides for their PR efforts. More special committees and administrative units are devoted to this small group, the Palestinians, than to any other nation or people.
- Supporting Evidence: UNRWA. While refugees around the world are handled by one UN agency, UNHCR, the Palestinians have had a special agency devoted just to them since 1950, UNRWA, largely financed by the United States and other Western European countries. Three generations of Palestinians continue to receive UNRWA welfare. In 1993, UNRWA spent $306 million. [564]
- Supporting Evidence: The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, established in 1975 in General Assembly Resolution 3376. The Committee is a public relations organ for the Palestinians and issues stamps, organizes meetings, prepares films and drafts resolutions in support of Palestinian rights.
- Supporting Evidence: Division for Palestinian Rights, established in 1977 per General Assembly Resolution 32/40 "to heighten international awareness of the Question of Palestine and gain wider recognition of and support for the achievement of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people." [565]
- Supporting Evidence: International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, to marshal support for the Palestinians by an annual observance of November 29, the date the UN Partition Resolution passed in 1947-not to celebrate, but to reject the UN's 1947 compromise Established by General Assembly Resolution 32/40 in 1977. [566]
- Supporting Evidence: Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP), a division of the United Nations Development Program, established by General Assembly Resolution in 1978 to assist the Palestinians with their technical and infrastructure development. In 1993, its annual budget jumped from $15 million/year to $40 million/year. [567]
- Supporting Evidence: Member of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ECSWA) since 1977. ESCWA criticizes Israel by publishing reports on the economic and social impact of the Israeli occupation and settlements on the Palestinian people. [568]
- Supporting Evidence: ReliefWeb is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Again, this project allows for Israel bashing. It includes weekly reports of Israel's human rights violations. [569]
- Supporting Evidence: UNISPAL-The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine which presents the Palestinians' view of the Middle East conflict. Established in response to successive General Assembly Mandates. [570]
- Supporting Evidence: Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator in the Occupied Territories (UNSCO), to be a spokesperson and assistant for the Palestinians and to help raise and coordinate donations. Established in 1994 by the UN Secretary General. [571]
- Question: When Israel builds a fence to keep out terrorists, the UN and EU are up in arms because it makes it difficult for terrorists to kill more Jews. When terrorists shoot (point blank!) an 8-month-pregnant Jewish woman and her 4 little girls as they did on May 2 2004, there is absolute silence from your organizations. How can you justify this hypocrisy, this blatant bias and violation of human rights? How can this organization be trusted?
- Supporting Evidence: UNRWA. While refugees around the world are handled by one UN agency, UNHCR, the Palestinians have had a special agency devoted just to them since 1950, UNRWA, largely financed by the United States and other Western European countries. Three generations of Palestinians continue to receive UNRWA welfare. In 1993, UNRWA spent $306 million. [564]
- COUNTERPOINT: The UN has repeatedly condemned Israel not because of what Israel has done, but because of the UN's well-known prejudice against the Jewish state. Unfortunately, though the UN has admirable, high ideals, as UN membership grew over the years, an Arab-Muslim-Third World voting block emerged that systematically singles out and condemns Israel, allows anti-Semitism, and ignores the flagrant human rights abuses of other countries and of the Palestinian Authority.
- POINT 45: Israel has consistently committed human rights abuses.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian terrorist groups that have a consistent record of human rights abuses, not Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian policy of suicide bombing and attacking innocent civilians is a "crime against humanity," according to Amnesty International: "[N]o violations by the Israeli government, no matter their scale or gravity, justify the [Palestinian] killing of…civilians. The obligation to protect civilians is absolute and cannot be set aside…The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes…." Amnesty International. November 7, 2002 [572]
- Supporting Evidence: These Palestinian groups commit the worst human rights abuse-against children. They encourage-and even pay-children to blow themselves up or to participate in violent actions against Israelis. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Palestinian Authority is encouraging children to participate in clashes by offering their families $300 per injury and $2,000 for anyone killed.(*) Palestinian Prime Minister, Abu Mazen, admitted to a Kuwaiti newspaper in June 2002 that Palestinian children have been paid 5 shekels (about $1) for every pipe bomb they throw.(**) The New York Times reported that 25,000 children were trained one summer in Palestinian Authority summer camps in the use of firearms, the making of Molotov cocktails, the methods of kidnapping Israeli leaders, and conducting ambushes.(***) The PA encourages children to be suicide bombers: "Palestinian children grow up in a culture in which suicide bombers are rock stars, sports heroes, and religious idols rolled into one...suicide bombing has become phenomenally popular. According to polls, 70 to 80% of Palestinians now support it." - Atlantic Monthly, June 2002.(****) [573]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA's practice of urging children to join armed battle violates basic tenets of international law and international conventions. "..[A]rticle 38 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) condemns the recruitment and involvement of children under 15 years old in hostilities and armed conflicts. This provision clearly states, "[s]tate parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities." Current treaty law not only forbids children to participate in combat, but it also proscribes a wide range of other indirect activities." Justus Reid Weiner, Human Rights Attorney [574]
- Supporting Evidence: Even Arab leaders condemn the kinds of policies employed by Palestinians as a crime against Islam: "We cannot tolerate in our midst those who abduct journalists, murder civilians, explode buses; we cannot accept them as related to us, whatever the sufferings they claim to justify their criminal deeds. These are the people who have smeared Islam and stained its image…..We cannot redeem our extremist youths, who commit all these heinous crimes, without confronting the Sheikhs who thought it ennobling to re-invent themselves as revolutionary ideologues, sending other people's sons and daughters to certain death, while sending their own children to European and American schools and colleges." Abdel Rahman al-Rashed (general manager of Al- Arabiya news channel) September 4 2004 [575]
- Supporting Evidence: These groups even destroy the human rights of Palestinians. Arafat destroyed freedom, justice, and equality in the Territories. His governance has seen "…the rise of a regime characterized by a massive police force whose specialty was intimidation of political opponents; an executive branch in which Arafat alone made all major decisions and in which the civil service was reduced to a corrupt patronage machine; the institutionalized absence of the rule of law, and a judiciary that lacked any independence; and the intimidation of the media and human rights organizations, to the point that it became virtually impossible to transmit any message other than one personally approved by Arafat." Historian Daniel Polisar, Human Rights Watch monitor, 2002 [576]
- Supporting Evidence: The Palestinian policy of suicide bombing and attacking innocent civilians is a "crime against humanity," according to Amnesty International: "[N]o violations by the Israeli government, no matter their scale or gravity, justify the [Palestinian] killing of…civilians. The obligation to protect civilians is absolute and cannot be set aside…The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians. They therefore constitute crimes against humanity under international law. They may also constitute war crimes…." Amnesty International. November 7, 2002 [572]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel does not commit human rights' abuses. It was forced to develop counter-terrorism measures to defend its citizens against the terrorist onslaught the Palestinians unleashed on September 29 2000. These are temporary measures that will end when terrorism ends and Palestinians choose negotiation instead of violence. They are not human rights abuses. They are a military response to the war the Palestinians declared on Israel.
- Supporting Evidence: The United Nations Charter reiterated the right of member states to defend themselves against armed attack. "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations…" UN Charter, Article 51 [577]
- Supporting Evidence: The methods Israel employs to protect itself-curfews, road blocks, a security fence, targeted killings, demolition of suicide bomber's homes, demolishing arms smuggling tunnels-may be unpleasant but they are designed to spare the lives of innocent civilians and are common methods of self-defense.
- Supporting Evidence: The US government's Human Rights' report acknowledged that Israel instituted stiff measures against the Palestinians only in response to terrorist threats. "The [Israeli] Government generally respects the human rights of its citizens, and the law and judiciary provide citizens with means of dealing with individual instances of abuse. Israel's main human rights problems have arisen….from its fight against terrorism. The redeployment of the IDF from major Palestinian population areas in the West Bank in December 1995, and its previous withdrawal from Gaza and Jericho, reduced significantly the scope of these problems. Moreover, the overall human rights situation continued to improve during the year, in part due to the lack of major terrorist attacks, which reduced the overall level of tension as well as the number of security-related arrests." US State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Abuses, 1999 [578]
- Supporting Evidence: Checkpoints, closures and curfews were infrequent and sporadic before 2000. They were used only after terrorist attacks. They were instituted after 2000 only in response to the Al Aqsa War or Intifada. They are not human rights abuses. They are practices every nation has employed during times of war or terrorism, including India, Spain and Great Britain.
- Supporting Evidence: "The restrictions on movement that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories since the outbreak of the current intifada are unprecedented in the history of the Israeli occupation… In the past, …it never imposed sweeping and prolonged restrictions comparable to those currently in practice." B'Tselem, Israeli Human Rights Group [579]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel quickly reduces its security measures when terrorist activity declines. It removed 40 roadblocks and 30 out of 40 permanent checkpoints and ended several closures in the Territories on June 15 2004 after several weeks of "relative quiet." [580]
- Supporting Evidence: The United Nations Charter reiterated the right of member states to defend themselves against armed attack. "Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations…" UN Charter, Article 51 [577]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel does not commit human rights abuses. Indeed, Israel's counter-terrorism policies have been strictly designed to avoid the worst human rights abuse of all-killing innocent civilians.
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he army and Shin Bet (the Israeli security service) have tried to hit the guilty with 'targeted killings' of bomb-makers, terrorists and their dispatchers, to me an eminently moral form of reprisal, deterrence and prevention: these are {barbaric} "soldiers" in a mini-war and, as such, legitimate military targets. Would the critics prefer Israel to respond in kind to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv?" Historian Benny Morris, 2002 [581]
- Supporting Evidence: Despite its overwhelming firepower superiority to the terrorists hiding in Jenin, the Israeli army fought house to house in a booby-trapped and extremely crowded refugee camp in order to minimize the loss of civilian lives. The army could have flattened the city from afar without losing a single soldier but instead lost 23 of its own soldiers in what was described as the fiercest fighting the IDF saw in 20 years. Few countries besides Israel faced with such open hostility and constant terrorism would take such risks to its own soldiers when eliminating terrorists in populated areas with so relatively few civilian casualties. [582]
- Supporting Evidence: "Many of today's critics (of the Jenin operation) know that Israel holds itself to a higher standard….The relatively high number of Israeli casualties is itself an indicator of what went on in the camp. Had the Israelis chosen, they could have easily pummeled the camp from afar and starved the terrorists out. Instead, they chose to do things the hard way, house to house-in part to avoid civilian casualties, not to inflict them. Were there civilian casualties? Almost certainly. But there is a world of difference between deliberately targeting civilians and the unintentional and inevitable casualties that were bound to occur in Jenin, where terrorists deliberately hid themselves among civilians." Senator Joseph R Biden, May 6 2002 [583]
- Supporting Evidence: "[I]n battle, the Israeli army regularly accepted risks to its own men in order to reduce the risks that it posed on the civilian population. The contrast with the way the Russians fought in Grozny, to take the most recent example of large-scale urban warfare, is striking, and the crucial mark of that contrast is the very small number of civilian casualties in the Palestinian cities despite the fierceness of the fighting." Professor Michael Walzer of Princeton University. [584]
- Supporting Evidence: The IDF goes to great lengths to spare innocent Palestinian civilians and frequently postpones operations targeting terrorist leaders because of the danger that civilians may also be killed. When Israel finally killed terrorist leader Salah Sheadeh, the military reported it had cancelled eight other efforts to target him because he was surrounded by civilians whom they didn't want to harm. [585]
- Supporting Evidence: "Because Israel sanctifies human life and goes out of its way to prevent innocent civilians from being harmed while waging a war against terror, it pays with the blood of its citizens - in this instance, six soldiers from the Givati Brigade. Ground forces, and not air forces, were deployed to demolish the metalworks in Gaza City because of the risk of collateral damage in the populated Palestinian civilian areas where terrorists manufacture the Kassam rockets and mortar shells they use to attack Israel." Jerusalem Post, May 11 2004 [586]
- Supporting Evidence: "[T]he army and Shin Bet (the Israeli security service) have tried to hit the guilty with 'targeted killings' of bomb-makers, terrorists and their dispatchers, to me an eminently moral form of reprisal, deterrence and prevention: these are {barbaric} "soldiers" in a mini-war and, as such, legitimate military targets. Would the critics prefer Israel to respond in kind to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv?" Historian Benny Morris, 2002 [581]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel has not committed human rights abuses. It would be more accurate to say that the reverse is true. Israel has tried to maintain human rights and humanitarian help for Palestinians even as it stays on high alert because of 40 terrorist warnings a day and as it fights against a terrorist war.
- Supporting Evidence: "Faced with comparable dangers both internal and external, no nation in history has ever tried so hard to require its military to operate within the rule of law. The Israeli Supreme Court, by all accounts one of the fines in the world, has played a far greater role in controlling the Israeli military than any court in history has ever played in the conduct of military affairs, including the United States." Professor Alan Dershowitz [587]
- Supporting Evidence: "One of the most unusual aspects of Israeli law is the rapid access that petitioners, including Palestinians, can gain to Israel's highest court. In April 2002, during the fiercest fighting of the current conflict, in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, the high court was receiving and ruling on petitions almost daily." New York Times May 5 2003 [588]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel set up humanitarian aid during its operation in Rafah in May 2004: "Delegates of the District Coordination Office in Gaza, which have been deployed among IDF forces in the area, are in constant contact with Palestinian officials and with international aid groups in order to coordinate passage of ambulances, medical equipment and other necessary supplies… the IDF allowed the exit of oxygen canisters from the Gaza Strip in order to refill them in Israel and bring them back to hospitals in the Gaza Strip. The District coordination office has a special humanitarian center that is active 24 hours handling Palestinian, Israeli and international public requests." Ma'ariv, May 19 2003 [589]
- Supporting Evidence: Even ISM activist Huwaida Arraf relies on Israeli human rights groups to make sure Palestinian complaints are heard. At the Huwwara checkpoint, Arraf "learned from the two men, Rashed and Ramsy that they had been held for 3 hours by that point….I got on the phone with HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organization in Jerusalem that often turns in complaints of abuses to the Military District Coordinating Office, and gave them the names of the young men….[shortly afterward the young man had been released] By now the soldiers were getting pretty annoyed with me (perhaps because the HaMoked calls were working)…" Huwaida Arraf, June 19 2003 [590]
- Supporting Evidence: Ten of Israel's human rights groups as listed by a pro-Palestinian web site:(*)
• "B'Tselem Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
• Gush Shalom the Israeli "Peace Block", one of Israel's most respected Human Rights organizations
• Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Nonviolent Direct Action group working against the Israeli Army's policy of home demolitions.
• Rabbis for Human Rights, Faith-Based Israeli Direct Action group fighting for justice in the Occupied Territories.
• Yesh G'vul, meaning "There is a Limit," works against Israeli military service in the Occupied Territories.
• Refuser Solidarity Network, a site dedicated to building support for Israelis who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories.
• Peace Now, one of Israel's largest and most active peace groups.
• The Arab Association for Human Rights: Association addressing Human Rights concerns of the Arab minority in Israel.
• The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, working to protect civil liberties and Human Rights in Israel.
• Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, Community of Jews and Arabs living together and promoting peace and coexistence"
[591]
- Supporting Evidence: Eight Palestinian Human Rights Groups listed on a pro-Palestinian website:(*)
• Al Haq, one of Palestine's oldest and most respected Human Rights orgs.
• Palestinian Center for Human Rights, dedicated to promoting Human Rights in Gaza.
• Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (LAW), reporting on Human Rights and Environmental issues in the Occupied Territories.
• The Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, promoting health and justice in the Occupied Territories.
• Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between Peoples, , working nonviolently to achieve a just and lasting peace.
• The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Organization of Palestinian Journalists and others monitoring Human Rights abuses in the Occupied Territories.
• BADIL, Resource Center for Palestinian residency and refugee rights.
• Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, supporting agriculture and health in the Occupied Territories.
[592]
- Question: If you are concerned about human rights, why aren't you crying out about the worst human abuse-the Palestinians' callous use of their own children in their armed struggle, paying them to go on the front lines, inciting them to become suicide bombers, turning suicide bombers into celebrated martyrs? This violates not only human decency, but also the most basic international conventions on human rights and the ethics of war.
- Supporting Evidence: "Faced with comparable dangers both internal and external, no nation in history has ever tried so hard to require its military to operate within the rule of law. The Israeli Supreme Court, by all accounts one of the fines in the world, has played a far greater role in controlling the Israeli military than any court in history has ever played in the conduct of military affairs, including the United States." Professor Alan Dershowitz [587]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian terrorist groups that have a consistent record of human rights abuses, not Israel.
- POINT 46: Israel is carrying on an unjust war against Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is absurd to try to argue that Israel's defensive war against Palestinian terrorism is a religious war of Jews against Christians and Muslims. Israel is defending itself against a well-orchestrated and well-funded terrorist war that Palestinians unleashed in September 2000 and which still continues. Israel is fighting against Palestinian terrorists, not a religious group. If there is a religious dimension to this war, it is a war of Palestinians against Jews.
- COUNTERPOINT: It is absurd to claim that Israel is fighting Christians and Muslims. Israel is caught up in a pre-meditated war that the Palestinians launched in September 2000. "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon's visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong, even if this visit was the straw that broke the back of the Palestinian people. This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton." PA Communications Minister, Imad Al-Faluji Al-Safir (Lebanon), March 3, 2001
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not fighting Christians and Muslims. It is fighting to defend itself in a war launched by Palestinians that has taken a drastic toll. By September 2004, it had produced higher casualties than all but two of Israel's previous wars. "The number of Israeli fatalities in the current conflict with the Palestinians exceeded 1,000 last week. Only two of the country's wars - the War of Independence and the Yom Kippur War - have claimed more Israeli lives than this intifada, which began on September 29, 2000. In the Six-Day War, 803 Israelis lost their lives, while the War of Attrition claimed 738 Israeli lives along the borders with Egypt, Syria and Lebanon." Haaretz, July 24 2004
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not fighting Christians and Muslims. It is fighting against terrorists who have launched brutal attacks on Israel. In the first three months of 2002, Palestinian terrorists launched 119 successful terrorist attacks, the equivalent of 1.3 a day. In March alone, 17 suicide bombers detonated themselves among innocent civilians. More Israelis were killed and severely wounded in these three months than in the whole of 2003: 177 were killed; 956 were wounded.(*) Between 9/29/00 and 4/14/04, 924 Israelis were killed, over 70% of them civilians, including children, the elderly and women. 4452 civilians have been injured, some so seriously that they are permanently crippled. Children have become orphans; parents have lost their children when they go or return from school.(**)
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is not fighting Christians and Muslims, but the Palestinians have launched their war against Israeli Jews AND at all Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: HAMAS Charter calls for the "obliteration of Israel" and of the Jews [593]
- Supporting Evidence: The PA's official religious leaders repeatedly have given sermons calling for the death of Jews:
• "Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them. Wherever you are, kill the Jews, the Americans, who are like them, and those who stand by them. They are all in one trench against the Arabs and the Moslems. ... It is forbidden to befriend Israelis or to aid them. Don't love them or enter into agreement with them, don't help them or sign accords with them. Anyone who does this is one of them. This is the word of Allah, blessed be He." Transcript from Friday, October 13, 2000, sermon at the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza. The speaker is Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Member of the PA appointed "Fatwa Council" and former acting Rector of the Islamic University in Gaza.(*)
• "Notice, oh worshippers of Allah, the Jews are the most loathsome creatures on the face of the earth. For the Christians, despite their abominations, asked of Omar bin Al-Khattab one condition from among four-not to permit the Jews to live in Palestine. We want people like [Saladin] to liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque…." Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris, Friday sermon on PA TV August 15, 2003(**)
• The Jews "must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said, 'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands.'…Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are. Wherever you meet them, kill them." Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Sermon in Gaza broadcast on PA television. October, 2000(***) PA-appointed religious leader
[594]
- Supporting Evidence: HAMAS Charter calls for the "obliteration of Israel" and of the Jews [593]
- COUNTERPOINT: The claim that Israel is fighting a war against Palestinian Muslims and Christians is preposterous. Israel is defending all Israelis, including Muslims and Christians who make up close to 20% of Israel's population. They, too, have been victims of suicide bombers and of the Palestinians' terrorist activities.
- Supporting Evidence: "The West Bank security fence has gained some unlikely enthusiasts: the leaders of Israel's Islamic Movement. Since the fence's completion in their areas last August, many Arab communities - especially those bordering Palestinian villages - have enjoyed a spike in both security and economic activity…. 'God be blessed, the fence ended the parade of terrorists through this city and gave us an economic boom and increased security,' says Umm el-Fahm City Manager Tawfiq Karaman." Jerusalem Post, June 17 2004 [595]
- Supporting Evidence: By March 2003, the death toll from the Intifada included 695 Israelis, 43 foreigners and 13 Israeli Arabs. Al-Jazeera, March 2 2003 [596]
- Supporting Evidence: "The West Bank security fence has gained some unlikely enthusiasts: the leaders of Israel's Islamic Movement. Since the fence's completion in their areas last August, many Arab communities - especially those bordering Palestinian villages - have enjoyed a spike in both security and economic activity…. 'God be blessed, the fence ended the parade of terrorists through this city and gave us an economic boom and increased security,' says Umm el-Fahm City Manager Tawfiq Karaman." Jerusalem Post, June 17 2004 [595]
- COUNTERPOINT: The claim that Israel is fighting a war against Muslims and Christians is absurd. Israel has insured freedom of religion and equal rights to all religions, including Muslims and Christians. The Palestinian Authority has not. Palestinian Christians flee to Israel or to other countries to escape the dangers they face in the PA. If the Intifada has a religious dimension to it, it is of Muslims persecuting Jews and Palestinian Christians.
- Supporting Evidence: Each religious community in Israel (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) is allowed to have jurisdiction over the marriage, divorce and burial of its members, and representatives of each of each religion are state officials. [597]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian population in Israel has quadrupled in the last forty years while it is precipitously declining in the Middle East and particularly in the Palestinian Authority. Israel's Christian population has grown from 51,000 in 1961 to over 137,000 today. [598]
- Supporting Evidence: Two Palestinian converts to Christianity who were persecuted by the PA decided "their only hope was to escape to Israel" for asylum. The PA had imprisoned, tortured and sentenced to death Saeed and Nasser Salame for converting from Islam to Christianity. In December 2002, they sought asylum in Israel until they could move to a Western country. US representative Jo Ann Davis (R-Va) and the Religious Freedom Coalition have taken up their cause. [599]
- Supporting Evidence: "Life in [PA-ruled] Bethlehem has become insufferable for many members of the dwindling Christian minorities. Increasing Muslim-Christian tensions have left some Christians reluctant to celebrate Christmas in the town at the heart of the story of Christ's birth," according to a December 1997 report in the London Times. [600]
- Supporting Evidence: The Christian rate of emigration from the Territories has accelerated and the Christian population of the Territories has dropped from 15% in 1950 to barely 2% today. Many fear that soon few if any Christians will be left in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, or in Nazareth though they once were Christian majority cities. [601]
- Supporting Evidence: "Allah the almighty has called upon us not to ally with the Jews or the Christians, not to like them, not to become their partners, not to support them, and not to sign agreements with them." (*) Dr. Ahmad Abu Halabiya, Friday sermon broadcast by the PA on October 13, 2000 [602]
- Supporting Evidence: Graffiti in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur reads, "First the Saturday people [the Jews] then the Sunday people [the Christians]," according to the New York Times.(*) The same lines are often chanted during anti-Israel PLO/PA rallies.(**) [603]
- Supporting Evidence: Palestinian Muslims will not sell land to Christians. Muslim extremists have attacked Christian facilities and clubs, the Wall Street Journal reported in July 1994. Christian graves, crosses and statues have been desecrated. Christian cemeteries have been defaced, monasteries have had their phone lines cut and there have been break-ins at convents. [604]
- Supporting Evidence: Each religious community in Israel (Christian, Jewish, Moslem) is allowed to have jurisdiction over the marriage, divorce and burial of its members, and representatives of each of each religion are state officials. [597]
- COUNTERPOINT: It is absurd to try to argue that Israel's defensive war against Palestinian terrorism is a religious war of Jews against Christians and Muslims. Israel is defending itself against a well-orchestrated and well-funded terrorist war that Palestinians unleashed in September 2000 and which still continues. Israel is fighting against Palestinian terrorists, not a religious group. If there is a religious dimension to this war, it is a war of Palestinians against Jews.
- POINT 47: Israel oppresses its Arab-Israeli citizens.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. It gives freedoms, rights and opportunities to its Israeli-Arab minority that make Israeli-Arabs freer, more educated and more prosperous than ordinary Arab citizens in Arab countries.
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and almost 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy. [605]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel has a multi-party political system and a robust public debate, in which the national claims of the Arabs are fully voiced. It has regular elections, in which all adult citizens, irrespective of nationality or religion, participate. Since 1977, it has experienced a number of changes in government. Its court system enjoys a high level of independence, and has made the principle of non-discrimination a central part of its jurisprudence. It has also developed a strong protection of freedom of speech, of association, and of the press. It is thus no surprise that it is counted by scholars among the stable democracies in the world." Professor Ruth Gavison, Legal Scholar on Human Rights [606]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel's Arab minority has all the same civil and legal rights as its Jewish majority. Israeli Arabs have five political parties. Arab-Israelis held 12 of the 120 seats in the Israeli Parliament in 2002. Arabic is an official language of Israel and is on equal footing with Hebrew. [607]
- Supporting Evidence: All Arab municipalities are controlled and administered by Arabs and they receive government funding for education and infrastructure. [608]
- Supporting Evidence: Israel has 15 sanctioned religions and almost 20% of Israelis are not Jews. They have equal rights and protections as in any democracy. [605]
- COUNTERPOINT: Even Palestinian Arabs and Israeli-Arabs praise Israel's freedom and democracy.
- Supporting Evidence: When Israel began administering the West Bank in 1967, Palestinian Arabs were stunned by israel's freedoms. "They [Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank didn't] know what freedom is. If anyone over there dared to say one word against Hussein, they would throw him into prison. They don't believe that I can go to Dizengoff Square and shout at the top of my voice against Golda Meir without anything happening to me." Member of the village council of J'at, an Israeli-Arab village. 1970 [609]
- Supporting Evidence: "Israel has proved that for fifty years its real power is in its democracy, guarding the rights of its citizens, applying laws [equally] to the rich and poor, the big and small…and in the participation of the nation in the development of institutions according to ability and efficiency and not according to closeness to [the ruler]…." Columnist Dr. Talal Al-Shareef, Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, May 27, 1999. [610]
- Supporting Evidence: "By any fair measure, Israel is light-years ahead of the Arab world in terms of racial and religious tolerance. Privately, Arabs would concede that they are treated far better in Tel Aviv than any Jew would be now in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus or Amman. Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [611]
- Supporting Evidence: When Israel began administering the West Bank in 1967, Palestinian Arabs were stunned by israel's freedoms. "They [Palestinian Arabs from the West Bank didn't] know what freedom is. If anyone over there dared to say one word against Hussein, they would throw him into prison. They don't believe that I can go to Dizengoff Square and shout at the top of my voice against Golda Meir without anything happening to me." Member of the village council of J'at, an Israeli-Arab village. 1970 [609]
- COUNTERPOINT: Just as American has set up special programs to ensure the rights of its minorities, so Israel has set up special programs, including affirmative action programs, to ensure that Arab-Israelis do not suffer from discrimination.
- Supporting Evidence: "The ministerial committee on Arab affairs…approved a plan [for] narrowing the gaps between the Jewish and Arab sectors. The plan included affirmative action for Arabs in the civil service…..The plan calls for appointing at least one Arab to the board of every government company within a year, as well as giving preference to Arab candidates for promotion in the civil service. It also extends an earlier development plan for the Arab sector, approved by Ehud Barak's government, for another two years." Haaretz, August 20 2003 [612]
- Supporting Evidence: "The ministerial committee on Arab affairs…approved a plan [for] narrowing the gaps between the Jewish and Arab sectors. The plan included affirmative action for Arabs in the civil service…..The plan calls for appointing at least one Arab to the board of every government company within a year, as well as giving preference to Arab candidates for promotion in the civil service. It also extends an earlier development plan for the Arab sector, approved by Ehud Barak's government, for another two years." Haaretz, August 20 2003 [612]
- COUNTERPOINT: Arab countries, not Israel, have despotic regimes that oppress people and actively discriminate against minorities in legal systems that resemble apartheid.
- Supporting Evidence: "A non-Muslim in an Islamic state is required to pay jaziya, which in the Koranic language is a Humiliation Tax. In fact, the life of an unbeliever is a series of humiliations in a Muslim country…Since it is the Islamic way of life which requires an unbeliever to yield way to the Muslim when they happen to be walking on the same path, it can safely be called the forerunner of South African apartheid." Anwar Shaikh, 1998 [613]
- Supporting Evidence: The UN Arab Human Development Report of 2002, written by Arab scholars, underscored the immense "freedom deficit" of Arab countries which "undermines human development…While de jure acceptance of democracy and human rights is enshrined in constitutions…de facto implementation is often neglected and, in some cases, deliberately disregarded…Representative democracy is not always genuine and sometimes absent. Freedoms of expression and association are frequently curtailed. Obsolete norms of legitimacy prevail…." [614]
- Supporting Evidence: "Palestinian leaders and preachers, guided by history and religion, have traditionally seen the Jews as an inferior race whose proper place was as an abased minority in a Muslim polity; and the present situation, with an Arab under Jewish rule, is regarded as a perversion of nature and divine will." Historian Benny Morris, 2003 [615]
- Supporting Evidence: In Saudi Arabia, "the government prohibits the public practice of other religions;" in Egypt, "religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited" and "Christians cower[ed] in fear of violence from Islamic militants and systematic human rights violations by Egypt…." In Iran, "the printing of Christian literature is illegal, converts from Islam are liable to be killed and most evangelical churches must function underground." American Department of State First Annual Report on International Religious Freedom and Professor Jonathan Adelman and Agota Kuperman. [616]
- Supporting Evidence: "A non-Muslim in an Islamic state is required to pay jaziya, which in the Koranic language is a Humiliation Tax. In fact, the life of an unbeliever is a series of humiliations in a Muslim country…Since it is the Islamic way of life which requires an unbeliever to yield way to the Muslim when they happen to be walking on the same path, it can safely be called the forerunner of South African apartheid." Anwar Shaikh, 1998 [613]
- COUNTERPOINT: Unlike Israel, Arab states and the Palestinian Authority oppress their minorities, especially the Jews. They promote one of the oldest and most vicious kinds of racism-anti-Semitism.
- Supporting Evidence: 856,000 Jews who had lived in Middle Eastern countries, in some cases for two thousand years, were ethnically cleansed from those countries between 1947 and 1967. By 2001, only 32,109 remained. [617]
- Supporting Evidence: "The demonization of Jews [in Arabic literature] goes further than it had ever done in Western literature, with the exception of Germany during the period of Nazi rule." Historian Bernard Lewis in 1987 [618]
- Supporting Evidence: We do not read in the Jerusalem Post, as we do in the Arab dailies, that Palestinians are "monkeys" and "vampires." Nor is there a sizeable literature in Israel-as there is in the Arab world-devoted to proving their enemies are subhuman. Real racism and hatred exist in the present conflict, but they are expressed almost entirely by Arabs, not Jews. Had a paper in Tel Aviv alleged that Arabs drink blood and are related to primates, the world's outrage would be second only to the moral indignation in Israel itself." Historian Victor David Hanson. 2002 [619]
- Supporting Evidence: in its founding charter or "Covenant," which was composed in 1988, Hamas (which today commands the support of about one-half of the Palestinians and probably a far greater proportion in Gaza and the refugee camps) described "the Jews" as "an instrument of evil"; and it ascribes the outbreak of the French and Russian revolutions, the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the eruption of World War I and World War II to Jewish machinations. The "Covenant" posits the destruction of Israel as the organization's main political goal, and jihad as its method. Hamas (and Islamic Jihad) pamphlets during the first intifada, from 1987 to 1991, regularly described the Jews as "sons of apes and pigs." Historian Benny Morris, "The Rejection," 2003 [620]
- Supporting Evidence: "In Palestine the Arab reaction to Zionism was shaped from the start by cognitive dissonance. The Jews had always been seen as "children of death (doom)"-hapless, helpless victims. The Zionists did not fit that image, but the Arabs long refused to adjust their perception to the reality. Some still refuse, which is one reason why Arabs prefer to see Israel as the creature of some outside power: it makes everything more understandable." Historian David Landes [621]
- Supporting Evidence: 856,000 Jews who had lived in Middle Eastern countries, in some cases for two thousand years, were ethnically cleansed from those countries between 1947 and 1967. By 2001, only 32,109 remained. [617]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel is a multiethnic, multiracial state with freedom of religion and civil rights for all its citizens. It gives freedoms, rights and opportunities to its Israeli-Arab minority that make Israeli-Arabs freer, more educated and more prosperous than ordinary Arab citizens in Arab countries.
- POINT 48: Syria offered to make peace with Israel in 1949, but Israel refused.
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel did not refuse. Israel signed an armistice agreement with Syria on July 20 1949 and maintained contacts to discuss a peace settlement from April 1949 to August 1949, the period when the Syrian leader who made the peace overtures, Husni Zaim, was in power. He was overthrown that August, and Syria went on to become Israel's bitterest enemy.(Itamar Rabinovich, The Road Not Taken, 1991, Chapter 3.)
- COUNTERPOINT: Historians generally agree that Husni Zaim's peace overtures would not have produced a peace settlement.
- Supporting Evidence: "The premises of the two parties (Israel and Syria) were so different …that it is difficult to believe that the gap …could have been bridged." Zaim wanted Israel to make concessions in the area of Lake Tiberias and the Jordan River, which Israel could not agree to as it would have compromised Israel's water supplies. [622]
- Supporting Evidence: "It is difficult to believe Zaim would have survived in power even if he had reached an agreement….The man who appeared …as a popular reformer soon became a corrupt dictator…who had lost the support of his original allies and thus was easily removed by the same military faction that had put him in power." [623]
- Supporting Evidence: "Zaim's willingness to enter into an agreement…was completely divorced from the prevailing public opinion in Syria and the rest of the Arab world…the Syrian public commitment to pan-Arab nationalism and particularly the Palestine question could not be ignored." [624]
- Supporting Evidence: Zaim's foreign minister, Adel Arslan, adamantly opposed the peace overtures to Israel. He kept his post "so as to be able to fight against Zaim's policy from a position of some influence." [625]
- Supporting Evidence: "The premises of the two parties (Israel and Syria) were so different …that it is difficult to believe that the gap …could have been bridged." Zaim wanted Israel to make concessions in the area of Lake Tiberias and the Jordan River, which Israel could not agree to as it would have compromised Israel's water supplies. [622]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel did not refuse. Israel signed an armistice agreement with Syria on July 20 1949 and maintained contacts to discuss a peace settlement from April 1949 to August 1949, the period when the Syrian leader who made the peace overtures, Husni Zaim, was in power. He was overthrown that August, and Syria went on to become Israel's bitterest enemy.(Itamar Rabinovich, The Road Not Taken, 1991, Chapter 3.)
- POINT 49: Egypt offered Israel a full peace treaty in 1971, and Israel rejected it, proving that Israel does not want peace.
- COUNTERPOINT: There is no reason to focus on the Egyptian non-offer in 1971. When Egypt DID make a sincere offer for peace a few years later, Israel seized the opportunity and made drastic concessions. The Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, considered one of Israel's most hawkish leaders, signed the peace treaty in 1979. Israel relinquished the whole Sinai (91% of the land captured in the 1967 War), and dismantled its settlements there.
- COUNTERPOINT: Egypt's 1971 overture was not a sincere peace offer. Instead, Egypt had launched a diplomatic offensive, and was simultaneously talking peace, making impossible demands and heavily rearming with Soviet assistance.
- Supporting Evidence: Egypt demanded that Israel make all its territorial concessions BEFORE negotiations even started. Israel had no guarantees that its concessions would bring peace. When Israel counter-offered with an interim plan, Egypt still would not drop its absolute demands. [626]
- Supporting Evidence: Egypt refused to enter direct talks with Israel. It would not even accept letters from Israel that were sent through the UN. The Arabs "continued to refuse to refuse to meet us or deal with us in any way…in 1971 or 1972." Golda Meir [627]
- Supporting Evidence: The Egyptian press was still calling for the destruction of Israel, and President Sadat would not formally acknowledge the peace overtures. "Arab policy at this stage has but two objectives. The first, the elimination of the traces of the 1967 aggression through an Israeli withdrawal from all the territories it occupied that year. The second objective is the elimination of the traces of the 1948 agression, by means of the elimination of the State of Israel itself." Al-Ahram, February 25 1971 [628]
- Supporting Evidence: Egypt was heavily arming itself with Soviet-made SAM-2 missiles that were placed along the ceasefire line with Israel. US reconnaissance "showed that the 36 SAM-2 missiles sneaked into the cease-fire zone constitute only the first line of the most massive anti-aircraft system ever created." In addition, Egypt and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in the same period in which the Russians committed to training the Egyptians how to use the new military equipment it was supplying. [629]
- Supporting Evidence: Egypt demanded that Israel make all its territorial concessions BEFORE negotiations even started. Israel had no guarantees that its concessions would bring peace. When Israel counter-offered with an interim plan, Egypt still would not drop its absolute demands. [626]
- COUNTERPOINT: Israel was entirely justified in making a counter-offer that ensured its security. Israel had just suffered 3,000 casualties in the War of Attrition that Egypt had launched between 1967 and 1970 with Russian military assistance.(Howard Sachar, A History of Israel, 2000, p. 696)
- COUNTERPOINT: There is no reason to focus on the Egyptian non-offer in 1971. When Egypt DID make a sincere offer for peace a few years later, Israel seized the opportunity and made drastic concessions. The Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, considered one of Israel's most hawkish leaders, signed the peace treaty in 1979. Israel relinquished the whole Sinai (91% of the land captured in the 1967 War), and dismantled its settlements there.
- POINT 50: Hitler's policy of lebensraum removed Jews so that there would be more room for Germans. It is a form of genocide and a precursor to atrocities that we could wish were beyond imagination. The Israeli policy of "transfer" is merely another word for this injustice.
- COUNTERPOINT: There is absolutely no evidence in the historical record to even begin to equate Hitler’s and Israel’s policies. The charge is libelous and based on sheer ignorance. Israel does not and never had a “transfer” policy. Refugees are a common product of war, and the Palestinian refugees were a result of the war Arabs unleashed in 1948.
- COUNTERPOINT: This charge is based on sheer ignorance of Nazi and Israeli policy. It twists and tortures historical facts in order to draw some sinister parallel—no matter how far-fetched—between Israel and Nazi practices. “Lebensraum” had nothing to do with Nazi policy toward Jews nor was it related to the Nazi policy of “purifying the master race” by purging and exterminating Jews.
- Supporting Evidence: Lebensraum—the purported need for “living space”—had nothing to do with a policy of transferring victimized populations. It was the term Hitler used to justify annexing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland that he considered to be ethnically German [630]
- Supporting Evidence: The removal and genocide of the Jews was not done under the veil of increasing living space—lebensraum--but rather to purify the “master race” in Germany and to rid Europe of the plague of the Jews. [631]
- Supporting Evidence: Lebensraum—the purported need for “living space”—had nothing to do with a policy of transferring victimized populations. It was the term Hitler used to justify annexing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia and Poland that he considered to be ethnically German [630]
- COUNTERPOINT: The only “transfer” policy discussed today is about transferring Jews out of the Territories. Palestinians demand that no Jews be allowed to live in their future state. Prime Minister Sharon’s Gaza withdrawal plan does not call for the transfer of Palestinian Arabs. It only calls for the transfer of Jews from their homes and farms in the Gaza Strip. Why aren’t you outraged by this “transfer” policy—or do you only get outraged when non-Jews are forced from their homes?
- COUNTERPOINT: There is absolutely no evidence in the historical record to even begin to equate Hitler’s and Israel’s policies. The charge is libelous and based on sheer ignorance. Israel does not and never had a “transfer” policy. Refugees are a common product of war, and the Palestinian refugees were a result of the war Arabs unleashed in 1948.
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