Andy H on 'Israel - the truth'

Never have I seen such overt Anti Semitism than the utter rubbish Ms Fullbrook espouses. Without entering into a long winded letter that would in any way justify her crude revisionism I present to you the facts - facts that can be histoically, legally, biblically and archeologically proven. Dont let evils theft of the truth carry on.

The Seven Biggest Anti-Israel Lies ever, are as follows:

BIG LIE NUMBER ONE

Israel illegally occupies Palestinian Land Contrary to popular belief, Israel does not illegally occupy Palestinian Land. According to International Law, occupation is defined by one sovereign state aggressively taking over another. In defending herself against an imminent Arab onslaught in 1967, Israel won the disputed territories not from the non-existent Sovereign State of Palestine, but from Jordan and Egypt both of whom illegally annexed these areas after their previous attack on the newly reborn Israel in 1948.

BIG LIE NUMBER TWO

The Jewish settlements are illegal Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the Gaza Strip throughout recorded history, until the 1948 War of Independence, when they were forced to flee the invading Arab armies. There is nothing illegal about the settlements. No UN resolution requires Israel to withdraw unilaterally from the territories, nor do they forbid Israelis from going there to live. In particular, the often-misquoted UN Security Council Resolution 242 (and related Resolution 338) make no such demand or requirement. The demand that Israel stop creating "illegal settlements" is similarly baseless.

BIG LIE NUMBER THREE

Israel is in violation of UN resolutions, most notably UN Resolution 242 (so called 'Land for Peace' resolution passed after the 1967 war) Palestinian Arabs consistently advocate that UNSCR 242 Israel has to pull out of the West Bank, but UNSCR 242 doesn't say that. UNSCR 242 actually calls for a dual requirement, Israeli withdrawal from some but not all of the territories. Since there are no "secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force", Israel is under no obligation to withdraw. UNSCR 242 is a Chapter VI resolution 9 calling for a negotiated settlement, not immediate action by Israel alone.

Interestingly, the term Palestine and Palestinians isn UN resolution 194 (so called 'Right of Return' resolution passed after 1948 war) UN Resolution 194 says nothing solely about "Arab refugees" and clearly applies to both Arab and Jewish refugees of the Arab-instigated war. But Resolution 194 is only mentioned today when demanding rights for Arabs to return to Israel, something that is neither in the wording of Resolution 194 nor would be considered rational except in a different world, a world in which Jews could freely return to Arab lands and live there in peace. Those who demand compensation for Arab refugees have to also consider the loss of life, home, and property by hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who were forced out of Arab countries in the same time period.

BIG LIE NUMBER FOUR

Israel is as guilty as Iraq in it's continued defiance of the UN The United Nations issues differing types of resolutions and those that deal with Israel are entirely different in those that deal with Iraq. To be sure all, of the resolutions pertaining to Israel are known as Chapter 6 resolutions i.e dealing with "Pacific Resolution of Disputes" - resolutions that are meant to be implemented through negotiation or other voluntary means. In other words they are merely recommendations that carry no force of law. Those dealing with Iraq are Chapter 7 resolutions i.e dealing with "Threats to Peace, Breaches of the Peace and Acts of Aggression"- resolutions that require compliance by the subject nation and carry the threat of force that may be used to compel compliance. In other words they are demands which carry the threat of military action.

BIG LIE NUMBER FIVE

The Jews have far less claim to the land than the Arabs Israel became a Jewish nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam. Only one group of people have continuously lived in Israel for the past 3,700 years - the Jews. Jerusalem, in particular, has had a Jewish majority since the 1840s, 40 years prior to the beginnings of Zionism. Seventy-five percent of the land in east Jerusalem, which the press calls "historically Arab east Jerusalem," has been owned by Jews since 1947. The Arabs of Israel only came to the land in 632AD with the Muslim invasion. Centuries earlier, the Romans first applied the name Palaestina to Judea (the southern portion of what is now called the West Bank) in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel by referencing the Jews former enemies the Philistines. Important to note is the fact that this sea faring people were of Aegean origin, not Arab. Only in 1967 did Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Today indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians ruled Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit. Jews, were of course, barred. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

BIG LIE NUMBER SIX

Israel doesnt want peace It was the Arab nations who initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won. In fact, the P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Despite this, Israel has made numerous efforts to attain a permanent peace with her neighbors. Israel has returned most of the land that it captured during the 1967 war and right after that war offered to return all of it in exchange for peace and normal relations; the offer was rejected. In 2000, as part of negotiations for a comprehensive and durable peace, Israel offered to turn over all but the smallest portion of the remaining territories to Yasir Arafat. But Israel was rebuffed when Arafat walked out of Camp David and launched the current intifada. Yasir Arafat has never been less than clear about his goals-at least not in Arabic.

On the very day that he signed the Oslo accords in 1993--in which he promised to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel--he addressed the Palestinian people on Jordanian television and declared that he had taken the first step "in the 1974 plan." This was a thinly-veiled reference to the "phased plan," according to which any territorial gain was acceptable as a means toward the ultimate goal of Israel's destruction. The intafada, now in it peace initiatives are up against.

BIG LIE NUMBER SEVEN

Christianity is neutral in the Arab- Israeli conflict During the al-Aqsa Intifada and continuing through the murderous terrorist attacks on Israel in 2001 and 2002, Christian Zionist groups sent thousands of visitors to Israel on Solidarity Missions. These groups came to Israel from the United States and the rest of the world to meet Israelis, to pray in the Holy Land, to visit Christian shrines, but most of all to show that they believe in and support Israel's right to exist and the justice of Israel's cause vs. the immorality and injustice of Israel's enemies. The central tenet of all Christianity is of course the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which is believed conditional upon His return is to the land promised to his kith, the Jews.

Given the fact that militant Islam has declared a holy war on both Christianity as well as Judaism the two related religions have seen fit to become even closer in order to protect their respective and shared beliefs as well as the shrines central to them.