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05/09/08

02:42:10 am, Categories: Voices, 544 words

60 years of dispossession

Nakba 60

Nakba 60 / Uruknet

This year Israel celebrates its 60th birthday. Yet for Palestinians and for people of conscience this is not an occasion to celebrate.

The establishment of the State of Israel involved the destruction of over 530 Palestinian towns and villages and the expulsion of about two-thirds of the indigenous Palestinian Arab population from their homes and lands to pave the way for the establishment of a Jewish State, with a Jewish majority. Contrary to Israeli claims that they declared statehood in response to an Arab war against them, in actual fact, Zionist leaders launched a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the largely defenseless Palestinian population in April of 1948.

A month and a half into this campaign, 380,000 Palestinians had faced expulsion, accounting for half of the total Palestinians made refugees in 1948, spawning an era in Palestinian history known as the Nakba (catastrophe).

This major offensive was Plan Dalet (Dalet – Hebrew for letter D). The Zionist leaders waged this campaign to control and ethnically cleanse territories beyond that allocated to the Jewish state by the UN Partition Plan (UNPP). By 1949, the Zionist leadership/Israeli government controlled 78% of Mandatory Palestine, having seized an additional 23% of the land allocated to Palestinian State under the UNPP.

According to Plan Dalet, the brigade commanders were given full "discretion" in what to do with the villages they occupied – that is to destroy them or leave them standing. On numerous occasions, Zionist forces expelled residents from their towns and villages, committed rape and other acts of violence, massacred civilians, and executed prisoners of war. These acts have been widely documented, most forcefully by Israeli historians using military and State archives. Here is one of many testimonies from Zionist soldiers:

"The first [wave] of conquerors killed about 80 to 100 [male] Arabs, women and children. The children they killed by breaking their heads with sticks. There was not a house without dead." He added that a soldier had bragged of raping and shooting a woman, two old women had been blown up in a house, and another woman with her baby were shot.*

New Jewish settlers migrated from across the world to inhabit the very same homes from which their rightful Palestinian owners had been expelled. Today these rightful owners are still denied the right to return to their homes.

The campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its population entailed a brutal attempt to eliminate Palestinian identity, culture and heritage. Read more

60 years on, Palestinians continue to be denied their internationally sanctioned rights to return to their homes, to self-determination and to live in full equality in their homeland.

A recent UN report condemned Israel’s on-going policies in the Occupied Territories as forms of foreign occupation, colonialism and apartheid – all in violation of international law.

No other "democracy" has so flagrantly breached international laws and UN resolutions as Israel has.

60 years on, Israel's practices of ethnic cleansing continue.

* Sources: Abu-Lughod, Lila & Sa’di Ahmad, 2007, Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory, ed, New York: Columbia University Press; Morris, Benny, 2004, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

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SOURCE:

http://www.nakba60.org.uk/
http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m43881&hd=&size=1&l=e

URL: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/05/09/60_years_of_dispossession

4 Voices

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Arameüs Dessar. [Member]

Er is inderdaad weinig of niets te vieren, althans niet voor mij, noch degenen die de waarheid over het ontstaan van deze kleine natie kennen. Officieel heet het dat boosaardige Arabieren getracht hadden om zodra Israël een zelfstandige natie werd op 14 mei 1948, de Joodse bevolking de zee in te drijven. De waarheid is echter totaal anders; het waren terroristische Zionisten die een bepaalde tijd vóór de onafhankelijkheid van Israël een terreurcampagne in (toen nog Palestina) begonnen waren. Twee van deze terroristische leiders waren de (toen nog toekomstige) Premiers van Israël: Menachem Begin en (nu wijlen) Ariël Sharon. Hierbij werden talloze Palestijnen om het leven gebracht, voorgoed van huis en haard verdreven en diegenen die toch konden blijven werden -en worden nog steeds- met harde hand onderdrukt. De Palestijnen zijn dit nooit vergeten. Om dié reden -en om geen enkele andere- worden er bomaanslagen door hen op Israëlische burgers en doelen gepleegd. Om deze waarheden de wind uit de zeilen te nemen, wordt steeds weer dezelfde troefkaart uit de mouw getoverd: "Het antisemitisme neemt (weer eens) toe...of iets van gelijke strekking. De waarheid is zoals gezegd, volkomen anders. Of er iets te vieren valt? Nou...nee. Niet vieren dus.

05/09/08 @ 18:14

Comment from: rj [Member]

As our readers will understand, the comment above is in Dutch. Since not everyone in the English speaking community is familiar with this beautiful language, we thought it might be helpful to run this comment through AltaVista's Babelfish. You can verify the result below.

[Babelfish:] "There is not indeed little or nothing, at least for me, nor celebrate those who know the truth concerning the ontstaan of this small nation. Is called officially it that malicious Arabs had tried as soon as Israel an independent nation became on 14 May 1948, the Jewish population drive in the sea. Truth is however total differently; it were terrorist Zionisten which started a certain time by the independence of Israel a terror campaign in (then still Palestine) were. Two of these terrorist LEADERs were (then still future) the Premiers of Israel: Menachem Begin and (now late) Ariel Sharon. Innumerable Palestinians were brought for living, once and for all of dissipated house and hearth and those that nevertheless could remain became - and the hard way to be still oppressed. The Palestinians are this never forget. Om die reden - and absolutely no other bomb attacks by them on Israeli citizens and aim are committed. To take the wind from the sails these truths, always the same trump from the sleeve is worked magic: " The anti-Semitism increases (again)… or something of equal scope. Truth has been said such as, completely differently. Or there something can be celebrated? Nou… no. Do not celebrate therefore."

As you probably will agree, Arameüs Dessar's comment still doesn't emerge clearly from AlteVista's "babble". May we suggest the following translation:

[Editor, TPV:] "To me and those who know the truth concerning the creation of this small nation, there is little or nothing to celebrate. The official story is that as soon as Israel had become an independent nation on May 14th, 1948, hateful Arabs had tried to drive the Jewish population into the sea. This, however, is far from the truth. It certainly was the Zionist terrorists who at this time started a terror campaign in what was, and still is, Palestine. Two of these terrorist leaders later became prime ministers of Israel: Menachem Begin and the late Ariel Sharon. Countless Palestinians were killed and permanently driven from their homes, and those who were allowed to stay –wherever they could find a place to live- were harshly oppressed. The Palestinians can never forget this. For this reason –and for this reason alone- there have been bomb attacks against Israeli citizens. To counter this truth, they always use the same old trump card (it always works magic): anti-Semitism. “Anti-Semitism is on the increase (again)”, or something to the effect. The truth, however, is different. Completely different. Is there then anything to celebrate? Now? No! -So do not celebrate."

rj

(PS: The link to IsraeiInsider about Sharon has been added by rj)

05/10/08 @ 01:58

Comment from: jgarbuz [Member]

Sixty years of "dispossession"is nothing compared to 2,000 years of dispossession, and dispossession, and dispossession, and dispossession. There are three million square miles of land under Arab control, including 5 times as much land left behind by Jewish refugees after 1948 than all the land of Mandatory Palestine put together. Nobody asks, what happened to the 1 million Jewish refugees from the Arab countries!? Nobody asks what happened to their lands. Nobody asks what happened to the homes and businesses left behind by millions of Polish Jews who were killed either, or even those who just barely survived, like my mother. Of course, Jews were never allowed to OWN land in most of Europe anyway so the question of land was never an issue. Most of the lands they lived on or had business on for centuries were leased. So while I am supposed to feel sorry for the Palestinians, I simply don't. It was a problem of their own making. Oh, and 14 million ethnic Germans were driven out of Eastern Europe at the end of WWII as well, many of them quite innocent. No one thinks much about that either. Only these "Palestinian refugees" have managed to grab the headlines in the "Jewish controlled" media for so long that you would think they were the only unsolved problem on earth. In fact, in the scale of human tragedies, the Palestinian one was probably the least of the whole lot. It's a propaganda problem, not a genuine one.

05/10/08 @ 13:18

Comment from: rj [Member]

jgarbuz,

A ) "There are three million square miles of land under Arab control, including 5 times as much land left behind by Jewish refugees after 1948 than all the land of Mandatory Palestine put together."
This is a manipulation, by generalizing, going one level up. This manipulation is being used to justify a land grab on a HUGE scale, ethnic cleansing and mass murder. [The shrinking map of Palestine]

B) “Sixty years of "dispossession"is nothing compared to 2,000 years of dispossession, and dispossession, and dispossession, and dispossession.” + "Nobody asks, what happened to the 1 million Jewish refugees from the Arab countries!? Nobody asks what happened to their lands. Nobody asks what happened to the homes and businesses left behind by millions of Polish Jews who were killed either, or even those who just barely survived, like my mother."
This is one BIG lie. In fact, it's THE cardinal, FUNDAMENTAL lie of the Zionists. The majority of Jewish people came from the East. They were Mongol and Turkish tribes (Khazars) and originated from Khazaria. These ancient tribes never set foot in Palestine and CLEARLY do not hail from the Middle East. Before the Zionists bought, stole and settled the land that was and STILL is Palestine, there were people living there. A Semitic people that we now call Palestinians. They were treated badly and displaced by the Zionist Jews. The injustices have not been put right. The Mongol and Turkish tribes have no legitimate claim to the land -they did not descend from this ancient land. This fact should be recognized.

C ) "Of course, Jews were never allowed to OWN land in most of Europe anyway so the question of land was never an issue. Most of the lands they lived on or had business on for centuries were leased."
This is correct but has nothing to do with, and can not legitimately be used to justify, the wholesale abuse and murder of Palestinians.

D) "Only these "Palestinian refugees" have managed to grab the headlines in the "Jewish controlled" media for so long that you would think they were the only unsolved problem on earth. In fact, in the scale of human tragedies, the Palestinian one was probably the least of the whole lot."
Another lie. The Palestinians now are a destitute people with scant resources and has not “grab[ed] the headlines”. People elsewhere, out of a sense of justice, have taken up their cause.

E) "So while I am supposed to feel sorry for the Palestinians, I simply don't. It was a problem of their own making. It's a propaganda problem, not a genuine one."
If you are unable to feel sorry for them, this would testify to the utter poverty of your soul. To judge by the rabid rants you’ve spread all over The People’s Voice, I'm not even sure that you have one. The "problem" definitely is NOT of their own making. The Zionists are the ones responsible for what I earlier referred to as "a land grab on a HUGE scale, ethnic cleansing and mass murder." There's no escaping this fact. The aggressor blames the victim. THAT'S what you're doing here. Tribalists develop into functional psychopaths. From their point of view, they are under no obligation to adhere to general and universal ethical norms. They feel no guilt or shame, and consider others to be fools that have only themselves to thank if they come out on the short end.

Summing it up: jgarbuz, you don’t have, or don’t refer to, a proper system of values. -If the question is about BLAME, you go like this: “what about them/the other guy etc”. If it is about SYMPATHY, you go like this: “what about me/us etc”. This is a TRIBAL frame of reference and needless to say, it is quite amoral.

It is also is pertinent to say this here: “Israel” is a criminal and illegitimate enterprise that doesn’t care one whit about UN and the international community. This malevolent statelet has disrespected over 60 UN resolutions since its fateful and & ill-starred inception. Let me put it to you straight: Goaded by the Zionists & the US, the UN was hounded into accepting the creation of “Israel”. This was a terrible mistake by any standard. All the cruelty that “Israel” has committed since testify to that. This is what you don’t want us to see. This is why you are full of lies.

jgarbuz: if I catch you in ONE more lie, we will delete your identity and annul your membership. Be warned!
rj

For general information, these Stephen Lendman articles are recommended: Life in Occupied Gaza and Sixty Years of Palestinian Displacement, Occupation and Suffering.

05/11/08 @ 04:39

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