Stan: In one of the books I'm reading, Selbourne's The Losing Battle with Islam, on page 182, he seeks balance and provides an interesting overview of some of the matters under discussion: "The United Nations decision on 29 November 1947 to partition Palestine, to the perceived disadvantage of the Palestinians, contributed to the confusion and bloodshed which were to follow. It also ensured the hostility which the very existence of Israel was to arouse. In their pro-Israeli partiality, some historians and commentators have sought to ignore the implications of the disproportions in territorial allocation in the UN partition plan. Others, in their pro-Arab partiality, have sought to cancel the implications of the invasion of Israel on 15 May 1948 -- within a few hours of the proclamation of the new state on 14 May 1948 -- first by Egypt and then by the armies of Iraq, Transjordan (as it the was), Lebanon and Syria. "Others have elided the complexiti4es of the passage of events from 1947 to 1949. A Guardian commentator in January 2004 could therefore reduce these events to 'the war that gave birth to the state of Israel in 1948', which by omission contains its own falsehood. Others have translated the flight of Arabs in 1948 and 1949 -- thousands fled even before the hostilities had broken out -- into their 'expulsion'; or, better still, into their 'deportation' by the new state as it was attacked. Some of those who were intended to be assisted by the attack -- the local Arab population -- stood their ground, fighting alongside the invading armies so that in certain sectors they for a while gained the upper hand. Others cut and ran, led in their flight by their own communities' heads, many other tens of thousands of Arabs were driven from their ancestral homes and terrains at the hands of the Israelis. "In some villages and cities, including Haifa, Jaffa and Tiberias, the exodus appears to have been ordered by Arab community leaders themselves, often they were among the first to flee, having the means to do so. As the then British High Commissioner for Palestine, General Sir Alan Cunningham, reported, 'the collapsing Arab morale in Palestine' was attributable in part to what he called 'the increasing tendency of those who should be leading them [sc. The Arabs] to leave the country'. Furthermore, 'in all parts of the country the effendi class has been evacuating in large numbers over a considerable period, and the tempo is increasing'. As Hussein Khalidi, one of the Palestinians' leaders complained, 'Everyone is leaving. Everyone who has a cheque or some money -- off he goes to Egypt, to Lebanon, to Damascus'. "Even before the invasions of May 1948 Israeli militias had acted brutally against local Arab population, as at the village of Deir Yassin on 9 April 1948, when more than one hundred villagers were killed. But in the repetitions of the history of this period, the numbers of those who were expelled, who were deported or who were 'ethnically cleansed' have often been exaggerated. Perhaps 700,000 fled the fighting in search of safety, or were driven from their homes as the Israeli army conquered, '600,000' were displaced according to the British Foreign Office estimate at the time. In addition, from 1948 to 1950, hundreds of thousands of Jews also left, or were driven by expropriation and attack from their homes in Egypt, Iraq -- where 118,000 of the total Iraqi population of 4.5 million were Jews -- Lebanon, the Maghreb, Syria and elsewhere in the Arab world, in August 2004, the Libyan leader offered compensation of their losses. "The fate of the Arabs in conflict which lasted until the uneasy truce in 1949 was a many-sided matter. So, too was the multiple invasion of Israel -- which at the time had an army of only 30,000 -- by neighbouring Arab nations. Nevertheless, a simplified history of complexity, war, fear, crime and flight as reduced the events, for many, to the victimization of Arab by Jew. Contrariwise, and with related simplification of the truth, it has been asserted by a Jewish historian that 'had the Palestinians and the Arabs refrained from launching a war to destroy the emerging Jewish state, there would have been no refugees and none would exist today'." Comment: With such a small army, only 30,000, fighting the armies of Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon and Syria, supplemented by Palestinians, who wished to drive the Jews out of the land, it would be too much to expect that the Israelis would fight according to Marquis of Queensbury rules. They were desperately fighting for their survival, and while no one can know for certain at this late date how many Palestinians were driven out of battle zones, Selbourne tells us of the large numbers who fled in advance of the war. Could they see the war coming? I don't see why not. Surely Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon and Syria did some marshalling of troops that would have alerted the Palestinians to what was coming. To stay could have meant becoming a victim as Irene suggests they all were, but to stay could also have meant joining the invading armies that had come to throw the Jews into the sea. Lawrence _____ From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Stan Spiegel Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 8:43 PM To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] U.N. Special Committee on Palestine Andy - Listening to your "know-nothing" comments takes more patience than I'm willing to show. Have you completely forgotten everything about the founding of Israel, the role played by the UN and the British mandate? Andy says: If the Mexican Indians, say, came in and threw the Americans out of California, put them into tents and took their land for themselves, would you think the Mexican Indians (or whatever group) were entitled to that land? The Israelis threw people out of their homes and moved in. Does that not mean anything to you? Because the Americans dealt with the American Indians by slaughtering them and compounding them in the 19th century, that makes it okay for the Israelis to do it now? Your portrait -- and Omar's comment about how property is distributed in America -- is nonsense. It's because of Andy and Omar -- and the Islamist theology that can't stand sharing a little bit of land with Jews in the Middle East. The self-righteous garbage the two of you are spewing to hide your anti-semitism is too much. Stan Spiegel Portland, ME The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments: Shortcut to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Special_Committee_on_Palestine