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Crash
Course in Middle East History
Nationhood
and Jerusalem
Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE - 2,000 years before the
rise of Islam.
Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a
Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of
the modern State of Israel.
Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Bible.
Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
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Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had
dominion over the land for 1,000 years, with a continuous presence
in the land for the past 3,300 years.
The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 CE lasted no more
than 22 years.
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For over 3,000 years, Jerusalem has always been the Jewish
capital.
Jerusalem has never once been the capital of any Arab or Muslim
entity. In the 20 years that Jordan occupied Jerusalem (1948-1967),
they never sought to make it their capital, nor did Palestinians
demand it as theirs.
King David founded the city of Jerusalem 3,000 years ago.
Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
Jews pray facing Jerusalem, wherever they are in the world.
Moslems at the mosque in Jerusalem pray with their backs toward
Jerusalem.
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Arab and Jewish Refugees
In 1948, approximately 630,000 Arab refugees were encouraged to
leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews.
Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
In that same era, approximately 630,000 Jewish refugees were
forced to flee from Arab lands due to brutality, persecution and
pogroms.
Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country
no larger than the state of New Jersey.
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Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed or integrated into
the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory.
Out of 100 million worldwide refugees since World War Two, these
Arabs are the only refugee group in the world that has not been
integrated into their own peoples' lands.
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The Arab - Israeli Conflict
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The Arab world includes 22 separate nations.
There is only one Jewish nation.
The Arab nations initiated five wars against Israel, and lost.
Israel defended itself each time and won.
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The P.L.O. Charter still calls for the destruction of the
State of Israel.
Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land,
autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with
weapons.
Under Israeli rule, all Moslem and Christian holy sites have
been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated: all
synagogues in the Old City were torched, and tombstones from the
ancient Mount of Olives cemetery was used to pave roads and build
latrines. Jews were also denied access to places of worship at the
Western Wall, Tomb of Rachel, Tomb of Joseph, and cave of the
Patriarchs. The U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs
Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were
directed against Israel.
Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429
were directed against Israel.
The U.N. has been totally silent on the Palestinian history of
suicide bombings, lynchings, terrorist attacks, bus hijackings, cafe
bombings, etc.
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