Monday, October 3, 2011

A Modest Proposal

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;‎
The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:‎
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;‎
Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:‎
For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.‎
Shakespeare "Romeo And Juliet" Act V, Scene III‎

I propose a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict/ problem based on the ‎‎‎Marshal Plan used in post WWII Europe and the creation of a Confederation between the ‎‎‎Palestinian controlled areas of the “West Bank” and Jordan as it was during the Period of ‎‎‎‎1948 -1967. Though painful this plan is to the Arab side it is the right and only ‎‎humanitarian solution ‎to end the conflict. The reactionary Arab’s constant refusal to ‎‎accept the State of Israel as ‎a Jewish state an entity in the Middle East is a forgone ‎‎conclusion and for the long ‎suffering of the Palestinian refugees there should be a ‎‎resolution as predetermined in ‎UNR194 Article 9 to absorb them as Israel did for the ‎‎Jews that were made refugees in ‎post WWII Europe and from the Arab countries of the ‎‎Middle East.‎

‎UNR194 Article 9:‎

"Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their ‎‎‎neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that ‎‎‎compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for ‎loss ‎‎of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, ‎should ‎‎be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."‎ ‎

My proposal is based on that put forward in the late 1930’s, by US President ‎‎Franklin D ‎Roosevelt, on the absorption and resettlement of the stateless and homeless ‎‎Palestinian ‎refugees just as Israel did for the Jewish refugees. All six Arab countries that ‎‎were then ‎represented at the UN and voted against UNR194; Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, ‎‎Saudi Arabia, ‎Syria and Yemen, and were active participants to the conflict in ‎question.‎Should lead the ‎way in resolving the issue by each absorbing the Palestinians as ‎fellow ‎citizens as ‎stipulated in UNR194 Article 9.‎
‎The plan encompasses a two step solution.‎ ‎‎

‎Step One‎:
Those Palestinian refugees within the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza ‎‎‎Strip should be offered a comprehensive resettlement and financial package in return for ‎‎‎a long term peace based on a total cessation of conflict and a forgoing of their “right of ‎‎‎return”.‎
‎Step Two:‎
As to the Palestinians that have lived in squalid stateless refugee camps throughout the ‎‎‎region, in those states that have confined them there, should be allowed two choices. ‎‎‎Either to stay and be absorbed into their adoptive countries as full citizens or they should ‎‎‎be allowed free passage to “return” to the lands of the Palestinian Authority. If they do so ‎‎‎chose this option they should be included in the comprehensive resettlement and financial ‎‎‎package.

Those adoptive countries which welcome the refugees as full citizens should be enticed ‎‎‎to do so with incentives and financial compensation. Those Arab countries that refuse ‎‎‎should be severe penalized and should face punitive actions.

As to the Jewish settlers on the West Bank they should be offered the choice to become ‎‎‎‎“law-abiding” citizens of the Palestinian State or withdrawal. The same will be said for ‎‎‎Arab citizens of Israel who wish to leave Israeli territory.

Mutual assistance in the re-education of the population from that of war, religious ‎‎‎intolerance and terror must be encouraged. Should one of the countries in the region fail ‎‎‎to comply to the re-education and to co-existence in peace than that body should face ‎‎‎world wide condemnation, boycott and cessation of all assistance.‎

Additionally any state which threatens the existence of another state or should propose ‎‎‎genocide should be met with the fullest enforcement of the entire UN body under ‎‎Article ‎‎2 of the UN Charter with a total economic embargo and if ‎‎necessitated by a full scale ‎military operation of all parties concerned for world peace.‎

Additionally a proposal should be made to the Egyptians to forgive her national debt in ‎‎‎return for a ceding of parts of northern Sinai to the Palestinian Authority or for the ‎‎‎resettlement of stateless Palestinians wishing for land to live on there.‎
The same could be said for the resettlement of Palestinians in the sparsely inhabited ‎‎‎eastern regions of Jordan. In order to make this decision feasible than those Arab ‎‎‎countries willing to participate should adopt Israel’s Development Town settlement plan ‎‎‎used in it’s resettlement of the displaced Jews in the 1950’s. This plan based on collective ‎‎‎farming villages inhabited by those Palestinians who have farming skills, will be given ‎‎‎assistance to build homes as well as basic essentials to begin their farms. ‎

Needless to say that those who accept the resettlement plan will be given title “Tabo” to ‎the land and full citizenship. Those ‎‎Palestinian refugees with small business skills and ‎occupations who wish to resettle in the ‎‎‎“Development Towns” of these areas will be ‎given apartments and financial aid to begin ‎‎small businesses as well as long term loans.
What was the Source for my plan.‎

My plan is not new nor was it never contemplated before. The thirty-second President of ‎‎‎the United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who held this office for an ‎‎‎unprecedented thirteen years until his death in 1945 also put forth a similar plan ‎‎‎BEFORE the decision for Partition of the Mandate was made in November of 1947.‎
President Roosevelt's interest in transferring Arabs from Palestine began in ‎‎October 1938 ‎after a meeting with Justice Louis Brandeis. ‎‎Brandeis reported on this meeting to Felix ‎Frankfurter who in turn passed on the report to ‎‎Stephen Wise and to presidential advisor ‎and script-writer Ben Cohen. Brandeis pointed ‎out in his report of this meeting how ‎Roosevelt appreciated the ‎significance of Palestine, ‎‎“the need of keeping it whole and of ‎making it Jewish". He was ‎tremendously interested - ‎and wholly surprised - on learning ‎of the great increase in Arab ‎population since the First ‎World War; and on learning of the ‎plentitude of land for Arabs in Arab ‎countries, about ‎which he made specific inquiries.”‎

The Historian Zaha Bustami commented that it was, “…difficult to tell who brought up ‎‎‎this subject during the meeting, but the information on Arab demography was ‎provided ‎‎by Frankfurter.” Who had met with FDR a few days earlier a meeting to ‎discuss the ‎‎Palestine situation; however there are no records of what Roosevelt said at ‎this meeting. ‎

On 25th of October 1938, Roosevelt had a meeting with the British Ambassador to the ‎‎‎U.S., Sir Ronald Lindsay. Lindsay wrote that the President was “impressed by the fact ‎‎‎that the Arab population had increased by 400,000 since the establishment of the ‎‎[League ‎‎Of Nations] Mandate.” ‎

FDR also contemplated the creation of a program of well-digging ‎across the Jordan. ‎‎Roosevelt firmly believed that, “we ought to be able to find that money ‎for the purpose”. ‎‎FDR believed that once a large quantity of water would be made ‎available for irrigation ‎‎and the cultivable land thus created in Trans-Jordanian territory it; ‎

‎‎“should be set apart ‎for Arabs from Palestine. They should be offered land free, and ‎that ‎ought to be enough ‎to attract them; and failing the attraction, they should be ‎compelled to ‎emigrate to it. ‎Palestine could thus be relieved of 200,000 Arabs”.‎

‎FDR also added that it would “be necessary to prescribe that no Arab should be ‎allowed ‎‎to immigrate into Palestine, and no Jew into the Arab lands.” ‎‎

The Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle, later recalled that,” The President was full ‎‎‎of Palestine” and that FDR called on Ronald Lindsay to call a conference of Arab ‎‎‎princes. FDR was adamant in having them lay down,‎

“say ‎‎$200,000,000 buying a farm ‎for every Arab who wishes to leave Palestine, the ‎money ‎chiefly to be used in digging ‎wells, which is perfectly possible in the Hedjaz.” ‎Here, it is ‎quite clear that Roosevelt ‎intended the Arabs to pay for the transfer of ‎the Arabs of ‎Palestine.‎"

‎British Ambassador Lindsay therefore asked Lancelot Oliphant of the British Foreign ‎‎‎Office to have someone prepare a “short answer to this scheme” to have in readiness, ‎‎‎although he stressed that he would not take the initiative in sending a reply to the ‎‎‎President. Lindsay’s request was first dealt with by Lacy Baggalay of the Foreign Office. ‎‎He first ‎quoted experts, who held that the possibilities of finding water in quantity by ‎‎boring in ‎Transjordan were, “quite restricted”. He then continued, “But even assuming ‎‎that water ‎could be found in large quantities, it is now out of the question that any Arabs ‎‎should be ‎‎'compelled' to emigrate to the lands thus brought into cultivation. "Whatever ‎‎else may ‎remain uncertain about the problem of Palestine, the impossibility of ‎‎compulsion on this ‎scale is now beyond dispute."‎

Oliphant sent a reply to Lindsay saying that the British ‎government would not even ‎‎contemplate such an idea, and it would be “thoroughly ‎unjust” to compel the Arabs to ‎‎transfer from Palestine “to make room for immigrants ‎‎[Jews] of a totally different race ‎‎who have had no connection with it [Palestine] for at ‎least 2,000 years.” He also brought, ‎‎in his words, the “fallacy” which Roosevelt was ‎using to try and solve the Palestine ‎‎problem.‎‎‎

There are those who blame,“the genesis of Roosevelt's idea of a forcible or voluntary ‎‎eviction of Palestinian Arabs ‎to Trans-Jordan or other neighboring lands" on ‎Roosevelt’s ‎contacts with Zionist circles in the summer of 1938 perhaps in discussions ‎with Brandeis ‎and ‎Frankfurter.”‎ But in truth the "Who" actually had given Roosevelt the idea that irrigation of the Transjordan desert ‎would create a ‎‎suitable location for the Arab transferees? The indications are that it came ‎from the State ‎‎Department where at that period Edward Norman was in contact with ‎government ‎‎officials to advance his own transfer plans. Although Norman was at the time ‎in contact ‎‎with the State Department, his plans were in fact to irrigate Iraq by means of ‎the dams it ‎‎had recently constructed.‎‎ ‎

Roosevelt summoned British Ambassador Lindsay for a further meeting, presumably during the first half of ‎‎‎November. At this meeting, the President said that he thought that “the British should call ‎‎‎in some of the Arab leaders from Palestine and some of the leaders from the adjoining ‎‎‎Arab countries.‎ ‎

‎"The British should explain to them that they, the Arabs, had within their ‎‎control large ‎territories ample to sustain their people.” He also pointed out that Jewish ‎‎immigration to ‎Palestine and Transjordan would not harm the Arabs since there was ‎‎plenty of room for ‎everyone. Roosevelt then went on to propose transfer of Arabs, “Some ‎‎of the Arabs on ‎poor land in Palestine could be given much better land in adjoining Arab ‎‎countries."‎

British Ambassador ‎‎Lindsay answered Roosevelt by saying that there was opposition in ‎both the Arab and ‎‎Moslem world but the President,“belittled this opposition and thought it due largely to British indecision and conflicting policy.”  Roosevelt had also thought of ‎ideas of how to finance this transfer. He thought that; “if a ‎plan was ‎devised for a ‎settlement of 100,000 families costing $3,000 a family or ‎‎$300 million the ‎funds might ‎be raised” by the American Government, the British and ‎French ‎Governments, and ‎private subscriptions - largely Jewish; each of these bodies ‎would ‎contribute $100 ‎million."‎‎

Towards the end of December the British Charge d'Affaires in Washington met with ‎‎‎Sumner Welles and handed him a memorandum on transfer received from the British ‎‎‎Government, adding that Roosevelt would probably be interested in it.‎‎ ‎After pointing out ‎that the latest available evidence did not bear out the belief that any ‎‎considerable quantity ‎of water could be obtained in Transjordan at shallow levels by ‎‎boring wells,the ‎memorandum continued,‎

‎“Suggestions have also been ‎made that if the ‎free offer of cultivable land in Transjordan ‎did not suffice to attract the ‎Arabs from ‎Palestine, they might be compelled to emigrate ‎from it, with the object of ‎vacating land in ‎Palestine for settlement by Jews.”‎

‎What is not mentioned here in all of this discussion and debate is the background of the ‎‎rise of Nazi Germany occurring during the years 1933 -1938. During this period the free ‎‎immigration of the Jews of Europe was of the utmost issue for Jewish circles. The critical ‎‎period of 1938-1941 was the period of the beginnings of war in Europe. It was also the ‎‎period of British appeasement to the Arabs of the severe restrictions of Jewish ‎‎immigration in the White Paper of 1939.‎

Until the Wannassee conference of January 1942 there was still hope in Jewish/Zionistic ‎‎circles that the Nazis would allow mass Jewish immigration. With the inevitable invasion ‎‎of Poland by the Nazis in September 1939 the doors of Europe began to close and the fate ‎‎of European Jewry was sealed.‎
The British Government was fearful of the repercussions in Britain, India and the ‎‎Moslem world if they should back Roosevelt's plan of Arab "resettlement". They saw the ‎threat to the sources of raw materials and oil for the Empire ‎in agreeing to Roosevelt’s ‎proposals. Their Empire would be in jeopardy due to their ‎promises made to the Jews. ‎His Majesty's ‎Government realized that they would be ‎accused of “unjustly trying to ‎force a long-established community ‎to leave its country in ‎order to make room for ‎immigrants of a race which has, in great ‎part, not lived in ‎Palestine for many ‎centuries.” The British Government also felt that the ‎problem of ‎‎“redistribution of the ‎Arab and Jewish communities in Palestine and across ‎the Jordan”, ‎was not one of finance ‎but rather of politics.‎On two occasions, Roosevelt raised his plan with British ‎representatives but he was ‎‎‎“firmly told that no amount of financial inducement would ‎move the Palestinian ‎Arabs.” ‎Roosevelt however, was unconvinced by this British ‎reply.‎‎

Chaim ‎Weizmann had his first meeting with Roosevelt in February 1940. At this ‎‎meeting, Roosevelt put forward ‎the idea of bribing the Arabs, asking Weizmann “What ‎‎about the Arabs? Can't that be ‎settled with a little baksheesh?” Weizmann replied that ‎‎“it ‎wasn't as simple as all that. Of ‎course the Jewish people would compensate the ‎Arabs in a ‎reasonable way for anything they got, but ‎there were other factors ‎appertaining to a ‎settlement.”‎
In December 1942 two and a half years later, Roosevelt told Treasury Secretary, Henry ‎‎‎Morgenthau,
“I actually would put a barbed wire around Palestine, and I would begin to ‎‎‎move the Arabs out of Palestine.... I would provide land for the Arabs in some other part ‎‎‎of the Middle East.... Each time we move out an Arab we would bring in another Jewish ‎‎‎family.... But I don't want to bring in more than they can economically support.... It ‎‎‎would be an independent nation just like any other nation.... Naturally, if there are 90 per ‎‎‎cent Jews, the Jews would dominate the government.... There are lots of places to which ‎‎‎you could move the Arabs. All you have to do is drill a well because there is a large ‎‎‎underground water supply, and we can move the Arabs to places where they can really ‎‎‎live.” ‎
In October 1943, the question of “barbed-wire” around Palestine came up again in a ‎‎‎conversation between Roosevelt and Judge Samuel Rosenman, Justice of the New York ‎‎‎Supreme Court and speechwriter and counselor to Roosevelt. Roosevelt had spoken of ‎‎‎the “possibility of settling the Palestine question by letting the Jews in to the limit that the ‎‎‎country will support them - with a barbed-wire fence around the Holy Land.” Rosenman ‎‎‎thought that this would work, “if the fence was a two-way one to keep the Jews in and the ‎‎‎Arabs out.” ‎

What should be mentioned here is that Roosevelt already knew full ‎well of the Nazi ‎program of mass genocide. He had been informed by Churchill in the ‎Casablanca ‎Conference January 14 to 24, 1943, of the entire text of the Protocols of the ‎Wannassee ‎conference gleaned from the transmission of the file through the Abwehr ‎G312 “Enigma” ‎program at Bletchley Park. ‎Roosevelt had also read the Polish Foreign Minister Count ‎Edward Raczynski's note which had been addressed to the Governments of the United ‎Nations on 10 December 1942 entitled, "The mass extermination of Jews in German ‎occupied Poland", which provided the Allies with the earliest and most accurate ‎accounts of the Holocaust.‎

In addition to being informed by documents and Intelligence reports during the course of ‎‎1943 an officer in the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (abbreviation: ZWZ or Union of Armed ‎Struggle) of the Polish underground, Jan Karski, traveled to Washington as an emissary ‎of the Polish Resistance to meet with President Franklin Roosevelt and report directly to ‎the President on the European conflict and specifically conditions in his own country, ‎Poland. ‎

In 1942 Karski was selected by Cyryl Ratajski, the Polish Government's Delegate at ‎Home, to perform a secret mission to gather information about Nazi atrocities in occupied ‎Poland. In order to gather evidence, Karski met Bund activist Leon Feiner and was twice ‎smuggled by Jewish underground leaders into the Warsaw Ghetto for the purpose of ‎showing him first hand what was happening to the Polish Jews. Karski had visited Bełżec ‎death camp disguised as a Ukrainian camp guard and had gained first hand eyewitness to ‎the extermination of the Jews of Europe. Karski reported to the Polish, British and U.S. ‎governments in 1942 on the situation in Poland and especially on the the extermination of ‎the Jews. He had done so by smuggling out a microfilm with further textual information ‎in German as proof from the Underground Movement on the extermination of European ‎Jews in occupied Poland.

Karski met with Polish politicians in exile including the Polish Prime Minister ‎Władysław Sikorski , as well as members of political parties such as the PPS, SN, SP, ‎SL, Jewish Bund and Poalei Zion. He also spoke to Anthony Eden, the British foreign ‎secretary who reported the meeting directly to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, ‎in a detailed statement on what Karski had seen in Warsaw and Bełżec. Karski then ‎traveled to the United States to report to President Franklin D.Roosevelt. Roosevelt ‎requested that Karski meet with Justice Frankfurter and Rabbi Stephen Wise, as it would ‎be of vital concern for them to be apprised of the horrors befalling their fellow Jews in ‎Poland. Frankfurter and Wise listened to Karski’s detailed eyewitness accounts from ‎Belzec concentration camp of the program of extermination of the Jewish people carried ‎out by the Nazis. ‎

Karski’s testimony of this conference, with Roosevelt, Frankfurter and Wise was ‎recorded with a theatrical fervor that embodied the shock and the moral challenge that ‎presented Frankfurter with the human inability to "conceive the unconceivable" when ‎told of the methodical extermination of the Jewish people and to recognize what Karski ‎calls ' the unprecedented' extent of the genocide, in an interview titled "The Karski ‎Report” for the 1978 documentary film "Shoah" - "Holocaust", by Claude Lanzmann ‎

At the beginning of November 1944, Roosevelt was elected President for an ‎‎‎unprecedented fourth term. A few days later, Roosevelt discussed the Palestine situation ‎‎‎with the Under-Secretary of State, Edward Stettinius. After telling Roosevelt of their ‎‎‎difficulties regarding Palestine, Stettinius wrote in his diary, that Roosevelt felt confident ‎‎‎that he would be able to “iron out” the whole Arab-Jewish issue. “He thinks Palestine ‎‎‎should be for the Jews and no Arabs should be in it”, continued Stettinius, “and he has ‎‎‎definite ideas on the subject. It should be exclusive Jewish territory.”‎‎ ‎

Roosevelt developed his ideas for the transfer of the Arabs from Palestine during the last ‎‎‎six or seven years of his life through his insight on the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany. ‎‎Some believe that Roosevelt's views had become more extreme as time progressed as he ‎heard from State Department ‎officials and Military Intelligence reports of the events ‎happening in Eastern Europe ‎against the Jews.‎Originally recommending the transfer of ‎two hundred thousand Arabs, he eventually ‎‎stated unequivocally that “Palestine should ‎be for the Jews and no Arabs should be in it.” ‎

Almost all the statements that are quoted on this subject were not written by Roosevelt ‎‎himself, but by the ‎various people he worked and met with. There are no recordings ‎‎either. This however, is characteristic of Franklin D. ‎Roosevelt since he was a man who ‎‎always had one eye cocked on historians who would ‎someday assess his role in history. ‎‎He tried to cover his historical tracks, using ‎unrecorded telephone conversations and ‎‎unrecorded private interviews .

The Jewish people wherever they are aspire for peace. For over two thousand years, our ‎‎people ‎have known discrimination, bigotry, death and destruction with no place to run ‎to.The chief American Zionist leaders at that terrible time Louis Brandeis, Felix ‎Frankfurter ‎and Henry ‎Morgenthau knew that the fate of millions of Jews were at stake. ‎But the ‎world’s apathy and closed doors and most importantly Arab hatred epitomized by ‎the ‎Grand Mufti of “Palestine” Haj Amin Al-Husseini lead to the death of SIX million ‎‎innocent Jewish lives.‎

No thinking intelligent ‎individual whether he be Jew or Gentile desires the horrors of ‎‎death and destruction ‎caused by war and terrorism. Tolerance and the willingness to sit ‎‎down with one’s former ‎arch enemy for the sake of peace initiated by the late Itzhak ‎‎Rabin z”l who gave his life ‎in an attempt to bring peace to the Middle East calumniated ‎‎in the 1993 ‘Oslo Accords’. ‎The quest for peace during the past decade was the keystone ‎‎of the administrations of ‎former Prime Ministers Ehud Barak and even Arik Sharon.‎

However at every instance the Palestinians have opted for more and more violence.‎

The tremendous desire for a true peace and an end to the cycle of violence between our ‎‎‎two peoples has led Israel to make endless and painful concessions to the Arabs with NOTHING in return.We Israeli’s ‎‎‎have evacuated the Sinai and it’s settlements for Peace with Egypt. We also “disengaged” ‎‎‎from the Gaza Strip, a step which severely traumatized parts of our people, for no ‎‎‎concessions in return other than that the Palestinian people acknowledge our right to ‎‎‎exist. It is sadly regrettable that the Palestinian people have continued to react to the ‎‎‎Israeli concessions with over 12,000 rockets and mortar rounds. ‎

Recently, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to the US publicly said. "No Jews should ‎‎‎be allowed to live in" any part of a future Palestinian state. If ‎he had said "no Israelis," that would be one thing; however, he excludes all Jews ‎‎‎‎(presumably even the handful of ultra-orthodox Neturai Karta who are anti-Zionist), and ‎thereby reveals ‎‎the full truth behind the conflict.‎

The keystone of the new Hamas led Palestinian Government is the denial of the ‘Oslo ‎‎‎Accords’and the Iranian policy of the total extermination of the State of Israel and of the Jews within. Their ‎‎‎leaders make endless speeches of hatred and there is a total lack of the teaching of ‎‎‎tolerant and peace among their youth.‎

Moderate and “Educated” Arabs as well as those Arab countries who wish to live in a “Just and ‎‎‎Lasting “ Peace for the Middle East, need to prove to the Jews of Israel their willingness to enter ‎‎‎a new “Golden Age”. All hatred and death must stop now.‎‎

Epilogue:‎

Following the First World War, Emir Feisal, son of Sherif Hussein (Husayn) of Mecca, ‎and the leader of the Arab movement, met in Aqaba with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the head ‎of the Zionist Commission to Palestine. Later, at the Paris Peace Conference, the two ‎negotiated and signed an agreement, which spoke of full cooperation in the development ‎of the independent Arab state in present-day Syria and Iraq (as promised by the British to ‎Feisal) and the Jewish home in Palestine (from the Balfour Declaration), and encouraging ‎‎"the immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale". The agreement was not carried ‎out, mostly due to the change in Allied policy regarding the Arab State which Feisal had ‎planned to establish. ‎

The two defining articles of the agreement were:‎

Article I ‎:
The Arab State and "Palestine" (Note: Feisal is referring here to the Jewish State) in all their relations and ‎undertakings shall be controlled by the most cordial goodwill and understanding and to ‎this end Arab and Jewish duly accredited agents shall be established and maintained in ‎the respective territories.
 ‎
Article IV:
All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews ‎into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants ‎upon the land through closer settlement and intensive cultivation of the soil. In taking ‎such measures the Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights and ‎shall be assisted in forwarding their economic development. ‎

Also during the peace conference following World War I, the Emir Feisal exchanged ‎letters with Justice Felix Frankfurter, professing his support for Zionist aims. In the light ‎of later history and the current characterization of the Zionist movement, it is significant ‎that Feisal wrote: ‎

‎“I hope the Arabs may soon be in a position to make the Jews some return for their ‎kindness. We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two ‎movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist. ‎Our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both. ‎Indeed I think that neither can be a real success without the other.”‎

‎“People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need ‎for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists have been trying to exploit the local difficulties ‎that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements. Some of ‎them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to ‎the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make ‎capital out of what they call our differences.” ‎

These promises above are forgotten by today’s “Moderate” Palestinians Sari Nusseibeh ‎recently wrote: “The Israeli government's current mantra is that the Palestinians must ‎recognize a "Jewish State".”‎

‎"[The] Jewish State is the state of the Jewish people … it is a state in which every Jew ‎has the right to return …” former president of the Supreme Court of Israel, Aharon Barak

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