“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Palestinian Propaganda and the Facts Don’t Line Up

I have been exploring Israel for almost 25 years, and I have spent a lot of time in Israel getting familiar with the facts on the ground. I can tell you without any hesitation that Palestinian propaganda and the facts don’t line up.

It started in May 1948 when the U.N. recognized Israel as an independent state following the British Mandate Period. The mandate territory was divided into 2 parts: Israel and Transjordan. Today, Transjordan is called “Jordan”. Israel was supposed to control the land west of the Jordan River north of the Dead Sea to the Lebanon border and the land west of a straight line south of the Dead Sea to Eilat, Israel. Arabs were supposed to control the rest.

The day the U.N. recognized Israel, the combined Arab armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq attacked the fledgling country along with contingents from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Arab leaders told Arabs living in what we call “Israel” today to pack up and leave temporarily while they drove the Jews into the sea. They were told that they could return after a very short war and loot the Jews’ property.

Israel urged the Arabs living in what we call “Israel” today to stay and help them build the country. Some did stay put. Abu Ghosh is an Arab community in Israel that stayed put and prospered, but most Arabs followed the advice of Arab leaders. They packed up their belongings and headed out.

Immediately after the U.N. recognized Israel, about 260,000 Jews living in Arab countries were forced to flee for their lives. They weren’t allowed to take any possessions with them. Most of them settled in what we call “Israel” today. Over the next 2 years, another 700,000 Jews were forced to flee Arab countries for the lives. Again, they were not allowed to take their possessions with them. Most of them settled in what we call “Israel” today.

At most, 700,000 Arabs left Israel hoping to return and loot the Jews’ property, but Israel won the war. Those Arabs never returned, but now, they want to return and claim “their land”.

A Few Facts

1. The Jews leaving Arab countries didn’t have a choice. It was leave or die. Arabs who left Israel did so by choice. They were hoping for a big payday.
2. Today, we call the Arabs who left Israel “Palestinians”, but until Yasser Arafat started the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, they were simply called “Arabs”.
3. Yasser Arafat was an Egyptian.
4. “The value of Jewish property left behind and confiscated by the Arab governments is estimated to be at least 50 percent higher than the total value of assets lost by the Palestinian refugees.”
5. “In the 1950’s, John Measham Berncastle, under the aegis of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, estimated that total assets lost by Palestinian refugees from 1948— including land, buildings, movable property, and frozen bank accounts — amounted to roughly $350 million ($650 per refugee). Adding in an additional $100 million for assets lost by Palestinian refugees as a result of the Six Day War, an approximate total is $450 million — $4.4 billion in 2012 prices. By contrast, the value of assets lost by the Jewish refugees — compiled by a similar methodology — is estimated at $700 million – roughly $6.7 billion today.”

The Arabs who chose to leave Israel made a bad bet. They took the advice of their leaders, and their leaders lost the war.

Palestinian propaganda is one big lie, but there are plenty of ignorant people who buy it. The Western media seldom tells the truth about Israel, but it carefully avoids telling the truth about what happened during Israel’s War of Independence.

What About “Palestinian Refugees”?

Contrary to popular opinion and stories told in the Western media, not all “Palestinians” live in refugee camps. For example, today Jordan is predominantly “Palestinian”, but a very small percentage of them live in refugee camps. Refugee camps were established to create festering sores for the world to see following Israel’s defeat of the combined Arab armies in the War of Independence in 1948, the Six Day War in 1967, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

For Arabs, it has been one humiliating defeat after another for more than 70 years. Those refugee camps are used to raise money from ignorant donors around the world who are not willing to familiarize themselves with the facts. Most of the money raised from those donors is used to enrich “Palestinian” leaders.

A Few Enlightening Quotes

“The people are in great need of a ‘myth’ to fill their consciousness and imagination….” Musa Alami, 1948

“Since 1948 Arab leaders have approached the Palestine problem in an irresponsible manner…. They have used the Palestine people for selfish political purposes. This is ridiculous and, I could say, even criminal.” King Hussein of Jordan, 1960

“The nations of Western Europe condemned Israel’s position despite their guarantee of her security…. They understood that … their dependence upon sources of energy precluded their allowing themselves to incur Arab wrath.” Al-Haytham Al-Ayubi, Arab Palestinian military strategist, 1974

Quotes from PLO Leader Yasser Arafat

“Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations.”

“Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.”

“The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromise.”

“In order to obtain the goal of returning to Palestine, all of us sometimes have to grit our teeth. But it is forbidden that this harm the continued struggle against the Zionist enemy. Cooperation and understanding between the P.L.O. and the rejectionist organizations is what will lead to the speedy retreat of Israel from the occupied territories in the first stage, until the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem. Only a state like that can then continue the struggle to remove the enemy from all Palestinian lands.”

“The Israelis are mistaken if they think we do not have an alternative to negotiations. By Allah I swear they are wrong. The Palestinian people are prepared to sacrifice the last boy and the last girl so that the Palestinian flag will be flown over the walls, the churches and the mosques of Jerusalem.”

“We shall never stop until we can go back home and Israel is destroyed… The goal of our struggle is the end of Israel, and there can be no compromises or mediations… the goal of this violence is the elimination of Zionism from Palestine in all its political, economic and military aspects… We don’t want peace, we want victory. Peace for us means Israel’s destruction and nothing else.”

“Our law is a Jordanian law that we inherited, which applies to both the West Bank and Gaza, and sets the death penalty for those who sell land to Israelis.”

“We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.”

“The victory march will continue until the Palestinian flag flies in Jerusalem and in all of Palestine.”

“I want to tell Carter and Begin that when the Arabs set off their volcano there will be only Arabs in this part of the world… Our people will continue to fuel the torch of the revolution with rivers of blood until the whole of the occupied homeland is liberated, the whole of the homeland is liberated, not just a part of it.”

See “The Day Yasser Arafat Left Israel for the Last Time: A True Story”.

Although Yasser Arafat is dead, Palestinian leaders in the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and in Hamas in Gaza are carrying on using Arafat’s game plan. The Oslo Accords have proven that fact beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even so, Israel tries to live in peace with Palestinians. It’s not easy to live in peace with a neighbor who wants to eliminate you and your family.

A recent U.N. commission report blamed Israel’s “perpetual occupation” of Palestinian territory as the “key root” of constant tensions and recurring cycles of violence in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. (See “‘Waste of Money’: Israel Bashes UN Probe Blaming ‘Occupation’ of Palestinian Areas for Continued Conflict”.) That conclusion ignores the fact that Palestinians engage in unprovoked attacks on Israeli civilians almost daily. When Israel finally responds to the attacks, Israel is called “the aggressor”. That’s nonsense, but the U.N. supports that conclusion.

The U.N. has a long and sordid history of taking sides against Israel no matter what, and lies are spread about Israel in the U.N. and accepted as truth without any facts to support the claims. The Israeli government bashed the U.N. commission report, because it is nothing more than Palestinian propaganda. It is being trumpeted by U.N. member states and individuals who have bought Palestinian propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

The goal of Palestinian leaders and their supporters is and always has been to “drive the Jews into the sea”. Iranian leaders say it a little differently. They say that they want to “wipe Israel off the map”. Those statements mean the same thing.

When Palestinian leaders talk about Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, they are talking about all of Israel. Their slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” makes that clear. The river is the Jordan River. The sea is the Mediterranean Sea. That is all of Israel. In other words, as far as Palestinian leaders are concerned, as long as Israel exists, it is occupying Palestinian territory.

No matter how hard they try, Israel’s enemies won’t succeed, because Yahweh is Israel’s Protector. He will draw all the nations of the world (that might be the U.N.) to Jerusalem for a confrontation that will settle the matter once and for all. This is how Yahweh explained it to Zechariah in Zechariah 12 and 14:

Thus declares Yahweh who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. In that day,” declares Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through Yahweh Sabaoth, their Elohim.’” (Zechariah 12: 1-5)

Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh, my Elohim, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! (Zechariah 14: 1-5)

Getting Up to Speed

For people who are interested in learning more than just “Palestinian” propaganda, reading From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters would be a good way to begin. She worked for President Carter while he was negotiating the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. What she learned in the process of doing her job opened her eyes.

The facts are crystal clear. Israel is the victim in the Middle East, not the aggressor. I think Israel will remain a victim until Yahweh returns, but she will be portrayed by the world as the aggressor. Don’t buy the world’s lies.

There is no rational way to explain Israel’s survival much less her remarkable prosperity without taking Yahweh into account. No thinking person would take sides against Him, and He is pro-Israel. He said it so clearly in the Bible that you need help to be confused.

Israel isn’t perfect, because it’s run by humans. But it is a place where the rule of law is the accepted norm, and it’s safe, much safer than most places in the U.S. even with the constant threat of terrorist attacks. The Palestinian territories (the West Bank and Gaza) are run by despots who brutalize their own people. Arabs living in Israel are free to go about their business unmolested, and they do. Jews who visit the Palestinian territories are putting their lives at risk for just being there.

Anyone who takes sides against Yahweh is begging for trouble, and he will get trouble with a capital “T” and with an exclamation point at the end. The consequence of taking sides against Yahweh is more horrific than anyone can imagine.

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18

See “His Name is Yahweh”.