This Week's Reason for Rockets

The other night, our siren went off, indicating that there were incoming rockets to Netanya, where we live. My first response, on my way to the kids' room, was an expletive. The rockets were coming in from Gaza, a good 98 kilometers south of here (or almost 61 miles). It's approximately the same distance from Detroit to Toledo, Ohio, if that helps at all.

 

We're actually pretty far from Gaza, comparatively. Tel Aviv gets more rockets than we do, so, all in all, we're relatively safe. However, that doesn't make me feel any better about rushing my kids to the safe room after they're all sleeping, nor does it make me feel any more secure about the situation. Nor does it make me happy about the fact that there's now no school, no parks, and no beaches. We're officially being forced to be shut-ins.

So why the 'sudden' rise in violence from Arabs (not Israeli Arabs, mind you)? I'm referring to the "Palestinians," the ones stuck in Gaza, living under the wonderful (I use that term ironically) auspices of the affirmed terrorist group, Hamas, and, more officially, the 'do-nothing-but-steal' Palestinian Authority. 

There is a reason for the violence against innocent Israeli civilians. There's always a [claimed] reason... this time, that there are Arabs allegedly being illegally evicted from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah by allegedly racist Jews.

The short version of the truth is that it's basically a landlord-tenant issue, something I'm very familiar with as an attorney. Here, the Arabs, who had been long-time tenants of Jewish landlords, were either illegally squatting or overstaying as tenants (unlawfully remaining in the property past the end of their lease term) and the Jewish landlords had decided they wanted the tenants out. The Jews took the Arab tenants to court to get their rights enforced and won at every level. Period. That's it. No drama necessary. In most "normal" countries, this would have been the end of it. But in Israel, when something provides an excuse for violence, many times, the Palestinian Arabs will take it.

Let's start from the beginning of this case. In the city of Jerusalem, the capital of the legitimate and recognized country of Israel, there's an upscale Arab neighborhood named Sheikh Jarrah, about a mile north of the Old City of Jerusalem. And before you get all excited that Sheikh Jarrah is in some broken down area where Arabs live in squalor amongst the rats, here's a nice description of the area:

A quiet, affluent district, Alshaykh Jarah is known for the American Colony, a stately Ottoman palace turned hotel with lush gardens and shops selling books and antiques. The area is also home to consulates, the late-19th-century St. George’s Cathedral, and archaeological sites including the Tomb of Simeon the Just, said to hold the remains of the priest. Upscale bars and Middle Eastern eateries dot the neighborhood.

Some of the land and property is owned by Jews (it is an Israeli country). Legally, the rights of the owners and the tenants was determined both centuries and decades ago, respectively. We're talking 19th century (1800s, to be clear) and the 1950s....

Why is it an issue now? Honestly? Because the Palestinian Arabs are frustrated and angry. To be honest, this is what oftentimes happens in landlord-tenant disputes. I suppose I can't blame them for being upset that their tenancy is over, but it happens. The landlord doesn't renew the lease because you're a lousy tenant or because he wants more money or because he doesn't approve of your behavior or because he wants to renovate or who cares. It's his/her legal right. Here it appears that some Arab leases naturally expired, some leases were violated by the tenants, and others are just illegal squatters with no legal rights whatsoever.

Regardless, being pissed off doesn't give you any new legal rights. 

But let's play the 'what if' game. What if the judicial system of the Ottoman Empire and British Mandate law and Israeli law were all wrong? What if the tenants have the right to continue to live in Jerusalem? Does that give Hamas and all the anti-Israel crowd the right to fire hundreds and thousands of rockets into a neighboring country against innocent civilians who had nothing to do with a landlord-tenant issue and who have likely never even heard of this neighborhood? Does that give pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel people the right to proactively threaten, "in support," to murder Jewish people in New York simply because they're Jewish (yes, this is happening)?

By the way, in case someone makes a claim that this is a violation of international law, it couldn't be further from the truth.  

Fact: International law does not forbid Jews to live in areas of Israel that the media likes to refer to as the "Occupied Palestinian Territories."

Fact: International law does not forbid individual Jews from owning property in the "Occupied Palestinian Territories."

Fact: International law does not require, much less permit, ethnically based denial of the legal rights of property owners.

In other words, Israel, the country, cannot deny individual Jewish landowners their legal rights, even if other Israeli laws are wrong. This has nothing, zero, zilch, bagel to do with allegedly illegal settlement activity.

So now you know why they're firing rockets at us. 

It's an excuse. Nothing but an excuse to murder Jewish children and Jewish adults.

There Are No Palestinian Jewish Refugees; There Are No Palestinian Arab Refugees.

In 1917, the British Empire wrested Palestine away from the Ottoman Turks and occupied the land there until 1947. Shortly thereafter, the UN decided to divide the area into a country for the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews accepted this partition plan even though they were only going to receive 20% of the land and even though Jerusalem would not be completely included either.

Not one of the 22 Arab states were happy with this partition simply because it provided Jews with a Jewish country. Not only did they reject it, but seven Arab nations decided to wipe it off the map within one day of its birth.

In order to protect Arabs, those seven nations warned the Arabs living in Israel at the time to flee, to get out of the way of their incoming armies. Those Arabs, approximately 539,000 of them, followed their instructions and voluntarily abandoned their homes and property so that the Jews would (in their hope) be murdered and eliminated. The seven nations promised the Arabs that they could return and move into the Jews' houses after the anticipated successful annihilation of the Jews.

"We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter in. The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down." -Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Said, quoted in Sir Am Nahbah ("The Secret Behind the Disaster") by Nimr el Hawari Nazareth, 1952

The Palestinian Jews tried to get the Palestinian Arabs to stay.

"Every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and business open and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe. [However] ...A large road convoy, escorted by [British] military... left Haifa for Beirut yesterday... Evacuation by sea goes on steadily. ...[Two days later, the Jews were] still making every effort to persuade the Arab populace to remain and to settle back into their normal lives in the towns... [as for the Arabs,] another convoy left Tireh for Transjordan, and the evacuation by sea continues. The quays and harbor are still crowded with refugees and their household effects, all omitting no opportunity to get a place on one of the boats leaving Haifa." -Haifa District HQ of the British Police, April 26, 1948, quoted in Battleground by Samuel Katz

The Arabs refused, choosing instead to abandon their possessions and land. "The Arabs did not want to submit to a truce; they rather preferred to abandon their homes, their belongings and everything they possessed in the world and leave the town. This is in fact what they did." -Jamal Husseini, Acting Chairman of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee, told to the United Nations Security Council, quoted in the UNSC Official Records (N. 62), April 23, 1948, p.14.

At the same time, 850,000 Jews were expelled from other Arab countries where they had lived for hundreds of years. Some of the people who were forced to leave were successful professionals, and they left behind their property which was, of course, immediately confiscated. They all fled to the newly born Israel.

These Jewish refugees were immediately accepted by the State of Israel. They were given shelter, food, and clothing. They were treated as equals.

The Arab refugees who had voluntarily abandoned their land and property for the other Arab nations were not welcomed. They were treated as unwelcome migrants and placed in dilapidated refugee camps. The UN, through UNRWA, gave assistance because the host countries refused to.

Eventually, the camps become training camps for terrorists whose goal was to eliminate Israel. The host countries provided the training, weapons, explosives, and yet, the Arabs still weren't considered full citizens.

Rather, these Arab countries kept the displaced Arabs in misery, fed their anger, and used them as tools against the Jews and Israel, and pawns in the worldwide media.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, a refugee is "someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence." Based on this definition, there are no Palestinian Arab refugees. The Palestinian Jews never forced any Palestinian Arabs to leave. Quite the contrary. The Jews practically begged the Arabs to stay.

The Haifa Workers Council posted a bulletin on April 28, 1948, stating, "...our city flourished and developed for the good of both Jewish and Arab residents... Do not destroy your homes with your own hands; do not bring tragedy upon yourselves by unnecessary evacuation and self-imposed burdens. By moving out you will be overtaken by poverty and humiliation. But in this city, yours and ours, Haifa, the gates are open for work, for life, and for peace, for you and your families."

Even Great Britain recognized what was going on. The Times of London reported on April 4, 1948, "...the Jewish Hagana asked (using loudspeakers) Arabs to remain at their homes but most of the Arab population followed their leaders who asked them to leave the country."

Additionally, even if they were refugees, this status does not extend to further generations.

"The refugee status of the Palestinians was perpetuated by the host countries and the Palestinian leadership, and by the international community, through the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the only UN body dedicated to a specific refugee group (all other refugees in the world are the responsibility of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees). As a result, refugee status was passed down from father to son to grandson over 50 years, so that, today, they number three million to four million. That is why the Palestinians now account for about one-fourth of the world's refugees -- an impressive figure until one imagines how many refugees there would be if all the Finns and Germans and Indian Hindus and Muslims and European Jews who were made refugees after the Second World War (not to speak of the Greeks and Turks and Armenians who were made refugees during and after the First World War) were still considered refugees in the year 2000." -Mark Heller, co-author of No Trumpets, No Drums: A Two-State Settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

In essence, the "Arab Palestinian Refugee" problem is of their own doing. They made the decision to abandon their land, property, and possessions because they assumed the Arab countries would kill the Jews and defeat Israel. Their intent was evil and their actions backfired. They trusted other Arab countries who, not only failed to protect and take care of them, but then used them as weapons against the Israeli state and the Jews. They are now trying to take advantage of other countries, the UN, and people's ignorance of history and law. We cannot allow this.

The Palestinian Jews had requested that the Palestinian Arabs stay. Israel has gone above and beyond to make peace with them. They still turn it down. The Arabs still hate and kill. History hasn't changed, and neither will the future. Let us be honest with them and ourselves and move forward from here. Let us focus on Israel and her Jewish future.