>Since the Middle East crisis has worsened in recent weeks, and since
>Arab terrorism is mounting to an increasingly dangerous degree,

[ Had standard techniques of riot control been used as have been used in
Japan, Europe and civilized countries, to whit - water cannon and/or high
frequency and high decibel sound - rather than live ammunition (dumdum
bullets -which as I recall are illegal for sale in the United States,
standard live ammunition, and plastic coated (inspite of the common phrase
of "rubber coated" it happens to be a plastic compound) steel bullets, all
of which are deadly if aimed properly.), "Arab terrorism" might not have
increased.  Defending oneself against overwhelming force by another side is
hardly "terrorist", it is self-defense, an inalienable human right agreed to
universally by jurists.   Moreover there is terrorism conducted by
individuals and State Terrorism.  The latter is the more insidious since
States as a rule wield more power than small groups of individuals acting on
their own.   The use of an occupation Army using tools of war such as not
only those described above but attack helicopter gunships firing missiles on
unarmed civilians (if one considers that a sling-shot holding a rock is the
weapon of choice from the Bronze age, while laser guided missiles are the
weapon of choice for the 21st Century), is not only blatantly and flagrantly
illegal by international law, but serves no other purpose than to strike
terror in the hearts of those upon which it is being used.  It serves no
other tactical or strategic purpose than terrorism.   Let us call a spade a
spade. ]

>endangering our own armed forces and American civilians,

[ When one joins the armed forces, one knows that one is placing oneself in
harm's way.  This is part of the contract.  That is why they call them
"armed" forces.  As for American civilians, to date, none have been placed
in harms way, unless you consider the nudnik, Hillel Lieberman, who held
dual citizenship and decided on his own to go back to "Joseph's Tomb" to
pray, when the armed forces of the IDF had already cleared out.  This is
analagous to the man who would not leave Mt. St. Helens even though he was
warned by EVERY AUTHORITY on vulcanism, that the mountain was getting ready
to literally blow its top.
  People such as this are deserving of the annual Darwin Awards.   The
United States State Department has issued a strict advisory that unless
there is pressing business, NO AMERICAN CITIZEN should travel to the Middle
East at the present time.   Now if someone decides on their own to enter
what is clearly a war zone, where passions are now taking precedence over
common sense, they have thus made a decision to place themselves in harms
way. ]

 we should
>pause to consider certain historical facts which have been reported
>by an Arab-American journalist, Joseph Farah, who writes a column,
>"Between the Lines," on 2000 WorldNetDaily.com.
>He predicted this uprising weeks ago since he has had first-hand
>experience there, dodging more than his share of rocks and mortar
>shells.

[ Well I trumped him.  I predicted this three years ago, and the only thing
that surprises me is that it took so long. ]

 He says that the Arab outrage for Sharon's visit to an Arab
>holy site is just another phony excuse for rioting, trouble-making
>and land-grabbing.

[ Since 1920 the only people in the area designated by the League of Nations
as the Palestine Mandate [euphemism at the time for colony]that have grabbed
any land have been the Zionists.  Moreover whether this land was purchased
via the Jewish National Fund, also known as Keren Kayemuth L'Israel, an
integral part of the World Zionist Organization/Jewish Agency; stolen from
the native civilian inhabitants after and during the 1948 War; or grabbed by
pseudo-legal pretexts after the 1967 war; the result has been the continuing
loss of property by the native Arab inhabitants who began defining
themselves as Palestinians at the beginning of the 20th Century (see George
Antonius - The Arab Awakening. ).  Moreover land purchased by the JNF from
quite often, absentee Effendi landlords, was purchased "in perpetuity" for
"The Jewish People", and entity which is contentious as far as the definite
article "THE" is concerned.  Undoubtedly there are Jewish people, just as
there are Catholic people and Muslim people.  The goal of nationalizing what
was for over two millenia one of the three Abrahamic religions, was an
enterprise begun by Chaim Weizmann, the head of the WZO after the death of
Theodor Herzl.
    Many Jews, you will find will contend that there is no "THE Jewish
People" there are merely Jewish people, or people who happen to be Jews by
reason of birth or by reason of conversion. ]

>Prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there was no serious movement for
>a Palestinian homeland.

[ Then no doubt you are unaware of the riots of 1920-21, the King-Crane
Commission, the revolt of 1936-39 and other expressions and responses to
Palestinian nationalism that were manifest during the entire period of the
British Mandate (see Ploughing Sand by Naomi Shephard, which documents the
utter failure of British policy in the middle east, especially PALESTINE. ]
 
 

 But that was before the Israelis seized the
>West Bank and Old Jerusalem. In the Six-Day War, Israel captured
>Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't capture these
>territories from Yasser Arafat. They captured them from Jordan's King
>Hussein. Why did all these Palestinians suddenly discover their
>national identity after Israel won thewar?
 

[ Reacting to the UNSCOP commission majority report which favored partition,
as opposed to the minority report which favored federalization, the
Palestinian Arabs rejected the partitioning plan as an infringement of their
self-determination as well as on demographic and logical grounds.  They
argued thta the proposed Jewish State which the UN was proposing comprised
56% of PALESTINE, yet the Jewish population (including illegal immigrants)
comprised only 31% of the population.  They pointed to the logical
inconsistency of a plan that rejected the idea of ALL of Palestine being an
Arab stgate because that state would contain a Jewish minority of 31%, yet
accepted the idea of a Jewish state that would encompass an even larger Arab
minority of 46% within its borders.  Moreover, the Arabs of Palestine
objected that 80% of the territory designated for a Jewish state was owned
by Arabs, tht it would garner 7/8ths of the Arab citrus groves and that it
included major population centers (in the Galilee).  The territory remaining
for an Arab state would be impoverished and dependent on subventions and
relief from the Jewish state or elsewhere.  The British foreign secretary
considered the UN-proposed boundaries to be manifestly unfair to the
Palestinian Arabs noting that many saw them as "little more than a joke".
The Arabs further objected that they were effectively prevented from
participating in UN subcommittee negotiations concerning the boundaries and
conditions of partition.  This also recalled that there were no native Arabs
present during the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, there was only
one Arab present (Feisel) at the Paris Peace Talks where the British were
"given" the Mandate and the B.D. was incorporated into it under pressure
from the Zionist delegation present which was headed by Chaim Weizmann and
Max Nordau the two leaders of the Z.O.
   Moreover, since the Mandate had by law expired with the demise of the
League, there was a juridical question as to whether the UN even had
jurisdiction over the disposition of Palestine.  There were appeals to the
International Court in the Hague, which for obvious political reasons
refused to review the case.
    In addition to that David Ben-Gurion in his capacity as head of the
Yeshuv (the Jewish Community in Palestine which functioned as a state within
a state for all intents and purposes) stated at the Biltmore Conference held
in NYC in 1942 that:

   "The debate has not been for or against the DIVISIBILITY of Eretz Israel
(The Land of Israel as defined in the Hebrew Bible, the Tenakh.).  NO
ZIONIST can forego the SMALLEST PORTION of Eretz Israel.  The debate was
over which of two routes would lead more quickly to the common goal. AFTER
THE FORMATION OF A LARGE ARMY IN THE WAKE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE,
WE WILL ABOLISH PARTITION AND EXPAND TO THE WHOLE OF PALESTINE." [Ben-Gurion
speech to both the Biltmore conference in 1942 and to the Zionist
Executive - the executive branch of the World Zionist Organization - in
1937 ]

     However the WZO/JA had a good reason for officially accepting
partition, at least as a steppingstone: (1) it offered the first
INTERNATIONAL recognistion of the legitimacy of a JEWISH STATE (as oppposed
to A NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE, as expressed in the Balfour
Declaration and then in the Mandate for Palestine.) in Palestine, and (2)
they believed they had made arrangements (secretly) with King Abdullah of
Transjordan that would preclude the UN-proposed independent Palestinian Arab
State. ]

>The truth is that there was no Arab "Palestine" till the United
>Nations established Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1947,

[ Palestine had been an unincorporated division of Greater Syria under the
Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years.]
 

 hoping that
>there would be a peaceful co-existing Palestinian state for Arabs
>choosing to leave the newly established Jewish state of Israel for
>whatever reason.

[ see above]

 However, Arab armies fought against the UN decree
>from the beginning,

[ From the time of passage of UNGA 181, a civil war erupted among the
population of Palestine with Zionist Jews (and some non-Jews for their own
reasons) on one side and the Palestinian Arabs on the other.  Anti-Zionist
ultra-orthodox pious Jews such as the Neturei Karta and the Satmar Hasidim
refused to have anything to do with the conflict.   This civil war, although
there was some infiltration by small commando forces from the adjacent Arab
states, was basically that, a civil war.  The Arab Armies, such as they were
under the Arab High Command, titularly headed by King Abdullah (who had
forged a side deal with the Zionists as documented above) since the Arab
Legion of TransJordan was basically the only "modern" Armed Arab force in
the region headed by Sir John Baggot Glubb "Glubb Pasha" of the British
Army; did not enter any hostilities en masse until Ben-Gurion declared the
Establishment of the State of Israel at midnight on 15 May 1948. ]
 
 

and were roundly defeated by the Jewish forces.

[ as had been predicted by virtually every military expert in the world]
>That should have been the end of Arab hopes for yet another Arab
>country.

[ Why? Does might make right?  A great injustice was done which has not been
rectified after more than half a century.  What is now occurring are the
very difficult birthpangs of that usurption by colonialist, imperialist and
political Zionist forces over the native inhabitants since 1917, each for
their own specific reasons.
The Crusader State of the Middle Ages lasted 88 years.  Israel is now 52
years in existence.  There is still plenty of time to correct the "original
sin". ]

>The first time the name, Palestine, was used was in 70 A.D. when the
>Romans committed genocide against the Jews,

[ It was named Philistia after the name of the ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE
REGION.]
 

 smashed the Temple and
>declared the land of Israel would be no more.
 

[ The northern Kingdom of Israel had been destroyed decades earlier.  What
was no more was the province of Judea as a semi-autonomous "entity". ]
 

From then on, the
>Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was derived
>from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews
>centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to
>injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia.

[ so what.  Istanbul was Constantinople.  Alexandria was once Heliopolis,
New York was once New Amsterdam, and St. Petersburg became Leningrad, and
then became St. Petersburg again.  Moreover the name Jerusalem had been
borrowed from a name derived from seafaring group of Palestinians known as
the Phoenicians. ]

>Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as an autonomous
>entity.
>It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders,
>by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I.
>The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish
>people as their homeland.

[ What was there international legal jurisdiction to do so - It was based on
the conquering powers of The Great War dividing the spoils of the Central
Powers among themselves.  It was colonialist and imperialist and predicated
on securing a Colonial Settler State in the area as a bridgehead for
imperial interests. No more, no less.  It certainly wasn't based on any love
of Jews, since Arthur James Balfour was a major league anti-Semite and while
he was Prime Minister passed a law restricting Jewish immigration from
Eastern Europe into the British Kingdom.  In fact virtually the only person
to protest the Balfour Declaration was Lord Montagu, the only Jewish member
of the British Cabinet and viceroy of India (the raj).  He did this
vociferously and pointedly in a letter entitled "On the Anti-Semitism of the
Present Cabinet." ]

>There is no language known as Palestinian.

[ There is also no language known as Canadian, American, Mexican, Costa
Rican, Columbian, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Argentinian, Belgian, Luxemborgian,
Australian, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Singaporan, or New Guinean, or
New Zealandish.  I'm sure I could point out others - oh yes, Vatican.  :-)
and, hey, there is no language known as Israelish.]

 There is no distinct
>Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine
>governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable
>from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese,
>Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the
>Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the
>landmass.
>But that's too much for the Arabs. They want it all.

[ Well they were promised it all by the Brits for fighting against the
Turks.  See the Hussein-McMahon correspondences.  Once the Sykes-Picot
agreement was made public by the Soviets, everyone knew the fix was in, and
the Arabs were going to get royally screwed. ]
 

And that is
>ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Farah calls it
>greed, pride, envy and covetousness. No matter how many land
>concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough.

[ One of the reasons for this is that Israel is the self-appointed (by law)
JEWISH STATE which is a supranational entity set up for every Jew (a
religious definition) in the world, whether they recognize it or not. Most
don't considering that just as when the Jews of Babylon were invited to
return to "the promised land" by the king of Persia, most stayed put.  To
acknowledge being Jewish as anything other than a religious designation is
to agree with Nazi "herrenvolkist (blood and soil) nationalism" as opposed
to the quite different nationalism of the American and French revolutions.
Were Israel to forgo it's herrenvolkist Zionist ideology which completely
agrees with the anti-semitic premises of the 19th Century European culture
 to whit - Jews were eternal outsiders and thus were unassimilable into
"common" society, two notions that have been roundly disproved in the 20th
century - except for the racist and deadly interregnum of the Third Reich -
which was anti-semitism brought to its absurd conclusion.
   Herzl wanted to "normalize" Jews.  Now that normality in western
democracies for Jews has become the rule rather than the exception, as
evidenced by the high rate of acculturation and assimilation as well as the
high rate of intermarriage with non-Jews, the Zionists are now screaming
"holy cow" because there project has been completely disproved.  And they
are running scared. ]

>What about Islam's holy sites? There are none in Jerusalem. You
>shouldn't be shocked. You don't ever hear this brutal truth from
>anyone else in the international media but Joseph Farah. It's just
>not politically correct.
>Most Americans have been brainwashed by Arab PR to think that the Al
>Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's
>third most holy sites. That is simply not true. In fact, the Koran
>says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It
>mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem, and
>with good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed
>ever visited Jerusalem.

[ There is no evidence archeologically to suggest that the following people
ever existed: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Sarah, Rachel,
Leah, King Saul, King David, Jesus.  Nor is there any archeological evidence
that the Exodus from Egypt ever occurred.  It is never mentioned in any
contemporaneous documents from other areas in the fertile crescent, and
certainly someone would have noticed several thousand people trekking about
in the wilderness for 40 years.  Furthermore there is no evidence of eating
utensils, campfires, camp sites, or even coproliths from either beasts of
burden or humans.
   Moreover the Qu'ran was written before the building of the Noble
Sanctuary.  It is as idiotic to suggest that Al-Quds (The Holy) also known
as Jerusalem is not holy to Muslims as it is to suggest that the Vatican
(which did not exist at the time the man known to history as Jesus was
alleged to have lived) is not holy to half a billion Catholics.
    By the way, for the record, I happen to be a secular humanist - that's
p.c. for atheist, so frankly my dear, I don't give a damn one way or the
other, as long as people keep their closely held beliefs to themselves and
don't try to impose them on me.  That includes ZIONISM which has acted as a
substitute for true Judaism since 1942.  I utterly reject that as a Jew I am
part of some "Jewish People" entity which has nationalistic rights conferred
upon them by "The Jewish State".  Now I know that some go through a
cognitive dissonance when someone claims to be both Jewish and an Atheist
but there is a division in Judaism known as Secular Humanistic Judaism,
which observes those universal moral doctrines incorporated into Judaism, as
they are incorporated into any religion, while rejecting certain
particularistic modes of worship and the belief that morals are driven by
supernatural entities as oppposed to man himself as a necessary component of
peaceable society and group dynamics. ]

>So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims
>today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura,
>entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision
>Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple
>that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might
>show him our signs..." In the seventh century, some Muslims
>identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca
>and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with
>Jerusalem gets--- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking.

[ Well one could make the same case for any religion, and who are you or
anyone else to judge what someone believes on faith.  Religion is nothing if
it is not faith, as opposed to reason. ]

>Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days
>ofAbraham.

[ No they can't. If you accept the existence of Abraham, then you must also
accept that Jerusalem did not exist at the time.  You must accept that it
was founded by King David as a centrally located federal city between the
contentious northern Kingdom of Israel and the contentious southern Kingdom
of Judea in order to consolidate the entire area into the combined Kingdoms.
This of course only lasted for several decades, according to the Hebrew
Bible, anyway.]
 

>The latest round of violence in Israel erupted when Likud Party
>leader Ariel Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the foundation
>of the Temple built by Solomon.

[ You really don't know your history, do you.  It is archeologically
problematical whether there ever was a structure composed of solid materials
built by King Solomon (who more than likely was no more than a tribal
chieftain.  Myths have a way of becoming embellished over time.  Besides,
why would anyone in their right mind want more than one wife? :-) What would
happen to bowling leagues and sports bars?  :-) The current retaining wall
is thought BY SOME to be the remains of the Second Temple not the first.
Moreover there is current archeological controversy over the veracity of
that as well.   Note well I am arguing this purely on secular terms as I do
not maintain any religious creed. ]
 

 It is the holiest site for Jews.

[ Ask your rabbi what is the holiest site for Jews.  The holiest site for
Jews who believe is inside their "hearts".  No one place is any "holiest
site", and the unique genius of Judaism ever since it evolved into rabbinic
Judaism and away from Temple Worship, and animal sacrifice monopolized by
the Zadokite priesthood is that it is entirely portable.  Moreover the
centrality of Judaism is not the State formed in 1948 but the worship of the
one God.  ]

>Sharon and his entourage were met with stones and threats. Can you
>imagine what it is like for Jews to be threatened, stoned and
>physically kept out of the holiest site in Judaism?

[ Yeah, but have you ever been shot by a "rubber bullet"? Damn, that smarts!
Sometimes depending upon where it strikes the body -such as the eye - it can
be fatal.  Sharon and his entourage of fully armed with automatic weapons
body guards had no business bringing weaponry onto the Noble Sanctuary or if
you like The Temple Mount for the ground is sacred ground.  Moreover,
Orthodox Rabbis for centuries have proscribed walking around up there by
Jews, since no one knows the exact location of the Holy of Holies, where the
Ark of the Covenant resided.  Only the high priest was permitted into the H
of H. and then only once a year.  Anyone else met with instant death (as
related in the Tenakh with regard to the sons of Aaron who inadvertently
went in there.).  Hey, didn't you see Raiders of the Lost Ark? ]
 

>So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem?

[ The land was stolen, give it back.  It is that simple. ]
 

 If there is one, it
>needs to begin with truth. Pretending will only lead to more chaos.
>Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright backed by overwhelming
>historical and archaeological evidence equally with illegitimate
>claims, wishes and wants gives diplomacy and peacekeeping a bad name.
>Dr Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State
>University School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy
>of Psychoanalysis and on the editorial board of the Wayne County
>Medical Society. He welcomes comments at his email address---

[ Dr. Bloom needs a good shrink.  By the way did you know that the highest
rate of suicide in the health professions is among Psychiatrists.  Hah, and
you thought it was Dentists, right.?  :-).  No way.
  Dr. Bill "Zevei" Friend is on the board of directors of Deir Yassin
Remembered, is a member of The American Council for Judaism, the only
secular Jewish organization in existence that is anti-Zionist; was an
acolyte of Rabbi Elmer Berger; loves his life and will let no one impose
themselves on it, nor give up his intellectual integrity.  Before that
occurs he will stop the motor of the world.
   He is a member of any number of civil rights organizations, is the owner
of PalestineDiary@egroups.com
and suffers fools such as Dr. Bloom very badly.  Because he always tells the
truth, he is disqualified from holding political office.]