A home denied
“The Zionists wanted Palestine, all of Palestine, preferably with no Palestinians in it.” - Jewish historian, Ilan Pappé, from his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
Jafar M Ramini Global News Centre
(LONDON) They came uninvited. The Zionist zealots arrived on our shores with the Bible in one hand and a machine gun in the other. They declared, “this is our land, promised to us by our God and you, the Palestinians, have no place in it.”
The inevitable consequence of this pre-meditated act of land theft, genocide and ethnic cleansing was the creation of one of the biggest and oldest refugee problems the world has ever known. One out of every three refugees in the world is a Palestinian. With no place to call home and denied every possible human and civil right the Palestinian refugees and their descendents have been languishing in refugee camps ever since in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and also the West Bank and Gaza.
Yet, back in 1948, sixty seven years ago, when Israel was given its birth certificate by the UN which was received with fanfare and jubilation there was another UN resolution which reaffirmed the right of return of all Palestinian refugees who wished to do so. UN resolution 194 clearly states, and I quote:
“Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours 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 equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”
Resolution 194 and many others since have been totally ignored by Israel with the tacit approval, if not the encouragement, of its allies in the West This has become a habit of the Israelis. They take, from the international community what suits their murderous intentions and ignore what they deem to be detrimental to their plans.
Remember the Balfour Declaration of 1917 where it all started. Lord Balfour, a Zionist English lord, with no deeds or right to Palestine nevertheless gifted it to another Zionist English Lord, Lord Rothschild.
The declaration reads:
“His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine a homeland for the Jews ….it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities living in Palestine.”
They took the promise with relish and they dumped the proviso in the dustbin of history. This is how Jewish historian; Avi Schlaim described the Balfour Declaration.
“Britain had no moral or political or legal right to promise the land that belonged to the Arabs to another people. The Balfour Declaration was both immoral and illegal.”
Another Jewish historian, Ilan Pappé in his book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” put it this way. “The Zionists wanted Palestine, all of Palestine, preferably with no Palestinians in it.”
There is no doubt that the Zionists came to Palestine with one aim in mind. To steal the land. To achieve that they had to demonise the rightful owners and remove them copletely.
The proof is there for all to see, over and over and over again. From Theodor Herzl to Ayelet Shaked.
Theodore Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organization, speaking of the Arabs of Palestine, Complete Diaries, June 12, 1895.
“Spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment… Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.”
Chaim Weizmann, ‘Judische Rundschau’ No. 4 1920.
“We wlll establish ourselves in Palestine whether you like it or not. You can hasten our arrival or you can equally retard it. It is, however, better for you to help us so as to avoid our constructive powers turning into destructive power which will over-throw the world.”
Vladimir Jabotinsky. ‘The Iron Wall’, 1923.
“A voluntary reconciliation with the Arabs is out of the question. Either now or in the future.
David Ben Gurion, future Prime Minister of Israel, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985.
“We must expel Arabs and take their places.”
Joseph Weitz, Head of the Jewish Agency’s Colonisation Department. 1940 from ‘A Solution To The Refugee Problem.’
“Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs to neighbouring countries. All of them. Not one village, not one tribe should be left.”
David Ben Gurion, 1948
“We must do everything to ensure they (the Palestinians) never do return.” Assuring his fellow Zionists that Palestinians would never come back to their homes, “The old will die and the young will forget.”
Golda Meir Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969, The Sunday times.
“There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed.”
Yoram Bar Porath, ‘Yediot Aa Hronot’ 14 July 1972.
“It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonization or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands.”
Israel Koenig, author of The Koenig Memorandum. April 1976
“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.”
Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983.
“We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimetre of Eretz Israel…force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawing to us on all fours. When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle”.
Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee of the Election of Dr. Schlomo Lahat, the Mayor of Tel Aviv, 1983.
“We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves.”
Yitzak Shamir, Israeli Prime Minister (at the time) in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988
“The Palestinians” would be crushed like grasshoppers … heads smashed against the boulders and walls.”
Ayelet Shaked. Israeli Minister of Justice 2015.“They (The Palestinians) are all our enemies and their blood should be on our hands. This also applies to the mothers.”
Having read the above, is there anybody at all who could possibly believe that the lawful and legitimate right of return for Palestinian refugees will ever be achieved without further bloodshed and war? Only when the entire western world finds its moral compass perhaps there is hope.
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Jafar M Ramini is a Palestinian writer, commentator and analyst on Middle Eastern affairs living in London.
He was born in Jenin, northern Palestine, was educated in England and spent the early years of his working life in the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia. He has traveled far and wide, searching for the answer to a question that still eludes him.
Why does the United States of America support the Zionist line in such a blind folded way while ignoring the legitimate rights of the indigenous Palestinian people? Particularly as the Palestinian people harbour no ill feelings towards America and its people nor has ever caused them any harm. It is, Jafar says, a conundrum.
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