To truly understand the status of this territory we have to
first differentiate between the personal and the national. The recent furor
surrounding the government’s decision to declare nearly 1,000 acres at Gvaot in
Gush Etzion “State Land Judea and Samaria
For many, if not most, around the world, every inch of land
beyond the 1949 armistice lines is automatically Palestinian; a display of
unfamiliarity with history and international law.
To truly understand the status of this territory we have to
first differentiate between the personal and the national.
Of course there is land privately owned by Palestinians in Judea
and Samaria , what many call the “West
Bank ” in seeming deference to the Jordanian occupation, which
invented the term as juxtaposition to its eastern bank. These areas, like
privately owned territory anywhere in the world, cannot be touched unless there
is very pressing reason for a government or sovereign power to do so. These areas,
according to Ottoman and British records, constitute no more than a few percent
of the total area, meaning the vast majority is not privately owned.
However, to contend that these territories are “Palestinian”
on a national level is problematic. To claim an area belongs to a particular
nation requires the territory to have belonged to that people, where they held
some sort of sovereignty that was broadly recognized.
All of these criteria have been met historically by the
Jewish people, and none by the Palestinians.
In fact, the Jewish people were provided with national
rights in these territories not just by dint of history and past sovereignty,
but also by residual legal rights contained in the League of Nations Mandate,
which were never canceled and are preserved by the UN Charter, under Article 80
– the famous “Palestine Clause,” that was drafted, in part, to guarantee
continuity with respect to Jewish rights from the League of Nations.
For the past almost 2,000 years, since the destruction of
Jewish sovereignty and expulsion of most of its indigenous people, it remained
an occupied and colonized outpost in the territory of many global and regional
empires.
The Ottomans were the most recent to officially apportion
the territory, in what they referred to as Ottoman Syria, which today
incorporates modern-day Israel, Syria, Jordan and stretching into Iraq. Before
The Ottoman Land Code of 1858, land had largely been owned or passed on by word
of mouth, custom or tradition. Under the Ottomans of the 19th century, land was
apportioned into three main categories: Mulk, Miri and Mawat.
Mulk was the only territory that was privately owned in the
common sense of the term, and as stated before, was only a minimal part of the
whole territory, much of it owned by Jews, who were given the right to own land
under reforms.
Miri was land owned by the sovereign, and individuals could
purchase a deed to cultivate this land and pay a tithe to the government.
Ownership could be transferred only with the approval of the state. Miri rights
could be transferred to heirs, and the land could be sub-let to tenants. In
other words, a similar arrangement to a tenant in an apartment or house as
having rights in the property, but not to the property.
Finally, Mawat was state or unclaimed land, not owned by
private individuals nor largely cultivated. These areas made up almost
two-thirds of all territory.
The area recently declared “State
Land
Many claims to the territory suddenly arose during the
course of the investigation, but all were proven to be unfounded on the basis
of land laws.
Interestingly, it should be clearly understood by those who
deem Judea and Samaria “occupied territory” that according to international law
the occupying power must use the pre-existing land laws as a basis for claims,
exactly as Israel has done in this case, even though Israel’s official position
is that it does not see itself de jure as an occupying power in the legal sense
of the term.
None of these facts are even alluded to in the many reports
surrounding the government’s actions in Gvaot. This is deeply unjust and a
semblance of the relevant background, history and facts would provide the
necessary context for what has been converted into an international incident
where none should exist.
I frequently take foreign visitors and officials on a tour
of Efrat and Gush Etzion and am amazed at the well-meaning ignorance and
preconceived positions that many, even friends of Israel ,
hold about the status of this area and wider Judea and Samaria .
Usually, however, by the end of the tour many of these positions have been
debunked and those that I speak with are astonished that there is even another
side to the story, having been assured that the pro-Judea and Samaria
position is based solely on the Bible.
I welcome and even challenge anyone and everyone to come and
see the reality for themselves and learn the history and context of the region,
if only for the sake of intellectual honesty. No one ever lost out through
intellectual curiosity, and I am certain that we can lessen the next furor and
international incident if a greater number of people can be made more familiar
with the facts of history.
British restrictions and blockade on Jewish immigration to Palestine
1938-1948 caused the death of over 2 million Jews trying to escape German
extermination camps.
The British in 1922 gave away in violation of the Mandate
77% of the land in Palestine
allocated for the Jewish people to the Arabs as the State named Jordan
of which 80% of the population is Arab-Palestinians. This is the Palestinian
State
British actions inPalestine during
the Mandate 1918-1948 are the cause of the continued violence and terrorism in
the Middle East . The British wanted to control the oil
in the Middle East and they were willing and did cross
anyone to accomplish their goals. In today’s time in history, nothing has
changed.
In less than 20 yearsEngland
and the rest of Europe will be controlled by Muslims
with Sharia laws in place.
British actions in
In less than 20 years
Prohibiting Jews for residing anywhere where the map of
Mandate for Palestine territory of
1920 is a violation of International Law and the San Remo Treaty which was
adopted by the League of Nations in 1920.
Any housing, factories, goods and services produced by Jews
in the area that was designated as the Mandate for Palestine
is granted by the International agreements and treaties of the 1918-1920, which
are in affect for perpetuity.
They started deporting Jews from Germany Palestine Israel Great Britain Palestine English Channel and effectively
stopped the flow.
Ottoman land ownership law – It is time to
learn the facts about Judea and Samaria
To truly understand the status of this territory we have to
first differentiate between the personal and the national. The recent furor surrounding
the government’s decision to declare nearly 1,000 acres at Gvaot in Gush Etzion
“State Land
For many, if not most, around the world, every inch of land
beyond the 1949 armistice lines is automatically Palestinian; a display of
unfamiliarity with history and international law.
To truly understand the status of this territory we have to
first differentiate between the personal and the national.
Of course there is land privately owned by Palestinians in Judea
and Samaria , what many call the “West
Bank ” in seeming deference to the Jordanian occupation, which
invented the term as juxtaposition to its eastern bank. These areas, like
privately owned territory anywhere in the world, cannot be touched unless there
is very pressing reason for a government or sovereign power to do so. These
areas, according to Ottoman and British records, constitute no more than a few
percent of the total area, meaning the vast majority is not privately owned.
However, to contend that these territories are “Palestinian”
on a national level is problematic. To claim an area belongs to a particular
nation requires the territory to have belonged to that people, where they held
some sort of sovereignty that was broadly recognized.
All of these criteria have been met historically by the Jewish
people, and none by the Palestinians.
In fact, the Jewish people were provided with national
rights in these territories not just by dint of history and past sovereignty,
but also by residual legal rights contained in the League of Nations Mandate, which
were never canceled and are preserved by the UN Charter, under Article 80 – the
famous “Palestine Clause,” that was drafted, in part, to guarantee continuity
with respect to Jewish rights from the League of Nations.
For the past almost 2,000 years, since the destruction of
Jewish sovereignty and expulsion of most of its indigenous people, it remained
an occupied and colonized outpost in the territory of many global and regional
empires.
The Ottomans were the most recent to officially apportion
the territory, in what they referred to as Ottoman Syria, which today
incorporates modern-day Israel, Syria, Jordan and stretching into Iraq. Before
The Ottoman Land Code of 1858, land had largely been owned or passed on by word
of mouth, custom or tradition. Under the Ottomans of the 19th century, land was
apportioned into three main categories: Mulk, Miri and Mawat.
Mulk was the only territory that was privately owned in the
common sense of the term, and as stated before, was only a minimal part of the
whole territory, much of it owned by Jews, who were given the right to own land
under reforms.
Miri was land owned by the sovereign, and individuals could
purchase a deed to cultivate this land and pay a tithe to the government.
Ownership could be transferred only with the approval of the state. Miri rights
could be transferred to heirs, and the land could be sub-let to tenants. In
other words, a similar arrangement to a tenant in an apartment or house as
having rights in the property, but not to the property.
Finally, Mawat was state or unclaimed land, not owned by
private individuals nor largely cultivated. These areas made up almost
two-thirds of all territory.
The area recently declared “State
Land
Many claims to the territory suddenly arose during the
course of the investigation, but all were proven to be unfounded on the basis
of land laws.
Interestingly, it should be clearly understood by those who
deem Judea and Samaria “occupied territory” that according to international law
the occupying power must use the pre-existing land laws as a basis for claims,
exactly as Israel has done in this case, even though Israel’s official position
is that it does not see itself de jure as an occupying power in the legal sense
of the term.
None of these facts are even alluded to in the many reports
surrounding the government’s actions in Gvaot. This is deeply unjust and a
semblance of the relevant background, history and facts would provide the
necessary context for what has been converted into an international incident
where none should exist.
I frequently take foreign visitors and officials on a tour
of Efrat and Gush Etzion and am amazed at the well-meaning ignorance and
preconceived positions that many, even friends of Israel ,
hold about the status of this area and wider Judea and Samaria .
Usually, however, by the end of the tour many of these positions have been
debunked and those that I speak with are astonished that there is even another
side to the story, having been assured that the pro-Judea and Samaria
position is based solely on the Bible.
I welcome and even challenge anyone and everyone to come and
see the reality for themselves and learn the history and context of the region,
if only for the sake of intellectual honesty. No one ever lost out through
intellectual curiosity, and I am certain that we can lessen the next furor and
international incident if a greater number of people can be made more familiar
with the facts of history.
We should be upfront here about the ‘history’ or
‘historicity’ of Israel/Palestine/Jordan
1. In 1948, Jordan attacked the nascent Jewish State of Israel
in an UNPROVOKED attack which was coordinated with other members of the Arab
League … during the war whose aim was NOT TO CREATE ANOTHER ARAB/MUSLIM STATE
but rather to ‘erase’ ‘eradicate’ ‘murder’ as defined in this quote from Abdul
Rahman Azzam Pasha, the Arab League’s Secretary-General: “… this will be a war
of extermination and momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Tartar
massacre or the Crusader wars.”
2. The Arab/Muslims armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and
Transjordan (Iraq & various Jihadis as well) didn’t expect anything but to
divide the territories between themselves and by joining in “[the war] will be
an opportunity for vast plunder …” quoted by Akhbar al-Yom’s editor Mustafa
Amin from the aforementioned Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha
3. The war and invasion created the Arab/Muslim Refugee
Issue …
4. Transjordan/Jordan ANNEXED the territories they conquered
in the war and ruled over the population … they should be considered JORDANIAN
CITIZENS!
5. After 1967 … Jordan
again joined Egypt
and Syria
(among others including Iraq
& various Jihadis) in attacking the Jewish State … the result was Jordan
LOSING its control over the ‘West Bank ’ and subsequently
renouncing its prior annexation …
PVV Dutch MP, Geert Wilders:
“Jordan is Palestine
and Palestine is Jordan .”
“
First of all, is Jordan
a Palestinian state? When looking at the map of the British mandate for what
was known then as “Palestine ”, it
becomes quite clear what area was originally earmarked for the Jewish homeland.
At the end of the First World War, the division of
responsibilities for the administering of the Middle East
areas fell to the various Western powers victorious over the Ottoman Turks, as
mandates, under the auspices of the League of Nations ,
it was during that time that the famous Balfour Declaration was made:
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His
Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist
aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best
endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly
understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and
religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights
and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to
the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
The Balfour Declaration was accepted by the British Mandate
in 1917, which then became subject to a White Paper that many believe reneged
on it’s earlier promise, that being a commitment to allowing Jews a homeland.
But the paper did insist however that:
“the Jewish community should know that it is in Palestine
as of right and not on the sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary
that the existence of a Jewish National Home in Palestine
should be internationally guaranteed, and that it should be formally recognized
to rest upon ancient historic connection.”
Palestine Facts states that: “The area of the Mandate was
originally 118,000 square kilometers (about 45,000 square miles). In 1921, Britain
took the 91,000 square kilometers of the Palestine Mandate east of the Jordan
River , and created Trans-Jordan (later the Arab country of Jordan )
as a new Arab protectorate. Jews were barred by law from living or owning
property east of the Jordan river , even though that land
was over three-fourths of the original Mandate.”
A Jordanian State Palestine as an undivided
territory
The Arab official line before a “two state solution” became
stated policy of Israel
and the West, was that the people in Trans-Jordan cum Jordan
were indivisible from those Arabs inside Israel
proper, Judea and Samaria .
In fact there are statements by leading Arabs buttressing the notion that
indeed: Jordan
is Palestine and Palestine
is Jordan .
This is the royal decree and sentiments of two of the kings
of Jordan .
“Palestine and Jordan
are one…” said King Abdullah in 1948.
“The truth is that Jordan
is Palestine and Palestine
is Jordan ,”
said King Hussein of Jordan ,
in 1981.
“Palestine is Jordan
and Jordan is Palestine ;
there is only one land, with one history and one and the same fate,” Prince
Hassan of the Jordanian National Assembly was quoted as saying on February 2, 1970 .
Abdul Hamid Sharif, Prime Minister of Jordan
declared, in 1980, “The Palestinians and Jordanians do not belong to different
nationalities. They hold the same Jordanian passports, are Arabs and have the
same Jordanian culture.”
What are we to conclude from this other than the historical
perspective at the time, that being, they (the Arabs) saw themselves as being
part of Palestine/Palestinian. Around 70% of the Jordanian population today,
still see themselves as Palestinians. Even Yasser Arafat and his PLO thugs
looked to Jordan
as being a part of their homeland.
A letter written to Jordan
leaders
A State that was established by the British in violation of the Mandate for Jewish Palestine based on the San Remo Treaty of 1920/ Jordan has never existed prior to WW1.
A State that was established by the British in violation of the Mandate for Jewish Palestine based on the San Remo Treaty of 1920/ Jordan has never existed prior to WW1.
To His Majesty
The King ofJordan
The King of
King Abdullah the Second
& The Government and Hashemite
Kingdom Jordan
Presented this Date, the
25th of May 2011
The 65th Independence Day of the Kingdom
of Jordan
As the cries for democracy reach us from Tunis ,
Egypt
80% of the population of Jordan
are disenfranchised Palestinians. This declarative step would correct that
injustice and provide the foundation for a just, comprehensive and lasting
peace between the Jewish and Arab peoples.
The late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin wrote: “A Palestinian
State
That needn’t be the case. That shouldn’t be the case.
Let Jordan
be democratic and free, and let the Palestinian people accept upon themselves
the full mantle and responsibility of democratic statehood in Jordan
– without the destruction or diminishment of the state of Israel
and without the physical transfer of any population, neither Jew nor Arab.
We the undersigned, citizens of the world, representatives
of hundreds of thousands around the world, ask the Government of Jordan and
King Abdullah the Second, to proclaim the Hashemite
Kingdom Middle East and world peace.
We remind you of the brave words of your father:
“I wish democracy and peace to be my legacy to my people and
the shield of generations to come.” – King Hussein I of Jordan
WW2 Britain Blew Up Jewish Refugee Ships
A new book uncovers shocking secret attacks launched on ships bearing Holocaust survivors en route toIsrael Britain
As Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, the pitiful remnants of History’s greatest crime, tried to make their way across an often hostile Europe at the end of the Second World War, toward at least a semblance of safety in the Holy Land, they had no shortage of problems with which to contend, including disease and malnutrition, Polish anti-Semitism, Soviet indifference, Allied bureaucracy, and Arab nationalism. Now we discover that they faced yet another peril in the shape of bombs planted on their transport ships byBritain
A new book to be published next week entitled MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, by the distinguished British historian Keith Jeffery, reveals the existence of Operation Embarrass, a plan to try to prevent Jews getting into Palestine in 1946-’48 using disinformation and propaganda but also explosive devices placed on ships. Nor is this some speculative spy story that can be denied by the authorities: Dr. Jeffrey’s book is actually, in their own words: “Published with the permission of The Secret Intelligence Service and the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.”
It’s shameful thatBritain Israel Gaza
When on June 1 this year the British government denounced as “completely unacceptable” the way that the Israelis landed troops on the Turkish flotilla to Gaza we did not know that its predecessor had done much the same, actually blowing up one ship and damaging two more vessels of a genuinely humanitarian flotilla that was trying to bring Jewish survivors of the Nazi death camps to their people’s ancient homeland.
The Secret History of MI6. By Keith Jeffery. 832 pages. Penguin Press HC.
Of course the hostility of the British establishment toward Jewish immigration into Palestine since long before the notorious 1939 White Paper on the subject is well-known—even King George VI wrote that year to say that he was “glad to think that steps are being taken to prevent these people leaving their country of origin”—nonetheless this is the first indication of the violent lengths to which post-war Britain was willing to go in order to appease the oil-rich Arab states of the region. For it now emerges that in late 1946 the Labor government of Clement Attlee asked MI6 for “proposals for action to deter ships masters and crews from engaging in illegal Jewish immigration and traffic,” adding, “Action of the nature contemplated is, in fact, a form of intimidation and intimidation is only likely to be effective if some members of the group of people to be intimidated actually suffer unpleasant consequences.” Among the options contemplated were “the discovery of some sabotage device, which had ‘failed’ to function after the sailing of a ship,” “tampering with a ship’s fresh water supplies or the crew’s food,” and “fire on board ship in port.” Sir Stewart Menzies, the chief of the SIS, suggested these could be blamed on an invented Arab terrorist group called The Defenders of Arab Palestine.
Operation Embarrass was therefore launched after a meeting held on February 14, 1947 between officials from MI6, the armed services, the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office, the last represented by William Hayter, the head of Foreign Office Services Liaison Department, a high-flier who later became ambassador to Moscow. I knew Sir William Hayter in later life, but needless to say he never breathed a word about this operation. In his defense, it must be said that Hayter did order MI6 to ensure that arson “must be arranged, if at all, when the ship is empty.”
The Operation Embarrass team was told that “the primary consideration was to be that no proof could ever be established between positive action against this traffic and His Majesty’s Government [HMG].” A special communications network,codenamed
Ocean Black
Sea ports. A team of former Special Operations
Executive agents—with the cover story of a yachting trip—was sent to France Italy New
York
During the summer of 1947 and early 1948, five attacks were undertaken on ships in Italian ports, of which one was rendered “a total loss” and two others were damaged. Two other British-made limpet mines were discovered before they went off, but the Italian authorities did not find their country of origin suspicious, “as the Arabs would of course be using British stores.” Operation Embarrass even considered blowing up theBaltimore France
The country that ought to be embarrassed by Operation Embarrass—indeed shamed—is Great Britain, which used explosives to try to stop truly humanitarian flotillas after the Holocaust, but now condemns embattled Israel for halting entirely politically inspired flotillas to Gaza despite her rights of legitimate self-defense. The depth of the animosity that Establishment Britain, especially the Foreign Office, felt toward the Jews of Palestine clearly went even further than we had ever imagined, and even 70 years later is by no means extinguished.
Historian Andrew Roberts’ latest book, Masters and
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/19/mi6-attacked-jewish-refugee-ships-after-wwii.html
A new book uncovers shocking secret attacks launched on ships bearing Holocaust survivors en route to
As Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, the pitiful remnants of History’s greatest crime, tried to make their way across an often hostile Europe at the end of the Second World War, toward at least a semblance of safety in the Holy Land, they had no shortage of problems with which to contend, including disease and malnutrition, Polish anti-Semitism, Soviet indifference, Allied bureaucracy, and Arab nationalism. Now we discover that they faced yet another peril in the shape of bombs planted on their transport ships by
A new book to be published next week entitled MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, by the distinguished British historian Keith Jeffery, reveals the existence of Operation Embarrass, a plan to try to prevent Jews getting into Palestine in 1946-’48 using disinformation and propaganda but also explosive devices placed on ships. Nor is this some speculative spy story that can be denied by the authorities: Dr. Jeffrey’s book is actually, in their own words: “Published with the permission of The Secret Intelligence Service and the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.”
It’s shameful that
When on June 1 this year the British government denounced as “completely unacceptable” the way that the Israelis landed troops on the Turkish flotilla to Gaza we did not know that its predecessor had done much the same, actually blowing up one ship and damaging two more vessels of a genuinely humanitarian flotilla that was trying to bring Jewish survivors of the Nazi death camps to their people’s ancient homeland.
The Secret History of MI6. By Keith Jeffery. 832 pages. Penguin Press HC.
Of course the hostility of the British establishment toward Jewish immigration into Palestine since long before the notorious 1939 White Paper on the subject is well-known—even King George VI wrote that year to say that he was “glad to think that steps are being taken to prevent these people leaving their country of origin”—nonetheless this is the first indication of the violent lengths to which post-war Britain was willing to go in order to appease the oil-rich Arab states of the region. For it now emerges that in late 1946 the Labor government of Clement Attlee asked MI6 for “proposals for action to deter ships masters and crews from engaging in illegal Jewish immigration and traffic,” adding, “Action of the nature contemplated is, in fact, a form of intimidation and intimidation is only likely to be effective if some members of the group of people to be intimidated actually suffer unpleasant consequences.” Among the options contemplated were “the discovery of some sabotage device, which had ‘failed’ to function after the sailing of a ship,” “tampering with a ship’s fresh water supplies or the crew’s food,” and “fire on board ship in port.” Sir Stewart Menzies, the chief of the SIS, suggested these could be blamed on an invented Arab terrorist group called The Defenders of Arab Palestine.
Operation Embarrass was therefore launched after a meeting held on February 14, 1947 between officials from MI6, the armed services, the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office, the last represented by William Hayter, the head of Foreign Office Services Liaison Department, a high-flier who later became ambassador to Moscow. I knew Sir William Hayter in later life, but needless to say he never breathed a word about this operation. In his defense, it must be said that Hayter did order MI6 to ensure that arson “must be arranged, if at all, when the ship is empty.”
The Operation Embarrass team was told that “the primary consideration was to be that no proof could ever be established between positive action against this traffic and His Majesty’s Government [HMG].” A special communications network,
During the summer of 1947 and early 1948, five attacks were undertaken on ships in Italian ports, of which one was rendered “a total loss” and two others were damaged. Two other British-made limpet mines were discovered before they went off, but the Italian authorities did not find their country of origin suspicious, “as the Arabs would of course be using British stores.” Operation Embarrass even considered blowing up the
The country that ought to be embarrassed by Operation Embarrass—indeed shamed—is Great Britain, which used explosives to try to stop truly humanitarian flotillas after the Holocaust, but now condemns embattled Israel for halting entirely politically inspired flotillas to Gaza despite her rights of legitimate self-defense. The depth of the animosity that Establishment Britain, especially the Foreign Office, felt toward the Jews of Palestine clearly went even further than we had ever imagined, and even 70 years later is by no means extinguished.
Historian Andrew Roberts’ latest book, Masters and
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/09/19/mi6-attacked-jewish-refugee-ships-after-wwii.html
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