Naqba

On Thursday 12th May, Israel celebrated its 68th birthday. The Palestinians call it the Naqba (‘disaster’) and they have many good reasons to do so.

When Jews began returning to their historic homeland in the 19th century, what they found was an empty, desolate and abandoned land (the Ottoman census and various demographers confirm this). Their enterprise and industry attracted many Arabs from surrounding countries into Palestine where they found that the Jews (many with socialist ideals) treated them well and often far better than did their Arab feudal masters. If it were not for the nationalistic and jihadist stirrings of their leaders - especially, their spiritual leader, the Grand Mufti (a passionate ally of the Nazis who had been sentenced to death by the British), Arabs and Jews may well have co-existed, in peace and harmony, to this very day. Instead, Arabs rioting put an end to that peaceful co-existence.

In 1937, when the British (Peel Commission) offered to split Palestine so that the predominantly Arab areas would form an Arab state and those predominantly Jewish, an Israeli state (a ‘two-states’ solution), the Arabs refused. In 1947, the United Nations adopted the ‘Partition Plan’ on the same lines. The Arabs rejected that too and chose instead to join the Arab states and invade the tiny Jewish state on the day of it birth. The Arabs lost the war and the Palestinian Arabs ended up without a state and under Egyptian and Jordanian rule.

As a result of that war, and despite Israel’s pleas to remain in situ, some 450,000-500,000 Arabs left the land (partially because the Mufti’s calls on Palestinian Arabs to ‘vacate’ the land, in preparation for a counter attack, partially because their leaders bolted and partially from fear of Israeli retribution) and became refugees. Many of surrounding Arab countries with their vast lands, wealth and resources, were not welcoming and refused them nationality or employment, leaving them to rot in refugee camps instead. As King Hussein once commented; ‘the way we treated the refugees, can be described as criminal’. The anger of the refugees may well have been compounded by the fact that they noted how some 800,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab lands were treated by the fledgling state of Israel which, at the time had nothing to give, yet gave its refugees everything and absorbed and integrated them with dignity and nobility.

In 1967, the Arabs tried once more to annihilate Israel and failed and this time Israel captured Sinai, Gaza and the West Bank. Within a week of capturing the territories, Israel offered their return in exchange for peace, but this was roundly rejected by the Palestinians and Arabs at their conference in Khartoum (1968). They wanted the territories alright, but not the peace.

In 2000, at Camp David, Israel offered the Palestinians a state on 96-97% of the West Bank and Gaza but they refused.

In 2005, exasperated that talks were going nowhere, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in the hope that this would prove to be a model for co-existence. Israel even handed over its thriving horticultural industry (some 3,000 greenhouses). And the Palestinian response? They voted for Hamas, destroyed all the greenhouses, and fired barrages of rockets on Israel (forcing Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade, in 2007).

The catalogue of missed opportunities is indeed a tragedy for the Palestinians. And the ultimate irony: Peace is so easily at hand. Israel has no territorial ambitions and its demands are not great. Israel is a reluctant occupier and most Israelis would be glad to be rid of the West bank. All Israel wants is cast iron security, not terror attacks and rockets. If the Palestinians were just willing to accept and declare genuine peace, they would have independence, peace and prosperity but even this seems to be asking too much. This has always been their ‘maximalist’ approach: They would rather have nothing, than allow Israel anything and this is the real Naqba (tragedy) for them, for Israel and for the world.

Instead of blaming everyone else, as they do, it is time for the Palestinians to take responsibility for their own actions