Pitot,
I don't think you understand the whole situation.
I think that is the crux of the problem that goes back to before
WW1. At the time the Ottoman Turks controlled the area and the
Middle-East was a whole lot quieter than it is today. There were
Jews and Arabs living together but neither owned the land, which
was controlled by the Turks.
There was a movement initiated by the Jews in Europe to establish a
Jewish homeland in Ottoman-controlled Palestine but obviously that
was not possible then. Instead, British Prime Minister Palmerston
wrote to the Ottoman Sultan urging him to welcome Jews to return
and settle in Palestine, arguing that adding their wealth to the
sultan's dominion will be in his interest. There was no talk then
of taking Turkish territory to create a Jewish nation.
Unfortunately, the Turks sided with the wrong side and lost WW1. At
the Treaty of Versailles, the British were given the mandate over
all of Palestine, which included present-day Israel, Jordan and the
Palestinian State. The British unilaterally decided to back the
establishment of a Jewish state in the mandated lands, as contained
in the Balfour Declaration. This was done without consultation of
the local Arabs.
Over the years before WW2, the British allowed Jewish immigration
to Palestine but it was limited because of increasing local Arab
opposition. In fact, the British forbade Jews escaping the
Holocaust from immigration into Palestine.Terrorist groups sprouted
on both sides. There was an Arab revolt led by the Grand Mufti who
felt the Arabs were marginalized in their own home. On the other
hand, there were Jewish terrorist organizations who ran illegal
immigration rackets and one Jewish terrorist group even
assassinated the British minister Lord Moyne in 1944.
During WW2, the Arabs were divided between those who supported the
Allied and Axis forces, although the Nazis courted the Arabs
against the Jews. Following the assassination of Lord Moyne,
Churchill dissociated himself from the Zionist cause and despite
American pressure, the British refused to allow survivors of the
concentration camps to emigrate to Palestine. In response, the
Jewish terrorist group Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in
Jerusalem where the British administration was based. Sensing the
situation getting out of hand, the British wanted out of Palestine
by 1948, thus pacing the way for the formation of Israel.
In view of the British determination to return the Mandate by 1948,
the United Nations decided to create a Jewish and an Arab state
with Jerusalem under international jurisdiction. Most of the Jews
accepted the partition plan but it was rejected immediately by the
Arabs. Some Jews rejected it as well, chief among which was
Menachem Begin (later Prime Minister of Israel), who was chief of
Irgun, once a Jewish terrorist organization. He insisted that
Jerusalem should remain Jewish.
In 1945, most of the private land was owned by Arabs who formed
two-thirds of the population and Jews controlled about 20% of
cultivable land. The bulk of the land, however, belonged to the
government and with the formation of Israel, fell into Jewish
hands. Local Arabs obviously resent the loss of their land and have
never accepted the right of the British or the UN to carve a jewish
nation from Palestine, which they regard as their home.
So where did the capture or kidnapping occur? Some Arabs might say
that the creation of Israel unilaterally against the wishes of the
Arab inhabitants was not justifiable in the first place and they do
not recognize the legitimate existence of the jewish state. As
such, they might contend that it took place in disputed Palestinian
land. They might well consider all of Israel as disputed
land.
To some Arabs, the only reason the UN was able to bring Israel into
existence was because the Ottoman Turks lost WW1, which set off the
entire series of events. If it is the right of conquest that gave
Britain and then the UN the power to partition the land, some might
feel that violence would be necessary again to gain it back. Since
they are militarily too weak to win a conventional warfare, some
obviously feel that terrorist action such as suicide bombings might
be a legitimate weapon.
I do not at all condone the actions of either Jewish or Arab
terrorist organizations, but a consideration of the history will
reveal that both sides have resorted to such means. The Middle-east
problem is by no means black and white. Whilst condemning
Palestinian suicide bombers, we have to remember that their grouses
are also not without cause.
Qouted from oxford mushroom
