A Statement of Ignorance, Inaccuracies and Distortions – Charles Abelsohn

The pathetic statement issued by several South Africans including Ministers and Parliamentarians is noteworthy only for the ignorance displayed, outright distortions and historical and current inaccuracies. Overlooking that Palestinians as a people were only invented in 1965 with the issue of the first PLO charter, the parties to the statement hide the fact that the Arabs in Palestine were offered, but refused a state in 1947; that the violence in Palestine was occasioned by the invasion of Palestine by several states including Jordan, Egypt Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and that between 1948 and 1967 the West Bank, Jerusalem  and Gaza were controlled by Jordan and Egypt respectively without a Palestine state being declared and with Jerusalem an out of the way backward village ignored by Arab states  in which Jews were denied freedom to worship at their holy of holies. The parties to the statement overlook the expulsion of the 2000 year old Jewish community from Jewish Jerusalem and the destruction of 57 synagogues. Apparently to deny Jews freedom to worship and to destroy synagogues is acceptable to the signatories. 

Today under Israeli control, the Moslems and Christians have freedom of religion. In Bethlehem, the Christians also have the freedom to leave. A majority in 1994 when Bethlehem was handed to the Palestinian/Moslem authority, a mere twenty years later,  Christians are now a mere 15% of the population. Until 1967, there was no “occupation” and there were no settlements but no Palestinian state was established. Why? 

The signatories repeat the lie of the Deir Yassin massacre and the expulsion of the Arabs even though the Arabs themselves admit that the alleged massacre was a lie and it was Arab leaders themselves who urged the local Arabs to leave Palestine. Listen to the man who was editor of the Palestine Broadcasting Service in 1947/8, Hazem Nusseibeh, and then reconsider the propaganda campaign against Israel. Click here http://deiryassin-thetruth.blogspot.co.il/2013/04/listen-to-man-who-was-editor-of.html   In this interview with the BBC Nusseibeh admits that in 1948 he was instructed by Hussein Khalidi, a prominent Palestinian Arab leader, to fabricate claims of atrocities at Deir Yassin in order to encourage Arab regimes to invade the expected Jewish state. He made this damming admission in explaining why the Arabs failed in the 1948 war. He said “this was our biggest mistake”, because, after hearing the atrocity claims, about 500,000 Palestinians fled in terror and left the country in huge numbers. In order to accuse Israel of “massacres”, the best the signatories could do is to create a massacre which never was. 

There are numerous such sources. Two examples are the Jordanian daily newspaper Falastin who wrote on February 19, 1949; “The Arab states which had encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.” The Cairo daily Akhbar el Yom wrote on October 12, 1963: “The 15 May, 1948 day arrived. On that day the Mufti of Jerusalem appealed to the Arabs (my note: no mention of Palestinians by their main leader!) to leave the country because the Arab armies were about to enter and fight..”. Deir Yassin was a village from which Arab forces attempted to cut the Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem highway. Yes, a battle was fought and the Arabs lost. Between losing a battle and lying about a massacre, the distance is great. 

Incidentally, if the signatories want to mention massacres, why not talk about the Arab massacre of the centuries old Jewish community of Hebron in 1929, when without settlements, occupation or even close to an Israeli state, Arabs massacred 67 Jewish children, women and scholars injuring hundreds more, bringing this ancient Jewish presence to an end. If we are talking expulsion, what about the 850,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries after expropriation and confiscation of their property and assets?

Bantustans? At least Ministers should know that under the Oslo Accords, recognized internationally, the West Bank is divided into three areas with Areas A and B under Palestinian control. Between the West Bank and Gaza, about 99% of Palestinian Arabs are governed by Palestinian authorities. So where is, and how can there be, apartheid if Israel does not exercise civilian control over Palestinians (other than a West Bank/Palestinian group areas style law which forbids Jews to live in Palestian areas)? The Israeli settlements which cover about 4% of the West Bank (there are none in Gaza) are only in Area C which according to the internationally recognized (including South Africa) Oslo Accords is under Israeli civilian control. Businesses have been established providing work and wealth to tens of thousands of Palestinians. Do South Africans have the right, authority or permission of these employees, many of them receiving their first introduction to high technology, to return them to a state of poverty?  

Further, the Ministers should know that both the West Bank and Gazan authorities have recently been severely censured by human rights organizations for their ill-treatment of Palestinians. Why do the South African Ministers remain silent if they truly have concerns for the human and democratic rights of the Palestinians?

As for the starvation of Palestinians, let`s look at with some health statistics: Infant mortality South Africa: 43, West Bank/Gaza: 25; Life Expectancy South Africa: 57, West Bank/Gaza: 73; Probability of dying under 5: South Africa: 47 per 1000 births, West Bank/Gaza: 25 per 1000 (it was 29 10 years ago, a substantial improvement). One last comment: In 2003, South Africa was country 200 out of 227 measured with regard to life expectancy. In 2011 it was placed 221 out of 227, one of the few countries to retrogress. The Department of Agriculture recently noted that 12-million South Africans go to bed hungry every night. The 2012 Global Hunger Index estimates that South Africa is ranked 9th in the world for highest hunger levels.The South African Ministers and Parliamentarians clearly have work to do but it is not in the Palestinian sphere. It seems that South Africa could do with some Israeli style “apartheid” and assistance for the benefit and health of its impoverished and hungry population. Ministers, Parliamentarians and your followers, please do not transpose your serious malnutrition problems to the Middle East.

The South African Ministers have allied themselves with the BDS movement. But the BDS policy is not “two states for two people” but, as disclosed by one of its founders Omar Barghouti, the true aim of BDS is,  in his words, “euthanasia” for Israel. In short, BDS does not recognize the right of Israel to exist even in pre-1967 borders. It is completely unacceptable for Ministers of a country, South Africa, which has diplomatic relations with Israel and a surplus trade balance, to implicitly require the elimination of that state. In Gaza, Hamas`s charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews. The reaction of the signatories is requested.

It can legitimately be asked whether the Ministers and other signatories are following the usual scapegoat, trying to find a foreign policy issue to divert attention from their own failures. One failure is their own apartheid policy which only this week, it was admitted, prevents a white male from being elected a judge in the “new” South Africa. Based on the inaccuracies, omissions and distortions set out in the statement, some improvement to the South African educational system would also not be out of place.

 

—