Free Palestine

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http://www.palestinecampaign.org/

http://www.freepalestine.com/

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!

......They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.

http://www.voicesofpalestine.org/

http://www.freepalestinecampaign.org/

http://www.palestine-net.com/

http://www.palestinefacts.org/

http://www.palestinehistory.com/

http://www.arab.net/palestine/index.html

http://www.palestineremembered.com/

http://www.un.int/palestine/

http://www.un.int/palestine/history/index.html
THIS IS THE CORE OF THE AGE LONG WAR, UNTIL IT IS FREE, WE WILL NEVER HAVE PEACE.

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http://www.un.int/palestine/history/index.html

History of Palestine

Palestine is one of the most ancient homelands of humankind. There is evidence that Palestine was inhabited almost two hundred thousand years ago.

With the beginning of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic period) circa 12,000 BC, humans in Palestine began to raise animals, to farm and produce handcrafts. For example, the skull of a dog, a picture of a bull carved into a bone and a sculpted piece of human skull, all dating back to that period, were found in the caves of Carmel.

Around 7000 BC, Jericho became the first place in Palestine where humans built dwellings for themselves and they also built a ten-meter high wall surround the city. Thus Jericho is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city on earth. Farming and animal breeding began there and stability characterized the area for more than a thousand years before they Mesopotamia-Somer (Iraq). The craft of pottery began in Jericho around

5000 BC, spreading from there to the rest of Palestine and Syria.
In several Palestinian cities, numerous artifacts from the Metallic Stone Age (c.4000 BC) were found, including in the city of Megiddo, where the oldest types of decorated pottery were discovered. In Beisan, excavations in 1921 and 1922 at “Tel Al-Hesn” led to the discovery of an accumulated series of ruins of ancient cities, mounting to 18 layers, with the lower layers dating back to 4000 BC and the upper layers to the Middle Ages.

Around 5000 BC, the first wave of Semitic migrations began and by the end of the fourth millennium BC and the beginning of the third millennium, the Semites had left the desert towards Iraq. The Akkadians settled in the south and the Assyrians in the north. The Semites are one of the three lineages of which the white race in today's world is traced back to, and the Arabian Peninsula is considered the original homeland of the Semitic race.

While already inhabited by people before recorded history, Palestine was subjected to a large influx of Semites from the Arabian Peninsula in the beginning of the 3rd millennium. This was known as the “Amorite Canaanite”, which increased around 2500 BC when the Amorites migrated to Greater Syria, to its southeastern parts (Transjordan), and the Canaanites to the coast, southwestern parts (Palestine). As such, the country was named after them – the land of Canaan – which is the oldest name given to our country, Palestine. The Canaanites ruled for nearly 1500 years.

The Jebusites, one of the Canaanite tribes, built the city of Jebus around 2000 BC, which is the Canaanite Arab name for Jerusalem. The city was built on the southwestern mountain of today's Jerusalem and is known today as Al-Nabi Daoud Mountain (Al-Nabi David). (Very recent excavations showed that the city was built even earlier, around 3,000 BC, which is more than two thousand years before the building of the Temple.)

The Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, who was probably an Amorit living in Ur in Babylon (Iraq), emigrated around 1805 BC and settled in Haran (Syria) and later in the Beersheba area in the land of Canaan. Throughout that time, he called for unification and the oneness of God. He married his second wife Hajar (Egyptian) and around 1794 had Ismail, peace be upon him, in the southwest of Asluge. Ismail is the grandfather of the Adnanian Arabs – Adnan was one of his grandsons, from whom the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, is descended. About 14 years after the birth of Ismail, around the year 1780 BC, Abraham had his second child Isaac, from his wife Sara in Jarar. When Abraham died, his sons buried him next to his wife Sara in Makfeela cave.

Isaac lived in the extreme southern part of the land of Canaan where his son Jacob was born and given the name Israel. Years later her went to Haran and married Rebekah and Rachel, who gave birth to 12 male children, all born in Syria except Benjamin who was born on the road of Bethlehem on their way back from Haran to the land of Canaan. Jacob later went to Egypt around 1656 BC.

Around 1675 BC, the Hyksos invaded Egypt. They were most probably Semites who include the Canaanites and the Amorites as well as others who lived in Syria and Palestine. The Hyksos introduced horses, military chariots and other armaments to the area and governed Egypt for nearly for nearly 100 years. Ahmose (1580-1557 BC) was able to expel the Hyksos from Egypt and chased them to Palestine and then to Syria.

The Egyptians again marched towards Palestine during the reign of Thutmose III (15011-1447 BC) and the land of Canaan became an Egyptian province for approximately four centuries. During that period, the rule of the Pharaohs was unstable and they were forced to dispatch a number of campaigns in order to put an end to the rebellions that were occurring. They also fought, for example, the Hittites, who succeeded in bringing most of northern Syria under their control, and Al-Khabiro, who had maintained control of most of Palestine during part of this period. In the year 1269 BC, the Egyptians and Hittites concluded a treaty that brought what had been to the north of Qadesh and Byblos under the control of the Hittites and what was to the south of them under the control of the Egyptians. Around 1100 BC, several wars broke out between the Canaanite Kings and the Egyptian Kingdom reached its greatest weakness.

The Aegean Philistines who came from Greece (Crete Island) began to settle in the coastal areas of Syria and Egypt. The Egyptian Pharaoh Marinfitah was able to quell them around 1225 BC, as was also done years later by Ramses III in the year 1191 BC. Then the Aegeans succeeded in occupying the coast of Palestine and Ramses III allowed them to remain there permanently. Their occupation extended from the area north of Gaza to the coast of Carmel as well as the mountain ranges in the East. The Philistines gained strength and power and had great influence on Canaanite civilization and the making of military weapons.

The family of Jacob (Israel, ASHKE-NAZI BOLLOCKS, ITS THE FIRST BORN ISMAIL/ISAREL) increased and grew after their migration to Egypt. Around 1227 BC Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, migrated with his people and crossed the sea according to the Biblical story. After forty years in dispersion, Moses tried unsuccessfully to enter Palestine from the south and was forced to go to Transjordan. Moses died after he had seen Palestine from the high mountains of Transjordan, but he had never entered Palestine.
Joshua became the leader of the Hebrews after the death of Moses around 1086 BC. He crossed the River Jordan and surrounded Jericho. He then entered the city, burning it and killing its inhabitants. Joshua and his people continued to annihilate the Canaanites and he was able to bring a great portion of the Canaanite cities under his authority. When Joshua died, the elders took charge of the Hebrews and this era was known as the period of the “Judges”, which lasted for 150 years. Saul was later elected their King and consequently a Jewish Kingdom was established around the year 1020 BC.

After the death of Saul, the Hebrews were divided, and after wars between the two sides, David became a King in about 1016 BC. He was able to establish a strong army and to consolidate the foundation of his reign. At the beginning, David made Hebron his capital. When he entered Jebus (Jerusalem), he moved to it and made Mount Zion his headquarters. The Kingdom of David extended almost from the area of Mount Carmel to Mount Hermon in the north to the Egyptian borders in the south and to the desert in the east. As for the Palestinian coast, it was under the control of the Philistines and remained under the rule of Egypt. The Jews often clashed with the Philistines and fought each other in several battles until the balance tilted in favor of the Jews. (One of these battles is the story of David and Goliath.) After David, his son Solomon became the third King and built the Temple that bears his name as well as a palace and expanded the walls of Jerusalem.

After the death of Solomon, the Jewish Kingdom, which survived for 97 years, was divided into two small kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel in the north (923-722 BC) and the Kingdom of Judah in the south (923-586 BC). There were fierce battles between the two kingdoms and both called for help from neighboring kingdoms. The area of the Kingdom of Israel was twice the size of that of the Kingdom of Judah and its population was triple. Many of them were pagans. Ten of their nineteen kings died at the hands of their own people. In 722 BC, the Assyrians were able to destroy the Kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria. The Chaldeans, led by Nebuchadnasar, twice attacked the Kingdom of Judah in the last days of its rule. The second time was in the year 586 BC. When he entered Jerusalem, Nebuchadnasar burned the Temple and destroyed the city and took 50,000 captives to Babylon. Palestine then came under the control of the Chaldeans.

After 70 years, the Persians seized Babylon and their King Cyrus ordered that the Jews be returned to Jerusalem. Those who returned were able to restore the Temple around 516 BC. Their leaders collected and explained a group of religious laws, many from old times, in the Hebrew language, which is today's printed Torah.

Persian rule in Palestine continued for almost two hundred years until the year 322 BC. The organization of the Kingdom and the administrative and economic reforms benefited the country and stability and prosperity prevailed until decadence and decline struck the empire. One of the leading causes of this was its failure in its wars with the Greeks.

Around 332 BC, Jerusalem opened its doors to Alexander the Macedonian and his armies. From there he went to Gaza and besieged it. After fierce resistance, he entered it and suppressed its people. During this battle, Alexander was injured. With the fall of Gaza, Alexander completed the conquest of all of Greater Syria. Later he went to Egypt, conquering it without effort. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC in Babylon, his generals disputed with regard to the fate of his empire and wars and conflicts broke out among them. As a result, Palestine was subject to more wars. In 323 BC, Palestine was given to Laomedon and later became part of the Kingdom of Ptolemies with Alexandria as its capital. They prudently governed the country from 301 to 198 BC.

In the year 213 BC, the Seleucids, the rulers of Syria led by Antiochus, attacked the Ptolemies to expel them from the areas they controlled in Syria and Palestine. Thus a war began and lasted for more than twenty years between the two Greek dynasties in which the Ptolemies gained victory in the beginning until Antiochus III was able to defeat them completely and expel them from the southern part of Greater Syria in 198 BC. During the reign of the Seleucids, they pressured the Jews to abide by Greek traditions and customs, which led to a revolt by the Maccabean dynasty, which clashed with the Seleucids and established a kingdom in 141 BC. The Maccabeans forced the Arab inhabitants of Galilea to judaize and committed horrifying massacres until the Romans established their control of Palestine.
The conquests of Alexander generally led to the spread of Hellenistic (Greek) civilization. The Greeks, Ptolemies, and Seleucids worked hard to spread their languages, ideas, traditions, sciences, and religions throughout the east (Levant) by building cities and schools. It was said that Palestine absorbed Greek character, including the spoken language despite the fact that this was confined to the major cities. The inhabitants of the villages, however, chose to preserve their traditions and use their own language.

The Romans seized the countries that were governed by the successors of Alexander the Macedonian. They conquered Macedonia and Greece and controlled a large portion of Asia Minor also. They marched onto Syria and Palestine and wrested control over them in 62 BC. The first Roman Governor of Syria rebuilt a number of cities that were destroyed by the Maccabeans such as Samaria, Beisan, and Gaza. This Governor stripped Hyrcanus II, King of the Jews, of his title as King, but he allowed the Jews as well as the others to retain some internal autonomy. After the assassination of Julius Caesar, war broke out between the Roman generals, which led to a struggle between them resulting in the sharing of the rule of the empire between Anthony and Octavius. Syria was under Anthony after he reclaimed it from the Persians who controlled it for a short period of time after the death of Julius Caesar. In 27 BC, Anthony entered the city of Jerusalem, executed the last of the Maccabean leaders and appointed Herod bin Antepas as King.
Rule was then transferred to the Herodosian Idumeans (37 BC-100 AD) in deference to Herod, who helped in consolidating Roman rule in the country and built many cities such as Caesarea and built several palaces and fortresses, including Massada.

Herod converted to Judaism and renovated the Temple in Jerusalem. Before his death in 4 BC, Herod requested that his properties be divided among his three sons, who the Roman Emperor Augustus appointed as governors. (One of them, Antepas, married his niece Herodia, whose daughter Salome asked Antepas for the head of Yehya ibn Zakaria (John the Baptist).)

Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, was born in Bethlehem in about 4 BC, sixty years after the Romans entered Palestine. He lived and grew up in Nazareth, and when he became thirty years old he began to travel throughout Palestine preaching the unification of God and his mercy and love for mankind, the immortality of the soul and reward and punishment. The Jews and Palestinians, who were pagan worshippers, and the Romans resisted the new religion being preached and reacted by oppressing the Christians. Jesus chose twelve men (Apostles0 to be his students, almost half of whom were Palestinians. One of those students was Judas Iscariot, who at the end betrayed Jesus and sold him for thirty pieces of silver. In brief, Palestine is considered the heart of Christianity, where Jesus was born and lived all his life, and it was from Jerusalem that he was resurrected and it was there that he preached and called people to the faith.

During the period of Roman rule, the Jews clashed with the Romans several times beginning in 66 AD. The Roman leader Titus besieged Jerusalem and entered it in 70 AD. He burned the Temple that was built by Herod. During the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD), the Jews in five of the Roman kingdoms (Mesopotamia, Cyprus, Egypt, Cyrenica, and Palestine) revolted. Trajan set out to destroy them in the first four kingdoms. After Trajan died, he was succeeded by Hadrian (117-138 AD), who suppressed the Jews in Palestine, killing a large number of them. They were in a state of disobedience under the leadership of Samaan or Bar Kawkab. Hadrian named Jerusalem Aelia Kapitlina and built a statue for Jupiter upon the ruins of the Temple of Herod. It was at this time that Jewish ties to Palestine were brought to an end.
Roman rule in Palestine endured from 62 BC to 395 AD, during which most of the country enjoyed an era of stability, peace and security. However, the number of people who emigrated to it was low. The main goal of the Romans with regard to Greater Syria and Palestine was to use them as a ground base to launch attacks against their enemies and to utilize their resources, including taxes. At the time, the official language was Latin and in the fields of literature and commerce Greek was the dominant language. However, Aramaic was the language used in the markets and by the people in their homes. The population of Palestine at that time was estimated to be about one million.

The armies of Palmyra under the leadership of Zenobia (267-272 AD) controlled Palestine for almost five years until the Roman emperor Aurelius defeated the Kingdom in 272 AD. The people of Palmyra were Arabs similar to the Nabateans, but their capital, Palmyra, never flourished except when Petra started to decline.

Constantine, the Roman Emperor, became a Christian and in 326 AD his mother, Queen Helena, visited Palestine and built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Resurrection) in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. In 380 AD, Constantine built a new capital for the Empire, which was named after him: Constantinople (now Istanbul).

In 395 AD, the Roman Empire was divided into two empires: the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) with Constantinople as its capital, and the Western Roman Empire with Rome as its capital. Greater Syria, including Palestine, was under the Eastern Roman Empire. The economic situation in the region continued as it had been in the past and the empire enjoyed a lengthy period of stability. In Palestine, the cities of Caesara, Asklon and Gaza continued the cultural path in the Byzantine era and Greek was the language used for teaching in the schools.

During the reign of Justinian (527-565 AD), several earthquakes struck, destroying many cities and villages. The earthquake of 551 was the fiercest of all. In 610 AD, Heraclius took charge of the empire and during his reign the armies of Chosroes, the Persian King, attacked Syria and advanced to Palestine, occupying Caesarea. From there he went on to Jerusalem, entering the city in 614 AD. He burned the Church of the Nativity to the ground and 90,000 Christians were killed. Heraclius returned and attacked the Persians and defeated them in 627 AD. Consequently, Syria was returned to the Byzantine Empire.

During the reign of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Ghassani state came into being. The Ghassanis, Yemeni tribes, adhered to Christianity and during the fourth century they entered the Byzantine political sphere of influence. The Romans used them to quell one of the rebellions in Palestine in 529 AD.
In the year 570 AD, Prophet Mohammed ibn Abdallah, peace be upon him, was born in Mecca. The revelation of the Holy Koran to Prophet Mohammed began in the year 610 AD, marking the beginning of the third monotheistic religion of Islam. Islam gave a distinct and special status to the city of Jerusalem, to which the Prophet Mohammed was taken and from which he ascended to heaven in the “night journey”. The Muslims directed their prayers towards Jerusalem before they did towards Mecca.

During the reign of Caliph Abu Baker, several armies were dispatched north. The army that was sent to Palestine was under the command of Amr ibn Alas. He defeated the Byzantines in several battles, the most important of which was Ajnadiyn in 634 AD, and took control of the southern part of the country. In 636, after the decisive battle at Yarmuk under the command of Kahled ibn Al-Walid, the Arabs completed the conquest of Palestine and the rest of Greater Syria. With regard to Jerusalem, its patriarch, Sophronius, placed a condition on the surrender of the city, demanding that it only be surrendered to the Caliph in person. Thus, Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab came to Jerusalem and personally gave promise to the people of their safety and that of their religion and churches. (Al-Uhdah Al-Umarriya)

During the Umayyad rule, Abdel Malek ibn Marwan built the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque beside it. Both, along with the surrounding area, became known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Holy Sancturary). This site is the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina. The Umayyads began the process of Arabizing the city's administration and developed new monetary coins – the dinar. It was during this period that the Arabic language and Islam spread rapidly.

The end of the tenth century witnessed a general decline in the Abbassid Dynasty and a gradual takeover by the Seljuk Turkish state. During the same century, the Fatamids extended to Egypt and captured Palestine as well from the Seljuks. After that conquest, enmity between the two sides was severe.
In 1090, the Roman Pope Urban II called for a rescue of Jerusalem from the Muslims and began preparations for the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns sent to Palestine and the Levant to capture as much territory as possible. In 1096, the armies marched by land, reaching and surrounding the city of Jerusalem by 1099. Within one month, a small Fatamid force surrendered and the Franks occupied the city, desecrating Al-Haram Al-Sharif and massacring the population. The Crusaders then established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, as well as the three other Emirates in the rest of Greater Syria.

In 1144, one of the three Emirates (Al-Raha) was recaptured by the Master of Mosul, Imad al-din Zanki. He, along with his son, continued the campaign and captured several cities, including Damascus, bringing them under the control of his state. The second Crusade took place from 1147 to 1149, although with little success.

Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyoubi ruled Egypt, annexed Syria and took control of Tiberius and began to fight against the Crusaders. In 1187, the Battle of Hittin took place against King Ghe of Jerusalem and Reynald de Chatillon, the Prince of Kerak. Salah Al-Din achieved great victory in this battle, after which he regained control of the cities and finally surrounded Jerusalem, which surrendered in the autumn of that same year. He allowed the Christian Arabs of the city to maintain their properties and to buy the properties of the departing Franks. He also forced the defeated Franks to leave the city without their weapons, but only after also paying a ransom.

This conquest of Jerusalem led to the third Crusade, led by King Richard (the Lionhearted) of England, King Philip Augustus of France and Frederick, the Emperor of Germany. The Crusaders occupied Acre in 1192, after which the peace treaty of Al-Ramleh was reached between Salah Al-Din and King Richard. The agreement left Jerusalem under control of the Muslims while allowing the Christians to make pilgrimages to the city. The coastal strip between Jaffa and Acre remained under Frank control and the rest of the coast from Askelon south stayed under Salah Al-Din's control.

Salah Al-Din left Palestine and went to Damascus, where he died in 1193. Following his death, in 1197, disputes took place among his successors, enabling a new Crusade campaign to regain control of certain areas. Frederick II, Emperor of Germany, recaptured Jerusalem. Following negotiations between him and Al-Kamel Al-Ayyoubi, an agreement was reached in 1229. Under the agreement, Frederick took control of Jerusalem, under the condition that the Muslims control the Islamic holy sites. Bethlehem and Nazareth were among several cities that came under Frederick's control, while the rest of Palestine stayed under Muslim control. Fifteen years later, Al-Saleh Ayyoubi of Egypt regained control of Jerusalem.

In 1250, the Mamluk Dynasty was established in Egypt and its rule also extended to Palestine and Greater Syria. In 1258, the Mongols (Tartars) occupied Baghdad and destroyed the Abbasid Caliphate. They also occupied Damascus and tried to move south. However, they were defeated in the south by the Sultan of Egypt, Qutz, at the battle of Ein Jalut, near Beisan in Palestine in 1259. The Mamluks continued thereafter to recapture the areas under Frank control, but total eviction of the Crusaders was not achieved until 1291 by Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil ibn Qalawoon when he occupied Acre in 1291.

In 1516, the Ottoman Sultan Salim II defeated the Mamluks, capturing Greater Syria and Egypt in 1517. Palestine then became part of the Ottoman Empire for the next 400 years.

During Ottoman rule, several important developments took place, such as the establishment of the rule of Sheikh Zaher Al-Omar in the north of Palestine (1749-75). He aimed to control Palestine before he was killed near Acre.
In 1799, Napoleon occupied southern Palestine and entered Jaffa, but his siege of Acre failed. One of the most important event in the history of Palestine in the 19th century was the campaign of Ibrahim Pasha to gain Greater Syria and Palestine in 1831. These areas remained under the control of Mohammed Ali Pasha of Egypt until 1840, when the Ottomans recaptured them.

In the last decades of Ottoman rule, Palestine was administratively divided into provinces. Jerusalem was directly linked with the Ministry of Interior in Istanbul. Nablus and Acre were incorporated into the province of Beirut. The remainder of the country was under two governing provinces.

Palestine dispatched deputies to the first Ottoman parliament in 1876, and during this period many Arabs called for political and administrative reforms and self-autonomy. They called for Arabic to be considered the official language. After the reinstatement of the constitution in 1908 and the policies of Turkization pursued by the government, many Arab leaders, including the leaders of Palestine, began to seek independence.

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http://www.un.int/palestine/forties.shtml

UN Chronolgy
1940's
1950's
1960's
1970's
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2000's

Palestine and the U.N. in Retrospect: The Forties
(Part 1 of 6)

This is the first in a series of six retrospects, listed chronologically by decades, looking back at the most important events related to the question of Palestine that have taken place at the United Nations (U.N.) since the inception of the organization in 1945. Those events have greatly influenced both the history and the present of the Palestinian people and will affect their future also as the permanent responsibility of the U.N. towards the question of Palestine must be upheld until it is solved in all its aspects.

[At the start of the World War I, Palestine was among the several Arab territories under Ottoman rule and in 1917, the United Kingdom (U.K.) began governing Palestine as an occupying Power. In the same year, Jewish Zionist leaders were able to secure the Balfour Declaration (November 1917), setting forth for the government of the U.K. the objective of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". At that time, the Jewish population comprised less than 10% of the overall population as compared to 90% indigenous Palestinians.

In 1922, the League of Nations allotted to the U.K. a mandate over Palestine, which incorporated the Balfour Declaration. In the following years, against the absolute and vehement objection of the Palestinian people, Jewish settlers continued to arrive en masse to Palestine. Their numbers swelled in the 1930s as a result of Jewish oppression in Europe and towards the end of the World War II they totaled approximately 30% of the population of Palestine and owned from 9-12% of the cultivable land, including parts of public land given to them by the Mandatory Power. With the dissolution of the League of Nations, the U.N. inherited the question of Palestine. ]

• The General Assembly convenes its first special session from 28 April to 15 May 1947 to consider the question of Palestine after the U.K., the Mandatory Power, decides in February 1947 to bring the issue before the Assembly.

• The General Assembly adopts resolution 106 (S-I) of 15 May 1947, establishing the Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), composed of Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay and Yugoslavia, to prepare a report on the question of Palestine with proposals for solution of the problem. The Assembly also decides that the First Committee grant a hearing to the Jewish Agency for Palestine and to the Arab Higher Committee.

• The Special Committee on Palestine completes its work on 31 August 1947, with agreement on terminating the mandate but without consensus on settlement of the question of Palestine. The majority recommends partition of Palestine into two states with special international status for Jerusalem, while the minority (India, Iran and Yugoslavia) propose a federal state comprising an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem as the capital of the federation. (Australia abstains on the two plans.)

• The General Assembly adopts resolution 181 (II) of 29 November 1947 on the future government of Palestine, setting forth a Plan of Partition with Economic Union, consisting of four parts: future constitution and government of Palestine; boundaries; city of Jerusalem; and capitulations. The plan calls for the creation of Arab and Jewish states no later than 1 October 1948, with Jerusalem as corpus separatum under an international regime to be administered by the U.N. with the Trusteeship Council the designated body in this regard. The plan also includes steps to be taken prior to independence, including the issues of citizenship, transit, economic union between the two states, access to holy places and religious and minority rights. Resolution 181 (II) also establishes the United Nations Palestine Commission to carry out the plan. The result of the vote on resolution 181 (II) was 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 abstaining.

• The Security Council adopts resolution 42 (1948) on 5 March 1948, appealing to all governments and peoples, particularly in and around Palestine, to take all possible action to prevent or reduce such disorders as are occurring in Palestine.

• On 10 March 1948, the Trusteeship Council decides in resolution 32 (II) that the statute on Jerusalem is in satisfactory form and agrees that the question of its formal approval, together with the appointment of a governor of the city, shall be taken up at a subsequent meeting to be held not later than one week before 29 April 1948, the deadline given to the Council by the Assembly. [On 21 April 1948, the Council transmits to the General Assembly that resolution along with the draft statute.]

• The Security Council adopts resolution 43 (1948) on 1 April 1948, calling for an immediate truce in Palestine and calling upon the Jewish Agency for Palestine and the Arab Higher Committee to make available representatives to the Security Council for the purpose of arranging a truce.

• On 1 April 1948, the Security Council adopts resolution 44 (1948). Invoking Article 20 of the U.N. Charter for the first time, the Council requests the Secretary-General to convoke a special session of the General Assembly to consider further the future of the government of Palestine. On 17 April 1948, the Security Council adopts resolution 46 (1948), calling upon all persons and organizations in Palestine to immediately cease all military activities, as well as acts of violence, terrorism and sabotage; and to refrain from any actions endangering the safety of the Holy Places in Palestine. It also requests the government of the U.K., as the Mandatory Power, to supervise the execution of these measures and to keep the Security Council and the General Assembly informed on the situation in Palestine.

• The General Assembly convenes its second special session between 16 April to 14 May 1948, during which it considers a working paper submitted by the United States (U.S.) on the question of the trusteeship of Palestine, which was opposed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) as well as the Jewish Agency. The Assembly adopts resolution 185 (S-2) of 26 April 1948, asking the Trusteeship Council to study measures for the protection of Jerusalem and its inhabitants and to submit proposals to the General Assembly. On 14 May 1948, the Assembly adopts resolution 186 (S-2), which affirms its support for the efforts of the Security Council to secure a truce in Palestine; decides to appoint a U.N. Mediator in Palestine and specifies his functions; and relieves Palestine Commission from further exercise of responsibilities under resolution 181 (II). Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden is appointed Mediator. After receiving proposals from the Trusteeship Council, the Assembly adopts resolution 187 (S-2), recommending to the Mandatory Power the appointment of a Special Municipal Commissioner for Jerusalem.

• On 14 May 1948, a Jewish state, Israel is proclaimed, one day before the mandate expires and just before the General Assembly begins discussion on the main resolution containing the U.S. idea on the trusteeship of Palestine. The U.S. government recognizes the Jewish state as does the U.S.S.R.

• War breaks out in Palestine. Several Arab armies become engaged. Approximately 750,000 Palestinian civilians flee their homes and properties under increasing Israeli military pressure and terror. Those refugees settle in camps in parts of Palestine outside of Israeli control and in surrounding Arab states.

• On 22 May 1948, the Security Council adopts resolution 49 (1948), calling for an abstention from any hostile military action in Palestine. The resolution also calls upon the parties to facilitate the task of the U.N. Mediator.

• On 29 May 1948, the Security Council adopts resolution 50 (1948). By that time, Israeli troops and paramilitary units already occupy territory beyond that allocated to the Jewish state by the partition plan (Resolution 181 (II)). In resolution 50, the Council calls for a cessation of all military activities for four weeks; urges all governments and authorities concerned to take every possible precaution for the protection of the Holy Places and the City of Jerusalem; instructs the U.N. Mediator, in concert with the Truce Commission to supervise the observance of these provisions and decides that they should be provided with a sufficient number of military observers. In this resolution, the Council also decides that if the resolution is rejected by either party or both, the situation in Palestine will be considered with a view to action under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. The observers mentioned in this resolution form the basis of what would later become the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).

• In resolution 54 (1948), adopted by the Security Council on 15 July 1948, the Council determines that the situation in Palestine constitutes a threat to the peace within the meaning of Article 39 of the U.N. Charter; orders all governments and authorities concerned to desist from further military action and declares that failure to do so would lead to further action under Chapter 7; orders as a matter of special and urgent necessity an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in the City of Jerusalem and instructs the Mediator to continue efforts towards the demilitarization of Jerusalem. On 19 August 1948, the Council issues truce directives.

• The Security Council, in resolution 57 (1948) of 18 September 1948, expresses deep shock at the assassination of the U.N. Mediator for Palestine, Count Bernadotte, in Jerusalem by a group of men believed to be members of the "Stern Gang", an Israeli terrorist group. At a later stage, in resolution 59 (1948), the Council notes with concern that the provisional government of Israel has submitted no report regarding the progress of the investigation into the assassination and requests the submission of such a report at an early date.

• On 29 October 1948, the Security Council adopts resolution 60 (1948), establishing a subcommittee, consisting of representatives of the U.K., China, France, Belgium and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, to consider all amendments and revisions to the second, revised draft resolution on the statute of Jerusalem.

• The Security Council adopts resolution 61 (1948) on 4 November 1948, calling for the withdrawal of forces and for the establishment, through negotiations, of permanent truce lines and such neutral or demilitarized zones in order to ensure full observance of the truce; and appointing a committee of the Council to advise the Acting Mediator.

• The General Assembly approves resolution 194 (III) on 11 December 1948, establishing the United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine, composed of France, Turkey and the U.S., to assume, inter alia , the functions given to the U.N. Mediator on Palestine and also resolving that Jerusalem should be placed under a permanent international regime. The resolution also resolves that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors 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.

• In resolution 212 (III) of 19 November 1948, the General Assembly establishes a special fund for the relief of Palestine refugees.

• On 4 March 1949, the Security Council, in resolution 69 (1949), decides to recommend to the General Assembly the admission of Israel to membership in the U.N. The resolution is supported by nine members, with Egypt voting against it and the U.K. abstaining. The resolution is considered adopted despite objections raised on the basis that the draft resolution was not supported by all five permanent members of the Council, as required by Article 27, paragraph 3 of the Charter.

• The General Assembly adopts resolution 273 (III) of 11 May 1949, recalling its resolutions of 29 November 1947 and 11 December 1948, and taking note of the declarations and explanations made by the representative of the government of Israel before the Ad Hoc Political Committee in respect of the implementation of the said resolutions and decides to admit Israel to membership in the U.N.

• With the conclusion of several Armistice Agreements, the Security Council adopts resolution 73 (1949) on 11 August 1949, which finds that those agreements constitute a step towards permanent peace in Palestine; assigns new functions to UNTSO with regard to the General Armistice Agreements; and terminates the role of the U.N. Mediator.

• By resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949, the General Assembly establishes the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). During the same session, the General Assembly restates, in resolution 303, that Jerusalem should be placed under a permanent international regime and, in resolution 356, it resolves to appropriate funds for the permanent international regime for Jerusalem.

• The Trusteeship Council adopts resolution 114 (S-2) of 20 December 1949, expressing concern at the removal to Jerusalem of certain ministries and central departments of the government of Israel and invites the government of Israel to revoke these measures.

[synergy777]

http://www.ipsc.ie/

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

the irish even did the last vicerory of india for us, lord mountbatten, nice 1.

[kblood]

Sounds like Mesopotamien or Ur as it has also been called was probably in that area. Also I have learned of an area in the Middle East might have been very fertile long ago. It could in fact have been the "Garden of Eden" that is described in the bible. Having studied the most ancient known civilisations a bit, it does seem likely. I hope to visit the middle east some day, so I can get to know it all better. Best way of getting to know a country is to visit, and maybe talking with those that live in that country. They can tell so much more about it all, than books. Problem is for me to understand them I guess :o

[synergy777]

everyone speaks english, as long you can, you should be ok. i would avoid travelling there now, its about to go down.

the ancient lands of afghanistan/iraq/iran are very important in biblcal history, from ham, ismael, abraham, all this conflict, blood spilt, is giving energy to the fallen of old, who reside around these areas. ancient babylon from the bible, iraq, where the tribes were split up, scattered. before that we lived as one, the tower of babel.

world trade center/tower of babel, its destruction was the start.

[positive terror]

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!

A Terror against the tyrans its a Positive Terror.

[synergy777]

its just today with nelson mandela thing, whats going in palestine is far worse than south africa, they have the apartheid, land stolen, living in camps, warfare, bombs, new berlin wall, no one bats an eyelid. wheres the palestinian nelson, he has to fight, everyday for his life, with rifles. they have to realise we are not as nice as africans, we hit back, we hit hit back harder.

like amir khan said, you get hit, you get up hit them back harder.

[synergy777]

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=7091

U.S. coordinator plans 5 new Palestinian battalions in W. Bank
Aluf Benn – Haaretz August 30, 2007

A new plan by the U.S. security coordinator in the territories, General Keith Dayton, calls for the deployment of five new Palestinian battalions throughout the West Bank.

The plan, whose aim is to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, requires the approval of Israel if arms and equipment are to be transferred for the new force, political sources in Jerusalem said Wednesday.

The plan, which is still in its early development, is likely to call for the staged creation of the force, with relatively small units undergoing the necessary training.

Last week, the U.S. Congress authorized for the first time the transfer of $80 million to the security delegation headed by Dayton, which will be used to bolster the security forces of Abbas. No funding has ever before been transferred to Dayton, and the money will now allow him to carry out his plans.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he would like to conclude a single-page agreement of principles with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The agreement would offer a political horizon for moderate Palestinians, and at the same time avoid details that would cause a political crisis that would derail the diplomatic process.

Earlier this week, Olmert met with a visiting American congressional delegation headed by Gary Ackerman (D-NY), and brought them up to date on his meetings with Abbas.

"The question is whether we will be able to carry out some of the understandings we will reach," Olmert said. "I believe that we want and can make decisions, but the Palestinians have a number of groups, they have no stable democracy, and there is uncertainty about the government and their institutions. I hope we can reach understandings on basic issues, but the implementation will be carried out on the basis of the road map."

Olmert said that the understandings will be "far reaching, so that Abu Mazen [Abbas] will not lose the moderates, but sufficiently moderate so that no mines [sensitive issues] explode. I will propose reasonable and positive views that Abu Mazen will be able to take, and which will be accepted by Palestinian public opinion and Israeli public opinion. We will not push him toward any declarations that will be good at noon and cause us to lose everything by evening."

In the prime minister's view, the main goal of the international summit scheduled to take place in Washington in November is to include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the diplomatic process, in an effort to broaden the Arab world's support for Abbas.

"I do not need to travel to Washington in order to meet Abu Mazen," Olmert told the visiting Congressmen. "We meet here. The focus of the effort in the international summit will be to include elements that to date have not been part of the process."

During her meeting with the U.S. congressmen, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni presented the "red lines" on which Israel is unwilling to compromise. These include the issue of Palestinian refugees returning to territory inside Israel, and ensuring that the Palestinian state will not become a terrorist entity.

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/899120.html

first they killed yashuah, now they are killing his people, and they call themselves christians, well i admire their sense of irony, lol

[spiraltrance]

its just today with nelson mandela thing, whats going in palestine is far worse than south africa, they have the apartheid, land stolen, living in camps, warfare, bombs, new berlin wall, no one bats an eyelid.

Very true. Thing is it's more media friendly for bleeding heart liberals to make a big fuss over africa and people like Mandella. It probably makes them sleep better at night and they can feel less guilty for things that happened 200 years ago which they had no control over.

Just sad they couldn't give two shits about iraqi's, palestinians and the rest of humanity. Not to mention all the poor bastards slaving away in chinese and indian sweatshops making there cheap consumer goods to feed there shallow lifestyle.

[synergy777]

http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=451

Israel: an important marker has been passed



23 Aug 2007

In a column for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes his first encounter with a Palestinian refugee camp and what Neldon Mandela has called "the greatest moral issue of our age" - justice for the Palestinians. 'Something has changed', he writes, referring to the world view of sanctions and a boycott against Israel.

From a limestone hill rising above Qalandia refugee camp you can see Jerusalem. I watched a lone figure standing there in the rain, his son holding the tail of his long tattered coat. He extended his hand and did not let go. “I am Ahmed Hamzeh, street entertainer,” he said in measured English. “Over there, I played many musical instruments; I sang in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and because I was rather poor, my very small son would chew gum while the monkey did its tricks. When we lost our country, we lost respect. One day a rich Kuwaiti stopped his car in front of us. He shouted at my son, “Show me how a Palestinian picks up his food rations!” So I made the monkey appear to scavenge on the ground, in the gutter. And my son scavenged with him. The Kuwaiti threw coins and my son crawled on his knees to pick them up. This was not right; I was an artist, not a beggar . . . I am not even a peasant now.”

“How do you feel about all that?” I asked him.

“Do you expect me to feel hatred? What is that to a Palestinian? I never hated the Jews and their Israel . . . yes, I suppose I hate them now, or maybe I pity them for their stupidity. They can’t win. Because we Palestinians are the Jews now and, like the Jews, we will never allow them or the Arabs or you to forget. The youth will guarantee us that, and the youth after them . . .”.

That was 40 years ago. On my last trip back to the West Bank, I recognised little of Qalandia, now announced by a vast Israeli checkpoint, a zigzag of sandbags, oil drums and breeze blocks, with conga lines of people, waiting, swatting flies with precious papers. Inside the camp, the tents had been replaced by sturdy hovels, although the queues at single taps were as long, I was assured, and the dust still ran to caramel in the rain. At the United Nations office I asked about Ahmed Hamzeh, the street entertainer. Records were consulted, heads shaken. Someone thought he had been “taken away . . . very ill”. No one knew about his son, whose trachoma was surely blindness now. Outside, another generation kicked a punctured football in the dust.

And yet, what Nelson Mandela has called “the greatest moral issue of the age” refuses to be buried in the dust. For every BBC voice that strains to equate occupier with occupied, thief with victim, for every swarm of emails from the fanatics of Zion to those who invert the lies and describe the Israeli state’s commitment to the destruction of Palestine, the truth is more powerful now than ever. Documentation of the violent expulsion of Palestinians in 1948 is voluminous. Re-examination of the historical record has put paid to the fable of heroic David in the Six Day War, when Ahmed Hamzeh and his family were driven from their home. The alleged threat of Arab leaders to “throw the Jews into the sea”, used to justify the 1967 Israeli onslaught and since repeated relentlessly, is highly questionable.

In 2005, the spectacle of wailing Old Testament zealots leaving Gaza was a fraud. The building of their “settlements” has accelerated on the West Bank, along with the illegal Berlin-style wall dividing farmers from their crops, children from their schools, families from each other. We now know that Israel’s destruction of much of Lebanon last year was pre-planned. As the former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison has written, the recent “civil war” in Gaza was actually a coup against the elected Hamas-led government, engineered by Elliott Abrams, the Zionist who runs US policy on Israel and a convicted felon from the Iran-Contra era.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine is as much America’s crusade as Israel’s. On 16 August, the Bush administration announced an unprecedented $30bn military “aid package” for Israel, the world’s fourth biggest military power, an air power greater than Britain, a nuclear power greater than France. No other country on earth enjoys such immunity, allowing it to act without sanction, as Israel. No other country has such a record of lawlessness: not one of the world’s tyrannies comes close. International treaties, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, ratified by Iran, are ignored by Israel. There is nothing like it in UN history.

But something is changing. Perhaps last summer’s panoramic horror beamed from Lebanon on to the world’s TV screens provided the catalyst. Or perhaps cynicism of Bush and Blair and the incessant use of the inanity, “terror”, together with the day-by-day dissemination of a fabricated insecurity in all our lives, has finally brought the attention of the international community outside the rogue states, Britain and the US, back to one of its principal sources, Israel.

I got a sense of this recently in the United States. A full-page advertisement in the New York Times had the distinct odour of panic. There have been many “friends of Israel” advertisements in the Times, demanding the usual favours, rationalising the usual outrages. This one was different. “Boycott a cure for cancer?” was its main headline, followed by “Stop drip irrigation in Africa? Prevent scientific co-operation between nations?” Who would want to do such things? “Some British academics want to boycott Israelis,” was the self-serving answer. It referred to the University and College Union’s (UCU) inaugural conference motion in May, calling for discussion within its branches for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. As John Chalcraft of the London School of Economics pointed out, “the Israeli academy has long provided intellectual, linguistic, logistical, technical, scientific and human support for an occupation in direct violation of international law [against which] no Israeli academic institution has ever taken a public stand”.

The swell of a boycott is growing inexorably, as if an important marker has been passed, reminiscent of the boycotts that led to sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Both Mandela and Desmond Tutu have drawn this parallel; so has South African cabinet minister Ronnie Kasrils and other illustrious Jewish members of the liberation struggle. In Britain, an often Jewish-led academic campaign against Israel’s “methodical destruction of [the Palestinian] education system” can be translated by those of us who have reported from the occupied territories into the arbitrary closure of Palestinian universities, the harassment and humiliation of students at checkpoints and the shooting and killing of Palestinian children on their way to school.

These initiatives have been backed by a British group, Independent Jewish Voices, whose 528 signatories include Stephen Fry, Harold Pinter, Mike Leigh and Eric Hobsbawm. The country’s biggest union, Unison, has called for an “economic, cultural, academic and sporting boycott” and the right of return for Palestinian families expelled in 1948. Remarkably, the Commons’ international development committee has made a similar stand. In April, the membership of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) voted for a boycott only to see it hastily overturned by the national executive council. In the Republic of Ireland, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called for divestment from Israeli companies: a campaign aimed at the European Union, which accounts for two-thirds of Israel’s exports under an EU-Israel Association Agreement. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, has said that human rights conditions in the agreement should be invoked and Israel’s trading preferences suspended.

This is unusual, for these were once distant voices. And that such grave discussion of a boycott has “gone global” was unforeseen in official Israel, long comforted by its seemingly untouchable myths and great power sponsorship, and confident that the mere threat of anti-Semitism would ensure silence. When the British lecturers’ decision was announced, the US Congress passed an absurd resolution describing the UCU as “anti-Semitic”. (Eighty congressmen have gone on junkets to Israel this summer.)

This intimidation has worked in the past. The smearing of American academics has denied them promotion, even tenure. The late Edward Said kept an emergency button in his New York apartment connected to the local police station; his offices at Columbia University were once burned down. Following my 2002 film, Palestine is Still the Issue, I received death threats and slanderous abuse, most of it coming from the US where the film was never shown. When the BBC’s Independent Panel recently examined the corporation’s coverage of the Middle East, it was inundated with emails, “many from abroad, mostly from North America”, said its report. Some individuals “sent multiple missives, some were duplicates and there was clear evidence of pressure group mobilisation”. The panel’s conclusion was that BBC reporting of the Palestinian struggle was not “full and fair” and “in important respects, presents an incomplete and in that sense misleading picture”. This was neutralised in BBC press releases.

The courageous Israeli historian, Ilan Pappé, believes a single democratic state, to which the Palestinian refugees are given the right of return, is the only feasible and just solution, and that a sanctions and boycott campaign is critical in achieving this. Would the Israeli population be moved by a worldwide boycott? Although they would rarely admit it, South Africa’s whites were moved enough to support an historic change. A boycott of Israeli institutions, goods and services, says Pappé, “will not change the [Israeli] position in a day, but it will send a clear message that [the premises of Zionism] are racist and unacceptable in the 21st century . . . They would have to choose.”

And so would the rest of us.