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Opinion | What we did in '48, and what we mark today | Israel today

2022-05-16T06:44:33.595Z


Instead of internalizing that the choice of violence brings only disasters, and that only reconciliation and dialogue can take them out of an endless cycle of defeats and bloodshed, the Arabs repeatedly try to recreate '48.


On May 15, 1948, the Sabbath when the British Mandate for Palestine expired, Arab armies invaded Palestine, wreaking havoc and destruction on their way.

Their purpose was to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, which the leaders of the settlement had announced the day before, on the evening of Friday, 5 Iyar 1958.

Every Jewish settlement occupied by Arab armies was completely destroyed, and its defenders who survived the battle were captured or murdered.

For example, the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, where Jordanian forces destroyed the quarter's synagogues, some of which are hundreds of years old, as are the settlements of Gush Etzion and the Mishmar HaYarden colony on the banks of the Jordan River, as well as Kibbutz Nitzanim and Yad Mordechai in the south.

But the State of Israel could defeat its enemies, and its army halted the advanced Arab forces and retreated.

The military invasion was the second stage in a campaign for Israel, which began with the UN Resolution of November 1947 on the partition of the country.

The Arabs of the land rejected the proposal and began attacking Jewish settlements, and even blocked the transportation routes that connected them (the caravans to Jerusalem, the Yehiam convoy, the Leh and the Hadassah caravan are just a few examples of the price this struggle charged the Jewish settlement). In the face of the failure of the Arabs of the land, the Arab states therefore decided to intervene in the war and invade Israel.

The war in which the Arabs started brought disaster on the Arabs of the Land of Israel.

Many of them became refugees, and needless to say, Arab states preferred to retain the territories they occupied (the Gaza Strip and the West Bank) and prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state in them.

This catastrophe was therefore not the result of a higher power, nor does the attempt to blame the Jewish side for fighting and rise up against it stand the test of historical truth.

This disaster is the work of the Arab population in the country and of its leaders, who refused the compromise proposals offered to them, chose the path of violence and lost their whole world.


What has been the lesson of the Arabs since then?

Probably to try again where they failed in 1948. This, under the inferred conclusion that the choice of violence brings only disasters, and that only reconciliation and dialogue can take them out of an endless cycle of bloodshed and defeat.

The clearest expression of the Palestinian decision and also of some Westerners in Israel to adhere to the past, is the "celebrations" of Nakba Day.

These are not events of soul-searching and remembrance, but events of agitation, incitement and demonstrations of hatred, which all they transmit - and certainly for the Jewish public watching these demonstrations - is: We are not ready to accept the existence of the State of Israel, and the Jewish side must know that the conflict is a total conflict. , "Zero amount game", in which the victory of the Palestinians means the destruction of the Jewish state.

It is of course possible to take lightly these demonstrations of hatred for the country and what it represents, but one should be disturbed by the message hidden in them.

Its essence is that even if Israel is strong and powerful, it is a "conditional state", which in our hearts we do not accept and come to terms with, and that when the moment comes and when reality allows - we will raise our heads in front of it.

This message often feeds the riots in the Arab sector, which are not based on economic hardship, nor even anger at what is happening on the Temple Mount, but defiance against the State of Israel, whose systems are once again failing to deal with it.

The State of Israel has lived on its sword since its inception, and in a complex region like ours it will have to do the same for the future to come.

The Palestinians will not be able to do it, but in the mood and in the cultivation of the "Nakba" culture, they are not only harming it, but especially themselves.

It is fitting, therefore, that after one hundred and fifty years of conflict they will choose another path, instead of continuing to cultivate and celebrate hatred and incitement.

This will probably not happen, since the Palestinians have been doomed to live - and in fact re-choose the path that leads them - from disaster to disaster.

Were we wrong?

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Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2022-05-16

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