Who Are the Palestinians? – Part II
Question: In an earlier Question and Answer Segment we found that the
Palestinian desire for statehood is a relatively recent development. What were
some of the factors leading up to the desire for Palestinian Statehood?
We often hear of the Jewish “occupation” in the land of the Palestinians.
The term “occupation” conjures up reflections of the Roman occupation of Israel.
The implication is that as the Romans occupied Israel and subjugated the Jews, so
too now the Jews are occupying Palestine and subjugating the Palestinians. Yet,
there has never been a Palestinian Arab nation with a culture and language that is
different from any of the surrounding Arab nations.
Why, then, the desire of the Palestinians to form a Palestinian State?
Once the Palestinian claim to be a unique people is accepted, then their
“right of return” comes to bear a certain degree of legitimacy. The name of the
organization that was headed by Yasser Arafat for many years, The Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), was cleverly chosen. It conveys the message that
Palestine needs to be liberated and is now under Jewish occupation. Yet, history
clearly shows that there was no Arab Palestinian history until the local Arabs
created such a history to suit their own ends.
This all began with an infamous individual—though some would consider
him a “hero”—by the name of Haj Amin al-Husseini (1895-1974). Al-Husseini was
the Mutfi (chief Muslim legal religious authority) during a portion of the period
between the collapse of Ottoman rule in greater Palestine and the establishment
of the Jewish State in 1948.
It was during this period of the British Mandate that al-Husseini attempted
to do two things:
1) To vigorously oppose Jewish immigration to their ancestral homeland.
2) To establish a pan-Arab government in the area, with no room for a
Jewish State.
Copyright © 2/9/2016, by Dr. Larry Spargimino. All rights reserved
Beginning in 1937 Haj Amin al-Husseini was the chief spokesman for the
Arab/Muslim world, and developed an alliance with the Axis powers (Nazi
Germany and Fascist Italy).
He wanted the Axis powers to officially recognize the rights of the Arab
nations to reflect a dominant Muslim/Arab culture, and also to provide support to
the Arab states in reversing the creation of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East.
In exchange, al-Husseini collaborated with Nazi and Fascist leaders by
broadcasting pro-Axis, anti-British and anti-Jewish propaganda through Arab
language broadcasts.
Al-Husseini was notorious for inciting violence against Jews and British
military personnel and civilians in the Middle East. In 1946 Yugoslavia sought to
indict al-Husseini as a war criminal for his role in recruiting 20,000 Muslim
volunteers for the Nazi SS who took part in the murder of Jews in Croatia and
Hungary.
Al-Husseini was the darling of Yasser Arafat, PLO leader, who referred to alHusseini as “our hero Husseini.”
The drive for Palestinian statehood is rooted in wrong presuppositions and
the rule of the sword. Indeed, as we are told in 2 Timothy 3:13: “Evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
Copyright © 2/9/2016, by Dr. Larry Spargimino. All rights reserved