Palestine:
History, People & the Land
 Dispelling the Myths
 Primer on History
 Key Issues
 Life in Palestine Now
Myth #1: Palestine and
Palestinians Never Existed
Palestinians
are “Twolegged vermin”
Former Israeli PM
Golda Meir
Former Israeli PM
Menachem Begin
Former Israeli PM
Yitzhak Shamir
Palestinians are
“grasshoppers”
June 2002
“There was no
such thing as
Palestinians”
Former IDF Chief
Rafael Eitan
We need to keep
Palestinians like
“drugged roaches
in a bottle”
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Reality
Of course Palestine and
Palestinians Existed!
 Blanket dehumanization of a people used as
propaganda tactic
 Israel has devoted enormous energy to:
– Expel Palestinians from their homes
– Strip away Palestinians identity
– Deny Palestinian’s existence
 Maps, books, photos reference Palestine
– Baedecker's famous guidebook (1876) was
entitled Palestine – Syria
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Population: 1870-1946
2,000,000
1,237,000
1,800,000
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
608,000
600,000 367,224
400,000
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
1946
1940
1930
1925
1920
1912
1893
1870
0
Jews
7,000
1935
200,000
Arabs
4
Population %: 1870-1946
35%
1946
65%
1940
1935
1930
1925
1920
1912
1893
2%
1870
0%
98%
20%
40%
60%
Arabs
June 2002
80%
100%
Jews
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Question it!
 If Palestinians never existed, why do
Israeli leaders refer to the Palestinians
in their derogatory, racist statements?
 If Palestine / Palestinians never existed,
why are there resources (Pre-1948)
referencing Palestine and it’s people?
 If Palestinians never existed, what
people lived there when European Jews
arrived?
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Myth #2: Palestinians Chose
to Leave their Land in 1948
 Myth: Palestinians left at their own will
 Myth: Encouraged to leave by Arab leaders
 Myth: 68% of Palestinians left without ever
seeing an Israeli soldier
 But on the other hand….
– Myth: It was a war and they lost, so it goes
– Myth: “Population Exchange” - Palestinian refugee
losses balanced by claims resulting from
“comparable” exodus of Jews from Arab world
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Reality
Palestinians were forced
to leave their land
 Palestinians largely defenseless in 1948
 Exodus was involuntary and enforced
 Never relinquished their rights of home & land
 Significant proportion terrorized into leaving
– News of massacres, rape, plunder instilled fear
"In our country there is room only for the Jews. We
shall say to the Arabs: Get out! If they don't agree,
if they resist, we shall drive them out by force."
Professor Ben-Zion Dinur Israel's First Minister of Education, 1954
from History of the Haganah http://www.birzeit.edu/crdps/village.html
June 2002
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419 Arab villages
demolished and
depopulated
between 1947-1949
That’s about
4 villages
destroyed
per week!
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Question it!
 Why would people want to leave their homes at
their own will? Homes that have been in their
families for generations!
– “Oh, okay new-person-not-from-this-land, here’s the key
to my house. Take it, it’s yours! I’ll just live in a tent.”
 What causes masses to leave their land?
 Would nearly 1 million people living peacefully
on a land for hundreds and hundreds of years
suddenly decide to pick up and leave because
they felt like it? Where were they going?
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Myth #3: A religious war that
has lasted thousands of years
 Myth: This is a religious war that has been
going on for thousands of years mainly
between Jews and Muslims
 Myth: Since it has been going on for so
long, there’s no chance for it to end in a
short time period
 Myth: There has never been peace in the
Middle East
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Reality
It’s not about religion, it’s
about land AND it just
began in the 1900’s!
 Christian, Jews, Muslims have been living
together peacefully for hundreds of years
 Difficulties have only started with an
exclusive, religiously pure apartheid system
 Israel loves saying it because
– Longer it goes on, more time to build illegal
settlements and humiliate Palestinians
– Implies Jews have been there long time
 Makes Americans feel that there’s no hope
– “Why put pressure on Israel to change? It’s
been going on for so long.”
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Question It!
 Why has there been relative calm before the
colonist / Zionists arrived?
 If it’s a religious war, how come we rarely
hear about the Palestinian Christians?
Where do they fit in?
 If it’s a religious war, why isn’t it going on in
Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon,
Jordan, Tunisia, Ethiopia, and many other
countries were both Jews and Muslims live?
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Myth #4:
Israel’s “Generous” Offer
 Myth: Palestinians get 95% of land
 Myth: Administrative control over some
Palestinian neighborhoods around
Jerusalem
 Myth: Administrative & civil control over
Palestinians living in West Bank & Gaza
June 2002
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Reality
No Freedom
No Independence
 It’s like a prison
 Continued building of bypass roads
 Checkpoints every few miles
 No real sovereign control over borders
 No control over water or air space
 Non-contiguous land
And there’s more….
June 2002
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Reality
No Freedom
No Independence
 Continued Israeli military control over large
segments of the West Bank, including
almost all of Jordan Valley
 Codified right of Israeli forces to be
deployed in Palestinian state at short notice
 Continued presence of fortified illegal Israeli
settlements and Jewish-only roads in the
heart of the Palestinian state
Oh…and one more thing….
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Reality
No Freedom
No Independence
 Required nearly 4 million
Palestinian refugees to relinquish
their fundamental human rights in
exchange for compensation to be
paid not by Israel but by the
"international community."
June 2002
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Question it!
 Why is there no territorial contiguity for the
Palestinian state?
 Why don’t Palestinians have control of its
external borders and water resources?
 Why is Israel NOT carrying out a FULL
withdrawal as required by international law?
 Why is there no Palestinian Right of Return?
 Why is refugee compensation to be paid by
“international community”?
 Why do Palestinians need to “compromise”
any more?
– Already only left with 22%* of their original land!
June 2002
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Myth #5: Israel’s a democracy
 Myth: Claims to be only democratic
state in Middle East
 Myth: Israel civilized an uncivilized
world and made the “desert bloom”
 Myth: Israeli Palestinians have equal
rights
June 2002
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Reality
Where’s the
Democracy?
 Israel’s “Law of Return” gives automatic
citizenship to any Jew
 No defined borders
 No constitution; Only series of laws that
establishes Jewish supremacy over non-Jews
– Torture is legal
– Land confiscation is legal
– Indefinite detention without charge
June 2002
Applies only to
Palestinian
Israeli citizens
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Question it!
 How can you be democracy and an exclusive
state for Jews? That’s blatant racism.
 How can you call a country a democracy
when it doesn’t even have a constitution or
defined borders?
 Why does Israel grant citizenship to a Jew
from Russia but not to an indigenous
Palestinian who was born on that land?
 Why does US provide unconditional support
to an overtly exclusive, racist state?
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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 Israel is a full democracy only if
we are to consider Apartheid
South Africa a full democracy
 Yes … Israel is a democracy if
you’re Jewish
 It’s like saying US is a democracy
as long as you’re white
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Whenever You Hear…
 Palestine & Palestinians never existed
 Palestinians chose to leave their land
 This is a religious war that has lasted
Question it!
hundreds of years
 Israel has made “generous” offers to
Palestinians and they never accept
 Israel is a democracy
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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The Key Issues
 Right to Return
– Violation of International Laws
– Refugee Crisis
 Illegal Settlements
– House Demolitions
– Resources
 Occupation
– Denial of Self Determination
– Human Rights Violations
Right To Return:
A Critical Topic Often Ignored
 Right of Return is right of Palestinians to:
– Return to their homeland
– Full restitution of all their confiscated and destroyed
property in accordance with Int’l Laws
 Why it’s not discussed?
– Tied to racist nature of exclusive state
– Israeli’s spin it as a “demographic problem”
 The Reality
– In 20 years population will be 55% Palestinian
Christian and Muslim and 45% Jewish
– Israel is afraid if right to return is implemented, the
special state of Jewish character is ruined
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Right of Return MUST be
Brought to the Forefront
 Permanent return desirable for peace to prevail
 Ignoring it contradicts every link to democracy
– What if everyone in US says we want an exclusive
Christian state or exclusive white state? Means no
Latinos, Asians, African Americans, etc…allowed
 Ignoring it goes against basic American values
of openness to diversity, acceptance of people
no matter what race, creed, ethnicity
 It’s universal basic right!
June 2002
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Universal Declaration of
Independence
"(1) Everyone has the right to
freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave
any country, including his own, and
to return to his country"
June 2002
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1948: Resolution 194
Paragraph 11: "...the 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...
compensation should be paid for the
property of those choosing not to return."
Reaffirmed 110 times with universal
consensus, except for Israel & U.S.
June 2002
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1974: UN Resolution 3236
Subsection 2, "the inalienable right of
the Palestinians to return to their
homes and property from which they
have been displaced and uprooted,
and calls for their return".
June 2002
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1997: UN Resolution 52/62
“Reaffirms that the Palestine Arab
refugees are entitled to their property
and to the income derived therefrom,
in conformity with the principles of
justice and equity."
June 2002
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1948…1974 … 1997 ….
UN Resolutions reaffirmed
over and over and over with
universal consensus …
… except for Israel & U.S.
Question it!
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Right to Return:
Who Can Become An Israeli Citizen
 If you’re Jewish…
– Arrive at airport
– Go to “Qlitat Aliyah” (Jewish Immigrant
Reception)
– Say “I’m Jewish”
– Congratulations, You’re a citizen!
If you’re a Palestinian…
–Sorry, no chance.
June 2002
Palestinians are not
allowed the same
methods as Jews to
become a citizen
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Refugee Crisis
 About 5½ million Palestinian Refugees
 Oldest & largest refugee problem in the world
 Not a single refugee allowed to return
– Onto fourth generation of refugees
– Some made refugees multiple times 1948 & 1967
 Ways of dispossession
– Home demolitions….displaced again
– Israeli Laws
June 2002
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Right of Return IS Possible
A study on the demography of
Israel shows that 78% of Israelis
are living in 14% of Israel and
that the remaining 86% of the
land in Israel is mostly land that
belongs to the refugees on which
22% of the Israelis live.
June 2002
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Illegal Settlements
 Large housing projects/cities built illegally by
Israel on land confiscated from Palestinians
within West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip
 Began as a means of controlling & annexing
Palestinian land occupied during “1967 War”
 Serves Israel’s strategic, military, economic
interests
– Impedes peace process; creates “facts on ground”
 Constant reminder and humiliation to
Palestinians in an Apartheid system
June 2002
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Settlers &
Settlements
Of 400,000+ Settlers, 70%+
Americans (e.g. Brooklyn);
Others Russian & European
1972
1992
2001
250,000
213,672
200,000
170,400
141,000
150,000
100,000
109,784
50,000
0
SOURCE:
Foundation for
Middle East
Peace
http://www.fmep
.org/reports/200
2/sr0203.html#5 June 2002
190 Illegal
Settlements
1,500
17,000
6,900
West Bank &
Gaza
East Jersualem
Golan Heights
130 / 16
11
33
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Water
 80% water aquifers in West Bank
 Illegal settlements strategically placed
on top of water aquifers & mountains
 Illegal settlements get priority access
– As illegal settlements are built or expand,
water taken away from Palestinians
June 2002
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This
Really
Happens
When supplies run low during
summer, Israeli water company
shuts off valves that supply
Palestinian towns. So settlers
get full swimming pools while
Palestinian villages a few miles
away run out of drinking water.
Settlers attack Palestinians'
water supply, severing pipes and
switching off valves. They dump
untreated sewage on Palestinian
land, polluting wells and aquifers.
SOURCE:
http://www.miftah.org/Display.cfm?DocId=744&CategoryId=4
June 2002
Israeli army has
routinely
destroyed water
supplies, an
activity defined
as a war crime.
Al-Awda and American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC-SF)
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Palestinian Olive Trees
 Sole source of income for many Palestinian
farmers
– Each tree yields approximately 5 gallons of oil sold
at markets for equivalent of about $75 (U.S.)
 Olive Trees passed down through
generations of Palestinian families
– Takes decades to mature fully
 More than 11,000 olive trees have been
uprooted and destroyed
 Under attack by Settlers
June 2002
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House Demolitions
 Classic colonial practice – attacking or
eliminating habitat of indigenous population
– Carry out collective punishment either in retaliation
for, or as deterrence against, acts of resistance
 Violations of International Law
– Demolish villages and create policies refusing to
grant them building permits
– Encouraging and subsidizing construction of illegal
Israeli settlements
 Creating nation of homeless & dispossessed
(becoming a refugee yet again)
June 2002
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Occupation
 Loss of control over natural resources
 Imposition of suffocating closures and
curfews
 Destruction of Palestinian land and
property
 Suppression of free statement
 Systematic destruction of the
Palestinian economy
June 2002
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Occupation
International law considers
agreements between an occupier
and any body in occupied areas to
be null and void if they deprive
civilians of recognized human
rights including the rights to
repatriation and restitution.
June 2002
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June 2002
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