State of Israel a creature of well-documented law

NO STATE in the world has more of a legal foundation than Israel.

Step by legal step, Israel is the return of the Jewish people to the state they had from 1000BCE-586BCE and from 538BCE-63 AD, and which was taken away from them in 63AD by the Roman general Titus when he conquered Jerusalem.

Titus burnt down the 2nd Temple, stole the Golden Menorah and other religious artefacts and took the remaining Jewish people (those who had not fled) as slaves to Rome.

There they were held in the Colosseum behind metal barriers.

To celebrate this “victory”, the Caesar of the time had an arch built, called the Arch of Titus, which still stands in Rome today.

The reconstitution of modern day Israel began legally in 1917 with the Balfour Declaration to reconstitute a national home for the Jewish people in their homeland, then the San Remo Resolution in 1920, then the League of Nations Resolution in 1922, then the Anglo-American Convention on Palestine in 1924, and finally, the UN Partition Plan in 1947 which provided for nation states for both the Jewish people and the Arab people.

However, the Arabs did not accept the legal partition by the UN and immediately on its establishment as the nation state for the Jewish people in 1948, Israel was illegally attacked by all the surrounding Arab states, as well as elements of the local Arab population.

In defending its right to exist in that war, Israel lost 1% of its population, suffered 6 373 casualties and also lost some of the land assigned to it by the UN and captured other land from the aggressors.

The end result of that war was an armistice line that prevailed until 1967 when Israel was once again attacked by its neighbours, this time Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

Between 1948 and 1967, Jordan ruled Judea/Sumeria (today called the West Bank – “Jews” came from “Judea”), yet no Palestinian state was declared by the Arabs living there during those 19 years.

Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, there was an exchange of populations – approximately 600 000 Arabs fled the area and between 850 000 – one million Jews were expelled or forced to flee the Arab countries surrounding Israel.

Over $300 billion worth of assets and over 100 000 square kilometres of land was confiscated from these Jewish populations, yet no reparations have ever been paid to them by the Arab countries.

Today, those Jewish refugees who were expelled or fled from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia and others, to Israel have been absorbed into Israeli society, their children educated, and many occupy top positions in the country.

The Palestinian Arabs, however, have been kept in refugee camps, refused citizenship, education, property ownership and many more rights by the very Arab governments which encouraged them to flee Israel in 1948, promising them that “after the Jews are massacred, you will go back to your homes”.

Those Palestinian Arabs who found asylum in countries in Europe have been absorbed into those countries and their descendants given opportunities to develop themselves.

The plight of the Palestinian Arabs who sought refuge in Arab countries is tragic.

It is therefore the governments of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and others who are to blame for the continued misery of these people.