In the 7th century, after uniting the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam, Muhammad proceeded to conquer and expel every Jewish tribe (about 15 of them) from the Arabian peninsula, where they and their predecessors had lived for hundreds of years. One of those tribes, the Banu Qurayza of Yathrib, was defeated in battle and Muhammad later ordered the beheading of all males who had reached puberty, between 600 and 900 boys and men. Yathrib’s name was changed to Medina. That first generation of Muslims expanded their territory northwards into the Jewish Khaibar oasis and further into Byzantine territories, imcluding Judea.
The events above are documented in detail in the Koran and prove it was the Muslims who began the physical aggression against the Jews. The reason was most Jews did not want to give up their land and property, did not want to participate in creating a Muslim caliphate, and did not accept Muhammad as a prophet. This affront against Islam resulted in the codifying of numerous hate verses targeting Jews. It also concocted the institution of dhimmiehood, responsible for much Jewish and Christian suffering during the past 1400 years. There are no longer official dhimmies, but a certain collective attitude persists that Muslims are superior and that once they conquer land, that land cannot be reconquered by others, even by rightful claimants. Except for a 100-year period under the Crusaders, Muslims ruled the land until the twentieth century.
For the purposes of this article let us jump to the Balfour declaration of 1917 and the defeat of the Ottomans in 1918. In February 1920 the Allied powers met in London and continued their discussions at San Remo. On April 25, 1920, they created the mandates of Iraq, Syria and Palestine. The Balfour declaration was included in this treaty and the territory of Palestine was declared the home of the Jewish people.
The “Palestinian” Arabs in April 1920 include those Arabs then living in the mandate of Palestine, on either side of the Jordan river. By October 1920 the first Muslim military units east of the Jordan were created which later became the Arab Legion. It is an interesting choice of name as the previous legions in the area operated during the Roman/Byzantine occupation, one which killed and exiled Jews.
The Jewish presence in what became Transjordan was opposed violently. Arabs lobbied and threatened until they convinced the western powers that it was better to give in to their demands and split the Mandate at the Jordan river, thus decreasing the value and security of that which had been promised to the Jewish nation in 1920. On September 16, 1922 the Transjordan memorandum was passed by the League of Nations. It gave more land to the Arabs and forbade Jews to settle east of the Jordan river, making inaccessible to them thousands of squared kilometers of Jewish ancestral lands.
Meanwhile, Arabs from the Transjordan and even more from other Arab lands crossed into mandatory Palestine west of the Jordan river, both legally and illegally, to take advantage of job opportunities and also as part of a conscious decision by the Arab leadership to change the demographic make-up on that side of the river before a sovereign Jewish state could be established.
With the July 24, 1924 Treaty of Lausanne “Palestine” was marked on the map to include only the land west of the Jordan, just 23% of the area originally promised.
Arab riots claimed thousands of Jewish lives in the 1920s and 1930s. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem’s nephew Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni led the 1936-1939 Arab revolt and founded the Holy War Army to prevent a separate Jewish state. It was composed of thousands of Palestinians and foreign fighters from other Arab lands.
Note the timing of the Grand Mufti’s visit to Mussolini and the Chicago Tribune article at the bottom of this page, dated the same day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, suggesting coordination between the Grand Mufti, Italy, Japan and the Nazis, who declared war on the US on December 11, 1941. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, broadcast numerous radio speeches throughout the war to Muslim population centers in Europe, like Bosnia and Albania, and to various Arab lands urging them to fight the Allies and the Jews, wherever they could find them. He was charged by the Yugoslavian government with war crimes, since he had recruited two Muslim SS-divisions which participated in the killing of thousands of civilians and Jews. Having those extra 30 000 men meant the Germans did not need to divert troops from other fronts to send to the Balkans. Their task was to quell partisans and apprehend/kill more Jews and undesirables. The Grand Mufti’s radio propaganda reached audiences in British colonies and territories all over the world. This meant the British had to commit more military and police forces to those areas, diminishing the number fighting the Germans and Italians. It follows that the war would have been over sooner without the Mufti’s contributions to the Nazi war effort. What is the figure for Jews and other peoples who were killed from, say, March to May of 1945?
Haj Amin al-Husseini was not just any Palestinian Arab. He was their top leader between 1921 and 1948. He held the position of Mufti of Jerusalem, Grand Mufti (which covered the whole Palestine Mandate) and President of the Supreme Moslem Council and was thus a major religious and political leader. He also had military experience, having fought as a soldier of the German-allied Ottoman army in WW1. He came from a noble family, with blood lines going back to Muhammad. His older half-brother, Kamil al-Husayni, was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem 1908-1921.
Their father Muhammad Tahir al-Huseyni was the first Grand Mufti 1865-1908 and a critic of Zionism who opposed Jewish immigration and land purchases. Their grandfather Mustafa was Mufti from the 1840s to 1865. Source: Emanuel Beska
Despite founding a Caliphate which conquered new lands for hundreds of years while creating the dhimmie cast system and shariah law, the Arabs managed to avoid blame for collaborating with the Nazis. While arrested Nazi leaders had to face trial at Nuremberg in 1945-1946, the Grand Mufti was released from French custody. The British concurred, finding him useful for their future plans in the Middle East. Due to great-power interests, the Grand Mufti was never tried for war crimes or crimes against humanity. His role as a spiritual and political leader in educating generations of Arabs and Muslims to hate Jews and his organizing of riots is well documented. His support of the Axis powers is clear from his time living in Iraq in early 1941 (where he fomented a failed revolt against the British), and then Germany 1941-1945. He was so committed to Hitler that he remained there until the end of the war, being apprehended in Konstanz, southern Germany, on May 5, 1945, three days before Germany surrendered.
The handover of the Nazi struggle to the Grand Mufti was probably a consolation prize to Hitler, who knew the Jews' troubles would not be over with his death. From Hitler, the Grand Mufti received open doors to his various ministries, monetary support to conduct his pro-Nazi activities, and a huge stream of useful knowledge. This explains why he stayed in Germany to the very end of the war. Afterwards, we know Nazi criminals began new lives in the Middle East and were protected, many converted to Islam. Were they not often advisors to their hosts?
While living in Syria 1946-1947 the Grand Mufti helped organize the Palestinian resistance. Meanwhile other Arabs worked together diplomatically - just like in Caliphate times - to make sure the new Jewish state was as defenseless as possible. The Arabs succeeded in decreasing the area allotted to the Jews and denied them possession of most heights and fortified positions.
By May 14, 1948, when the State of Israel was founded by the United Nations, the land apportioned to the Jewish state had decreased to 13% of the original Palestine mandate! The borders as drawn were an invitation to war and everyone knew it. The Syrian army attacked the same day. The Egyptian air force bombed Tel Aviv the next day. More wars followed in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and 2006. The rocket and infiltration war from Gaza continues and shows clearly that giving up land for peace will not work with the Arabs (who make the decisions), because they want all of the land.
The Palestinian Arabs are the geographical and military spearhead wedged deep inside Israel’s torso. Some Palestinians do not hate the Jews, but many do. Their indoctrination comes from those unfortunate historical Koran and hadith verses, which their priests and Muftis continue to preach. The shaft of the spear is held by the over 200-times larger outside Muslim world which ties its moral and financial support to Palestinians’ continued struggle to liberate the land from the river to the sea. Muslim outsiders make generous monthly payments to the families of “martyrs” who kill Jews. The saddest part is that many, especially in the UN, accept the Arab version of events when all they have to do to rebuke it is read the history of Muslims and Jews, from its very beginning in the Arabian peninsula.
It does not take many knifings and suicide bombings to make Israel’s population nervous. To counter such threats requires money and resources to implement a robust security presence. Thereafter follow the inevitable showdowns with identified or suspected militants, which often cause collateral damage. Many in the world criticize Israel for its efforts to provide security to its own people and guests, but the unresolved demographic and border situation are to blame here. As long as Palestinians and outside instigators choose hate over peace, the war west of the Jordan river will continue and there are no credible signs that it will ever stop. This is a defensive war for Israel. Proper borders will make Muslim agitators think twice before attacking as armies, gangs or individuals.
The Muslim-Jewish war continues even when there is an outward peace. The Muslim world’s substantial propaganda machine is aimed at all demographics.
During “peacetime” Muslims stockpile weapons and supplies, devise strategies, tactics and plans for the next rebellion or war. While the current Jew-hating education of Palestinian youth continues it is useless to think that their leadership is operating in good faith. The Palestinian population west of the Jordan continues to grow. The Jewish population grows too and is augmented by Jewish immigration from the rest of the world who will need land, housing and employment.
Islam lays claim to Jerusalem and Israel based on the unbelievable 1400 year-old night journey of their prophet riding a Pegasus clone. The Arabs work together as a Caliphate or individually, as Palestinians, when it suits them. Two can play that game. Israel could have its 12 tribes demand their respective ancestral lands in Judea, Samaria and Gaza as well as in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Jews can base their claim on written and archaeological evidence proving their presence in Israel for thousands of years. They can lay claim to lands expropriated from them in the Arabian peninsula in the 7th century. Their most recent claim is for lands expropriated by the Arabs in connection to their exodus on and after 1948. Why is there no compensation for this?
Arab leaders, including Palestinian ones committed crimes which must not be forgotten. They dehumanized the Jews by educating their people to hate and to feel that only they, and not the Jews, have been cheated. One must confront those who think it is the Jews who started this 1400 year-old war and that Jews should be forced to give up yet more territory, disregarding their safety and well-being.
Populations in the tens of millions had to be relocated as a result of World War 2. It is time to finally relocate the “Palestinians” to other Arab lands, where most of them actually came from. That said, the living generation of Palestinians has inherited this situation and deserves compassion. They are paying the price for bad or selfish decisions made by their own and foreign leaders. One could use all that UN money spent every year on UNRWA and other UN bodies to settle Palestinians in Jordan or another Arab country in functional prefabricated housing with proper infrastructure and an economy to tap into.If Israel does not get the land originally promised in 1920, then it should at the very minimum get what was promised in 1922-24, that is, all the land west of the Jordan. Why is this so important? Because it provides the way to separate the demographic mass of indoctrinated Arabs from the Jews and gives Israel truly defensible borders. The benefits would be immense.