The Coming Storm
By Solly Ganor
One doesn’t have to be a great strategist to see the storm approaching our shores, and I am not referring to the weather. While President Bush in his speech today left enough space for us to breath in, Tony Blair held a press conference that was only dedicated to the Palestinian Israeli conflict. “Wait and see, the Palestinian State is under way, and no one is going to stop us from establishing it, and Israel better get used to the idea.” That is my summary of what he said. In other words, the usual Jewish scapegoat comes in handy once more, to pacify the Arabs. It is interesting that Tony Blair is the prime ministeer of the same government, that after World War One sold two-thirds of Palestine to prince Abdulla for five thousand pounds sterling, while at the same time declaring in their famous Balfour declaration, Palestine as the home for the Jewish poeple.
On the way from Los Angeles to Israel I picked up from the rack a British magazine, 'The Economist'. I think it was a September issue. I found there a two-page article about Palestine and Israel. The writer describes nonchalantly how the British, after capturing the area from the Turks, decided to carve up the land. Given the authority by the Versailles treaty, they simple took two thirds of Eastern Palestine, and gave it to the deserving Sharif of Meca's family. It was Churchill himself who gave it its name. "Let's call it Jordan", he declared. Just like that! G-d was an Englishman and divided the land of Israel as per his whim. Except, he didn’t quite give it away, he sold the land for 5,000 pounds sterling to prince Abdulla!
Tom Segev, in his book, 'One Palestine Complete', writes on page 158, as a footnote: "The Versailles peace conference had decided to carve a state, Transjordan, out of the Ottoman territory-and include a large area of Eastern Palestine-to give to the Sharif of Mecca's family in an effort to satisfy its territorial claims. Prince Abdullah, brother of Faisal and son of the Sharif, had agreed to the arrangement in exchange for five thousand pounds. Thus the Arabs received independence, the French received Syria, and the Jews received Palestine. But no one in Palestine was happy; the Arabs felt that the country was torn away from Syria. The Zionist were bitter because Transjordan had been torn away from Palestine."
You don't have to be an extremist to realise what an enormous 'hutzpa' they had to do so. None of the Arab nations had any objections, including the Arabs living here. The world thinks it is all right for the British to give away two-thirds of Palestine to one ruling family from Mecca! Imagine, one family was given two-thirds of Palestine, a family that had nothing to do with this part of the world. Speaking of justice and what belongs to whom in this region!!
If Jordan is part of Eastern Palestine, and 70% of its population are Palestinians, then it should be declared as the Palestinian state. Like the British who relinquished the mandate in 1948, so the Hashemites should relinquish their rule.
The British should give back the five thousand pounds sterling they received from prince Abdulla plus interest, and this should be the future Palestinian state. There is lots of uninhabited land in Jordan and if the international community wishes to solve the Middle East conflict, they should help in reshaping and resettling the refugees who are one of the main obstacles for a peace settlement. The kingdom of Jordan is not a holy cow that can not be touched. It should be obvious that Israel will never accept the millions of self-described 'refugees' dreaming to come back here.
Anyone who listened to the recent speech by Arafat, echoed by Mobarak, probably noted that they both said something which we should pay close attention to. They both said that Israel should leave Arab land. They didn’t say Palestinian, they said Arab! One wonders why they said that. What actually is Arab land? Surely Arab land is the major part of the Middle East.. They effectively are telling us, that actually it isn’t Palestine they want us to get out of, but from Arab land. Curiously, the student that I met at Sidni Ally, expressed the same political ideas. He too spoke of 300 million Arab facing us. The truth of the matter, is that they are all Arabs. When it suits them, they are Arabs, part of the greater Arab nations, when it suits them otherwise, they become Palestinians.
The only possible solution to the problem is making the Kingdom of Jordan part of the solution. We accepted a million Jewish refugees from the Arab countries, who had to flee for their lives, leaving everything behind. There is no earthly reason why the Arabs can’t reciprocate in order to solve the problem.
SOLLY GANOR
HERZELIA PITUACH, ISRAEL
March 13, 2003
If you wish confirmation on the above subject, it comes from the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill himself.
The Wall Street Journal
COMMENTARY
'My Grandfather Invented Iraq'
By WINSTON S. CHURCHILL
HOUSTON -- As thunderclouds gather over the Middle East, America and Britain stand once again shoulder to shoulder preparing to draw the sword in defense of freedom, democracy and human rights. A line has been drawn in the sands of the Arabian desert. By this week, we will have deployed some 200,000 American troops, together with more than 40,000 British, who will shortly be committed to battle.
Meanwhile, I have a confession to make: It was my grandfather, Winston Churchill, who invented Iraq and laid the foundation for much of the modern Middle East. In 1921, as British colonial secretary, Churchill was responsible for creating Jordan and Iraq and for placing the Hashemite rulers, Abdullah and Feisal, on their respective thrones in Amman and Baghdad. Furthermore, he delineated for the first time the political boundaries of Biblical Palestine. Eighty years later, it falls to us to liberate Iraq from the scourge of one of the most ruthless dictators in history. As we stand poised on the brink of war, my grandfather's experience has lessons for us.
