History of Israel Palestinian Wars

If you believe that the latest cease fire in Gaza you need to think about the history of Israel’s fight for survival.

When the UN voted to partition the British Mandate on
November 29, 1947, Palestinian Arabs, with the help
from Arab states, launched attacks against Israel
to seize the entire Mandate. On May 14, 1948, Israel
declared independence and was immediately invaded
by the armies of five Arab nations: Egypt, Syria,
Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. The newly formed
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) managed to prevail after
fifteen months of war.

THE SIX-DAY WAR (1967)
Israel was forced to defend itself when Syria, Egypt,
Jordan, and Iraq intensified their attacks and Egypt
illegally blocked Israel’s access to international waters
and expelled UN peacekeeping forces. Four Arab
countries mobilized more than 250,000 troops in
preparation for a full-scale invasion. Israel preempted
the invasion in a defensive war and managed to
capture the West Bank from Jordan; Gaza and
the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt; and the Golan
Heights from Syria

An infographic depicting the timeline of conflict in Gaza.

The focus of the RAND study was on the five-year period between the end of Operation Cast Lead in 2009 and the end of Operation Protective Edge in August 2014.

Dec. 27, 2008 – Israel launches a 22-day military offensive in Gaza after Palestinians fire rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot. About 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis are reported killed before a ceasefire is agreed.

The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, launched a ground invasion of the Gaza strip on Aug. 7, 2014, with the goal of destroying Hamas’ widespread network of underground tunnels that were being used to stow rockets.

In 2018 on May 29, Gaza’s Hamas rulers said they had agreed to a cease-fire with Israel to end the largest flare-up of violence between the two sides since a 2014 war.

Egypt mediated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which came into effect on 21 May 2021, ending 11 days of fighting in which both sides claimed victory.

October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks Israel and Israel is at war with Hamas again.

When will this end?

My guess is NEVER!

Bernie Sanders: If you don’t like Israel don’t ask me for money!

Mr. Sanders:

You continually send me e-mails asking me to send you money so that you can be elected to be the President of the United States.

I am Jewish and I fear for the safety and future of Jews in the world, especially when Iran is launching missiles – dedicating to the eradication of the State of Israel.

I will not vote for you because I believe that you do not know the difference between good and evil. You have spokespeople, like Linda Sarsour, who decry the State of Israel and liken it to white supremacists and say that it is an apartheid state.

After the Germans, Arabs and Japanese conspired to conquer the world and wipe out every Jew in the world in World War 2, the world (at the U.N.) voted to divide Palestine into Arab-land and Jew-land (this was after Great Britain gave 80% of Palestine to Jordan in 1922).

Israel agreed to accept the “partition” plan and the Arabs refused, claiming that they wanted 100% of the land – that the Jews could live in the Mediterranean. After the war of 1948, the borders were fixed; except that the Arabs again refused to honor those borders or acknowledge that the Jews had any right to live anywhere.

In 1967, the Arabs launched another offensive against Israel. Israel won that war too. Israel ended up with more territory. They gave most of the “gains” back to Egypt in order to make peace with Egypt.

They offered to give the “West Bank” back to Jordan to make peace, but Jordan refused to take it – because Jordan hates the Palestinians (the Jordanians have kept the Palestinians in camps for the past 60 years – rather than accept them as Jordanian citizens).

Israel kept, accepted and made citizens of the Israeli Arabs. I’m sure that you know that 20% of Israelis are Arabs …. and 20% of Israeli medical students are Arabs. Did you know that the new assistant head of the Police is an Arab (named yesterday)?

Your outrageous lying statement that the Israelis overreacted in the Gaza conflict is immoral. No fighting army (against Hamas terrorists who use human shields and launch missiles from schools and mosques) has EVER acted with such restraint and morality as the Israeli’s.

Shame on you Bernie that you cannot tell good from bad; morality from evil. You are turning your back on the only democracy in the Middle East. You are turning your back on the country that is the nicest and best place for Palestinians to live (Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have them locked up in camps). You support those whose motto is “From the River to the Sea” (meaning that ALL of Israel should be Arab … and the Jews should live in the Sea). You just don’t understand the real world. You have bought into Arab propaganda and turned against the only Jewish country in the world.

written by Michael Waterman, teacher at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles

Charlie Rose talks to Khaled Meshaal

Charlie Rose is a highly respected interviewer who has television programs on Bloomberg, CBS, and PBS in the United States.

Hamas’s exiled leader on the Gaza bloodshed and the effects of Israel’s seven-year blockade of the Palestinian enclave. Carefully read, Khaled Meshaal considers Israel as an occupier nation. The goal of Hamas, as stated in their charter, is the destruction of Israel.

Mr. Rose’s questions are in bold font. Key reply statements are underlined.

This interview was scanned from Bloomberg BusinessWeek and was shown on PBS.

How does the killing stop?
What do you want?
Human beings have to defend themselves. If we are starved, if we are besieged, we have to defend ourselves. When [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu stops every effort to reach peace, the rest of the world ought to expect an explosion in the West Bank and Gaza. What do I believe Hamas needs or wants? Peace. But we want peace without occupation, without settlements, without Judaization without the siege. We want to live on par with every single nation. We need to live in Palestine.

Will you pledge not to eradicate Israel?
Do you want to live in coexistence with Israel?
I do not coexist with occupation and with settlements. Do you think that Palestinians who suffer from occupation and settlements can eradicate Israel? No, this is beguiling, misleading propaganda …. We in Hamas believe in moderation of Islam. We are not fanatics. We do not fight the Jews because they are Jews per se. We fight the occupiers. I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, with the Christians, with the Arabs, with the non-Arabs. I do coexist with other religions …. When we have a Palestinian state, then the Palestinian people can have their say. There are disproportionate standards, but we have the upper hand. Every single occupation ends, and the people are victorious.

Will the people of Gaza continue to support
Hamas despite the terrible consequences?
The Palestinians of Gaza are saying we are suffering because of the crimes of Israel. Even with the carnage and their homes reduced to rubble, they say, “Mr. Khaled Meshaal, we don’t want to emerge from this war without breaking the siege. We were dying slowly. Now we are dying instantly because of the F-16s and all the Israeli and American technology.” The Palestinian people have had enough. They do not make distinctions between slow death and instant death. They say, “Our families are targeted in their homes. However, we want to resist, to insist on lifting the siege.”

Why are you in Qatar and not Gaza?
This is a very reasonable question. You can ask not only Khaled Meshaal, you can ask the 6 million people in the diaspora. Why are they not in the West Bank? Why are they not in Gaza? Because Israel expelled the Palestinians in 1948 and 1967. I’m from the West Bank. Since 1967,I was expelled. I used to live in Jordan, in Kuwait, when I used to be a student. Then I moved to Syria and now Qatar. You have hundreds and thousands of Palestinians in America. They long to go back to Palestine. Although they are American citizens, Palestinians long for their home country. That’s why we insist on the return of the refugees, for me and for others to return. My natural existence is there, but I’m compelled to be here.

Some suggest, to preserve Israel’s
security, the sovereignty of a
Palestinian state must be restricted.
Why does the world understand Israeli security issues and not take heed of Palestinian security issues? In order to have a Palestinian state, why ought that state be demilitarized? Who accepts a state without arms? It will be subject to the aggression of others. I cannot accept any tutelage of any other entity. If you say, “Come, you are Palestinian. We can give you a piece here an a piece there in piecemeal fashion”-no. No.

How do you create trust between
Israelis and Palestinians?
You think the key is trust. We actually are enemies. They are the occupiers. The solution doesn’t start with trust. The international community’s full mission is to say to the Israeli occupation, “Stop. Enough is enough.” They ought to compel Israel to withdraw. How could I trust my enemy? We had a number of negotiations. The negotiations failed.

Do you need the approval
of the military wing of
Hamas to commit to any
agreement?
We are not two heads or two bodies. We are one single movement. When the political leadership commits to something, then the military wing will commit itself, too. If the leaders take a decision, then every single person, whether militant or civilian, they will follow.

DAVID BANCROFT

Gaza Underground Infrastructure Photos

Underground tunneling from Gaza to Israel was apparently unknown by Israeli’s prior to this current 2014 conflict. Along with Hamas’ more powerful long range rockets the these tunnels will obviously make Israelis more fearful and perhaps more determined to strike critical blows to that terrorist organization. However, the very existence of Israel is a rallying topic for all Muslims. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran, and most other Middle East nations are pouring more arms and money into destroying the Jewish state. The long term likelihood of peace are remote.

Click the first link at this web site to see some of the significant tunneling dug by the Hamas fighters. http://cryptome.org/2014-info/gaza-ugi/gaza-ugi.htm

David Bancroft

Israel Palestinian War of 2014 – A Hamas PR

Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself, from the continued campaign of terror being waged by Hamas. The moral bankruptcy of Hamas, its lack of concern for civilians or international law (on Thursday, the UN said it had found rockets hidden in one of its Gaza schools), its indiscriminate rocket launches that it hopes will cause civilian casualties, its refusal to recognize the very existence of Israel gives Israel absolute right to defend itself.

Margaret Wente wrote the following commentary in the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper

Human shields are Hamas’s PR

Published Tuesday, Jul. 15 2014, 7:00 AM EDT

Last updated Tuesday, Jul. 15 2014, 7:00 AM EDT

It’s hard to figure out why Hamas would launch a missile attack against Israel. They can’t possibly win. Their missiles are useless, and seldom hit anything before the Israelis blow them up. If they wanted to, they could crush Hamas like a bug.

What Hamas does get is good PR. The visuals are golden: fleeing civilians, injured kids, apartment buildings bombed to rubble. So are the lopsided statistics – hundreds of Palestinians dead but zero Israelis. European press coverage has been overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Palestinians. In the Guardian, one commentator called the conflict “as perverse as Mike Tyson punching a toddler.”

There’s another difference between the two sides. Israel doesn’t want to shed civilian blood. Hamas needs it – especially from its own civilians. That’s one reason why it puts rocket launchers and ammunition dumps in mosques and homes in crowded neighbourhoods. That’s why it told people not to leave northern Gaza this weekend after Israel warned it was going to bomb.

Even Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has called out Hamas. “We are the losing side, and every minute there are more and more unnecessary deaths,” Mr. Abbas said in an interview on Lebanese television. “I don’t like trading in Palestinian blood.” (In response, Hamas called him a criminal.)

Israel tries to minimize civilian deaths by warning people in advance of a strike, either with a telephone call or a harmless missile (known as a “knock on the roof”). These tactics don’t always work. A few days ago, the IDF mistakenly bombed a home for the disabled, whose residents were unable to flee despite the warning. Advance warnings also fail because instead of running away from the scene, some people rush to it. They hope their presence might deter an attack. Either it works or they become martyrs.

Earlier this month, the IDF targeted a compound in Khan Younis that was allegedly a headquarters for leading Hamas bad guys. They made a phone call warning noncombatants to get out. They also sent a knock-knock missile. But instead of leaving, people rushed in and headed to the roof to form a human shield. Eight noncombatants died, including several children. The IDF called it a “tragic mistake,” noting that by the time the people were spotted on the roof, the missile was already in the air.

Hamas openly encourages civilians to act as human shields. Here’s what Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri had to say recently on Al-Aqsa TV (via the Middle East Media Research Institute): “This attests to the character of our noble, jihad-fighting people, who defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood … We in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinian homes.”

The willingness to sacrifice Palestinian children has served Hamas well. Rights groups have condemned the advanced-warning efforts as just another version of collective punishment. “There is no way that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective ‘warning,’ ” said Amnesty International’s Philip Luther. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says there is “serious doubt” that Israel is complying with international human-rights law.

In the greater bloodbath that has engulfed the Middle East, this doesn’t add up to much. It will probably be over soon, and things will quiet down until next time. And there will be a next time – the younger generation of Israelis isn’t all that interested in peace. Nor are the kids on the other side. As one boy said on Palestinian TV, “We love the resistance. We want to die as martyrs. Long live the martyrs.”

David Bancroft

Obama the Naive

President Barack Obama “delivered an impassioned appeal Thursday for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary” to achieve lasting security and reverse international isolation. This was reported in an AP article.

A short review of history tells us that Israel cannot provide any more compromises than have already been given.

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters gathered in Gaza City near a large replica of an M-75, a Hamas rocket, that bore the words “Made in Gaza.”

Hamas is the group that functions as the Gaza government. Hamas does not recognize the right of Israel to exist. Without that recognition there can be no legitimate negotiations. Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas gave a defiant speech this past December vowing to build a Palestinian state on the land of Israel. In that speech he vowed to remove every inch of Israel and that that there is “no legitimacy for Israel.”

Israel did withdraw from the Gaza strip leaving behind many buildings. They were all destroyed by the Palestinians. Hamas now uses Gaza as a base to shoot rockets into Israel and in fact was shooting rockets as President Obama spoke to Israelis today.

Precisely what compromise would Mr. Obama propose?

David Bancroft