So the Great War is over at last…but who gets
control over Palestine that both Jews and Arabs are laying claim to?
The British of course. It’s
1920 and they have a mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations, with
the aim of preparation for self-government.
Good luck to them! This is going to be
interesting...history is littered with empires that have taken control of this
land. Did Britain honour their Balfour Declaration?
Huh? What declaration?
Britain enjoyed access to Jewish money plus Arab oil and needed to keep control
of the Suez Canal, while keeping both Jews and Arabs on its side in World War
II – a thankless juggling act. In reality Palestine will prove to be a 28 year
headache costing thousands of British, Jewish, Arab, Australian, New Zealander,
South African, Indian, German, and Italian lives. Arab residents and refugees far outnumbered the Jews competing for Palestine so the British reneged by inciting or facilitating Arab rioting, and issuing the MacDonald ‘white paper’ in 1939, stating: “it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State” then limiting Jewish resettlement to 10,000 per year for 5 years.
A whitewash, hey? So I suppose the place erupted
and many Jews lost their lives with Britain trying to stop their resettlement.
 |
| M.V. Chaim Arlossorof violently intercepted - Feb 1947 |
Yes and don’t forget
that in February 1942, the Russians torpedoed the M.V. Struma helplessly drifting with 768 Jewish refugees.
Those poor people!...refused refuge by everybody,
gassed by the Germans, torpedoed by the Russians, blockaded by the British,
massacred by the Arabs…is it any wonder they put up a fight for survival? Would you believe the British sent some back to the German concentration camps!
Out of frustration Britain handed the problem to the United Nations who voted on partitioning Palestine on 29 November, 1947. A 2/3rds majority of the 56 member states was required for the successful Resolution 181 (11) that resulted from the voting: 33 for, 13 against, 10 abstentions and 1 absence.
Who was first to put their hand up for a Jewish
homeland?“It will no doubt be appreciated also that as we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one by encouraging any scheme of large-scale foreign migration…I hope that the conference will find a solution of this tragic world problem."
Huh!…in other words – “not in my backyard, and so say all of us” - especially in a global depression.
So what
territory did the Jews finally win from the partitioning?
The Sharon coast, upper
Jordan valley and the Negev Desert.What!?...no Jerusalem or Bethlehem!?...not even Hebron or Beersheba??...and the south is mostly wilderness anyway! So did the Arabs accept the umpire’s decision?
No way! Finally the British mandate expired so the State of Israel was announced on 14th May, 1948 as British troops sailed home to a ruined empire, expecting the Jews to survive for only three weeks.
Wow!...finally those 1878 long years of exile are
over – in one day!
Just as Isaiah foretold
in chapter 66:
“Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one
day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she
brought forth her children.”
Do you know…it seems to me that God was intent on
seeing Israel back on that land and no Arabs, Brits or Russians were going to
stop Him. No
wonder the headlines lit up!
Acknowledgements:
en.wikipedia.org
nahart.com
ivarfield.com
holocaust.com.au
ergo.slv.vic.gov.au
Photo credit: MV Chaim Arlossorof /cjhsla.org
en.wikipedia.org
nahart.com
ivarfield.com
holocaust.com.au
ergo.slv.vic.gov.au
Photo credit: MV Chaim Arlossorof /cjhsla.org
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