I recently received a mailing from an individual who seems convinced Israel should be removed and the nation’s land area should be renamed Canaan. This person has a warped, misinformed view of Israel’s history, apparently shaped by the twisted propaganda repeated, ad infinitum ad nauseam, by the Arab nations and U.S. and foreign news media.
Here is the tiny nation of Israel (7,800 square miles), smaller than the state of New Jersey (8,721 square miles), surrounded by 22 Arab nations with a land area greater than all of Europe. And yet, there is no space in Arab thinking for the existence of “non-believers” (i.e. non-Muslims) in any part of the Middle East.
The term “Palestinian refugees” has been so beaten into the public consciousness that no one seems to question the authenticity of this designation. Well, where did these so-called refugrees come from?
In 1948 on the day that the U.N. officially proclaimed the existence of the State of Israel, five Arab armies invaded the infant nation from all sides. At the same time, there was a barrage of frightening radio broadcasts from Arab sources. These broadcasts urged the Arabs living in Israel to flee, so the invading armies could destroy the Israelis. They were promised that when the “holy war” was over, they could return and get back their property; along with that of the Jews.
Well, the plan did not work out. In a miracle of Biblical proportions, the Jews defeated the invaders. Those Arabs who fled became the so-called “Palestinian refugees.” There were about 650,000 of them; a number which has, rather amazingly, now risen to 5 million. The Arabs who stayed where they were are now full-fledged citizens of Israel.
Surprisingly, while the Israel has absorbed, welcomed and helped over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands, the Arabs, with all their vast land area, refused to admit any of the 650,000 so-called refugees. They were made to settle in miserable camps, from 1948 onward, and were supported for years by the U.N. This created the “cause celebre” of the Palestinian refugees and provides the excuse for demands for an independent Palestinian nation. In fact, there never was a Palestinian nation. Most of the so-called refugees had come to Israel after Jews who immigrated there began developing what had been a very desolate piece of geography; creating job opportunities which were previously non-existent.
I was in Israel in 1977 with a group of fellow journalists and interviewed Dr. G. Douglas Young, founder of the Instititute of Holy Land Studies on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem, and a widely respected scholar He confirmed the above account regarding the first days of the nation of Israel, along with other details.
In fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, the Jews are back in their ancestral homeland. In fact, in attempting to live at peace with neighbors who refuse to let them live at peace, they have, I believe, given up much more land than they should have.
In a modern miracle, the Jews are where God has placed them and they will not be moved. Much more could be said, but it would be well for all of us to obey the Biblical command to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6).
