Last year was the 61st anniversary of the bombing of the King David Hotel by the Zionist Terror group Irgun (or Etzel), led by the man who later became Israel’s sixth prime minister: Menachem Begin. That anniversary found little mention in the Western media and certainly no reflection in speeches made by Western heads of state. This year is the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, and Western leaders fall over themselves to congratulate the country on its achievements. The Australian prime minister Rudd with his March 12 speech was just one of many who heaped praise on the Jewish state. And while Western governments condemn worldwide ‘terrorism’, they of course do not mention the terror Israel was founded on and continues to produce as a state. That task seems to fall on the more liberal minded Western newspapers, like the Sydney Morning Herald – even though only in form of personal opinions.
Peter Manning is adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Technology in Sydney. In Redress the balance in Palestine, he reminds us that 78% of Palestinian land was taken away for the establishment of the Jewish state and 700.000 Palestinians were driven out in the process which they call “the nakba” (the catastrophe). And as a result of that landgrab, today five million Palestinians still live as unwelcomed visitors in refugee camps in surrounding Arab countries.
The catstrophe had its roots in the 1920 when radical Zionists hatched concrete plans to establish a Jewish ‘homeland’. Ethnic cleansing though began in all earnest on November 29, 1947 when the UN voted on the partition of Palestine, and it continued through 1948. For decades the Israeli propaganda machine fostered the myth that the Palestinians simply abandoned their country. According to Peter Manning though, that narrative has been demolished by younger Israeli historians (Avi Shlaim, Benny Morris, Ilan Pappe, Tom Segev and others) since the opening of Israeli archives during the last decade. They show for example that from December 1947 to May 1948 a series of massacres took place, designed to terrorise the native population into abandoning their homes and fleeing to safety. Manning writes:
[…] in Pappe’s latest book, The Ethnic Cleansing Of Palestine (Cambridge University Press, 2006), he draws from the archives of David Ben-Gurion, Haganah and Irgun papers and other sources to reveal how deliberate and articulated was the famous Plan Dalet of March 10, 1948 – the plan by Jewish leaders to ethnically cleanse Arab cities (like Haifa and Jaffa) and villages getting in the way of the creation of the Jewish state.
The result was a series of massacres during April and May 1948, the most important in Deir Yassin on April 9. Jewish soldiers burst into the village and sprayed it with gunfire. Those not dead were gathered together and shot. A number of the women were allegedly raped and then shot. Ninety-three villagers were reported to have died.
The Herald of April 10, 12, and 13, 1948, reported the horror as “Jewish terrorism”. In such attacks, many were robbed by Jewish troops of their jewellery, furniture and goods.
[…] many Palestinian and Arab Australians have their own stories. I have spoken with some. Their memories are as sharp as a tack. One man from Jaffa recalls as a boy being fired on as he tried to board a ship to leave his home town. Further up the coast, refugees from the Holocaust were arriving on boats that were “illegal” in the terms of the British Mandate.
I think it’s appalling how generations of Israeli politicians and citizens have never ever shown any regret for the actions that led to the the foundation of the state of Israel or made any reparations to the Palestinian people. Members of the Jewish community have no problems lamenting the holocaust and even today are asking for compensation for Nazi wrongdoings, but they have no ethical qualms about the criminal and international law breaking activities of Israel.
Colin Rubenstein, exceutive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council typifies the arrogance and racist attitudes that pervade official Jewish thinking when he refers to the above mentioned atrocities by labelling them as ways Palestinians lost their homes “otherwise”; how belittling. No remorse, no regret, no apology – instead he goes on blaming generations of Palestinians for the ongoing conflict! It is this shocking and inherently violent attitude as well as its practiced forms of oppression, ongoing ethnic cleansing and other abuses of international law perpetrated against the Palestinian people that continue to provide no room for celebrating Israel’s birthday on May 8. Instead it should be a day of mourning.
melange 
Another typical Arabist. Why do you fail to mention all the property that was confiscated by the Arab countires after they kicked out their entire Jewish populations in retaliation for the creation of Israel in 1948. Hews were forced to leave homes, belongings and busnisses behind. WHere is the reparations from the Arab for that theft”?
The Jews do not need to apologize. The Arabs in Palestine were told to leave their homes by Arab leaders so the Arabs could destroy the Jews. To bad the Jews kicked the asses of the Arab armoies.
Thousand of Jews have been absorbeed into Israel. Very few Palestinain Arabs have been given places other than refugee camps (created by their Arab brothers) to live.
Let us also not forget that Jordan killed 20,000 Palestinain Arabs, and people like you never discuss that tradegy.
Does the word hypocrite mean anything to you?
This piece implies that only Jews were involved in any attacks.
Zionism began long before 1920, not to mention that Zion/Jerusalem and the land have been central to Jewish prayer and practice for thousands of years.
Massacres against the Jewish population in the Holyland occured for centuries and continued under Ottoman and British rule, with the British turning a blind eye to Arab atrocities against the Jews but condemning Arab attacks on British interests and personel.
Jewish groups were formed to protect the population and some were more violent when facing horrific actions perpetrated by the Arabs and the British. The attack on the King David included a telephone warning that the British refused to believe or take seriously.
Eventually, these groups were disbanded and their former members abandoned their previous activities and turned towards diplomacy and positive methods of building a new state.
Folks, both sides of the issue have their bad apples and extremists who plague their cause.
Remember, the God of the Jews, Muslims and Christians give Israel to Jews. He has charged them with caring for his favorite place in the universe.
As Americans, we cannot force our ideology on this policy since these peoples are faith based. We can’t support a two-state solution, because if we did, it would be equal to us giving half of America back to Mexico.
No god ever give Jews any permission to steal the land of Palestinans …..the god of bible only gave them(ancient Hebrews) permission to live this land as a residence .
Here one things need to be mentioned that Palestinians are also descendant of ancient Hebrews who converted to Islam after 7th century like they adopted christianity in 3rd century . It was always them who lived this land struggled and gained the ownership so Palestine belongs to Palestinian like England belongs to English and France belongs to French . European kews are only immigrant and they started causing the trouble after migrating to this area in 20th centruy
What self serving comments!
It’s true that the Palestinians are nasty terrorists who now hate the Israelis – but can you blame them? They have been driven from their homes by terror and now they are admonished not to engage in terror. The hypocracy is astonishing.
What’s really important here is that utter scum such as Begin and Stern & their filthy followers killed British soldiers. One British soldier is worth more than all Israel & Palestine combined. Of course the British Government was quite happy to sacrifice its troops to further its daft foreign policy goals. Later they actually welcomed that little shite, Begin to Britain – when they should have seized him & hanged him!
Today the same farce continues with British, Canadian & American soldiers dying to keep the oil fields open. Utter nonsense – the greed of the tyrants would keep the oil flowing. A plague on them all: nothing in the Middle East is really strategic or worth our soldiers’ getting a hangnail.