Tel Aviv, 1909
Posted on 11/14/2006 7:21:43 PM PST by SJackson
On October 1, 2006, the Boston Globe published an article by Rashid Khalidi, “Unwritten History,” bemoaning the lack of a comprehensive Palestinian national historical narrative, before and after the so-called “Nakba” of the creation of the state of Israel. Khalidi offers a feeble excuse for the absence of historical records:
“There is no Palestinian state to create and maintain a Palestinian state archive. There is no central repository of Palestinian records, and a vast quantity of private Palestinian archival material—a considerable portion of the patrimony of an entire people—has been either irretrievably lost in 1948 or was carried off by Israel, to be deposited in the Israeli national library and national archives.”1
1 Khalidi, Rashid, Boston Globe, Oct. 1, 2006, “Unwritten History,” p. 3.
Khalidi repeats the classic Palestinian mantra: “The Jews” stole all their history. If, as he claims, the Palestinians lost all their “history” because they had no state of their own in which to maintain an archive, he has no explanation for the detailed and comprehensive archival history maintained by Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora for two millennia, even during the Holocaust. He envies the existence of unassailable historical documents, without which it is impossible to create a “revisionist” history (Mr. Khalidi seems to think that “revisionist” history is a “good thing”), and he admits that all the “Palestinian history” available is pure mythology.
One of these myths is the claim that before the beginning of the dreaded Zionism in the last 1800’s, the Arabs and Jews of Palestine lived together in neighborly multicultural peace and contentment, with none of the persecutions and massacres that annoyed the Jews who had to live among nervous Christians. However, the historical accounts contradict this fairy tale.
156 years ago, a Palestinian undertook the task of compiling a “History of Palestine” from documents available at the time. He too complained,
“It is true that some few Arabic historians have written something concerning Palestine, such as Abulfeda and Serif ibn Idrus; but their works have almost entirely disappeared, as was to be supposed would be the case under a government which had not and suffered not a free press. It was only with the greatest trouble that I could obtain here and there an historical document…” 2
2 Schwarz, Joseph, Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine, Philadelphia, 1850, p. 332.
Nevertheless, he accomplished his task, and his book Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine provides a glimpse into the lives of Muslims, Jews, and Christians in the Holy Land prior to the influence of “Zionism.” It is necessary to mention, at this point, that this Palestinian historian was a Jew, Rabbi Joseph Schwarz, for at that time only Jewish and Christian residents of the Holy Land referred to and thought of themselves as “Palestinians,” whereas Arabs and Muslims identified with the “Ummah” and their various tribal clans.
Rabbi Schwarz meticulously documents every city and town where a Jewish community existed, and the property and land they possessed, as well as acknowledging those districts which were regarded as belonging to Christians and Muslims. Whenever the Jews were left alone and allowed to live in peace, it was due to the intervention of a benevolent and powerful ruler, based in Egypt or Constantinople, who prevented the local Arab tribes from molesting the Jews and the Christians. The Jews suffered the most when the foreign ruler was weak or indifferent and left them to the whims of the constantly feuding tribal sheikhs or fanatical muftis.
Rabbi Schwarz describes the arbitrary process by which Jews were stripped of their property by Muslim overlords, an injustice which today is commonly blamed on “settlers,” and yet it would appear from these earlier accounts that the Jews have the prior claim:
“[...in the year...] 5346 (1588 AD), the Muphti of Jerusalem, a very great enemy of the Jews, caused the Synagogue to be closed, and had it changed into Al Maraga; and to this day we have not been able to obtain possession of it again; and this holy place is unfortunately transformed into one of a degraded and profane use. At the present time (in the year 5386, 1628 AD), the Cadi, a terrible extortioner, was prepared to cause several shops to be constructed out of the hall and front of the Synagogue, in order to rent them out to Mahomedans, and to make a mill out of the closed Synagogue, Al Maraga. When the officers of the congregation were informed of this, they presented a petition to the Cadi, that he might not so desecrate the holy place, the more especially as it was their lawful property, obtained by purchase, and exhibited to him at the same time the legally signed documents in their hands; but he did not desist from his intention till he had made them give him 1000 grosh=250 ducats=500 dollars. Thereupon he himself gave them another legal testimonial that this Synagogue had been already, for more than one hundred years, perfectly legalized property of the Jews, by whom it was built up for a Synagogue, wherefore no one is empowered to contest it with them, or to disturb them in their possession of it.”
There is nevertheless no doubt but that, notwithstanding the 1000 grosh and the title deed of the Cadi, this proposition was nevertheless carried into effect at a later period; since the formerly closed Synagogue, Al Maraga, was turned into a mill, as it is even now; and in the outer hall, all along the front side, were erected a number of shops, although they happen to be at present the property of the Jews. 3
The plunder of Jewish property in Jerusalem continued:
The Mahomedans suddenly assailed the Synagogue on Sabbath, the 8th of Marcheshvan, 5481 (about 1st of November, 1721), set it on fire, and burnt up whatever was combustible, together with all the books and the rolls of the law (ספרי תורות), of which there were forty in the buildings, which latter also would surely have fallen likewise a prey to the fearful conflagration, had they not been constructed out of large and heavy stones. They also seized the officers and the most respectable members of the congregation, and threw them into prison; they then took possession of all the buildings, driving the Ashkenazim away out of them. These unfortunate people, driven to despair, fled precipitately, in all directions, some to Hebron, some to Zafed, and others beyond the limits of Palestine. Thenceforth no Ashkenazi durst to show himself in Jerusalem. The Mahomedans, the creditors of the congregation, took possession of everything: they made use of the outer court of the Synagogue as a dung and rubbish heap, so that there arose here by degrees a natural dung and rubbish hill. All the cellars and other subterranean structures, likewise, were filled up completely with dung and rubbish. 4
The Jewish community of Hebron fared no better before “pernicious Zionism” than after:
In 5594 (1834), Hebron met with a heavy calamity, since it was taken by storm on the 28th day of Tamuz (July), by Abraim Pacha, and given up to his soldiers for several days. One can better imagine than describe the scenes which were then enacted. Nearly all the Mahomedan inhabitants fled into the depth of the mountain range, but the Jews could not do this; besides which, they entertained but little fear, since they could not be viewed as rebels and enemies by Abraim, wherefore they fell an easy prey into the hands of the assailants. When the Pacha marched out to take Hebron, a petition was presented to him by the officers of the Jewish congregation in Jerusalem to take these unfortunate people under his protection, which he faithfully promised to do; but, notwithstanding this, they were not spared at the taking of the town, so that five Jews were purposely murdered, and all their property which had not been buried under ground was either stolen or destroyed in the most wanton and cruel manner. Abraim did then indeed place a guard around their quarter of the town, but it was too late; and he said, "Whatever is already in the hands of the conquerors, the soldiers, cannot be demanded back again of them;" wherefore the whole Jewish community was sunk into poverty. 5
And in Safed:
In the year 5594 (1834), during the rebellion of the Arabs and Bedouins against Abraim Pacha, Zafed suffered from a fearful calamity. On Sunday, the 8th of Sivan (June), a very large number of Arabs and Bedouins from the environs of Zafed, aided by those from the east of the Jordan, suddenly surprised the Jewish quarter of the town, and wasted and destroyed everything to such a degree that I am not able to paint accurately the scene of devastation which then ensued. Everything was carried off which could possibly be removed, even articles of no value; boxes, chests, packages, without even opening them, were dragged away; and the fury with which this crowd attacked their defenceless victims was boundless. One of the Bedouins in his eagerness dragged off so heavy a box that he was a corpse after a few hours in consequence of the violent exertions he had made. A good old Arab woman, who lived near the Jewish quarter, reproved her son for his barbarous proceedings against his worthy neighbour, who had always shown himself so friendly towards him, and begged him to spare the same. But the Arab became so incensed at this reproof, that he gave his own mother such a blow that she soon after expired.
The Jews in consequence left everything behind, and fled into the open country, some going to Birieh, others to En Setun, and others to Miron, where they found here and there some old acquaintances among the Arabs, who had compassion enough on them to permit them to take shelter for the moment in their courts, although it was merely under the bare sky, naked as they were, and deprived of all their possessions. There lay thus a crowd of several hundred men and women, old and young, nay, women who were expecting to become mothers, or who had just given birth to a child, all intermixed, with scarcely any garments to cover their bodies, since even their clothes had been stripped from them by the savages, and with scarcely a drink of cold water to quench their thirst. Nevertheless, on account of the very old acquaintance subsisting between them and many of their protecting Arabs, who at the same time were probably moved by the hope of a hundred-fold return, they received here and there in a few days a little Bedouin bread, the so-called Pitta, which is scarcely fit to eat, and this in such small quantities, that each individual obtained daily as much as the size of three fowls' eggs. 6
From this, and similar accounts of plundering in other locations, the sack of Joseph’s Tomb 6 years ago is part of a long established pattern of behavior. The Palestinian Arabs, when not under the iron control of “foreign occupiers,” whether Egyptian, Ottoman, Mongol, or European, were constantly at war with one another and regarded their Jewish and Christian neighbors as objects of plunder and extortion. Joseph Schwarz’s historical account also provides an accurate description of how Palestinian Arabs conducted themselves before they had the excuse of “Zionism” and “occupation,” which is to say, exactly the same way in which they are behaving now in Gaza. Their claims to property, in the absence of any legal title, are based on previous looting and conquest.
Just as it is impossible to turn back the clock, a robber should not be entitled to claim the return of stolen loot. Since, as it has been admitted at the beginning of this essay, there is no narrative to contradict the documentation provided by Joseph Schwarz in his history, the behavior of the Palestinian Arabs from 1948 until the present, would confirm rather than refute the notion that they have ever conducted themselves any differently.
The entire text of A Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine can be read online at http://www.jewish-history.com/Palestine.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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The link, Descriptive Geography and Brief Historical Sketch of Palestine. is a worthwhile read.
bump.
This phony philistia people now needs a phony history to go along with it? I can see that there is a lack of philistia history because it's not a very good fraud, just a consistent one with lots of murder of innocents for its justification.
Ahh the mythical nation of "Palestine" and the mythical "Palestinians" get some more press.
Oh, that’s freak’n priceless! Thanks filling a gap in my understanding of history.
Saw amazing film of the war in 1948.
If you'd like to be on or off this
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please FR mail me ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~
"The West has given more significance to the myth of the genocide of the Jews, even more significant than God, religion, and the prophets...."—Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Holocaust Chronicle ~
" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."
The Nature Of Bruce ~
Bump!
Yep. The desert now blooms.
But they push their soil too hard by playing games with the Sabbath for the land. There are penalties for that you know.
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