Background

For four hundred years, prior to the 1914-18 War, the Middle East formed part of the Ottoman Empire, with the majority of people being Arab with small minorities of Armenians Circassions and Jews. Britain and Russia were "interested" in this part of the world, the former because it formed part of their lines of communication to their vast empires in the East, and the latter because of her desire to find access into the waterways of the world, i.e. the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean,

[unclear: Tha] Hussein-McMahon Papers

This was correspondence between Hussein Ibh Ali of the Beni Hashem, Grand Sherif of Mecca (Hussein of Jordan's great-grandfather) and Sir Henry McMahon who had succeeded Lord Kitchener in Cairo. Hussein had proposed that in return for military help against the Turks, Britain should recognise the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq as free independent Arab states. McMahon replied that Britain accepted these frontiers except for those that were not "purely Arab" which required special arrangement to protect British interests, namely north-west Syria, Lebanon, part of Syria west of a line from Aleppo to Damascus and southern Iraq. Hussein emphasised in subsequent letters that the Arabs claimed the whole of Syria but agreed that the disputed points should be left for settlement after the war.

This correspondence has been the subject of controversy ever since, for Britain and her ally, France had not the slightest intention of giving Arabs their freedom, for their overall policy had been decided in the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 (the Hussein-McMahon correspondence was in progress at the time of this agreement).

The Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 was signed by Britain, France and Russia, and defined what territory they would control after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire.

The Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration was unilaterally issued by the British Foreign Secretary (A.J. Balfour) on November 2, 1917, which promised a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. At the time the Arabs constituted 92.5% of the population (the balance being minorities, Jews, Druze, Cicassions, etc) and they owned 98% of the land.

Arthur Koestler, the famous Jewish author, said this of the Balfour Declaration: In the Balfour Declaration one nation promised to a second nation the country of a third."

The Zionist Land Claim

A number of factors become obvious is these data are studied in depth

They are: i) The appalling duplicity of the British Government; ii) The complete disregard for the feelings and wishes of the Palestinians; iii) The expansionist policy of the Israeli Government since 1948 which conforms with the claim set put in the 1919 World Zionist Organisation Memorandum.

Common Misconceptions

Among people of the Christian world, particularly those reared in strict belief in the Biblical prophecies, the right of the Jews is not questioned. Their claim to Palestine is based on a Biblical promise of 4000 years ago, but this does not alter the fact that Palestine has been occupied by Palestinian Arabs (the desendants of Ishmael and Hagar) for centuries, and there is no case history in international law entitling a people to lay claim to another's land on the basis of an ancient promise. The late Dr Goebbels once stated: "If a falsehood is repeated often enough it will eventually be accepted as fact and the truth." This is the basis of all propaganda and psychological warfare and much use of it has been made by the Jews.

The Land

A common belief is that Palestine was a poverty stricken desert or a God-forsaken strip of Malarial swamp prior to the arrival of the Jews. This is nonsense. With the exception of the Negev, it has always been intensely cultivated. Almost every inch of mountainous land was terraced and cultivated and possessed with plentiful vine-yards and deciduous trees, for Palestine has been settled since Biblical times and has been famous for its olives, its vineyards and its citrus fruit ever since the Crusades. Jaffa oranges were world famous long before the large Jewish immigration began. Grain in the low lands and winter vegetables were grown in the Jordan Valley. I do not dispute the fact that the Jews have made considerable progress in Israel but one needs to get this development into proper perspective. Oscar Gass, an American economist, who at one time acted as economic adviser to the Israeli Government, said this;

¹ "What is unique in this development process, is the factor of capital inflow. During the seventeen years 1949-65 Israel received $6 billion more of imports of goods and services than she exported. For the 21 years 1948-68, the import surplus would be in excess of $7.5 billion. This means an excess of some $2650 per person during the 21 years for every person who lived in Israel (within the pre-June 1967 border) at the end of 1968. And of this supply from abroad only about 30 percent came to Israel under conditions which call for a return outflow of dividends, interest or capital. This is a circumstance without parallel elsewhere, and it severely limits the significance of Israel's economic development as an example to other countries."

Again if one reads the book, a Bank of Israel publication,² "The Economic Development of Israel" you will see that during 1949-1965 these mammoth transfers of money came from three sources, 60 percent from the world Jewry, 28% from the German Government and 12% from the USA Government. During the same period the nett saving of the Israeli economy averaged zero being sometimes 1%+ and 1%-, yet the rate of investment over the same period was 20 per cent of the gross national product.

The Arabs

The British invariably bulk Arabs together and if they are required to describe them they use the phrase "bloody wogs", an expression created and handed down by two generations of wartime soldiers. Broadly speaking, Arabs can be divided into three groups, urban, rural, and Bedu.

Urban Arabs live in large cities, containing big buildings, air conditioned hotels, cars, TV, paved streets, running water, electricity and so on. They are sophisticated, practice the professions and are cultured. In February 1973; I met with some old Arab friends of mine in Paris. Their five children speak four languages fluently, and in accordance with normal Arab hospitality, the whole of their time was given over to me. Their eldest son was my guide and if he was bored taking me to the Louvre, the Emperor's Tomb, Notre Dame and so on, he did not show it. He was polite, attentive and well versed in the arts. Rural Arabs, as the name implies live in the country, page 13 in villages, and small towns. They farm the land and husband it with considerable skill and have the same attachment for it as the Maoris. They do not camp on it as some people think. The Bedu are nomadic and live where they can obtain grazing for their camels and flocks. Some of the soldiers I served with came from the Rawallah, the Beni Sakhir, and the Howeitat Bedu tribes of Jordan. They are a proud people and consider themselves the Noblest of God's creatures. They are devoted to their families, polite, curteous, extremely hospitable and like the majority of Arabs, devout and fatalistic. Everything that happens "is the will of God". Although they are illiterate by our standards many of them are poets and are capable of reciting poetry for hours on end.

Oil

Just as the "Israeli achievement" needs to be put into proper perspective so also does the Arab world's "wealth". The following table sets out the per capital gross national product of most of the Arab countries at the end of the 1960's and the beginning of the 1970's:

With the exception of the Persian Gulf states and Libya, the majority of Arab countries are poor by any standard, in particular Egypt, Syria and Jordan, who have the majority of Palestinian refugees within their borders. One often hears "The Arabs in Israel have never had it so good, what have the Arab states done for the Palestinians." The answer is self evident, i.e limited funds, if you study the per capital GNP column of the chart above, but what is most galling is the fact that this type of remarks is often made by people whose standard of living is high but whose government give less than 1% of their GNP to assist the underdeveloped countries of the world.

The Arabs spend wisely and much progress has been made, notably in education and health. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have concentrated on their two social services with considerable effect. In both health and education Saudi Arabia's expenditure is immense. Kuwait has the finest social service in the world. Abdul Nasser's Egypt at one period of the revolution was building a school a day and various social service centres and hospitals in the towns and villages. He introduced far reaching land reforms and was instrumental in the building of the Aswam Dam. I have five Arab daughters, two in Morocco and three Palestinians in Jordan — both poor countries. All five of these little girls have had all their medical "shots" and are, or will be going to school. The two in Morocco will eventually be bi-lingual in Arabic and French. During the past 30 years a political and social revolution has; and is, continuing to take place within The Arab world. With their newfound wealth the Arabs are emerging as an economic force, and with it will come political power whether we like it or not. Arab governments are no longer prepared to allow the oil companies to cream off vast profits and provide cheap energy for the world. They want their wealth for the development of their own countries. Anyone who thinks they lack top quality diplomats, administrators and business acumen is indulging in a bout of wishful thinking, for as the noble Duke of Wellington said "If you believe that, you will believe anything."

Communications

Language communication, or lack of it, is undoubtedly the greatest drawback in establishing any form of dialogue between ourselves and the Arab peoples. Classical Arabic is spoken and written all over the Arab world but only a very small minority of Arabs understand it. The man in the street speaks colloquial Arabic and this varies not only from country to country but from village to village and person to person. Their language structure is vastly different to our own and what is more significant is that, at times, our thought processes cannot be related to each other. For example, they have no indefinite article, no verb "to have", three numbers, singular, dual and plural, no present, past, and future tense as we know it, for their verbs are declined in one of eight forms etc, etc. It follows that translation, and interpretation of each others language can lead to much confusion and misunderstanding. Again, by our standards, Arab speech is flattering, exaggerated and contains much reference to God and is fatalistic in outlook.

There is no easy solution to this communication problem, nor do I suggest one. However, I do think those people who pass judgement on the Arabs, after a visit to Israel, should at least be able to say, I spoke with many Arabs and found them wanting. If they cannot then they speak "Kalam fadi" — empty words.

Hate

It is an "accepted fact" that Arab hates Jew and vice versa. Is this true? Until the appearance of the British in Palestine in 1916, the Arabs had lived in harmony with Jews for centuries and had never persecuted them After the 1914-18 War they were even prepared to let them establish a national home in Palestine. However the events of the past 50 years were to turn them against the Jews, but their real hatred was to be reserved for those they call the "Inglesi" (the English which includes Scots, Welsh, Irish, New Zealanders, Australians) and the "Amrika" (the Americans). They despise and hate the former for their duplicity and weakness, and the latter for their immediate recognition, and economic and military support of the state of Israel. In 1970 I revisited the Middle East and throughout my journey I sensed their hostility, At Djbouti I was stripped and searched, at Khartoum I was interrogated for half an hour despite the fact that they knew I was a guest of the British Embassy. The story was the same at Cairo and I also found a similar attitude prevalent among Palestinians in Israel, until they knew I was "Ibn Arab" (translation Son of an Arab, interpretation — one of us). I have never heard an Arab say that he hates a Jew, or vice versa, which is quite an interesting fact when you think about it.

The Israeli

Expansionism

The Israel of the Zionist World Organisation is the Biblical Land of Israel and this they made abundantly clear when they set down their land claim at the Peace Conference in 1919. They have achieved much in a short period of time and extended their boundaries in 1948, 1967 and 1973. Geneva will prove if this policy is to be reversed or contained.

"An eye for eye — tenfold"

The Israeli attitude has never changed towards the Arab. It is to hit and hit hard with no hold barred. I cite three examples of this policy, based on fact and my own experience.

⁴Khisas

In December 1947 a small defenceless Arab village in the Huteh was attacked and a dozen old men, women and children shot down in their houses. Hand bills had been placed on their bodies in which Haganah claimed responsibility for the killings as a reprisal for the shooting of a Jew in a nearby Kibbutz. I could hardly believe my eyes and hardened soldier that I was, it quite sickened me.

Deir Yassin

The most notorious event in the execution of this policy, "to encourage the Arabs to leave their homes" was the massacre of 257 women and children at Deir Yassin in early 1948. This event is fully documented and included rape and apalling atrocities before the bodies were thrown down the village wells. It was a deliberate act by Irgun Zwei Leumi and its leader Menachem Begin (who could be the next Israel Prime Minister), has never been brought to justice. This massacre, above all things, was responsible for the mass exodus of the Palestinians from Palestine, the "psychological warfare boys" made full use of it by word of mouth, and the word was this, "go or you'll get more of Deir Yassin."

⁵Quibya

On October 14, 1953 the Jordanian frontier village of Quibya was attacked to avenge the death of an Israeli woman and her two children. The Israeli Army blew up 59 houses and 69 men, women and children were found dead and dying. The UN observers, all professional soldiers, deduced from the number of bullet riddled bodies near doorways, and bullet scars on doors and walls that the occupants were forced to remain in the houses until they were blown in over them. The major in charge of this operation is noted for three things among his fellow Israelis — his courage, his unorthodox methods and his aggressiveness (some say cruelty) while dealing with Arabs. His name is Sharon, currently a General but with strong political ambitions. He, too could be Prime Minister of Israel.

These three episodes are not in isolation, they form part of a pattern which in turn is part of a policy to create a state of Israel peopled only by Jews.

A close Arab friend of mine, a gallant soldier, summed the situation up like this, "Our home is Palestine and I do not fear for myself, but I must think of my wife and my children and my children's children." There is no doubt in my mind that the fear of further reprisal is-ever present in the minds of those Arabs who live in Israel.

Conclusion

I was discussing the Middle East with a very distinguished and gallant retired NZ Air Force officer and he told me this story. A few weeks ago he attended a reunion and he was chatting with a typical cow cocky who made this profound statement: "I know nothing about the Middle East but I do know a couple of blokes who were UN Observers. They went out pro-Jew and came back pro-wog."

The Book of Joshua