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Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Knowing Israel's Neighbors

 Nadene Goldfoot

Israel is way over on the West side (Left) so tiny you can't hardly see it as it's covered with black dots.  You can see the neighborhood it lives in.  
What was once Mesopotamia has broken up into states of Iraq and Kuwait.   Lebanon and Israel and Syria were ancient neighbors. The present Syrian Arab Republic spans territory which was first unified in the 10th century BCE under the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the capital of which was the city of Assur, from which the name "Syria" most likely derives.  The Biblical name for Syria was Aram.  Jordan was part of Israel, at least the West Bank was Judea and Samaria.  Ancient Egyptians expanded towards the Levant and controlled both banks of the Jordan River. During the Iron Age (1200–332 BCE) after the withdrawal of the Egyptians, Transjordan was home to Ammon, Edom and Moab. 

The State of Israel was created in a peaceful and legal process by the United Nations; even started with the League of Nations.  it was not created out of Palestinian lands. There was never a state of Palestine, only the land was termed as Palestine by the ancient Romans; actually as Palaestina, named for the ancient Philistines who were the Israelites' worst enemy.  The land was created out of the Ottoman Empire, ruled for 400 years by the Turks who lost it when they were defeated World War I in 1917.  

There were no "Palestinian" lands at the time because there were no people claiming to be Palestinians.  There were Arabs who lived in the region of Palestine who considered themselves to be Syrian-Palestinians.  Jews living there were  called Palestinians.  

It was only after WWI that the present states surrounding Israel were then created - and also created artificially out of the Turkish Ottoman Empire by the British and French victors who were awarded a 30 year  mandate; the  control over the land.  

                                                                          

         Abdullah II, King of Jordan b: 30 January 1962 is 59 years old. Abdullah just had to imprison a half-brother for sedition, conspiring with another country is the charge.  "Jordan: Court convicts 2 men over coup plot against King Abdullah II. A security court sentenced a former top aide and a member of the royal family to 15 years in prison for allegedly trying to oust of King Abdullah II and install his half-brother, Prince Hamzah."

1. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, but was renamed in 1949 to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after the country captured the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and annexed it until it was lost to Israel in 1967.  Jordan had attacked Israel with others in the 1967 6 Day War. 

Jordan was created on about 80% of the Palestine mandate, which was originally designated by the League of Nations as part of the promised Jewish Homeland, which was the original Israel of King David.   The British held the 30 year mandate over Palestine.   First called Transjordan; detached from the Jewish Homeland in 1921 and put under the rule of Prince Abdullah who wanted to be king of a country, brother of King Feisal who got to be King of Syria; then  later King of Iraq.   Both Feisal and Abdullah were 2nd and 3rd sons of the King of Saudi Arabia.  He was known as Hussein ibn Ali, the ruler of the Hejaz,  This line of kings are direct descendants of Mohammad.  The Hejaz is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk and Yanbu. It is also known as the "Western Province" in Saudi Arabia. It is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the 'Asir Region.                                                                      


In 1948 Abdullah annexed the eastern part of  the Cisjordan, also called the West Bank, which was the Jewish Judea-Samaria of past days, which had been designated by the United nations as a separate state.  Abdullah now proclaimed the Kingdom of Jordan with himself as king.  From 1952 the country was ruled by his grandson, Hussein.  In 1967, Hussein entered the Six Day War with all the other attackers  but his army was defeated and Israel, the defender,  and as the winner, was able to gain back their own  precious Judea and Samaria.  In 1970 Hussein  had to expel the Palestine Liberation Organization from his country  but later reconciled with Arafat, their terrorist leader.  His own position was delicate housing the band of terrorists.      

Two-thirds of its citizens, (2/3) are Palestinian Arabs, but it is ruled by a Hashemite monarchy.  Since this time, it appears that it was the right outcome as things are going peacefully considering the 1967 decision to join the others in attacking Israel.  

             President  Bashar al Assad b: 11 September 1965 and will be 56 years old.

2.  Syria  was known as a country back in the 10th century BCE. In I Kings but called it Aram.   20: 20 King Ben-hadad of (Aram) Syria called his army together. He was joined by thirty-two other kings with their horses and chariots, and together they marched to Samaria and attacked. Ben-Hadad sent a messenger to tell King Ahab of Israel, “Ahab, give me your silver and gold, your wives, and your strongest sons!”                             

                              Syrian missiles pointed at Israel

  It gained de jure independence as a parliamentary republic on 24 October 1945, when the Republic of Syria became a founding member of the United Nations, an act which legally ended the former French Mandate, although French troops did not leave the country until April 1946. Ibn Hussein Feisal (1885-1933) , 2nd son of the King of Saudi Arabia/Hussein, sherif of Mecca, was made king of Syria.  He led the uprising against Turkey from 1916-1918.  he was sympathetic to Zionism and hoped to receive  aid in building his future kingdom.  He met Dr. Weizmann in Transjordan in 1918 and Paris in 1919.  They had an agreement of mutual aid.  

Syria's original name found in the Old Testament was Aram. Aram, Ancient country, Middle East, southwestern Asia. It extended eastward from the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to beyond the Euphrates River. It was named for the Aramaeans, who emerged from the Syrian desert to invade Syria and Upper Mesopotamia (c. 11th century BC) and who built numerous city-kingdoms, including Damascus. It lends its name to the Aramaic language.

With the Syrian-Greek rule, many synagogues were converted to churches as Christianity was the new religion of the land. The situation for the Jews living in this area improved with the Arab conquest in 1634 when Jews were then allowed to practice their faith but were deemed Dhimmis, 2nd class citizens and had to pay poll taxes.  5,000 Jews were living in Aleppo;  3,000 in Damascus;  2,000 in Palmyra.  1492 came along and Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition helped out in the transit trade between Europe and Asia.  

WWI gave the French the mandate for ruling in 1920 and Jews obtained equal rights, but those were taken away with WWII under the Vichy regime.  In 1943 the Jewish population went from 30,000 to 14,000 by 1947.  Jews in the 1980s were confined to their own Jewish Quarter in Damascus.  By 1973 there were only 4,000 Jews left.  They continued to have an anti-Israel policy and ant-Semitic acts of hostility since it joined the invasion in 1948.  Their extremism was largely responsible for the Six Day War.   It may have been a miracle, but Israel won a war which had all its neighbors fighting against her.   Israel defeated the Syrian army and occupied the Golan Heights from which the Syrians had been bombing Israel communities below. 

Syria attacked Israel in the 1947-1949 War of Independence.  In the 1956 attack on Israel, the USSR was supplying Syria weapons.  Syria had the 9th Revolution by 1966  since 1949.  The left wing, Ba'ath Party, seized power.  Terrorist groups against Israel were created. Syria also attacked Israel in the Six Day War of 1967.   On October 6, 1973, on Yom Kippur,  Egypt and Syria attacked Israel's forces in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Despite initial Israeli setbacks, Kissinger, now both Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, believed that Israel would win quickly.

      President Michel Aoun since 31 October 2016 b: 18 February 1935 is 86 years old.  Michel Naim Aoun is a Lebanese politician who serves as the President of Lebanon since 31 October 2016. Born in Haret Hreik to a Maronite Christian family, Aoun joined the Military Academy in 1955 and graduated as an artillery officer in the Lebanese Army.                                                                         

 3. Lebanon became an independant state November 22, 1943.  The French Mandate ended in 24 October 1945.  Lebanon was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and is a member of the Arab League (1945), the Non-Aligned Movement (1961), Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (1969), and the Organisation internationale de la francophonie (1973).  Today it is ruined, taken over by the Taliban terrorists.  Lebanon attacked Israel in the 1947-1949 War of Independence.  

Solomon had good relations with its king and bought cedar trees from Lebanon to build the Temple.  The Mount Lebanon range saw the emergence of a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion and identity. However, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church and asserted their communion with Rome. These ties have influenced the region into the modern era.

They had an ancient Jewish population.  Most lived in Beirut.  Lebanon invaded Israel in 1948 along with its neighbors.  By 1990 none were left.  

The National Pact of the different groups also by custom allocated public offices along religious lines, with the top three positions in the ruling "troika" distributed as follows: the President, a Maronite Christian; the Speaker of the Parliament, a Shi'a Muslim; and the Prime Minister, a Sunni Muslim..   

Following the empire's collapse after World War I, the five provinces constituting modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was predominately Maronite and Druze, to include more Muslims. Upon independence in 1943, Lebanon established a unique confessionalist form of government, with the major religious sects apportioned specific political powers. Lebanon initially enjoyed political and economic stability, which was shattered by the bloody Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) between various political and sectarian factions. The war partially led to military occupations by Syria (1975 to 2005) and Israel (1985 to 2000).  Lebanon had the reputation of being the Paris of the Middle East.  

                                                          

Assassination. On 14 September 1982, Bachir Gemayel was addressing fellow Phalangists at their headquarters in Achrafieh for the last time as their leader and for the last time as commander of the Lebanese Forces. At 4:10 PM, a bomb was detonated, killing Gemayel and 26 other Phalange politicians.  He was a Lebanese militia commander who led the Lebanese Forces, the military wing of the Kataeb Party in the Lebanese Civil War and was elected President of Lebanon in 1982.Gemayel allied with Israel and his forces fought the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Syrian Army. He was elected president on 23 August 1982, but he was assassinated before taking office on 14 September, via a bomb explosion by Habib Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

Crippling fuel and power shortages have resulted in shootouts at petrol stations and left citizens with just an hour of mains power a day.  Lebanon is just “days away from a social explosion” the country’s prime minister has warned, as he pleaded for foreign aid to save the country from total collapse.  In an impassioned speech to ambassadors and diplomats in Beirut, Hassan Diab, the country’s caretaker PM, urged the international community to save his country from what he called “death and demise”.

What has happened is that Iran and Russia want control in Lebanon. Iran has been alleged to have founded and funded Hezbollah, a relationship that some say continues to this day in an apparent nexus with Syria. During the 2006 Lebanon War, between the state of Israel and Hezbollah, Iran came out in firm support of Hezbollah in particular, and Lebanon in general. 

The Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition (RSII coalition), also referred to as 4+1 (in which the "plus one" refers to Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon), is a joint intelligence-sharing cooperation between opponents of the Islamic State of Iraq  and the Levant (ISIL) with operation rooms in Syria's Damascus and Iraq's Green Zone in Baghdad. It was formed as a consequence of an agreement reached at the end of September 2015 between Russia, the Islamic Republic of IranIraq and the Syrian Arab Republic to "help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group" (ISIL) with a view to combatting the advances of the group, according to the statement issued by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. The statement also cited "the increasing concern from Russia about thousands of Russian terrorists committing criminal acts within ISIS." 

The Russia–Syria–Iran–Iraq coalition (RSII coalition), also referred to as 4+1 (in which the "plus one" refers to Hezbollah terrorists of Lebanon), is a joint intelligence-sharing cooperation between opponents of the Islamic State of Iraq )(and the Levant (ISIL) with operation rooms in Syria's Damascus and Iraq's Green Zone in Baghdad. It was formed as a consequence of an agreement reached at the end of September 2015 between Russia, the Islamic Republic of IranIraq and the Syrian Arab Republic to "help and cooperate in collecting information about the terrorist Daesh group"  with a view to combatting the advances of the group, according to the statement issued by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. The statement also cited "the increasing concern from Russia about thousands of Russian terrorists committing criminal acts within ISIS."  In other words, they all want a piece of Lebanon:  Russia, Iran, and all the terrorist organizations.  Lebanon is collapsing.  

                                                        

4.   Iraq has Barham Salih  born 12 September 1960) is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who is the eighth President of Iraq.    He will soon be 61 years oldHe's been president since 2 October 2018.  On 24 September 2019.  Right now Iraq is in turmoil.  Corruption, lack of services, and people are fed up.  An explosion of oxygen in a hospital full of Corona Virus 19 patients just happened.   

Iraq was created a state on 14 July 1958.  Its capital is Baghdad. When Israel was finally created as a state on May 14, 1948, A Summary. Iraq's role in the 1948 War was ambivalent. Its leaders were the first to advocate coordinated military intervention in Palestine by the armies of the Arab states. ... During the war itself, Iraq initially rejected all cease-fires, but failed to back this up with more effective military strategies.      Iraq attacked Israel in the Six Day War of 1967.                                                             

Iraq and Iran were at war with each other when I arrived in Israel in September 1980.  The Iran–Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began on 22 September 1980 with a full-scale invasion of Iran by neighbouring Iraq. The war lasted for almost eight years, and ended in an effective stalemate on 20 August 1988, when Iran accepted Resolution 598 of the United Nations Security Council.  I remember that both countries were using young boys to fight in the end.  

President Salih had his first bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.  On 26 December 2019, Salih submitted a letter of resignation after refusing to appoint Basra Governor Asaad Al Eidani as Prime Minister following the resignation of Adil Abdul-Mahdi, amid ongoing protests across the country. Salih stated that Al Eidani would not be approved by the demonstrators.  

On 19 September 2018, the announcement that Barham Salih will be the PUK's candidate for the post of Iraqi president was greeted with anger by many on social media while others expressed hope that his international reputation and experience would bring a steady hand to tumultuous Baghdad. Some took to the social media platform to call Salih out for perceived opportunism, noting he had just recently been campaigning against PUK and KDP corruption.

Saddam Hussein, was the former president; also spelled Ṣaddām Ḥusayn, in full Ṣaddām Ḥusayn al-Tikrītī, (born April 28, 1937, Al-ʿAwjah, Iraq—died December 30, 2006, Baghdad), president of Iraq (1979–2003) whose brutal rule was marked by costly and unsuccessful wars against neighbouring countries. Saddam, the son of peasants, was born in a village near the city of Tikrīt in northern Iraq. The area was one of the poorest in the country, and Saddam himself grew up in poverty. His father died before he was born, and he went at an early age to live with an uncle in Baghdad.                                                

   The Iran–Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began on 22 September 1980 with a full-scale invasion of Iran by neighbouring Iraq. The war lasted for almost eight years, and ended in an effective stalemate on 20 August 1988, when Iran accepted Resolution 598 of the United Nations Security Council.

                                                                       


Operation Desert Storm  or the Gulf War was the US name of the airland conflict from 17 January 1991, through 28 February 1991. Operation Desert Sabre or Operation Desert Storm.  The Gulf War was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production disputes.  The last U.S. soldiers leave Iraq, ending a nearly nine-year military mission. Since 2003, more than one million airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Marines served in the country.

These states were all created artificially out of the Ottoman Empire by the British and French victors.  

Resource:

BIG LIES:By David Meir-Levi, a publication of the David Horowitz Freedom Center

https://www.dw.com/en/jordan-court-convicts-2-men-over-coup-plot-against-king-abdullah-ii/a-58235923

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan#:~:text=In%201946%2C%20Jordan%20became%20an,lost%20to%20Israel%20in%201967.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Lebanon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_II_of_Jordan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Lebanon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Lebanon_relations

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/lebanon-social-explosion-hassan-diab-b1879058.html

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25479213

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/war-for-palestine/iraq-and-the-1948-war-mirror-of-iraqs-disorder/17A12600FC97316CEA111E6EE6917AF1#:~:text=Summary,armies%20of%20the%20Arab%20states.&text=During%20the%20war%20itself%2C%20Iraq,with%20more%20effective%20military%20strategies.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2020&version=CEV

Facts About Israel:  Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem

https://www.jewishhistory.org/the-yom-kippur-war/?gclid=CjwKCAjwlrqHBhByEiwAnLmYUKUMO1yjWbTbnnLCthp-MTmDzbGxf957hF37uZkwA329QfDKehPVvBoCKJIQAvD_BwE

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