King David's Jerusalem From 1948 to the Present Part III

Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Golda Meir (1898-1978)born in Russia and settled in Palestine in 1921.  1969 she became Prime Minister of Israel and was in the helm during the Yom Kippur War of 1973.  She wrote "MY LIFE." Everyone should read it.  It's the best bio.  David ben Gurion is also pictured-with the white hair.  He was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel. He was the preeminent leader of the Jewish community in British Mandate Palestine from 1935 until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, which he led until 1963 with a short break in 1954–55.  You see them both getting to make the radio announcement of  the birth of their nation.  

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. Despite growing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews and despite the Department of State’s endorsement of a trusteeship, Truman ultimately decided to recognize the state Israel, but his advisors were against it.  He had to be very sure of his feelings to go against his surrounding people.  It's like a miracle to get a president to back us Jews.  Truman was the first, and didn't do it for his own gain.  He did it because his old partner in the haberdashery business was Jewish and was a good friend.  Truman, a politician, felt it was the right thing to do.  Bess, his wife, was not of the same ilk, making this even more of a miracle.  

 On May 14, 1948, on the day in which the British Mandate over a Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved the following proclamation, declaring the establishment of the State of Israel.  The new state was recognized that night by the United States and three days later by the USSR.

After 2,000 years of waiting for the right time, the possibility, the miracle, a little piece of the original Israel Empire was rebirthed; and renamed "ISRAEL", of course!  The Jews hadn't forgotten it.  In fact, they had been praying 3 times a day to have it again and be able to live there.  May 14, 1948 was its birthdate.                                               

                                             

At the end of WWI in December 1917, Jerusalem was again occupied by an alien force, but it was by General Allenby at the head of a British army this time.  British rule under a 30 year mandate through the League of Nations was decided on by all the countries.  it became a period of rapid growth, especially due to Jewish immigration.  In 1946 the population reached 165,000 of which 100,000 were Jews.  Then the British backed off its support by limiting severely the Jews' entrance while allowing all the Arabs to enter.  " Great Britain wanted to preserve good relations with the Arabs to protect its vital political and economic interests in Palestine."

During Jerusalem's expansion, the Hebrew University was erected on Mt. Scopus.  Arabs had been rioting in 1922, 1929, and from 1936-39 which claimed many Jewish deaths among the Jewish population, which possibly acted as an impetus a spurt of building and consolidation.  There was a period of Jewish resistance to the Mandatory government from 1945-1948 and several buildings were damaged and the city outside the walls were transformed into a patchwork of "security" zones.  The British were not allowing the Jews to defend themselves against the Arab attacks, and so resistant groups were being created.  

Jerusalem was divided into 2 parts   in 1948. The armistice line drawn at the end of the 1948 war divided Jerusalem into two. Between 1949 and 1967, Israel controlled the western part of Jerusalem, while Jordan took the eastern part, including the old walled city containing important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites. The Israel section included the whole of the Western and Southern part of the New city of Jerusalem, including "Mount Zion" and an enclave on Mt. Scopus.  It extended westward by the construction of the Knesset and Government quarter (Ha-Kiryah) with the National Museum and University campus nearby.  New housing projects were constructed like the Kiryat Yovel.  As for graveyards, Herzl  and other Zionist leaders were reinterred on a mountain west of the city on Mt. Herzl.  Jerusalem was the administrative center of the country as expected.

"During its first 25 years, Israel has never known real peace.  from its first day, it has been confronted by neighboring States which refuse to accept its very existence, and have forced it to fight 5 wars:  (1) The War of Independence which started on 29 November 1947 when Arabs responded with violence to the UN resolution on Palestine, and lasted until the signing of the armistice Agreements in 1949, (2) The Sinai War which lasted from 29 October until 5 November 1956, (3) The Six- Day War  which lasted from 5 to 11 June 1967, (4) The War of Attrition which lasted from 1968 until the resumption of the cease-fire on 7-8 August 1970, and the Yom Kippur War of October 6-25, 1973 that started on the most holy day of the year when all were in synagogues and fasting for 25 hours.  They may have been short, very short wars, but deadly ones, the many armies against one little one of Israel.  

Then there have been the intifadas, where only the Palestinians have bombarded the Jews, and continued bringing the country to a standstill that would never end, with the result that Israel was forced to put an end to it, and of course they would go into Judea/Samaria with more than King David's famous slingshot that he used when a young lad against the giant, Goliath, and then the West would only see an army against the poor Palestinians and Israel would get the bad press and more condemnation at the UN.  

                                                

IDF seeing the Wall for the first time, liberating Jerusalem after being kept away from this place for 20 years...a whole generation, 

    Jewish soldiers and civilians danced in Joy at the wall after the 1967 War.  These young men and women had never been able to see it.  Israel didn't start this war, and it was a miracle that they won; but they benefit from it by having liberated the most precious part of Jerusalem to them in the process!   

The Six Day War of June 5, 1967, the 3rd defensive war Israel had to fight,  was when Jordanian troops in the Old city and Jordanian sections of the city bombarded the new part of Jerusalem where the Jews lived. this was just where Jerusalem was being attacked.  The whole country was being attacked by all the surrounding Moslem countries.   In 2 days the entire city came under Israel control by the Israeli army.  One of the first reactions of the IDF was to go to the Western Wall (Kotel) as they were not allowed there since 1948 when it was under Jordanian hands, and that was a 20 year withdrawal from the most important feature of their religion.                                                

 On June 29, 1967, the Israel government formally united the 2 sections of the city and the barriers that had divided them were removed.  The population of the eastern Arab quarter---included 139,600 Moslems and Christians, have been incorporated into the total population of 493,500 as of 1990.  the proportion of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the population has grown rapidly as has the number of immigrants.  

"Jerusalem's 2020 population is now estimated at 931,756. In 1950, the population of Jerusalem was 120,895. Jerusalem has grown by 12,349 since 2015, which represents a 1.34% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Jerusalem, which typically includes Jerusalem's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas."                                               

   Apartments in Jerusalem.  Most Israelis have to live in apartments as there is a shortage of space in such a small country.  I lived in an apartment in Safed.  We had a lucky friend who actually lived in a house, one that had been dug out of the rubble from an old earthquake.  it was lovely.  Notice the lack of trees.  Trees are found in forests that Jews have planted.  We were near one in Safed.  Both Safed and Jerusalem are up high on mountains.  Both contained many Orthodox Jews.                                                 

 Arial view of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and Wall left from King Herod.  The Mosque, The Dome of the Rock sits over the Jews' 2nd Temple remains.  

"Jerusalem is one of the oldest and most well-known cities in the world, as well as being a significant city to many religions. Both Israel and Palestine claim the city as their capital, but neither claim is recognized while the area continues to experience upheaval."  This means that only the USA recognizes Israel's right to Jerusalem as its capital as it had been for thousands of years before; king David's capital.   "The population of Jerusalem has had its ups and downs. The lack of available housing for residents keeps thousands from living in the city, but the community continues to grow substantially each year."

The status of Jerusalem is disputed in both international law and diplomatic practice, with both the Israelis and Palestinians claiming Jerusalem as their capital city, even though the name of Jerusalem is not found once in the Koran.   The dispute has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israel–Palestine conflict", with conflicting claims to sovereignty over the city or parts of it, and access to its holy sites.  

The main dispute revolves around the legal status of East Jerusalem and especially the Old City of Jerusalem, while broader agreement exists regarding future Israeli presence in West Jerusalem in accordance with Israel's internationally recognized borders.  The majority of United Nations (UN) member states hold the view that the final status of Jerusalem should be resolved through negotiation, and have therefore favored locating their embassies in Tel Aviv prior to a final status agreement. 

However, in the late 2010s, the international consensus to abstain from expressing a viewpoint on the city's final status has shown signs of fragility, with Russia, the United States and Australia adopting new policy positions. Furthermore, the proposal that Jerusalem should be the future capital of both Israel and Palestine has also gained international support. 

It's an old idea, first offered to the Arabs who rejected it.  The idea came with endorsements coming from the UN which is heavy with Arab representation. Also, the European Union are for it.  Some played an active part in helping the Nazis in the Holocaust.    

It's been a rigged group from the beginning, spending the majority of their time finding fault with Israel while ignoring real human rights law-breakers.  Anti-Semitism hasn't changed.  

What's odd is that the Jews were not only people of the book, but a law book-of which the laws were thrown out by all the other nations.  Now these same nations are coming up with laws that are obscene, ignoring  facts and not recognizing Israel's laws about its own country.  

Today, I see PMs Netanyahu and Benny Gantz in disagreement over Jerusalem.  Benny Gantz, a onetime rival turned partner, who will serve in the specially created role of alternate prime minister, as well as defense minister, for the first 18 months of the term before taking over the top job for an equal period.  To gain votes, Gantz is now for having the Palestinians sharing their  capital of Jerusalem with the Palestinians who have done nothing to deserve it such as showing any peaceful step.  Gantz, like Trump, is anxious to gain for votes and get to be the Prime Minister, I am sure, because he knows this is a dangerous step and wasn't for it before now.   I feel that Trump did the same thing with such groups as Skinheads, Proud Boys, etc, people who were anti-Semitic, but he excused them in gaining votes.  It's only hurt him.  Has Gantz forgotten all we've gone through? Gantz's excuse is that this is the way Trump has his plans for peace.   

Palestine, recognized officially as the State of Palestine by the United Nations and other entities, is a de jure sovereign state in Western Asia claiming the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the designated capital, a claim Israel does not accept, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah,  located 10 km north of Jerusalem at an average elevation of 880 meters above sea level, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority.          

                                               

      Egypt's Sadat, President Carter of USA and Begin of Israel in Accords

The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States in Maryland.  On March 26, 1979, the two countries signed a peace treaty on the White House lawn. Sadat, having gone out on a limb for the peace treaty, was vilified in the Arab world, and was assassinated in 1981.
                                                                      

                     The 2000 Camp David Summit was a summit meeting at Camp David between United States president Bill Clinton, Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat. The summit took place between 11 and 25 July 2000 and was an effort to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Ehud, from the Left of politics, offered more than most would have.  Barak entered the summit convinced that a final agreement with the Palestinians was reachable. According to first-hand accounts, he offered Palestinians an ambitious peace package which included far-reaching concessions on Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees and other issues. Barak’s offer reportedly included: an Israeli redeployment from as much as 95 percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip and the creation of a Palestinian state in these areas; the uprooting of isolated Jewish settlements in the areas to be transferred to Palestinian control; Palestinian control over parts of Jerusalem; and “religious sovereignty” over the Temple Mount. In return, Barak wanted the final status agreement to include an “end of conflict” clause under which the parties would pledge that all issues between them were now resolved and further claims would not be made at a future date.

According to the accounts of the participants, Chairman Arafat refused Israel’s offer and clung to maximalist positions, particularly on Jerusalem and refugees. The Palestinian delegation did not offer any counter-proposals.

  Must Israel always be the scapegoat of the world, especially at the UN?                                 

                                      

                                       

 Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://honestreporting.com/land-of-israel-before-1948/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGJVgb_p_YXXlQRuTUFbT3Ll8fTCGXLCEchX4JMR9qumV8zsWzm636QaAjQNEALw_wcB

TV7, 

https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/jerusalem-population

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel#:~:text=On%20May%2014%2C%201948%2C%20David,nation%20on%20the%20same%20day.

https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/foreignpolicy/peace/guide/pages/declaration%20of%20establishment%20of%20state%20of%20israel.aspx#:~:text=On%20May%2014%2C%201948%2C%20on,of%20the%20State%20of%20Israel.

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

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/camp-david-accords-israel-egypt-peace?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGKGlM-ygMtKA2VGBQqjW8rl3fc5fd0XQpc3qlcba70VGsGKNsdLF9caAs8HEALw_wcB

https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-terms/camp-david-summit-2000?gclid=Cj0KCQiAifz-BRDjARIsAEElyGJjg6Sj67JGax7bPlbb7h0AitX8r0L3SNozAKElh5fvBxPKzP0Iwl4aAmpbEALw_wcB

 

Remembering The Letter to the World From Jerusalem on Israel's 70th Birthday

Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Today, this has more meaning than ever.  Today Is Israel's 70th birthday.

Today the US embassy is opening as I watch this minute.  

Stanley was a part of fighting to bring about Israel over 70 years ago as the Chief of Intelligence of the Stern Group..

                                                                                  

Stanley Goldfoot
May 2, 1914-November 24, 2006
Born in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa
Died, Jerusalem, Israel 

A Letter to the World from Jerusalem
by Eliezer ben Yisrael (Stanley Goldfoot)

 I am not a creature from another planet, as you seem to believe. I am a Jerusalemite-like yourselves, a man of flesh and blood. I am a citizen of my city, an integral part of my people. I have a few things to get off my chest. Because I am not a diplomat, I do not have to mince words. I do not have to please you or even persuade you. I owe you nothing. You did not build this city, you did not live in it, you did not defend it when they came to destroy it.

And we will be damned if we will let you take it away. There was a Jerusalem before there was a New York. When Berlin, Moscow, London, and Paris were miasmal forest and swamp, there was a thriving Jewish community here. It gave something to the world which you nations have rejected ever since you established yourselves- a humane moral code.

Here the prophets walked, their words flashing like forked lightning.
Here a people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone, fought off waves of heathen would-be conquerors, bled and died on the battlements, hurled themselves into the flames of their burning Temple rather than surrender, and when finally overwhelmed by sheer numbers and led away into captivity, swore that before they forgot Jerusalem, they would see their tongues cleave to their palates, their right arms wither.

For two pain-filled millennia, while we were your unwelcome guests, we prayed daily to return to this city. Three times a day we petitioned the Almighty: "Gather us from the four corners of the world, bring us upright to our land, return in mercy to Jerusalem, Thy city, and swell in it as Thou promised." On every Yom Kippur and Passover, we fervently voiced the hope that next year would find us in Jerusalem.

Your inquisitions, pogroms, expulsions, the ghettos into which you jammed us, your forced baptisms, your quota systems, your genteel anti-Semitism, and the final unspeakable horror, the holocaust (and worse, your terrifying disinterest in it)- all these have not broken us. They may have sapped what little moral strength you still possessed, but they forged us into steel. Do you think that you can break us now after all we have been through? Do you really believe that after Dachau and Auschwitz we are frightened by your threats of blockades and sanctions?

We have been to Hell and back- a Hell of your making. What more could you possibly have in your arsenal that could scare us?

I have watched this city bombarded twice by nations calling themselves civilized. In 1948, while you looked on apathetically, I saw women and children blown to smithereens, after we agreed to your request to internationalize the city. It was a deadly combination that did the job- British officers, Arab gunners, and American-made cannon. And then the savage sacking of the Old City-the willful slaughter, the wanton destruction of every synagogue and religious school, the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, the sale by a ghoulish government of tombstones for building materials, for poultry runs, army camps, even latrines.
And you never said a word.

You never breathed the slightest protest when the Jordanians shut off the holiest of our places, the Western Wall, in violation of the pledges they had made after the war- a war they waged, incidentally, against the decision of the UN. Not a murmur came from you whenever the legionnaires in their spiked helmets casually opened fire upon our citizens from behind the walls.

Your hearts bled when Berlin came under siege. You rushed your airlift "to save the gallant Berliners". But you did not send one ounce of food when Jews starved in besieged Jerusalem. You thundered against the wall which the East Germans ran through the middle of the German capital- but not one peep out of you about that other wall, the one that tore through the heart of Jerusalem.

And when that same thing happened 20 years later, and the Arabs unleashed a savage, unprovoked bombardment of the Holy City again, did any of you do anything?

The only time you came to life was when the city was at last reunited. Then you wrung your hands and spoke loftily of "justice" and need for the "Christian" quality of turning the other cheek. The truth- and you know it deep inside your gut - you would prefer the city to be destroyed rather than have it governed by Jews. No matter how diplomatically you phrase it, the age old prejudices seep out of every word.
If our return to the city has tied your theology in knots, perhaps you had better reexamine your catechisms. After what we have been through, we are not passively going to accommodate ourselves to the twisted idea that we are to suffer eternal homelessness until we accept your savior.

For the first time since the year 70, there is now complete religious freedom for all in Jerusalem. For the first time since the Romans put a torch to the Temple, everyone has equal rights (You prefer to have some more equal than others.) We loathe the sword- but it was you who forced us to take it up. We crave peace, but we are not going back to the peace of 1948 as you would like us to.
We are home. It has a lovely sound for a nation you have willed to wander over the face of the globe. We are not leaving. We are redeeming the pledge made by our forefathers: Jerusalem is being rebuilt. "Next year" and the year after, and after, and after, until the end of time- "in Jerusalem"!

Stanley Goldfoot
Founder Editor
The Times of Israel
August 1969

Were Arabs Expelled From Their Villages in Palestine?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

 Jews did not expel the Arabs from their villages in Palestine.

When Israel announced that they became a state, which was on May 14, 1948; the date the 30 year mandate had been held by the British and was up, their becoming a state was already cleared through
the League of Nations in the 1920s, and then cleared again with the United Nations for this date in 1948.                                                  

Jews just arrived from Holocaust DP camps, tired and hungry-fighting within days against attacking Arabs May 1948 

However, the leaders of the Arabs attacked within minutes and told the Arabs to leave their homes as they were commencing to attack, and that within hours they could return and take over the Jewish homes as they would win and drive the Jews into the sea.  
                                                                                   

Israel's War of Independence: 1947-49

They didn't win, even though they had been shooting at Jews since November 29, 1947 when the UN created a partition resolution.  In April 1948, before the announcement that their state had been created and accepted, units of Arab irregulars came to attack from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt to reinforce the local Arabs in their attacks on Jewish towns, and they even tried to block the main roads.  Israel was created with only 650,000 people.  It had a poorly equipped army quickly slapped together, but they drove back the invading forces.  One girl and an old man drove back the Syrians from Kibbutz Degania Aleph and left a tank which is still there to see todaiy.    The new Israelis drove back the invading forces.  The Israeli amy penetrated into the Sinai peninsula in the process of driving out the Egyptian invaders.                                   
                                                                                      

So, on the 14th of May, Israel was immediately invaded by the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and the Saudi Arabians  even sent a contingent of fighters.  They tried to exterminate the Jews.  They planned on massacring everyone.  6,000 Israelis were killed in this War of Independence ----more than in all the subsequent wars combined.  
                                                                               

This was said by Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League.  He proclaimed from Cairo that "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and Crusades."  

Druse Arabs of IDF protecting Israel

This attack on Israel went on into 1949, and of course the Arab leaders told the Arabs who had left their homes to stay in refugee camps where they remain today.  Those that didn't leave became citizens of Israel along with the Jews.  There are 1.7 million Arab citizens of Israel today.  

After the Arab armies had been driven back, a truce was called and negotiations for an armistice began.  In the course of 1949, separate armistice agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.  In each agreement it was laid down that the purpose was "to facilitate the transition from the present truce to permanent peace.

In 1949, nobody foresaw that, instead of leading to peace, the armistice agreement with Egypt would, after 7 years, end in war; and the agreements with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, after remaining in force for 18 years , also ended in war, each time started by the Arabs again.  

Since May 14, 1948, PEACE has been a permanent part of the policy of every Government of Israel.  The policy of the Arab States was diametrically opposite to Israel's.  They did not reconcile themselves to Israel's existence and refused to recognize Israel.  Today only Egypt and Jordan are on good terms with Israel and have signed peace pacts.  

What reason has Israel to think that Abbas's Palestine, made up of present day terrorists armed with rockets, mortars and missiles, this United Palestine made up of Fatah and Hamas terrorists, will be any different?  The only difference is that there would then be 23 nearby Muslim Arab states instead of 22 with Palestine on Israel's doorstep, more like a murderous boarder rather than a neighbor. 
                                                                              

 I say murderous since they keep trying and  often accomplish it.  Yesterday a lone knifer managed to knife 12 people on a bus; women included with 4 very seriously injured.  (shown on CNN TV this morning.)  The knifer was a 23 year old Palestinian who had illegally entered Israel.  He was video-taped running after a woman from the bus when it stopped and hitting her back with his knife.  

Resource: facts about israel 1973 Published by the Division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
http://news.yahoo.com/police-shoot-man-stabbed-passengers-tel-aviv-bus-060800485.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1948_War.html