The current Palestinian problem has its roots in 1860s when European Jewish politicians and philanthropists started looking for a separate homeland for Jews as a way to escape persecution, especially in Eastern Europe and Russia. Various options were explored including Argentina, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Cyrenaica (Barqa or Eastern Libya), Uganda, Kenya, etc. But finally Palestine was chosen for its emotional appeal to the Jews. The British Secretary of State Lord Balfour in 1917 promised a separate “homeland” for the Jews in Palestine and wrote a letter in this regard to Lord Rothschild, a wealthy Jewish banker. This is known as the “Balfour Declaration”.
After the British occupation of Palestine in 1918, Jews from all over the world were allowed to emigrate to this land. The idea behind this project was that the Jews have been persecuted in Europe for centuries and now they must have their own secure homeland as other nations of the world have. The main influx was from Russia and Eastern Europe. The Jews came to the present-day Palestine and started settling down there as foreign settlers do on lands bought from the locals or gifted to them by the British occupation administration.
The Arabs of Palestine revolted time and again against this slow Judaisation of their country especially the “Great Revolt” of 1936-39. As the Jewish and Arab Palestinian positions seemed irreconcilable, the UN in 1946 recommended the partition of Palestine by giving 56 per cent to the Jewish minority and 44 per cent to the Arab majority. During the civil war unleashed by the Jewish terrorist gangs in 1948-49, they occupied 78 per cent of the Palestinian land with the exception of Gaza Strip, West Bank and East or Arab Jerusalem which in their totality accounted for only 22 per cent of Palestine.
In the “pre-emptive” war of 1967, Israel occupied even this 22 per cent of Palestine, i.e., Gaza Strip, West Bank and Arab Jerusalem. Apart from this, Israel also captured Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights.
To liberate the occupied lands, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed in 1964 under Ahmad Al-Shuqairi with Arab League blessings. Next year, Arafat and his colleagues started Fateh movement for the same purpose having lost all hope in Arab moves to liberate Palestine. Yasser Arafat was initially disliked by the Arab regimes but later, after 1967, he was invited to head the PLO. He remained in office till his demise in 2004. He signed the Oslo Accord with Israel in 1993 to regain at least the remaining 22 per cent of the Palestinian territories which were occupied by Israel in 1967. By doing so Arafat and his colleagues abandoned the ideal of a democratic single state in all parts of Palestine and accepted the Jewish alternative of two-state solution, one for the Jews and the other for the Arabs. While, concluding the Oslo Accord Arafat left the most crucial issues to be tackled later, i.e., Palestinian refugees, Arab Jerusalem, borders of the future state and the issue of natural resources like water. For this, he was severely criticised by many Palestinians and Arabs.
Under the Oslo Accord, a sovereign Palestinian state was to emerge within the next five years but the Israelis, having won Palestinian recognition, were never forthcoming and never allowed the Palestinian Authority to develop into a state. The most they offered was a limited sovereignty over only 92 per cent of the 22 per cent of Palestine while retaining the Jewish settlements within the Arab Palestinian state and controlling all of its land, sea and air borders. This was formally rejected by Arafat in the summit of Sharm El-Sheikh which was attended by the then American President Clinton in 2000.
Oslo has not led to any solution to the Palestinian problem. The Oslo Accord was of no use for the Palestinians because they did not gain anything substantial from it. At best they were offered limited freedom while Israel had every right to control, enter and intervene in the Palestinian territory and arrest and kill its residents at will. Palestinians will not have control over their land, sea and air routes. Import and export will also remain totally in the hands of Israel. The borders of Palestine will always be controlled by Israel. Effectively, Palestinians were not going to achieve much from Oslo, but still Arafat went ahead hoping against hope for a fair and reasonable solution. However, as usual with all other Accords with Arabs, Israel betrayed the Oslo Accord. In the year 2003 the Quartet of the US, EU, Russia and the UN proposed a Middle East Peace Road Map. It talked of two separate states for Palestinians and Jews but nothing has materialised out of it.
The Oil Embargo of 1973 was not much effective as it remained on paper. In fact, some Arab countries continued to trade oil with Israel. All countries of the world including many in the Arab World support the Israeli state. They may be opposed to the expansionist policies of the state of Israel but they never question the Israeli state, its borders, laws and policies. At some point of time Russia and Nazi Germany did object to the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine but for their own vested interest. The UN, under the US and other western powers’ pressure, suggested a solution: to partition the country, i.e., to create two separate states, one for the Jews and the other for the Palestinians but failed to implement it on the ground.
There are two main reasons why Jews enjoy high influence in the US: One, Jews in America fund both the political parties i.e. Republican and Democrat. Two, they have formed a powerful lobby which works full time to promote Jewish interests and exploit holocaust to blackmail the Americans emotionally. They keep reminding the general public about this big tragedy that struck them not in Palestine but in Europe.
Yes, Gandhiji came out in full support of the Palestinians. But there was nothing special about it because during the freedom struggle India was supporting liberation movements all over the world. And it was in this context that Gandhiji spoke in favour of the Palestinians. This policy continued even after independence that led to the formation of Non Aligned Movement (NAM). But all of this changed once Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister and allowed Israel to open an embassy in New Delhi. The Israeli influence at the expense of Palestine has been steadily growing ever since and today Israel has become our arms seller number one and Mossad, its intelligence agency, is freely operating in India.
[As told to SAAD BIN ZIA]