ZGram - 7/14/2003 - "It all began with the British Empire"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

July 14, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Charley Reese on "Middle East 101"

[START]

Might As Well Get To Know It

Now that our president has embedded us in the Middle East for an 
indefinite future, you might as well start trying to educate yourself 
about the area and its conflicts. As one can say about so many 
problems in this world, it all began with the British Empire.

When you look at a map of the Middle East, you are looking at a map 
drawn by two Europeans by the names of Sykes and Picot. This map 
represents the betrayal of the Arabs and the Kurds. Before this map 
was drawn, the area had been part of the Ottoman Empire. (That's 
Turkey, for those of you who hate history and geography.)

The British, with their usual perfidy, had promised everything to 
everybody. Help us overthrow the Turks, they said to the Arabs, and 
you can have an independent Arab nation afterward. Help us overthrow 
the Turks, they said to the Kurds, and you will get an independent 
Kurdistan. And for some reason historians still argue about, they 
also promised European Zionists that they (the Brits) would establish 
a Jewish homeland in Palestine. They betrayed them, too, because what 
they did was establish the Palestine mandate - or, in plain language, 
British occupation of Palestine.

Britain and France divided the Middle East between themselves, and 
this basic fact set off the conflicts we are still dealing with. The 
problem with establishing a Jewish state was that Arabs already 
occupied the area chosen. While they initially had no quarrel with 
Jews who wanted to immigrate to Palestine (the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict has nothing to do with religion and never has), as soon as 
they figured out that European Jews were not coming to be 
Palestinians but to take their land away from them, the Arabs 
revolted. The British crushed this.

It wasn't too long, however, before Jews became impatient with 
British occupation and so, to drive out the British, did what 
Palestinians are doing today - used terror. Two of the premier Jewish 
terrorists - Menachem Begin, who led the Irgun, and Yitzhak Shamir, 
who led the Stern Gang - would later become prime ministers of 
Israel. It is the political parties these terrorists started that 
rule Israel today. Begin is famous for blowing up the King David 
Hotel, Shamir for reputedly ordering the assassination of Swedish 
diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte, who had been sent on a peace mission 
by the United Nations. Both of their groups joined forces to commit 
one of the most infamous massacres in history at the little village 
of Deir Yassin, where more than 200 men, women and children were 
slaughtered. Much of modern terrorist methods were pioneered by 
Begin. You should read his book "The Revolt."

Sometime in 1947, the British had had enough of Palestine and 
announced they were going to end the mandate the following year and 
dump the problem in the lap of the United Nations. The Zionists 
fiercely lobbied both Harry Truman and Joe Stalin. The deal was to 
get a vote to partition Palestine. The Jews would immediately 
proclaim the state of Israel, and, as preplanned, the United States 
and the Soviet Union would instantly recognize it. This was the first 
instance of the United States using a combination of threats and 
bribery to round up votes at the United Nations.

Jews and Palestinians were already fighting, and in the course of 
that fighting, the better-organized Zionists decided to expand beyond 
the boundaries set by the partition resolution and to do a little 
ethnic cleansing, since Arabs still outnumbered Jewish residents 2-1. 
Despite some volunteers coming in from other Arab countries, the 
Zionists had accomplished both goals by the cease-fire in 1948. In a 
1967 war, the Zionists took the rest of Palestine, and Palestinians, 
who stubbornly insist on self-determination (once, but no longer, an 
American value), are fighting them the best way they can.

With the United States loading the Israelis down with both modern 
arms and billions of dollars, however, the Palestinians are having a 
hard time. This issue has made the United States hated in the region 
and the king of hypocrites because we have vetoed 35 U.N. resolutions 
to prevent the international community from giving any justice or 
help to the Palestinians.

Now, our president has included Palestinian organizations that are 
not international terrorists (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah) on 
our list of enemies. Originally, they were just aiming their attacks 
at Israel, but I suppose this might change since George Bush has 
become the puppet of the Israeli government.

Hang on to your hats, folks. You're in for a violent next 50 years or so.

[END]