Palestine Problem
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20 Basic facts about the Palestine Problem
by the IAP Information Office

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Did you Know?

  »  THAT, when the Palestine Problem was created by Britain in 1917, more than 
90% of the population of Palestine were Arabs?... And that there were at
that time no more than 56,000 Jews in Palestine?

  »  THAT, more than half of the Jews living in Palestine at that time were recent
immigrants, who had come to Palestine in the preceding decades in order to
escape persecution in Europe?... And that less than 5% of the population of
Palestine were native Palestinian Jews?

  »  THAT, the Arabs of Palestine at that time owned 97.5% of the land, while Jews
(native Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only 2.5% of
the land?

  »  THAT, during the thirty years of British occupation and rule, the Zionists 
were able to purchase only 3.5% of the land of Palestine, in spite of the
encouragement of the British Government?... And that much of this land was
transferred to Zionist bodies by the British Government directly, and was not
sold by Arab owners?

  »  THAT, therefore, when British passed the Palestine Problem to the United
Nations in 1947, Zionists owned no more than 6% of the total land area of
Palestine?

  »  THAT, notwithstanding these facts, the General Assembly of the United Nations
recommended that a "Jewish State" be established in Palestine?... And
that the Assembly granted that proposed "State" about 54% of the total area of 
the country?

  »  THAT, Israel immediately occupied (and still occupies) 80.48% of the total 
land area of Palestine?

  »  THAT, this territorial expansion took place, for the most part, before 15 May
1948: i.e., before the formal end of the British forces from Palestine, before
the entry of Arab armies to protect Palestinian Arabs, and before the the
Arab-Israeli war?

  »  THAT, the 1947 recommendation of the General Assembly in favour of the 
creation of a "Jewish State" was outside the competence of the Assembly
under the Charter of the United Nations?

  »  THAT, all attempts by the Arab States and other Asian countries to have the
Assembly submit the question of "constitutionality" of its recommendation to
the International Court of Justice for an "advisory opinion" by the Court were
rejected or ignored by the Assembly?

  »  THAT, when the Assembly began to experience "second thoughts" over the 
matter and convened for its second special session in 1948, it failed to
reaffirm the 1947 recommendation for the partition of Palestine-thus destroying
whatever dubious legality that recommendation for the establishment of a
"Jewish State" had had?

  »  THAT, that original 1947 recommendation to create a "Jewish State" in
Palestine was approved, at the first vote, only by European, American and
Australian States...for every Asian State, and every African State (with the
exception of the Union of South Africa) voted against it?...And that, when the
vote was cast in plenary session on 29 November 1947, urgent American pressures
(which a member of the Truman cabinet described as "bordering onto
scandal") had succeeded in prevailing only upon one African country (Liberia),
both of which had special vulnerability to American pressures, to abandon
their declared opposition?...And that, in other words, the "Jewish State" was
planted at the point-of-intersection of Asia and Africa without the free approval
of any Middle Eastern, Asian or African country except that Union of South  
Africa, itself ruled by an alien minority?

  »  THAT, Israel remained, ever since its inception, a total stranger in the
emerging world of Afro-Asia; and that Israel has been refused admission to any
inter-state conference of Asian, African, Afro-Asian, or Non-Aligned States ever
held?

  »  THAT, since the General Armistice Agreements were signed in 1949, Israel has
maintained an aggressive policy of waging military attacks across the
Armistice Demarcation Lines, repeatedly invading the territories of the
neighbouring Arab States...And that Israel has been duly rebuked, censured, or
condemned for these military attacks by the Security Council of the General
Assembly of the United Nations on eleven occasions-five times by the Security
Council and six times by the General Assembly?

  »  THAT, no other country in the world, whether member of the United Nations or
non-member, has been so frequently condemned by the United
Nations?

  »  THAT, no Arab State has ever been condemned by any organ of the United 
Nations for military attacks upon Israel( or any other State)?

  »  THAT, besides expelling the bulk of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and
besides constantly attacking the neighbouring Arab States, Israel has also
consistently harassed the United Nations observers and other personnel stationed
along the Armistice Demarcation Lines: It has assassinated the first United
Nations Mediator and his military aide; it has detained some truce observers; it
has military occupied and illegally searched the Headquarters of United
Nations personnel; and it has boycotted meetings of the Mixed Armistice
Commissions?...

  »  THAT, Israel has additionally imposed a system of apartheid upon the Arabs 
who stayed in their homeland?...More than 90% of these Arabs live in
"security zones;" they alone live under martial law, restricting their freedom 
to travel from village to village or from town to town; their children are denied
equal opportunities for education; and they are denied decent opportunities for
work, and the right to receive "equal pay for equal work?"

  »  THAT, notwithstanding the foregoing facts, Israel has always been, and still
is, widely portrayed in the Western press as the "bastion of democracy" and
the "champion of peace" in the Middle East?

  »  THAT, the Western Powers have persisted in declaring their determination to
ensure a so-called "arms balance" in the area, as between Israel, on the
one hand, and the one-hundred million inhabitants of the thirteen Arab States, 
on the other hand?... And this unilateral Western doctrine of so-called "arms
balance" is no more reasonable than the suggestion that, in the Cuba-U.S.A
conflict, there should be "arms balance" as between Cuba and the United
States... or that the whole Continent of Africa should not be allowed to acquire
more arms than South Africa... or that Mainland China should not be
permitted to have more arms than Taiwan... or that the military allowed to 
acquire more arms than South Africa... and that only thus can peace be
safeguarded in the Western Hemisphere, in Africa, in Asia, or in Europe?...

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