Things I did not know about Israel/Palestine

Last week I began to think how can the Arab’s believe Israel is taking over the Middle East.  There are 22 Arab and or Muslim nations. Iran is not considered and Arab nation. Israel is surrounded by Arab and or Muslim nations. How can anyone say "expansionist Israel" has "taken over" the Middle East or trying to take over the Middle East?

The Arab countries occupy 640 times the amount of land as does Israel and outnumber the Jews of Israel by nearly fifty to one. How convenient that today's Arab Nations are forgetting that land east of the Jordan River was also part of "Palestine". Why are they not demanding Jordan return that area to the Palestinians?

In 1916 control of the southern portion of the Ottoman Empire was turned over to France and Britain under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Arab region. Lebanon and Syria were assigned to France and "Palestine" (today's Jordan, Israel and "West Bank" and Gaza ) was given to Great Britain.  Because no other peoples had ever established a national homeland in "Palestine" since the Jews had done it 2,000 years before, the British "looked favorably" upon the creation of a Jewish National Homeland throughout ALL of Palestine.

The Jews had already begun mass immigration into Palestine in the 1880's in an attempt to rid the land of swamps and malaria and to prepare for the rebirth of Israel. This Jewish effort to revitalize the land did not only attracted Jews back to the land it also attracted an equally large immigration of Arabs from neighboring areas who were drawn by employment opportunities and healthier living conditions. There was never any attempt by the Jews to get rid of the Arabs in the land.

in 1946 Trans-Jordan was renamed to "Jordan". The remaining 18% of Palestine, now WEST of the Jordan River, was to be the Jewish Palestinian homeland.  However, sharing was not part of the Arab psychological makeup then or now. With the help of the British the Jews were forced out of Trans-Jordan!

The British at first tried to maintain order but soon due to the large oil deposits being discovered throughout the Arab Middle East they turned a blind eye. It became clear to the Palestinian Jews that they must fight the Arabs and drive out the British. Finally in 1947 the British had enough and turned the Palestine matter over to the United Nations.

The 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 partition plan was to divide the remaining 18% of Palestine into a Jewish Palestinian State and a SECOND Arab Palestinian State  based upon population concentrations.  The Jewish Palestinians accepted... the Arab Palestinians rejected. The Arabs still wanted ALL of Palestine... both east AND west of the Jordan River. Therefore, the resolution was not carried out and it never became legally binding! The Arabs started the 1948 war.

On May 14, 1948 the "Palestinian" Jews finally declared their own State of Israel and became "Israelis." On the next day, seven neighboring Arab armies - Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen... invaded Israel. Most of the Arabs living within the boundaries of the newly declared "ISRAEL" were encouraged to leave by the invading Arab armies to facilitate the slaughter of the Jews and were promised to be given all Jewish property after the victorious Arab armies won the war.

The truth is that most of the Arab Palestinians who left Israel in 1948 – between 400,000 to 500,000 – never saw an Israeli soldier! They did not flee because they feared Jews. They left because they believe the Jews would be exterminated and would return afterwards to reclaim their homes, and to inherit Jewish properties as well. They guessed wrong.  The Jews  did not throw out all the Palestinian Arabs living in Israel they chose to leave after being encourage to do so by the seven Arab nations that invaded Israel. Those Arabs who did not flee became Israeli-Arab citizens.

The end result of the 1948-49 Israeli War of Independence was the creation of a Jewish State. From 1949-67 when all of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem were under Arab [Jordanian, Syria and Egyptian] control, no effort was EVER made to create a second Palestinian State for the Arabs living there. Why do many in the world want the Jews to give up part of their country when none of the Arabs were willing to concede any of their land to the 'so called' Palestinian Arabs?

Throughout much of May 1967, the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies mobilized along Israel's narrow and seemingly indefensible borders in preparation for a massive invasion to eliminate the State of Israel. Within two hours the Egyptian Air Force did not exist most of its planes were destroyed while still on the runways. Unaware that the Egyptians had no more air force, King Hussein of Jordan launched his attack from the his West Bank into Israel, while Syrian troops prepared to descend down the Golan Heights high ground into northern Israel. The Arabs lost the battle in six days they had once again underestimated the Jewish Nation of Israel.  

Now, 35+ years later and despite the fact that Israel won a war started by seven Arab nations and fought by three Arab nations the Israelis are still willing to allow the Arab-Palestinians to have a state on much of the West Bank and Gaza if only they would stop sending their suicide/homicide bombers into the heart of Israel.

Israel was responsible for bringing about some of its own problems. The Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were packed and ready to leave following their 1967 defeat. Suddenly the victorious Israeli General Moshe Dayan persuaded them to stay. I think this was madness. The Arabs would have slaughtered the Jews if they would have had an opportunity to do so and to this day are still trying to. Dayan's plan was to educate them, offer them modern medical treatment, provide them with employment both in the West Bank, Gaza and inside Israel Proper itself. He thought he would be able to build a healthy relationships with the Arabs – how wrong he was.  If he build a bridge to the Arab world it was a bridge to terrorism.

Jordan accounts for 3/4 of Palestine's original land mass. Though they may call themselves "Jordanians," they are culturally, ethnically, historically and religiously no different than the Arab-"Palestinians" on the "West Bank." Even the flag of Jordan and the flag of the proposed 2nd Arab-Palestinian state on the West Bank / Gaza look almost identical. Why do they not give the 'so called' Palestinians their own land to establish a State or Nation. 

Another thing that is interesting to me is the term "Palestinian". The name had referred to Israeli Jews back in the 1940's, and has been slowly redefined to refer to the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. I guess political correctness started much earlier than we thought. 

The Middle East Conflict was always a war by Arabs against Jews, not a conflict between Israelis and "Palestinians." The war was repackaged as a conflict between Jews and Palestinians as a public relations gimmick by the Arab fascist regimes. These regimes had never had any interest in "Palestinians," or in creating a "Palestinian" state, or in "Palestinian nationalism" before 1967. The Palestinians are a regional group of Arabs having virtually no cultural nor national distinctive traits separating them from Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians. They are all basically Arabs. Yasser Arafat’s family came to Gaza from Egypt and a wealthy family of current PA President Mahmoud Abbas moved to Tzfat from Damascus, Syria!

The Middle East war continues because it is really an Arab-Israeli war, not an Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is also in large part a war between barbarism and civilization and in many ways an Islamic religious jihad against the Jews.

Politicians cannot be trusted before or after they are elected to office.

Edward Snowden proved Government’s (politicians) cannot be trusted – WAKE UP AND MAKE THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO THE PEOPLE !

What keeps a person passive and compliant is fear of repercussions, but once you let go of your attachment to things that do not ultimately matter – money, career, physical safety – you can overcome that fear. The Internet should allow people to experience freedom and explore fully what freedom in a democratic society is all about. Washington is not allowing that to be possible.

I do not want to live in a world where we have no privacy and no freedom, where “Big Brother” might be watching and listening to everything I say and do. I do not think Edward Snowden ever wanted to destroy the NSA, but he did want the people to know what was going on so that the people could decide if they were willing to give up their freedom of privacy.

After Snowden returned to the NSA he went to Japan until 2011. He then returned again to the Dell Corporation assigned to the CIA office in Maryland. If Edward Snowden was the loser, low tech computer operator as the Obama administration portrayed him to be why did NSA, Dell Corporation, CIA and others keep rehiring him over and over again?

In 2012 he was transferred by Dell from Maryland to Hawaii that is where he started downloading the documents he thought the world should see. He realized there was one set of documents that would only be available to him by having access to NSA files so he applied and got a position with Booz Allen Hamilton  which gave him that access. He took a large pay cut in order to secure the job.

In 2013 Edward Snowden requested a few weeks off to receive treatment for his epilepsy. He went to Hong Kong telling none of his family or his girlfriend because he did not want to get them involved in what he was about to do. 

Edward Snowden was staying at a Five Star Hotel, paying with his own personal credit card, using his legal name and was not in hiding as the media and government said. He did not choose Hong Kong so he would have ties with the Chinese mainland government. He chose Hong Kong because he knew it was part of Chinese territory and he believed American Agents would not be as free to operate against him for fear of China getting involved.  He never contacted the Chinese government. His ultimate plan was to seek refuge in Ecuador or Bolivia.

Hong Kong was also attractive to him because it had an elected Democratic government, and it was use to being at odds with a major power – China Mainland. It was also a place where dissenters formed big street protest against China. He felt the people in Hong Kong would be more sympathetic to his cause.

Obama had pledged to protect whistle blowers when he campaigned for President, but he did the opposite once he took office. Obama actually waged a war against whistle blowers. The Obama administration has prosecuted more government leakers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than ALL previous administration in the history of the U.S.A.  I think Snowden believed he had to leave the U.S.A. in order to accomplish what he wanted to do. The man did not and does not want to go to prison – who does?

Let us not forget what the Obama administration tried to do to James Rosen at Fox News. They would have done far more to Edward Snowden. He would have been arrested immediately without bail.  

It would be hard for anyone to deny that the New York Times is pro Obama, but they even came out and said, “The administration has now lost all credibility. President Obama’s ‘Dragnet’ proves he will use any power given him and most likely will abuse it.”  The New York Times back down somewhat after the story was released and said they were only talking about what Obama would do with this one issue. We know Obama has abused his power on MANY issues.

Whistle blowers have been abused and prosecuted under the Obama administration. Journalists have been threatened with jail by intimidation. Laws , ethics, morality nor the Constitution has stopped the Bush or Obama administration from violating U.S. citizens’ rights to privacy.

 How many times have we  read or heard the media say that Edward Snowden  “FLED TO CHINA”? Media was doing what Washington ask them to do even if it was a lie. They made it sound as if Snowden was a secret agent for China.  The governments goal was to turn the American people and the world against Edward Snowden.

Washington was involved in economic espionage and diplomatic spying while condemning China for doing the same thing.  Documents Edward Snowden released proved NSA was spying on Petrobras, the SWIFT banking system, the
Russian oil company Gazprom and the Russian airline Aeroflot strictly for economic reasons. The surveillance had nothing to do with terrorism or national security. How many times have you read about or heard Obama condemn China for economic surveillance? 

Prior to attending the Latin America, energy companies conferences in Mexico and Venezuela our Washington representatives made sure they had all the surveillance NSA had collected on Latin America energy companies which allowed Washington an advantage during the conferences. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

NSA employs about thirty thousand employees and that does not count the private contractors. It is estimated 70% of our national intelligence budget is spent on private contractors. In 2010 AT&T was paid to spy on Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Venezuela for the U.S.A.  It is a known fact, thanks to Edward Snowden, that the government , telecommunication companies and tech companies all work together to carry out surveillance. They cooperate with each other to rob us of our Fourth Amendment rights.

NSA does not only pay private contractors for surveillance they pay foreign governments as well. In 2012 they paid the governments of Canada, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan, Taiwan and Thailand to carry out surveillance for them.  We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. How can we be assured the information these foreign governments give us is accurate. Is this how the “weapons of mass destruction” got started and was used to start a war?

In 2012 Microsoft was advertising they had the ability to guarantee privacy through their new Outlook program. They promised high levels of encryption to its customers. The government became worried and within a few months Microsoft devised methods so NSA could intercept and decrypt the data on Outlook. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

The government even has manufacturers to install malware in individual computers before they are sold to the public giving the government complete control of the computer. China does the same thing and the U.S. officials warned U.S. corporations and individuals not to buy computer equipment manufactured in China because they were installing malware at the factory, but we were doing the same thing.  If you bought Chinese products China could monitor you and the U.S. could not so they wanted you to buy U.S. products with U.S. malware installed in them. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden. At the time Edward Snowden released his documents at least 50,000 computers made in the U.S. had this malware installed in them. The New York Times has reported since more than 100,000 computers have this malware installed in them.

NSA has the ability to alter information in your computer even when the computer is not connected to the Internet. We know this thanks to Edward Snowden.

On June 18, 2013, Obama told Charlie Rose: “What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls … by law and by rule unless they … go to a court and obtain a warrant and seek probable cause, the same way it has always been.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE.

The GOP chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, around the same time told CNN that the NSA, “…is not listening to Americans phone calls. If it did it would be illegal and they would be breaking the law.” THIS WAS AN OUT AND OUT LIE and Edward Snowden proved it.

To be continued …