THIS
WESTERN-FORMULATED MYTH OF PALESTINIAN CENTRALITY HAS LED TO AN
OVERSIMPLIFICATION OF MIDDLE EAST COMPLEXITIES
Executive
Summary:
- The myth of PALESTINIAN centrality has dominated western policy in the MIDDLE EAST, while contrasting the reality of the MIDDLE EAST.
- Unlike ARAB policy makers, WESTERN policy makers and public opinion molders are preoccupied with the PALESTINIAN issue, misperceiving it as the root cause of MIDDLE EAST turbulence, the crown jewel of ARAB policy making and the crux of the ARAB –ISRAELI conflict.
- Though not publicly articulated: most Arab countries consider PALESTINIANS a tribe which has for centuries been living among other ARABS in different parts of the MIDDLE EAST.
- PALESTINIAN never-ending quest for more land.
- Are SAUDI ARABIA and other ARAB STATES really arch foes with ISRAEL?
- EL AL flies daily flights from TEL - AVIV to BANGKOK over SAUDI ARABIAN and OMAN airspace
- Former SAUDI king ABDULLAH had even permitted certain relations with ISRAEL, as long as they were/ are kept secret.
- ISRAEL’S war on PALESTINIAN terrorism in GAZA also haunts EGYPTIAN and JORDANIAN homeland security.
- PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN confederation would sidestep the difficulties of reciprocal recognition - a PALESTINIAN state by ISRAEL and ISRAEL by the PALESTINIANS.
- HAMAS reaps over HALF A BILLION DOLLARS a year from tariffs on the EGYPT-GAZA tunnel trade
- ISRAEL-ARAB relations and the ARAB-ISRAELI conflict have never revolved around the PALESTINIAN axis.
- The 1948/49 War was launched by ARAB countries, against the newly-born JEWISH State, at the expense – and not on behalf – of a PALESTINIAN cause, exposing the myth of PALESTINIAN centrality.
- Upon the conclusion of the war, IRAQ occupied SAMARIA (the northern west bank), but transferred the area to JORDAN, not to the PALESTINIAN ARABS.
- In 1959, EGYPT and the ARAB LEAGUE dissolved the ineffective provisional PALESTINIAN (“ALL PALESTINE”) government, which was established by them in 1949.
A corollary to
this thesis is that EGYPT, SYRIA, JORDAN and SAUDI ARABIA are not motivated by
the ISLAMIC doctrine that they must keep all ISLAMIC lands for ISLAM. That is a
product of the Grand Mufti of JERUSALEM, his protégé ARAFAT and the PLO. They
objected to ZIONISM from the start. These countries, not so much. The ARAB
invasion in 1948 was intended as a land grab now that BRITAIN was gone. Today,
these countries more than ever, need a strong ISRAEL to protect them and to be
on the front lines. IRAN and TURKEY use the PALESTINIAN cause as a rallying cry
for their own hegemony.
Another corollary
is that they wouldn’t lend a hand or shed a tear if ISRAEL were to get the
“Palestinians” to leave and annex all of J&S and GAZA. In fact they would
welcome it because a strong and expanded ISRAEL is in their interest.
Ambassador
(ret.) Yoram Ettinger
Comment
by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring: In July 2011 we wrote:
THOUGH
NOT PUBLICLY ARTICULATED: MOST ARAB COUNTRIES CONSIDER PALESTINIANS A TRIBE
WHICH HAS FOR CENTURIES BEEN LIVING AMONG OTHER ARABS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE
MIDDLE EAST
Pallywood - The "Palestinian" lies EXPOSED!
See also: Perceptions of
GAZA, as the Palestinians and bias mainstream media want the world to showcase the
suffering of Palestinians:
http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2015/01/palestine-and-mainstream-media.html
What no mains stream media ever reports are the opinion, citizens of other ARAB Nations and tribes have of the PALESTINIANS. Ask for example SYRIAN, JORDANIAN or LEBANESE citizens, and they will in most cases comment, that no Sunni ARAB tribe or nation really want PALESTINE Arabs in their country for PALESTINIAS are notorious when it comes to land ownership, for they never are satisfied with what they have and always claim to be entitled to statehood. For that they even tried to overthrow the king of JORDAN in not too distant past. "Thus it’s better to let the ISRAELIS struggle with them instead of us."
What no mains stream media ever reports are the opinion, citizens of other ARAB Nations and tribes have of the PALESTINIANS. Ask for example SYRIAN, JORDANIAN or LEBANESE citizens, and they will in most cases comment, that no Sunni ARAB tribe or nation really want PALESTINE Arabs in their country for PALESTINIAS are notorious when it comes to land ownership, for they never are satisfied with what they have and always claim to be entitled to statehood. For that they even tried to overthrow the king of JORDAN in not too distant past. "Thus it’s better to let the ISRAELIS struggle with them instead of us."
(The
Author of “Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring” worked and lived in various
Middle Eastern countries for over 10 years, thus had the opportunity to obtain
above views from citizens and public figures on first hand basis.)
PALESTINIAN NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR MORE LAND
http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/10/jordan-and-israel.html
..........that offer to share the large land was so logical, generous and right, it was literally ‘an offer he couldn't refuse’--but Arafat did in fact refuse that huge geographical land mass for a homeland. Instead he tried to overthrow the King and take over all of Jordan........
..........that offer to share the large land was so logical, generous and right, it was literally ‘an offer he couldn't refuse’--but Arafat did in fact refuse that huge geographical land mass for a homeland. Instead he tried to overthrow the King and take over all of Jordan........
Read entire article at:
http://specialguests.com/guests/viewnews.cgi?id=EFFkkVkuulgKBngPvH&style=PrintFull&tmpl=fullprint and
More
Background Information at:
PALESTINE AND PARANOIA - JORDAN, JERUSALEM AND JITTERS
LICENSE TO STATEHOOD?
THE
MYTH OF PALESTINIAN CENTRALITY HAS DOMINATED WESTERN POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST,
WHILE CONTRASTING THE REALITY OF THE MIDDLE EAST.
In 2015, following in the
footsteps of Presidents MUBARAK and SADAT, EGYPTIAN President AL-SISI does not
subordinate EGYPT’S national security ties with ISRAEL to EGYPT’S ties with the
PALESTINIANS.
President AL-SISI – just
like his two predecessors – considers the transnational MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD and PALESTINIAN
terrorism mutual threats to ISRAEL, EGYPT, JORDAN, SAUDI ARABIA and other ARAB
GULF STATES, which have never regarded the PALESTINIAN issue as a top priority,
and have denied the PALESTINIAN Authority their financial generosity.
Notwithstanding PALESTINIAN opposition, strategic cooperation between ISRAEL and
EGYPT, as well as between ISRAEL and JORDAN and other moderate ARAB regimes,
has surged to an unprecedented level.
Comment by Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring:
ARE ISRAEL, SAUDI ARABIA AND OTHER ARAB STATES REALLY ARCH FOES?
EL AL FLIES DAILY FLIGHTS FROM TEL AVIV TO BANGKOK OVER SAUDI
AND OMAN AIRSPACE
Geopolitics
are not always what they seem. Publicly ISRAEL and SAUDI ARABIA are arch foes,
or so it seems.
That
SAUDI ARABIA permitted IDF fighter jets to use its airspace to bomb the alleged
nuclear facility in IRAQ in 1981 has in recent past, become public knowledge. Aside
from strategic issues, SAUDI ARABIA and ISRAEL do foster also economic as well
as political ties with each other, which are utilized when deemed necessary.
What
the public hardly knows, is that the ISRAELI State Airline “EL AL” crosses
SAUDI and OMAN airspace on its TEL AVIV - BANGKOK flights on a daily base.
Hardly something one would expect, given the “offensive” rhetoric’s towards
each other, when under public scrutiny. Flying over SAUDI and OMAN airspace
means ISRAEL pays overflight right or rout charges (See: http://www.eurocontrol.int ), to SAUDI
ARABIA and OMAN, meaning they accept ISRAELI
Bank transactions.
For
references see: http://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ly81/#5604841 ,
thus
it becomes clear that:
FORMER
KING ABDULLAH HAD EVEN PERMITTED CERTAIN RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL, AS LONG AS THEY
WERE/ ARE KEPT SECRET.
SAUDI
ARABIA — ENGAGE IN COVERT “INFORMATION SHARING” WITH ISRAEL
Israel used Saudi
airspace to strike IRAQI nuclear reactor in 1981
……..This was less
important to ISRAEL when it had a strong relationship with TURKEY, but that
cannot be assumed to be salvageable until the last of the present leadership
team departs office in TURKEY. Meanwhile, the Sunni states — and particularly
SAUDI ARABIA — engage in covert “information sharing” with ISRAEL to boost
ISRAEL’S hostility toward IRAN, and this has been particularly effective with
Prime Minister Netanyahu.……
Read entire
article at:
ISRAEL’S
WAR ON PALESTINIAN TERRORISM IN GAZA ALSO HAUNTS EGYPTIAN AND JORDANIAN
HOMELAND SECURITY
In 2014, AL-SISI and most
pro-US ARAB regimes – which have never embraced the myth of PALESTINIAN
centrality – supported ISRAEL’S war on PALESTINIAN terrorism in GAZA, which
also haunts EGYPTIAN and JORDANIAN homeland security.
In 1977, EGYPTIAN President
SADAT embraced ISRAELI Prime Minister BEGIN’S peace initiative, in spite of
stormy PALESTINIAN opposition, and in defiance of President CARTER’S initial
objection to direct negotiation between JERUSALEM and CAIRO. CARTER promoted
the concept of an international conference, centering on the PALESTINIAN issue,
which he assumed was the chief axis of the ARAB-ISRAELI conflict. He pressured BEGIN
to highlight the PALESTINIAN issue, but received no effective support from SADAT.
Background Information:
PALESTINIAN-JORDANIAN CONFEDERATION WOULD SIDESTEP THE
DIFFICULTIES OF RECIPROCAL RECOGNITION - A PALESTINIAN STATE BY ISRAEL AND
ISRAEL BY THE PALESTINIANS
HAMAS REAPS OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR FROM TARIFFS ON
THE EGYPT-GAZA TUNNEL TRADE
ISRAEL-ARAB
RELATIONS AND THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT HAVE NEVER REVOLVED AROUND THE
PALESTINIAN AXIS
ISRAEL-ARAB relations, in
general, and the ARAB-ISRAELI conflict, in particular, have never revolved
around the PALESTINIAN axis, irrespective of WESTERN conventional wisdom and
political correctness, which have been shaped by ARAB talk rather than ARAB
walk, by oversimplification and wishful thinking rather than MIDDLE EASTERN reality.
The
1948/49 War was launched by ARAB countries, against the newly-born Jewish
State, at the expense – and not on behalf – of a PALESTINIAN cause, exposing
the myth of Palestinian centrality.
Thus, IRAQ leveraged the
war to advance its goal of intra-Arab hegemony and control the oil pipeline
from KIRKUK to HAIFA; JORDAN joined the assault on ISRAEL to expand all the way
to the MEDITERRANEAN; EGYPT was more interested in foiling JORDAN’S
expansionist plans than the annihilation of the JEWISH State; and SYRIA aspired
to advance its vision of GREATER SYRIA.
THE
1948 PAN-ARAB INVASION OF ISRAEL WAS A CLASSIC SCRAMBLE FOR TERRITORY AND NOT A
BATTLE FOR PALESTINIAN NATIONAL RIGHTS
The 1948 War was not a
war of, for, or (mostly) by PALESTINIAN ARABS. According to Prof. Efraim Karsh,
a leading MIDDLE EAST expert from LONDON’S Kings College, “the 1948 pan-ARAB
invasion of ISRAEL was a classic scramble for territory and not a battle for PALESTINIAN
national rights. As the first Secretary General of the Arab league, ABDEL
RAHMAN AZZAM, admitted, the goal of JORDAN was to swallow up the central hill
regions of PALESTINE…. The EGYPTIANS would get the NEGEV. The GALILEE would go
to SYRIA, except that the coastal part as far as Acre would be added to LEBANON.”
Background
Information:
PALESTINIAN
LEADERS DON’T WANT AN INDEPENDENT STATE
UPON
THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR, IRAQ OCCUPIED SAMARIA (THE NORTHERN WEST BANK), BUT
TRANSFERRED THE AREA TO JORDAN, NOT TO THE PALESTINIAN ARABS.
JORDAN occupied JUDEA (the
southern WEST BANK) and annexed JUDEA and SAMARIA to the EAST BANK of the JORDAN
RIVER.
EGYPT
OCCUPIED GAZA AND DID NOT TRANSFER IT TO THE PALESTINIAN ARABS.
Just like JORDAN, EGYPT prohibited
PALESTINIAN national activities and expelled PALESTINIAN activists.
In 1959, EGYPT and the ARAB
LEAGUE dissolved the ineffective provisional PALESTINIAN (“ALL PALESTINE”)
government, which was established by them in 1949.
THE
1956 (SINAI) WAR WAS ALSO NOT TRIGGERED BY THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE.
It was a derivative of EGYPTIAN-sponsored
terrorism (activated by PALESTINIAN ARABS in GAZA), aimed at undermining ISRAEL’S
sovereignty in the NEGEV; EGYPT’S nationalization
of the BRITISH and FRENCH-owned SUEZ CANAL; and EGYPT’S support for anti-FRENCH
elements in MOROCCO, ALGERIA and TUNISIA.
The 1967 Six Day War
erupted as a result of EGYPTIAN President NASSER’S aggression, aimed at
advancing his PAN-ARAB megalomaniac aspiration, which were unrelated to the PALESTINIAN
issue: EGYPT’S blockade of ISRAEL’S southern (oil and commerce) waterway; EGYPT’S
violation of the 1957 SINAI PENINSULA demilitarization agreement; the EGYPT-SYRIA-JORDAN
Military Pact.
SINCE
1973, THERE HAS NOT BEEN AN ARAB - ISRAELI WAR
The 1969-70 EGYPT-ISRAEL war
of attrition along the SUEZ CANAL took place irrespective of the PALESTINIAN
issue. And, the 1973 War (the most recent ARAB-ISRAEL war) was initiated by EGYPT,
SYRIA, JORDAN and IRAQ, independent of the PALESTINIAN issue.
Since 1973, there have
been a number of wars between ISRAEL and PALESTINIAN ARABS, none evolved into
an ARAB-ISRAELI war.
ARABS
have been aware of the subversive/terrorist track record of PALESTINIAN ARABS,
and therefore have showered them with rhetoric, not resources, and certainly
not on the battlefield.
For example, the 1982 ISRAEL
war on PLO terrorism in LEBANON was launched on June 5, but the ARAB LEAGUE did
not convene until September, following the PLO expulsion from BEIRUT. The
1987-1992 and the 2000-2003 waves of PALESTINIAN terrorism were quelled by ISRAEL’S
defense forces with no ARAB intervention, as were ISRAEL’S wars on PALESTINIAN terrorism
in GAZA (2008, 2012 and 2014).
Background
Information:
CONTEMPLATING
A SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE IN THE PALESTINIAN POSITION ON A POLITICAL
AGREEMENT: POSSIBLE ISRAELI RESPONSES
http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/10/israel-and-palestine-to-be-or-not-to-be.html
AGREEMENT: POSSIBLE ISRAELI RESPONSES
Unlike
ARAB policy makers, WESTERN
policy makers and public opinion molders are preoccupied with the PALESTINIAN
issue, perceiving it as the root cause of MIDDLE EAST turbulence, the crown
jewel of ARAB policy making and the crux of the ARAB –ISRAELI conflict.
This
WESTERN-formulated myth of PALESTINIAN centrality has led to an
oversimplification of MIDDLE EAST complexities, corrupting Western policy,
undermining vital Western interests, exacerbating problems rather than
advancing solutions, intensifying terrorism, diverting attention away from
major obstacles to peace, thus creating another major obstacle to peace.
Related
Articles:
TWO
“ARCH FOES” ALLIED IN OPPOSING IRAN DEAL?
Comment by
Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring:
As mentioned
numerous times on this blog, mainstream media and to some extend even
alternative media report that IRAN presents the most serious threat to ISRAEL,
and that IRAN’S nuclear threat should be a concern for the entire world is
mainly a convenient bargaining tool for both, ISRAEL and IRAN. In most
likelihood the behind the scene scenario looks rather different. Like with
AZERBAIJAN, ISRAEL may conduct secrete wheeling and dealings with the PERSIAN
state, a scenario not at all impossible, since ISRAEL’S new political doctrine
fosters geopolitical as well as economic alliances with non-Arab Muslim stated.
After all the two countries, in the not too distant past, had not always been
arch enemies.
See:
ARE IRAN AND
ISRAEL REALLY ARCHENEMIES, OR IS IT JUST A FACADE?
IRAN SOFTENS TUNE
ON ISRAEL
AZERBAIJAN'S
ISRAEL DIPLOMACY TESTS IRAN
and
ISRAEL’S IRAN
“WARMONGERING RHETORIC’S” ARE DECEIVING TACTICS FOR A GREATER CAUSE