myths & facts about Zionism

8/14/2019 myths & facts about Zionism

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Handala is the most amous o Palestinian political

cartoonist Naji al-Ali’s characters. Depicted as a ten-

year old boy, he rst appeared in 1969. In 1973, he

turned his back to the viewer and clasped his hands

behind his back.

The artist explained that the ten-year old Handala

represented his age when he was orced to leave

Palestine and would not grow up until he could return

to his homeland; his turned back and clasped hands

symbolised the character’s rejection o “outside

solutions.” He wears ragged clothes and is bareoot,

symbolising his allegiance to the poor.Handala remains an iconic symbol o Palestinian

identity and deance. Let him share his story with you.

Meet Handala

Welcome.

This series o educational panels is

oered as an introduction to a deeper

understanding o both the history and

present realities o the Palestinian

struggle or justice.

We believe that the acts have been

largely presented in a biased and

misleading way in the mainstream

media, leaving many people with

an incomplete and oten incorrect

understanding o the situation.

Please take a ew minutes to stroll

through our exhibit. Please open yourhearts and minds to a larger picture

o the confict.



Zionism, in its political maniestation, is committed to thebelie that it is a good idea to establish, in the country o Palestine, a sovereign Jewish state that attempts toguarantee, both in law and practice, a demographicmajority o ethnic Jews in the territories under its control.

Political Zionism claims to oer the only solution to the supposedly

intractable problem o anti-Semitism: The segregation o Jews outside

the body o non-Jewish society. The transormation o the Arab country o

Palestine into the Jewish Land o Israel is supposed to be such a solution.

It is oten claimed that Zionism, and hence Israel, is the“legitimate national liberation movement o the Jewishpeople.” National liberation movements can best

be characterized as the struggle o an indigenouspopulation attempting to remove an occupying powerand regain its independence. Zionism, on the otherhand, is a colonial-settler enterprise based on the massexpulsion o the Palestinian people and the usurpationo their properties.

The mass expulsion o an indigenous people is dened asa crime against humanity in international law.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is one o the mostprominent Zionist colonization enterprises. It wascreated to acquire land in order to establish Jewishcolonial settlements in Palestine. According to its original

Memorandum o Association, its “primary objective” was“to purchase, take on lease or in exchange, or otherwiseacquire any lands, orests, rights o possession and otherrights...or the purpose o settling Jews on such lands.”

The JNF was given extremely wide powers to develop the land but not

to sell it. The Fund can lease the acquired lands to any Jew, body o Jews

and to any company under Jewish control. The lessee or sub-lessee, their

heirs, employees, as well as anyone to whom the lease is transerred or

mortgaged must be a Jew. Arabs and non-Jews generally, are prohibited

rom living or working on JNF land. The JNF holds such lands on behal

o “the Jewish People in perpetuity”.

Zionism: the root o the

Israeli - Palestinian confict.



The objective o Zionism has never been merely tocolonize Palestine. What distinguishes Zionism romother colonial movements is the relationship betweenthe settlers and the conquered peoples.

The Zionist movement sought to achieve a Jewish majority and to establish

a Jewish state on as much o the land as possible. The methods included

promoting mass Jewish immigration and acquiring tracts o land that

would become the inalienable property o the “Jewish people.” This

prevented the indigenous Arab residents rom attaining their national

goals and establishing a Palestinian state, and displaced Palestinians rom

their lands and jobs when their presence conficted with Zionist interests.

The avowed purpose o the Zionist movement was notmerely to exploit the Palestinian people but to disperse

and dispossess them. The intent was to replace theindigenous population with a new settler community,to eradicate the armers, artisans and town-dwellers o Palestine and substitute a new workorce composed o the Jewish settler population.

In 1895, Theodore Herzl, Zionism’s ounder, wrote in his diary:

“We must expropriate gently the private property on thestate assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the pennilesspopulation across the border by procuring employmentor it in the transit countries, while denying employmentin our country...the process o expropriation and the

removal o the poor must be carried out discretely andcircumspectly.”

The dispossession and expulsion o a majority o Palestinians were the

result o Zionist policies. Zionism ocused on two needs irrespective o

the indigenous population: to attain a Jewish majority in Palestine and to

acquire statehood. Non-recognition o the political and national rights o

the Palestinian people was an essential component o Zionist policy.

The Zionist Project.

Hebron, 1929 Jaa, 1890s



Zionist territorial goals or the

Jewish State.

Map showing proposal or borders

o “Greater Israel” presented by

Zionist leaders at 1919 Paris Peace

Conerence.

Zionists advocated a “Jewish State” not just in Palestine, butalso in Jordan, southern Lebanon, and the Golan Heights.

In 1918 Ben-Gurion described the uture state’s rontiers:

“to the north, the Litani river (in southern Lebanon), to thenortheast, the Wadi ‘Owja, twenty miles south o Damascus;the southern border will be mobile and pushed into Sinai atleast up to Wadi al-’Arish; and to the east, the Syrian Desert,including the urthest edge o Transjordan.”

Map o Palestine beore

the Nakba o 1948.



Zionist leaders recognized that they needed an externalpatron to legitimize their presence in the internationalarena and to provide them legal and military protection.Great Britain played that role in the 1920s and 1930s, asdid the United States in the mid-1940s.

Theodor Herzl wrote that the Jewish community could be: “part o a wall

o deense or Europe in Asia, an outpost o civilization against barbarism.”

The British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balour,wrote to Jewish leader Lord Rothshild, to assure himthat his government supported the ideal o providing ahomeland or the Jews. The British hoped thereby to winmore Jewish support or the Allies in the First World War.

Foreign Oce, November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild:

I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behal o His Majesty’s

Government, the ollowing declaration o sympathy with Jewish Zionist

aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet:

His Majesty’s Government view with avor the establishment in Palestine o

a national home or the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors

to acilitate the achievement o this object, it being clearly understood that

nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights o

existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political

status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

I should be grateul i you would bring this declaration to the knowledge

o the Zionist Federation.

Yours,

Arthur James Balour

The “Balour Declaration” became the primary basis orinternational support or the ounding o Israel.

The West’s support o the

Zionist project.

Jaa Boyscouts,

1924.



Myth: A land without people

or a people without a land.

Ahad Ha’Am, a leading Eastern European Jewish essayist, visited Palestinein 1891 or three months. He wrote:

“We abroad are used to believe the Eretz Yisrael is nowalmost totally desolate, a desert that is not sowed .....But in truth that is not the case. Throughout the countryit is dicult to nd elds that are not sowed.”

Moshe Dayan addressing the Technion (Israel Institute o Technology),

Haia (as quoted in Ha’aretz, 4 April 1969):

“Jewish villages were built in the place o Arab villages. You do not even know the names o these Arab villages...because geography books no longer exist, not only

do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not thereeither. Nahlal arose in the place o Mahlul; KibbutzGvat in the place o Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the placeo Huneis; and Kear Yehushu’a in the place o Talal-Shuman. There is not one single place built in thiscountry that did not have a ormer Arab population.”

Jaa, 1920s

Nazareth, 1862

Land Ownership, 1945

David Ben-Gurion could not understand

why Arabs rejected his oer to use Jewish

nance, scientic knowledge, and technical

expertise to modernize the Middle East. He

attributed this rejection to backwardness

rather than to the threat that Zionism posed

to the Arabs’ aspirations or independence.



Myth: Zionists accepted the

UN partition plan.

David Ben Gurion, addressing Zionist executive in 1937 and 1938:

“The acceptance o partition does not commit us torenounce Transjordan... We shall accept a state in theboundaries xed today--but the boundaries o theZionist aspirations are the concern o the Jewish peopleand no external actor will be able to limit them.”

“[I am] satised with part o the country, but on the basiso the assumption that ater we build up a strong orceollowing the establishment o the state--we will abolishthe partition o the country and we will expand to thewhole Land o Israel.”

Menachim Begin, on the day ater the UN partition vote:“The partition o Homeland is illegal. It will never berecognized. The signature o institutions and individualso the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bindthe Jewish people... Eretz Israel will be restored to thepeople o Israel. All o it. And orever.”

It should be noted that

the UN partition plan is, initsel, morally questionable.

We must ask ourselves:

what right did the UN have

to give more than hal o a

country to a small, mostly

immigrant population?



The UN partition plan was usedas a pretense or taking over mosto Palestine.

Zionists did not accept the UN Partition Plan. The story is that

“Jews declared Israel and then they were attacked.” The act

is rom November 1947 to May 1948 the Zionists were on the

oensive and had already attacked Arabs. Prior to partition the

Zionists had already driven 300,000 non-Jews o o their land and

had seized land beyond the borders o the proposed Jewish State.

January 1947 to March 1948: Approximately 30,000Palestinians were orced to leave the country.

March 1948 up to May 1948: Over 300,000 Palestinians,including those who survived the Deir Yasin massacre,let West Jerusalem, Tiberias, Haia, Jaa, and Beishan.

May 1948 to December 1948: The Israeli armed orcesdeported approximately 100,000 Palestinians rom Lodand Ramlah to Jordan.

In view o the Israeli hostilities, which continued evenater the 1948 war, over 200,000 Palestinians wereorced to move to the Gaza Strip.

On 29 December 1947, the Irgun threw a

bomb at a Palestinian bus in Jerusalem.

17 Palestinian were killed. Similar terrorist

actions occurred in the ollowing months.



The sole aim o the Arab armies was stop Zionistaggression against the Palestinians.

In accordance with an agreement made between King Abdullah and the

Jewish Agency to partition Palestine between them, the Arab Legion did

not move out o the area that became the West Bank.

Lydda, Ramla, and the Triangle Areas were handed over without a ght.

Transjordan’s Army withdrew on the orders o King Abdullah. When the

Israeli Army attacked the Egyptian and Syrian armies in mid-October, 1948,

the Iraqi and Jordanian armies were orbidden rom opening a third ront.

The Egyptian and Iraqi armies had long supply and communication lines.

Saudi Arabian and Sudanese armies contributed ew thousand soldiers in

the middle o the war. The Lebanese army remained in the Upper Galilee,

which was granted to the Arab entity in the Partition Plan.

Jewish orces commenced military operations in Palestinebeore the end o the British mandate.

By the time the Arab states intervened (ater the departure o British

troops rom Palestine on May 15, 1948), Jewish orces had already

occupied not only the area allotted to the Jewish state, but most o the

area allotted to the Arab state as well.

By July o 1948 the combined Arab armies consisted o 40,000 troops; the

Jewish orces numbered 63,000. By the Spring o 1949, the Arab orces

numbered 55,000; Jewish troops consisted o 115,000 ully trained men.

Owing to the international arms embargo, the Arab armies had a shortage

o ammunition. Ater February 25, 1948, the Arab Legion received no new

ammunition or its 20mm guns. Some o the ammunition used by the Iraqi

artillery was more than thirty years old; the Syrians had no ammunition

or their heavy 155mm guns. Jewish stockpiles were growing all the time,especially ater the illegal arms shipment rom Czechoslovakia in May 1948.

Ben Gurion wrote on November 11, 1948:

“Let us recognize the truth: we won not because weperormed wonders, but because the Arab army isrotten.”

Myth: Seven well equipped Arab armiesattempted to destroy the poorly armed,newly ounded Jewish State.



“By the end o the 1948 war, hundreds o entire villageshad not only been depopulated but obliterated, theirhouses blown up or bulldozed. While many o the sitesare dicult to access, to this day the observant travellero Israeli roads and highways can see traces o theirpresence that would escape the notice o the casualpasser-by: a enced-in area, oten surmounting a gentlehill, o olive and other ruit trees let untended, o cactushedges and domesticated plants run wild. Now and thena ew crumbled houses are let standing, a neglectedmosque or church, collapsing walls along the ghost o a village lane, but in the vast majority o cases, all that

remains is a scattering o stones and rubble across aorgotten landscape.”

Walid Khalidi, Palestinian author, “All That Remains”

Al Nakba:

The Catastrophe

Palestinian woman outside her destroyed home, 1948



0

Ethnic cleansing o Palestine:

Birth o the reugee problem.

During the creation o the Zionist state in 1948,approximately 750,000 Palestinians were orced tobecome reugees.Together with their descendants, morethan 4.3 million o these reugees are registered with theUnited Nations - over 1.7 million are not.

One-third o the registered reugees live in 59 UN-run camps in Jordan,

Lebanon, and Syria, and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip sections o

Palestine. Most o the rest live in and around cities in the West Bank and

Gaza Strip and neighboring countries.

All 1948 reugees and internally displaced persons arelegislated as “absentees.” Thus some 4 million 1948reugees today outside the “Green Line” have been

alienated to all rights to Israeli citizenship, to their landsand to their properties in Israel.

250,000 o the approximately one million PalestinianArab citizens o Israel are internally displaced persons,so-called “present absentees,” are likewise denied allrights in their pre-1948 properties insside Israel.

Despite the act that they were issued Israeli c itizenship, the state has

denied them the right to return to their homes or villages.



Abil Qamhal-Zuq al-Fawqani

al-Sanbariyya

al-Shawka al-Tahta

Khan al-Duwayr

al-Mansiyhiyya

al-Khisas

al-Zuq al-Tahtani

Hunin

al-Khalisa

al-Mansura

Lazzaza

Madahil

al-’Abisiyya

Qaytiyya

al-Na’ima

al-Dawwara

al-Salihiyya

al-Hamra’

al-Mutakhira

al-Zawiya

al-Buwayziyya

Khiyam al-Walid

Jahula

Ghuraba

al-Nabi Yusha’

Qadas

al-Malikiyya

al-’Urayyya

al-Dirbashiyya

Baysamun

Mallaha

Harrawi

Arab al-Zubayd

al-’Ulmaniyya

Dayshum

Saliha

Suruh

Tarbikha

al-Nabi Rubin

Iqrit

Khirbat ‘Iribbin

al-Bassa

Arab al-Samniyya

al-Zib

al-Mansura

Kar Bir’im

Fara

Alma

Tulayl al-Husayniyya

al-Ras al-Ahmar

Sa’sa

Dayr al-Qasi

al-Kabri

al-Nahr

al-Ghabisiyya

al-Tall

Umm al-Faraj

Khirbat Jiddin

Suhmata

Sabalan

Ghabbatiyya

Sasa

Taytaba

Dallata

Marus

Kirad al-Ghannama

Kirad al-Baqqara

Yarda

al-Wayziiyya

Ammuqa

Qabba’a

QadditaFir’im

Mughr al-Khayt

al-Dirdara

Mansurat al-Khayt

Khirbat al-Muntar

al-Ja’una

Biriyya

Ayn al-Zaytun

Mirun

Amqa

Kuwaykat al-Sumayriyya

al-Sammu’I

al-Zahiriyya al-Tahta

Akbara

al-Zanghariyya

Jubb Yusu

al-Qudayriyya

al-Shuna

al-Farradiyya

Kar ‘Inan

al-Manshiyya

Khirbat Karraza

al-Butayha

Arab al-Shamalina

al-Samakiyya

Yaquq

al--Mansura

al-Birwa

al-Tabigha

Mi’ar

al-Damun

al-Ruways

Ghuwayr Abu Shusha

Khirbat al-Wa’ra al-Sawda

Wadi al-Hamam

al-Majdal

Hittin

Nimrin

Wa’arat al-Sarris

Khirbat al-Kasayir

Hawsha

Lubya

al-Nuqayb

Nasir al-Din

al-Shajara

Sauriyya

Khirbat Sa’sa’

Balad al-Shaykh

al-Tira

Yajur

Kar Sabt

al-Manara

al-Samra

Samakh

al-Hamma

al-Manshiyya

al-’Ubaydiyya

Ma’dhar

Khirbat al-Damunal-Jalama

Ma’lul

Ayn Hawd

Atlit

al-Mazar

Khirbat al-Mansura

al-Mujaydil

Hadatha

al-Dalhamiyya

Awlam

Sirin

al-Tira

Khirbat al-Taqa

al-Bira

Danna

Indur

Jaba’

al-Saraand

Ijzim

Khirbat al-Manara

Kar Lam

Ayn Ghazal

al-Sawamir

Khirbat QumbazaUmm al-Zinat

Qira

Abu Zurayq

al-Rihaniyya

Abu Shusha

Khirbat Lid

Kara

Kawkab al-Hawa

Khirbat al-Zawiya

Khirbat Umm Sabuna

YublaAyn al-Mansi

al-Naghnaghiyya

al-Ghubayya al-Tahta

Daliyat al-Rawha’

al-Tantura

al-Ghubayya al-Fawqa

al-Mansi

al-Lajjun

al-Karayn

Sabbarin

al-Butaymat

Khubbaza

Umm al-Shaw

al-Sindiyana

Burayka

Kabara

Khirbat al-Shuna

Jabbul

al-Murassas

Qumya

Zir’in

Nuris

al-Mazar

Zab’a

al-Hamidiyya

Arab al-Bawati

al-Sakhina

Tall al-Shawk

al-Ghazzawiyya

al-Ashrayya

Khirbat al-Jawa

Qannir

Khirbat al-Burj

Barrat Qisarya

Qisarya

Wadi ‘Ara

Umm ‘Ajra

Masil al-Jizl

Farwana

Arab al-’Arida

al-Sammiriyya

Arab al-Saa

al-Hamra’

al-Khunayzir

al-Fatur

Arab Zahrat al-Dumayra

Arab al-Fuqara’

Khirbat al-Sarkas

Raml ZaytaArab al-Nuay’at

Wadi al-Hawarith

Khirbat Zalaa

Khirbat al-Majdal

al-Manshiyya

al-Jalama

Qaqun

Wadi Qabbani

Umm Khalid

Khirbat Bayt Lid

Bayyarat Hannun

Ghabat Kar Sur

Fardisya

Khirbat al-Zababida

Miska

Kar Saba

Tabsur

al-Haram

Ijlil al-Shamaliyya

Ijlil al-Qibliyya

Biyar ‘Adas

al-Muwaylih

Abu Kishk

al-Sawalimaal-Shaykh Muwannis

al-Mirr

Fajja

al-Jammasin al-Sharqi

Jarisha

al-Jammasin al-Gharbi

al-Mas’udiyya

Majdal Yaba

al-Musayri’a

Qula

Rantiyaal-Abbasiyya

Saqiya

Salama

al-Khayriyya

Yazur

Kar ‘Ana

al-Tira

Bayt Dajan

Dayr Tari

al-Sariyya

Bayt Nabala

al-Haditha

Dayr Abu Salama

Saraand al-’Amar

Khirbat al-Duhayriyya

Daniyal

Jimzu

Khirbat Zakariyya

Shilta

al-Burj

Barliya

Kharruba

Innaba

Bir Ma’in

al-Kunayyisa

Abu al-Fadl

Bir Salim

Saraand al-Kharab

Wadi Haunayn

al-Nabi Rubin

al-Qubayba

Zarnuqa

Yibna

Aqir

al-Na’ani

al-Barriyya

al-Qubab

Bayt Shanna

Salbit

Khirbat al-Buwayra

Ajanjul

Nita

Bayt Thul

Dayr Ayyub

al-Latrun

Abu Shusha

Saydun

al-Mansura

al-Maghar Bashshit

Qatra

Shahma

Umm Kalkha

Khulda

Dayr Muhaysin

Bayt Jiz

Bayr Susin

Khirbat Baut Far

al-Mukhayzin

Arab Suqrir

Barqa

Isdud

al-Batani Al-Gharbi

al-Batani Al-Sharqi

Yasur

al-Masmiyya al-Kabira

al-Khayma

Jilya

Qazaza

Sajad

Kirbat Ism Allah

Dayr Raat

Sar’aIslin

Artu

Ishwa’

Bayt Mahsir

Saris

Khirbat al-’Umur

Bayt Naqquba

al-Qastal

Qalunya

Lita

Dayr YasinSuba

Dayr ‘Amr

Bayt Umm al-Mays

Kasla

Khirbat al-Lawz

Sata

Ayn Kharim

al-Mahila

al-Jura

al-Walaja

Aqqur

Dayr al-Shaykh

Ras Abu ‘Ammar

al-Qabu

Dayr al-Hawa

Bayt ‘Itab

Allar

Khirbat al-Tannur

Sufa

Dayr Aban

Jarash

al-Burayj

Zakariyya

Mughallis

Idnibba

al-Tina

al-Masmiyya al-Saghira

Qastina

Tall al-Turmus

Bayt Daras

al-Sawar al-Shamaliyya

al-Sawar al-Gharbiyya

al-Sawar al-Sharqiyya

al-Jaladiyya

Bi’lin

Tall al-Sa

Bayt Natti

Ajjur

Dayr al-Dubban

Ra’na

Barqusya

Zikrin

Summil

Jusayr

Ibdis

Julis

Hamama

al-Jura

al-KhisasNi’ilya

Bayt ‘Aa

Iraq Suwaydan

Hatta

Karatiyya

Zayta

Kudna

Khirbat Umm Burj

Dayr Al-Nakhkhas

Bayt Jibrin

al-Faluja

Kawkaba

Bayt Tima

al-Jiyya

Barbara

Hiribya

Bayt Jirja

Hulayqat

Iraq al-Manshiyya

al-Qubayba

al-Dawayima

Burayr

Simsim

Dayr Sunayd Dimra

Najd

Huj

al-Jammama

Kawakha

al-Muharraqa

al-’Imara

al-Khalasa

villages destroyed when

Israel was created in :





Conscated Palestinian land makes up 90% o Israel.The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is a private corporation ounded to buy

land or the Jewish people and that is its purpose to this day. 13% o

Israel’s land belongs to the JNF, and the JNF does not lease land to non-

Jews. Approximately 80% o JNF land was not purchased, but simply taken

rom those who fed during the war in 1948, and transerred to the JNF or

the sole use o Jews.

This “redemption o land,” which means the transer o lands rom Arabs

to Jews, is still going on. A subsidiary o the JNF, Himnuta, is even involved

in “redeeming” land in the occupied territories.

In 1961 it was agreed that JNF land and the stolenstate land be managed by a government body, theIsrael Lands Administration (ILA), under the same rules

adopted by the JNF in 1906, i.e., denial o its use, lease,development or access to any non-Jew. The ILA manages92.6% o the land in Israel. In addition to the propertyo the reugees, Israel took 76% o the land o theremaining villages in Israel.

The JNF touts its “reorestation” as “environmentalism”when, in act, many o these orests are planted over theremains o destroyed Palestinian villages.

The JNF has graciously announced, however, that historical inormation

plaques erected in JNF parks and orests will cite the names o the Arab

villages ormerly located there.

The ongoing thet

o Palestinian land.

Palestinian Reugee, 1948



Myth: The only democracy

in the Middle East.

“Apartheid” reers to any institutionalized regime o systematic oppression and domination by one racialgroup over another. While “Israeli Arabs” can vote,they are a subordinated and marginalized minority.

The Law o Return grants rights o automatic citizenshipto Jews anywhere in the world, while those rightsare denied to 750,000 Palestinian reugees and theirdecendants who were orced or fed in ear rom theirhomes in what became Israel in 1948.

When Palestinian citizens o Israel demand that theirstate become the state o all its citizens, a democraticand secular state, they are denounced or imperiling theJewish nature o the state.

Israel’s Basic Law o Human Dignity and Liberty establishes it as a “Jewish

democracy,” although 24 percent o the population is non-Jewish. Israel

denes itsel as the state o the Jewish people, including Jews throughout

the world who are not its citizens, not the state o its actual citizens (who

include a million non-Jews).

Most o Israel’s land is the property not o the Israeli people, but o Jewish

people everywhere. As non-Jews, Palestinian citizens o Israel are barred

rom access to state land and land owned by the Jewish National Fund;

approximately 90% o the state.

Israel’s nationality law prohibits Palestinian citizens o Israel rom marrying

Palestinians rom the occupied territories and living with their spouses in

Israel. The same law does not apply to Jewish Israelis who marry Jewish

settlers living in the occupied territories. Similar legislation had beenproposed in South Arica at the peak o Apartheid, only to be rejected

by that country’s supreme court. Israel’s nationality law was endorsed by

Israel’s High Court in 2006.

“He who is not ready to recognise Israel as a Jewish andZionist state cannot be a citizen in the country.”Avigdor Lieberman, Minister o Strategic Threats



The implementation o the concept “Jewish and

democratic” is the support o legislation containing

wrongul and hurtul discrimination against Arabs.A 2006 survey revealed that two-thirds o Israeli Jews would reuse to live

in a building with an Arab, nearly hal would not allow a Palestinian in their

home, and 40 percent want the government to encourage emigration by

Palestinian citizens.

The Israel Beitenu Party advocates drawing Israel’s borders to exclude

500,000 o its Palestinian citizens.

Many Palestinian villages, some predating the establishment o Israel,

are unrecognized by the government, do not appear on maps, and

thus receive no running water, electricity, or access roads. Scores o

communities have been ounded or Jews, but none or Palestinians,causing severe residential overcrowding.

More than 50 percent o Arab children are living in poverty and more

than 44 percent o Arab amilies are poor. The 20 towns in Israel with the

highest unemployment rate are Arab towns.

Palestinian children attend schools that receive a raction o the unding

awarded to Jewish schools. Israeli school texts commonly depict Arabs as

inerior, backward, violent, and immoral.

Israel’s Supreme Court legitimizes the political assassination o Palestinian

activists, the conscation o Palestinian land, the demolition o Palestinian

homes and the use o Palestinians as human shields.

Israeli apartheid. What it means

to have a “Jewish” state.

Fenced-o water pump at unrecognized village

Destroying Bedouin home in the Negev

Stopped on the way to school

Stealing more land



When the West Bank and Gaza Strip were occupiedin 1967, the UN reported that approximately 200,000Palestinians fed. These reugees and their descendantsnumber about 834,000 persons.

The stage or the continued ethnic cleansing o Palestinians has been set in the Occupied Territories, andis in progress. The prime tool is, orever, Palestinian landgrab in conjunction with settlement expansion. Variousstages o annexation are in evidence in the originallyrural part o the West Bank, constituting sixty percent o its area.

Outside o 1948 Israel, in the occupied territories,all Jewish “settlements,” the Jewish-only roads thatserve them, the military zones, and lands taken orthe construction o the apartheid barrier are on stolenPalestinian land.

The state earmarks huge tracts or the settlements in order to prevent

Palestinian construction in those areas. Once an area is closed to

Palestinians, the settlers begin seizing adjacent Palestinian lands, oten

privately owned, that lie outside their jurisdiction. According to B`Tselem,

the Israeli human rights organization, already in 2002, 41.9% o the West

Bank was assigned to the Israeli regional councils.


and beyond.

Reugees, 1967




Continued.

As a result o home demolitions, revocation o residency rights and construction o illegal settlementson stolen Palestinian land, at least 57,000 Palestinianshave become displaced in the occupied West Bank. Thisnumber includes 15,000 persons so ar displaced by theconstruction o Israel’s Annexation/Apartheid Wall.

None o the measures taken by Israel in the OPT and against the

Palestinians can be explained or justied by security. This is true o the

demolition o Palestinian houses, the “wall” that is eectively annexing

another 10% or more o the OPT to Israel, hundreds o actions disrupting

movement within and between Palestinian communities (as opposed to

movement o Palestinians into Israel), or the series o seven settlement

blocs that place hundreds o thousands o Jewish civilian communities

deep in Palestinian territory. Such measures have expanded Israel’sterritory and control o water and other resources, urther divided the

Palestinian population rom its land and rom one another, and rendered a

Palestinian state impossible.

In the remaining West Bank, Palestinians have become virtual prisoners

in their own towns and villages. Every aspect o normal Palestinian lie

- economy, health, education, is being crushed by a well organized and

deliberate military-bureaucratic machine, masquerading as a security

establishment. Ethnic cleansing, by means o home and eld demolitions,

is also pursued diligently by the State o Israel towards its own Bedouin

citizens residing in the Negev desert.

In the years 2000 through 2007, Israel destroyed 1,663Palestinian homes in the West Bank and 608 in East

Jerusalem. A total o 1,045 Palestinian homes weredestroyed in 2007 alone, 759 o which were in Israel.

A total o 18,000 homes have been destroyed by Israelsince 1967.



During the last 20 years, Israelis killed more than ourtimes as many Palestinians and nine times as manyPalestinian children as Palestinians killed Israelis andIsraeli children respectively.

Between the time o Israel’s “disengagement” rom Gazain September 2005 and November 2006, an estimated13,000 artillery shells were red into Gaza. While onthe Palestinian side, approximately 1,300 crude Kassammissiles were red into Israel.

In the rst six months o 2006 alone, approximately 80Palestinians were killed in Gaza by Israeli artillery, while

in the entire period between 2001 and mid-2006 exactlyeight Israelis were killed by homemade Kassam missiles.

During the Al-Aqsa Intiada, massive, disproportionate Israeli

repower and military hubris led to an escalation o violence and

the Palestinians’ use o suicide bombings.

In 1994, Hamas violated their own prohibition against using

suicide bombings that target civilians ater Israeli Baruch Goldstein

opened re on Palestinian worshippers in Hebron (killing 29 and

wounding more than 100). In 1996, Hamas ended an ongoing

inormal truce ollowing the Israeli liquidation o a leading militant.

Homemade Kassam Rockets

Israeli F16

Throwing Stones

Myth: The violence is perpetrated byPalestinians or no reason other than anirrational hatred o Jews.



Israel claims that they target only combatants whileseeking to spare civilians, but human rights and medicalorganizations have documented that hal o Palestinianchildren killed by Israeli small arms re (69% o allPalestinian child deaths) were hit in the head and uppertorso – the unmistakable mark o snipers. Former IDFsoldiers have spoken out about the policy o intentionallytargeting civilians.

While Palestinians have indeed used violence in resisting Israeli occupation

and ethnic cleansing, including violence directed against civilians (a human

rights violation and cannot be condoned), the number o Palestinian acts

o violence has been astonishingly small considering the appalling level o

Israeli violence and aggression directed at them over the last 60 years.

September , 000

through February , 00

Palestinians killed by Israeli military

Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians

Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians

Israeli military killed by Palestinians

West Bank

& Gaza

4494

43

234

239

Inside

Israel

67

473

87

Totals

4561

43

707

327

Source: B’Tselem, The Israeli Center or Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

These numbers do not include civilians and combatants killed by members o their

own nationality (Palestinians killed by an explosive device that they set or was on their

person, Israelis killed in ‘riendly re’ incidents, etc.), nor do they include the sizable

number o Palestinians who died as a result o inability to reach medical care due to

Israeli road closures, curews, etc.

From the UN assembly 63rd plenary meeting, 14 November 1980:

“...rearms the legitimacy o the struggle o peoplesor independence, territorial integrity, national unityand liberation rom colonial and oreign dominationand oreign occupation by all available means, includingarmed struggle.”

Myth: The violence is perpetrated byPalestinians or no reason other than anirrational hatred o Jews.

Column o Israeli Tanks

Throwing Stones



0

In the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. has cast its veto 47times to shield Israel rom resolutions that condemned,deplored, denounced, armed, endorsed, called uponand urged Israel to obey the world body.

Until the Nixon administration, the United States had never employed its

veto power in the U.N. Security Council. The rst U.S. veto was cast on

March 17, 1970 over Southern Rhodesia. The second came in 1972 when

Washington sought to protect Israel rom a resolution condemning Israel

or one o its attacks on its neighbors.

Myth: The United States is

an honest broker or peace.

Israel is the largest recipient o U.S. nancial assistance.According to the Congressional Research Service, since1949 the U.S. has given Israel more than $101 billionin aid, as o 2007, $53 billion o which was military aid.Annual military aid appropriations are scheduled to riseto $3.1 billion by 2018.

All U.S. aid programs have built-in mechanisms to prevent aid rom being

used to commit human rights abuses. According to U.S. law, countries that

commit human rights abuses are to be sanctioned and aid is to be cut o.

The Arms Export Control Act stipulates that countriespurchasing or receiving U.S. weapons cannot use themagainst civilians and must restrict their usage to “internalsecurity” and “legitimate sel-deense.” According tothe Foreign Assistance Act o 1961, “No assistance maybe provided... to the government o any country whichengages in a consistent pattern o gross violations o internationally recognized human rights.”

Israel has an atrocious human rights record, as documented by Palestinian,

Israeli, and International human rights organizations.



The Right to Return

has a legal basis:

Palestinian reugees represent the longest suering andlargest reugee population in the world today.

“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including hisown, and return to his country.”The Universal Declaration o Human Rights

“State parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminateracial discrimination on all its orms and to guarantee theright o everyone, without distinction as to race, color,or national or ethnic origin, to equality beore the law,notably in... the right to leave any country, includingone’s own, and to return to one’s country.”

The International Convention on the Elimination o All Forms o Racial Discrimination

“No one shall be arbitrarily deprived o the right to enterhis own country.”The International Convention on Civil and Political Rights

“the reugees wishing to return to their homes and liveat peace... should be permitted to do so at the earliestpracticable date, and that compensation should be paidor the property o those choosing not to return and orloss o or damage to property which... should be madegood by the Governments or authorities responsible.”UN Resolution 194, adopted December 11, 1948

Since its introduction in 1948, Resolution 194 has been armed by the UN

over 130 times with universal consensus except or Israel and the U.S. It

was urther claried by the UN General Assembly Resolution 3236 which

rearms “the inalienable right o Palestinians to return to their homes and

property rom which they have been displaced and uprooted,

and calls or their return.”

The key has become the

symbol or “Awda” - the

return to Palestine. Many

Palestinian reugees still

hold the keys to the homes

rom which they fed.



The Right to Return

is possible:

The right o reugees to return is not only sacred andlegal but also possible. Studies show that 80 percento Israelis live in 15 percent o the land and that theremaining 20 percent live on 85 percent o the land thatbelongs to the reugees.

By contrast, more than 6,000 reugees live per squarekilometer in the Gaza Strip, while over the barbed wiretheir lands are practically empty. 97 percent o thereugee population currently lives within 100 km o theirhomes, 50 percent live within 40 km, while many livewithin sight o their homes.

Israel rejects the return o the reugees because itwould change what it calls the “Jewish character” o thestate. The Jewish character is based on a permanentJewish majority, special privileges or Jewish citizens,residents and non-residents, set orth in Israel’s laws,and permanent Jewish control o land and propertyconscated rom the reugees.



To achieve justice or

all in Palestine:

The immediate and unconditional endo the occupation o the West Bank andGaza, dismantling o all settlements, andreturn o land and water resources.

The immediate dismantling o theApartheid Wall and compensationor the suering and losses o thePalestinian people.

The immediate implementation o ullPalestinian Right-o-Return to theiroriginal homes and properties.

The return o stolen lands and ullrestitution or 60 years o suering.

The establishment o a secular,democratic state with laws based on

citizenship, not ethnicity or religion, inthe whole region o historic Palestine,with ull political and civil rights or all.

To implement all o this: total economic,cultural, and academic boycott o Israel.

This material contained in this exhibit was gathered rom many sources,

and would not have been possible without the excellent and exacting

eorts o various authors and webmasters.

To name but a ew:

Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, Walid Khalidi, Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, Uri Davis, Michael Palumbo, Ilan Pappe, Israel Shahak

al-awda.org · arabhra.org · badil.org · iamericansknew.org · ittijah.org

mitah.org · onepalestine.org · palestineremembered.org passia.org

qumsiyeh.org zochrot.org

Excellent resource: palestineonlinestore.com

Documents

myths & facts about Zionism