The Palestine Question

417 Pages·2000·9.998 MB·English

by  Henry Cattan

THE PALESTINE QUESTION
Works by Henry Cattan

Jerusalem, Saqi Books, London, 2000
The Garden of Joys: An Anthology of Oriental Anecdotes, Fables and

Proverbs,Saqi Books, London, 2000
The Evolution of Oil Concessions in the Middle East and North Africa,
Oceana Publications for Parker School of Foreign and Comparative
Law, New York, 1967

The Law of Oil Concessions in the Middle East and North Africa, Oceana
Publications, New York, 1967
?,
7b Whom Does Palestine Belong Bouheiry Brothers, Beirut, 1967

Palestine, the Arabs and Israel, Longman, London, 1969 and 1970

Palestine, the Road to Peace,Longman, London, 1970

Palestine and International Law,Longman, London, 1973,1974 and 1976

The Question of Jerusalem, Third World Centre for Research and
Publishing, London, 1980

The Solution of the Palestine Refugee Problem, International Progress
Organization, Vienna, 1982

Le jardin des joies, Gaston Lachurie, Paris, 1985
Henry Cattan
The Palestine Question
Saqi Books
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library
ISBN o 86356 932 3
© Louis Cattan, 2000
First published by Croom Helm, 1988
This edition first published 2000
The right of Henry Cattan to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of1988
Saqi Books
26 Westbourne Grove
London W2 5RH
Contents
Preface vii
Part I: Background to die Palestine Question
1. Palestine until 1917 3
2. The Balfour Declaration 10
3. Zionist Claim to Palestine 17
4. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations 22
5. The British Mandate 1922-1948 25
6. UN Resolution for the Partition of Palestine 32
7. Termination of the Mandate in Chaos and Turmoil 42
Part II: The 1948 Upheaval and its Sequels
8. The Emergence of Israel 49
9. The War of 1948 54
10. Exodus of the Palestine Refugees 60
11. Territorial Consequences of the War of 1948 69
12. Plunder and Confiscation of Arab Property 71
13. Palestine Independence Thwarted 77
14. UN Measures for Redress 80
15. Admission of Israel to the UN 86
16. The Suez War 90
17. The War of 1967 100
18. Security Council Resolution 242 111
19. The Palestine Liberation Organization 115
20. Jordan and the Palestinians 132
21. The War of 1973 135
22. The Camp David Accords (1978) and the Egyptian-
Israeli Peace Treaty (1979) 143
23. The War of 1982 150
24. The Massacre of Sabra and Chatila 169
25. Colonization and Land Usurpation in the West Bank
and Gaza 200
26. Israel’s Policies and Practices 208
27. US Patronage of Israel 224
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CONTENTS
Part Hi: The Problem of Jerusalem
28. Jerusalem Before die Emergence of Israel 247
29. Israel’s Illicit Actions in Jerusalem since 1948 231
30. Perils to Jerusalem and its Holy Places 260
Part IV: The Road to Peace
31. The Dimensions of the Palestine Question 271
32. Abortive Initiatives for a Solution 278
33. The Mechanics of Peace 312
34. Requisites of a Just and Equitable Solution 324
33. The Future 333
Appendices
l. Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of
Nations, 28 June 1919 369
n. Resolution 181 (II) Adopted by the General
Assembly on 29 November 1947 Concerning the
Future Government of Palestine 371
m.
UN Partition Plan — 1947 and UN Armistice Lines
- 1949 388
IV. Land Ownership of Arabs and Jews in 1948 389
V. Areas Seized by Israel in Excess of the Partition
Plan 390
VI. Territories Occupied During Israeli Aggression of
1967 391
VII. Chronology of Jerusalem 392
Index 394
Preface
The history of Palestine has been marked by many dramatic events
that have left a lasting impact not only on the region, hut also on the
world at large. Closely linked with history, with three world
religions, with Palestine and Zionist Jewish nationalism, as well as
with the strategic interests of the two superpowers, the Palestine
Question has been the cause of several wars in the Middle East. It
constitutes one of the most explosive, intractable and unresolved
issues of modern times that threatens not only die stability of the
region, but also the peace of the world.
Yet, despite its crucial importance, and the mass of literature
written about the subject, ignorance about the Palestine Question is
fairly widespread. What are its basic issues? Which of its protagon­
ists is right or wrong? Who are the aggressors and who are the
victims? Very few are in a position to give the correct answers.
Much confusion exists with regard to these questions. The average
person has a vague idea that die Palestine Question concerns an area
located somewhere in the Middle East over which Jews and Arabs
have been quarrelling and going to war for years. Others who are
influenced by Zionist and Israeli propaganda claim that the Palestine
Question concerns the heroic struggle of the Jews to defend ‘their’
country against Palestinian ‘terrorista’ who want to wrest it from
them. The same ignorance explains the failure, sometimes the
inanity, of the so-called solutions tttathave been proposed for the
settlement of the Palestine Question.
There exist two main reasons for ignorance about the true nature
and dimensions of the Palestine Question. The first is the systematic,
well-planned and expertly organized misinformation and distortion
which are spread in the Western media by Zionist and Israeli propa­
ganda concerning the question generally. This process of misinform­
ation and distortion is coupled with a deliberate concealment of the
history of Palestine which for 1800 years, and until recent times,
was an exclusively Arab country. The Israelis are anxious to bury
that part of the past during which the Jews did not live or exist in
Palestine. For this reason the history of Palestine for that period is
ignored, distorted or is not even taught in Israeli schools. The
purpose of Israel’s suppression of the historical Arab character of
Palestine is to give the false impression of continuity of Jewish
presence in the country and hence of a non-existent historical
v•u•
PREFACE
connection between the two Jewish monarchies of biblical times and
the State of Israel that was established 25 centuries later.
The second reason is that each new wrong committed against die
Palestine people blots out the preceding one. Bertrand Russell
observed that for over 20 years Israel had expanded by force of arms
and, after every stage in this expansion, it had appealed to ‘reason’
and suggested ‘negotiations*. 'Every new conquest*, he said,
‘became the new basis of the proposed negotiation from strength,
which ignores the injustice of the previous aggression. ”
The ignorance that exists with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict
surprised General Odd Bull, Chief of Staff of the UN Truce Super­
vision Organization from 1963 to 1970. Although he spoke about
Norway, his comment is valid for Europe and America. General
Odd Bull wrote with reference to the Arab-Israeli conflict:
Few people in the outside world appreciated the true situation.
When I went to Norway for Christmas, six months after die war,
not one in a hundred of those I talked to had any understanding
of the facts. An uncritical acceptance of the Israeli point of view
in all its aspects was the rule . . .
Gradually, it is true, the Norwegian press shed some of its
bias, but for a variety of reasons public opinion in Norway has
remained consistently favourable to Israel and unfavourable to
the Arabs. In the first place most Norwegians are profoundly
ignorant about the politics and problems of the Middle East. Then
the Bible naturally disposes them to favour God's chosen people,
and their sympathies were profoundly stirred by die appalling flue
that befell the Jews in Europe at die hands of the Nazis. Norwe­
gians, like most other Europeans and almost all Americans,
found it in no way inappropriate that the Arabs should pay for
crimes committed by Hider.2
A proper understanding of the Palestine Question is not simply
a matter of curiosity or of historical interest. Just as a disease cannot
be treated without knowledge of its cause, so also the Palestine
Question cannot be resolved unless there exists a full and proper
knowledge of its dimensions.
The solution of the Palestine Question is a necessity as well as an
international obligation. Every citizen of the world has an interest
in world peace and security. Arab-Israeli wars have threatened
world peace on more than one occasion, whether in 1948, 1956,
1967, 1973 or 1982. Former US President Richard Nixon who had
vui
PREFACE
declared *a nuclear alert* during die Arab-Israeli War of 1973
recently disclosed that he took such action because the two super­
powers came close to a nuclear confrontation on account of the
Arab-Israeli conflict.3
Lastly, the Palestine Question should weigh heavily on the con­
science of the many nations who bear the responsibility for having
created the unjust situation that exists today in Palestine. The failure
to appreciate the real facts and responsibilities that underlie the
Palestine Question has prevented its equitable solution. It is,
therefore, necessary to set forth the essentials of the Palestine
Question concisely and objectively in broad outline, without bias,
partiality or partisanship, its evolution from the concept of a Jewish
national home to a Jewish state expanding territorially by war decade
after decade. This would present a clear picture of the Palestine
drama which has been obscured by deceptive propaganda and mis­
information. This, in essence, is the basic objective of this book.
Part I of this book gives the background to the Palestine Question
and includes a discussion of the Balfour Declaration, the British
mandate over Palestine and the UN resolution for the partition of the
country into Arab and Jewish States. Part U is devoted to a review
of the main events which have taken place in Palestine since 1948.
The emergence that year of the State of Israel in the historic land of
Palestine caused a tremendous political upheaval, ignited the war of
1948 and led to the expulsion or exodus of most of the Palestinians
from their homeland. It also led to die usurpation by the new state
of most of the territory of Palestine and the confiscation of Arab land
and started a chain of wrongs, injustices and wars, which have
convulsed and still convulse the Middle East to the present day. Part
HI deals with the all-important problem of Jerusalem which lies at
the heart of the Palestine Question. Finally, Part IV examines past
initiatives for securing a settlement and discusses the principles for
achieving a fair and equitable solution of the Palestine Question.
These principles deviate from current so-called peace initiatives and
suggest a peaceful and political solution which is squarely based on
right and justice.
Henry Cattan
PREFACE
NOTES
1. Middle East International, 21 January 1983, p. 19.
2. General Odd Bull, War and Peace in the Middle East, (Leo Cooper,
London, 1973), pp. 126-7.
3. Time, 21 July 1983.
x