Headed to History's Dustbin

by Dror Eydar

Let's begin from the end of the recent U.N. Human Rights Council report, which provides a timeline of "Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory." Well, it all began in 1948, when we established our state on Palestinian land in violation of British policy, as outlined in the "White Paper" which only allowed 75,000 Jews to enter Palestine. Beyond that, entry was up to approval by the Arabs. Since then, we annexed land, settled, violated, etc. The White Paper as a starting point. Nice, isn't it?

Well, the international definition is "occupied territories" (not "occupied Palestinian territories"), meaning that the ownership of the land is under legal dispute. We argue that the land belongs to us as part of the historical Land of Israel, by virtue of never having belonged to any other state. As early as the 1970s, legal experts proved that we are not "occupiers" because we never conquered any land that belonged to another state. The last sovereign entity in this land was the British mandate. The Jordanian occupation was never officially recognized, and even Jordan renounced ownership of this territory toward the end of the 1980s.

In addition, the timeline should begin more than 3,000 years ago. But even if we go back 18 centuries, we find that the Roman rulers gave the Land of Israel, or Judea, the name "Palestina" in efforts to sever the link between the Jews and their homeland. In the seventh century, Muslim conquerors expelled a large part of the Jewish population from the area, and forcibly converted some to Islam. Since then, the land was largely desolate until the end of the 19th century — the return of the Jewish nation to Zion. The land had waited for its real sons and daughters, and would only flourish for them. 

The U.N. report will end up in history's dustbin, just like the Goldstone Report. Both were issued by the Human Rights Council, which has proven since its establishment that every person on earth has rights except the Jews. 

On its way to the dustbin, the report will cause damage to Israel, legitimize terror against us and add another layer to the diplomatic culture of lies. 

Just as in the Goldstone case, the main contributors to Israel's delegitimization in the report were Israeli organizations funded by European governments, with a large portion of them also funded by the New Israel Fund. The report used controversial data provided by organizations like B'Tselem, Yesh Din, Adalah, and of course Peace Now, to prove dozens of points. The investigators who compiled the report also relied on editorials and op-eds from a single journalistic source. You guessed it: Haaretz. A magnificent work of empirical scientific research.

Dror Eydar

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3360

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