Research and Briefings

Myth

Palestine was always an Arab country.

Fact

• The Hebrews originally entered Israel about 1300 B.C.E, living under a tribal group. Their first monarch was King Saul and Jerusalem was established as its capital under Israel’s second king, David around 1000 B.C.E. David's son, Solomon built the Temple soon thereafter and consolidated the military, administrative and religious functions of the kingdom.
• Israel became divided under Solomon’s Son, Rehoboam. The northern kingdom, survived until 722 B.C.E, being destroyed by the Assyrians. The southern kingdom (Judah) survived until the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C.E. The Jewish people enjoyed brief periods of sovereignty afterward before most Jews were finally driven from their homeland in 135 C.E.
• Palestine was never solely an Arab country and Arabic became the language of the majority there as a result of the Muslim invasions in the seventh century.
• Neither was there ever an independent Arab or Palestinian state in Palestine. When the acclaimed Arab-American historian, Princeton University Prof. Philip Hitti, spoke against partition before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said: "There is no such thing as 'Palestine' in history, absolutely not."
• Before partition, Palestinian Arabs did not see themselves as having a separate identity. This is the resolution adopted by the First Congress of Muslim-Christian Associations meeting in Jerusalem in February 1919 to choose Palestinian representatives for the Paris Peace Conference: “We consider Palestine as part of Arab Syria, as it has never been separated from it at any time. We are connected with it by national, religious, linguistic, natural, economic and geographical bonds.”
• The representative of the Arab Higher Committee to the United Nations submitted a statement to the General Assembly in May 1947 stating; "Palestine was part of the Province of Syria" and that, "politically, the Arabs of Palestine were not independent in the sense of forming a separate political entity."
• A few years later, Ahmed Shuqeiri, later the chairman of the PLO, told the Security Council, "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria."
• Palestinian Arab nationalism was primarily a post-World War I phenomenon that did not turn into any significant political movement until after the 1967 Six-Day War and Israel's capture of the West Bank.

Myth

Fact

• After the Holocaust the British sought to divide Palestine with the agreement of both the Arabs and Israelis. When no agreement was made, the issue was handed over to the U.N Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP).
• The Commission found that the only way to reconcile the differing aspirations of the Jews and Arabs was through the establishment of two separate states joined by economic union, with Jerusalem an international zone.
• Although the Jews were unhappy that Jerusalem would not be part of a Jewish state and the small territory the UNSCOP apportioned them, they agreed to the U.N. Partition plan.
• The Arabs however rejected UNSCOP’s recommendations.

Myth

The Partition Plan gave the Jews most of the land, and all of the cultivable area.

Fact

• The high standard of living in Jewish cities and towns attracted large Arab populations. Any partition therefore, would include a large Arab population within the Jewish state.
• Consequently, in order to accommodate the additional Jewish settlement, the Jews were apportioned land in the north and the barren Negev desert in the South, with the remaining land apportioned to the Arabs.
• Therefore, 60 per cent of the Jewish state, contrary to what the critics have argued, consisted of desert and was incapable of being cultivated.
• With Jerusalem as an international zone, 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem would be cut off from their country.

Myth

The Palestinian Arabs were never offered a state and therefore have been denied the right to self-determination.

Fact

• In 1937 the Peel Commission recommended the partition of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.
• However, this was rejected by the Arab states who did not want to recognise the establishment of a Jewish state.
• The British White Paper in 1939 recommended the establishment of an Arab state in Palestine within ten years, with Jewish immigration limited to 75,000 over the following five years.
• The Arabs rejected the White Paper and any opportunity for a Palestinian state.

Myth

A unitary Arab state should have been created as the majority of the population in Palestine was Arab.

Fact

• In 1947, there were 1.2 million Arabs in Western Palestine and 600,000 Jews – although the Arabs had the majority of the population, the Jews were a majority in the area apportioned to them in Jerusalem by the partition resolution.
• The Jews however, could never obtain the majority population owing to the restrictive immigration policy imposed by the British.
• The Arab population however, was increasing dramatically as Arabs from neighbouring countries flocked to Palestine to take advantage of the improved economy and health benefits as a result of Zionist settlement. 
 

Myth

“The Jews caused the first war with the Arabs.”

Fact

• The chairman of the Arab Higher Committee said the Arabs would "Fight for every inch of their country."
• Within a week, the holy men of Al-Azhar University in Cairo called on the Muslims around the world to proclaim a jihad (holy war) against the Jews.
• As soon as the UN announced partition resolution on November 29, 1947, the Arabs declared a protest strike and started riots that led to the deaths of 62 Jews and 32 Arabs. Violence continued to escalate throughout the year.
• Large-scale assaults began on January 9, 1948, when around 1,000 Arabs attacked Jewish communities in northern Palestine. By February, the British were so infiltrated by Arabs, they lacked the forces to counter them. In fact, the British turned over bases and arms to Arab irregulars and the Arab Legion.
• On April 26, 1948, Transjordan's King Abdullah said: ‘[A]ll our efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Palestine problem have failed. The only way left for us is war. I will have the pleasure and honour to save Palestine’.
• On May 4, 1948, the Arab Legion attacked Kfar Etzion. The defenders drove them back, but the Legion returned a week later. Within days, the ill-equipped and outnumbered settlers were overwhelmed. Many defenders were massacred after they surrendered.
• The UN blamed the Arabs for the violence. The UN Palestine Commission was never permitted by the Arabs or British to go to Palestine to implement the resolution. On February 16, 1948, the Commission reported to the Security Council: ‘Powerful Arab interests, both inside and outside Palestine, are defying the resolution of the General Assembly and are engaged in a deliberate effort to alter by force the settlement envisaged therein’.
• The Arabs took responsibility for starting the war. Jamal Husseini, the Arab Higher Committee's spokesman, told the Security Council on April 16, 1948: ‘The representative of the Jewish Agency told us yesterday that they were not the attackers, that the Arabs had begun the fighting. We did not deny this. We told the whole world that we were going to fight’.
• The British commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, John Bagot Glubb, confirmed this: ‘Early in January, the first detachments of the Arab Liberation Army began to infiltrate into Palestine from Syria. Some came through Jordan and even through Amman . . . They were in reality to strike the first blow in the ruin of the Arabs of Palestine’.
• Despite their huge shortfall in numbers, organisation and weapons, the Jews began to take the initiative from the beginning of April until the declaration of independence on May 14.
• The partition resolution was never suspended or rescinded. Thus, Israel, the Jewish State in Palestine, was born on May 14, as the British left.
• Five Arab armies (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon and Iraq) immediately invaded Israel. Their intentions were to destroy the fledgling state, as Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League made clear: "This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades."
• Once the war had begun, there were dark moments on both sides of the conflict due to the number of atrocities, yet one should bear in mind that Israel never wanted to go to war and did not initiate the conflict.

Myth

Israel's military strike in 1967 was unprovoked.

Fact

• A combination of aggressive Arab rhetoric, threatening behaviour and, ultimately, an act of war left Israel no choice but to act pre-emptively in 1967.
• To do this successfully, Israel needed the element of surprise. Had it waited for an Arab invasion, Israel would have been at a potentially catastrophic disadvantage against an army of surrounding nations.
• In the months before June 1967, relations between Israel and her neighbours dramatically worsened.  In 1965, 35 terrorist raids were conducted against Israel. In 1966, the number increased to 41. In just the first four months of 1967, 37 attacks were launched. 
• These attacks provoked a retaliatory strike on 7th April, 1967, during which Israeli planes shot down six Syrian MiGs. Shortly thereafter, the Soviet Union - providing military and economic aid to both Syria and Egypt - gave Damascus information alleging a massive Israeli military build-up in preparation for an attack. Despite Israeli denials, Syria invoked its defence treaty with Egypt.
• On 15th May, Israel's Independence Day, Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border. Nasser’s subsequent expulsion of the UN Emergency Force on 16th May, stationed in the Sinai since 1956, led to widespread fear of attack throughout Israel.
• On May 22, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran, blocking Israel’s only connective supply route to the south of the country. Nasser was fully aware of the pressure he was exerting to force Israel's hand. On 27th May he publicly announced that “our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”
• King Hussein of Jordan signed a defence pact with Egypt on 30th May, and on 4th June, Iraq joined the military alliance. Approximately 250,000 troops (nearly half in Sinai), more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft ringed Israel.
• By this time, Israeli forces had been on alert for three weeks. The country could not remain fully mobilised indefinitely, nor could it allow its vital sea lane to remain blockaded. Israel's best option was to strike first. On 5th June, the order was given to attack Egypt.

Myth

Israel attacked Jordan to capture Jerusalem.
 

Fact

• Prime Minister Levi Eshkol sent King Hussein of Jordan a message conveying that Israel would not attack Jordan unless he initiated hostilities.
• When Jordanian radar picked up a cluster of planes flying from Egypt to Israel, and the Egyptians convinced Hussein that the planes were theirs, (whilst assuring him that victory was close) he ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem.
• The planes actually belonged to Israel, and were returning from destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground.
• Had Jordan not attacked, the status of Jerusalem would not have changed during the course of the war. Once the city came under fire, however, Israel defended it, and, in doing so, took the opportunity to unify its capital once and for all.

Myth

Israel viewed the territories it captured as conquered lands that were now part of Israel and had no intention of negotiating over their return.

Fact

• The 1967 victory enabled Israel to unify Jerusalem. Israeli forces had also captured the Sinai, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
• Despite this, Israel's leaders fully expected to cede some of this territory negotiate a peace agreement with their neighbours. Israel subsequently returned all of the Sinai to Egypt, and nearly all of the Gaza Strip and more than 40 percent of the West Bank was given to the Palestinians to establish the Palestinian Authority.
• To date, approximately 93 percent of the territories won in the defensive war have been given by Israel to its Arab neighbours as a result of negotiations.
• Israel would like to unilaterally withdraw from the West Bank, yet this can only be done as part of a negotiated peace agreement in which the Israel’s legitimacy is acknowledged and its security assured.

Myth

Israel expelled peaceful Arab villagers from the West Bank and prevented them from returning after the war.

Fact

• After Jordan launched its attack on 5th June, approximately 325,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank fled. These were Jordanian citizens who moved from one part of what they considered their country to another, primarily to avoid being caught in the cross fire of a war. Rumours of a prolonged war, now accepted as false, also encouraged many to leave.
• Some Palestinians who left preferred to live in an Arab state rather than under Israeli military rule. Members of various PLO factions fled to avoid capture by the Israelis. Many Arabs also feared they would no longer be able to receive money from family members working abroad.
• Israeli forces ordered a handful of Palestinians to move for “strategic and security reasons.” In some cases, they were allowed to return in a few days, in others Israel offered to help them resettle elsewhere.
• Israel now ruled more than three-quarters of a million Palestinians — most of whom were hostile to the government.
• Nevertheless, more than 9,000 Palestinian families were reunited in 1967. Ultimately, more than 60,000 Palestinians were allowed to return.

Myth

Israel was responsible for the 1973 war

Fact

• On October 6 1973 - Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar – Egypt and Syria launched a surprise co-ordinated attack against Israel.
• In the Golan Heights,180 Israeli tanks were faced with 1,400 Syrian tanks and along the Suez Canal , 80,000 Egyptians attacked fewer than 500 members of the Israeli army.
• The war carried over into Syria and Egypt whose arms were re-supplied by the Soviet Union.
• On October 22, the UN Security Council adopted UN Resolution 338 which called for ‘all parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately’.

Myth

Egypt and Syria were the only Arab states involved in the 1973 war

Fact

Myth

Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat, had agreed to U.S. peace proposals and did not seek war

Fact

• In 1971, Sadat suggested the possibility of signing a peace agreement with Israel on the condition that Israel returned the occupied territories.
• However, by 1972-3 Sadat was saying war was inevitable.
• The Egyptian President sought to win support for the war he wanted to wage among European and African states.
• U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, wanted Israel and Egypt to open a new dialogue for peace in the UN, but Sadat responded negatively.

 

Myth

Israel have never offered land in exchange for peace.

Fact

• The notion of land for peace has dominated the Israeli - Palestinian peace process. It is based on the idea that Israel should relinquish land in exchange for peace.
• It is this school of thought which is prominent in discussions concerning the occupied Palestinian territories, as it is believed that that in order to achieve peace in the Middle-East, Israel should relinquish control of any occupied territories and return them to the Palestinians so they can form a viable Palestinian state.
• The doctrine of land for peace has, until recently, been rather successful.
• The following are examples of successful attempts to exchange land for peace:

Egypt – Israel Peace Treaty 1979

• The land for peace doctrine was first used as the basis of Israel’s peace agreement with Egypt in 1979.
• The Treaty saw Israel withdraw from the Sinai as part of a comprehensive peace agreement facilitated by economic assistance to both sides from the United States.
• The main features of the treaty were the mutual recognition of each country by other, the cessation of the state of the war that existed since 1948, and the complete withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the rest of the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had captured during the 1967 Six-Day War.
• The agreement also provided for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal.
• Since then relations have improved. The Treaty therefore represented a fundamental shift in the politics of the region – from a strategy of confrontation to one of peace as the strategic choice.

Israel – Jordan Peace Treaty 1994

• The peace treaty normalised relations between the two countries and resolved territorial disputes between them.
• The treaty returned to Jordan approximately 380 square kilometres of land, including the Peace Island and saw the clarification of Jordan’s border with Israel, which, it was decided, was set to be the Jordan River.
• It also established diplomatic relations and the opening of embassies, full normalisation of relations, granting tourist visas, opening a flight connection and the establishment of a free trade zone.

Negotiations with the Palestinians

• Israel has actively sought to negotiate a comprehensive peace agreement with their Palestinian counterparts.
• In 2000, during the Camp David negotiations Israel offered to cede land for peace in order for a viable Palestinian state to be created. This was rejected.
• In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew 9,000 settlers from the Gaza Strip in order to demonstrate their commitment to peace. However, in June 2007 the Strip was taken over by terrorist organisation, Hamas, who continue to use the land to launch rockets into Israel.
• In 2008, Israel offered to withdraw from 93% of the West Bank and swap 7% of the remaining land in an attempt to exchange land for peace. This was rejected.

Myth

The Palestinians have never been offered a state of their own.

Fact

• Israel has recognised that long -lasting peace with the Palestinians can only be achieved through the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
• Numerous opportunities have arisen for Palestinians to achieve this as Israel has repeatedly offered land in exchange for peace.
• The Palestinians, however, as a result of the decisions of their leaders and Arab allies, continue to reject these offers, thereby shunning any prospects for peace.

The 1947 UN Partition Plan

• In 1947, after more than 50 years during which Jews steady returned to their ancient homeland, and Palestinian Arab nationalism steadily grew stronger, the UN proposed to “partition” Palestine into two independent states - Israel and Palestine.
• Israeli leaders accepted the UN partition plan, but the Palestinians and Arab nations rejected it. They claimed that the plan reduced the amount of land to which they were entitled. They also opposed it because it acknowledged that a Jewish state was a permanent reality in the region.
• If the Arabs had accepted the UN partition plan, the Palestinians could have achieved a viable independent state 55 years ago, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on territory larger than the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
 

1949-1967 

• From the end of Israel’s War of Independence in 1949, until 1967, the West Bank and East Jerusalem were under the control of Jordan, and Gaza was under the control of Egypt.
• No attempt was made by Jordan, Egypt or any other Arab entity to set up a Palestinian state in those territories, during those 18 years.
1979 - Palestinian Autonomy Plan
• In June 1967, as a result of the Six Day War, Israel assumed control of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.
• In 1979 Israel entered into the Camp David agreements with Egypt. Israel agreed to return the whole of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, in exchange for a peace treaty with Egypt.
• Israel also proposed an “autonomy plan” for the Palestinians living under Israeli administration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
• Under the autonomy plan, the Palestinians were offered a 5 year period of self-rule. This 5 year period would be “transitional” and followed by direct negotiations, without conditions, between all relevant parties, on the final status of the West Bank and Gaza, as well as on all related issues (including statehood, borders and refugees).
• During this period the Palestinian leadership (the PLO - Palestine Liberation Organisation - under Yasser Arafat) refused to recognise Israel’s right to exist, and therefore excluded itself from the Camp David diplomatic process.
• Meanwhile, the Arab states and the Palestinian leadership “on the ground” rebuffed Israel’s autonomy plan. They claimed that Israel had already decided to hold on to all of the West Bank and Gaza permanently, and that the autonomy plan was a “trap”.
• The autonomy plan would have given the Palestinians the opportunity to develop the institutions of statehood, and, equally importantly, a sense of statehood. The Palestinians rejected that opportunity.

The Camp David Negotiations - 2000

• In 1993 Israel and the PLO entered into the Oslo accords, under which each party recognised the national aspirations of the other, and agreed to negotiate a comprehensive peace agreement.
• Over the next seven years, under the terms of successive “interim” peace agreements, the Palestinians built institutions of statehood: an elected Parliament, security forces, and extensive self-rule powers.
• By 2000, most Israelis, on the left and right, considered Palestinian statehood to be an inevitability.
• During US-mediated negotiations which began at Camp David in 2000 and culminated in the Egyptian resort town of Taba in January 2001, Israel proposed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in virtually all the West Bank and Gaza.
• Under American pressure, Israel also offered that the capital of that Palestinian state should be East Jerusalem.
• The Palestinian leadership rejected this offer. The reason given at the time was that Israel asked the Palestinians to declare an “end to the conflict” as part of a final peace agreement.
• This was not acceptable to the Palestinians because they continue to claim that Palestinian refugees have a “right of return” to pre-1967 Israel. This right would not be satisfied by the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and therefore the Palestinians could not agree to treat the creation of their state as the “end to the conflict”.
• It is a matter of diplomatic record that the Palestinians’ claim to the right of return was the essential reason that the negotiations failed, not Israel’s refusal to agree to a viable Palestinian state.

2008 – Failed attempt at peace

• For much of 2008, Israel engaged in regular meetings and negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, with a view to agreeing a West Bank Palestinian state and a comprehensive, bilateral peace agreement during 2008.
• The most significant proposals tabled by Israel in the 2008 talks concerned the boundaries of a future West Bank Palestinian state.
• They involved a far-reaching territorial withdrawal by Israel, combined with a ‘land-swap' with the Palestinians to provide further territory. The proposals were made public in August 2008.
• The Israeli proposals were premised on permanent borders for a Palestinian state, and saw the concept of ‘land for peace’ being put fully into practice:-
 Israel withdraws from 93% of the West Bank
 Israel provides an additional area of land for the Palestinian state, equivalent to 5.5% of the West Bank, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, and currently situated inside the borders of Israel
 A corridor is established between Gaza Strip and the West Bank, representing the equivalent area to 1.5% of the West Bank, to ensure direct passage for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza
 Israel retains the major Israeli settlement blocs of Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, and the Jewish residential suburbs of Jerusalem such as Neve Ya'acov, together with a small area in the Northern part of the West Bank – these areas comprise a total of 7% of the West Bank
 Israel evacuates all Jewish settlements outside the 7% area of the major settlement blocs retained by Israel
 The Israeli offer also restated that Israel and the Palestinians would agree that Palestinians outside the West Bank can return to the future Palestinian state.
 Meanwhile, negotiations over Jerusalem should be deferred.

• Such proposals were rejected outright by the Palestinians. The spokesman for Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Radaineh, said; “The Israeli proposal is a waste of time” (August 12).
• “The Palestinian side will only accept a Palestinian state with territorial continuity, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, without Israeli settlements, and on the June 4 1967 boundaries….. the Israeli proposal shows a lack of seriousness…”

Myth

From 1948 through 1967, Jordan safeguarded Jerusalem for all religions.

Fact

• In violation of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, under Jordan’s rule, Israelis were denied access to the Western Wall and to the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where Jews have buried their dead for more than 2,500 years.
• Jordan desecrated Jewish holy places. King Hussein permitted the construction of a road to the Intercontinental Hotel across the Mount of Olives cemetery. Hundreds of Jewish graves were destroyed by a highway that could have easily been built elsewhere. The gravestones, honouring the memory of rabbis and sages, were used by the engineer corps of the Jordanian Arab Legion as pavement and latrines in army camps (inscriptions on the stones were still visible when Israel liberated the city).
• The ancient Jewish Quarter of the Old City was ravaged, 58 Jerusalem synagogues — some centuries old — were destroyed or ruined, others were turned into stables and chicken coops.
• In 1955 and 1964, Jordan passed laws imposing strict government control on Christian schools, including restrictions on the opening of new schools, state control over school finances and appointment of teachers and the requirements that the Koran be taught.
• In 1953 and 1965, Jordan adopted laws abrogating the right of Christian religious and charitable institutions to acquire real estate in Jerusalem.

Myth

Under Israeli rule, freedom has been curbed in Jerusalem.

Fact

• After the 1967 war, Israel abolished all of the discriminatory laws promulgated by Jordan and adopted its own tough standard for safeguarding access to religious shrines. “Whoever does anything that is likely to violate the freedom of access of the members of the various religions to the places sacred to them,” Israeli law stipulates, is “liable to imprisonment for a term of five years.” The administration of holy places furthermore, has been entrusted to their respective religious authorities.
• Since 1967, hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Christians have come to Jerusalem to see their holy places. For security reasons, restrictions are sometimes imposed on the Temple Mount temporarily, but the right to worship is not abridged and other mosques remain accessible even in times of high tension.
• Along with religious freedom, Palestinian Arabs in Jerusalem have unprecedented political rights. Arab residents were given the choice of whether to become Israeli citizens, although most chose to retain their Jordanian citizenship.
• Moreover, regardless of whether they are citizens, Jerusalem Arabs are permitted to vote in municipal elections and play a role in the administration of the city.
 

Myth

The Jews created the refugee problem by expelling the Palestinians.

Fact

• An independent Arab state would now be in existence had the Arabs accepted the U.N.’s 1947 Partition Plan- there would not be any Palestinian refugees. Responsibility for the refugee problem lies with Arab states.
• The weeks preceding the announcement of the Plan saw many Palestinians leave their homes and flee to neighbouring Arab countries– many fled in anticipation of war, many left to avoid being caught in the cross-fire, and a handful were expelled.
• In response to the mass exodus the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee asked neighbouring Arab countries to seal their borders and refuse visas.
• Before the outbreak of war there were reports of Arab soldiers mistreating the residents in Jaffa by robbing them and their homes.
• Approximately 25,000 Arabs left Haifa in April, 1948 following rumours that Arab air forces would bomb the surrounding areas.
• A British police report from April 26 stated ‘that every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arabs to stay and carry on with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe’.
• David Ben-Gurion even sent Golda Meir to Haifa to persuade the Arabs to stay. She failed in her attempts as the Arabs feared they would be deemed traitors to the Arab cause.
• On 6 July 1948 an order from the Israeli army specified that Arab inhabitant should not be expelled from their homes, nor should their towns and houses be demolished.

Myth

Refugees have always been repatriated, only the Palestinians have been barred from returning to their homes.

Fact

• In 1949 Israel offered to allow families separated during the war to return, to release refugee accounts frozen in Israeli bank, to pay compensation for abandoned lands and to repatriate 100,000 refugees.
• Rule 11 of UN Resolution 194, which calls upon Israel and the Arab states to resolve outstanding issues, states that ‘refugees wishing to return their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so’.
• This highlights that the U.N recognised that Israel could only repatriate a community who did not pose a threat to Israel’s security.
• During the conflict, Israel’s Declaration of Independence offered equal rights and full citizenship to all Arabs living in Israel.
• After the war 150,000 Arabs remaining in Israel were awarded full citizenship and in 1949 Arab members were elected to Parliament.
• Israel stressed that the solution of the refugee problem was contingent upon a peace agreement; however the Arab governments were not prepared to engage in discussion with Israel.
• Without a peace agreement, those Palestinians who fled to neighbouring countries were unable to return.
• Whilst Israel has offered compensation to the refugees, Poland and Czechoslovakia have not compensated the 12.5 million Germans who fled with only the possessions they could carry. No-one petitions for these refugees to be granted the ‘right of return’ to the countries from which they were expelled.
• In 1947, eight million Hindus fled Pakistan and six million Muslims left India in order to avoid getting caught in the cross-fire, yet no special international relief agencies were established to re-settle them.

Myth

The Palestinian refugees were ignored by everyone other than the Arab states.

Fact

• In 1949 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established and given a budget of $50 million.
• The USA contributed $25 million and Israel nearly $3 million to the Palestinian refugees.
• The total amount of contributions from Arab states was $600,000
• Israel transferred responsibility for almost the entire Palestinian population in Gaza and the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority who, not only receive funding from the UNRWA for the refugees, but billions of dollars in international aid. The PA has failed to build to establish any form of permanent housing.
• Since 1993 the Palestinian Authority has received approximately $5.5 billion in aid – the Palestinians’ own leaders are forcing them to live in refugee camps.
• Jordan was the only country to welcome the Palestinians and grant them citizenship.
• Syria refused to accept refugees despite demographic statistics indicating ample room to accommodate them.
• Iraq and Lebanon were also unwilling to accept refugees.
• The UNRWA established a $200 million in 1952 to provide homes and jobs for the refugees-this has gone untouched. “The Arab states do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep it as an open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against Israel. Arab leaders don’t give a damn whether refugees live or die.” Former director of UNRWA, Ralph Galloway, August 1958.

Myth

Had the Palestinians been repatriated, the Arab-Israeli conflict would have ended.

Fact

• Israel has always sought a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem, but cannot allow the ‘right of return’ to be fully enacted.
• If Israel were to allow all the refugees to return they would be accepting people who have nurtured their hatred for Israel and are dedicated to seeing it destroyed.
• The crux of the failure to come to a peace agreement lies in the Arab states’ unwillingness to accept Israel as a Jewish state.
• Leaders of Arab states have acknowledged that the refugee issue can be used as a powerful tool to fulfil their objectives: “If refugees return to Israel, Israel will cease to exist.” Egyptian President Nasser, September 1 1961. 
 

Myth

Israel cannot claim that its 1982 invasion of Lebanon, launched against an ill-equipped PLO, was a defensive war.

Fact

• By June 1982, when the IDF went into Lebanon, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation had made life in northern Israel intolerable, repeatedly shelling Israeli towns.
• A force of some 15-18,000 PLO members was encamped in scores of locations in Lebanon. About 5,000-6,000 were foreign mercenaries, coming from such countries as Libya, Iraq, India, Sri Lanka, Chad and Mozambique.
• Israel discovered enough light arms and other weapons in Lebanon to equip five brigades.
• The PLO had an arsenal that included mortars, Katyusha rockets, and an extensive anti-aircraft network. The PLO also brought hundreds of T-34 tanks into the area.
• Syria, who permitted Lebanon to become a haven for the PLO and other terrorist groups, gave Lebanon surface-to-air missiles into the country, creating yet another danger for Israel.
• Israeli strikes and commando raids had been unable to stem the growth of this PLO army. Israel was not prepared to wait for more deadly attacks to be launched against its civilian population before acting against the terrorists.

Myth
 

Hezbollah pose no substantial threat to Israel.
 

Fact

• Hezbollah (Party of God) is a radical Shi'ite Islamist organisation, based in Lebanon since 1982. Ideologically and religiously inspired by the fundamentalist Iranian regime, it has received extensive military support from Iran and Syria.
• Since the early 1980s, Hezbollah has carried out numerous terror attacks against Israel and Jews around the world, and has killed hundreds of innocent people.
• In addition, Hezbollah has acquired a large arsenal of missiles which they have fired at Israeli communities.
• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is known for his venomous rhetoric and has called repeatedly for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel and the international community have long called for Hezbollah to be disarmed in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701, which call for the Lebanese army to be the only military force in the country.
 

Myth

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 2006 was unfounded and designed to cause a maximum number of casualties.

Fact

• After the 1982 incursion, Israel pulled back to a ‘security zone', 20km inside Lebanon, until 2000, when it withdrew all its forces to the international boundary.
• In June 2000, the UN Security Council concluded that Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon in accordance with UN requirements.
• After the expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon, the principal threat to Israel was posed by the radical Shi'ite terror group Hezbollah, which established effective control of the southern part of Lebanon.
• After the UN endorsed Israel's withdrawal in 2000, Hezbollah took the opportunity to increase its arsenal of missiles and other weaponry.
• In 2006, it launched a simultaneous rocket attack and cross-border raid, killing eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping two more, triggering the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War (known in Israel as the Second Lebanon War).
• In response to the Hezbollah attack, Israel launched a military campaign to halt the missile attacks on its northern regions and bring about the safe release of the kidnapped soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
• Over the next month Hezbollah fired approximately 3,800 rockets into northern Israel, deliberately targeting Israeli civilians. They displaced between 300,000 and 500,000 Israelis from their homes and forced many more into bomb shelters.
• Whilst Israel made every effort to avoid Lebanese civilian casualties in its attempt to halt Hezbollah's fire, Hezbollah's tactic of intentionally hiding its forces and infrastructure within densely populated areas in towns and villages in Lebanon made this difficult.
• After a month of fighting, a ceasefire was established based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in south Lebanon.
• Whilst Israel withdrew its forces, completing its full withdrawal by the end of the year, Hezbollah remains in possession of its weapons, and the deployment of the Lebanese army has only been partial.
• Israel continues to face the threat of rocket attacks from Lebanon. 
 

Myth

The security barrier is unnecessary and is a way for the Israeli government to increase hardship in the territories.

Fact

• The security barrier is merely 5% concrete wall
• Concrete parts are built in three areas where it will prevent Palestinian snipers shooting at cars or civilians or penetrating as suicide bombers into Israel as has been the case in the past
• The entire route of the barrier is under the judicial supervision of the high court
• One third of the route has been changed to balance the twin considerations of security and humanitarian concern
• The barrier is a temporary security structure, similar to those used all over the world, for example:
 The US to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants
 Spain to prevent illegal African immigrants entering Europe
 India in Kashmir to halt infiltrations
 Saudi Arabia along its border with Iraq
• Loss of life cause by death from suicide bombings are permanent, the security fence and inconveniences that occur from it are temporary
• 1133 Israeli citizens have been murdered by Palestinian suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks since the second Intifada began at the end of 2000
• After erecting the fence the number of Israelis murdered decreased by over 70% and those wounded decreased by 85%, the number of attacks decreased by over 90%
 

Myth

Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas.

Fact

• On June 17 2008, Israel and Hamas brokered a cease fire.
• Soon afterwards, terrorists fired rockets into southern Israel.
• Despite this, Israel did not retaliate.
• During the six month ceasefire, 329 rockets and mortar shells were fired into Israel from Gaza. Residents in southern Israeli towns have fifteen seconds to find shelter from such attacks. 
• In November, Israel discovered that Hamas had dug a tunnel under the border security fence seeking to abduct Israeli soldiers, compelling Israel to carry out a military operation close to the border. Seven Hamas terrorists were killed as a result.
• Consequently, when the ceasefire ended, Hamas began firing hundreds more rockets into Israel causing Israel to launch Operation Cast Lead.

Myth

Israel’s actions in Gaza were disproportionate.

Fact

• Israeli population centres in southern Israel have been the target of over 4,000 rockets, as well as thousands of mortar shells, fired by Hamas and other organisations since 2001.
• Rockets increased by 500% after Israel withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip in August 2005. During an informal six month lull, some 215 rockets were launched at Israel.
• The charge that Israel uses disproportionate force keeps resurfacing whenever it has to defend its citizens from non-state terrorist organisations and the rocket attacks they perpetrate.
• The eight years of ongoing armed conflict, in addition to Hamas’ intensified armed attacks on Israel during 2008 independently justify Israel’s response to defend its citizens.
• All states have the inherent right to defend themselves against armed attacks.
• Customary international law recognises the right of self-defence against non-State actors, such as armed groups launching attacks of significant scale and scope. Undoubtedly, Israel faced “armed attacks” within the meaning of customary international law or Article 51 of the UN Charter.
• International law “does not require a defender to limit itself to actions that merely repel an attack; a state may use force in self-defence to remove a continuing threat to future security.”
• Under the customary international law principle of proportionality, a state may use defensive measures necessary to avert on-going attacks or preserve security against further similar attacks.
• The Israel Air Force targeted military objectives, including the headquarters from which Hamas planned and initiated operations against Israel, command posts, training camps and weapons stores used in planning, preparation, guidance and execution of terrorist attacks.
• In carrying out its strikes, IAF used sophisticated precision weapons to minimize the harm to civilians, given Hamas’ practice of basing their operations in densely populated areas.
• Israel repeatedly warned Palestinians civilians of impending attacks which not only gave them but the enemy combatants an opportunity to flee.
• Such warnings were given through the distribution of thousands of leaflets dropped by aeroplanes hours before intended attacks on those target areas, sending text messages directly to Palestinians’ mobile phones and interrupting Palestinian radio broadcasts to announce warnings of future attacks.

Myth

Israel’s actions amounted to war crimes.

Fact

• From a purely legal perspective, Israel's current military actions in Gaza are on solid ground.
• According to international law, Israel is not required to calibrate its use of force precisely according to the size and range of weaponry used against it.
• Despite the high death tolls and horrific pictures of suffering Palestinians,  U.N. figures confirm that the great majority of those killed had been Hamas terrorists.
• The numbers reported indicate that there was no clear intent to inflict disproportionate collateral civilian casualties.
• What is critical from the standpoint of international law is that if the attempt has been made "to minimize civilian damage, then even a strike that causes large amounts of damage - but is directed at a target with very large military value - would be lawful."
• Lusi Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has explained that the international humanitarian law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court “permits belligerents to carry out proportionate attacks against military objectives, even when it is known that some civilian deaths or injuries will occur”.
• The attack becomes a war crime when it is directed against civilians (which is precisely what Hamas does).
• Israel targeted Hamas activists, weapons, infrastructure and tunnels, however throughout the operation the IDF leafleted and telephoned residents in Gaza warning them when they would attack – this gave Hamas notice of impending strikes.
• Similarly, the IDF’s unilateral commitment to a daily three hour ceasefire to permit the evacuation to Israel of civilian casualties and for the passage of humanitarian aid, gave Hamas the opportunity to re-group and re-deploy future attacks.
• These are hardly the acts of an army devoted to military victory at all costs.
• After 9/11, when the Western alliance united to collectively topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, no one compared Afghan casualties in 2001 to the actual numbers that died from Al – Qaida’s attack.
• Dame Rossalind Higgings, the current President of the International Court of Justice, and therefore the most senior lawyer in the world, has made the same point.
• She has written as follows; “Proportionality cannot be in relation to any specific prior injury – it has to be in relation to any specific prior injury – it has to be in relation to the overall legitimate objective of ending the aggression”. (R. Higgins, Problems and Process, 1994, p232)
• Therefore, in measuring what is proportionate, you have to assess the true extent of the military threat – past, present and future. You don’t simply say “they fired 10 missiles at us, so we are only allowed to fire 10 missiles back”.
• There clearly is no international expectation that military losses in war should be on a one –to – one basis. To expect Israel to hold back would be to condemn it to a long war of attrition with Hamas.

Myth

Israel is engaged in a siege on Gaza, causing a humanitarian crisis by deliberately blocking aid.

Fact

• It is estimated that Israel provides $500 million worth of goods and services to the Gaza Strip each year.
• Critics of Israel tend to ignore Hamas’ continued mismanagement of the aid and fuel supplies that it does receive. The fuel that Israel supplies is not only used to power factories manufacturing projectiles, but is also used, for example, to illuminate the underground tunnels which are used to smuggle in weaponry from Egyptian Sinai.
• These misuses of Israeli-supplied fuel then target Israeli residential, commercial and industrial areas.
• The IDF even caught terrorists attempting to smuggle potassium nitrate - which is used to manufacture explosives and Qassam rockets - into Gaza in large sacks labeled as EU humanitarian aid: the sacks were branded “EEC 2 Sugar Exported From EU.
• Hamas has also attacked Israeli vehicles delivering aid even where it had no intent to divert the aid.
• On April 27, 2008, Hamas militiamen attacked aid trucks filled with fuel at the Nahal Oz crossing between Israel and Gaza, forcing the trucks to turn around.
• The Jerusalem Post reported eyewitnesses in Gaza who explained that, on at least four occasions, Hamas militiamen attacked and confiscated trucks loaded with fuel as they were on their way from the Nahal Oz crossing to Gaza City. The eyewitnesses added that the fuel supplies were taken to Hamas-controlled security installations throughout the city.

Myth

Israel is a democracy for Jews, different laws apply depending on race and Israel promotes racism and xenophobia through acts of Parliament.
 

Fact

• 20% of the Israeli population are Arabs and they enjoy full Israeli citizenship and have equal rights including suffrage, political representation and recourse to the courts.
• Arabs are eligible for election and there are several Arab Knesset members as well as several Arab political parties and an Arab member of the Supreme Court.
• Two Arab parties were disqualified for supporting terrorism against Israel however the Supreme Court overturned these disqualifications. Under apartheid the Judiciary wouldn’t be free from political interference in this way.
• Would human rights organisations operate openly in an apartheid state?
• Would military officials criticise government policies in the way they do (Oct 2003 IDF Chief of Staff told press that roadblocks were feeding Palestinian anger).
• Israel has huge media debate and several Arab newspapers. On Israeli independence day a Hebrew newspaper ran an article written by an Arab claiming the “Zionist adventure” had been a failure