Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Amnesty Fudges

The Amnesty International Report on Housing Demolitions by Israel contains a short "historical Background" section that includes this statement that the British authorities ruled Palestine "which ended when the State of Israel was proclaimed on 14 May 1948".

Actually, it ended when the U.N. decided that two states, one Jewish and one Arab, be establsihed in Palestine, in the territory west of the Jordan River (the eastern section of which was handed over to a refugee from Saudi Arabia who then created a kingdom).

The Arabs did not proclaim their state, sought to eliminate the Jewish one, went to war on the morrow of the November 29, 1947 Partition resolution.

The Amnesty report continues: "Arab protests against a UN partition plan were followed by war between Arab and Israeli armies". Really? Arab protests, ever since 1920, took the form of riots, murder, pillage, rape and property destruction. It was a situation in which Arab civilians formed irregular miltias and killed Jewish civilians.

Amnesty's report as well as those of other NGO's just can't get a few historical facts correct, so why should they be correct today?

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