"Palestine" - Part of Greater Syria

From "Missouri Zion, Missouri Intifada: Mormonism, Zionism and the Palestine Conflict", Graham St. John Stott, Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, May 2007, Edinburgh University Press:

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They Demanded Palestine Not Be Separated from Syria

Read first the bottom reproduction's lower left-side, and then go up to the right-hand column:

Even non-Muslims didn't think of "Palestine" as an entity separate from Syria.

In 1920.

Of course, they blame the "Russian" Jews, the "other" Jews, not the long-established ones - who they killed in April 1920 in the Old City of Jerusalem and in 1929 in Hebron.



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The US State Dept. and "Palestine"

Read this letter from a US State Department official to a member of the King-Crane Commission, whose report the Arabs claiming to be "Palestinians" champion, and ask yourself, where is that 'Palestine?'.

That's right, it isn't.

Doesn't exist as a country.

It's part of Syria at that time*.

And even the Arabs claimed so, that 'Palestine' is actually Syria, in 1921.


Who they kidding?


_______________

*
From their report's recommendations:

B. We recommend, in the second, that the unity of Syria be preserved, in accordance with the earnest petition of the great majority of the people of Syria...(3) The precise boundaries of Syria should be determined by a special commission on boundaries, after the Syrian territory has been in general allotted...Moreover, there would be less danger of a reactionary Moslem attitude, if Christians were present in the State in considerable numbers, rather than largely segregated outside the State, as experience of the relations of different religious faiths in India suggest. As a predominantly Christian country it is also to be noted that Lebanon would be in a position to exert a stronger and more helpful influence if she were within the Syrian State, feeling its problems and needs, and sharing all its life, instead of outside it, absorbed simply in her own narrow concerns. For the sake of the larger interests, both of Lebanon and of Syria, then, the unity of Syria is to be urged. It is certain that many of the more thoughtful Lebanese themselves hold this view. A similar statement might be made for Palestine; though, as the Holy Land for Jews and Christians and Moslems alike, its situation is unique, and might more readily justify unique treatment, if such treatment were justified anywhere. This will be discussed more particularly in connexion with the recommendation concerning Zionism...

...We recommend, in the fifth place, serious modification of the extreme Zionist programme for Palestine of unlimited immigration of Jews, looking finally to making Palestine distinctly a Jewish state...

...(3) The Commission recognised also that definite encouragement had been given to the Zionists by the Allies in Mr. Balfour's often quoted statement, in its approval by other representatives of the Allies. If, however, the strict terms of the Balfour Statement are adhered to-favouring "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," "it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine" - it can hardly be doubted that the extreme Zionist programme must be greatly modified. For a national home for the Jewish people is not equivalent to making Palestine into a Jewish State; nor can the erection of such a Jewish State be accomplished without the gravest trespass upon the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine. The fact came out repeatedly in the Commission's conferences with Jewish representatives, that the Zionists looked forward to a practically complete disposition of the present non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine, by various forms of purchase...

...No British officer, consulted by the Commissioners, believed that the Zionist programme could be carried out except by force of arms. The officers generally thought that a force of not less than 50,000 soldiers would be required even to initiate the programme...the initial claim, often submitted by Zionist representatives, that they have a "right" to Palestine based on an occupation of 2,000 years ago, can hardly be seriously considered.
There is a further consideration that cannot justly be...it may be doubted whether the Jews could possibly seem to either Christians or Moslems proper guardians of the holy places, or custodians of the Holy Land as a whole. The reason is this: The places which are most sacred to Christians those having to do with Jesus-and which are also sacred to Moslems, are not only not sacred to Jews, but abhorrent to them. It is simply impossible, under those circumstances, for Moslems and Christians to feel satisfied to have these places in Jewish hands, or under the custody of Jews. There are still other places about which Moslems must have the same feeling. In fact, from this point of view, the Moslems, just because the sacred places of all three religions are, sacred to them, have made very naturally much more satisfactory custodians of the holy places than the Jews could be...

...There would then be no reason why Palestine could not be included in a united Syrian State, just as other portions of the country, the holy places being cared for by an international and inter-religious commission, somewhat as at present under the oversight and approval of the Mandatory and of the League of Nations. The Jews, of course, would have representation upon this Commission.
The recommendations now made lead naturally to the necessity of recommending what power shall undertake the single Mandate for all Syria.

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Palestine Was Meant for the Jews and - When Palestine Was Syria

Here is a clipping from the New York Times newspaper, dated September 1, 1921, yes, 1921:

As you can read, the Arab delegation had two demands which they submitted to the League of Nations and to US President Harding:

a) France should not be awarded a Mandate over Syria

and

b) Palestine should not become a national home for the Jews.

Moreover, the telegram of protest to President Harding demanded that "Syria and Palestine should form one country" and that is based on a racial principle, that the country as formed, is one that only Arabs inhabit the land, Jews being only 7%.

In other words, minorities don't count.

But more important, a full year, at the least, prior to the League of Nations decision awarding Great Britain the Mandate over Palestine, all the civilized world, over 50 countries knew that Arabs thought Syria and Palestine one country, i.e., there really wasn't, at that time, a separate "Palestinian nationalism" and even more important, the Arabs knew quite well that Palestine was going to be the national home for the Jews, even over their opposition.

No mistake was made. Nor error. All knew that Palestine was meant for the Jews.

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Can You Imagine This Headline?

Casting Aside World Criticism, Israel Applies Its Sovereignty To Major Portions of Judea and Samaria

Can you imagine that?

Okay, neither can I.

But can you imagine this one - and it's real:

Casting Aside World Criticism, Syria Invades Town

Think about that.

Do good guys always finish last?

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Bashar al-Assad's Joke

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree to set up diplomatic ties with Lebanon and open an embassy...The decree announced "the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese Republic and the creation of a diplomatic mission at ambassador level in the Lebanese capital Beirut," Syria's official news agency reported...the two sides also agreed to tackle longstanding Lebanese demands to demarcate borders and investigate the question of missing Lebanese prisoners in Syria.

...Syrian troops left Lebanon in 2005 ending years of military and political domination by the giant neighbour...But tensions have been raised again since September when Syria deployed 10,000 troops on the northern Lebanese border, prompting anti-Syria politicians in Beirut to raise the possibility of an invasion.

...Many Lebanese blame Syria for the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005.

...Syria's close ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which has Lebanon's most powerful military force, is now part of a national unity government and has the power of veto over its decisions.

This funny if only because why should Syria require diplomatic relations if they already dominate Lebanon? After all, according to the Great Syria ideology which guides al-Assad, Lebanon is a natural element of that eventual geographical entity.

And how large is "Greater Syria"?

In the Syrian nationalist irredentist ideology developed by the founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the Lebanese Antun Saadeh, Greater Syria is seen as the geographic environment in which the Syrian nation state evolved. Initially considered co-terminus with historic Syria as described above, Saadeh later expanded it to include the Sinai, Iraq, Kuwait and Cyprus. He pointed to what he considered to be the region's distinct natural boundaries, and described it as extending from the Taurus range in the northwest and the Zagros Mountains in the northeast to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea in the south and includes the Sinai Peninsula and the Gulf of Aqaba, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including the island of Cyprus, to the arch of the Arabian Desert and the Persian Gulf in the east.

I trust you noticed that that Wikipedia description doesn't mention Israel although it is smack in the middle of that territory (would it be described as "occupied teritories" if it ever comes about?).

As Daniel Pipes highlighted the problem:

On first entering Syria, the observant traveler will probably be startled to go through passport control and notice a military map of Syria on the wall, for this map contains several anomalies. It shows the Golan Heights under Syrian control, though they have been occupied by Israel since 1967. Syria's boundaries with Lebanon and Jordan appear not as international borders but as something called "regional" borders. Israel does not even exist; instead, there is a state called Palestine. And Palestine is separated from Syria by a line designated a "temporary" border". Finally, the province of Hatay, a part of Turkey since 1939, appears to be included in Syria; only on close inspection can one see the "temporary" border between it and Syria.

That aspect of the situation, the BBC declined to deal with.