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Arab Leaders to Blame for Palestinian Plight
(Brisbane Courier-Mail-Australia) Alex Ryvchin - Britain's support for the restoration of the Jews to their ancestral land was noble and just and was part of a broader policy of the victors in World War I to restore self-government to the native peoples of the Middle East. At the same time as Britain expressed support for the creation of a Jewish state on a small part of their ancient homeland, Britain also supported the creation of 22 Arab states in the Middle East. The creation of Israel was not about colonization, it was about the precise opposite - the removal of colonial influence from the region, whether Ottoman or British, to allow for indigenous peoples to exercise self-determination. Israel's creation had been mandated by international law decades before the Holocaust, on the basis of 3,000 years of unbroken historical connection to the land. Israel was not created by guilt, but by the blood, sweat and tears of its people. The still-unresolved Palestinian refugee problem, which followed the creation of the State of Israel, is the direct consequence and legacy of the Palestinian rejection of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, which recommended the creation of a first-ever Palestinian Arab state alongside the reborn Jewish state. Arab belligerence towards Israel caused an even greater refugee problem, as 800,000 Jews who had lived in Arab lands for hundreds, even thousands of years, were ruthlessly dispossessed and forced to flee their homes. Had the Arabs not rejected peace in 1947 and at every opportunity since, Israelis and Palestinians would be celebrating a joint 70th anniversary of independence this year. Palestinians are kept stateless by their corrupt and violent leaders. The writer is public affairs director for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.