Published May 4, 2002I read Robin Halloum's March 20 commentary, "For Palestinians, the real terror began in 1948" with disappointment. The history of Israel had been rewritten.
Halloum was not there at the birth of Israel -- I was. I celebrated when the United Nations decreed in 1947 that two states be established out of the British Mandate known as Palestine -- a Jewish state (Israel) and an Arab state on the West Bank and Gaza.
The Jews, still reeling from the devastation of the Nazi Holocaust, not only accepted the U.N. decision -- we danced in the streets with joy. The Arabs, however (those on the West Bank and Gaza as well the 22 surrounding Arab countries), rejected the U.N. resolution. They declared war and invaded the tiny new state. For the next half-century, Arab armies and their terrorists have never stopped attacking Israel.
Halloum describes the Israeli army of those days as a "mighty force." I was a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces in 1948, and I still recall the rifles we received from Czechoslovakia, many of which misfired. Our ammunition had noodles instead of gunpowder in the bullets. The armies that attacked Israel -- Iraqi, Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian -- were well trained, well equipped and determined to push the Israelis into the sea. We, on the other hand, had to send to the front refugees who had come directly from the Nazi death camps of Europe. We "trained" these survivors literally overnight, gave them guns and sent them to fight near Jerusalem in the morning. There was no common language between the soldiers; there were Hebrew-speaking officers and Jewish refugees from Eastern Europe and Arab countries.
While in the young Israeli army, I was billeted in what had been Arab homes. The inhabitants had run away when invading Arab armies assured them that they would be able to return home in a few days, once all the Israelis were killed. I can't explain the surprising victory of the Israeli Defense Forces, except to say it was because Jewish survival was at stake. Our motto was "never again."
Before 1967, there was no "occupation" of Arab lands by Israel -- yet terrorist acts were still perpetrated against Jewish families. Even before there was a country called Israel, Arabs attacked Jewish civilians in this part of the world. I was born during the riots of 1929, when 49 Jewish civilians were killed by Arab terrorists in Hebron. I remember the riots of 1936-1939, when Arabs again killed many Jewish civilians.
What many people don't remember is that, from 1948 to 1967, after the Arab war against Israel, the West Bank became a part of Jordan and Gaza became a part of Egypt. In the 20 years when these territories were in Arab hands, there was no condemnation by the United Nations of the "Arab occupation" of "Palestine."
In 1967, Israel again protected itself from war by Arab neighbors. Israel occupied territory as a bargaining chip for peace. Israel returned the oil-rich Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in return for peace. Despite a decade of negotiation, Yasser Arafat rejected Israel's offer to return the West Bank and Gaza in return for peace. Instead, the Palestinians began a series of terrorist attacks.
Hatred of the "infidel" has always served as a unifier for the Arab League nations, most of which are ruled by oppressive regimes that keep their people in poverty. It is the same hatred that led Arabs on the West Bank and Gaza to dance in the streets after terrorism claimed the lives of thousands of American civilians on Sept. 11.
My family and millions of other Israelis strive to live in peace with our Arab neighbors, including Palestinian Arabs. But that peace will continue to slip out of reach if we don't remember history and affirm that the Jewish people have a right to survive.
-- Malka Goodman, St. Paul. Retired psychiatrist.
