Did you know?
1 - THAT, when the
Palestine Problem was created by Britain in 1917, more than 90% of the
population of Palestine were Arabs, and that there were at that time no more
than 56,000 Jews in Palestine? 2 - THAT, more than
half of the Jews living in Palestine at that time were recent immigrants, who
had come to Palestine in the preceding decades in order to escape persecution
in Europe?... And that less than 5% of the population of Palestine were
native Palestinian Jews? 3 - THAT, the Arabs
of Palestine at that time owned 97.5% of the land, while Jews (native
Palestinians and recent immigrants together) owned only 2.5% of the land? 4 - THAT, during the
thirty years of British occupation and rule, the Zionists were able to
purchase only 3.5% of the land of Palestine, in spite of the encouragement of
the British Government?... And that much of this land was transferred to
Zionist bodies by the British Government directly, and was not sold by Arab
owners? 5 - THAT, therefore,
when British passed the Palestine Problem to the United Nations in 1947,
Zionists owned no more than 6% of the total land area of Palestine? 6 - THAT,
notwithstanding these facts, the General Assembly of the United Nations
recommended that a "Jewish State" be established in Palestine?...
And that the Assembly granted that proposed "State" about 54% of
the total area of the country? 7 - THAT, Israel
immediately occupied (and still occupies) 80.48% of the total land area of
Palestine? 8 - THAT, this
territorial expansion took place, for the most part, before 15 May 1948:
i.e., before the formal end of the British forces from Palestine, before the
entry of Arab armies to protect Palestinian Arabs, and before the
Arab-Israeli war? 9 - THAT, the 1947
recommendation of the General Assembly in favor of the creation of a
"Jewish State" was outside the competence of the Assembly under the
Charter of the United Nations? 10 - THAT, all
attempts by the Arab States and other Asian countries to have the Assembly
submit the question of constitutionality" of its recommendation to the
International Court of Justice for an "advisory opinion" by the
Court were rejected or ignored by the Assembly? 11 - THAT, when the
Assembly began to experience "second thoughts" over the matter and
convened for its second special session in 1948, it failed to reaffirm the
1947 recommendation for the partition of Palestine-thus destroying whatever
dubious legality that recommendation for the establishment of a "Jewish
State" had had? 12 - THAT, that original
1947 recommendation to create a "Jewish State" in Palestine was
approved, at the first vote, only by European, American and Australian
States...for every Asian State, and every African State (with the exception
of the Union of South Africa) voted against it?...And that, when the vote was
cast in plenary session on 29 November 1947, urgent American pressures (which
a member of the Truman cabinet described as "bordering onto
scandal") had succeeded in prevailing only upon one African country
(Liberia), both of which had special vulnerability to American pressures, to
abandon their declared opposition?...And that, in other words, the
"Jewish State" was planted at the point-of-intersection of Asia and
Africa without the free approval of any Middle Eastern, Asian or African
country except that Union of South Africa, itself ruled by an alien minority?
13 - THAT, Israel
remained, ever since its inception, a total stranger in the emerging world of
Afro-Asia; and that Israel has been refused admission to any inter-state
conference of Asian, African, Afro-Asian, or Non-Aligned States ever held? 14 - THAT, since the
General Armistice Agreements were signed in 1949, Israel has maintained an
aggressive policy of waging military attacks across the Armistice Demarcation
Lines, repeatedly invading the territories of the neighboring Arab
States...And that Israel has been duly rebuked, censured, or condemned for
these military attacks by the Security Council of the General Assembly of the
United Nations on eleven occasions-five times by the Security Council and six
times by the General Assembly? 15 - THAT, no other
country in the world, whether member of the United Nations or non-member, has
been so frequently condemned by the United Nations? 16 - THAT, no Arab
State has ever been condemned by any organ of the United Nations for military
attacks upon Israel? 17 - THAT, besides
expelling the bulk of the Arab inhabitants of Palestine, and besides
constantly attacking the neighboring Arab States, Israel has also consistently
harassed the United Nations observers and other personnel stationed along the
Armistice Demarcation Lines: It has assassinated the first United Nations
Mediator and his military aide; it has detained some truce observers; it has
militarily occupied and illegally searched the Headquarters of United Nations
personnel; and it has boycotted meetings of the Mixed Armistice
Commissions?... 18 - THAT, Israel
has additionally imposed a system of apartheid upon the Arabs who stayed in
their homeland? More than 90% of these Arabs live in "security
zones;" they alone live under martial law, restricting their freedom to
travel from village to village or from town to town; their children are
denied equal opportunities for education; and they are denied decent
opportunities for work, and the right to receive "equal pay for equal
work?" 19 - THAT,
notwithstanding the foregoing facts, Israel has always been, and still is,
widely portrayed in the Western press as the "bastion of democracy"
and the "champion of peace" in the Middle East? 20 - THAT, the
Western Powers have persisted in declaring their determination to ensure a
so-called "arms balance" in the area, as between Israel, on the one
hand, and the one-hundred million inhabitants of the thirteen Arab States, on
the other hand?... And this unilateral Western doctrine of so-called
"arms balance" is no more reasonable than the suggestion that, in
the Cuba-U.S.A conflict, there should be "arms balance" as between
Cuba and the United States... or that the whole Continent of Africa should
not be allowed to acquire more arms
than South Africa... or that Mainland China should not be permitted to have
more arms than Taiwan... or that the military allowed to acquire more arms
than South Africa... and that only thus can peace be safeguarded in the
Western Hemisphere, in Africa, in Asia, or in Europe?... 21 THAT, Israel
allots 85% of the water resources in the occupied territories for Jews and
the remaining 15% is divided among all Palestinians in the territories? For
example in Hebron, 85% of the water is given to about 500 settlers, while 15%
must be divided among Hebron's 120,000 Palestinians? 22 THAT, The
United States awards Israel $3 billion in aid each year, more than to any
other country in the world: US aid to Israel exceeds the aid the US grants to
the whole sub-Sahara Africa? 23 THAT, GDP, per
capita, and consumption per capita in the Occupied Territories have dropped
about 15 percent in the West Bank and Gaza since 1993 - that's even with
large foreign assistance pouring in, from Europe, mostly? 24 THAT, Up until
1993, the U.S. and Israel permitted humanitarian aid to come into the
territories. UN humanitarian aid was permitted into the West Bank and Gaza.
In 1993, that was restricted? 25 THAT, Israel is
the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons? 26 THAT, Israel is
the only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty and bars international inspections from its sites? 27 THAT, Israel
currently occupies territories of two sovereign nations (Lebanon and Syria)
in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions? 28 THAT,
High-ranking military officers in the Israeli Defense Forces have admitted
publicly that unarmed prisoners of war were executed by the IDF? 29 THAT, Israel
refuses to prosecute its soldiers who have acknowledged executing prisoners
of war? 30 THAT, Israel
routinely confiscates bank accounts, businesses, and land from Palestinians
and refuses to pay compensation to those who suffer the confiscation? 31 THAT, Israel
stands in defiance of 69 United Nations Security Council Resolutions? 32 THAT, Israel's
current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was found by an Israeli court to be
"personally responsible" for the Sabra and Shatilla massacres in
Lebanon in which thousands of unarmed Palestinian refugees were slaughtered
in 1982? 33 THAT, Today's
Israel sits on the former sites of more than 400 destroyed Palestinian
villages, and that the Israelis renamed almost every physical site in the
country to cover up the traces? 34 THAT, Ariel
Sharon's coalition government includes a party -- Molodet -- which advocates
expelling all [of the over two million] Palestinians from [their homes in]
the occupied territories? 35 THAT, Israel's
illegal settlement-building in the Occupied Palestinian territories more than
doubled doubled in the eight years since the Oslo agreements? 36 THAT, Illegal
settlement building under Prime Minister Barak doubled compared to settlement
building under Prime Minister Netanyahu? 37 THAT, More
illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories were built under
Prime Minister Barak than at any other time in the history of Israel's
occupation of Palestinian land? 38 THAT, Despite a
ban on torture by Israel's High Court of Justice, torture has continued by
Shin Bet interrogators on Palestinian prisoners? 39 THAT,
Palestinian refugees make up the largest refugee population in the world? 40 THAT, Israeli
military checkpoints surround every Palestinian population center in
violation of the Oslo Accords? 41 THAT, The right
of self-determination is guaranteed to every human being under the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (December, 1948), yet Palestinians were/are
expected to negotiate for this right under the Oslo Accords? 42 THAT,
Palestinians have the highest ratio of PhDs per capita in the world? |