Jewish
Rights in the Middle East and the Peace Process
Israel
is accused of occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians.
What is the truth?
When
the Ottoman Empire was broken up in 1917 all the Middle
East was given over to the Arabs without regard to the rights
of self-determination of the other nationalities, mainly
the Jews and the Kurds.
Look
at the statistics: the population figures of the vilayet
of Baghdad as given by the last official yearbook of 1916
– Jews numbered 80,000 out of a total population of
202,200. In the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce up to 1946,
most of the members were Jews and half the Administrative
Council were Jews.
Without
regard to the Balfour Declaration which became a dead letter,
and to Zionism which has succeeded in bringing Jews to Israel
but has failed to come to terms with the Arabs. At the break-up
of the Ottoman Empire Jews should have been entitled to
at least 20,000 square miles, more than the total area of
Palestine, west of the Jordan River. As such, Israel is
entitled to the whole of that area and the Palestinians
should regard trans-Jordan as their national home. That
should be the basis of any just and lasting settlement between
Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.
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