{"id":5848,"date":"2021-03-27T12:30:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T23:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/?p=5848"},"modified":"2021-06-10T15:54:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T03:54:14","slug":"arabs-started-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2021\/03\/arabs-started-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabs started the war"},"content":{"rendered":"

The article by the Washington Post on Saturday \u201cIsraeli politics making for strange partners\u201d was quite informative but one point needs to be clarified. \u201cMany Palestinians fled or were forced from their land following Israel\u2019s creation in 1948\u201d is misleading. It was not the creation of Israel that brought about the crisis, but rather the belligerence of neighbouring Arab states. Because of a war begun by those states, who all opposed UNGA Resolution 181 which sanctioned the creation of a Jewish state six months earlier, the one Jewish state had no choice but to defend itself. It was the resulting conflict which perpetuated the refugee problem. Often Palestinian Arabs chose to flee, egged on by their Arab leaders who promised them a soon return not just to their own homes, but also to the plundered properties of all the Jews. The Arab dream which would have meant a Jewish nightmare never came to pass. Israel did not create the \u201cPalestinian Problem\u201d; Arab belligerence did.<\/p>\n