Editor,
Recent threats by major European countries to recognize Palestine as a state begs the question, when did Palestine cease to be one? The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 Nov. 29, 1947, establishing the partition of Palestine, specifically mentions the state of Palestine 46 times. The state of Israel does not appear in the document nor on any map at the time. Prior to Resolution 181, the Jewish immigrants owned less than 7% of Palestine, the resolution allotted them 56%, strategically allocating control of major ports, water resources, and agricultural land. Of the thirty-six signatories to Resolution 181, ten are now currently members of the 25% of nations not recognizing the State of Palestine.
On May 14, 1948, Israel proclaimed independence. The U.S. immediately recognized the State of Israel. The Jewish community had been preparing for the conflict they knew their declaration would provoke. In the ensuing battle, they decisively defeated the armies of Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq.
Sadly, they squandered this victory by simultaneously unleashing a brutal assault upon their civilian Palestinian neighbors who had no army. They dispossessed 750,000 Palestinians of their property and drove them from the country. Approximately 15,000 of those who could not or would not leave were summarily slaughtered, leaving Israel occupying 78% of the country.
The state of Palestine has endured 75 years of continuous degradation at the hands of Israel. More critically, Palestine has suffered from the calloused indifference of the international community in general and the U.S. specifically.
Irrespective of official statements, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is an extension of the U.S. executive. Statements of U.S. denial of culpability regarding Israeli military operations is ludicrous. Israel identifies targets with US intelligence assistance and strikes with authorized U.S. munitions and hardware.
Trump has obliquely confirmed this, initially claiming no U.S. involvement or notification of a major Israeli action, only to admit at some later date during an erratic diatribe that he had been in the loop of the decision making. A leaked Israeli document concluded that the IDF kill ratio is five civilians for every Hamas fighter eliminated and that three fourths of civilians killed are women and children.
Every child starved to death, every mother killed, every olive tree uprooted, all diminish the state of Palestine. She will persevere until she is free or the last drop of Palestinian blood returns to the dust from which it came.
Jack Gribble
Oak Harbor
