DOING THE TWIST -- OCCUPATION / OCCUPIED TERRITORIES: Part 4 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

Following is a dissection of the terms OCCUPATION and OCCUPIED TERRITORIES, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

  

The territories in question are not “occupied,” since the term implies an illegal presence. The area in question is more appropriately a disputed territory. That is to say, the Arabs dispute the terms of the Mandate of Palestine, which calls for the close settlement of Jews upon the land lying between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.¹

In point of fact, the area allotted to Jewish settlement by the Balfour Declaration²  (incorporated in the Mandate of Palestine³)  included the areas referred to currently as Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), as well as the entire area comprising present-day Jordan.

When countries start a war and then lose, there is no law, international or otherwise, that states that the winning country must hand back to the loser lands lost in battle.⁴ Egypt started a war with Israel and lost the Sinai, but Israel later bartered it in a trade for peace with Egypt. (We’ll see how that plays out with whatever new regime emerges from the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.) Syria started a war with Israel and lost the Golan Heights. Jordan started a war with Israel and lost Judea and Samaria. No other country has ever been expected to either return land won in a defensive war or to settle the refugees of the country that lost the war. Those Arabs whose countries lost wars can either accept the rule of the winning side, or they are free to relocate to any other region or country willing to accept them. It is not Israel’s duty to provide any manner of aid. But, in fact, Israel does aid these refugees, the only perpetual refugees known in recorded history.

¹   http://www.mythsandfacts.com/conflict/mandate_for_palestine/mandate_for_palestine.htm

²   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917#Text_of_the_declaration       

³  http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/2FCA2C68106F11AB05256BCF007BF3CB

⁴  http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=153