11/29/2004
Today Marks Israel Milestone
November 29, 1947 - November 29, 2004
This BlogBurst piece is cross-posted by participating websites, to commemorate a milestone in Israel’s history. The list of the participating sites is appended at the end of this post. Cao’s Blog, together with 67 other blogs, commemorates today the UN vote in favour of establishing a Palestinian Jewish state and a Palestinian Arab state in the former British Mandate of Palestine. Among other objectives of the BlogBurst is this: We wish to shine the light of fact on a subject that has become the focus of Radical Left, Far Right, Arab-Islamist, Mis-informative Jew-Hate in the guise of ‘Anti-Zionism’.
Anniversary of the UN vote on Resolution 181
Today is the anniversary of the UN vote on resolution 181, which approved the partition of the western part Palestine into a predominately Jewish state and a predominately Arab state. (It is vital to recall that the UN partition plan referred to western Palestine, to underscore that in 1921 the eastern part was ripped off the Jewish National Home by the British Government and handed over to the then Emir Abdullah.)
The partition plan was approved by 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.
The 33 countries that cast the “Yes” vote were: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, Union of South Africa, USSR, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela. (Among other countries, the list includes the US, the three British Dominions, all the European countries except for Greece and the UK, but including all the Soviet-block countries.)
The 13 countries that chose the Hall of Shame and voted “No” were: Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. (Ten of these are Moslem countries; Greece has the special distinction of being the only European country to have joined the Hall of Shame.)
The ten countries that abstained are: Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.
On November 30, 1947, the day following the vote, the Palestinian Arabs murdered six Jews in a bus making its way to Jerusalem, and proceeded to murder another Jew in the Tel-Aviv - Jaffa area. This was a prelude to a war that claimed the lives of 6,000 Jews, or 1% of the total Jewish population in 1948. This toll is the per capita equivalent of today’s Canada losing 300,000 lives, or the US losing 3,000,000.
The object of the war, launched by the Arabs in the former Palestine and the armies of Egypt, Tansjordan, Syria and Lebanon (with help from other Arab countries), was to “throw the Jews into the sea”. As the partition map indicates, however, rather than annihilate the Jewish population, the Arabs ended up with less territory than they would have gained by peaceful means.
In addition to the bloodshed in nascent Israel, immediately after the UN vote, Arabs attacks their Jewish neighbours in a number of Arab countries, the murders in Syria’s Aleppo being the best known.
Bruised and bleeding, Israel prevailed nonetheless. May our sister-democracy thrive and flourish.
List of participating sites, in alphabetical order of site name
Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler
Arkansas Bushwacker
Armies Of Liberation
Biurchametz
Blimpish
Blithered
Blog Willy
Blue Rev
Canadian Comment
Cao’s Blog
Catholic Friends of Israel
Christian Patriot
Christian Action for Israel
Clarity and Resolve
Crusader War College
Cuanas
Danegerus
Daniel Davis
Flig
Harald Tribune
Heretics Almanac
Hidden Nook
History Nerd
IceVikings
I Love America
Instant Knowledge News
Israpundit
JPundit
Jersusalem Posts
Leaning Right News
Lindasog
Live Journal
MCNS
Martinipundit
Mererhetoric
Motnews
Mugged By Reality
Mystical Paths
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Naebunny
NetWMD
Nice Jewish Boy
Peaktalk
Protect Our Heritage
Reaganesque
Red Tigress
Riteturnonly
Shimshon9
Solomonia
Spitball Defense
Supernatural
Tampa Bay Primer
Techie Vampire
Texasbug
Tex The Pontificator
The Autism homepage
The Conservative
The Seal Club
Wackingday
Who’s Your Rabbi
Voxfelisi
Yoan Hermida
Weblog of a Wondering Jew
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
November 29th, 2004 at 11:19 am
It’s no easy trick to try discerning motivations decades later, but keep this in mind:
Those countries that voted “Yes” for the creation of Israel no doubt did so knowing that much of their own Jewish populations would then emigrate. This would especially be the case with European countries, given the proximity. You could argue that it was the right thing to do, in light of the Holocaust; but ironically, it also served the purpose of further removing Jewish presence from their societies, albiet in a benign way (even that’s debatable, considering the powder keg that Israel/Palestine was in the late ’40s).
November 29th, 2004 at 12:55 pm
Israel has every right to exist! Surprising that the institution that voted them into existance now opposes their existance. Selah?
November 30th, 2004 at 8:27 pm
Selah!