Palestine - 'End the Occupation' and 'Right the Wrongs'

I don't think there has ever been any Arab propaganda slogan as powerful and successful as "End The Occupation." These three little words have managed to turn Israel's miraculous victory in the 1967 Six Day War and its triumphal return to parts of the biblical and ancestral land of its forefathers - as something to be reviled and reversed. Those mouthing the slogan have not sought to have the "occupation" ended in favour of Jordan - the previous Arab occupant during the period of 1948-1967.

Rather they are insisting it all be given, albeit with mutually agreed land swaps, to another group - the "Palestinians" - who did not exist

• In 1937 - when the Peel Commission issued its Report;
• In 1947 - when the United Nations recommended the partition of western Palestine into an Arab State and a Jewish State; and
• Between 1948-1964 when no claim was made by any such group to territory that any Arab claimant could have gained by the stroke of an Arab League pen - after such territory had been ethnically cleansed of every single Jew who had been living there prior to 1948.

The "Palestinians" only first saw the light of day in 1964 when the PLO Charter was promulgated and Article 1 declared:

Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.

Article 5 went on to declare:

The Palestinians are those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or have stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father - whether inside Palestine or outside it - is also a Palestinian.

No recognition was given to the fact that groups other than Arabs had lived in Palestine from time immemorial - long before the Arabs had ever conquered and occupied the area.

Ten years later, on 13 November 1974, the leader of this newly created entity, Yasser Arafat, told the United Nations General Assembly:

The PLO has earned its legitimacy because of the sacrifice inherent in its pioneering role and also because of its dedicated leadership to the struggle. It has also been granted this legitimacy by the Palestinian masses, which in harmony with it have chosen it to lead the struggle according to its directives.

The PLO has also gained its legitimacy by representing every faction, union or group as well as every Palestinian talent, either in the National Council or in the people's institutions.

This legitimacy was further consecrated during the last Arab Summit Conference, which reiterated the right of the PLO, in its capacity as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, to establish an independent national State on all liberated Palestinian territory.