THE ZIONIST COLONIAL PROJECT
1950: Israeli Knesset passed the 'Law of Return' according to which every Jew "has the right to immigrate to the country". It also passed the Absentees Property Law, according to which any Palestinian Arab who was not present directly before, during or after the war - regardless of the reason - was defined as absentee and his land as surrendered.
About 20 percent of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel were internally displaced in the 1948 war – in other words, while remaining in Israel, have been prevented from returning to their homes and villages. These displaced persons were considered 'absentees' and became refugees in their own country.
The 'Land Requisition Law' was passed in 1953, which 'legitimized' theft of Arab lands.
1953, October: Unit 101 of the IDF under the command of Ariel Sharon converged on Qibya and stormed the village demolishing about forty-five houses. After withdrawal of the unit, seventy corpses were found in the rubble.
1956, 21 October: Following Nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian President Nasser, Ben-Gurion participated in a secret conference with the British and French at Sévres, France and agreed to a combined military operation.
In a round table meeting with the French at the Sévres Conference, Ben-Gurion proposed a plan for settling all the issues in the Middle East:
1. Eliminating Nasser in Egypt.
2. Partition of Jordan, with the West Bank going to Israel and the East Bank to Iraq. In exchange, Iraq would sign a peace treaty with Israel and undertake to absorb the Palestinian refugees.
3. Israel would annex southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, with a Christian state established in the rest of the country.
4. Being placed under a pro-Western ruler would stabilize the Syrian regime.
5. The Suez Canal would enjoy international status and the Straits of Tiran would be under Israeli control.
1956, 29 October: Israeli forces over-ran Gaza on their way across Sinai to the Suez Canal. The canal was not taken, but the greater part of Sinai Peninsula as well as the islands of Tiran and Snapir was captured by Israel.
1956, 7 November: In his address to the Knesset, a victorious Ben-Gurion stated, "The revelation of Sinai has been renewed in our time by our army's thrust of heroism... Our army did not infringe on Egyptian territory... Our operations were restricted to the Sinai Peninsula alone... The Armistice Agreement with Egypt is dead and buried...the armistice lines between us and Egypt have also given up the ghost...we are prepared for negotiations for a firm peace... We are prepared for similar negotiations with each of the other Arab states..." On the other hand, Ben-Gurion sent a message to the victory parade held at Sharm el-Sheik: "Yotvat [the island of Tiran] will once more become a part of the Third Kingdom of Israel!"
The following day, Ben-Gurion addressed the nation on the radio after midnight. He read out letters received from Bulganin and Eisenhower and his replies. From his note to Eisenhower, his listeners grasped the decision: the army was going to withdraw from Sinai.
1956, 16 November: Moshe Sharett wrote in his diary: "I have learned that the state of Israel cannot be ruled in our generation without deceit and adventurism…"
1963, June 16: Ben-Gurion resigned Israeli premiership and was succeeded by Levi Eshkol. Later in the month, he was joined by Shimon Peres and Moshe Dayan to set up an independent slate. The outcome of the election showed a victory for the Labor Alignment and Ben-Gurion's battle ended in a shameful defeat and heralded his final decline.
1967, Late May and early June: UN Secretary General, U Thant, visited Cairo to mediate the escalating crisis in the Straits of Tiran in an effort to solve the crisis. Egypt agreed and Israel rejected U Thant proposals.
The U.S. also tried to mediate. Nasser indicated he was open to World Court arbitration of the dispute over the Straits of Tiran and agreed to send his vice-president to Washington to explore a diplomatic settlement. The meeting, however, did not happen because Israel struck before it could take place.
U.S. Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, stated, "We were shocked...and angry as hell when the Israelis launched the surprise offensive. They attacked on a Monday, knowing that on Wednesday the Egyptian vice president would arrive in Washington to talk about re-opening the Strait of Tiran..."
1967, 1 June: An Israeli Government of national unity was formed in Jerusalem.
1967, 5-10 June: Israel attacked and occupied the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Golan Heights.
1967, 27 June: Israel annexed East Jerusalem.
1967, 26 July: Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Yigal Allon, proposed a plan calling for annexation of about one third of the Palestinian areas occupied in the June 1967 war and for an Israeli security belt of 10 - 15 kilometers wide running the length of the Jordan Rift. Israel would keep the lush citrus-growing area of Gaza, which would be settled by Jews. Only the urban center of Gaza City and its port might be made available for Arab use. Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip areas to be annexed by Israel 'should be settled in the West Bank or al-Arish district'.
Allon was supportive of the religious settlers in the occupied territories. When they complained about his plan, Allon told them: "Jews have to be smart. No Arab will ever accept this plan". With Allon's help the settlement of religious Jews at Kiryat Arba near Hebron and other settlements were established.
1967, 22 November: Security Council resolution # 242, which was adopted following the 1967 war, emphasized "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war" and called for a UN special representative to proceed to the Middle East to achieve a peaceful and accepted settlement. Gunnar Jarring was appointed as the UN special representative. His efforts led to nowhere. Israel wants peace, but Israel wants to keep all the conquered territories and rejects return of the refugees to their homes and lands.
1968, 17 April: Speaking at a Kibbutz meeting, Allon, announced: "We must settle wherever possible in accordance with Israel's defence and security needs and the future of its borders... The Jordan valley and the range of mountains are needed for our security. We cannot yield on this point even if there is no peace".
1970, 19 June: The U.S. government proposed a cease-fire in the war of attrition along the Suez Canal. Egypt and Israel agreed to a ninety-day cease-fire.
1970: Gush Emunim built Kiryat Arba near Hebron and pressured every Israeli Prime Minister to finance many new settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Ever since, more settlements and bypass roads connecting these settlements with Israel proper continued to be built on stolen Arab lands.
1972, 14 July: In an article in Yedi'ot Aharonot, a leading Israeli journalist and publicist, Yesha'ayahu Ben-Porat, wrote that "it is the duty of the [Israeli] leadership to explain to the public a number of truths. One truth is that there is no Zionism, no settlement, and no Jewish State without evacuating Arabs and without expropriating lands and their fencing off".
1973: Israeli foreign minister, Abba Eban, identified anti-Zionism as 'the new anti-Semitism'.
1973, April: Israeli commandos led by Ehud Barak disguising as a blond woman, raided PLO headquarters in Beirut killing several PLO leaders in their homes.
1973, 6 October: Egypt and Syria launched an offensive against Israel in order to regain the Sinai desert and the Golan Heights, which were lost in the 1967 war.
Following the war, a peace conference was arranged in Geneva, which was attended by Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the U.S. and the USSR. The conference adjourned after a few meetings with the understanding that Egypt and Israel would engage in negotiations for the disengagement of their forces in Sinai.
1973, 22 October: Security Council resolution # 338 was adopted, which called upon all parties to the fighting to cease-fire and start implementation of Resolution # 242 of 1967.
1973, 11 November: Israel and Egypt formally signed a truce ending the hostilities.
1973, 10 December: By midnight on the day of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Israeli soldiers dashed into the homes of 8 Palestinian leaders in the West Bank. The Palestinian leaders were humiliated and dragged into an armored car which dumped them in a stretch of the desert between Palestine and Jordan.
1974, 10 April: Golda Meir resigned and was succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin.
1974, 31 May: The Israeli-Syrian disengagement agreement was signed.
1974, 13 November: Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly offering Israel a 'branch of an olive tree' in one hand and a 'gun' in the other and expressed his hope that the olive branch will not be dropped.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, announced: "The government has worked to increase the population of settlements in the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley and, should war break out, this is the line which will determine the results".
Gush Emunim, advocating Jewish settlements in the OPT became active and pressured every Israeli Prime Minister to finance many new settlements.
1975, 1 September: Kissinger supervised the signing of an agreement between Israel and Egypt according to which both sides agreed that "the conflict between them…shall not be resolved by military force but by peaceful means."
1976, 30 March: Palestinian Arabs under occupation since 1948 and holding Israeli citizenship held a general strike and demonstrated peacefully against a wave of land confiscations. Six young Palestinians were shot dead by the Israeli army and the Israeli government refused to set up a commission to investigate the killings. Ever since, March 30 is commemorated by the Palestinians as the Land Day.
1977, 17 May: The Likud won the elections for the 9th Knesset in Israel and Menachem Begin became Prime Minister. In a press conference, Begin announced that he would invite Sadat, Assad and King Hussein to come and start negotiations to sign peace treaties with Israel. When asked about the OPT, he snapped at a journalist: "What occupied territories? If you mean Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, they are liberated territories. They are part, an integral part, of the Land of Israel".
1977, 1 October: In his efforts to reconvene the Geneva peace conference, Carter met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko, who indicated that the Soviets wished to be brought into the Geneva negotiations.
Reference to the Palestinian people in the communiqué and an implied role for the USSR provoked opposition from the U.S.-Israel lobby.
Israel's foreign minister, Moshe Dayan, who was conducting negotiations in the U.S., threatened Carter with a public Israeli disavowal of the superpower communiqué that would have created a firestorm of protest in the American Jewish community. Carter was forced to issue a statement indicating that the communiqué was "not a prerequisite for the reconvening and conduct of the Geneva Conference". This brought about the virtual nullification of the communiqué and was a fatal blow to the Geneva Conference.
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