Times Series on Arab World
Lamb should be congratulated on his article about Arab power. He’s done an excellent job. However, I believe he’s fallen victim to Arab propaganda, which seeks to make fact out of fantasy.
Since 1948, the Arab states have showered the world with false information regarding the fleeing of their people from the new State of Israel as well as their desire to live in peace with all non-Muslims.
Many Arabs did flee from behind the Green Line (the U.N.-agreed partition plan), but only under a threat by the invading states that they would be killed along with the Jewish Israelis. The reality is that the original partition was drawn along lines creating Israel out of land in which the majority population was Jewish.
The notion that there’s “not an inch of Palestine for the Arabs” is blatantly false. Israel is not the totality of Palestine. It represents a minor portion of that old designation. The majority of Palestine is now called Kingdom of Jordan.
In 1920, the British Mandate of Palestine consisted of all the land east and west of the Jordan River. The British, in 1922, ameliorated the feelings of Emir Abdullah (Hussein’s grandfather) by giving him all the land east of the Jordan and naming it Transjordan. Jordan constitutes approximately 80% of Palestine. The majority of its population remains Palestinian as does its parliament.
MICHAEL HALPERIN
Sherman Oaks
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
