History of Palestine & Israel in Middle East ....Maps

Hi! Welcome to my homepage!

Tiny Israel in sea of Arab 22 nations
Take a close look at this PRESENT DAY MAP of the Middle East. Israel in yellow is surrounded by 24 Arab nations. If someone can explain to me how "expansionist Israel" has "taking over" the Middle East, please email me! The Arab countries occupy 600 times the land mass as does Israel and outnumber the Jews of Israel by nearly fifty to one. So much for Arab propaganda!

Now notice the TOTAL area of Israel (in yellow) and Jordan (in red). This was referred to as "Palestine" and mandated under British administration following World War I (see next map below) .

During World War I (1914-1918), Turkey (a.k.a. Ottoman Empire) supported Germany. When Germany was defeated, so were the Turks. Control of the southern portion of their empire was "mandated" to France and Britain. The area under British supervision was referred to as "Palestine." Because no other peoples had ever established a national homeland here since the Jews had done it 3,000 years before, the British "looked favorably" upon the creation of a Jewish National Homeland throughout ALL of Palestine. The Jews had once again begun mass immigration into Palestine in the 1880's in an effort to rid the land of swamps and malaria. (There was never an attempt to "rid" the area of what few Arabs there were!) This encouraged an equally large immigration of Arabs from neighboring areas who were attracted by employment opportunities and healthier living conditions.

In 1923 the British "chopped off" 75% of the proposed Jewish Palestinian homeland to form an Arab Palestinian Nation of "Trans-Jordan," meaning "across the Jordan River." The Palestinian Arabs now had THEIR homeland... the remaining 25% of the original Palestinian territory (west of the Jordan River) was to be the Jewish Palestinian homeland. However, sharing was not part of the Arab psychological makeup then or now and they were determined to get ALL of that remaining 25%. Encouraged and incited by growing Arab nationalism throughout the Middle East, the Arabs of that small remaining Palestinian territory launched never-ending murderous attacks upon the Jewish Palestinians in an effort to drive them out. Most terrifying were the Hebron slaughters of 1929 and later the 1936-39 "Arab Revolt." The British, at first tried to maintain order but soon (due to the large oil deposits being discovered throughout the Arab Middle East) turned a blind eye. It became obvious to the Palestinian Jews that they must fight the Arabs AND drive out the British.

The Palestinian Jews were forced to form an organized defense against the Arabs.... thus was formed the Hagana, the beginnings of the Israeli Army. There was also a Jewish underground called the Irgun led by Menachem Begin (who later became Prime Minister of Israel). Besides fighting the Arabs, the Irgun was instrumental in driving out the pro-Arab British. Finally in 1947 the British had enough and turned the Palestine matter over to the United Nations.

The U.N. Resolution 181 partition plan was to divide the remaining 25% of Palestine into a Jewish Palestinian State and a SECOND Arab Palestinian State (Trans-Jordan being the first) based upon population concentration. The Jews accepted --- the Arabs rejected. They still wanted ALL. On May 14, 1948 the Palestinian Jews finally declared their own State of Israel. On the next day, Israel was at war with seven Arab armies... Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen. Most of the Arabs living within the boundaries of "Israel" were encouraged to leave by the invading Arab armies to facilitate the slaughter of the Jews. When the war ended, Israel survived even with a loss of 1% of it's entire population. Those Arabs who did not run away became today's Israeli Arab citizens. Those who fled became the seeds of the so-called "Palestinian Arab refugees."

1949 Armistice Lines Following 1st Arab-Israeli War

The end result of the 1948-49 Israeli War of Independence was a Jewish State slightly larger than that which was proposed by the United Nations two years before. What remained of that almost-created 2nd Arab Palestinian State was gobbled up by Egypt (Gaza Strip) and by Trans-Jordan (the "West Bank" of the Jordan River). At that point, Trans-Jordan became known as just "Jordan" since its borders now extended west of the Jordan River. In the final analysis, the Arabs of Palestine ended up with nearly 75% of the original territory of Palestine. But that was still not 100% and thus the conflict between Arab and Jew for "Palestine" would continue through four more wars and continuous Arab terrorist attacks upon the Israeli citizenry to this day!

So when you hear today's Palestinian Arabs crying out for "rights to self-determination" and "legitimate right to a homeland," remember that they wanted it all and got nothing! Well, not really nothing... they still have an Arab Palestinian nation called Jordan in 75% of Palestine! In reality, Jordan) IS their "Palestine" in every way but name! I have often wondered what today's "Palestinians" would be calling themselves had Trans-Jordan been named Palestine!!!

Immediately before June '67 Arab-Israeli War

Throughout much of May 1967, the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies mobilized along Israel's seemingly indefensible, narrow borders in preparation for a massive invasion to eliminate the State of Israel. The battle cry heard throughout the Arab world was then, as it continues to be... "Slaughter the Jews" and "Throw the Jews into the sea!" But the Jews of Israel, remembering 2,000 years of being butchered, gassed, burned and skinned (eg. The Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition, the Arab rampages of early Palestine and particularly The Holocaust), planned and executed perfectly a pre-emptive strike against Egypt. Within two hours the Egyptian Air Force did not exist... most of its planes destroyed while still on the runways! (Good news for its pilots who would have otherwise lost their lives!)

Unaware that the Egyptians had no more air force, King Hussein of Jordan launched his attack into Israel's belly while Syrian troops descended down the Golan Heights mountain range into northern Israel.

After ONLY six days of armored, air, sea and hand-to-hand warfare, Israel defeated all three Arab armies along three separate fronts and took control of the entire Sinai Desert from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank from Jordan. The God of Israel was surely watching over his children! Most importantly was the return to Israel of its holy 3,000 year old Jerusalem along the western edge of the West Bank... the same Jerusalem from which all Jews had been denied access for 19 years since Jordan seized it during the First Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9.

Unfortunately, Israel was now an "occupier" of 850,000 Palestinian Arabs from both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These Arabs would refer to themselves as "refugees" and join the masses of refugees from the previous war of 1948-9. Once again we see Palestinian Arabs becoming refugees not by the actions of their enemies, but by THEIR OWN actions or the actions of their leaders!

Israel also was responsible for bringing about some of its own problems. The Arabs in the West Bank were packed and ready to leave when General Moshe Dayan persuaded them to stay. This singular act stunned no one more than the Arab enemy who could not believe that manifestation of Jewish madness! After all, the Arabs knew what THEY would have done to the Jews if THEY had won! However, Israel educated them and tried to live amongst them in hopes of building a bridge to the Arab world. Israel is now paying dearly for this "Leftist" gesture... this pathetic Jewish guilt for being a fighter and winner! That "bridge" led to the Intifada and world-wide Palestinian terrorism. From a frightened and defeated enemy, they turned into a confident, hateful and dangerous enemy now on their way toward forming a terrorist state determined to destroy Israel! For this, General Dayan, the hero, should have been demoted for his stupidity, had is good eye poked out and hung as a traitor!

Usually when one side starts a war and loses both the war AND some territory, no one on the planet would expect the winner to give back anything! This not only sounds preposterous, it is preposterous! But the Jews (I hate to admit) have this insane obsession of wanting the world to love them and therefore were willing to give back the entire Sinai (oil fields, air bases and all) to Egypt for a piece of paper... the Camp David Accords signed in 1978. Thus in 1982 Egypt regained their Sinai (although they did not want Gaza which was filled with 800,000 fanatical Palestinian Arabs) and Israel lost a massive buffer against any future Egyptian aggression!

Israel still maintains occupation over Syria's Golan Heights which had been used solely for terrorist incursions and artillery bombardment of Israel's northern settlements. It should never be given back to Israel's most vicious enemy!

And of course, Israel still occupies the West Bank with it's ONE MILLION Palestinian Arabs. Had Israel done to these Arabs what the Arabs would have done to the Jews had THEY won, she would have expelled Gaza and the West Bank's hostile Arabs and made it officially part of a Greater Israel. But by remaining an "occupier," Israel set itself up for a campaign of vicious propaganda against the Jewish State, the scope and intensity of which the world has never before seen!

Return to HomePage Index