Demonstration Against Indian Valley Public Library's Anti-Israel Seminars
Letter to the Editor of "The Reporter" by Brian Hennessy
"The Jewish Exponent" Article on This Event
Brian Hennessy's Article "There Is No Palestine"
Letter to the Editor of "The Reporter" by Brian Hennessy
Click Here for PDF version (127 KB)
08/06/2002
Why is the Indian Valley Public Library conducting a seminar on the Middle East that presents a very biased - and in my opinion, distorted - pro-Arab viewpoint?
That was the question I asked myself when I received a flier in the mail last June listing the four seminar topics and three speakers. Although on the surface the program appeared balanced, I recognized an immediate common thread: a rabbi known in the Jewish community for his leftist, pro-Palestinian leanings; a Quaker (an organization very vocal in its support for the Palestinian cause), and a Thomas Ricks, who consistently advocates pro-Arabist views and a Palestinian state with little regard for Jewish sympathies.
As a Christian who strongly supports the Jewish State and their claims to the land, I contacted the library and was referred to Deb Faulkner as the one in charge. Pointing out the program's apparent one-sidedness, I asked - as an area resident - if I could be allowed to join the forum, since I had been giving lectures on the Middle East myself on behalf of the Zionist Organization of America in churches, synagogues, homes and places of business. I use some large maps that clearly give valuable historical insight and background on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. She asked me to submit my résumé, which I did about seven weeks ago, but never heard back.
Although I missed the first two lectures (the rabbi and the Quaker), I decided to catch the next two to be given by Ricks. My worst fears were confirmed. Several times in his talk (which was about that wonderful country Iran) Ricks referred to "Palestine" as if it were a nation in the Middle East.
During the Q&A period, I asked him if he was referring to Israel, because I knew of no country in the Middle East called Palestine. He assured me there was one. When I asked where, he said on the West Bank. I reiterated that that territory is not a country named Palestine, but should be called at its fairest, "disputed territory."
He shot back that Poland was still Poland after it had been occupied in World War II. I said again that there was no Palestinian state, country or nation there now, before or ever - and that the true name for that historic Jewish land was Judea and Samaria.
He would not budge from his stated position. And reminded his audience of some 25 people - but looking straight at me - that next week he would be speaking specifically about Palestine.
Spotting Faulkner, I asked her again about the possibility of my speaking, especially in light of the politicizing and factual misrepresentation just given by Ricks. She was clearly unsympathetic to my request and even defended Ricks' contention that there was a Palestine, until I showed her from her own map that it was a figment of Ricks' imagination. I realized finally that the point of view I represented was not going to be heard at the Indian Valley Public Library.
So I am writing this letter to the community to ask for support - especially in light of the horrendous attack on Hebrew University - to demand that our local library present a fair and balanced view of the Middle East. If they want to invite a speaker with more credentials than myself, fine. But there is another viewpoint that needs to be heard.
And I invite all those who are as angry as I am to join me outside the library at 6 p.m. Aug. 7 [2002] to protest Ricks (he's speaking at 6:30) and our library's poor decision to promote his distorted view of Middle East history.
Brian Hennessy is a resident of Harleysville.
hennessybrian@hotmail.com
CONTACT Indian Valley Library:
Indian Valley Public Library
100 East Church Avenue
Telford, PA 18969
(215) 723-9109
Comments about the library may be directed to Linda Beck at
lbeck@ivpl.org.
Let Linda know that Brian should be allowed to speak in
the Fall of 2002!
Note from Brian (8/16/02): The library has since announced they will allow a speaker to present the “other side” of the Middle East debate in another seminar this Fall [2002]. Let’s hope so.
"The Jewish Exponent" Article on This Event
Click Here to go to the article on the "Jewish Exponent" Website
If that website deletes/moves that story, then:
Click Here to read this article in PDF (158 KB)
Brian Hennessy's Article "There Is No Palestine"
There is no Palestine.
Since the Middle East is one of the hottest topics in the news these days, our Indian Valley Public Library is to be commended for putting on a series of lectures on that topic this summer. Unfortunately, it became quickly obvious to many local residents that the speakers represented only one point of view: a pro-Arab, pro-Palestinian one. Considering the number of people maimed and murdered by Islamic Arab violence since 9/11, the library’s lack of sensitivity to a more balanced viewpoint on this subject is unacceptable. Worse, one of the speakers, Dr. Thomas Ricks, has been teaching that a nation called Palestine actually exists in the Middle East today. The library foolishly buttressed this untruth with it’s own suggested reading list, entitled: “Israel and Palestine Bibliography.”
That is the reason for this protest rally today.
Not a country.
Where, you might wonder, does Dr. Ricks say this nation of Palestine is located? No map shows it - except the one used by Arafat’s PLO and the other terrorist organizations and which is also taught to Palestinian grade school children. That map shows Palestine is a nation that occupies ALL of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. A not so subtle hint as to the ultimate intentions of those who mouth platitudes of peace to naive Western TV audiences while continuing the decades-long Arab attempt to drive “the Jews into the sea.”
Mr. Ricks is a bit more restrained than Hamas and only claims that Palestine lies on the land known as the “West Bank.” But that is simply wishful thinking on his part since no official state of any kind is established on that territory. Check any atlas and you will quickly see there is no Palestinian state, country or nation on the West Bank or anywhere else in the world.
It is also a gross politicization of the topic since he is not expressing this view as his “opinion” - but as historical fact.
Not a country ever.
Furthermore, there has NEVER existed any such entity as a Palestinian nation. There once was a territory called Palestine prior to 1947, but a territory is not a country or a state. (It was the Romans who renamed Israel “Palestine” in 70 AD to wipe out the memory of the Jews after destroying them as a nation.) Like the Sahara Desert or Siberia, Palestine became simply a region in the Middle East under the control of the Ottoman Empire prior to WWI. When the Ottoman Turks were defeated by the Allies, a mandate over all of the captured territory of Palestine was given to Britain for the purpose of establishing a Jewish State there in recognition of it being their ancient homeland. (The Arab peoples were being promised many states in the region that represented a landmass hundreds of times larger). All this was officially approved by the League of Nations in accord with the British Balfour Declaration and the Treaty of Versailles.
But in 1922, Britain violated their international agreement, and allowed 78% of that region east of the Jordan River to be taken from the Jews to become a de-facto Palestinian Arab state called TransJordan (which became an official state in 1946, called Jordan today). Then after WWII, the UN proposed dividing the remaining 22% of the land in western Palestine into two more states: Another Palestinian Arab state alongside of a “Palestinian Jewish state” called Israel. The Jews accepted theirs, but the Arabs turned theirs down.
Not a people, either.
Yes - Israel can be called a “Palestinian Jewish State!” For indeed everyone who lived in that territory, whether Jew or Arab, was historically considered a “Palestinian.” The idea that there is an ethnic group of people known as the Palestinians that is exclusively Arab is just another part of the Arab propaganda machine, which is furthered by teachers in the West like Dr. Ricks. The Arabs who live in Israel today (including the West Bank and Gaza) are for the most part descendants of those drawn there from surrounding Arab countries AFTER the Jews began to return in great waves in the late 1800s and early 1900s and restore the land to prosperity. (Arafat is an Egyptian for crying out loud.)
Now if the Western Palestinian Arabs had accepted the state offered by the UN, then maybe there WOULD BE a state called Palestine on the West Bank today. But they didn’t accept it, because to do so meant automatic recognition of the Jewish state, which they and every Arab nation opposed. So instead they attacked the nascent Jewish State along with the surrounding Arab nations.
Although outnumbering the Jews a hundred to one, the Arabs failed in their genocidal attempt, and Israel survived. However, Jordan ended up with control of the West Bank for the next 19 years until they were defeated in the Six-Day War by Israel. Through that lightening-fast defensive war, Israel finally gained control over all the territory west of Jordan, which the Balfour Declaration had previously awarded them. And that’s where we stand today.
However, as we know, the Western Palestinian Arabs recently had an unprecedented second chance to establish their own state when Israel’s Prime Minister Barak along with President Clinton offered it to them on a silver platter at Camp David. But Arafat turned it down again and instead launched the present violence in the hopes of gaining ALL the land!
Which is why there is NO country called Palestine on the West Bank today - or anywhere else, despite Dr. Rick’s claim.
What do we call it, then?
To be totally fair-minded about it, the West Bank territory (as well as Gaza), should be described as “disputed territory.” Not “occupied territory” which the Islamic states and world media insist on, because that terminology is prejudicial to Israel’s very valid claims to the land. Even calling it the “West Bank” is to use Arab terminology, implying it is a continuation of the Palestinian State of Jordan on the “west bank” side of the River. (Actually, if Palestine exists anywhere it is Jordan. Jordanian foreign minister Dr. Kiddri Toukon said on Dec. 9, 1970, “Jordan is Palestine. Palestine is Jordan.”)
The most accurate historical description for the West Bank territory is to call it “Judea and Samaria.” For that land represents the very heartland of ancient Israel, which the Bible tells us was given to the Jews by God. This fact is reinforced every time a spade is thrust into the soil and overturns another piece of ancient Jewish archaeological evidence. Add to that the military necessity of Israel to maintain control over the land and the historic political rightness of their claim – and you see why calling any part that land “Palestine” is such an outrageous lie.
What’s more, it is the ONLY land the Jews have in the world. The Arabs already have 22 other countries and could easily absorb those Arabs living within Israel who claim to be so unhappy. But they refuse to do so. The reason is because they want them to fester in hatred towards the Jews. Because the real goal of the Moslem and Arab world is not to establish a second Palestine state ALONGSIDE of Israel - but to eliminate the Jewish State altogether. And that is the main reason why there is ongoing violence in that region. And the reason this rally outside the library today is protesting the academically dishonest remarks of Dr. Thomas Ricks.
(The library has since announced they will allow a speaker to present the “other side” of the Middle East debate (as outlined in this flyer) in another seminar this Fall. Let’s hope so.)
Suggested reading:
Peters, Joan, From Time Immemorial, c1984 (updated 2000). An investigative reporter changes her mind about the Arab-Jewish conflict after researching the historic background of the land.
Katz, Samuel, Battleground, c 1973 (updated 2002). A very readable, comprehensive history story of the Israeli conflict that “debunks some carefully cultivated myths concerning Israel and the Middle East.” (Jeanne Kirkpatrick)
Bard, Mitchell G., Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 2001 First the myth is given (there so many) and then the facts. A great way to deprogram yourself from CNN and Peter Jennings!
Suggested web sites:
www.jpost.com – the Jerusalem Post; Israel’s main newspaper.
www.memri.org - Middle East Media Research Institute, a non-profit organization that translates the news from all languages, including Arabic.
www.zoa.com - the Zionist Organization of America, a Jewish organization promoting the right for Jews to live in safety and peace in Israel. Offers extensive archives of Middle East news articles.
www.netreach.net/~zoa – the website for the local Greater Philadelphia ZOA chapter.
www.camera.com - Committee for Accuracy in Middle East reporting in America. Keeps biased news reporters and publications accountable.
www.meforum.org – Middle East Forum, an important Middle East think tank based in Philadelphia; director is author and news commentator, Daniel Pipes.
www.edume.org/index.htm – Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, analyzes and presents excerpts from Palestinian textbooks and TV; a source of info on Palestinian society in its own words.
www.intournet.co.il/icej – an information news site of the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, a Christian Zionist ministry located in Israel.
http://www.israelunitycoalition.com – a news/events web site for a coalition of Jew s and Christians standing up for Israel.
www.bridgesforpeace.com – another excellent Christian ministry information web site that supports Israel.