When Was the Holy Land an Independent Arab State?

For years Yasser Arafat has referred to Israel as “our country, Palestine” and has talked about retaking the land, “restoring its freedom,” and restoring the State of Palestine with “holy Jerusalem” as its capital. But there has never been a state to restore.

Furthermore, Jerusalem has never been an Arab or Muslim capital. Even when the Ottoman Turks (non-Arab Muslims) ruled (1517–1917), their capital was Istanbul, not Jerusalem. But King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago.

In 1922 the British gave the Arabs a state by giving them three-fourths of the land that had been designated for the Jewish people. All the Jews living there were expelled. This bequest became the Kingdom of Jordan.

However, Arafat seeks to “liberate” the remainder of the land. Thus the goal is not independence; it is the destruction of Israel. Zuheir Muhsin, the late military department head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told the truth to the Dutch newspaper Trouw in March 1977, when he said, “Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel.”