11/2/2022 0 Comments Warlike country iseral![]() A "Liberation Army" organized by Arab Governments moved into Palestine to continue the carnage. On November 30, 1947, this assault began with the slaughter of 36 Jews in the first week of hostilities commenced by Palestinian Arab guerrillas. Six delegates mounted the rostrum of the world peace organization to announce their intention of violently destroying the community whose right to independence had just received international confirmation. In the General Assembly, Arab spokesmen frankly asserted their refusal to acquiesce in the new international policy or even to abstain from using force against it. In November 1947 the United Nations' recommendation for the establishment of a sovereign Jewish State in Palestine was the signal for a purposeful attempt to put this doctrine into effect. More than fifteen years ago a British Royal Commission had recorded the official Arab view presented by the Mufti of Jerusalem that the Jewish population of Palestine was "too large" and should be reduced by military action. The elementary duty of members of the United Nations to recognize each other's right to sovereignty and integrity has never found any reflection in the relations of the Arab world with Israel. It has passed through three phases: first, before 1948, there was a determination to prevent the establishment of an independent Israel second, in 1948, there was an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Israel's independence at its birth by armed assault and third, in the period 1948-1954, there has been an attitude of inveterate revenge based on non-recognition and the undying hope of Israel's extinction. The hostility of the Arab Governments towards Israel is more fundamental. This is not the classic pattern of international conflict in which neighboring peoples recognize each other's statehood but are divided by specific disputes which they have failed to reconcile. There is no other state in the world community whose very right to existence is so persistently challenged by all its contiguous neighbors. The effects of geographical vulnerability are aggravated by the fierce antagonism directed against Israel across her embattled frontiers. An American citizen who can cross a vast continent without seeing a foreign, let alone a hostile, face may require an unusual measure of imagination and humility to understand the unique vulnerability which geography imposes upon the people of Israel. Border tensions affect a narrow fringe of their territories, beyond which stretch deep hinterlands entirely remote from the hazards and strains of frontier life. On the other hand, the Arab states are in no such position. The entire country is a frontier, and the whole rhythm of national life is affected by any hostile activity from the territory of neighboring states. Thus the term "frontier security" has little meaning in the context of Israel's geography. Indeed, except in the Negev, no settlement is at a distance of more than 20 miles from an Arab frontier. ![]() Scarcely anywhere in Israel can a man live or work beyond the easy range of enemy fire. The country's main roads and railways are exposed to swift and easy incursion. The headquarters of the Israel General Staff in the coastal plain are within clear view from the hills which mark the Jordan frontier. From the Israel Parliament buildings in Jerusalem the armed sentries of the Jordanian Arab Legion can be seen a few hundred yards away. ![]() This densely settled area has an average width of no more than twelve miles between the Mediterranean and the Jordanian border. Three-quarters of the population of Israel lives in the coastal plain, running from north of Haifa to south of Tel Aviv, with a slender salient branching off to Jerusalem. But owing to the configuration of its territory there are 400 miles of frontier. The area of the country is only 8,100 square miles. SEVEN years after its war of independence the State of Israel still faces a security problem of unusual complexity. ![]()
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