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• Monday, January 5, 2009 01:25 PM

  Fallonius, that depends

  My next question

  According to the movie Exodus, the Arabs and the Jews then living in Palestine after WW2 got along fine with one another until various remaining Nazis instigated Holocaust denial and attacks by the Arabs on the Jews. Is this true?

  -- Fallonius

  After WWII, relations between Arabs and Jews were at their lowest. Historically, both groups got along reasonably well, but Jews were certainly second class citizens during most of this period. This was mainly because of Islamic leadership, and relations among the populace was usually peaceful.

  During the mid to late 1800s, more and more Jews moved to Israel and started buying land and turning what was at that time a desert into a productive region. This in turn attracted many Arabs to move to the area.

  In fact, the majority of both Arabs and Jews living there date their arrival to after 1860. There are exceptions to both sides, since Jews have been there for around 3,000 years, and some Arabs for over 1,000.

  The area was ruled by the Ottoman empire at the time, and during WWI, Arab nationalism was aroused by the Allies in order to get them to revolt against the Ottomans. At the same time, Jews were promised the area of what is now Israel, Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan as a homeland.

  So now, you had to nationalism movements competing at the same time, and partially over the same area. This is really where relations turned bad.

  Jews were murdered in Hebron and those that survived were forced out, feelings hardened, and after WWII, Israel was attacked by her neighbors and they were defeated.

  Since then, relations have gotten even worse.

  Jews remember when they were only allowed to the seven step of the Temple of Patriarchs, and weren't allowed access to the Western Wall. Arabs remember not being allowed back into their homes.

  Neither side really trusts the other, and this allows a minority of people on both sides who don't want peace to block most peace attempts.

  —Xanthro Read Xanthro's other letters
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