History of a Handshake

A short account of the Middle East's longest war.

BY DAVID KENNER | APRIL 23, 2010

When did the Arab-Israeli conflict begin? Religious Jews trace their ownership of the land back to the Biblical kingdoms of King David and King Solomon, centuries before the birth of Christ. Arab leaders have often considered their struggle an extension of the medieval Crusades, which defined relations between Europe and the Arab world from the 11th to the 13th century. What is clear is that Jewish migration to the region beginning in the late 19th century transformed the land once again, setting the stage for a battle of competing national visions that even the world's greatest superpower has been powerless to end. This is an overview of the personalities, military conflicts, and diplomatic wrangling that have defined the conflict for the past 60 years.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, and his wife Paula celebrate Israel's independence at Haifa harbor. For Ben Gurion, who migrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1906, this marked the culmination of a lifetime of struggle. Israel's declaration of independence, signed on May 14, 1948, asserted that self-determination represents "the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate."

AFP/Getty Images

 

David Kenner is an assistant editor at Foreign Policy.

EGYPTJOURNO

2:15 AM ET

April 27, 2010

Photo Credits

This slideshow is great, but would be even better if we knew where the photographs came from.

 

BUDAHH

4:31 AM ET

April 27, 2010

Wow, you can't even be objective with the pictures

By the way that is a shame when you shw Israeli boarder police firing rubber bullets at rioters and than say so many palestinians died during so and so.
While there was not even one picture of any blown up buses etc.......
Show the loons on the right in Israel and present it as public opinion, I wonder what the public opinion was about America when the palestinians were dancing in the streets and giving out candy to little kids to celebrate 9-11 when 3000 americans died. Thanks for being objective again

 

RAMIR

10:32 AM ET

April 27, 2010

Pictures that were missed

No Budahh there are a few pictures that were missed. The destroyed office of United Nations, bombed by the "moral" Israeli army in Jaunary 2009 and the rain of phosphorus shells landing on civilians, who have no where to escape, thanks to the lockdown of Gaza.

There were 5 Israelis arrested in New Jersey caught with a van bomb close to George Washington bridge, with "puzzling behaviour" on 9-11 who were later confirmed to be Mossad agents (Haaretz news September 17 2001).

 

ABRAHAMSON

6:49 PM ET

May 3, 2010

To be Objective or to be Zionist - This is the question.

You must have heard about the massacre of Deir Yassin? David Ben-Gurion, the first prime Minister of Israel said in 1948, when the blood of the innocent Palestinians had not dried yet, “Without Deir Yassin there would be no Israel”.

Where are the pictures of the crimes committed by the Zionist terrorist organisations, like Haganah, Stern, Irgun and Lehi? Their bloody shadow traces back to the bloody methods in massacring the peaceful inhabitants of Deir Yassin, and other Palestinian villages and cities.

Where are the pictures of the attacks against the British and the Kidnappings, Beatings, Murders and Hangings of British soldiers by the Irgun and Stern Gang?

If all Palestinian and Arabs’ lives are cheap in your standards, then what about the Americans and British who were shot dead or maimed by the Israeli soldiers?

Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in April 2003 as he tried to rescue Palestinian children trapped under fire. The 21-year-old British peace activist was left in a coma and died nine months later.

Rachel Corrie, an American, was the first international peace activist to die in the occupied territories. She was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003, a block or two from where Tom Hurndall was shot.

Another American, Brian Avery, was shot in the face by Israeli soldiers and seriously disfigured in April, 2003.

Is this the human face of democratic Israel? It looks like Israel is much worse than Chile under Pinochet or South Africa under Apartheid. I did not mention despotic Arab countries, because Israel considers itself as a western democracy and they are not in Israel’s league.

It is a joke in naming the victim a terrorist. In 1948, tens of thousands of Ramlah’s Arab residents fled or were expelled by the Zionist gangs during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The town was subsequently repopulated by non Semitic converted Jewish immigrants. That was part of the ethnic cleansing to illegally occupy other people’s land. Where are their pictures?

Where are the pictures of the civilians killed by the Israelis in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon?

Where are the pictures of the United Nations centres in Lebanon and Gaza, which were destroyed by the Israelis?

Here are some pictures. Please do not view if you are faint-hearted.

http://israelicrimes.blogspot.com/

 

BUDAHH

1:36 PM ET

April 27, 2010

Arvay and Ramir

Just because there are more palestinians dead doesn't mean they were all innocent, so if there were more Natzis dead than allies does that mean the allies are wrong, it isn't like if you kill one of us we take revenge on one random palestinian, when you want war it usually brings death unfortunately, all I can say is that Israel never tergeted any civilians. What portion of the dead Israelis were civilians you tell me?

You want moderate weapons to fight? your thinking is all wrong and typical of many arabs unfortunately, you guys need to make peace and stop terror and you won't ever need any weapons,
Why do you want more war, are u willing to die for that cause or just send a bunch of others?
Ethnic cleansing? you mean what the arabs did to all the jews when they were in control of the west bank and jerusalem, you are just using cheap rhetoric, you don't know what that means?
The palestinian population is growing very nicely, why doesn't Egypt open up it's boarders to the palestinians and let them go wherever they wish, or why don't other arab countries? If as you claim it is a ghetto where do you want them to go Israel? No thanks we usually don't like to let people who want to kill us come and visit.
You can pass thanks for any damage to the U.N or civilians on to the hamas, they had a chance to make Gaza thrive and grow, but they chose to be muslim fanatics and all Israel did was in self defense.

 

FACTSCONFUSE

2:05 AM ET

April 29, 2010

By targets I assume you mean the children and women that are ..

...blown to bits by your terrorist friends at coffee shops and shopping malls in Israel.

 

THE MEDITANT

2:19 AM ET

April 28, 2010

The Whine heard around the world

Religious Jews trace their ownership of Canaan back to biblical days? Get real. Here is the reality. Khazars (Ashkenazi jews') history is European history. NOT SEMETIC. Palestinians are INDIGENOUS Semetic people. Ashkenazis are not.

Secondly, with respect to the Semetic Jews, most of their descendants are among today's Palestinians.

Third, Canaan was acquired by theft, mass-murder and ethnic cleansing in biblical days. It is even blatantly admitted to in the Torah.

Fourth, even if these Ashkenazi claims were true, that does not give them the right to claim the land after all these years ... unless they are willing to give up their Beverly Hills and Brentwood houses and land and give it back to the Navaho and Pueblo Indians (who were removed by ethnic cleansing & genocide).

Most of this article is a bad work of fiction.

 

LAL QILA

11:13 AM ET

April 28, 2010

Thank you for clarifying

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I can't believe how this one small group of religious fanatics have not only held Palestine and Arabia hostage for the past almost hundered years but now increasingly other parts of the world by telling and retelling their lies over and over again.

Stories and myths are just that. They shouldn't be taken seriously and certainly not be used as basis for grand theft of Palestine, destruction of Iraq and the upcomming destruction of Iran.

 

DAVIDJONES

6:43 AM ET

April 28, 2010

As I known, the handshake has

As I known, the handshake has been around since the 2nd Century BC according to Wikapedia. The meaning of a handshake carries serves a different purpose today than its original origins. One tale is that medieval knights would show and grip each others’ hands to show that they were not concealing weapons and meant no harm to each other. Today, handshaking is used to greet another person, congratulate, or “seal” a deal.

People even judge others based on their handshakes. A firm handshake implies power, strength, knowhow. Whereas a weak handshake implies weakness, uncertainty, and uninterested.

So now that most of us aren’t carrying weapons why must we continue this ancient tradition. Some say that you can really get a good read on someone’s character by shaking their hand. Well, how true is that? I mean we have all read “How to Master the Perfect Handshake” articles. “Squeeze hard but not too hard and you’ll come across strong, confidence”, blah, blah, blah. We can all fake a good handshake;-).

P.S. Finding your first part time weekend jobs can seem like a difficult task. The most important steps in going to get that first evening jobs take place before you even head out the front door. You need to prepare for what you’re about to do. You must know some good tips and strategies for teens looking for jobs for 15 year olds and jobs for 16 year olds.

 

DDSNAIK

9:53 AM ET

April 28, 2010

Interesting how...

... those leaning towards the extreme of either pole will see any article or photo, however non-partisan in actuality, as a threat or insult to their argument, even in an open and theoretically objective forum like this.

The comments above would have you believe that this is propaganda for one side or the other, while I see photos and narratives depicting aggression and defensive action from both sides. Granted, this is a powder keg topic and is likely to elicit passions, but...

 

MUSTNOTSLEEP14

5:38 PM ET

April 28, 2010

Brainwashing Works

Brainwashing works. If you indoctrinate religion into children from an early enough age, eventually they will become shills for your cause. This is the root premise of religion.

 

FACTSCONFUSE

2:00 AM ET

April 29, 2010

To our Palsrtinian friends

Please get a life. Stop sitting around smoking hookah pipes and planning for the destruction and death of all those that do not conform to your sharia Islamic views.

A small suggestion, why don't you buy a copy of the just released book "Israel start up nation". There you can learn how modern Israel created a paradise within a sea of Islamic totalitarian states, while the Arabs only sit around crying on how victimized they are. If the Jews were to sit around crying for more than 2,000 years of persecution, we would not have gotten anywhere.

Ah, but yes of course, our success is the result of the occupation. Get real folks.

 

LOJIC

6:10 AM ET

April 30, 2010

Your Paradise

You may have created a so called paradise for Jews, but have used stolen land, thousands of dead and incalculable misery to Palestinians to reach that goal. Your so called Paradise is unjust, unethical and evil. Your paradise is Palestinian's hell. It would be wise for the long term survival of your state to be just and inclusive other wise time is not on your side.

 

LAL QILA

6:35 AM ET

April 29, 2010

99% of the bullets and bombs are fired by the Jews of Israel

99% of the bullets and bombs are fired by the Jews of Israel against hapless, innocent, poor Palestinian men, women and children; actually mostly children as almost half the population of Palestine is under 15 years of age.

So, its Jews creating murder and mayhem on Palestinian children.

I can't believe how this one small group of religious fanatics have not only held Palestine and Arabia hostage for the past almost hundered years but now increasingly other parts of the world by telling and retelling their lies over and over again.

Stories and myths are just that. They shouldn't be taken seriously and certainly not be used as basis for grand theft of Palestine, destruction of Iraq and the upcomming destruction of Iran.

Israel does not handshake; nobody wants to handshake with war crimianals, crooks and thieves.

Israel does need one thing: Boycott Israel totally till the beast comes to its senses, sans American aid and EU trade that in effect enables the killing, maiming and torturing of more Palestinian children.

 

ETJW

9:37 AM ET

May 14, 2010

Fred

Where is note of Rabin's murder? Surely it is relevant.