The Idea of an Essay, Volume 2

170 ignore history. The establishment of the state of Israel gave proof of the dangerous reality that exists for Jewish people. During the United Nations debate about establishing a Jewish state, only two years after the Second World War and the Holocaust ended, the Arab League’s Secretary-General Abdel Rahman Azzam warned of a possible “war of extermination and momentous massacre” against the Jews (321). In the years following the 1948 birth of Israel, “nearly all of the 850,000-strong Jewish population living in Arab states” fled or were forced from their homes (Bartal). Many of these Jewish communities “predated the Muslim conquest of the Middle East by hundreds of years” (Bartal). Threats of extermination have continued through many Middle Eastern leaders and groups, including “the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) whose publicly stated goal since its creation in 1964 has been the destruction of the state of Israel” (Karsh 321). These threats have not stopped. Recently, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then president of Iran, declared that Israel should “be ‘wiped off the map’” (321). Even some western academics have voiced their support for “the actual elimination of the Jewish state” (322). History demonstrates these threats are not new or going anywhere. In light of this reality, Israel’s position, which has remained the same since its first Prime Minister Ben-Gurion articulated “that a real solution of the refugee problem lay in the resettlement of the refugees in Arab states” (Nachmias), is not going to change. In addition, while Israel protects its ethnic majority, the country declared at its founding the goal of “absolute social and political equality of rights for all its citizens” (Karsh 333). In fact, Israel gave its Arab population “educational, cultural, judicial, and religious autonomy,” and this part of the population has made steady economic and lifestyle improvements since the creation of Israel (333). Now Israel’s Arab male population enjoys a life expectancy over eight years longer than the average Middle Eastern man does (333). These facts are in opposition to the claim that Israel is a modern day apartheid. This historical persecution and these recent threats should cause world leaders to accept Israel and its rights. Thus, in order to move forward with Palestinian resettlement, world leaders need to accept Israel’s right to refuse the return of Palestinians. However, even if leaders acknowledge the need for a Jewish-state, many Arab countries and Palestinians will still claim