Perhaps one of the most misunderstood issues of the Middle East conflict is the issue of the phraseology regarding the Holy Land. We are constantly fed the terms “West Bank”, and “occupied territory”, and “pre-1967 borders”.

One of the most outrageous intended misperceptions of these phraseologies is the perception that the West Bank is “occupied Palestinian land”. This phrase is continually repeated, as though it was historically factual, by all the governments of the world and by the entire news media. It has become so commonly used that there hardly is any rebuttal to the accepted theory of the land being “occupied Palestinian territory” by any nation, including Israel itself. For this reason, Israel has been willing to give most of it away. They were even willing to negotiate the status of the city of Jerusalem, their beloved capital.

The idea that the West Bank is occupied Palestinian land has been accepted by almost everyone. Yet it is, in fact, one of the greatest lies ever perpetrated on the whole of humanity. This may sound like an outlandish statement, but please read on and decide for your own self. Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians claim that Palestine is their land, and that Jerusalem is their capital, and that Israel is occupying their land. To resist occupation, they assert the right to send suicide bombers into crowded bus stations, pizza parlors, etc., and kill innocent men, women and children. Furthermore, all Arab and Muslim countries philosophically support them in their claims and actions against Israel. Why? Is it because of their great affection for the Palestinian peoples?

Supposedly, because of this alleged occupation of Palestinian land by Israel, and because of this alleged crime committed against their Palestinian brothers, all Arabs hate Israel and want to destroy it. But this story-line doesn't convey the whole truth. The truth of the matter is that these Arab and Muslim nations hated Israel, and sought its extermination before the issue of “occupied territory” was ever invented! ( The 1948 and 1967 wars launched by the Arab nations produced the resultant territorial situation )

To anyone who is familiar with the facts, and has an objective eye, all this must be fascinating. Because never before has a complete lie, on such a large scale, been so politically successful. First, if Arab animosity toward Israel is based on their love and support for their Palestinian brothers – and in wanting their Palestinian brothers to have their own state – where was that love and support before the Jewish state existed? Why haven't they assimilated the Palestinian peoples into their own societies? Where was their great affinity for the Palestinian people when the kingdom of Jordan ruled Palestine? Why did they not accuse Jordan of “occupying Palestinian land”? Why didn't the Arab world and the United Nations call on Jordan to stop occupying Palestinian land, and why weren't there any UN resolutions demanding that Jordan grant statehood to Palestine? Second, where were the Palestinians themselves, with all their grievances and claims, when Jordan occupied the whole of the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem?

Did you know that for 19 years, ( 1948 through 1967 ) Jordan occupied and ruled the entire West Bank, including Al Quds, or Jerusalem? Why weren't the Palestinians clamoring for a Palestinian state during that 19 year span? Why didn't Yasser Arafat send suicide bombers against Jordan? During that 19 year span of time, did we hear a word about >I?Palestine being occupied by the kingdom of Jordan? Did we hear anything about a Palestinian state? Did we hear a great outcry about Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine?

No, we did not.
Why not?
Well, the real reason is because Israel did not possess it. The greatest problem for the Muslim world is that Israel exists period. But, the insult of all insults is that Israel should occupy Jerusalem. Therein lies the need for the Arab and Muslim world to create a propagandist lie, and to use the poor people living in the region called Palestine as pawns in a religious war against Israel.

Another reason there had been no charge of occupation before 1967 is simply because there had never existed a Palestinian state in the past. A new Palestinian State was not needed as long as an Arab or Muslim state occupied Jerusalem?

And in the entire history of the roll call of nations, Jerusalem was never the capital of any country other than that of ancient Israel and modern Israel. So how can there be a claim on the city of Jerusalem as the capital of a state that has never even existed? Who could possibly have a more legitimate claim to Jerusalem than the Jewish people?

One of the problems here is that so few people know the history of the world. Hence, lies and more lies, repeated often enough, are assumed to be facts. This begs the question, “Who are the Palestinian people anyway. I have heard many scholars question the very notion of a What, you might ask, makes a tribe of people? Well, there are several elements that define a people: language, religion, culture, cuisine, geography, terrain, and history. For example, the Chinese and Japanese are both Oriental. Still, they are two different peoples, because they each have a different language, a different religion, a different culture and a different cuisine.

The Palestinians speak the same language, follow the same religion, manifest the same culture and eat the same cuisine as all other Arabs. They are really Arabic peoples of various backgrounds who happen to live in a region that came to be called Palestine. That name emanates from Rome. The great Roman Empire extracted the Jews from their ancient land of Israel in 70AD and renamed the region “Palestine”! The terminology of the land into Palestine has stuck now for 2000 years. It was a political attempt to eradicate the name of Israel from the region. But in this attempt, there is a loud historical fact that speaks forth even today.

Palestine is not, and never has been the name of a “country”, or the name of a “people”.

It is the merely a political name of a region, just like Siberia is a region, and not a country. There is no Siberian country, nor is there a Siberian people. It is a region. Just like the Sahara is a region, not a country. There is no Saharan country, nor is there a Saharan people. The Arabs living in that region are Libyans, Moroccans, etc. It is a region.

Because Palestine was a region, and not a country, Great Britain in 1920 was able to carve out 77% of it and give it to the Arabs living on the other side of the Jordan River and call it the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan. Because Palestine is a region, the United Nations was able to further divide the rest of it between the Jews and the Arabs living there in 1948.

Hence we obtained the term, “West Bank”. The “west bank” is simply the region on the western side of the Jordan River that the Kingdom of Jordan occupied in the original 1947 Partition Plan. After Jordan lost it in the 1967 war, it has taken on a different political persona. Since Israel acquired it in 1967, it has obtained its own political status. The transformation has resulted in the diplomatic need for yet another new partitioning in Palestine. Hence the rise of the likes of Yasser Arafat and the PLO.

Here are some other interesting facts regarding the region known today as Palestine. King David built the city of Jerusalem, and King Solomon, David's son, built the holy temple. This commonwealth ( state ) of Israel lasted for a thousand years. There was only one break, when, 400 years after King David, the Babylonian invaders occupied the land for 70 years. Then, with the help of Cyrus the Great of Persia , Israel came back to the land, rebuilt the temple and ruled for yet another 600 years.

Then, the Romans came and ruled the land, followed by the Roman Crusaders, then the Ottoman Empire ruled the land, followed by the British Empire. Finally, in 1948 Israel returned to its homeland and built a modern Jewish state on about 10% of its former territory. It was never – repeat, never – a “Palestinian state”.