CHAPTER 16
"The 19th century began badly in Jerusalem. There was poverty and tension in the city. The Ottoman system was still in disarray, and the people suffered from bad government." (Pg. 346)
- Once again, government is never the answer.
"The different Christian denominations coexisted in a state of poisonous animosity that could flare into physical violence at the smallest provocation." (Pg. 346)
- Typical.
"For centuries, Jews, Christians, and Muslims had managed to live together in Jerusalem, and thsi Zionist project would end such coexistence...Because the Jews felt at home there, all other inhabitants of the country were merely the ethnic descendants of carious conquerors." (Pg. 369)
- BOLD MOVE.
CHAPTER 17
"A new interest in the Crusades began to appear in the Arab world: Saladin, the Kurd, now became an Arab hero and the Zionists were seen as new Crusaders or at least as tools of the Crusading West." (Pg. 375)
- I didn't know Saladin was a Kurd. Also, Karen appears to like irony.
"Instead, it envisaged the creation of an independent state in Palestine ruled jointly by Arabs and Jews. It was a severe blow to the Zionists, who would never trust Britain again, even though they had no choice but to support Britain against Nazi Germany during the war. This did not apply to the Revisionists, however, who began to mount terrorist attacks against the British." (Pg. 385)
- British mandate system = fail.
- Terrorist attacks = double fail.
"Zionists were convinced that only a fully Jewish state could provide a safe haven for the Jews, even if that meant evicting the Arabs from the country...The postwar period saw an escalation of terrorism on both sides." (Pg. 385)
- Did the Zionists really believe it was 'them' vs. 'the world'? How were the Zionists any better that those who kicked out the Jews in previous historical moments?
"In early May, UN representatives had arrived in Jerusalem to set up the international administration but were ignored by the British and by both of the contending parties. On 14 may, Ben-Gurion held a ceremony in the Tel Aviv Museum to proclaim the birth of the new State of Israel." (Pg. 387)
- Oh no he didn't.
"When a truce was arranged by the UN in July 1948, the city had been divided between Israel and Jordan." (Pg. 387)
- Berlin: United States and Allies vs. Soviet Union; Jerusalem: Israel vs. Jordan
"When the Jordanian government was in trouble, there were often riots in Jerusalem, which became a center of Palestinian resistance to the Kingdom of Jordan." (Pg. 390)
- Interesting...
"Had it not been for Hitler's Nazi crusade against the Jews, the Zionist enterprise might never have succeeded." (Pg. 394)
- Meeh, I think it's too complicated of a subject to make this claim.
CHAPTER 18
"The phrase 'Never again!' now sprang instantly to Jewish lips in connection with the Nazi Holocaust. This tragedy had become inextricably fused with the identity of the new state. Many Jews saw the State of Israel as an attempt to create new life in the face of that darkness." (Pg 400)
"In February and March 1969 there were more bomb attacks...On 18 August 1968 when demolition charges exploded at several points in the city center, hundreds of young Jewish men burst into Arab neighborhoods, smashing shop windows and beating up Arabs they encountered on the streets...The Israeli public was shocked by this anti-Arab pogrom." (Pg. 412)
- What the Hell --> where is the public shock now-a-days?!
August 1969: Aqsa Mosque fire: "Yet it had in face been a disturbed young Christian tourist, David Rohan of Australia, who had set fire to the mosque in the hope that it would hasten Christ's Second Coming." (Pg. 413)
- What a flaming idiot.
"For over two thousand years Jerusalem has been a focus for the apocalyptic hopes of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Prophets and visionaries have imagined violent battles in the Valley of Hinnomm when God's people will prevail and its enemies will either be wholly exterminated or enslaved. These apocalyptic fantasies have seen Jerusalem as a city of holy war, the site a conflict which will result in the kind of total victory that we have found to be impracticable in the course of the troubled 20th century." (Pg. 430)
- I think Mrs. Armstrong sums it up well here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the 21st century.
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