Abraham must be rolling in his grave (literally!)

Sixty-four years ago, on November 29, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, more commonly referred to as the Partition Plan.

Under the plan, the new states [of Israel and Palestine] would come into existence two months after the evacuation, but no later than 1 October 1948. The plan sought to address the conflicting objectives and claims of two competing movements, Jewish nationalism (Zionism) and Arab nationalism. The plan included a detailed description of the recommended boundaries for each proposed state. The plan also called for an economic union between the proposed states, and for the protection of religious and minority rights. (Wikipedia)

Sounds like a pretty good plan, but we all know what happened: Israel accepted Partition; the Arab community did not. Israel was then recognized as an independent state and the Arab states invaded. So why has this date, November 29, the date of an agreement that Israel accepted and the Palestinians rejected, now commemorated as “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People“? Why is it not called “Day of Solidarity with Israel, Which Continues to Suffer from Terrorism by the Very People Who Rejected an Extremely Fair Offer”, the same offer, by the way, to which the Palestinians are in essence now returning to with their request for a state on 1967 borders. So basically the last 64 years, all the terrorism, death and destruction was for naught.

But the UN and its assorted agencies are reaching a new level of absurdity. That Palestinians and so-called “Palestinian theologians” are attempting is to delegitimize Judaism’s connection to the Holy Land is old news. Yasir Arafat’s nonsensical observation that Jesus was a Palestinian still makes the rounds among PLO leadership.

UNESCO’s aiding of these efforts at falsifying history by declaring, for example, the Cave of Machpela as an exclusively Islamic site, is where it truly reaches the ludicrous. If not the oldest recorded business transaction in history, the deal between Abraham and Ephron, detailed in the recent Torah portion Chayei Sarah, is certainly one of the oldest. Genesis even enumerates the amount of money Abraham spent – 400 silver shekels. Yet somehow the site is “exclusively Muslim”?

Keep in mind, UNESCO’s mandate is “to create the conditions for dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples.” How does UNESCO suggest embarking on a dialogue with people who deny your culture and heritage? As Commentary’s Evelyn Gordon writes in a recent blog posting, this small example reveals a Palestinian unwillingness to share. It seems that the only way for the Palestinians to feel secure is to eradicate Judaism’s connection to the land. The concept of multiple groups having a spiritual connection to the same place is seemingly untenable.