mount importance to realize that the Arab-Israeli conflict did br

not begin in 1967 or in the Sinai campaign of 1956 or when the br

state came into being in 1948. The conflict began many decades br

earlier, and it is not an Arab-Israeli one. It is an Arab-Jewish conflict. br

Jewish blood was shed in the land of Israel by Arabs long before br

1967, or 1947 or 1927. And the issue then was indeed one of br

“settlements,” but the conflict raged about the new Zionist set- br

tlements of Tel Aviv and Petah Tikva and Rehovot and Hadera br

and those in West Jerusalem. The “hate affair” between Arabs br

and Jews began before there was such a thing as Jewish settle- br

ments in Judea-Samaria and will continue even if by some mad- br

ness the Jews of Israel should agree to give up the liberated br

lands.

All kinds of foolish people today speak of the need to recog- br

nize the “Palestinians.” I agree. Come let us recognize them for br

what they are. Meet them and know them, just as the Jews of the br

Land of Israel knew them, thirty-five and forty-five and fifty-five br

years ago, long before the “Israeli aggression of 1967.”

The Pogroms of 1921

On 23 Nisan in the year 5681 (May 1, 1921), Arab mobs br

began to gather in Jaffa. That city, unlike Jerusalem and others, br

was considered a model of Jewish-Arab coexistence. (It is re- br

markable how many Jewish illusions have risen and fallen dur- br

ing the past eighty years of struggle with the Arabs.) The Jews br

and Arabs of Jaffa had extensive commercial relations, and the br

Sephardic Jews, who had lived there for generations, were br

almost indistinguishable from the Arabs in their general daily br

deportment. Nevertheless, the mobs began to gather. The heavy br

sticks and metal bars they carried left no doubt as to their inten- br

tions. For days the Arabic paper Falastin had been agitating br

against Zionism with particular venom. Now, in the mixed br

Jewish-Arab neighborhoods of Nve Shalom and Menashiya, the br

mob began to attack Jews in the streets with stones and heavy br

metal rods, but their major targets were the Jewish stores and br

homes—with their property and women.

The Jews attempted to defend themselves, and since the br

mob did not have guns, the police could have easily driven them br

off. But the police were Arabs—first and foremost Arabs. Most pro- br

tected the Arab rioters, while others removed their badges and br