By David Balamaze Tubuuze
I have read president Museveni’s letter, which he wrote in his capacity of the chairperson of the non-aligned movement, regarding the Isarel-Iran conflict, after a complaint by the Iranian Ambassador to Uganda about Museveni’s silence on the issue.
Though I agree with him that politics should take an ideological path than identity, religion, race etc, and though I further agree with him that God’s people the Jews have an historic attachment to that land of Israel, I disagree with his assertions on the following;
The first issue that I want to correct in this President Museveni’s statement, is the wrong narrative that it was Lord Balfour who had offered Uganda to be a nation of the Jews in 1924. This is absolutely false information.
Mr. President, it was not Lord Balfour who wanted to give Uganda to the Jews, and it was not in the Balfour declaration.
The plan to give Uganda to the Jews, is referred to as the ‘Uganda Scheme’, and, it was proposed by Joseph Chamberline who was the British colonial secretary, not Balfour. Additionally, the year was 1903, and not 1924 as you alleged.
Checking in archives, I found out that the president used the same distorted information when the Prime minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visited Uganda, which is greatly embarrassing.
The Balfour declaration which the president is trying to refer to, was a 1917 British government declaration authored by Authur Balfour who was a British foreign secretary by then, in which he expressed the British government’s support for giving the land of Israel (Palestine) to the Jews to be their homeland.
The Balfour declaration was contained in a letter to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community by then.
The President demonising Balfour, or the Balfour declaration, strikes right at the very heart of the existence of the Jewish state of Israel, and it’s an embarrassment that should never be repeated.
In this statement also, the president accused the Israelis, and called them mistake makers, by allegedly refusing the implementation of a two-state solution and denying Palestinians claim on this land.
It is important to note that there has never existed a country called Palestine in human history. What has always existed even before 1000 BC, is the land of Israel.
If indeed Palestine has ever existed, can anyone name one of their ancient leaders? The word/name Palestine never existed before. It’s a creation of the Greek in the 5th Century AD by a Greek historian Herondotus. This makes it clear that Palestine is an artificially created term.
Additionally, the borders of Israel are well defined in the ancient book of the Bible, in the Book of Numbers Chapter 34:1-12, and it covers the entire areas that Israel claims, including some areas currently occupied by the Palestinians. They were given this land by the owner of the whole universe, God himself.
I also want to make it clear to president Museveni and others who think that Isarel is blocking Palestine from become an independent state, that since 1936, the Palestinians have been given the opportunity to become an independent state four times, and they turned down all, unless you want to claim to know what is better for them than they themselves know, or unless you want to force them to accept it. In 1936 Peel commission, the British offered to create two states in this place, one for Jews and another for Arabs.
Your good Palestinians flatly rejected it, despite the fact that this plan had given them 80% of the territory. In the 1947 UN Partition plan, the United Nations proposed creating two states, one Jewish one Arab with Jerusalem as an international city. The Jews accepted the plan, but the Arabs rejected it. The Arabs instead launched a war against Jews.
In the 2000 Camp David Summit, Israel Prime minister Ehud Barak offered a Palestinian state in Gaza, and 94% of West Bank, with East Jerusalem as it’s capital.
The Palestinian leader by the Yasser Arafat rejected it, despite repeated pleas by the then U.S president Bill Clinton. Arafat after this summit instead launched a wave of violence against Israelis.In the 2008 Olmert’s peace proposal, the Israel prime minister Ehud Olmert offered Mahmoud Abbas a Palestinian State on the West Bank and Gaza, with a free passage route through Isarel to connect them. Abbas rejected.
In all these instances, the Palestinians rejected because they were unwilling to accept any compromise that would legitimise Israel’s existence, or limit their claim to the whole of Jerusalem (the city of David- a Jew). It is therefore wrong to say that Israel has refused Palestinians the right to a sovereign state.
The president went ahead and mixed-up things, by alleging that the Palestinians belong to the 7 tribes of Canaanites who were not destroyed by the Israelis during the conquering of the land, and who continued to live among the children of Israel after the conquest as written in the Bible (Ref: the book of Joshua).
If this is the case, then as their grandfathers did, the Palestinians should accept to live peacefully in the nation of Israel and as it was then, any attempt by them to rebel against the authority of Israel should be crushed.
H.E. Museveni also went ahead and accused the nation of Israel for attacking Iran and called them interventionalists and compared them to other Catholic and Moslem fundamentalists that brought problems to the world before, and also called Israel an aggressor.
For clarity, just as the president has alleged severally that Uganda attacked Congo in self-defence, Israel also attacked Iran in self-defence, a right protected within the U.N Chatter.
Iran was arming and supporting terrorists’ groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis, who have frequently sent rockets and missiles in Israel civilian areas. Israel went into Iran to stop that, and to stop the Iranian nuclear program, which is an existential threat to Israel, since Iran vows everyday that they will achieve their stated mission of destroying Israel.
H.E the President concluded by saying that we are all prayerful people, and we should pray together and consult God.
I want to inform my President that though we are all prayerful people, we do not pray to, and believe in the same God, according to the scriptures in both the Bible and Qoran. If you want more information on this, I do have it. Therefore, praying together is impossible and useless.
I want to conclude by warning that the creation of an independent Palestinian state will do more harm than good, and will lead to eventual destruction of Palestinians by the Israel.If we can learn from history, Israel returned the control of Gaza to Palestinians in 2005.
After 19 years of self-rule, Palestinians led by Hamas attacked Israel killing the elderly, women and children. Israel responded by attacking Gaza almost destroying it.
If Palestinians are allowed to have an independent State, they, with the help of Iran and other Moslem nations, will mobilise resources and weapons, and re-attempt their well-stated ambition of destroying Israel. Israel will counter attack with full force, and millions would die in the process.
The only logical way to have lasting peace in the area, is a one state solution, where Jews and Arabs will live together, under the control of Israel. Israeli has already shown us that it doesn’t hate these people. So many Arabs live in Israel peacefully and are even represented in the cabinet and Knesset.
Also, tens of thousands of Palestinians cross the border everyday to work in Israel, and we have not received evidence of them being persecuted. The same can not be said about the Jews in Palestine.
Alternatively, all Palestinians should be relocated to neighbouring Arab countries, their fellow Arabs.Do you have any idea why all Arab nations in the middle east don’t accept Palestinian refugees, their fellow Arabs?
The writer is a Christian Revivalist, journalist and researcher
Email. [email protected]
Twitter @BalamazeDavid
