The Balfour agreement of November 1917, almost one hundred years ago, when Britain still had an empire, stated....

“His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice 'the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine', or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

One can be certain that in making the mistake of identifying another state’s land as a home for displaced Jews, even the imperialistic and naive British had no idea that almost a century on they would see the development of extreme hatred, Israel’s inhumanity to the Palestinian landowners, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, in a country that was not Britain’s to allocate and which had been occupied by Palestinians since time began.

The most disgraceful example of the arrogance of Britain’s empire.

All the world now sees this as a bumbling example to help people who at that time were most appreciative of Britain's interest in their well-being. However, all Israeli governments repaid that generosity with crimes that have exceeded anything seen before in history.

All for ‘Eretz Israel’.

To partly justify the ill-conceived British decision, the people that they assisted by making this decision, Jews with no homeland, were worthy of such assistance,.....then. The people in Israel today should never be confused with the original beneficiaries of this British mistake, having now generated into a hateful and arrogant Zionist culture. Any world support for such evil principles has long since been eroded based on the actions of an oppressive regime, the occcupiers of stolen land who are still expanding this land-grab, daily.

So Mr. Singer in yet another jaundiced historical rant, shows us his version of a “kiss of death”. However, he is part of a culture that has given a whole nation a “kiss of death” for nearly one hundred years, now finally coming to an end.

"Jordan comprises 78 per cent of former Palestine, while Israel comprises 17 per cent. The remaining 5 per cent comprises the West Bank and Gaza."

Hardly. The jewish population was given more than half of mandate Palestine despite Jews only owning 6% of the land within those boundries and that still wasn't enough for them they had to grab more and have ended up with effective control over 100% of mandate Palestine.

"Its population is overwhelmingly comprised of Arabs (or their descendants) who fled the invasion of Palestine by six Arab armies (including Jordan) in 1948."

More lies. They fled because of ethnic cleansing at the hands of jewish paramilitary groups which the arab armies moved in to try and stop. Jewish terrorists were roaming around outside the proposed boundries for Israel before statehood was even declared, that is to say they had invaded the area allotted to the Palestinian Arabs.

"In 1950 a joint parliament comprised equally of members from the West Bank and Transjordan voted to unify the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Transjordan into one state which was renamed Jordan - and it remained so unified until the loss of the West Bank to Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Only Great Britain and Pakistan recognised such union but it flourished unchallenged for 17 years."

It's obvious Mr Singer hasn't a clue what he is talking about. Jordan was an independent state in 1946. There was no Transjordan in 1950. The Jordanians annexed the West Bank at the request of the Palestinians and became a trustee ONLY. It was never incorporated into Jordan proper. The annexation was completely legal, unlike Israel's.

Shoddy, shoddy article.

To rexw

You correctly quote part of the Mandate.

You are incorrect in saying Palestine was not Britain's to allocate.

It was part of the vast Ottoman Empire for the previous 400 years and was lost by the Ottomans in World War 1. 99.999% of the conquered territory was set aside for Arab self determination. Only 0.001% - Palestine - was set aside for Jewish self determination.

Your suggestion that Palestine had been occupied by "Palestinians since time began" is a furphy as Arabs only conquered and occupied Palestine in the 7th century AD. The Jews recorded history prior to that time was in fact what persuaded the League of Nations to declare in the Mandate (which you conveniently don't quote):

"Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country "

This very equitable division of the conquered Ottoman territories was unanimously endorsed by every member of the League of Nations.

The Palestinian Arabs have never accepted this decision of the League of Nations nor anything that has followed as a result - including the Peel Commission recommendations in 1937 and the UN Partition Plan in 1947. Their response was to engage in riots and murder Jews.

For them 99.999% was not enough. They demanded - and still demand - 100%.

The Palestinian Arabs - backed by the Arab League - have preferred confrontation to reconciliation - seeking to reverse the Mandate from the very day it was promulgated. The extreme hatred to which you refer has been - and still is - generated by the Arabs who refuse to accept one Jewish State among 21 Arab Islamic States and another 36 Islamic States.

The Arabs are entitled to take this view but they have paid a high price for their rejectionist and intransigent stance which is still evident in 2011. Regrettably this conduct is set to continue in the future with no apparent end to the attempt to wipe out the Jewish State.

I suppose I should have read Mr Singer's other articles before bothering to response. It's clear that he's little more than a propaganda merchant who deals in fiction- made up maps, made up records, made up agreements. The guy is living in a fantasy land.

"The guy is living in a fantasy land."

Yes, but how sweet this dream is!

If only we could bribe His Majesty King Abdullah into reasserting his sovereignty over the West Bank, then a huge thorn will be removed from the face of the world, but alas, the king is wise, as was his father Hussein, so he would never make such a fatal mistake, he doesn't need that thorn.

Anyone holding onto that cursed piece of land (the West Bank), can only expect trouble!

Arthur S:

"propaganda merchant who deals in fiction- made up maps, made up records, made up agreements"

Which maps, records or agreements were made up by Mr Singer? His facts seem to correspond to history.

"The jewish population was given more than half of mandate Palestine"

Transjordan was part of the British Mandate (around 80% in area). You cannot ignore this historical fact just because it does not fit with your opinions. Once you include Transjordan then the area allotted to the Jewish State was less than one fifth of the original Mandate.

"They fled because of ethnic cleansing at the hands of jewish paramilitary groups which the arab armies moved in to try and stop"

The main drive of the invading Arab armies in 1948 was to incorporate chunks of Palestine into their territory. They were not moved by any noble notions of protecting their Palestinian brothers. If they were so concerned with the plight of the Palestinians, why did they not grant them a state in the West Bank (held by Jordan between 1948-1967) and Gaza (held by Egypt until 1967)? They had nearly 20 years to do so.

"There was no Transjordan in 1950"

Exactly what is said in the article:

"...Jordan (known as Transjordan until 1950)"

So what are you objecting to? The kingdom was renamed to Jordan in 1949. Until then, although independent since 1946, it was known as Transjordan.

Are there any facts (rather than opinion) you can present to contradict the statements made in this article?