Long history of Arab terrorist attacks against Israel

Palestinian and Arab spokesmen commonly claim that the recent Palestinian terrorism is the result of the Israeli 'occupation' of the West Bank and Gaza, adding that the violence will cease only when the 'occupation' ends.

Despite this claim, many Palestinian and Arab factions (such as Hamas and Hezbollah) repeatedly declare that even if Israel fully withdrew from these territories they will continue their attacks, since they refute Israel's basic right to exist. Remember that the wave of suicide bombings in 1996 took place amid a full-scale advancement of the peace process.

More importantly, the basic premise of the Palestinian claim - that the 'occupation' causes terrorism - is historically flawed. Arab and Palestinian terrorism against Israel existed prior to the beginning of Israeli control over the West Bank and Gaza as a result of the Six Day War of June 1967 and even prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in May 1948.

For example, Arab terrorism was rampant during a wave of anti-Jewish riots in 1920-21, during the 'disturbances' of 1929 (which included the massacre of the Jewish community in Hebron), during the Arab Revolt of 1936-39, and in many other recorded incidents of wholesale anti-Jewish Arab violence throughout the pre-state period. The Palestinian terrorism campaign was stepped up on the eve of the UN Partition Resolution of November 1947, and led to the joint Arab invasion of 1948-49 which delineated the boundaries of the newly established Israeli state.

Indeed, this deplorable violence can be traced back to the beginning of the renewed Jewish settlement of the land of Israel over a century ago.

After the war of independence, Arab terrorism expanded. In 1952, when fedayeen terrorist border incursions reached their height, there were about 3,000 incidents of cross-border violence, which included the brutal murder of civilians. Between 1951 and 1955, 503 Israelis were killed by Arab terrorists infiltrating from Jordan, 358 were killed in attacks from Egypt, and 61 were killed in attacks originating from Syria and Lebanon. Prior to the Six Day War, there were many major Arab terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. This anti-Israeli violence encompassed both frontier settlements and population centres and was perpetrated, for the most part, against innocent civilians.