This post is part of a long series I plan to report about Palestine as a country, culture, and humans across multiple communities in hopes that I spread the word about Palestine and what is happening there.

The fact that I am an Arab obviously comes with perceived bias which is a perception that I accept considering that most of the people on this platform are not Arabs. As much as I believe it is something I am able to refute using my own history, I prefer to keep the focus of this series on Palestine itself and let the series speak for itself.

However, considering the aforementioned fact of my identity, I have challenged myself and limited myself to use mostly sources that are outside of the Arab world when it comes to facts. Therefore, all the events mentioned here come from non-Arab sources which you will be able to verify yourself by reading the sources below. In fact, I implore you to check out those sources regardless of the series.

As I explained in the previous part, Israel has done a lot to preserve its myths, in this part and future parts, I will share those myths and why they are just that, myths.

The myth that Israel shares about itself, sharing it in schools and educational programs around the world, as well as the media, is one of two things; either lies that we could just ignore and move on, or lies that we need to understand. The latter is what we need to do in order to understand why the world believes it so much.

The Israeli myth begins with the Jewish kingdoms in Palestine. The ones that fell apart and got buried along with the Temple of Solomon. Since 70 A.D., the Jewish people have been dispersed across the globe, and until now, they had to endure all different kinds of oppression, the tip of that oppression mountain is the Holocaust. As a result of that, the Jewish people decided to escape the injustice by returning to their ancestors' land.

That's the first part of the myth, the moment where Israel describes its birth as a moment of weakness. That's how you earn sympathy and make it easier for yourself to sell the rest of the myth.

The second of that story can be seen in sixth-grade geography books in Israeli books. It describes the return of brave settlers who bought the land and built it using all types of modern technology. If the myth stops there, it is not enough to pain the perfect picture in your mind. I would need to add more details to earn your admiration.

That is why the book talks about how the land was built over ruins and swamps so they began to dig wells to provide fresh water and use fertilizers so they could farm the land and develop technologies and finally cleared the swamps and fill them so they could destroy the malaria that was killing them. They also established a port in Tel Aviv, the first port in the area. Not only that, but the sea in Tel Aviv was shallow with little depth, therefore, it was difficult to build ports, and still they were able to pull it off.

If you reflect on the previous two paragraphs then you learn that the point of it was earning admiration and painting a picture of the weak people who once sought a chance, they thrived. You would also realize that it is very similar to the story of the white man who settled in North America and built the United States of America.

Until this point, two things were achieved, sympathy and admiration.

The British Mandate Villain

In order to create a good myth or sell a story you need an important element, a conflict, that conflict needs a villain. The first villain in the myth of Israel is surprisingly enough the British Mandate. That is not your typical villain, it is the villain that was building obstacles in the immigration of the Jewish people and aborting their dreams of building a country.

I mean, just imagine a villain who's trying to stop Jews from escaping the Holocaust in Europe and finding safety in their new home. In turn, you find yourself cheering against that villain for standing against people attempting to find safety. You also find yourself awaiting the moment that our heroes will defeat that villain.

The Israeli myth doesn't provide you with one villain, but heroes. Heroes like Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ariel Sharon, and Shimon Peres. Those are among many names who joined military organizations such as Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi. There's even intelligence in picking those names, for example, Lehi stands for "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel", so here we are offered a story with an organization called "Freedom Fighters", of course, you'll sympathize with it and believe the Jewish bravery and sacrifice that succeeded in forcing Britain out of the land.

You will also be happy when the British mandate ends with independence and Jewish people finally become free from the historical diaspora. You'll also be happy when the UN announces Resolution 181 in 1947 the devices the historical land of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state.

Everything told above is something I know to be one big lie. However, what I am trying to highlight here is that it is also a well-made lie. A lie that is highly believable. Imagine saying this to someone who knows nothing of Israel.

Then after this, tell that someone who knows nothing that on the 14th of May 1948, Israel became a country with David Ben-Gurion as a Prime Minister. Then tell him that only one day after the state is formed, a new villain appeared. That is the perfect plot from an American film, just as the hero wins over the first villain and the film is about to end with a happy wrap-up, the second villain appears.

The Arab Villain

According to the Israeli myth, one day after the announcement of their state, seven Arab armies decided to unite in order to attack this newborn state to exterminate the Jews. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Palestine Arabs. All seven countries against the lonely Israel. But does the story stop there? No, Israel's narrative continues by recalling the great story of David and Goliath.

David was the young weak man who one day would fight the giant Goliath, the strong and mighty. But, thanks to David's faith and courage he'd defeat Goliath. In this myth, Israel is David and the seven armies are Arabs. When I tell you this story in that context, who'd sympathize with? You'd also believe me when I say that the Palestinian Arabs left their lands in order to make way for those armies to come and exterminate the Jews.

This all happened despite Israel attempting to convince the Palestinians to remain in their lands but it was the Arabs who refused. Imagine that there's a myth attempting to convince me that there are people who refused to return to their lands. It's hard to believe for me, but apparently, the story was sold successfully. Apparently, they know how to tell the story well enough that many people seem to believe it.

Apparently, people also believe that Israel has been doing nothing for all these years except trying to make peace with its neighbours who hate it. The myth ends by stating that Israel's only dream is peace, but at the same, it is always ready to defend itself. As proof, its army is called the Israeli Defensive Army. And definitely after the odyssey I just told you, you would believe me when I say that the IDF is the most noble army in the world, you'd believe me.

That's The Myth In A Nutshell

This is just a myth, an entirely fake story, my friend. It is based on full lies and half-truths. But, it shows Israel to be the underdog and apparently that's what made it easy to sympathize with. I know the story to be false now, but I even bought into it for a while, however, that's more about my attempts to escape my own country's propaganda. Still, the Western world, believes that story, after all, that story was catered to them.

It appears that citizens in the Western World don't know that this is just a fake story. That is the natural result of Israel's investment in invading the Western mind with this story in a way that makes it easier for the true story to be completely buried.

This leads me to the main reason I am doing this entire series, Al Nakba. I am here to expose this huge myth, and I will attempt to do so by dismantling all the smaller myths which created it.

Previous Parts

The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 1: Tantura
The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 2: Protecting The Israel Mythology

Follow-up parts

Sources

The Arabs: A History - Eugene Rogan
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappe
Ten Myths About Israel - Ilan Pappe
Palestine: ...it is something colonial (Decolonizing the mind)
One hundred questions and answers about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Pedro Brieger
Tantura Documentary
Executions and Mass Graves in Tantura - Forensic Architecture
Israel’s 55-year occupation of Palestinian Territory is apartheid – UN human rights expert
"Nakba Law" - Amendment No. 40 to the Budgets Foundations Law
Eye Witnesses Statments
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 1 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 2 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 3 | Featured Documentary
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe - Episode 4 | Featured Documentary
Anatomy of the Israeli mind
Collusion Across The Jordan: King Abdullah, The Zionist Movement, And The Partition Of Palestine - Avi Shlaim

The Tragic Story of Palestine - Part 3: The Israel Foundation Myth