# Just what are the "Occupied territories"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016 "2003-09-07T00:47:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/41 "2003-09-10T16:04:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*MC: > > While I suppose it depends on exactly what aspects of Deir Yassin you’re referring to, [this site](http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/myths/mf14.html#f) (obviously somewhat biased, but you’re contending that you’ve never heard **anyone** deny it) at least denies that Deir Yassin was a complete expulsion/removal of non-resisting people. > > In any case, the entire village of Deir Yassin was a mere 1000 people, at the largest claim. That consitutes not even a single percent of the number of Arabs who left Israel (under whatever circumstance you choose to believe) during the formative years of the state of Israel. It would take more than mentioning Deir Yassin to prove that it was a representative sample. \*\* No, the Deir Yassin massacre wasn’t representive, it was the worst case of Irgun butchery, but the psychological effects it had on the generally unarmed Palestinian population was a major cause of reugees to flee. Irgun even used this to their advantage and would send loud speaker trucks with recordings of people screaming, etc. to scare the local population. Another tatic when entering an Arab village was to again using loudspeakers: broadcast messages such as: “There’s going to be a massacre, get out while you still can” . ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/42 "2003-09-10T20:28:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \* > \*\*No, the Deir Yassin massacre wasn’t representive, it was the worst case of Irgun butchery, but the psychological effects it had on the generally unarmed Palestinian population was a major cause of reugees to flee. Irgun even used this to their advantage and would send loud speaker trucks with recordings of people screaming, etc. to scare the local population. Another tatic when entering an Arab village was to again using loudspeakers: broadcast messages such as: “There’s going to be a massacre, get out while you still can” . \*\* Do you have a cite for this? According to one of my references (_the Siege_), it was the Arabs who did the announcing. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/43 "2003-09-10T20:38:11Z")
Irgun Loudspeakers used to broadcast screams - _The Wrath of Jonah_ by Reuthers & Reuthers Loudspeakers used to announce ‘massacres’ - _Conflict in the 20th Century_ by S M Harrison ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/44 "2003-09-11T02:36:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scuba\_Ben \* > \*\*The facts are: > > 1. The West Bank and Gaza strip are contested territory, in the sense that multiple political entities want exclusive sovereignty over these regions. > > 2. The areas are disputed, in the sense that just about everything else regarding these regions is a matter of debate, including the legal status of these regions, various sides’ rights to the regions, who’s lived there how long, and so on. Even points that we in western society would consider “undisputable facts” are in this case subject to interpretations of ideology. > > When it comes to the Middle East, religion and ideology are heavily involved, to the point where questions of fact become GDs very quickly. \*\* So I’ve noticed. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/45 "2003-09-12T21:41:13Z")
I don’t wish to beat a dead horse, but you have to look at the occupied lands from Israel’s perspective. In 1977, President Carter went to Israel to talk to Begin about relinquishing the lands Israel was occupying after the 1967 war. Begin told President Carter the following: [from a recent edition of the _Jerusalem Post_ > [@](#): > > “And as you see, our military cartographers have simply marked the infinitesimal mileages of defensive depth we had in that war.” He leaned across the table and pointed to the deep brown-colored mountainous area which covered the northern sector of the map. > > “The Syrians sat on top of these mountains, Mr. President. We were at the bottom.” His finger marked the Golan Heights, and then rested on the green panhandle below. “This is the Hula Valley. It is hardly 10 miles wide. They shelled our towns and villages from the tops of those mountains, day and night.” Carter gazed, his hands clamped under his chin. > > The prime minister’s finger now moved southwards, to Haifa: “The armistice line is hardly 20 miles away from our major port city,” he said. And then it rested on Netanya: “Our country here was reduced to a narrow waist nine miles wide.” The president nodded. “I understand,” he said. > > But Begin was not sure that he did. His finger trembled and his voice rumbled: “Nine miles, Mr. President. Inconceivable! Indefensible!” Carter made no comment. > > The finger now hovered over Tel Aviv, and then it drummed the map: “Here live a million Jews, 12 miles from that indefensible armistice line. And here, between Haifa in the north and Ashkelon in the south” - his finger ran up and down the coastal plain - "live two-thirds of our total population. > > “And this coastal plain is so narrow that a surprise thrust by a column of tanks could cut the country in two in a matter of minutes. For whosoever sits in these mountains” - his fingertips tapped the tops of Judea and Samaria - “holds the jugular vein of Israel in his hands.” ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016/46 "2003-09-12T22:00:16Z")
[Here’s the link](http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1063266355922) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-what-are-the-occupied-territories/200016.md?page=2)