I'm writing a serious blog today, no drunken debauchery, embarrassing stories etc. So if your not keen on that, feel free to leave now and come back next time. I am writing about Israel/Palestine though, so those interested in that, stick around. I'd like to inform UK readers that are interested in Israel, Palestine etc. that there is a TV show on Channel 4 called 'The Promise'. Starting 6th of Februray, it's a 4-parter and will be on each Sunday. It's about an English girl who goes to Israel with her friend who's about to join the IDF. This girl finds her Grandad's diary and it turns out he was a British Paratrooper serving in Palestine after World War 2. Then the whole story keeps flipping back and forth from 2011 to 1947-48 showing her Grandad and what he went through back then.
I personally have been waiting a very long time for something like this as my Grandad was a Paratrooper in Palestine, after World War 2, and he told me his experiences in Palestine were worse than his experiences in Europe. I'm about to tell you his story (the few bits he's willing to talk about). It gives us a chance to look at the whole situation from a different light, from someone who is neither Arab nor Jew. But was just as involved as any of them in the whole conflict back in '46-48.
Let me give you a quick history lesson. Palestine was under British Empire rule, this happened during World War 1 when Britain and their Commonwealth chums defeated the Ottoman Empire (also with Arab help) in this area. In 1917, the British Government made the Balfour Declaration which, in a nutshell, promised the Jews to a new homeland in Palestine. The British Mandate, however, imposed an immigration cap on how many Jews could move to this new homeland. According to my Grandad, this was so the Arabs didn't feel the British Government were handing away their whole country to the Jews. Thus trying to keep some relative peace in the area.
After World War 2, the Jews were fed up with the persecution they were receiving. Many decided to head over to their new homeland of Israel. This is where my Grandad comes in. He had already fought against the Nazis in Europe, but unlike many soldiers in the war, he was no conscript, he was a career soldier. So after the war finished, he continued his service in the British Army. He was in the 6th Airborne, Parachute Regiment. For those of you who have watched Band of Brothers, he was the British equivalent to the men in that film. Now after WW2, the British decided to send more soldiers to Palestine to try and control the level of mass Jewish immigration to the area.
Many of the British soldiers who were stationed there actually had sympathy for the Jewish cause, as many of them had witnessed the atrocities of concentration camps. But the majority of them would go on to leave Palestine with nothing but burning hatred for Israelis. Such is war. The main antagonists of this war was two Jewish groups, one was the Lehi (AKA as the Stern Gang) the other was called the Irgun. Now these chaps weren't too happy about the British cap on Jewish immigration. So they decided to fight against the British Army. Sounds heroic enough I suppose. But to me, and especially my Grandad, the way they went about doing it just wasn't cricket.
A lot of modern day terrorist tactics were first used during this conflict. The Irgun loved nothing more than planting bombs to blow up British soldiers. But like any terrorist tactic, it's not just soldiers who get killed. One of the most infamous of these was the King David Hotel, the Irgun blew this up and killed 91 people. Including 15 Jews working at the hotel. The concept of planting a bomb and not caring who it hit, whether it be the enemy or your own people, was completely alien to the British soldiers and to them, it was a dirty game. The Israeli militants also invented what is now known as a 'Come on bomb'. Which is when they plant a bomb that kills and injures people. Then when the rescue team come in, there is a bigger bomb waiting for them. This tactic has been used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So Al Qaeda have the Jewish militants to thank for some of their tactics. How ironic.
My Grandad told me of a story of a friend who did volunteer work at an Arab children's hospital. One day when he was walking back to camp, unarmed as he was off duty, he was stabbed to death by a passing stranger. It was moves like this that completely changed the British soldiers views towards Israel. I think if anyone was in that situation, and your friend was killed in this manner, you would feel the same. They almost got my Grandad too, he was riding on his Triumph motorcycle, when he luckily noticed some string across the street that was meant to take him off his bike. He shot at them and they ran away, he said "I got one of the bastards" because there was blood on the wall. That's the only time I've heard him swear.
He was not keen on me going to Israel. Which is fair enough, I suppose it's not a nice thought to him that I've been friendly with the same people that hung his friend from a tree and booby trapped the body with bombs. But of course, I was born in the latter half of the 20th century and have a more open mind, so I know that absolutely none of the Israelis I know; have anything to do with what happened to him and the rest of the British soldiers. I hold no grudge against Israel for what happened to him. But I can completely understand why he and the rest of the men who served there do.
In 1948, the British soldiers were ordered to leave by the British Government. This was mainly due to America telling the British, get out or we won't give you any more help to rebuild your country. This was the stage where Britain was no longer the global power, and America squeezed the little remaining life out of the British Empire so they could then be the global power. Fair enough, it's a dog eat dog world after all. But for the British soldiers in Palestine, this was heart breaking. The only thing worse than having your friend butchered like a dog, is knowing they were butchered for nothing. Britain swept this whole episode under the carpet and pretended it never happened. Nobody gave a flying f*ck what had just happened to them. But for the men who served out there, it's something that will haunt their memory until their dying day. So I'm happy to see somebody finally bringing this story to the public eye.
Because it was those soldiers who had to suffer for a problem the Government created. Some things never change...
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