Rosh_Pina.jpg

This is the town of Rosh Pina, an Upper Galilee moshava (agricultural village) built by Orthodox Jews with the financial assistance of Baron Edmund de Rothschild in 1878, shown in a 1913 photograph.

Here is the town as it looks these days.

rosh Pina Now_1.jpg

Shabbat shalom!

(image source 1

image source 2)

About the author

themiddle

12 Comments

  • those were the good ol days. when Jews coexisted with Christians and Muslims in Palestine.

    have you ever seen the Palestinian currency in those days?

    front: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/PhotoBooky/1112134884334_DSC02247.jpg

    back: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/PhotoBooky/1113389048157_DSC02248.jpg

    i wonder what went wrong.. was it all the Zionists from Europe imigranting and taking over a land that was not theres? Jews and Muslims and Christians always coexisted in those days you know. Until the victims invaded and became victimizers.

  • Wow.

    Please read a history book. In those days all residents of British Mandate Palestine were Palestinians.

    But go ahead and tell me more about how the wise King and beautiful Queen of Palestine would take afternoon constitutionals and visit their happy subjects as they toiled in the many orange groves that had been in their families for thousands of years.

  • Actually, Apartheid, your coins are from the ’30s and ’40s. They do not relate to a peaceful time between the faiths. The Muslims had been attacking Jews since 1920 and the Christians since 1936. In 1942, the date of one of your coins, hundreds of Jews were killed in a bunch of Arab countries like Iraq.

    Those coins are written in the languages you see because of a choice by the British evolving from the League of Nations mandate to give the Jews a “national home” in the Land of Israel.

  • “i wonder what went wrong.. was it all the Zionists from Europe imigranting and taking over a land that was not theres? Jews and Muslims and Christians always coexisted in those days you know. Until the victims invaded and became victimizers.”

    Don’t hate, the town was founded in 1896 and the pic was taken in 1913 (A point of clarification, in 1913 the Ottoman’s were in control of Palestine).

    The coins are from the 1930s and 1940s. These decades were not a pleasant time for the Jews of Palestine. In 1929, there were major Arab riots that left a lot of Jews dead and from 1936-1939 was the Arab Revolt headed by Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini. The Mufti demanded an end to Jewish immigration and an end to sales of land to Jewish owners. The Zionists realized that only by becoming the majority through immigration and land purchase could Jews assure their rights. One of the earliest to realize this was Jabotinksy:

    http://www.democratiya.com/review.asp?reviews_id=57

    “Early in the previous century (1903), Jabotinsky advocated Kadima as the slogan for the Zionist movement. Kadima has a dual meaning in Hebrew: ‘progress’ and ‘east.’ For the Revisionists, theirs was a progressive movement dedicated to moving the Jewish people eastward to Israel. By the 1920s Jabotinsky rallied for a Jewish majority as the program for all Zionists…If Jews remained a minority all the problems of the diaspora would continue even in Eretz Yisrael. Jews must become a majority to express their will through the development of Hebrew institutions and social structures, including the establishment of a liberal-democratic state. Given his political liberalism, Jabotinsky realized that a democratic state with an Arab majority would exhibit an Arab national character. Simply stated, without a Jewish majority, the goals of Zionism would never be realized. In ‘The Idea of Betar’ (1934), Jabotinsky writes, ‘When will we be able to say that “Palestine” has become “Eretz Yisrael”? Only when more Jews than non-Jews live in the land. The first condition for a national state is a national majority’ (p. 180).”

    Even Arthur Ruppin from the Brit Shalom peace movement eventually came around to the same conclusion after the Arab riots of 1929. Prior to the riots, Ruppin supported a bi-national state.

    By the 1940s, the Mufti was openly collaborating with Hitler.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060412-093359-1169r.htm

    Klaus-Michael Mallmann and Martin Cueppers of Stuttgart University based their research on three years’ study of German wartime records, notably from the Foreign Ministry and the military archive in the western city of Freiburg.

    The historians said in their new book, “Germans, Jews, Genocide — The Holocaust as History and Present,” that only Rommel’s defeat in 1942 in Egypt by the British prevented the spread of the Holocaust to Palestine.

    If Rommel’s army had defeated his enemy, General Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s troops and made it to Palestine, the unit would have received orders to slay all 500,000 Jews there.

    The units were to work like the task forces that exterminated hundreds of thousands of Jews in Eastern Europe.

    ***The authors said the Nazis were counting on the Palestinians to assist in the plan because of their traditionally good ties with the Germans.

    The grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was the most important collaborator with the Nazis on the Arab side and an uncompromising anti-Semite,” they said.

    “He showed what a decisive role hatred of Jews played in the project to promote German-Arab understanding.”***

    They said that Sheik al-Husseini held several meetings with Adolf Eichmann, the man who organized the logistics of the Holocaust for the Nazis.

    “The history of the Middle East would have been completely different and a Jewish state would never have been founded if the plan by the Germans and Arabs had been implemented,” Mr. Mallmann said.

  • How does pointing to currency prove peace and negate the various reports and findings we have of mass killings of Jews by Arabs prior to 1948? That is the equivalent of me getting a picture of a black man in America holding a one dollar bill in 1945 and saying, “See, there was no segregation or violence against black people in America in that time. It only started when Martin Luther King Jr. began to rise up against the system and ask for rights that didn’t belong to black people.”

    In other words, you’re using extremely flimsy evidence to substantiate an indefensible premise.

  • I should also add, as another nail to your proverbial coffin Apartheid, that from a pragmatic point of view, allowing the Jews to have the land makes perfect sense. If you look at 1948 and 1949, when Jews were fighting for their own nation, they fought against armies, they did not purposefully target civilians, and they granted freedom to their own citizens. They did not use terror tactics. Furthermore, they took what was essentially desert and swamp and turned it into the most fertile land in the Middle East.

    Compare this with Gaza in Palestine. Even with Abbas and Fatah at the helm, it devolved from an area with potential (farming being the most obvious) to an area that is on the brink of tyranny. “Palestine,” in fighting for its “freedom,” has purposefully targeted civilians, has killed many in their own ranks, treats women as second class citizens, etc. Pragmatically and morally, one cannot accept a Palestinian state until they are willing to live like civilized people, yet as they have proven they do not hold this desire. This is not an indictment against an entire people group, however it should be noted that Hamas, who has been causing all this problems lately, was elected by an overwhelming majority.

    My point to you is this – Israel as flourished technologically, medically, agriculturally, and anthropologically since the Jews took it over in 1948. The Arabs, via the Byzantine Empire, Ottoman Empire, and British Empire, had about 1,600 years to do what the Jews did in 10. Instead, they let the land turn into a swampland that was only inhabited by 500,000 people by 1948. If there was a Palestinian government (which, of course, there wasn’t, but I’ll humor you) then it proved itself to be a colossal failure that was not worthy of governing the masses. Therefore, Israel would be justified for the sole reason that it replaced an ineffective government.

    Of course, as any true student of history will note, there was no Palestinian government. This would also explain why there was no push in the world or, more importantly, among Muslims to form a Palestinian state. The reason for this is because after the British left what was called Palestine (you should look up the etymology of the word by the way, it reveals exactly why Palestine was named Palestine) Egypt, Jordan, and Syria believed they had a full right to carve up the land. Syria ended up with the Golan Heights, Jordan gained the West Bank, and Egypt gained the Gaza Strip. They never pushed for a Palestinian state during their years of control because none had existed prior. It was not until the Israelis captured these areas in 1967 that people began to call for Israel to return those lands. Of course, this makes no sense – no other nation in the world, after being attacked by 5 other nations, would give up “buffer land” that it rightfully won in battle. Asking Israel to give up the Gaza strip and West Bank is the equivalent to asking the US to give up California and Texas since both were won in battle against Mexico. In fact, the only inadequacy in this analogy is that Israel would risk more by giving up those lands because she is giving it up to people that want to destroy her.

    In the end, I refuse to accept that you have thought this issue out. I would simply label you a troll that is trying to cause problems, but it seems like you have attempted to put some effort into your beliefs by finding examples of coins and using them as proof. Overall, however, I do not think you have put much thought into what you support – instead, as with many anti-Israeli people, you are using misplaced emotions to dictate where your beliefs go, instead of looking to the evidence to see who has a moral right to exist.

  • i suppose everyone has there own facts.. heres mine..

    my jewish grandmother told me, before she passed away, that she immigrated to Palestine in the early 1900’s. The Palestinian neighbors helped her family out, they showed her how to cultivate the land so on and so forth..

    Then the Zionists started coming into Palestine in hordes, they had weapons and claimed Jaffa as there own and evicted the Palestinians there.. they shot my grandmothers Palestinian friend in the eyes.

    The truth is, Palestine was an established entity, the Palestinians had education, cities, city mayors, culture.. everything.

    if anyone really HAS family from early then, they would tell you that the Jews and Muslims and Chirstians always coexisted, before the Zionists demanded the whole state as there own, which is soo ridiculous until this day..

    the currency i showed was the same from the early 1900’s till 1949. research it.

    everyones Zionists facts here can be easily rebutted.. i just dont feel like writing a 10 pages. Israel is abnormal, its rapid growth, the funding Israel has recieved is ridiculous, thats how it’s been able to surpass counrties in every aspect in such a short time. Israel is not a democracy, its an Apartheid with Palestinians as 3rd class citizens.

  • Apartheid,

    All of your “facts” are either made up or wrong. However, since you’d like to make your point through coins, here is the history:

    http://www.drberlin.com/palestine/chrono.htm

    As you can see, the coins you showed began to be used in November, 1927, well after the British took over and well after the 1922 White Paper and League of Nations vote, and well after the attacks on Jews of 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1926.

    Your trolling is not that interesting, so please work to improve it. Thanks.

  • “if anyone really HAS family from early then, they would tell you that the Jews and Muslims and Chirstians always coexisted, before the Zionists demanded the whole state as there own…”

    The history of Israel/Palestine/the Levant has not been all that peaceful, going back to ancient times. If you don’t like reading history texts, have a look at the Tanakh.

    After the establishment of Christianity and Islam the region did not experience peaceful coexistence between the faiths. Mohammed drove the Jews out of Medina and Chaibar either killing them, selling them as slaves, or turning them into serfs. How about the battle of Khaybar? We know about these struggles from Muslim sources, not “Zionist” ones.

    And you forgot two centuries of wars fought between Christians and Muslims over Jerusalem. You know, the Crusades?

    It wasn’t the Zionists who demanded the whole state, it was the Arabs who rejected the partition plan. This is a historical fact. We can disagree why they rejected it but the fact that they did is undeniable. The anti-Jewish riots conducted by Arabs in the 1920s and 1930s are fact as well. We may differ on our interpretations as to why the Arabs rioted but there is more than ample evidence to prove that they did.

    More peaceful coexistence:

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3248081,00.html

    Nazis ‘shipped arms to Palestinians’

    British National Archives unveil presence of Nazi S.S. agents in Mandatory Palestine, working closely with Palestinian leaders

    Yaakov Lappin
    Published: 05.07.06

    Historical documents in Britain’s National Archives in London show that Nazi Germany attempted to ship arms to Palestinian forces in the 1930s.

    A British Foreign Office report from 1939 reports of “news of a consignment of arms from Germany, sent via Turkey and addressed to Ibn Saud (king of Saudi Arabia), but really intended for the Palestine insurgents.” Britain’s chief military officer in Mandatory Palestine also noted reports “regarding import of German arms at intervals for some years now.”

    British documents from the same period, and German records photographed by an American spy and sent to the British government, said that a number of Nazi agents were sent to Mandatory Palestine, in order to forge alliances with Palestinian leaders, and urge them to reject a partition of the land between the Jewish and Arab populations.

    [article continues]

  • Jews were also called Palestinians because everyone in Palestine, which is another name for Israel, were called Palestinians.
    When exactly did a Palestinian country exist? NEVER!
    I’m sure your Jewish grandmother is as real as the phony Palestinian people. Someone needs their meds fast.

  • The Palestinians are an aparition. The mosque on the Temple Mount is an aparition. The Jews will only rid themselves of this evil when they rid themselves of the evil within themselves and create a holy place for The Shechinah to rest among them. The Jews were given the Land of Israel to create a place for The Shechinah to rest. Until they accomplish this they themselves will never have a place to rest.