Josh Ruebner Profile picture
May 15, 2022 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
🧵Today marks #Nakba74. 74 years since Israel's dispossession of the Palestinian people began. In @MiddleEastInst, I uncover bombshell documents from the US Consulate in Jerusalem showing the extent to which the US knew about the #Nakba as it unfolded. 1/ mei.edu/publications/f…
The US suspected that the Jewish State called for in the UN partition plan would not be content with those borders and would be expansionist in nature. 2/
The US knew that Palestinian refugee flows were the result of Zionist and Israeli massacres and atrocities. 3/
US diplomats catalogued in great detail Israel's extensive looting and demolition of Palestinian property and understood that these actions were meant to prevent Palestinian refugees from returning home. 4/
Even after Israeli military operations ended, US diplomats attested to the brutal treatment inflicted upon Palestinians coming under Israel's harsh rule. 5/
US diplomats understood the scope and gravity of the Palestinian refugee crisis, even terming it "catastrophic". 6/
President Truman was "disgusted" by Israel's failure to repatriate Palestinian refugees. His representative to the Palestine Conciliation Commission stated Israel "has particular responsibility for those who have been driven out by terrorism, repression and forcible ejection.” 7/
However, this indignation proved to be short-lived as Israeli intransigence and US unwillingness to sanction Israel led to the US dropping its support for the rights of Palestinian refugees. 8/
Not only did the US know the scope of the #Nakba as it occurred, it also bears moral responsibility today for arming and funding Israel as it continues to oppress Palestinians and dispossess them of their land and rights. 9/

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More from @joshruebner

May 15
🧵Today is #NakbaDay. 76 years since Israel's dispossession of the Palestinian people began. As part of my PhD research, I uncovered bombshell documents from the US Consulate in Jerusalem showing just how much the US knew about the Nakba as it unfolded. mei.edu/publications/f…
Read 12 tweets
Dec 11, 2023
75 years ago today, the UN passed a resolution supporting Palestinian refugees' right to return home. The US voted for it but never forced Israel to implement the resolution. For 75 years, Palestinian refugees have been denied this elemental right. 🧵
thehill.com/opinion/intern…
Today, the Biden admin is a partner in crime with Israel as it has killed at least 18,000 Palestinians, destroyed more than half of the houses in Gaza, and forcibly displaced 85% of Palestinians, creating a humanitarian catastrophe in many respsects even worse than in 1948. 2/
Yes, President Truman supported partition and hastily recognized Israel but unlike President Biden, he supported ceasefire resolutions in the UN, embargoed weapons to Israel, and backed Palestinian refugees right to return home. Today, the US is much more deeply complicit. 3/
Read 5 tweets
Dec 16, 2022
🧵Reading the archives of the US Embassy in Jordan today, I came across this heart-breaking account:

On Nov. 2, 1950, an Israeli soldier executed two Palestinian refugee children, Ali Elayan, aged 12, and Fakhriyeh Elayan, aged 10, from the village of Yalu. 1/
The children were out gathering wood when soldiers crossed the no-man's land separating Israel from Jordan and grabbed the children, took them into the no-man's land, and shot them in cold blood while their father witnessed the terrible deed from a nearby hilltop. 2/
All of this was verified by UN observers who found the casings for the bullets. I won't post the disturbing autopsy photos to preserve the dignity of the children. The children were refugees from the nearby village of Deir Ayyub, one of 100s Israel destroyed during the #Nakba. 3/
Read 4 tweets
Nov 29, 2022
🧵 75 years ago today, the United Nations recommended partitioning #Palestine against the wishes of its majority indigenous Palestinian population for the benefit of a minority settler-colonial movement. This injustice violated Palestinians' right to self-determination. 1/
Even Dr. Ralph Bunche, who wrote the partition plan, was "not all satisfied with my scheme" but believed it was a "reasonable and workable compromise." But was it really reasonable, workable, or just?

Source: Brian Urquhart, Ralph Bunche: An American Odyssey, pp. 149-150. 2/
The UN recommended giving the Zionist movement 55% of #Palestine, including most of its most fertile land, even though the Jewish population of the country was only 33% of the total and the Zionist movement had only colonized less than 7% of the land. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Oct 27, 2022
🧵I recently saw a list of the best books on the so-called "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" compiled by a prominent academic. It didn't contain A SINGLE BOOK written by a Palestinian academic. This made me 😠 so here's a list of 10 great books by Palestinian academics you should📖:
1. Nur Masalha's Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History is a beautifully researched and written account of the millennia-old reality of Palestine as a geo-political idea, and a rich cultural and religious history showcasing Palestine's diversity. bookshop.org/p/books/palest…
2. Rashid Khalidi's The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is a really excellent overview of the impact of Zionist settler-colonialism on the indigenous Palestinian people as told through the prism of his family's experiences. bookshop.org/p/books/the-hu…
Read 13 tweets
Mar 17, 2020
Yes! @RepRoKhanna & 60+ Representatives call for US to investigate Israel's violation of the Arms Export Control Act in demolishing Palestinian homes.

This. Is. Historic.

Finally, the possibility of Israel being held accountable.
1/

khanna.house.gov/media/press-re…
.@RepRoKhanna: "Military equipment should not be used to turn Palestinian homes into rubble, displace families, and tear apart communities." 2/
.@RepRoKhanna "I look forward to the @StateDept providing the information necessary to ensure that U.S.-supplied military equipment in the West Bank is not being used in this destructive practice.”

3/
Read 4 tweets

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