224 A Short History of the Middle East
the U.S.A. to right the wrongs done them in Eastern Europe by
establishing them in Palestine. Protecting Powers have, however,
always failed to satisfy Jewish political ambitions to the full: and
so they rose against Artaxerxes III in the last years of the Persian
Empire, against the Roman Empire, and against the British
mandate. The terrorists (drawn from the younger generation,
indoctrinated in nationalism in the Jewish educational system of
Palestine or in the grim school of the Hitler Terror) are the modern
counterparts of the militant Zealots who carried on terrorism
< against the Romans. The attempt to break Arab resistance to
Jewish predominance is paralleled by the Maccabean coercion of
the semi-Hellenized communities who resisted the new Jewish
state. At present the United States is the protecting Power; but
should her support be withheld or prove inadequate, there is a
group within the Zionist movement which would try to enlist
active Russian support.
On the other hand the 'Arabs'1 of Palestine, supported by the
politically-minded of the Arab States, are defending what they
conceive to be their rights as a people against this 'invasion' of
more energetic, more skilful, and far better equipped aliens.
That they had lived for centuries under a foreign government
does not weaken their case, as they see it. They had preserved,
even in decay, the essentials of their culture, their language
and their religion; and they had begun early in this century
to stir themselves against the foreign ruler, who, after all,
was of their own religion and culture, and to demand the
right of national self-determination. The politically-conscious
among them detest the idea of ceding any part of what they have
for 1,300 years regarded as their land, especially now that their
cousins in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt have achieved their independence.
Unwisely, however, the 'Liberation Army' attacked prepared
Zionist positions instead of following the guerilla tactics for which
they were better fitted, and were heavily defeated. Dissensions
broke out among their commanders, and the wealthier town-
Arabs ignomiiuously hurried across the frontiers to safety as the
Zionists began their counter-offensive. The massacre by Jewish
extremists of 200 Arab villagers, including 100 women and
1 It must be emphasized that the seventh-century Arab conquerors con-
stituted only a minority of the existing population, and that consequently the
present-day Arabic-speaking population is an amalgam of all the racial strains
that have entered the country from the earliest historical times.