Suggested Answers to the Short Quiz

[johnkarls]

.
Editorial Comments:

Questions 2-21 of the 24 questions contained in the Short Quiz comprise a Quick Review since they are a condensation of the Short Quizzes for the last time we studied the Israel-Arab imbroglio two years ago for our 10/14/2009 meeting when our suggested books were “A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel” by Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh (HarperCollins © 2009) and “Israel Is Real” by Rich Cohen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux © 2009). For the massive materials assembled for that meeting (12 Participant Comments and 13 Reference Materials) including the vastly-more-detailed quizzes, please see the sections of this bulletin board below for the 10/14/2009 meeting.

Question 1

Who wrote the Forward for our book, Blood Brothers?

Answer 1

James Baker III, the Chief of Staff for President Reagan and the Secretary of State for the first President Bush.

Question 2

Who ruled/owned Palestine during the last 10 centuries?

Answer 2

Palestine has not been a “country” for the 2,000 years since Biblical times. Indeed, from the mid-1000’s to 1299 AD, it was part of the Seljuk Turk Empire. The Seljuk Turks came from Russian Turkestan which fragmented into all of the “stans” except Afghanistan which was always separate, and from Chinese Turkestan aka Sinkiang Province. Following their arrival in the Middle East, the Seljuk Turks were centered in modern-day Iran where they promptly “went native” in terms of dress, language, inter-marrying, etc. -- Iran is Persian rather than Arab, its language is Farsi rather than Arabic, etc., etc.

Incidentally, all of the Crusades were launched against the Seljuk Turks during the 250 years that they ruled Palestine -- rather than against Arabs as is commonly thought by Westerners. Indeed, most American history books say the “Arab” forces during most of the Crusades were led by an Arab named Saladin -- when in fact Saladin, who led the Seljuk Turk forces, was actually a Kurd from Tikrit which became the ancestral home of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The reason for the Crusades was that the Roman Catholic Church, which organized all of them, was responding to appeals from the Eastern Wing of the Catholic Church in Constantinople which was under military pressure from the Seljuk Turks. [Military pressure against the Seljuk Turks in Palestine had the effect of undercutting the Seljuk Turk pressure against Constantinople and, indeed, one of the Crusades at the last moment detoured to Constantinople rather than continuing to Palestine. The Roman Catholic Church obviously decided that “saving the Holy Land” was an “easier sell” than “defending Constantinople”!!!]

From 1299 AD, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Turk Empire. The Ottoman Turks also came from Russian Turkestan and Chinese Turkestan. Following their arrival in the Middle East, the Ottoman Turks became centered in the Eastern Roman (aka Byzantine and aka Greek) Empire whose capital, Constantinople, they re-named Istanbul upon capturing it in 1453.

What became Palestine remained part of the Ottoman Turk Empire until it was captured by the British in 1917 as part of World War I (the Ottoman Turks fought on the side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany).

In 1923, the League of Nations divided the area into three parts – giving France “mandates” to rule what the League created and called Lebanon and Syria, and Britain a “mandate” to rule what the League created and called Palestine.

On May 14, 1947, the United Nations formed a Special Committee on Palestine (“UNSCOP”) to survey exactly who owned which plots of land within the British mandate and make a recommendation on what should be done. UNSCOP did NOT include any of the World War II victors (Britain, France, Russia or the U.S.). The UN resolution creating UNSCOP also provided that Britain’s mandate to rule Palestine, which was created by the old League of Nations, would terminate one year later on May 14, 1948.

On 8/31/1947, UNSCOP issued its report which, among other things, showed who owned which plots of land. It also showed the effect of the British White Paper of 1939 which barred Palestine to European Jews fleeing Hitler except for a grand total of 75,000 – reporting the total population of Palestine at 12/31/1945 =

Moslems =1,076,783
Jews = 608,225
Christians = 145,063
Others = 15,488
Total = 1,845,559

On 11/29/1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 partitioning Palestine into a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State.” Both were “checkerboards” because their borders were based on the UNSCOP survey of who owned which plots of land. Since the Negev desert was unoccupied, it was given to the “Jewish State” by Resolution 181.

When the British mandate expired on May 14, 1949, Jewish leaders proclaimed the establishment of the “Jewish State” in accordance with Resolution 181.

Please see the Q&A’s below for what happened thereafter.

Question 3

Was Hitler correct that Germany had been “stabbed in the back” by “International Jewry” during World War I?

Answer 3

Immediately after the capture of Palestine by Britain from the Turks toward the end of World War I in 1917, British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to the head of the world-wide Rothschild family promising that Jews not currently living in Palestine would be permitted to make it their national home.

Obviously, Balfour was hoping that his letter to the head of the Rothschild family would prompt them to support Britain after 3 years of the “meat grinder” that was World War I “trench warfare” with the German army. It should be noted how desperate Balfour and the Brits were because it was also not until 1917 after 3 years of “trench warfare” that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was finally able to drag the U.S. into World War I by secretly sending munitions to the Brits in the holds of passenger liners in violation of international-law restrictions on “neutral nations” in order to provoke Germany into sinking the passenger liners/munitions ships as was Germany’s right under international law with Wilson’s knowledge that his bald-faced lie to the American people of “un-provoked attacks” on “passenger liners” would whip up public opinion sufficiently to enable Wilson to enter the war.

This letter to the Rothschilds, called the Balfour Doctrine in most historical works, was the basis for Hitler’s claim that Germany had been “stabbed in the back” by international Jewry at the end of World War I. Certainly its substance, its timing, and the person to whom it was addressed lend credence to Hitler’s claim (though, of course, there is little or no evidence that the international financial-powerhouse Rothschild family actually took any action as a result of the letter from Balfour).

Although the Balfour Doctrine had promised that Jews not living in Palestine in 1917 would be permitted a homeland there, the British following the end of World War I decided that it was more important from the viewpoint of oil supplies to renege on the Balfour Doctrine – which is why there is little or no evidence that the international Rothschild family reacted to Arthur Balfour’s letter since they were probably properly skeptical.

Indeed, when Hitler’s concentration camps opened and the international community refused to permit German Jews to immigrate (including the famous ship loaded with Jewish refugees that sailed around the world and was refused by everyone, including the U.S., to permit its passengers to disembark and eventually had to sail back to Germany), Britain announced a policy in 1939 that Jewish immigration in Palestine would be limited to a grand total of 75,000 for the next 5-year period and prohibited thereafter.

Question 4

Was the 1960 Hollywood movie, Exodus (directed by Otto Preminger and starring Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Peter Lawford, Lee J. Cobb, etc.) a historical fraud? Was the policy of the World War II victors (Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the U.S.) to continue permanently the imprisonment of concentration-camp survivors? (In other words, “old concentration camps, new management but with the gas turned off”?) How many years after the end of World War II did the last concentration camp close?

Answer 4

Yes, Exodus was a fraud (more about this in the next few paragraphs).

Yes, the policy of the World War II victors (Britain, France and the Soviet Union) was to continue permanently the imprisonment of concentration-camp survivors in their concentration camps, rather than permit them to return to their former homes which had long since been occupied by non-Jews. It was President Truman’s disgust with this policy that caused him to champion the creation of UNSCOP.

It was not until 1951, six years after the end of World War II, that the last of Hitler’s concentration camps finally closed.

The true story of the Exodus demonstrates Britain’s policy to bar European Jews fleeing Hitler’s concentration camps, both during World War II and during the post-war continuation of the Concentration Camps “under new management,” to immigrate into Palestine.

On July 11, 1947, the Exodus sailed from Sète, France loaded with 4,515 European Jewish survivors of Hitler’s Concentration Camps. It was intercepted by the British Royal Navy (1) in violation of international law because it occurred on the high seas, and (2) with loss of life including some Americans among the crew. It was escorted to Cyprus where the 4,515 European Jewish survivors were imprisoned briefly. The movie falsely shows the 4,515 Jewish survivors (which the movie says numbered only 611), making a daring escape from the British prison back to the Exodus, and engaging in a hunger strike that forced the Brits to permit the Exodus and its human cargo to sail to Haifa. There was no escape or hunger strike in Cyprus. Exodus did go to Haifa, where the 4,515 European Jewish refugees were re-loaded onto three more sea-worthy vessels. The Brits then sent the 4,515 human cargo back to France. It was at Port-de-Bouc near Marseilles that on August 2, 1947, the 4,515 European Jewish survivors refused to disembark and engaged in their 24-hour hunger strike. In response, the French refused to force them to disembark. So the Brits sent them to Hamburg located in the British occupation zone of Germany, from which the Brits transported the 4,515 European Jewish survivors to the Pöppendorf Concentration Camp at Lübeck, Germany which was also in the British occupation zone.

Note that the Exodus saga, mid-July 1947 to mid-August 1947, occurred while UNSCOP was making its survey of who owned which plots of land in Palestine during the final year of the British mandate.

Question 5

What was the 8/31/1947 Report of the UN Special Committee On Palestine (UNSCOP)?

Answer 5

Please see Q&A-2 above.

Question 6

Following UN Resolution 181 of 11/29/1947 dividing Palestine into a “Jewish State” and an “Arab State” based on the checker board of what individuals owned what land, as ascertained by the UNSCOP Report, what was the reaction of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon?

Answer 6

Upon the expiration of the British Mandate on 5/14/1948 and the Proclamation on that date by Jewish leaders of the “Jewish State” in accordance with UN Resolution 181, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon immediately invaded Palestine in an attempt to crush the new “Jewish State.”

Question 7

Following the invasion of Palestine by Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon and their defeat, how many Jews were expelled from Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, and had to flee to the new state of Israel? How many Arabs were displaced from Israel?

Answer 7

567,000 Jews according to Encyclopaedia Britanicca.

The number of Arabs displaced from the portion of Palestine that became Israel was comparable.

[After all, per the UNSCOM Report, the total number of Arabs living in Palestine was only 1,237,334, including 126,000 Arab Christians. And some of the 1,237,334 total Arabs living in Palestine must have been living in Gaza or on the West Bank, neither of which became part of Israel.]

Question 8

Following the defeat of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, what happened to the West Bank and Gaza? Did Jordan grant Jordanian citizenship to the Arabs living in the West Bank? Did Egypt grant Egyptian citizenship to Gazans?

Answer 8

Although both had been part of Palestine, the West Bank was annexed by Jordan and Gaza was annexed by Egypt.

Jordan granted Jordanian citizenship to Arabs living in the West Bank.

Egypt did NOT grant Egyptian citizenship to Arabs living in Gaza.

Question 9

When was “The Six-Day War”? What happened to the West Bank? to Gaza?

Answer 9

The "Six-Day War" occurred in June 1967. Egypt had once again closed the Straits of Tiran to Israel cutting off its access to the Indian Ocean, and had massed 1,000 tanks and 100,000 troops on its border with Israel, while Syria had been attacking Israel for quite some time with artillery and rockets from the Golan Heights. In response to the Egyptian military build up, Israel launched a preemptive attack against Egypt. Jordan and Syria quickly joined in the hostilities. Material support was provided by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

The hostilities lasted only six days (June 5-10) with Israel capturing not only the West Bank from Jordan and Gaza from Egypt, but also the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. EVEN THE ISRAELIS WERE AMAZED AT HOW INFERIOR THE STATE-OF-THE-ART SOVIET WEAPONS PROVED TO BE!!!

[It should be noted that the U.N. Charter’s Article 51 recognizes the right of every nation to defend itself and, although Article 51 does not specifically mention pre-emptive attacks, it has always been routinely interpreted to sanction pre-emptive attacks to deal with “imminent threats.”]

Question 10

What was the Yom Kippur War?

Answer 10

Egypt launched a surprise attack against Israel on the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur in 1973. Syria quickly joined in the hostilities.

Question 11

In the Yom Kippur War why (according to Pulitzer-Prize winner Seymour Hersh in his book "The Samson Option") did Israel NOT follow its long-standing policy that if it ever reached the point that it had fewer than 24 hours to go until complete annihilation, it would launch all of its nuclear weapons (about a dozen at the time) which, interestingly, were trained on Russian cities rather than Arab capitals?

Answer 11

By 1973, the United States had long since replaced France as Israel's principal supplier of weapons and Henry Kissinger had instituted 12 months earlier in 1972 an embargo against re-supplying Israel with ammunition because he was disgusted with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan's imperious treatment of Arab diplomats.

Although the Egyptian invasion quickly stalled after the Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal into Sinai, Syrian tanks were rolling through Israel because Israeli defence forces were rationing their ammunition because it was in such short supply.

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir convened the Israeli Cabinet to make the formal decision to implement their long-standing policy to fire their nuclear missiles if the point was reached that Israel had fewer than 24 hours to go until complete annihilation. Seymour Hersh does not record who the Israeli Cabinet Minister was who suggested that before "pushing the button" they send a telex to Kissinger to give him a "heads up" on what "was going down" WITHIN A MATTER OF MINUTES. Luckily, Kissinger was on hand to receive the telex and immediately telexed back, according to Hersh: "Commence firing 'as if there is no tomorrow' - the re-supply planes will take off at dawn."

The Israelis did stop rationing the ammunition, the American supply planes did take off at dawn, the Israeli-Syrian front stabilized, and Israel did not become the answer to a trivia question = what WAS Israel!!!

Israel "thanked its lucky stars" that it had followed Charles de Gaulle in declining the American nuclear umbrella and developing nuclear weapons on its own. Thereafter, Israel adopted a policy of manufacturing its own weapons and ammunition insofar as possible.

Question 12

When did Egypt get the Sinai Peninsula back? Why wasn't the return of Gaza included?

Answer 12

The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Agreement was signed on March 26, 1979 following the Camp David Accords negotiated in 1978 under the auspices of President Carter. Egypt agreed to permit Israeli ships to use the Suez Canal and the Straits of Tiran, and became the first Arab country to recognize Israel's "right to exist"!!! Israel returned to Egypt the Sinai Peninsula which flanks the eastern side of the Suez Canal and which contains Egypt's perch on the Straits of Tiran. Israel and Egypt established diplomatic relations. And the United States "sealed the deal" by commencing substantial annual foreign aid to Egypt.

However, Gaza was not returned to Egypt because it was part of the original Palestinian mandate and because it was inhabited by Palestinians, none of whom had been granted citizenship when Egypt annexed it following the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

Question 13

When did Israel withdraw from Gaza, including the abandonment of all of the Jewish "settlements" in Gaza?

Answer 13

2005.

Question 14

Despite Israel PR claims that the 2006 invasion of Southern Lebanon and the 2008 invasion of Gaza were unsuccessful, did both invasions in fact achieve their objective?

Answer 14

Yes. Despite bravado threats from Hezbollah, there have been virtually no artillery or rocket attacks from Southern Lebanon since 2006. And despite bravado threats from Hamas, there have been relatively few artillery or rocket attacks from Gaza since 2008. Both appear to have learned the lesson that attacks on Israel will provoke unimaginable devastation in return.

Question 15

What happened to all the suicide bombers that used to dominate the world headlines by blowing up Israel restaurants, buses, etc.?

Answer 15

Israel built a wall.

Question 16

Why couldn't Yasir Arafat simply say "yes" to the Peace Plan he negotiated with Israel and President Clinton in 2000 which would have resulted in a Palestinian State?

Answer 16

Yasir Arafat, in his Arabic speeches to his Palestinian followers, had always promised undying enmity toward Israel and promised to never rest until Israel "was thrown into the sea"!!! When he returned to Palestine following his agreement with Israel and President Clinton, he found that he hadn't prepared his followers sufficiently to accept his Peace Plan and that he would be deposed. Accordingly, he reneged.

If there was ever anyone who deserved a Nobel Peace Prize more than President Clinton, I don't know who it would be -- and he didn't even win one because Arafat reneged!!!

Question 17

Since ethnic-cleansing and forced migrations have been common throughout the 20th century (and even the 21st so far), why has there been so much trouble with the Israel-Palestinian imbroglio which did NOT involve ethnic-cleansing and only a small displacement of fewer than a million in each direction off-setting each other?

Answer 17

Because the Soviet Union used the existence of Israel throughout the "Cold War" to "stir the pot" in trying to undermine American influence in the Middle East. Following the end of the "Cold War" Iran has done exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason.

Question 18

What are some of the major tragedies of ethnic cleansing and forced migrations that have occurred recently in Europe?

Answer 18

The Serbian war against Kosovo (1998-1999) and the Serbian ethnic cleansing and genocide in Bosnia (1992-1995).

Question 19

What are some of the major tragedies of ethnic cleansing and forced migrations that have occurred recently in Africa?

Answer 19

Sudan-Darfur (2003-the present) and the Hutu-Tutsi genocide in Rwanda (1994).

Question 20

What is the Battle of Armageddon? Is it likely to occur in the near future, the way matters are being handled?

Answer 20

Although "Armageddon" is actually named only once in The Bible, the Battle of Armageddon is the subject of many prophecies, both in the Jewish Bible (aka the Christian "Old Testament") and in the Book of Revelation authored by St. John as he was nearing the end of his life in exile on the Island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea and imagining what the prophecies of the Jewish Bible might actually be like if and when they came to pass.

Armageddon is an actual plain in Israel that military experts believe would be an ideal battleground. Indeed, the area is served by Armageddon High School.

The various prophecies describe a war of unimaginable devastation and many scholars believe that they describe a nuclear holocaust.

Yes, the Battle of Armageddon is likely to occur in the near future -- judging from the way Iran is proceeding to acquire nuclear weapons and Ayatollah Khameini (the real ruler of Iran) proclaims at every opportunity his objective of destroying Israel which, by the way, has nuclear submarines and other ways of preserving its nuclear weapons from an Iranian "first strike" capability, and judging from the way the Gulf State Six (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman) have announced that they will themselves go nuclear the instant Iran goes nuclear.

Question 21

What is "The Right of Return"? Wouldn't it be cheaper for the United States to simply offer to buy each Palestinian’s "right of return" on condition s/he move out of the refugee camps and start a real life -- rather than spending so much of American attention and resources on a conflict that may otherwise continue for another 60 years -- IF NOT ENDED SOONER BY A NUCLEAR BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON IN A WORLDWIDE "TWILIGHT OF THE HUMANS"?

Answer 21

The so-called “Right of Return” was created by UN General Assembly Resolution 194 adopted 12/11/1948 toward the end of the first Arab-Israeli War by a 35-23 vote [all six Arab countries then represented in the U.N. (Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen) voted against the Resolution since they were all participants in the war (Israel was not yet a U.N. member)]. Article 11 of the Resolution provided, among other things, “…that the refugees wishing to return to their homes AND LIVE AT PEACE WITH THEIR NEIGHBOURS should be permitted…” to return to their homes (emphasis added).

Minor points are that it also applies to Jewish refugees who were expelled from the Arab countries that attacked the “Jewish State” in 1948 and who, per Encyclopaedia Britannica, numbered 567,000 which was the approximate number of Arabs displaced from the “Jewish State.”

The major point is that Israel has always taken the position that Arab refugees do not wish to “live at peace with their neighbours” and the Arab track record is not supportive that they do.

Indeed, the Palestinians have never recognized Israel’s “right to exist” which is the usually-insuperable obstacle to achieving a two-state agreement as more fully described in Q&A-22. However, it is relevant here because the refusal of Palestinians to recognize Israel’s “right to exist” coupled with their constant terrorism against Israel (not to mention 3 wars of annihilation against Israel by its Arab neighbors) are at least a respectable prima facie case that Palestinian refugees do not wish “to live at peace” with Israel.

And, yes, it would be cheaper for the U.S. to buy each Palestinian’s “right of return” on condition s/he move out of the refugee camps and start a real life.

Indeed, that was the basis for our Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail Campaign following our 10/14/2009 meeting “to urge President Obama to address the economic plight of the Palestinian refugees who live in abject poverty according to the CIA and whose numbers have grown according to the U.N. (which runs the refugee camps) from 750 thousand in 1950 to 4.6 million today” by providing “a good education for the Palestinian children and training for the adults so that they can handle jobs that would go with economic development (construction, irrigation, manufacturing, etc.)” following “a careful assessment of the comparative strengths that Palestine would possess.”

Question 22

Does Hamas recognize Israel’s “right to exist”? Does the Palestinian Authority (Yasir Arafat’s old Palestinian Liberation Organization) recognize Israel’s “right to exist”?

Answer 22

No, Israel’s “right to exist” is not recognized by Hamas, which has governed Gaza for most of the time since Israel’s withdrawal in 2005.

And Yasir Arafat’s old Palestinian Liberation Organization (which morphed into the Palestinian Authority which governed the West Bank until the PA’s recent merger with Hamas) also does not recognize Israel’s “right to exist.”

Indeed, the reason why Yasir Arafat reneged on the “final” Peace Agreement that he negotiated and signed in 2000 with Israel and President Clinton was that when he returned to Palestine, he could not bring himself to admit to his followers that he had recognized Israel’s “right to exist” in the treaty -- up to that time his speeches in Arabic to his followers had always spoken of the ultimate goal of “throwing Israel into the sea” and, after he realized that changing course would be suicidal, reneged on the Peace Agreement and resumed speaking about “throwing Israel into the sea”!!!

Question 23

Was there ever a Peace Treaty at the end of the Korean War or is North Korea still technically at war with the U.S., et al.? Why did the term “peaceful co-existence” describing relations during The Cold War with the old Soviet Union and describing relations with North Korea since 1953 morph into simple “co-existence”?

Answer 23

North Korea is still technically at war with the U.S., et al.

The ubiquitous catch-phrase “peaceful co-existence” morphed into simple “co-existence” about the time that the Vietnam War began in earnest with the assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem by President Kennedy three weeks before his own assassination and the escalation by President Johnson shortly after taking office from 20 thousand military advisers to 625,000 American military personnel “in country” Vietnam (meaning that the crews of U.S. naval ships bombarding coastal villages, and the crews of the aircraft carriers bombing both North and South Vietnam and the ships in their “protective screens,” were not counted in the 625,000).

The reason was that the old Soviet Union was the principal supporter of North Vietnam. North Korea has also been a “thorn in the side” of the U.S., Japan and South Korea since the cessation of hostilities in 1953.

Question 24

Since NON-PEACEFUL co-existence with the Soviet Union during the 45 years of The Cold War and with North Korea for 68 years and counting is all that could be managed, why do we expect anything more of Israel whose "right to exist" is not even recognized by the Palestinians or, indeed, by any of the 22 members of the Arab League except Egypt and Jordan -- and which was (A) the target of 3 wars of annihilation, one of which was within 24 hours of succeeding, (B) the target of 2 infitadas or waves of suicide bombings that were finally brought to an end by the erection of The Wall, and (C) the target of incessant rocket attacks from, serially, The Golan Heights of Syria prior to the 1967 War, the Hezbollah-controlled area of Southern Lebanon following the Second Infitada and, since independence in 2005 to the present, from Gaza?

Answer 24

If we do expect anything more than co-existence (peaceful or otherwise), it is because we view Israelis as “An Inconvenient People” the same way Britain and France did at the end of World War II when Britain and France tried to continue the imprisonment of Europe’s surviving Jews in Hitler’s concentration camps on a permanent basis, rather than to permit them to return to their former homes which had long since been occupied by non-Jews.

And because we view it as our privilege to “throw under the bus” any individual or country if doing so is to our perceived advantage.

[If it weren’t for the constant propaganda from the old Soviet Union and, following the end of the Cold War, from Iran, the thought would be laughable that the Palestinian people should be given a “do over” after each of the failures to destroy Israel = 3 wars of annihilation, 2 “infitadas” featuring suicide bombers, and 3 multi-year artillery/rocket barrages from, serially, Syria’s Golan Heights, Hezbollah’s Southern Lebanon and Hamas’ Gaza following Israel’s withdrawal in 2005 -- the last of which continues on a sporadic basis to the current time.]