AMERICA'S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

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AMERICA'S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

 

By Michael Freund

 

Ever since Israel won Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the 1967 Six Day

War, the United States has insisted on classifying these territories

as "occupied." Ignoring Israel's biblical, historical and legal

rights to the areas, and overlooking the fact that they were taken in

an act of self-defense by a country threatened with extinction by its

neighbors, American presidents have stubbornly held to the view that

Israel should "return" Judea, Samaria and Gaza and cease settling its

citizens there.

 

In adopting such a position, the US has essentially rejected the

principles of acquiring territory through the use of force and

settling citizens in "foreign" lands. There is, however, something

quite ironic about this stance because it was exactly these two

principles that lay behind the successful expansion of the United

States itself. Indeed, were it not for the westward flow of settlers

across the North American continent in the 19th century and America's

subsequent acquisition of territory by force, the world's only

superpower might otherwise have amounted to little more than a small,

backwater nation.

 

One of the more conspicuous examples in American history is that of

Florida, a state made famous last year for its pivotal role in

President George W. Bush's election. After Spain regained control of

Florida from the British in 1783, a series of boundary disputes

erupted between Spain and the US about delineating the northern

border of the Florida territory. Even as the two sides bickered,

American settlers poured in to Florida, tilting the demographic

balance.

 

In 1810, a revolt against Spanish rule in West Florida prompted

president James Madison to dispatch American troops, who occupied the

area, which then became part of the state of Louisiana and the

Mississippi Territory in 1812. The American settlers, of course,

welcomed the move.

 

Local Indians, fearing for their future, stepped up attacks on white

settlers in East Florida, and did not hesitate to cross the contested

border and attack American communities. After Indians ambushed a ship

carrying US troops and their families and brutally massacred most of

them on November 30, 1817, president James Monroe, Madison's

successor, sent in General Andrew Jackson, who subdued the Indians,

overwhelmed the Spanish garrisons and returned home a national hero.

 

Faced with the inevitable loss of its territory, Spain agreed to sign

the Adams-Onis Treaty of February 22, 1819, in which it sold Florida

to the United States for $5 million. But the sale essentially

formalized what had actually been achieved through force of arms. In

modern parlance, then, Florida might very well be considered American-

occupied territory.

 

American history is rife with other such examples. As a former

governor of Texas, Bush is no doubt aware the state was previously

Mexican territory. Though Mexico invited Americans to settle the area

in the 1820s, by 1830 the settlers outnumbered Mexicans in Texas by

three to one, leading Mexico to clamp down for fear of losing control

of the territory. In 1835, American settlers rebelled and launched

the Texas Revolution, routing the Mexican army and declaring

independence in 1836.

 

The breakaway state of Texas then sought American annexation, greatly

angering the Mexican government. After the US Congress passed a

resolution offering it entry to the Union, Texas accepted American

control in July 1845, which promptly led to the outbreak of the

Mexican-American War. When the war ended in 1848, a defeated Mexico

handed over vast swaths of territory to the United States, which

later became California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. And,

of course, Texas.

 

Indeed, throughout the 19th century, the dispatch of American

settlers beyond the borders of the United States played a central

role in expanding the country's boundaries. States such as Oregon and

Wyoming (US Vice President Dick Cheney's home), were both settled by

large numbers of Americans, usually against the wishes of local

Indian tribes and European rulers. The growing presence of the

American settlers inevitably changed the status quo, and ultimately

led such states out of European and Indian hands and into American

arms.

 

As historians have noted, much of this expansionism was propelled by

a popular belief in "Manifest Destiny," the sense that America had a

divine right to occupy the North American continent from the Atlantic

to the Pacific. Unlike Israel, however, America had no historic or

biblical ties to the land that might have justified its policy. But

that did not stop America from pressing forward and building a great

nation.

 

So before the United States decides to preach to Israel about the

wisdom of building Jewish settlements or holding onto Judea, Samaria

and Gaza, it might do well to take a look back at its own past. For

if one were to take the American government's stance vis-a-vis

Israel's territories and retroactively apply it to America's own

acquisition of land throughout history, there would be plenty to keep

the United Nations Security Council busy for quite some time.

 

Once America decides to return Florida to Spain or California to

Mexico, it can then feel free to offer advice to Israel. After all,

why should America view its own "occupied" territories any

differently from those of Israel?

 

(The writer served as deputy director of Communications and Policy

Planning in the Prime Minister's Office from 1996 to 1999.)