Page 101 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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In his first journey, Columbus visited San Salvador in the Bahamas in which he was convinced was Japan. In his
journeys he thought Cuba was China and he also found gold at Hispaniola. There was a little confusion relating
this to the New World and not Asia. After 29 days out of sight of land, on October 7, 1492, the crew spotted
“flocks of birds,” some of which the sailors determined to be field birds. Columbus changed course to follow their
flight for land. Land was sighted at 2:00 in the morning on October 12, 1492 by a sailor named Rodrigo de
Triana. Columbus called the island San Salvador, which in present day is the Bahamas or the Turks. Exactly
which island in the Bahamas they landed has been an unresolved mystery. It was later thought to be San Salvador
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Island and it was named San Salvador in 1925 in the belief that it was truly Columbus's island in the Bahamas.

Even though there was a hope of reaching Asia by traveling west, it turned out to be a disappointment.
Nonetheless, this hope turned into the discovery of what is called the New World. This became the land of
religious freedom for the pilgrims. Many Jews came to this country as well. In particular, the city of New York
became home to many of them. Was this due to the fact they could worship God the way they thought was right
in their Jewish traditions? This country was considered the “land of the free.”

Israeli War of Independence – 1948

The next set of blood moons occurred during the Israeli war of independence. On November 29, 1947, the
United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the implementation of a plan to partition
Palestine into two states - one Arab and one Jewish. Each state would comprise three major sections which
would be linked by crossroads. The Jews would get 56% of the land of which most was in the Negev Desert.
This area would contain 498,000 Jews and 407,000 Arabs. The Palestinian Arabs would get 43% of this land. In
consideration of its religious significance of the city of Jerusalem and including Bethlehem, with 100,000 of Jews
and an equal number of Palestinian Arabs, was to become a “Corpus Separatum.” This area would be administered
by the United Nations. The Jewish leadership accepted the partition plan without reservation.
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Nevertheless, the first large-scale assaults began on January 9, 1948, when approximately 1,000 Arabs attacked
Jewish communities in northern Palestine. There were 100,000 British troops deployed in Palestine in two
ground forces divisions, two independent infantry brigades, two mechanized regiments, and a number of RAF
squadrons. The peak deployment was in July 1947, when 70,200 British troops were stationed in Palestine. By
February, the British said so many Arabs had infiltrated, they lacked the forces to run them back. In fact, the
British turned over bases and arms to Arab irregulars and the Arab Legion. During this period, the Arab and
Jewish communities of Palestine clashed. This occurred while the British had the obligation to maintain order.
The British organized their own withdrawal. Israel launched a series of military operations to drive out the Arab
armies and secure the borders of Israel. Invasion of the West Bank might have brought into the borders of the
State of Israel a massive Arab population it could not absorb. The Negev Desert was an empty space for
expansion, so the main war effort shifted to Negev from early October. On May 4, 1948, the Arab Legion
attacked Kfar Etzion. The defenders drove them back, but the Arab Legion returned a week later. After two
days, the ill-equipped and outnumbered settlers were overwhelmed. Many defenders were massacred after they
had surrendered. This occurred prior to the invasion by the regular Arab armies that followed Israel's declaration
of independence. It finished on 14 May 1948 when the Jewish People's Council approved a proclamation which
declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be later known as the State of Israel. 176

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Clements R. Markham, ed.,A People's History Of The United States 1492-Present, HarperCollins, 2001
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Itzhak Galnoor (1995). The partition of Palestine: decision crossroads in the Zionist movement. SUNY Press.
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Melvin I. Urofsky (January 1982). A voice that spoke for justice: the life and times of Stephen S. Wise. SUNY Press.