Israel vs. Palestine?

Question

I'm from Iran and I spent most of my life in the US. In US we get a completely different view on this issue. Well firstly we don't really care about what goes on there. But for those who care, there are a set of information available, so we have a certain public opinion on it. But in the mid east, where the issue is always hot, there is a completely different perspective.
Can some one, informed person on this issue, please shed somelight on this for me? I want to know how did it all start. Was Palestine a land that was taken over by the jews wrongfully, or was there a pact with the palestinians to secure the land for the jews? Did this land belong to a nation called palestine before 1948 or was it unoccupied?
I'm not looking for any propeganda from either side. I'm looking for facts.

gandamack2, What you're saying makes no sense. Do the red skins have aright to take back Oklahoma or Dacota because 500 years ago it was theirs??
I think you're using a double standars. What happens to the Indians in the US is alright and the settlers have a perfect right to that land, but palestinians and the illegal aliens do not have the same right. I'm not saying that they do or they don't, I'm just pointing out that you are using a double standard.

Answer 1

There wasn't a nation called Palestine before 1948 but it wasn't unoccupied either. Parts of it were excellent agricultural land.

In the late 19th century, a group of European Jews known as Zionists decided to form a Jewish state in Palestine. Palestine at the time was 97% Muslim and Christian.

Before WWI Palestine was part of the Ottoman empire, which had been going through a process of democratization in fits and starts. Palestinians had had representation in the Ottoman parliament in 1877, 1908, 1912 and 1914.

To create the Jewish state, at first the European Zionists approached the Ottoman empire, but when Palestine came under the "British Mandate" after WWI they successfully petitioned the Britain and the other members of the League of Nations, victors of WWI, to favor the setting up of a "Jewish national home" in Palestine. The inhabitants of Palestine including native Jews were virtually all against the Zionist plan.

In the decades after WWI Zionists tried buying up land and various economic measures such as only hiring Jews in businesses they set up or agricultural lands they purchased, and in the early 20th century some Zionists contemplated expelling the indigenous Arabs (as they were usually called then, today known as Palestinians).

Of course the British favored the Jewish settlements in many ways. They recognized Jewish political institutions but not Palestinian ones. Within British civil institutions (e.g. transportation) Jews were paid more for their labor, than Palestinians. A ceiling on promotion was imposed on native Palestinians working for the British government that was not imposed on Jews. The first British High Commissioner of the mandate government was a Zionist Jew, Sir Herbert Samuel.

Native Palestinians had no such influence. For example, in 1930 a delegation of Palestinians met with British colonial secretary Lord Passfield and demanded that the mandate set up a parliament "elected by the people in proportion to their numbers, irrespective of race or creed". Passfield turned down the request because it conflicted with the terms of the British Mandate (to set up a Jewish national home). Jews were the minority, so democracy and equal rights for all was out of the question!

The consequence was that the national civil institutions (for example education, labor, health) were either British or Zionist, making it so much easier for the Zionists to form a state when the British left.

Starting with strikes in 1936, the Palestinian public rebelled against the British but this was ruthlessly crushed with the help of the Jewish settlers - who were able to develop a well trained and well-armed military force with the help of the British.

In 1939 the British issued a "White Paper" promising limits on Jewish immigration and a Palestinians state. So the Palestinians (most of their leadership in prison or in exile) ended the rebellion, and mostly were quiescent or supported the British in WWII against the Nazis.

Following the "White Paper," some Zionists took to terrorism against the British and Palestinian civilians. By 1948, swelled by refugees from Europe, Jews were about 1/3 the population of Palestine and had managed to purchase between 6% and 7% of the land.

The terrorism against the Palestinians picked up in 1947 when it became apparent that the British were leaving. Until they left in 1948, the British did very little to prevent the massive campaign of ethnic cleansing the Zionists started against the Palestinians. Palestinians, their leadership destroyed and with little native military, were left largely defenseless against attacks on their villages and towns by the Zionist armed forces. The Zionists had already destroyed dozens of villages by the time the Arab armies entered the war, immediately after Israel declared itself a state in May 1948.

As the war progressed, the Zionists consolidated their plans to "clean up" Arab villages, and began systematically to expel the Palestinians with massacres, threats of massacres, and ordering people out of their homes at gunpoint. As a result, about 750,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees. The Zionists (now Israelis) confiscated land, property and funds left behind by the refugees and used it for Jewish-only development, and demolished well over 400 villages to prevent the return of the inhabitants.

With the majority who probably would have voted against the creation of a Jewish state driven out (there were about 650,000 Jews in Palestine in 1948), Israel declared itself a democracy. The refugees lost most of their possessions and many have lived in camps ever since.

In 1967 Israel attacked Egypt, Jordan and Syria (some might claim there was provocation by the Arabs, certainly there was belligerant rhetoric). In any case, Israel occupied the rest of mandatory Palestine, expelled more people and destroyed more homes and villages (some 18,000 houses since 1967), also confiscated more land and
began settling Jews in Jewish-only settlements. The military regime imposed on the Palestinians was also pretty brutal, all protest against Israel was forbidden including the display of Palestinian colors on pain of imprisonment and/or torture, at least up to 1994 when the Oslo accords were signed. The first major Palestinian uprising or intifada, in 1987, against the occupation was largely characterized by strikes and protests and the Israeli response was to arrest of beat protesters sometimes to death. The second one was much more violent.

Thats the short facts.

If you regard forcing people out of their homes at gunpoint and confiscating their property wrong, then you could say that the land of Palestine was taken by "Jews" wrongfully (note that many Jews are anti-Zionists, i.e. against this project of forcing out non-Jews). If you regard taking land from people and forcing them into exile, and destroying their homes and villages BECAUSE they don't belong to a particular religion or ethnic group (in other words, ethnic cleansing) as wrong, you could say that land of Palestine was taken by "Jews" wrongfully.

Answer 2

Israel Vs Palestine

Answer 3

First, there has NEVER been a nation, country or even state called palestine. The Romans conquered Israel and ran them out and adding insult to injury the called the region palestine but it was never officially named palestine. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the British took the region over and being that Briton was once conquered by the Romans, the continued to call it palestine. Throughout all of this, Israel remained Israel. Israel has been in existence for over 3000 years. Far longer than most other countries in the world and there has never been an official people called palestinians until 1948.

You're a troll cause you wouldn't have mentioned 1948 cause they all believe the palestinians have been around longer than Israel.

Answer 4

What I have been told by 2 different persons (someone who are much older than me to know the feud as I was also very young at that time) is the land occupied by Israel is actually belongs to the Palestine. Israel do not have a country.
I am not a muslim nor a christian, i m an asian but curious to know why Israel and Palestine always fight with each other. The answers I got are from my uncle, residing in Australia and my Japanese husband. I asked them on different occasions, so I guess they cant be ganging up and lie to me. Moreover, it does not benefit to us at all, just a knowledge and understanding of the whole scenario. Thanks for your
Question as I would like to know the truth as well, with facts.

Answer 5

Are U talking about Jordan? That's where the Palestinians used to call Palestine.

Before 1948 no more 10,000 people live in Israel or what you call Palestine. The Jewish that came from Europe and Arab country brought prosperity to the land and millions were attracted to the new land, until Syria, Egypt and Jordan got nervous with so much prosperity and attacked Israel over and over again creating what you call "refugees"

Answer 6

The facts are:

There has NEVER been a country of Palestine. There has NEVER been an Arab country comprised of the area in question. Further, the land in question has not been under Arab control since 1517, when the Turks took it from the Mamluks ( who took it from the Ayyubids who took it from the crusaders and so forth).

The word "Palestine" is not Arabic. It is the English mispronunciation of the Roman word for the Philistines (an ancient Greek people who colonized the area thousands of years ago).

The Arabic "Palestinian" identity did not exist until the 1960s, when some EGYPTIANS decided that it would make a nice political weapon against their Israeli enemies.

In 1948 the territory was controlled by the British through a UN/League of Nations mandate. Further the private ownership of land was primarily held by a group of very rich landowners from Turkey and Egypt, not by the people who were working the land (which the rented from those landowners). These land owners would eventually sell their land to incoming Jews at great profit.

In 1948 the UN plan was to create two states, one comprised of area holding a Jewish majority... and one comprised of area holding an Arabic majority. The Jews accepted... the Arabs went to war.

Interpret that as you see fit.

Answer 7

The first thing one needs to understand is that Palestine is currently divided among the states of Jordan, Israel, parts of Lebanon and Syria, and the disputed territories (Judea, Samaria, Gaza).

Answer 8

Britain controlled the land. They gave half to Palestine, half to Israel. Palestine and a bunch of other Arab countries didn't like that, so they attacked Israel. Israel, with American weapons, beat them back and took Palestine as war spoils.

Answer 9

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is often claimed to be at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is an ongoing dispute between two peoples, Jewish Israelis and Arab Palestinians, who both claim the right to sovereignty over the Land of Israel/Palestine in whole or in part. Throughout history, there have been many conflicts in this area between peoples inhabiting it. This particular conflict can be traced to the late 19th century, when Zionist Jews expressed their desire to create a modern state in the ancient land of the Israelites, which they considered to be their rightful homeland. The Zionist Organization sought to realize this goal by encouraging immigration thither, and purchasing land in the region, then controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

After decades of the British Mandate, numerous attempts to partition the land and hostilities, the State of Israel was established. Local Arab nations started the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, in which Israel prevailed, and won control over borders which remained in place until the Six Day War. For decades after 1948, Arab governments refused to recognize Israel. They contended that Israel had engaged in unfair practices towards local Arabs, and that its creation was based on unfair diplomatic decisions.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded in 1964, before Israel occupied any of the lands of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the Six Day War. The PLO's central original tenet was complete non-recognition of Israel.

Most Palestinians accept the West Bank and Gaza Strip as at least a part of the territory of their future state.[citation needed] Most Israelis also accept this solution.[citation needed] An attempt to achieve this solution was seen in the Oslo peace process, where Israel and the PLO negotiated, unsuccessfully, to come to a mutual agreement. Vocal minorities on both sides advocate other solutions, most of which contradict the goal of 'two states for two peoples.' In both communities, some individuals and groups advocate total removal or transfer of the other community. A small minority advocates a one state solution, where all of Israel, the Gaza Strip, and West Bank would become a bi-national state, providing equal citizenship to all of its current residents.[4]

One central question of this conflict is the degree to which Palestinians are willing and able to accept the right of Israel to exist, and are willing to uphold acceptance of this principle. Similarly, another central question is the degree to which Israel feels conditions exist in which it is possible to allow Palestinians to achieve sovereignty.[citation needed]

Israel asserts that one major condition of Palestinian sovereignty must be acceptance of mutual co-existence and elimination of terrorism. Some Palestinian groups, notably Fatah, a political party founded by PLO leaders, claim they are willing to foster co-existence if Palestinians are steadily given more political rights and autonomy. However, Hamas, which is currently the majority ruling party in the Palestinian Legislative Council, openly states that it completely opposes Israel's right to exist.
Basicly, The Jews wanted to live in Palestine. The Arabs started a war to throw them out. The Jews won the war. The Arabs are not happy about it. The interesting part is that the Jews didn't slaughter every Arab left in the Country. How do you think it would have gone if the Arabs had won?

Answer 10

After WW2 the Allies felt sypmathetic and placed a jewish nation in israel, before it was a muslim country both have a strong religous center for that area although the holy place is nuteral it is sourrounded by the jews and the muslims see it as keeping them away from their holy place so they do what happens when talking goes nowhere they fight