Israelis and palestinians?

Question

how did the mess between the palestinians and the Israelis begin after world war 2? what actually happened? who are palestinians and what right do they have to the land? wasnt it always called israel?
I have heard the british whose land it was after WW1 were involved in causing this mess too.

Just trying to make sense of what is happening

So if it is originally palestine as you say it is - is this illegal occupation?

Answer 1

It's hard to explain because it is a conflict that is thousands of years old. I will try to be unbiased as possible.

Originally, the Jews inhabited the land of Israel. As lands do, it also changed hands many times; however, there was never a time when Israel was devoid of Jews. There was ALWAYS a Jewish presence in Israel. Starting in 70 CE, the land was owned by Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Seljukes, (Turks) Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamelukes, (Albanians) Ottomans, British, and the UN. The Romans changed the name of the land from Israel to Palistinae to mock the Jews and shame them, since the Philistines were the enemies of the Jews.

Anyways. Skip ahead to when Palestine was owned by the Ottoman Empire. Palestine was never a country. (I'm sorry, it wasn't.) The land called Palestine was a perpetual colony owned by all these different lands--even when the Ottomans owned it, there wasn't even a "Palestinian people." Anyone who lived in the land was called a Palestinian--Jews, Arabs, everyone. So, the Ottomans lost WWI and their territory came under British control--> Palestine belong to Britain then. Britain promised to give the land to the Arabs...and also to the Jews. (Basically, it made two promises and kept none of them.) So beginning in the early 19th century, Jews start immigrating to Palestine and the Zionist movement starts taking foot. (Zionist is not an evil word and not an evil idea. A Zionist is simply a person who believes that the Jews have a right to a homeland.) They start buying the land from the Lebanese and Arab Palestinians who owned it and started cultivating it--some Arab Palestinians didn't like that these other Arab Palestinians were selling land to the Jews, so tensions start to rise, and rise, until fighting breaks out. Most notably is the Hevron massacre in 1929--60 Jews were killed and 67 were wounded, Jewish homes were destroyed, shops looted, etc. "The summer of 1929 was one of unrest in Palestine. Jewish-Arab tensions were spurred on by the agitation of the mufti in Jerusalem. Just one day prior to the start of the Hebron massacre, three Jews and three Arabs were killed in Jerusalem when fighting broke out after a Muslim prayer service on the Temple Mount. Arabs spread false rumors throughout their communities, saying that Jews were carrying out "wholesale killings of Arabs." Meanwhile, Jewish immigrants were arriving in Palestine in increasing numbers, further exacerbating the Jewish-Arab conflict."

Anyways. Both sides were fighting, killing, wounding each other--so much that Britain no longer wants to deal with the bloodshed and problems, so it hands control of Palestine over to the U.N.

The UN wanted the Arabs and the Jews to share the land--they came up with the UN Partition Plan which was to give the Jews 22% of Palestine, 75% of which was desert. The Arabs got the rest, and most of the farmland as well as control of the water sources. The Jews accepted this plan but the Arabs rejected it. 1948 the fighting grows worse, and the UN decides to simply withdraw from Palestine since an agreement can't be reached, and the Jews declare independence on May 14, 1948.

The Arab nations tell the Palestinians to leave their homes temporarily, they will "push the Jews into the sea" and when they are done killing all the Jews, they can return home. Many Palestinians left, some stayed. Either way, on May 15, 1948 the Arab nations of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan all declare war on Israel, planning to massacre all the Jews. Well....Israel won, and the Palestinians who had left so the Arab nations could kill the Jews then didn't know what to do or where to go, creating the refugee problem which today has only gotten worse since Arab nations today continue to refuse to help the Palestinian cause.

That's the basic history of what happened, and I tried very hard to be objective but I can understand if people disagree with me on that point. The best thing to do is to research on your own and come to your own conclusion--read books by both sides. For the Israeli side, I recommend The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz, and I'm sure that someone else can recommend something for the Palestinian side.

If you need any more details or some information on the PRESENT conflict, feel free to email me or ask for more details. I have studied the conflict for many years in depth and heard from both Israeli and Palestinian speakers and journalists on the issue.

Peace

P.S. I am a firm believer that pro-Israel does not mean anti-Palestinian. I am pro-both.

Answer 2

This land had Jews living there in Biblical times, there is a brief history on wiki but it is far too simplistic for anyone to say it was simply taken from the Palestinians in 1948, it goes back many centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel

Edit: If you read the history, the Muslims invaded the area in the 7th century. The Jews were excluded by the Romans, so my point is - are we really in a position to say the Palestinians have the `right` to this land. Surely a peaceful compromise is the only way forward.
Look at modern day civilised countries where multiple immigrant communities manage to live together, relatively peacefully. Like Canada and Australia. In my opinion, the reason why the Jews and Palestinians can`t come to a compromise, is that old stumbling block that gets in the way- Religion.

Answer 3

Israel has had Jews living in it since the time of Moses and it has had several names although throughout much of the history it has either been called Israel or Palestine.

It was occupied by the Turks (the Ottoman Empire) prior to WW-1 and then by the British until it was ceded to the Israelis by UN charter in 1948.

Zionists from many parts of Europe started assisting Jews to migrate to Palestine in the late 1800's and into the early 20th Century. These new migrants would buy unused swamp land or barren land from the rich Palestinian Arabs, and by hard work turn the land into usable farmland which they called "Kibbutz". There was no problems between the Jews and Arabs at that stage.

When the German Nazis came into power in the 1930's they sowed discontent inside Palestine between the Jews and Arab Palestinians by bribing the Muslim "Grand Mufti of Jerusalem" into making hateful sermons, saying the Jews and Zionists were "stealing" their land.
It also assisted the Germans because it meant that the British had to keep extra troops in Palestine to maintain order and therefore not be available for fighting the Germans.

With the persecution of the Jews in Germany and then in other parts of Europe, many more migrated to Palestine prior to WW-2.

Following WW-2 many more Jews fled to Palestine, both legally and illegally, and this caused more problems within Palestine, both with the British and with the anti-Jewish Muslim Palestinians.

The UN voted in 1947 whether to grant Israel sovereignty as an independent country, and the votes were higher for the state of Israel to exist. Israel gained its independence in 1948.

Within hours of the declaration of independence, the surrounding Arab nations declared war on Israel and invaded. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem made a speech saying, "... leave your homes and flee temporarily, and when we have driven the Jews back into the sea, you can return to your homes and take their land and belongings". The new Israeli government also broadcasted asking the Palestinians to stay, but the majority left. It was the Israelis who won the war, and most of the Palestinians were in surrounding Arab countries where they were not welcome. The few Arab Palestinians who remained behind have lived in peace with their Jewish neighbours and some, and their children, have become members of the Israeli parliament.

The surrounding Arab nations have been fighting the Israelis ever since 1948 in several wars, and each time the Israelis have won. Egypt is the only Arab nation that is currently friendly with Israel.

Answer 4

inspect an astounding textual content cloth that looks at a number of subject concerns and activities from the viewpoints of the two Israeli and Palestinian scholars, one on the two facets of a internet site unfold. that's referred to as "gaining information of one yet another's historic Narrative." that's from the Peace analyze Institute interior the middle East, written by ability of an Israeli student and a Palestinian student.

Answer 5

It was never Israel to begin with…
Jews came to Palestine as invaders 3000 years ago with Moses who brought them from Egypt…
They came to the land of Canaanites (historical Palestine) and committed all the atrocities documented in their own books…
They proclaim God's promise of the Holy land…however; God will never grant them his blessing into killing the children, women and elderly and for inflecting suffering and agony on the real native people of Palestine the Palestinians….

Answer 6

the land originally was palestinian but they were dupped out of it by the british who felt sorry for the jews after the atrocities of WW2. But having said that, it wasnt the muslims who inflicted such babaric actions on the jews in WW2 - hell i dont even think they were involved but they somehow managed to have their land stolen thus todays problem.

Answer 7

READ THIS

http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/history.html

Answer 8

stevie has your answer !