“It's not just about land, but it's about having the right to self-determination," said Dr. Serpil Atamaz, history professor at Sacramento State.
A conflict which roots back to the 19th century at least, bases on the rights of who the land should be distributed to; the Palestines or the Israelies.
"One side has a state, the other one does not,” said Dr. Serpil Atamaz, professor in the Department of History and Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program at California State University, Sacramento. “It's not just about land, but it's about having the right to self-determination. This is not a conflict between Jews and Muslims or Jews or Arabs.” (abc10)
What was originally ruled as the Ottoman Turkish Empire, they also ruled the long portion of land along side the eastern Mediterranean from 1516-1917, which was Palestine. Seen below in the highlighted area:
(World Affairs Council of Greater Houston)
The region was said to have been religiously diverse, including Jews, Muslims, and Christians. It wasn't until the late 19th Century when there was then a Jewish nation. And lots of British colonialism. It changed everything.
The centuries-old Ottoman Empire fell after the Allied Powers defeated the Central Powers in World War I in 1918. Two years later, the League of Nations was established as an international organization to ensure world peace. In 1922, the League formally approved the decision to have Great Britain act as Palestine's administrator. (abc10)
It's important to note, after the Ottoman Empire had fell, it did not go straight to the Jewish nation. It instead went to the British. It was under their rule after they had won the First World War along side France. Sadly though, this British ruling was only meant to have lasted a short time until the League of Nations could recognize Palestine as a independent state, that point was never reached.
The British however had promised to create a Jewish homeland, under the Balfour Declaration, which happened because the Jewish wanted a claim on Palestine. They wanted their own homeland. It was approved in 1922 by the League of Nation. It is important to keep in mind that the British refusing to give full independence wasn't just as issue in Palestine, it was almost everywhere. The British ruled over 25% of the World, that's over 458 million people!
As abc10 states, "Great Britain supported the idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine,” Atamaz explained. “However, another problem was that, just two years ago, Great Britain made another promise to the Arabs living in the region. They said Palestine was going to be a part of an independent Arab state that was going to be established after the war was over." This never happened. You can see now, the mess the British. The British most likely didn't care much though, all it wanted was power and allies to rely on in case anything broke out again.
The British Empire was recognized as the '3rd Greatest Power' and the largest colonizer in history. Their colony ruled much Infact they only ever gave back much of Africa due to a threat from the Soviet-backed communist subversion of the continent. It took a lot for the Empire to grant back land. Still to this day, 54 countries are still partially under British Rule: the Commonwealth. Including many countries like Canada, South Africa, Pakistan, Dominica and so forth. (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Commonwealth-association-of-states)
(National Geographic Kids)
In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip. (Global Conflict Tracker)
Since then tensions have risen, many infact. The term Zionism was partially established by the UN. "Zionism was an ideology and a movement that aimed to establish a Jewish state in Palestine,” explained Atamaz. “According to the Zionists in Eastern Europe at the time, Jews constituted a nation. They were not just a religious group, but they were an ethnic group and they deserved their own state.” (abc10)
(E-International Relations)
"The rise of religious and racist anti-Semitism led to a resurgence of pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe in the late 19th century, stimulating Jewish immigration to Palestine from Europe. Simultaneously, a wave of Jews immigrated to Palestine from Yemen, Morocco, Iraq and Turkey. That's all according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE), a nonprofit established in 1993 with a goal of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Israel.
Even though Zionism originated in Europe in the late 19th century, some believe its roots are in the historical attachment between Judiasm and the lands that made up Palestine, historically speaking. According to AICE, some Jews were motivated to immigrate to Palestine by "the centuries-old dream of the Return to Zion and a fear of intolerance."
"In Europe, Jews were being discriminated against, persecuted, and harassed,” Atamaz said. “So, they said, we need to establish our own state to be safe and secure. They chose Palestine to do that." (abc10)
"This was the age of nationalism. All these different nations and ethnic groups were demanding their own nation state and Jews did the same. However, there was a big problem because Palestine, where they wanted to create their state, was inhabited by an Arab majority who had been there for more than a thousand years.”(abc10)
British efforts to bring the Zionists and the Arabs together didn’t do so well. It lead to the Arab Revolt of 1936. It was the first sustained violent uprising of Palestinian Arabs in more than a century. The British government appointed a commission to investigate a solution among Palestinian Arabs and Jews. And in 1937, the Peel Commission recommended Palestine be partitioned into three zones: an Arab state, a Jewish state, and a neutral territory containing the holy places. To hopefully keep everyone at peace.
As the riots were ending, the British government issued the White Paper in 1939. It rejected the commission's plan, stating it was "not feasible." According to AICE, the document stated Palestine would be neither a Jewish state nor an Arab one, but an independent state to be established within ten years. So the hope was back on. (abc10)
Important to note: though the White Paper didn't let Jewish people in anymore to Palestine, this time period was World War Two. What was World War Two based on? Removing all Jews and those without German blood from the face of the Earth. So understandably the Jewish people in all of Europe frantically ran and fled for their lives to seek safety. I have sympathy for anyone trying to flee from the Holocaust. Palestine was one of these areas, frankly anywhere the Germans could not touch them.
With the UN seeing all this violent abruptness, they decided that it may be a good idea to talk with the Palestines to hopefully make a peace deal to allow some of Palestine to be a Jewish state. Ultimately they quickly said no, even the Jews only owned 10% of the land already, and quicker than one could imagine, the Palestines were quickly only given 45% of the land. To cause more chaos, the British gave up it's mandate in 1948, which led the Arabs and the Jews to fight it out themselves.
On May 14, 1948, Israel was officially declared an independent state.
“When Britain announced that it was withdrawing its troops from the region, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, declared the establishment of Israel as a new state in Palestine, which led to the first Arab-Israeli war because the neighboring Arab countries declared war on Israel to stop it from consolidating itself,” Atamaz said. “It ended with defeat for Arabs. Israel actually was able to even expand its territories.” (abc10)
In June 1967, following a series of maneuvers by Egyptian President Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel preemptively attacked Egyptian and Syrian air forces, starting the Six-Day War. (Global Conflict Tracker)
This later led to the displacement of Palestines due to the expanding of Israel. And to this day, this is what Palestines fight upon; for territory back. "The West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are occupied territories, which means they are still under Israeli occupation.” says Serpil Atamaz.
"The War of 1967 is the most important one. At the end of this war, Israel gained a big victory. It occupied the remaining Palestinian territories. Whatever was left in the hands of the Palestinians became an occupied territory. This occupation was supposed to be temporary. It was regarded illegal by the United Nations. However, the occupation continues to this day. The West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip are occupied territories, which means they are still under Israeli occupation.” (abc10)
Considering From A Jew Perspective
As a Protestant myself, who reads the KJV Bible, looking back at foresay the Bible and the Old Testament you can validly state that Israel belonged to the Jews first, and it was theirs to live solely on for more than 4,000 years. It's the real facts.
It's a known fact from those who have read the Old Testament that Abraham moved to the land of Israel where he lived with his family, raised his children and purchased land to bury his wife and himself. And from there on, expansion of the Jewish community grew.
After Abraham came Isaac and Jacob. Jacob, who was named Israel by God, had twelve sons whose families became the 12 Tribes of Israel.
Approximately 3,000 years ago, the Jews established a monarchy in the land that includes Israel, Gaza, the West Bank (Judaea and Samaria), the Golan Heights, parts of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. (The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee)
(The map above shows the lands occupied by
the 12 Tribes at the time of the unification by King Saul.)
You can read forward on valid and proven Biblical facts in this website below:
As stated further above, Palestine did exist, but after the Jews. The Romans occupied Jerusalem and Israel in the first century BCE. The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee says, "The Jews revolted against Roman Rule about 130 years later during what became known as the First Jewish Revolt. In response, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple (70 CE). Many Jews were slaughtered by the Romans and most left the country, but some Jews remained. The Romans renamed Judea “Palaestina” in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land. It was from that point forward land became known as Palestine."
Maps from the 19th and early 20th century of “Palestine” demonstrate Palestine was seen historically connected to Jews. This video below shows various maps through time recognizing that the term Palestine applies to the Jewish nature of Palestine from well before the Ottoman Empire.
The Jewish were here far before the Islamic Conquest! “Palestinians” were not there first – Jews have continuously been on the land for over three thousand years.
Some Things to Keep in Mind by the The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee
According to a British census in 1864, Jews constituted a majority of the population of Jerusalem. In 1875, an Ottoman census of Jerusalem confirmed the Jewish majority in Jerusalem and another in 1905 showed Jews represented two-thirds of the Jerusalem population.
It is inaccurate to say the State of Israel only came into existence because of the Holocaust.
The plan for the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine was created long before the beginning of the Holocaust!
It is inaccurate to say Palestine and Israel defines a nationality. Palestine and Israel simply describes a geographic area.
The people referred to today as Palestinians are not indigenous to the land. Jews, on the other hand can claim they are indigenous.
Jews didn’t just take over the land – they purchased it, they developed it, they grew the country.
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