Quote:
Originally Posted by Envitro
I've staid away from this thread for a while, but seeing comments like this continuously online is what drives me kind of crazy.
People need to get a historical sense of what "Palestine" is and it what is never was. It was never a country, EVER, in the history of mankind. No people called the "Palestinians" ever existed before in recorded history. They are an amalgamation of Arab tribes that lived and worked the land now known as modern Israel and West Bank/Gaza Strip, land which was mostly owned by rich landowners in Damascus and elsewhere in Arab capitals. They sold that land to migratory Jews that were expelled from Europe and throughout the Arab world in the early 20th century, and sold at a premium to what the land was actually worth (sometimes up to 20x it's actual value).
The Arab farmers that had the land sold from under their feet by other Arabs were then expelled from the land by their new ACTUAL owners, the immigrant Jews. The partition plan even took into account Jewish land ownership when deciding on how to split up the Mandate, but the Arab population said no to every plan and decided to engage in war. What followed through several Israeli victories is what you see now. Israel even gave back land acquired via war victories over Egypt and Jordan as part of the peace accords with those countries.
This is a very simplistic summary, but the people who keep saying that the entire land of Israel belongs to these so-called Palestinians who were invented as a political tool need to understand that the land was (in most cases) not even theirs to begin with (they just worked it and got to live on it in exchange). Also keep in mind that the Palestinians have been in physical conflict with the Jordanian government for the same amount of time as against Israel. The Egyptians want nothing to do with them either. Why, you might ask? They don't recognize any of their claims and they in fact tried to take over Jordan to make it their homeland. Check into it...
Yes, lots of bad stuff has happened in the last 70 years, and Israeli leadership has made lots of mistakes too. To say otherwise is definitely foolish.
Yes, I believe that Israel should give all the land back and do land swaps that make sense for both parties to make a two-state solution work for everyone. Yes, the settlements are a horrible thing and I hate them. They have done nothing but cause negative political outcomes in Israel and abroad and they don't serve any real purpose.
But let us look at one simple fact: Which side of this horrendous historical conflict has managed to make peace with any one of it's enemies? Palestinians? NO, they can't even make peace with themselves. They want all of the "occupied territories" back, i.e. All of Israel. They don't consider "Palestine" to be pre-1967 border areas. They consider the whole thing to be theirs and they won't stop until they get it. You don't believe me? Check with someone who actually claims to be a "Palestinian" and then tell me what you found out.
I've spent quite a bit of time in that area of the world and there's a reason why there is no two-state solution.
/rant
Sorry, but I can't keep ignoring this massive elephant in the room when people mention the occupied territories.
|
I brought this up the last time the ridiculous point was made that Palestine was never a country. It doesn't matter, do you know how many countries never existed that came into being when the British empire dissolved? The word "Pakistan" was not a word until the 1930's. Which group as a majority had lived in the region prior to the creation of Israel for centuries, the Arabs or the Jews?
And no, the majority of Palestinians do not today consider all of Israel as Palestine. The PA has accepted the '67 borders, even Hamas has since 2009. You even state that the settlements are horrible, that's exactly what I'm saying.