Neither Jews or Palestinians owned much land given in the partitions. Most was state land owned by the Ottomans and then the British, I believe at around 85%. By 1947 Jews owned roughly 7% and I believe the local Arab population owned roughly the same. I could be wrong but this is just what I remember from school.
Jews did not own the majority of land given to them in the partition but neither did the local Palestinians. Jews were a slight majority in the land given for Jewish state at I believe 55%, with 60% of the land given being the sparsely inhabited Negev desert. I think maybe Blankall means that Jews owned more land than local Arabs in the land that was partitioned for a Jewish state, but the majority of land was not owned by Jews.
The partition of land is confusing, Jews did not own the majority of land that was partitioned to them, but neither did the local Palestinians. 85% of the Land was passed from the Ottomans to the British.
I could be wrong about some of these facts, I don’t have time to look up sources.
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