Albert smith   11 #205 Posted March 18, 2018 No. The land was taken away from the Turkish/Ottoman Empire, following WW1. That was over twenty years before the British Mandate created by the League of Nations became Israel (1948). So Israel did not 'take it away from other people'.  And before they settled it was a desert ,no agriculture ,no Industry's nothing but a waste land that the few Arabs who actually lived their just wanted to leave . The Israeli's made the desert bloom while others just sat on their arssses. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
blake   10 #206 Posted March 18, 2018 (edited) while that is not entirely untrue and totally without foundation the Zionist sound-bite 'a land without a people, for a people without a land', is stretching it to say the least. There WERE Arabs as well as a smaller number of Jews there who had been there for hundreds of years before Zionism. But the Arabs of Palestine had no concept of their being a seperate people with a seperate identity distinct from Syrians, and/or Transjordanians. Also quite a lot of the Arabs of Palestine weren't 'indigenous' to the area at all by the time 1948 came around. Quite a lot of Arabs in Palestine had only been there since all the development by the British and Jews since the Mandate period began attracted them. There was quite a lot of Arab immigration into the area after about 1920 from the neighbouring countries. So Arab Momo Barghouti immigrates from impoverished Baghdad in about 1937 because he hears there's pretty well paid jobs going on building sites in Tel Aviv and Haifa. 10 years later after not doing so bad, it all comes up on top for Momo, and Momo gets caught up as a civilian in the 1948 war, legs it to Lebanon, and ends up in this camp. Three years after that, the Iraqi Momo is classed by the UN as not only a Palestinian, which is news to Momo because neither Momo or any other Arab for that matter ever regarded himself as being a Palestinian before, but a Palestinian REFUGEE too. And 70 years later the descendants of Momo some of whom may still be in Lebanon but who could by now be anywhere, are STILL classed 'Palestinian' refugees. It's just ridiculous. Edited March 18, 2018 by blake Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...