Is Israel part of Palestine

Answer 1

There are two operative parts of this question which must be discussed before any viable answer can be given.

1) What is Palestine? Palestine, prior to 1949, was never used in the context of describing an actual nation or state. It was a regional term that came from the Roman Province Syria-Palaestina. From the 1500s-1919, Palestine was part of several different Ottoman governates like the Vilayet of Beirut, the Vilayet of Damascus and the Mutasaffirat of Jerusalem. The British Mandate of Palestine was the way that the British merely decided to redraw the lines. While there is certainly a legitimate Arab nationalist aspiration to create a Palestinian Arab state, there never was such a state in the past.

2) What does "take" mean? Take in this context traditionally means to forcibly assume control of something that was previously controlled by someone else. Since the British, a foreign power, were in control of Palestine, not the indigenous Arabs, the Israelis could not take Palestine from the Arabs. This is similar to how the United States annexing Texas is not construed as taking over Mexican land. Texas and the United States were states separate from the Mexican population of Texas even though the majority of Texans at the time of annexation were Mexicans. Israelis fought the British for the control of a region of land. That land just happened to be called Palestine because of the way the map was drawn.

Result:

As this explains, Israel did acquire the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine as the result of a war that was declared against it. However, this does not mean that Jews took Palestine if we hold to the definitions that we have already reasonably established. It bears mentioning that from its inception, Israel has sought to establish peaceful relations with everyone else. Unfortunately, it has had the need to defend its civilians almost constantly, all the while maintaining the strongest efforts to mitigate collateral harm.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Yes it is, both historically and legally.

Palestine is the name given to what is today known as the West Bank (the West Bank of Jordan), but it includes much more territory than that.

Ironically however, Jordan was also a part of (eastern) Palestine, as was southern Lebanon and southern Syria, all the way down to the Red Sea.

This area (which includes modern Israel), was the Biblical territory of the Jews 3000 years ago. And almost all of this territory (with the exception of southern Lebanon and Syria) is the territory mentioned in the Balfour Declaration, which is the document used to promise Palestine to the Jews at the end of WWI, when the British defeated the Ottomans (Turks), who controlled Palestine at the time.

However, only a few short years after the Declaration (1921), with problems of Arab disquiet in Palestine, and newly discovered oil in Arabia, the British cordoned off 70% of Palestine (which it had no legal authority to do, incidentally) and gave it to the Arabs. That is how Jordan was born.

It is for this reason that the terrorist group the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) not only attacked Israel, it also attempted to instigate a coup d'etat in Jordan, as well as kick-start the Lebanese civil war, as well as the events in Syria which led to the violent putdown by Syrian authorities resulting in the Hama massacre.

Also if you look at the emblem of the PA (Palestinian Authority) you will see that their 'Palestine' includes all of the territory of modern day Israel.

Answer 2

Yes and No. Palestine has two different definitions and Israel has two definitions.

Palestine 1: All of the lands of the former British Mandate of Palestine.

Palestine 2: All of the lands not under Israeli control in 1950 that serve as the basis for any current two-state proposal for the State of Palestine.

Israel 1: All of the lands under Israeli control in 1950.

Israel 2: All of the lands under Israeli control, both military and civil as of 2012.

Now for the spatial relationships.

Israel 1 is entirely within the borders of Palestine 1, but smaller (78%)

Israel 1 (78%) + Palestine 2 (22%) = Palestine 1

Israel 2 and Palestine 2 overlap in much of the West Bank Territories. Israel 2 and Israel 1 overlap in all of Israel 1's territories. Israel 2 does not control the Gaza Strip territories which are part of Palestine 1 and Palestine 2. Israel 2 also controls some Syrian territory not in either Palestine.

Answer 3

The terms "Palestine" and "Israel" are nebulous terms without qualifiers.

The British Mandate of Palestine encompasses all lands currently under control of the State of Israel (with the exception off the Golan Heights). However, the Palestinian Territories which are considered to be the future Palestinian State are entirely outside the 1949 borders of the State of Israel.

Answer 4

There are two operative parts to that question. There is the implicit question as to whether a Jewish State is something that should exist. There is the explicit question as to whether the geographical location chosen for this Jewish State is proper for its mission.

1) Why a Jewish State: Herzl explained quite well that the European concept of a nation-state was dependent on the idea that all of the people in any particular nation were of the same ethnic stock and heritage. Jews were branded by this system to be "the Other" and were regarded at best as possible equals and at worse as traitors, spies, thieves, and fifth columns. When the Dreyfus Affair turned out marches in Paris that said "Death to the Jews" on account of a kangaroo court against a particular guiltless Jew, it became clear that the Jew could not be integrated into Europe. After the Holocaust, the strongest proof that the Jew and the European Nation-State were irreconcilable, this view persists. In Europe, it is now directed at the Muslims since the Jews are not large enough of a threat to the European System. Unlike Muslims, though, which can return to their countries of origin if the discrimination becomes intolerable, the Jews did not have such a place. This is why the Jewish State is necessary. Since it came into existence it has accepted Jewish political refugees from over 50 nations and flown missions at its own expense to rescue Jews from at least 10 nations.

2) Why Palestine: Ahad Ha'am explains that the Jewish Soul is intrinsically connected to his history and in the same way that a German-American can never be as properly German as a German in Germany, the People of Israel can never be as properly Jewish if they are not in the Land of Israel. The relics in that land speak to a Jewish sensibility and character. There are also religious reasons as expounded by Rav Avraham Kook which posit that the development of a Jewish State in Israel hastens the arrival of the Messiah. There are additional political reasons why Palestine and not Europe. As explained above, the European Culture is strongly anti-Other and making a Jewish State there would have fostered much more contempt and alienation (ironically).

Answer 5

Answer 1

During the days of the Roman Empire, Rome (in a police action in the then state of Israel) changed the name of Israel to Palestine. After World War 2 Jewish occupants of then state of Palestine petitioned the newly formed U.N. for recognition to change the state name back to Israel to form a homeland for the Jew's, this was voted on and confirmed by the majority (no doubt aided by atrocities by nazi Germany in WW2). So Israel and Palestine are representative of the same land in the Middle East. Today there is talk of a new Palestine (for displaced refugees or their descendants from the Israeli war of independence) on the west bank, a relatively small area between Israel and Jordan but there is no official state of Palestine at this time, though there is still a Palestinian people that remained in the area after the Roman conquest.

Answer 2

Yes and No. Palestine has two different definitions and Israel has two definitions.

Palestine 1: All of the lands of the former British Mandate of Palestine.

Palestine 2: All of the lands not under Israeli control in 1950 that serve as the basis for any current two-state proposal for the State of Palestine.

Israel 1: All of the lands under Israeli control in 1950.

Israel 2: All of the lands under Israeli control, both military and civil as of 2012.

Now for the spatial relationships.

Israel 1 is entirely within the borders of Palestine 1, but smaller (78%)

Israel 1 (78%) + Palestine 2 (22%) = Palestine 1

Israel 2 and Palestine 2 overlap in much of the West Bank Territories. Israel 2 and Israel 1 overlap in all of Israel 1's territories. Israel 2 does not control the Gaza Strip territories which are part of Palestine 1 and Palestine 2. Israel 2 also controls some Syrian territory not in either Palestine.