Why do Israelis deserve Palestine?

Answer 1

Pro-Palestinian Answer

Israel does not deserve Palestine. They don't even deserve Israel. The Palestinians gave some of their land to the Jews after the Second World War out of generosity because nobody else wanted the Jews and they had nowhere to go. They named this land Israel. But a certain group from within those Jews, otherwise known as Zionists, have decided to repay this generosity by killing thousands of Palestinians so they can take the rest of the land and wipe Palestine off the map. Now, who can say that what they are doing is right and they deserve Palestine??? No one. So the correct answer to this question is that Israel doesn't deserve Palestine and that they don't even deserve Israel which is also part of Palestine.

Pro-Israeli Answer

Or alternatively, it is true that Jews have lived in Israel for some 3500 years (longer than most ethnic groups have lived wherever they are living) and have a well established claim to that territory, and that they also did arrange to have control ceded to them by the British colonial power that controlled the region following WW II (although the British had actually promised the same territory to both the Jews and the Palestinians, creating confusion and conflict that has persisted to this day). Jews have no other country; Israel is the only Jewish country that there has ever been. In comparison, Palestinians are a major ethnic group in Jordan, a nation larger than Israel, and the only reason why they have been refugees for the past 64 years (as of the year 2012) is that they have been kicked out of all the Arab nations in the region, and then blame their problems on Israel. All the terrible violence of the Arab-Israeli conflict has come about because of continual Arab attacks on Israel. When Israel dares to defend itself, as any nation would do, this is denounced as Israeli aggression, an accusation which the many enemies of Israel always accept as accurate, requiring no proof or logic. However, Israel refuses to commit national suicide despite all the demands of Palestinians and their many allies, and this is understandable, since Jews are also human beings, despite any claims to the contrary emanating from the Muslim world.

Pro-Israeli Answer 2

The way the question is written is to assume that it is not theirs, which is not the case in the slightest. According to historical, religious, legal, and political grounds, the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine at least partially, if not entirely, belongs to the Jewish people and their State of Israel.

1) Historically: The Jews have an undeniable presence in the land from at least 700 BCE until 70 CE and this is proven not only by the Biblical account, but from Assyrian Ruins, Babylonian documents, Hellenistic inscriptions, and Roman volumes. Jews had a continuous presence in the land from 70 CE until the present day (even though they were nowhere near the majority) even though they were forcibly deported from the territory. The fact that they survived, as opposed to the Arameans or Hittites who were similarly exiled does not illegitimate their claims.

In addition to the population-part of the historical claim, Jews have physical ruins and cities that are very sacred to them in the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine. The city of Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Bible. The city of Nablus used to be the Northern Metropolis of Shechem. Hebron was the first capital of Ancient Israel whence Saul ruled and David ruled until he conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Even more recent sites like Masada document the Jewish presence and struggle to persevere.

2) Religiously: The Jewish claim to have a connection to the land of the British Mandate of Palestine is firmly grounded in their religion. Jews as early as the Babylonian exiles wrote about returning to the land because God had promised it to them. According to the Pentateuch, God promised Abraham that piece of land. (This promise is even acknowledged in the Qur'an 5:20-21 and 17:104.) Many Jewish Holy Sites are in Israel such as the Kotel Hama'aravi (Western Wall).

3) Legally: By international law, the Ottoman Empire took the territory from the Seljuks and Abbassids by internationally recognized conquest. The territory was ceded to the British as a Mandate by the Ottomans as a term of surrender in World War I. (Even though the British had promised the territory to both the Arabs and Jews during the War, neither promise is legally binding.) According to the terms of the Mandate, even though the British were in control, the League of Nations had official jurisdiction. In 1947, the British gave direct authority to the League of Nations' successor, the United Nations, in accordance with the terms of their Mandate. The UN passed the 1947 Partition Plan that gave both a Jewish State and an Arab State the Right to Declare Statehood. The fact that the Arabs decided not to immediately declare such a state does not make the Israeli declaration any less valid. (It is important to note that Palestine did declare statehood on these grounds in 1988, which further cements the legality of this view.)

4) Politically: Jews invested a lot in building the political and physical infrastructure of the land even before they had control. Jews built farms, trained military brigades, created political parties, studied government, and defended themselves. This created a system that was able to repel the Arab Attacks in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, secure expanded borders in the Six Day War of 1967, and hold those borders in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Israelis were actually able to exert control over this territory.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but should capture the sentiment of the question.

It is also worth noting that the "generosity" spoken about in the Pro-Palestinian Answer above is a farce. Arabs in Palestine did not take in Jews by choice; they British allowed them to immigrate. Palestinian Arabs were actually adamant that the Jewish Immigration needed to stop. They first began by forming militias that targeted the Yishuv (Zionist Jewish Settlements), demanded that the British cease permitting Jewish immigration, and revolted from 1936-1939 when their demands were not taken seriously. In 1939, with Palestinian Arab support, the British released the White Paper of 1939 which effectively closed off Palestine to Jewish immigration throughout World War II and the Holocaust. Palestinian leaders such as Haj Amin al-Husseini also contributed to thousands of Jewish deaths in the Holocaust by alerting Nazis to Jews who were trying to make their way to Palestine illegally to save themselves and scuttling any plans to engage in "prisoner" exchanges that would release European Jews from the Camps. Jewish immigration to the area only resumed in earnest when Israel declared independence and finally allowed European Jews who were languishing in detention centers for nearly 3 years to come and settle down.

Answer 2

Answer 1

They don't deserve Palestine.

Answer 2

The way the question is written is to assume that it is not theirs, which is not the case in the slightest. According to historical, religious, legal, and political grounds, the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine at least partially, if not entirely, belongs to the Jewish people.

1) Historically: The Jews have an undeniable presence in the land from at least 700 BCE until 70 CE and this is proven not only by the Biblical account, but from Assyrian Ruins, Babylonian documents, Hellenistic inscriptions, and Roman volumes. Jews had a continuous presence in the land from 70 CE until the present day (even though they were nowhere near the majority) even though they were forcibly deported from the territory. The fact that they survived, as opposed to the Arameans or Hittites who were similarly exiled does not illegitimate their claims.

In addition to the population-part of the historical claim, Jews have physical ruins and cities that are very sacred to them in the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine. The city of Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in the Jewish Bible. The city of Nablus used to be the Northern Metropolis of Shechem. Hebron was the first capital of Ancient Israel whence Saul ruled and David ruled until he conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites. Even more recent sites like Masada document the Jewish presence and struggle to persevere.

2) Religiously: The Jewish claim to have a connection to the land of the British Mandate of Palestine is firmly grounded in their religion. Jews as early as the Babylonian exiles wrote about returning to the land because God had promised it to them. According to the Pentateuch, God promised Abraham that piece of land. (This promise is even acknowledged in the Qur'an 5:20-21 and 17:104.) Many Jewish Holy Sites are in Israel such as the Kotel Hama'aravi (Western Wall).

3) Legally: By international law, the Ottoman Empire took the territory from the Seljuks and Abbassids by internationally recognized conquest. The territory was ceded to the British as a Mandate by the Ottomans as a term of surrender in World War I. (Even though the British had promised the territory to both the Arabs and Jews during the War, neither promise is legally binding.) According to the terms of the Mandate, even though the British were in control, the League of Nations had official jurisdiction. In 1947, the British gave direct authority to the League of Nations' successor, the United Nations, in accordance with the terms of their Mandate. The UN passed the 1947 Partition Plan that gave both a Jewish State and an Arab State the Right to Declare Statehood. The fact that the Arabs decided not to immediately declare such a state does not make the Israeli declaration any less valid. (It is important to note that Palestine did declare statehood on these grounds in 1988, which further cements the legality of this view.)

4) Politically: Jews invested a lot in building the political and physical infrastructure of the land even before they had control. Jews built farms, trained military brigades, created political parties, studied government, and defended themselves. This created a system that was able to repel the Arab Attacks in the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, secure expanded borders in the Six Day War of 1967, and hold those borders in the Arab-Israeli War of 1973. Israelis were actually able to exert control over this territory.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, but should capture the sentiment of the question.

Answer 3

Israel does not deserve Palestine. They don't even deserve Israel. The Palestinians gave some of their land to the Jews after the Second World War out of generosity because nobody else wanted the Jews and they had nowhere to go. They named this land Israel. But a certain group from within those Jews, otherwise known as Zionists, have decided to repay this generosity by killing thousands of Palestinians so they can take the rest of the land and wipe Palestine off the map. Now, who can say that what they are doing is right and they deserve Palestine??? No one.

So the correct answer to this question is that Israel doesn't deserve Palestine and that they don't even deserve Israel which is also part of Palestine.

Answer 3

There are several reasons that Palestinian put forward as to why they should have a state in all or part of the Land of Israel.

1) Original Inhabitants: This is the strongest case for the Palestinians and goes back to how the Palestinians lived in the British Mandate of Palestine for at least 800 years as the consistent majority of people in the territory. They have love and reverence for the land and consider it to be an intrinsic part of their identity.

2) Atrocities have no Statute of Limitations:Many Palestinians assert that Israelis stole their land and possessions from 1920-1949, most violently during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9 when numerous massacres were perpetrated by Jewish militias to secure the exodus of the Palestinian People. These Palestinians assert that Israel should not be allowed to profit from this seizure of territory.

3) Muslim and Christian Holy Sites: The Palestinians have numerous holy sites that pertain to their religions as well in the British Mandate of Palestine. Jerusalem holds Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, the third most holy sites in all of Islam. There are also the Christian Monuments such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the cities of Nazareth and Bethlehem. Many Palestinian Muslims and Christians want to live in these places as they used to.

4) Arab Reception: Palestinians have been confined to refugee camps and occasionally attacked in violent pogroms by their Arab neighbors (like the attack on Sabra and Shatila in 1982 and Nahr El-Bared in 2007). Palestinians assert like the Jews that nobody is really looking out for their best interests other than other Palestinians and this is why they could never truly settle in another Arab State.

5) Never Allowed to Declare a State: Whether the Palestinians accepted UN Resolution 181 or not, they were never given an opportunity to Declare the Arab State which that Resolution gave them the right to do. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, Jordan and Egypt occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, effectively preventing the nascent Palestinian organizations from becoming a nation, even though they may have wanted to do so. In the present day, the United States has actively tried to prevent Palestinian access to the forums that would allow it to declare its Right to be a State because of its protection of Israel.