Palestinian Territories

Answer 1

"Invaders arrived with guns and forced them out."

Answer 2

Answer 1 is a rhetorical answer to this rhetorical question, when in fact a more accurate statement might be: Arabs that remained in Israel and whom chose to live peacefully became what is known as Israeli Arabs, and Arabs that either participated in pogroms or sided with Arab nations who sought Israel's destruction Identified themselves as "Palestinian".

Arabs prior to the six day war in 1967, were given aid from Arab nations and were informed that if they remained after the loss of the Jordanian controlled (woe to Jordan if they were to establish a homeland for the Palestinians when they had a chance) West bank, they would lose this aid and Arab propaganda told them they would have no safe haven.

Additionally, many Native Palestinian Arabs residing in Jordan (also part of the original Palestinian mandate) were not recognized by the ruling family in Jordan favored by the Brittish for fighting the Turks during WWI, rose up against the Jordanians and were massacred on a very large scale by the Jordanians. (For more information read about the founding of the PLO and Black September.) Today, of course The King of Jordan styles himself as a Champion of Palestinian Rights and argues for the "Right of Return" as he would be happy to rid his own country of any Malcontents.

Arab Nations continue to exploit the Arabs that remained in Israel as a method of creating political and security problems as they were unable to destroy Israel in conventional wars.

Surely, Palestinian Arabs are the odd men out in middle eastern Politics as are the Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, and the Copts (who live under Arab rule with no homeland). But placing the blame exclusively on the founding of Israel is unbalanced.

Yes, Palestine was a country. When Israel was created in 1948, the land was occupied by the British and before that the Turkish Empire. When the UN created Israel after the Holocaust they wanted to split the land in half. Half as Palestine and half as Israel. Arabs did not like the idea. As the British retreated from Israel all the neighboring Arab countries tried to take over Israel. A war ensued and as the Jewish people pushed back their Arab neighbors they declared the land Israel. Palestinians today who live in the West Bank were Jordanian before the war, but never went back to live Jordan, because they want to stay in their home country. The West Bank and Gaza both are Palestinian and are still in Israel, but are run by their own Palestinian governments. Palestinians are determined to get THEIR land back.

___________________________________________________________ Palestine has been semi-autonomous (the Palestinian Authority) since renouncing war on Israel in the 1990's. As stated above, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza now govern themselves, but they are not an independent country. They are still technically part of Israel. A study of history will show that this land has had many rulers before the Israelis, the Brits, and the Turks. But as the Arabs say"our land will be back".

Pro-Palestinian Answer

Israel stole the land via safety zones or forced those out of work and bought the land for a pittance. Israel continues to occupy the stolen land and defies all peace talks.

Only recently Israel murdered an opposition leader while peace talks where being negotiated in Russia. Israel has no interest in peace or dividing the land equally.

Answer

The Occupied Palestinian Territories are a source of conflict because Israel has control of the territory, but is not well represented by the civilian population of the region. Palestinians have a claim to that piece of land and Israel has actively prevented the realization of that claim through the use of settlements. Palestinians have actively prevented the realization of their own claim by circumventing the peace process and, in the case of Hamas, actively seeking to torpedo peace talks and launching rockets at civilian areas with the intent to sow the seeds of conflict.

To see general causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, please see the Related Question below.

This question seems to be fishing for "the Gaza Strip and West Bank". However,

neither of these territories is "in" Israel, and Israel is not fighting to acquire either

of them. The Gaza Strip is completely administrated by Hamas, and the West Bank

is under partial Israeli Military Occupation, but is a foreign territory.

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Another contributor added:

The only "piece of land" that one could accurately describe as "being fought over in

Israel" is Israel itself. The government and general population of Israel are determined

that their nation shall survive as a sovereign and autonomous entity, while a large group

of other nations, both neighboring and worldwide, are equally determined, to the point of

periiodic military and terrorist action, that it shall not.

Goals of Hamas

The following are the goals of Hamas as described in the Charter of Hamas, a link to which has been provided below. Each bulletpoint references the Article of the Charter where these views are discussed:

• To Resurrect an Islamic State (9)
• To Control the entire area of "Historic Palestine" which encompasses all territories controlled by Israel. (11)
• Killing Non-Muslims Living in "Muslim Lands" (12)
• To Refuse to Actively Participate in Any Peace with the State of Israel or International Organization Committed to a Peaceful Solution (13)
• Ending of Zionism (14)
• Compelling All Palestinians to Wage Holy War (Jihad) to Take Back "Historic Palestine" (15)
• Women Have a Specific Function That Is Different from Men in the Holy War (17)

Description of Hamas

Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip and the largest and most influential Palestinian militant movement along with the more moderate Fatah party and has a military wing called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas is viewed by most Western analysts as an obstacle to the Arab-Israeli peace process and the goal of a two-state solution. As a result, Western nations, including the United States, have tried to embolden the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority while isolating Hamas, which has historically kept strong ties to Iran.

Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian spiritual leader who became an activist in the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both of which were seized by Israeli forces following the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1973, he established al-Mujamma' al-Islami (the Islamic Center) to coordinate the Brotherhood's political activities in Gaza.

Hamas' primary base of popular support is in the Gaza Strip, where it has maintained de facto control since its 2006, when it surprised many observers by winning the majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. Hamas ousted the remnants of Fatah from Gaza by force in early 2007, and the new Hamas-led government was summarily dismissed by PA president and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. The result of the bloodshed was a de facto geographic division of Palestinian-held territory, with Hamas holding sway in Gaza and Fatah maintaining the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Hamas' control over the area was established after the Hamas party won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006,[4] and ousted Fatah officials during the Battle of Gaza in 2007.[5] Fatah, Hamas' political and military rival, controls the West Bank.[6] Both regimes - the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas administration - regard themselves as the sole legitimate Palestinian government.

Since there are a number of different Israeli-Palestinian Wars and there are different belligerents in each of them. The Arab countries most often involved have been Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. See the Table Below for more information.

Note: Every Arab-Israeli War involves Israel, although in the Persian Gulf War of 1991 Israel did not retaliate when attacked.

Note 2: Palestine can refer to Palestinian Militias, the PLO/Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority.

Note 3: The Six Day War of 1967 is not listed below because it did not actively involve Palestinian Combatants. However, this war was a watershed in Palestinian History since it brought the entire former British Mandate for Palestine under Israeli control.

This list is not exhaustive.

Years of WarIsraeli NameArab NameEgyptIraqJordanLebanonPalestineSaudi ArabiaSyria1947-1949War of IndependenceAn-Nakba (Catastrophe)YESYESYESYESYESYESYES1956Suez Crisis / Sinai CampaignTripartite War of AggressionYESNONONOYESNONO1967Six-Day WarSix-Day War / An-Naksa (Setback)YESYESYESNONONOYES1980-1982Lebanon WarLebanese Civil WarNONONOYESYESNOYES2008-2009Operation Cast LeadInvasion of GazaNONONONOYES (Gaza Only)NONO2012Operation Pillar of DefenseOperation Blue SkyNONONONOYES (Gaza Only)NONO

Answer 1

The Palestinians were greatly saddened by the creation of the State of Israel, because they believed that the land that had physically belonged to their parents and grandparents should have been theirs for inheritance. In their minds, it did not make sense that a group of German, Polish, French, English, and Russian speaking people should claim land that their ancestors had not even visited for centuries. Even by the time of Israel's Declaration of Statehood, less than half of the land within the UN proscribed borders of Resolution 181 was owned by Jews. Therefore, the idea of Jewish State being even more physically expansive than the land already taken was alarming.

Answer 2

Many of them felt consternation. However, within a couple of decades it became clear that the Jewish state greatly raised the standard of living of all its inhabitants; that it allowed everyone to vote; and that it enabled freedom of religion in a part of the world in which totalitarianism is all too familiar.

Those non-Jewish inhabitants who have decided to live peacefully have found that Israel can be a pleasant and prosperous place. There are many thousands of Arab citizens in Israeli universities, and they are providing the country with very many well-trained doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.

Answer 1

there are many different veiws on who lived there first, i say that the Jews lived in israel first...... Palestine was never a country before the Palestinians and for Saudi Arabia i have no idea

The Hurrians, a people related to the Georgians of the Caucasus, lived in Israel (or Palestine) and Syria long before any Semite came near the area; they built the world's first dolmens in 10,000 BC; they are the Horites and Rephaim of the Bible (like Og and Goliath). In 9000 BC they built the world's first city in southern Turkey. They spoke a Kartvelian language. Northern Arabia was most likely inhabited by Hurrian relatives (around 10,000 BC) and southern Arabia was entirely Nilotic African. In 10,000 BC, an African tribe called the Nostratic people invaded southern Arabia from Ethiopia and eventually ended up on the southern shore of the Black Sea in Turkey. They were the ancestors of the Semites, Hamites, Indo-Europeans, Uralics, Altaics, and others. They brought the Adam story with them from Africa, and were the people involved in the Flood in 7300 BC.

Answer 2

Israel/Palestine: This area (prior to the Muslim conquest in 634-638 CE) was a Byzantine Imperial province. The majority of the population was likely Orthodox Christian with a substantial Jewish minority. The Christians would likely have identified as ethnically Byzantine, Phoenician, Canaanite, Samaritan, etc. The Jews would have identified only as Jews.

Saudi Arabia: The dominant population in Saudi Arabia since time immemorial was the Arabs. Prior to Islam, most Arabs were henotheists, which means that they believed in multiple gods but believed that one of those gods was superior to all of the others. Minorities of Arabs were Christians (mostly of heretical sects) and there were also a minority of Jewish Arabs.

Reasons for Palestinian Opposition to the Zionists/Israelis

The Palestinian Arabs were actually quite adamant about not giving the Jews any land or space as soon as it became clear in the late 1920s that the Jews intended and would soon realize their own state apparatus. They attacked the Jewish settlement in Hebron in 1929, scalping and beating many Jewish inhabitants. They organized militias to attack other Jewish settlements, they petitioned the British government to prevent Jewish immigration (resulting in the White Papers of 1939 which banned Jewish immigration during the entire Holocaust when a place of refuge was most necessary), and consistently fought against Jewish Militias who were targeting the British colonizers instead of uniting to overthrow the British before trying to decide a resolution. The Palestinian Arabs did not support a two-state solution prior to 1967 and did not accede to the idea of a two-state solution until the Oslo Accords of 1993. Still to this day, the idea of a two-state solution (as a final solution) is relatively unpopular in Palestinian circles. The reason that Israel exists as a country is because of UN Resolution 181 and the Zionist Jews who used that resolution as the basis upon which to declare a country and defend it from military onslaught.

Other Arabs Supporting the Zionists/Israelis

Unlike the Palestinians, there were several non-Jewish populations in Mandatory Palestine that made moves after World War II to indicate their support of the Yishuv (Zionist community) and the formation of a Jewish State. The Bedouins (especially in the Galilee Region) had strong ties with the early settlements and quickly developed a rapport. Some Bedouins even learned Yiddish to familiarize themselves with these returning Jews and numerous Bedouins and Jews would farm together. This friendship turned into a natural alliance in the late 1940s, with Bedouins organizing under the Star of David against the Sedentary Palestinians who had historically maligned them. The Druze also supported the Yishuv because of the way that Jews defended Druze access to Nabi Shu'ayb (the Tomb of Jethro). The Druze fought alongside the Yishuv during the Jewish-Arab Engagement (1947-1949). There were also some Palestinians, like the citizens of Abu Ghosh who passively assisted the Yishuv during the Jewish-Arab Engagement. All three of these groups were incorporated into the State of Israel without prejudice. So, while the Yishuv certainly used these groups to their advantage, it was well-rewarded with full-scale Israeli citizenship. With the partial exception of Jordan, no Arab country has treated the Palestinians in this way at all.

Answer 1
The Greeks are a group of people who lived in Greece. The country if Greece is surrounded by the Aegean Sea, and the capital city is Athens. The Greeks first came to Palestine around 14 BCE, and left their mark on Palestine, Through government, culture, art and many more.

Answer 2

The first group of Ancient Greeks who directly influenced Palestine were the Philistines who were a Cretan people who settled in what is now the Gaza Strip. Ancient Greeks also competed for trade and colonies across the Mediterranean Sea with the Phoenicians from northern Palestine. There was also a high degree of wine and olive trade between Palestine and Greece.

In 323 BCE, Alexander the Great of Macedon brought Hellenic Culture to Palestine through his conquest of the Persian Empire.

Answer 1

It is unclear. We know that the first self-identifications of various Levantine groups under one banner of being "Levantine Arabs" occurred roughly 800 years ago, but many of these groups were already living in the Levant before that point, they just had a different ethnic association.

Levantine Arabs did not begin to self-identify according to the names of the modern nations (Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian, and Palestinian) until those nations came into existence in the 20th century.

Answer 2

Levan people were the frist in Isreal ...The problem is none of the Israelies now are the same as ancient Israelies ..since arabs,egyptian,romans took over ...Levans would be the frist Isrealies...that got mixed by many different people..judeaians where not at frist considered Israelies intill israel took over judea rule..frist the Arabs took over israel then romans took over..the Isrealies now and palenstinian now only differ in religion but not in actull race..most of this is only bought on by government and not the people...some families are mixed of jews and muslims ...jews got to stay and muslims were kicked out...which families still have been trying to get there families back in...this all bought by power of government ..so infact none have cliam to be real Israelies since most are not ture Levans...

[See the Discuss link to the left, for discussion of this answer.]

As this is a thematic question you may have different answers.

Answer 1

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has its origins in the confrontation between immigrant Zionist Jews in the Mandate of Palestine and their interaction with the indigenous Arabs in the 1920s and 1930s. Before that point, the immigration into the land had been a small trickle and Arabs were not terribly concerned. However, the Jewish immigration in the 1920s was quite large and disruptive. By the mid 1930s, both sides had developed militias which they used both to attack British colonial institutions and each other. In 1947, as UN Resolution 181 was being debated, a full-scale war erupted between the Jewish militias and the Arab militias. When Israel declared its independence in 1948, the Arab States joined in the War which caused it to be internationally recognized and called the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9.

Therefore, if we use the terms Israeli and Palestinian retroactively to those people who would eventually identify or would be identified as Israelis or Palestinians, the conflict started during the 1920s. If we require that these terms be strictly applied, then the conflict started in 1948 when Israel declared its independence.

Prior to the Conflict

Up until the early 1800s, most Jews in Europe had little to do with Arabs and most Jews in the Arab World lived as second class citizens in the Dhimmi System. The Dhimmi, or non-Muslim under Muslim occupation was required by the Pact of Omar to pay a number of taxes that were connected with his Dhimmi status. The most famous was the jizya, which was a tax that Dhimmi had to pay for Muslims for the right to not be killed where they stood for not acknowledging Mohammed's Prophecy; it was a form of humiliation. Additional taxes included the kharaj, which was a tax on non-Muslim land-holdings in the Muslim World. The kharaj was so untenable that most Dhimmi were forced to live in the cities where the tax would not be applicable. The above answer is also incorrect as concerns justice. On paper, a Christian or Jew could testify against a Muslim, but in reality, such testimony was not acceptable and the attempt to defame a Muslim would receive retribution. Christians and Jews were not allowed to build new houses of worship, restore old houses of worship, proselytize in any way (this included religious debate or dialogue), or allow wine or pigs to be shown in public.

Foreign Imperialism in the Arab World

As the 1800s began, European leadership began to colonize much of the Old World, especially Africa and southern Asia. Most of the Islamic World was not under direct colonial authority, but was on a short leash maintained by colonists. As a result, the segregated Dhimmi System gave way to a new, modern bureaucratic system where Europeans were the dominant class and natives, regardless of their religion were second-class, unless they became part of the bureaucracy. To do this, a person would require an education in order to become literate and be able to successfully perform functions in the Arab World.

Many Jewish groups (like Alliance Israélite Universelle) along with similar Christian groups came to the Arab World with European educations and European perspectives. They met up with their co-religionists and began to educate them so that they could become part of the new colonial bureaucracy. This created a fundamental imbalance from the way Arab society had been traditionally structured. Now it was the Muslims who were underrepresented in government, who were less educated, who were less free to practice their faith, and who were humiliated with laws passed against their interests. This would lead to many Arab Muslims painting the Jews and Christians who were native to their countries as foreign imperialists and usurpers. The hatred of Christians would eventually wane and remain marginal as Christians fled the Middle East in massive numbers in the 1920s and 1930s never to return. As the Jews had no intent of leaving, the hatred felt for them would only grow.

Arab Nationalism and Anti-Semitism

The European concept of a nation-state was beginning to become more and more popular in the Arab World since nationalism was the term used for resisting colonial and imperial authorities. It had worked for most of the countries in the Balkans of Europe, it had led to the independence on several Eastern European States, and it was internationally accepted as a legitimate form of resistance. Nationalism, however, is not terribly kind to minorities within any nation-state's area, since the concept of the "nation" was dependent on the idea that all of the people in any particular nation were of the same ethnic stock and heritage. Jews in the Arab World were branded by this system to be "the Other" and were regarded as traitors, spies, thieves, and fifth columns.

Arab Nationalism made a link between Arab Identity and Muslim Practice. This alienated Jews, Christians, and other minority religions from really participating. These issues started cropping up in the early 20th century, especially after World War I (1914-1919). The anti-Semitic nature of Arab Nationalism was only increased when Nazism became prominent in Europe (1933-1945). Arab Nationalists opposed British and French Imperialism and saw the Nazis (who also opposed British and French interests) as an ally and ideological equivalent. As a result of the increasing Anti-Semitism, many Jews in the Arab World felt uncomfortable and a small wealthy minority of them were bullied, stolen from, and executed. This, naturally provoked Jewish reciprocal hatred of the Arabs who were treating them so barbarically.

European Jewish Response to European Nationalism and Nazism

The issue of Nationalism in Europe was quite similar to that in the Arab World, although Herzl recognized the issue before it had made it to the Arab World (but while it was very persuasive in Europe). However, European Jews believed that Europeans in general were culturally superior to other peoples and that it would be unnecessary to worry. 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 to Herzl and several like-minded individuals that the Jew could not be integrated into Europe. Jews formed Zionist Congresses that debated how, when, and where would be the best place to create a State specifically for Jews.

By the 1910s, the Zionists were well-organized and were able to effectively petition the British to declare His Majesty's intent to create a Jewish State in the southern Levant (where Israel is now). Jewish Settlers began to arrive in Mandatory Palestine and built an economy. The Zionists consistently reached out to Arabs during the Mandatory Period to create collective society. The Bedouins responded well, especially in the Galilee, as did the Druze. The Settled Arabs (who would become the Palestinians) did not wish to mix with the Zionists and formed militias which would attack the Yishuv (Zionist settlements in Mandatory Palestine). The Yishuv retaliated and the fights between the Palestinians and the Yishuv continued throughout the 1930s and 1940s relatively sporadically.

Mandatory Palestine was still seen as a backwater and dangerous place by most European Jews who preferred to live in the European cities they knew and loved. They thought a Jewish State to protect the Jewish people was unnecessary, but the mass extermination of the Holocaust fundamentally changed this perspective. After that, most Jews supported any partition plan that would guarantee them any country, even the hugely prejudicial Peel Commission plan, so that they and the Palestinians could live in peace, but it was the Palestinians who rejected the right of the Yishuv to be in any position of power in any area of Mandatory Palestine.

Jews were able to capture enough sympathy to get UN Resolution 181 passed, which would permit the declaration of independence of a Jewish State (and an Arab State) in Mandatory Palestine. The Arabs said that they would resist and in late 1947, they began fighting against the Yishuv in the Jewish-Arab Engagement of 1947-1949 (which included the Arab-Israeli War of 1948). From that point on, Israelis and Palestinians have been in conflict.

Depending on who you ask, Israel or Gaza can be responsible.

Gazan Perspective: It's Israel's Fault

Israel broke the peace treaty and subsequently launched operation 'Cast Lead' a massive military offensive against a civilian population. It banned foreign press from entering Gaza. It used white phosphorus (a chemical weapon) on UN sanctioned hospitals and schools (a war crime). Within 23 days the death toll had reached 1,284 Palestinians dead, 6 IDF by enemy fire and 3 IDF by friendly fire. When the operation had finished Israel had claimed more land from the Gaza strip in the name of security zones for their protection.

Israeli Perspective: It's Hamas' Fault

Hamas failed to control both its own militants and those of the group Islamic Jihad to abide by the terms of the hudna (ceasefire) that they had negotiated with Israel and did not seem interested in renegotiating. They fired large volleys of rockets repeatedly into Israeli territory. After growing Israeli resentment over the attacks, the Israeli government saw fit to use a military incursion to stop the rocket bombardments.