Palestinian Territories

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.

Answer 1

No, it one of major cities in Palestine.

Answer 2

Currently the territory is in de facto control of the Militant Hamas Organization which has severed ties with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Gaza, by virtue of this is de facto an independent country, although no country recognizes it and most see it as an integral part of any future Palestinian State.

First, there is the debate as to whether Palestine is a country or not. For the moment, let us avoid that debate and consider "Palestine" to refer to any are within the former Mandate of Palestine not under de jure Israeli control.

There are currently two distinct Palestinian Governments: the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-Government.

The Palestinian Authority is the only internationally-recognized legitimate government of Palestine. It is a Parliamentary Democracy formed of an elected Parliament. The two main parties prior to 2007 were the political wings of Fatah and Hamas. After the Palestinian Civil War, Hamas has been removed from the Parliament, effectively making it a Fatah dictatorship.

The Hamas Government is an unrecognized "rogue" state. It is typically considered a One-Party Dictatorship with recognized heads in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, there is a central coordinating and directing wing in Damascus, Syria.

Answer 1

Israel does not take anyone´s land.

Answer 2

It depends on how the term "Palestinian Land" is understood. There are two competing definitions for this term and based on each definition there is a different answer.

1) All lands of the Mandate for Palestine: Israel is occupying the majority of these lands because it has the legal, historical, and political to do so. According to UN Resolution 181, a Jewish State could be formed out of part of the British Mandate for Palestine. Since the territory was controlled by the British at that time who had willfully ceded jurisdiction to the United Nations and the vote passed at 2/3, this UN Resolution has legal effect. As much as the Arab Nations may not like it or approve of it, International Law remains law.

2) Parts of the West Bank: The creation of the British Mandate for Palestine did not erase many of the older Ottoman Laws, nor did it change the actual ownership of property in the various areas of the Mandate. As a result, there were large areas of Palestinian territory that had no villages and whose owners lived in other countries. Several Israeli Settlements in the West Bank, such as Ariel, were built on lands in the West Bank that had not been occupied or used by the Palestinian Arabs at all. There are also numerous Palestinian cities with historic Jewish sites such as Hebron, Nablus (Shchem in Hebrew), etc. where Jews wish to be in order to be closer to their ancestors. The Settlers believe that they have the right to live closer to the various holy sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. For many of them, this is part of why God allowed Israel to conquer the West Bank in the first place. They want to raise their children and build a life near where Jewish civilization actually began, in the hills of Judea and Samaria which form the West Bank.

Answer 1

Not all Jews hate Palestinians and not all Palestinians hate Jews, but the ones that do have many reasons. One reason of hatred that arises between them is that many of the Palestinians have ties with Hamas, and some other terrorist organizations. The reason that Jews have hatred toward those involved with Hamas and terrorist organizations is mainly because of goals of the organizations, and also because of their deceitful manor, especially in treaties and agreements with Israel. Another reason can be because of the hatred many of the Palestinians have toward the Jews, much of which comes from the Palestinians beliefs in Islam.

One reason for Jews' problem with Islam is because of the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. Many of these teachings called for the destruction of all other religions, and especially the Jews' religion because of the very decent of Muhammad's followers, fellows, and perhaps Muhammad himself. The very split between the religions, Islam, and Judaism, comes from Ishmael, and Isaac. The children of Isaac mainly became Jews and were promised a certain land. The children of Ishmael mainly became Islamic, and lived in the lands and the lands surrounding, that the Jews were promised. Many times the Jews forced the children of Ishmael, and others, out of their promised land, through war.

Palestinians today usually identify themselves as Palestinians for two reasons. Firstly the land known as Israel today was once known as part of Trans-Jordan, and also Palestine. After the end of the war between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire declared the territory of Palestine to become a home of the Jews, however there were some Arabs living in the area. Thousands of Jews moved into the area and began improving the land and the area prospered. Secondly came the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 where many Arabs were displaced from their home countries where many came in as refugees to the future Israel. People affected by either of these reasons, who were, or are, Arabs, often identify themselves as Palestinians. It is for the reason that the Jews believe that these Palestinians are trying to take the lands of the Jews of Israel for themselves that the Jews have begun to hate the Palestinians; because many of the Jews believe that the Palestinians are claiming current Israeli, and Jewish, lands for themselves, and through violent means are taking their lands, do some of the Jews hate the Palestinians.

Answer 2

Because the Jews want all the lands that Palestinians are living on.

Answer 3

Jews do not hate Palestinians, it is Palestinian terrorists that hate the Jews. Forcing Israelis to take undesirable action to protect their citizens from attacks.

Answer 4

Not ALL Jews hate Palestinians. Of course there will always be a group of people who hate another group. SOME Jews hate Palestinians because of the events that is going on over there. Palestinians felt threatened; their homeland was taken away from them, they were kicked out of their homes and out of the countries, and people looked down on them. Over the years, sadness and anger was formed over the lose of their land, the deaths of family members and friends, and the destruction of their land. You can't blame the Palestinians to be anger. Some retaliated and that retaliation is why some Jews hate Palestinians.

Answer 5

Not all Jews hate Palestinians and not all Palestinians hate Jews, but the ones that do have various reasons. The problems began with the advent of Zionism which is an ideology calling for a homeland for all Jews in historic Palestine. Up until this time, Jews who have always lived in historic Palestine existed in relative harmony among both Muslim and Christian Palestinians.

Prior to Israel's 1948 declaration of Independence mass Jewish immigration to Palestine began. Thousands upon thousands of European Jews flooded into Palestine. The native Palestinians were of course dismayed by this especially seeing as the Jews showed great hostility towards the natives often excluding them from jobs. Similarly American settlers who arrived to the Americas showed great hostility toward the Native Americans. This is a common trend in all colonial conquests.

In 1948 Israel declared 'Independence' in what was once Palestine. Over 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed and their peoples forced to flee their homeland. There are many recorded instances of massacres being carried out by Jewish terrorist organisations such as the Irgun and Stern Gang against Palestinian civilians. The hatred & violence between Palestinians and Zionist Jews was born.

It must be noted that not all Palestinians are Muslim. Prior to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 nearly 20% of Palestine's population were Christians. These Christians were mainly to be found in Bethlehem and Nazareth. This is why many argue that the hatred between Palestinians and Zionist Jews is not a religious but national struggle. Many of the first Palestinian "terrorists" or "freedom fighters" [depending on which view you take] were Palestinian Christians. Today Palestinian Christian makeup only 2% of the Palestinian population. Research has shown that the dwindling numbers are due the Israel's continued occupation and oppression of the Palestinians. Palestinian Christians find it easier to move the western countries as they find more tolerance toward them because of their shared Christian faith.

Many Israeli Jews believe that the Palestinians main goal is to "drive the Jews into the sea". However Palestinians believe that Israel's continued settlement expansion into Palestinian land is slowly destroying any hope of an independent Palestinian homeland promised to them by both Israel and the International Community. The Irony is that Palestinians often cite that it is the Israeli state through continued expansionism which is actively driving the Palestinians into the sea. This can be one reason as to why the two parties may hate each other.

Another reason why Israeli Jews may hate Palestinians is because of the relatively recent phenomenon of suicide bombers which targeted Israeli civilians. However the Palestinians see such actions as a natural reaction by an oppressed people and often cite statistical figures such as; on average 15 Palestinian civilians are killed by Israel's military to every one Israeli who is killed by a Palestinian militant. For this reason organizations like Hamas are seen as 'freedom fighters' by many Palestinians including Christian Palestinians but are viewed as 'terrorists' by the vast majority of Israeli Jews.

There are more reasons why the two parties may hate each other. The following list is just a few:

1) Palestinian children may grow up hating Jews as in most cases the only Jew they have seen has been an Israeli soldier.

2) Israeli Jews often have never met any Palestinians (except for the 20% of Palestinians who live in Israel). All they know of Palestinians is what they have seen or read in the news. This may be explained through the segregation policies of the Israeli Government.

3) Thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli jails often without charge or trial for months on end. This includes many children.

4) Israeli Jews may see the Palestinians as a burden to the realization of a 'Jewish state' as they tend to have higher birth rates.

5) Palestinians often feel humiliated as they are often held at Israeli checkpoints for hours on end and in many cases are harassed by Israeli soldiers. One extreme case was the recent footage of Israeli soldiers shooting a unarmed bound and blind folded Palestinian in the foot for no reason. There have been reports by human rights organizations of pregnant Palestinian women giving birth at checkpoints because Israeli soldiers have refused the woman entry to get to a hospital. The Israel Human Rights Organisation B'tsalem has many reports on Palestinians who have died at Israeli checkpoints because they were refused access to medical treatment.

These are of course not all the factors which are involved in the causes of hatred in the Holy Land. Religious ignorance may also play a part. For example many Israeli Jews believe that Islam which most Palestinians follow is intolerant toward other faiths. However Judaism and Christianity have thrived in Palestine for over 1500 years under Islamic rule. This is the reason why Synagogues and Churches still remain standing today in holy cities such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Palestinian Christians have existed in historic Palestine for well over 2000 years. They live in relative harmony with Muslim Palestinians and often regard each other as brothers. Some Palestinians believe that all Jews wish to ethnically cleanse Palestine of all non-Jews. This is because many religious Jews in Israel view Palestine-Israel as a land for the Jews only. They believe that the land was promised to them by God. They also believe that they have divine permission to drive the Palestinians out from their homeland. However there are many secular Jews who do not hold these fundamental Jewish tenants. There are also some (1%) of Orthodox Jews who are completely anti-Zionist meaning they do not recognize the state of Israel. These Jews are even have a seat within Palestinian parliament.

Conclusion:

As we can see the conflict between in Palestine-Israel is very complex as are the reasons for hatred. As was the case with South Africa peace and reconciliation can only be achieved among equals. An end to Apartheid in South Africa saw in end to violence and paved the way for reconciliation. Desmond Tutu the South African archbishop has compared the current treatment of Palestinians under the Israeli Government as being worse than that of Apartheid South Africa. Unless a similar solution which freed the blacks of South Africa from oppression and brutality is found in Palestine-Israel the cycle of hatred will continue.

Answer 6

What Jews are angry about as concerns Palestinians is their consistent denial of historical wrongdoing and segregation (such as the dhimmi status, the jizya and kharaj taxes, and humiliation in general) towards Jews (preferring to believe like Answer 5 that everything was perfect under Muslim rule), their failure to educate their children in the virtue of tolerance (instead teaching them literalist Qur'anic interpretations which inform them that Jews are the children of swine and that jihad will not end until all Jews die), the promulgation of anti-Semitic teachings (such as the Protocols of Zion and Holocaust-Denial), their desecration of Jewish holy sites, repression of their Christian minorities and other vast human rights abuses in their native countries, their tacit or explicit endorsement of violence against the State of Israel, and a failure to accept the validity of a Jewish State.

Palestinians are angered primarily, as concerns the Jews, with the issue of Jews forcibly resettling Palestinians and having eliminated hundreds of Palestinian cities. This grave violation of the Rights of the Palestinians greatly incenses them. Another issue that bothers the Palestinians and other Arabs is the Jews have, in spite of their numbers, garnered an important place in the world economy. Even though most rational Arabs realize that Jews do not actually control the economy, there are a disproportionate number of Jews in prominent economic and political positions, whereas Palestinians have been almost completely excluded from the World Economy, even by their fellow Arabs. Palestinians are also angry that Israel appears to be expanding its territory with its annexation of East Jerusalem (in contravention of the Arab understanding of UN Resolution 242) and continued settlement of the West Bank. Jews outside of Israel do not criticize these actions.

At the end of WW2, the United Nations gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people to be their homeland. After seeing the evidence of the Holocaust, the world was horrified at the death and torture that the Jews had endured. Even still, many nations were still prejudiced enough that they didn't what them "in my back yard", so the Jews and Allies agreed that the land of Israel would be given to the jews. Immediately the rest of the Middle East vowed that the Jews would not be welcome as neighbors and that Islam would drive the Jews into the Sea. They tried. Since that time, Islam has continuously tried different methods to destroy the Jews and since the Holocaust, the Jews have vowed, "Never again." The problem goes back to well before the Holocaust. In 1917 the British government promised the Jews a "national home" in Palestine, which was under Ottoman (Turkish) rule. British forces were advancing into the region at the time. There were problems.

• It was unclear what "national home" meant.
• The area was already inhabited by Arabs.
• There was a widespread view among Arabs that they had been promised independence by Britain.

So when Britain gained control of Palestine/Israel there were all the ingredients for serious trouble. After all Britain seemed to have promised the same territory to two groups of people!

Having said this, one needs to remember that in 1917, with the collapse of Tsarist rule in Russia, it was widely (but mistakenly) assumed that there would be a sharp fall in antisemitism and that therefore relatively few Jews would want to settle in Palestine/Israel.

The trigger for the UN establishing the state of Israel in 1948 was that the area had been under British rule since 1918 and had been in a state of civil war (Arabs versus Jews) from 1936-1939 and again from the end of WW2. In 1948 Britain informed the UN that it just couldn't cope with the situation any more.

It is misleading to say that the UN gave Israel to the Jews as some kind of present or consolation for the Holocaust. The point was that Britain just could not cope with the problems in Palestine/Israel and in effect handed the territory to the UN, which then split it into two parts, which fought one another.

This mess was largely of Britain's own making. As the author Arthur Koestler, a Jew who spent some years in the area, once remarked of the 1917 Balfour Declaration:

• "One nation promised another the land of a third nation".

[Please see the Discussion Section to see other views as to what started the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian people as well as the Related Questions below.]

There are a myriad of reasons underlying and undergirding the Jewish-Arab Conflict in recent times and it is important to evaluate all of these rationales. However, it is important to note that the actual military conflict is an international one with set international players. The spiritual conflict is much more pervasive. At the core for this difference is that Jews and Arabs see their communities as being brethren in the same way that all Americans see each other as brethren. There is a saying among Arabs that goes "If an Arab falls in the desert and nobody hears him, everybody still feels him."

NOTE: Jews are an ethno-religious group, while Arabs are merely an ethnic group with an incredible variety of religious difference (similar to the way that White connotes a race with an incredible variety of religious differences). These days, Jews do not typically target Moslems with faith-based issues (i.e. we abhor you because of the false prophecy of Mohammed) and Moslems similarly do not target Jews on faith-based issues (i.e. we abhor you because you say that Isaac was taken to Mt. Moriah instead of Ishmael being taken to Saudi Arabia).

Additional Information is available at the Related Links below.

Causes for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:

1) Hallowed Land: The Jews consider the Land of Israel (which is not necessarily all in the borders of the State of Israel) to be a holy piece of land in that God promised it to the Jewish people as an eternal inheritance. Thus, some Jews, especially Religious Zionists see resettlement of the Land of Israel by Jews to be part of God's plan and mandate and therefore do everything in their power to settle it. In addition, it contains specific religious and historical sites such as the Western Wall and the Old City of Jerusalem, the Cave of Machpelah, the Old City of Jaffa, and the Sanctuary of Shiloh among others. Moslems also consider Jerusalem holy because of Mohammed ascending to Heaven on the Buraq over Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Both cultures want to ensure maintenance and access to the sites which they feel have been limited by the other. (Jews claim that Jordanians used the Western Wall as a landfill and Arabs argue that Israelis arbitrarily close off access to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

2) Zionism: A number of Jews in Europe began to feel that they were being permanently and deliberately excluded from parts of European society because of the prevalent racial and pseudo-scientific forms of Anti-Semitism. They believed that there was no possible equality between European nationals and their Jewish residents and were disinterested in the Andalucian Solution because they did not want to be second-class citizens. They believed that the Jewish people needed to form a political apparatus (an Independent State) to defend themselves and their civil rights. Zionism originally had purely secular connotations, but with the advent of Religious Zionism, the powerful secular cause of Zionism joined with the Hallowed Land idea to provoke conflict. Zionism is strongly opposed by many for many different reasons. See the link at the bottom of the page for Anti-Zionist arguments and rationales.

3) Halutzim & Jewish Land Acquisition: In the First Zionist Congress in 1897, the main resolution was to acquire, by any means, a piece of land to be made a country for the Jews. Early Zionists tried to figure out how to attract Jews to leave their country of origin and come to build this Jewish State. The general consensus always revolved around building a State in the Land of Israel/British Mandate of Palestine since that would make attraction easiest. (The idea of the Jews Returning to Israel had a very romantic notion to Jews at the time and still does today.) As a result, politically influential Jews began purchasing tracts of land from the Ottoman Pashas in control of the territory without indigenous consent and promptly began to develop it. The indigenous Palestinians took issue with the migrations of these Halutzim (Jewish Pioneers) but as the land was bought legitimately, they had little recourse but to allow them to arrive. This occupation and colonialism were certainly not greeted with friendly handshakes or pats on the back by the indigenous inhabitants who stood to lose everything.

4) Balfour Declaration, the Holocaust, and UN Resolution 181: The European Climate also supported the Zionist idea of forming a Jewish State in the Middle East as it would allow Jews to leave Europe and stop being a European problem. This prevented the Europeans from having to absorb the refugees themselves, rapidly increased the numbers of Jews in Israel. In addition, Britain issued the Balfour Declaration which declared Britain's intent to create a Jewish State in the Middle East. This, however, was not seriously considered until the Holocaust proved to Europeans (and Jews) that Europe was no longer safe for Judaism. UN Resolution 181 promoted a partitioning of the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State. While this resolution did pass (and is in fact legally binding) many Arabs find issue with its decision because there were not enough independent Arab States to vote it down.

5) Palestinian Exodus & UNRWA: This is probably the most thorny issue between Israel and Palestine. During the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9 (in which Palestinian militias also participated), many Palestinians were forced out of their homes by Israeli soldiers due to brutal atrocities. In addition, many left because they feared similar outcomes. Also Arab leaders encouraged the exodus, because they believed that they could destroy Israel and safely return all of the Palestinians after the conflict. However, this did not happen and a large number of Palestinians (some estimate four million) are in UNRWA Refugee Camps and there is a large Palestinian Diaspora. They have not forgiven Israel for not allowing them to return after the War.

6) Occupation of the West Bank & Gaza: In 1967, Israel fought the Six-Day War against the Arab States and took over control of the West Bank and Gaza. These territories did not come under Israeli Civil Authority and have been instead militarily controlled. Palestinians who live in these territories have to contend with Israeli checkpoints, military provisions, and incoming settlers (from the Hallowed Land section). This occupation is perceived by Palestinians to be a repression of their Right to a State and their ability to lead normal productive lives. Settlers in the territories act in a very cavalier fashion (similar to cowboys in the Wild West) and steal property owned by Palestinian families for generations in the name of Religious Zionism. Zionist Squatters are a huge problem in cities like Hebron where these individuals have "liberated" over a quarter of the city from its Palestinian inhabitants and begun to drive a wedge into those communities.

7) Blockade of Gaza & Dependence of the West Bank:Due to the militancy of Hamas, Israel has found it necessary for defense to form a blockade around Gaza and to only allow certain materials into the territory. This has resulted in a Human Relief Crisis in the Gaza where the average caught in the struggle barely have enough food, heat, and light to adequately survive. On a different token, the West Bank (as controlled by the Palestine Authority) is a patchwork of separate unconnected jurisdictions. As a result, the West Bank leaders depend on Israel for defense coordination, tax collection, and assurances of safety from settlers. This creates a secondary occupation-dynamic where the Palestinian government is bound to the desires and wishes of the Israeli people in addition to its actual constituency.

8) Retaliation: This one is fairly simple. Each side honors its fallen by engaging in retaliatory killings and attacks. In addition, the retaliation is usually on a larger scale than the offense. (I.e. one death results in ten retaliatory deaths etc.)

Causes for the Arab-Israeli Conflict:

1) Restatement: Since the Arab-Israeli conflict sees a strong connection between Arabs in Palestine with Arabs outside of Palestine, the above eight causes are repeated in full here.

2) Andalucian Solution: Many Arabs capitalize on the situation in Andalucia as being the perfect solution to create Arab-Jewish harmony and are angered when Jews do not agree. In Andalucia (Islamic Spain of the 700s-1000s), Christians, Moslems, and Jews all had a flowering of their cultures and an interchange of ideas. It was one of the most progressive societies in the World for its time and certainly a much better time/place for Jews than many countries in the Modern Era. Jews get angered by the fact that Arabs do not note that Jews were second-class citizens in Andalucia who were granted the privilege of settling in Andalucia (a privilege which was revoked on several occasions). Jews want to be able to control their affairs and have civil rights, which Arabs seem not to understand when they advocate this model.

3) Pan-Arab Nationalism: Beginning in the 1950s and reaching its apex in the 1960s and 1970s, the wave of Pan-Arab Nationalism began to assert that all Arabs should live in one united country that would span from Morocco on the Atlantic Ocean to Iraq on the Persian border and all lands in between. This view was based on the history of the Umayyad Caliphate in the year 700 C.E. which controlled all of that territory and formed the basis of the modern Arab Identity. It also harkens back to the Abbassid Caliphate of a couple hundred years later which was the pinnacle of Arab scientific accomplishment. The thought of Pan-Arabists was that a Pan-Arab State would bring about a second unity of the Arab peoples like the type seen in the Umayyad days and the cultural flowering seen in the Abbassid days. Israel was a logistical problem for that ideology in that it cleanly separated North Africa (Egypt specifically) from the Levant countries of Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. More importantly, it represented a non-Arab country in the region that according to Pan-Arabism should be an Arab State.

4) Anti-Colonialism: Israel was seen by many in the Arab World as being a European colony in the Middle East because much of the state infrastructure was built by Europeans. This, of course, did not take into account the Mizrahi Exodus (see below) which makes Israel a much more mixed nation, but there are some elements of truth. Israel was conceived primarily by European Jews, funded with European and American money, and built in a Western Governmental style. The Arabs saw this as an attempt by Europeans to influence their affairs and control their futures without having to maintain their untenable pre-World War II empires. This belief was exemplified by the British, French, and Israeli responses to the Suez Crisis. Jews argue that Israel is not a colony because it is loyal only to its own needs; it just so happens that those needs align more often with modern, liberal states than those of its Arab neighbors.

5) Lack of Respect: Arabs feel maligned by the Great Powers in the World and see Israeli support by those same Great Powers as a way of denying them a seat at the Global Table. Arabs have a strong sense of cultural pride, believing themselves to be the heirs of the Abbassid cultural legacy of science, math, philosophy, and historiography. However, they are weakly involved in International Agencies, their countries rarely have pull over anything except oil prices, none of them are allowed nuclear weapons or any other sort of powerful weaponry, and their hopes and dreams are largely ignored. Unlike the Arabs, though, the Jews have managed to make Israel a cornerstone of American and British foreign policy and guarantee their international protection and seat at the Global Table. Therefore, the Arabs have a lot of negativity towards Israel for securing that spot.

6) Israeli Imperialism: There is a belief in the Arab World that it is Israel's intent to expand and colonize other Arab regions in the Levant. They point to Israel's occupation of the Sinai Peninsula from 1967-1982, the Israeli occupation of Lebanon south of the Litani River from 1982-2000, and the continued holding of the Syrian Golan Heights conquered in 1967 and annexed to Israel in 1981. Religious Zionists claim that Israel should spread from the Nile to the Euphrates which encompasses a territory occupied in full or in part by six different countries. Most Jews and Israelis say that Israel has enough trouble controlling what little territory it does have and that the idea of controlling more is absurd, but the past extraterritorial occupations leave a different taste for most Arabs.

7) The Mizrahi Exodus: Jews become irate over the fact that the Arab countries refuse to recognize the events that led up to the Jewish exodus from the Arab World. Jews from the Arab World or Mizrahi Jews, did not live in the Andalucian Solution as most Arabs uncritically believe, but lived in countries which limited their rights, organized pogroms (such as the Farhud in Baghdad), stole their property, and executed and disappeared family members. Between 1950 and 1952 over 500,000 Mizrahi Jews immigrated to Israel where they were forced to live in camps in the desert until proper shelters could be built for them. (The population before the immigration was around 600,000 which made this immigration almost impossible to accommodate.) Arabs often claim that the hostility towards the Mizrahim (if they admit that such things occurred) were just outbursts and that they do not treat minorities as badly anymore, but refuse to publicly atone for the treatment or be self-critical about this history.

8) Biblical Causes: Arabs and Jews consider themselves descended from Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac respectively. Abraham aggressively kicked his maidservant Hagar and her son Ishmael out of the house in order for his son Isaac (born of his wife Sarah) to have primary attention. Jews and Christians assert that Abraham had a more special relationship with Isaac, taking him up a mountain in an attempt to sacrifice him. Moslems allege the same story, but with Ishmael. So, many claim that Jews and Arabs have a sibling rivalry of sorts coming from this moment. However, both the Bible and Qur'an make it very clear that after the halted sacrifice, Ishmael and Isaac actually spent a good deal of time together and remained on good terms. In fact, Isaac's son Esau married one of Ishmael's daughters.

Causes for Arab Anti-Semitism and Arab Anti-Zionism:

1) Restatement: Since Arab Anti-Semitism and Arab Anti-Zionism is strongly linked to Arab interests, all previous causes are repeated in full.

2) Arab Un-Integration in Europe: Arabs are finding it difficult to integrate into European society because of the European definition of what a European is. Typically those definitions involve an ethno-racial character (which Arabs cannot become) or a very strongly disdainful attitude towards religion (which Arabs are not interested in ascribing to). This has led to riots across Europe (especially in France) over French-born Arab rights as citizens. In response to the glass ceiling present in these countries, some Arabs have acted out. One of the clearest symbols of European governmental authority is its protection of Europe's remaining Jewish communities and endorsement of the State of Israel. Therefore these ideologies are attacked and institutions like synagogues are vandalized as a way of showing Arab frustration with European governmental authorities.

3) Financial Unbalance for Arabs: Arabs feel that Jews have much more financial pull than the Arabs do and this unbalance draws their ire because they believe that what the Jews have was partially stolen from them and their historical achievements. Jews counter by saying that there are quite a number of rich Arabs in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, but that these emirs choose to spend their money personally instead of professionally or philanthropically.

4) Jewish Failure to Reciprocate Past Treatment: Some also believe that when Islam was civilized and glorified centuries ago, the Jews were treated fairly and that their rights were respected and recognized. Muslims thought of them as their friends and let the Jews lived with them on the same land, using the same natural resources without any barrier. All were equal in the eyes of the Muslims. Only Jews who hate and wanted to destroy Islam were the ones who could not be tolerated by the Muslims. It is important to note that many Jews are particularly angry that Muslims fail to recognize that their treatment of Jews, while enlightened for the period, falls far short of the modern concept of "Equal Rights" and that the situation for the Jew under Islam was one of humiliation and vast inequality in both taxation, job openings, and general feeling of being second class.

Causes for Jewish Anti-Islamic Sentiment:

1) Restatement: Since Jews feel a strong kinship to Israel, all causes in the Israeli-Palestinian and Arab-Israeli Conflict are repeated in full.

2) Islamic Un-Education & Un-Censorship: Jews are angry that in many mosques, messages of tolerance and acceptance of Jews are few and far between. The message spread is one of hatred and a desire to prevent reconciliation. This is much more common in conservative Arab countries than it is in Western nations where numerous liberal Islamic leaders (even those who are Anti-Zionist) vigorously oppose Anti-Semitism. In addition, television in Arab countries tends to be strongly biased against Jews and Israel, uniting the two in such shows as Farfur by Hamas. Finally, Arabs are strongly discouraged from reading and discovering other points of view in the world, preventing them from having an honest understanding of what Judaism stands for and believes.

3) Islamic Opposition to Free Speech & Use of Threats: Moslems have notoriously protested violently at cartoon portrayals of Mohammed, Qur'an burnings, and other forms of free speech or religious protest. Islamic leaders have also called for death threats to those who hold views counter to their own, the most famous of which being the Fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie. Most Jews see these reactions as barbaric, as do many Western Moslems who are ashamed of their more excitable brethren. This ultra-conservative and unwavering view makes many Jews fearful that there cannot be reconciliation with Arabs and Islam because they would be unwilling to accept an open dialogue.

4) Islamic Support for Terrorism: This is pretty straightforward. Jews are angry that Moslems all over the world contribute to organizations whose prime motive for existence is the slaughter of Israeli and Jewish civilians. Similarly Arabs are angered whenever Jews give contributions to Israel or to the IDF because they feel similarly that Jews are paying to kill Palestinian civilians.

5) Clean Up Your Own Backyard: Jews are bothered that many Arabs spend so much energy accusing Israel of Human Rights abuses and other infringements of international law, but do not turn the lens on themselves first. Jews believe that Arabs should be angry about the torture that openly goes on in Saudi Arabia and Syria, the genocides that occurred all over Iraq, the suppression of free will in Algeria by a military junta, and numerous beatings and stonings that go on in the Arab World. They argue that the Arabs should clean up their own backyard before they attempt to tell Israel how to behave.

6) Arab Messiah: Some believe that the Jews have been keeping a sense of hatred towards the Muslims when Mohammed was chosen as the official last Prophet for humankind till eternity. They believe this problem among the Jews and the Arabs did not happen before Islam came. Both tribes lived happily and respected each other before Muhammad announced his prophet-hood. As Mohammed came from the Arab lineage, this led to anger and frustration amongst the Jews as they were hoping that their promised Messiah would be among the Jews itself. They did not accept that their Messiah was not from their own kind. They believe the Jews kept hating Muslims and tried to destroy them. It is important to note that this belief is circulated far more often among Arabs as a way to detract from the above-mentioned reasons. Jews typically do not see Mohammed as a prophet in the lineage of prophets (the way that Moslems see him) and generally see him as a False Prophet or a Leader of the Goyim.

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.