Palestinian Territories

Answer 1

Here is what I think. As much as this contributor would like to see independence for Palestine, it must be a process, and it will take many years for the Palestinian Authority to gain strength. If Palestine gained independence too soon it would fall apart and someone else would take over, upsetting the balance of authority in the Middle East. If Great Britain had simply dumped its colonists on America and granted them independence, I think Spanish or French would now be the language in North America.

Answer 2

There are several reasons why Israelis are reluctant to give Palestinians independence:

Military Defense: One of the best military advantages of holding onto the West Bank is the Jordan River Valley. The river plunges precipitously on either side, making it a perfect tank-ditch for invading armies. This would force any invaders from the Jordanian side to use the bridges across the river and allow the Israelis have an effective defense. Additionally, the West Bank is the area of the former British Mandate of Palestine with the highest elevation. Several Air-Towers have been built in the Judean Highlands to spot air traffic moving around Israel and detect in-coming military planes. Without these positions, Israel leaves itself in a much worse position. Additionally, Israel becomes only 10 miles wide near Hadera, Israel if the West Bank is lost.

Holy Sites: The majority of Jewish holy sites in Mandatory Palestine are actually in the West Bank or East Jerusalem, which are both considered Occupied Territories. These include the Western Wall in Jerusalem and the entire Old City, the Cave of the Ramban, the "City of David", David's Burial Ground at Mount Zion, the Tomb of Samuel just north of Jerusalem, the city of Hebron and the nearby the Cave of Machpelah, Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, the tombs of Pinehas and the Elders of the Great Assembly at Awarta, and Rachel's tomb outside of Bethlehem. The Palestinians under Israeli occupation currently deface many of these sites and attack Jews who seek to pray at them. Jordanians actively forbid Jews from visiting these places when they controlled the West Bank in 1949-1967. The Ottomans were not great protectors of the region either.

Many Jews are worried that if the Palestinians gain full autonomy, they will prevent Jews from visiting and praying at their holy sites, especially the Western Wall. The Islamic Waqf, which owns the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque has actually said, "The Jews have no connection to the Western Wall. It is a Muslim site that was used by Mohammed to tie up his Buraq." The Waqf then claims that the Jews "made up" their claim concerning the holiest site in Judaism in order to facilitate Palestinian repression. With people so insensitive poised to gain power over Jewish Holy Sites if the Occupied Territories are devolved, it is not surprising that Jews are worried about handing over the Occupied Territories.

Issues with the Palestinian Government: Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah as it stands currently are probably some of the best negotiating partners that Israel will ever have, but they are not perfect. Fatah has routinely stated that it will not arrest Palestinian Militants as Israel has asked them to since they do not bow to Israeli Authority. Hamas is far worse, though. Their very charter makes clear that they oppose any peaceful resolution to the Conflict that results in anything other than a complete removal of Israel. Hamas has also proven that it is more capable of earning Palestinian sympathy than Fatah and it is possible that a Hamas government could replace Fatah if Palestine were actually allowed to vote on any leadership. Such a vote would create major problems for Israel in the "Military Defense" category since Israel would have a hostile state right on its border.

Example of Gaza: Many supporters of Settlement Withdrawal looked at the Gaza Disengagement in 2005 with high hopes. Jewish Settlers left the Gaza Strip and turned it over to entirely Palestinian control. The result was not peace or increased rights for Palestinians. The result was that Hamas took control and began to bombard Israel with a constant rocket barrage. The Disengagement in Gaza has resulted as of 2013 in two wars (Operation Cast Lead 2008-2009 and Operation Pillar Defense 2012) and thousands of Palestinian victims. Instead of rewarding the Israeli show of good faith with reciprocal good faith, the Palestinians took the withdrawal as a sign of weakness and preyed on the Israelis. Israelis are not interested in being bitten again.

Israeli Settlements: Close to 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank or East Jerusalem in several major cities like Ariel, Modiin Illit, East Jerusalem, Pisgat Zeev, Ma'ale Adumim, and Efrat. Entire neighborhoods, schools, universities, companies, and livelihoods have been built up in the West Bank, not to mention voters in Israeli elections. The removal of settlements is a difficult political and social issue within Israel as it would be very costly both monetarily and socially to uproot 500,000 people and resettle them.

Answer 1

ethnic cleansing campaign of Jordan

Answer 2

The answer you are likely looking for is the Nakba or Great Catastrophe, which corresponds with Israeli Independence in 1947-1949. However, 2,000,000 is not an estimate that any serious historian has made. Most agree that between 650,000-800,000 (with general consensus at 720,000) Palestinians became displaced refugees in territory not controlled by Israel after the war.

Answer 1

The answer is in the question. The term Jew is much older than Arab in a political sense. Jews and any Jewish state existed much before the Arab group of peoples, politically. About 3000 BC was the time people called themselves Jews, Arabs were not considering themselves a people until about 700 AD. Earlier these people were anything from Assyrians to Nabateans to precursors of the Yemeni, etc., etc. This does nothing to answer the question who "owns" Palestine. Ownership comes with possession. British and French troops "possessed" this region in the first part of the last century. Their weak rule allowed a large group of Zionists, most of which were of the Jewish faith, to invade the region under a comprehensive and well organized plan, partly legitimized by the British Balfour Act of Parliament of 1929, rescinded 1941. Of course, they had no legitimate right to make any judgment re this territory as they were supposed to be the trustees for the current residents under a mandate from the very politically weak League of Nations. Currently the divided State of Israel (approximately 40% of the Israeli voters favor expulsion of non-Jewish, 40% favor inclusion of all peoples in the State, 20% desire a non-Jewish state; thusly the political, economic, and social instability of the region in part illustrated by such a "loaded" or unrealistic and naive question as this article attempts to address) owns much of Palestine through illegal occupation of many types, including illegal settlements. As there is no power or court that will enforce whatever judgments are made by the very politically weak United Nations or world Court, the State of Israel's occupation of "parts of "Palestine" is a fait accompli.

Answer 2

"Arabs" in this context, is the Israeli propaganda word for Palestinians, and, as you might guess, Palestine belonged to the Palestinians long before anyone began changing the name on the maps to "Israel". Search for old maps and see for yourself.

Answer 3

The Levantine Arab identity, which is how the Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians self-identified prior to the 20th century, did not exist until the 1200s C.E. (The term "Palestinian" as an exclusive reference to those Arabs who lived in Mandatory Palestine, as opposed to both Jews and Arabs who lived in the Mandate, was not used until after 1948.) Prior to 1200 C.E. point, Palestine was made up of numerous different ethnic groups that had previously been Roman and Byzantine citizens. They were Phoenicians, Canaanites, Samaritans, Jews, Copts, etc., but not Arabs. Their ethnicity changed through the process of Arabization and their connection to the land similarly changed.

Therefore, if it can be established that the Jews possessed all or part of Palestine prior to 1200 C.E., then it can be said that Jews owned Palestine before Levantine Arabs ever existed. (Of course, it is worth mentioning that Levantine Arabs never ruled the Levant until the 20th century and were under Mesopotamian Arab, Arabian Arab, Egyptian Arab, and Turkish Occupation for centuries.) The Jews have several states that precede 1200 C.E. After having lived in Israel for over three hundred years in the era of the Judges, the oldest was the United Kingdom of Israel, which existed around 1000 B.C.E. (over 2000 years before the Levantine Arabs existed, let alone ruled themselves). The Kingdom of Judea, the successor state to the United Kingdom of Israel survived until 586 B.C.E. From 586 B.C.E. until 140 B.C.E., Palestine was under foreign occupation (Babylonian, Persian, Greek). In 140 B.C.E. the Jewish Hasmonean Dynasty took control and ruled the country for just over a century. At this point the Jews lost to the Romans and did not regain a state in their homeland until 1948.

So, Jews owned it first. Concerning Answer 2's advice to look at old maps, I second his urging; it would demonstrate perfectly that the Jews owned the land first. Concerning Answer 1, regardless of how you may feel about the Modern State of Israel, the question is asking about who owned it first; and Jews do not claim (and historians do not argue) that a Jewish connection to Palestine only began in 1948.

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. It is governed by Mahmoud Abbas also known by his nickname Abu Mazen.

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. It is governed by Ismail Haniyeh.