Palestinian Territories

Following the end of the First world War, the British classified the 800,000 inhabitants of Palestine according to religion: 650,000 Muslims, 80,000 Christians and 60,000 Jews.

By the end of 1947, there were 1,300,000 Arabs (Muslims and Christians) and 600,000 Jews in Palestine. Over the previous thirty years, Palestine had witnessed an influx of Jews, some of it by illegal immigration. The purpose was to achieve an ethnic majority, so as to create a Jewish state of Israel. After the Israeli declaration of independence, the government encouraged Jews in the Arab lands to join their fellow Jews in Israel. Large-scale immigration also came from the ravaged countries of Europe, particularly the former Soviet Union.

• Answer 2

Israel had been the site of the First Temple, built by King Solomon; the dynasty of King David; the Second Temple, built by Ezra; and the Hasmonean Dynasty. It was where the Hebrew Prophets lived, and where the Mishna (Oral Torah) was codified. Also, many of the Torah's commands apply only in Israel.

For months now Gaza has been sending misiles into Israel. A peace treaty was established but Hamas, a terrorist group in Gaza, repeatedly broke this treaty by continuing to send rockets into Israel. Israel is simply responding to months of attacks. When the Peace treaty was ended by Hamas, the rocket fire when up to 80 per day. After Cast lead the rocket attacks went down to 2 - 3 a week

Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, like those in the West Bank, continue to be subject to Israeli control. For example, Israel controls Gaza's air space, territorial waters, and all border crossings. Palestinians in Gaza require Israel's consent to travel to and from Gaza, to take their goods to Palestinian and foreign markets, to acquire food and medicine, and to access water and electricity. Without Israel's permission, the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot perform such basic functions of government as providing social, health, security and utility services, developing the Palestinian economy and allocating resources.

2). Terrorists or freedom fighters depending on your point of view continue to resist the Israeli occupation with rocket attacks. The reality is the rockets contain no warhead and no guidance system. It can argued that the rockets are nothing more than a large firework with no powder. The mortality rate from rocket attacks since 2001 in Israel is 0.002%

3). In January of 2009, Israel broke the peace and 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 secuirty zones for their protection.

The following links detail some of the incidents that took place during 2009

Answer 1

No he was Jewish. This being a term originally coined for people from Judea (the southern kingdom) as opposed to Israelite which during the period of the two kingdoms was used for those from the northern kingdom of Israel.

When the Romans defeated the Jewish uprising in the second century (100 years after Jesus died) they wished to wipe out all signs of Jewishness in the region. They renamed it using a very Roman sounding name, 'Palestinia', which was the first time this term had ever been used.

After the Roman Empire fell and throughout the period of Ottoman influence, the name Palestinia was not used. The name 'Palestine' was resurrected to describe the area ruled by the British Empire under mandate after the first world war. It included the present day Israel, occupied territories and Jordan.

Between the wars 'Palestine was split into two with the area to the east of the Jordan river being given over to an Arab (Muslim) state originally called TransJordania (across the Jordan). This later became plain 'Jordan'. The remaining part (now much smaller in size) continued to be call Palestine. As Jews purchased property and moved into the area, they were originally called 'Palestinians'.

The UN agreed a partition of the remaining Palestine into two parts in 1948, the western part to become a Jewish homeland (but actually established as a secular rather than religious state) whilst a part immediately to the west of the Jordan River was to become Palestine another Arab Muslim state. Jerusalem was to be shared between the two.

Israel declared itself a state but Palestine did not. Arab-Israeli wars followed by which the surrounding Muslim nations hoped to eradicate the state of Israel. This did not happen and Jordan annexed what was intended to become Palestine leading it to be called, 'The West Bank' (i.e. of the Jordan).

After the 1967 war Israel captured all of the 'West Bank' or 'Palestine' from Jordan.

Palestine finally declared its statehood in 1988 but of course remains occupied by Israel as it has since 1967.

Answer 2

Was Jesus a Palestinian? No, not in the modern meaning of the term Palestinian. Although there are a small minority of Christian Palestinians, modern day Palestinians are mostly Arab moslems who live in the area that Christ once lived, but in Jesus' time the population was almost exclusively Jewish except for a small minority of Gentile (non-Jewish) immigrants, and the Roman occupying power.

Answer 3

Although Jesus was a Jew, and born in Bethlehem in the country of Judaea (this was known as the 'southern kingdom' with Israel, north of Judaea known as the 'northern kingdom' after israel split hundreds of years before), Jesus lived most of his life in Galilee, a region to the north of Israel, as his parents were from Nazareth, a small settlement there. Jesus spent most of his ministry in the Galilee area; he spoke the language of Galilee (Aramaic) as a first language and taught in the synagogues there. He was a Jew through-and-through, and, though he lived in the same part of the world as palestinians live today, in background, race, culture, language, and so on, he was not Palestinian but Jewish.

Answer 4

In response to "Was Jesus a Palestinian?" The answer is no. Jesus was, in all probability born in Bethlehem of GALILEE, near Nazareth in an area generically called "JUDEA". The name "Syria Palestina" was applied by the Romans after 135 A.D.following the Second Jewish (Bar Kokhba) Revolt. About 100 years after Jesus' death. So even technically, Jesus cannot be called a Palestinian. "Palestine" remained until 1948 when the even more ancient name, Israel was applied .The Arabs at that time did not call themselves "Palestinians" either, simply Arabs or Jordanians, depending on their nationalities. Now there is a movement by the PA (since the 1970's)to delegitimize anything "Israeli" or Jewish with a false history. I have even seen Islamic web sites that claim the holy family were Muslims! When well-meaning Christians or conscious revisionists change history to suit politics, TRUTH is the first casualty. The Palestinians, Islamicists and others of a like mind are "hitching a ride" on the Jesus Narrative to promote an anti-Judeo/Christian culture. Just look at the harassment, murder and forced emigration of first the Jews, now the Christians from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and other Muslim countries. They had lived there for thousands of years BEFORE Islam arrived...please don't help them by writing that Jesus was born in Palestine, it is wrong on every level.

Palestinians in the West Bank have a number of major problems. Some of these include:

• Aggressive Israeli Settlers who are allowed to brandish weaponry and intimidate Palestinians with no permitted recourse.
• An inability to refuse the directives of an Israeli Soldier concerning quartering soldiers in his house, examination of his property, his person at a checkpoint, or his person concerning a court summons.
• Numerous vehicular checkpoints constraining free Palestinian movement
• Palestinian "Liberation" Militant Groups which function like thugs and harass both Palestinians and Israeli Settlers and Soldiers.
• Ineffective and corrupt government under Mahmoud Abbas and his supporters
• Confiscation of certain parts of their property for Israeli Security reasons
• Being subject to Israeli Law and Israeli Military Courts even though they have no representation in the Israeli electorate.

Answer 1

Because :

Ibrahim (Abraham)is Muslim

Dawood (David) is Muslim

Suleiman (Solomon) is Muslim

Musa (Moses) is Muslim

Isa (Jesus) is Muslim

All the prophets are Muslims because sent from the same and the Only GOD (Allah) who got the same Curriculum.

Answer 2

The typical Pro-Palestinian view centers on the idea that Israel is a modern colony in the Middle East (as opposed to a return of a people to their lost homeland). In the narrative, prior to 1900, less than 10% of the population of what would become Mandatory Palestine was Jewish and the Fellahin or Settled Arabs were the majority. There were also a large percentage of Turks, Circassians, Bedouin, and Druze, but the Settled Arabs were still the majority. Zionist Jews or those Jews who desired to create a Jewish State cleverly manipulated the Great Powers, especially the United Kingdom into giving them the right to immigrate to Mandatory Palestine in large numbers without consulting the rights of the Fellahin. Additionally, Zionist Jews purchased large swaths of land from Turkish nobility without consulting the Fellahin who lived on that land for centuries but did not properly own it. As a result, numerous Fellahin were forced off of their land during the Yishuv period, Yishuv being the word for a Zionist Jewish settlement in Mandatory Palestine. The Jewish population in Palestine continued to rise until 1939 when the Fellahin successfully petitioned the British government to close off Jewish immigration. The Fellahin, who now identify as the Palestinians, have a right to that country based on this history.

However, Islam fundamentally opposes this view. Israel is a unique case and the Qur'an actually says that Allah is behind the creation of Israel. These views are established in 5:20-21 where Allah commands Moses to take the Holy Land for his people, in 17:104 where Allah claims responsibility for gathering the Jews to Israel, and 26:59 where the Qur'an gives the Land of Israel to Jews as inheritance. There is no point in the Qur'an that even alludes to Muslim control or right to rule any place in the Levant region. Unfortunately, as many Muslims would like to advocate the argument in the first paragraph of this answer, they conveniently ignore what their own book says.

20And, when Moses said to his people, "O my people, remember the favor of Allah upon you when He appointed among you prophets and made you possessors and gave you that which He had not given anyone among the worlds. 21O my people, enter the Holy Land which Allah has assigned to you and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah 's cause] and [thus] become losers."

AND

104And We said after Pharaoh to the Children of Israel, "Dwell in the land, and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering."

AND

59Thus. And We caused to inherit it [the land] the Children of Israel.

Issues of Moving Parts

This question has a number of moving parts, which makes it difficult to answer. For example, if I ask "Is the sky blue?" there are two things for which I need a definition. Thankfully the definitions for "sky" and "blue" are almost universally agreed upon, making the question answerable. The terms "steal" and "Palestine" are far more nebulous.

As for theft, theft requires proper ownership. The first view of ownership is the literal definition of possessing something. Therefore whatever persons, companies, organizations, or governments own something with proper title as viewed by recognized governments are those who have "ownership". (This is like any typical sale.) The second definition is the perceived Color of Right of Title, which is to say that a certain person, organization, or government should have proper title but does not have it on account of an illegal activity (such as theft). (This case would come for example if A owned a book and B stole it. While B has physical possession of the book, A still retains ownership since stealing, the act of transfer and acquisition, is illegal.) Understandably, most Israelis claim that no illegal act took place and therefore title properly belongs to them. Palestinians and their sympathizers often (but not always) argue that their land was stolen and therefore, they retain proper ownership.

This difference in opinion is very important to acknowledge. If Israel is correct in its assertion that it came into existence as an independent State with rights to the lands of that state, then there is no theft. If the Arabs are correct in asserting that the land was theirs originally and it was stolen, then the question stands.

As for "Palestine" this term is typically interpreted one of two ways. The first way is to refer to all of the land in the British Mandate of Palestine which includes the Modern State of Israel (except for the Golan Heights), the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. The second way is to refer to exclusively those territories which the Palestinian Authority claims will serve as a basis for a future Palestinian State: the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories). Understandably, it changes the argument fundamentally if 78% of the territory in question is exempted from the discussion.

Legal Discussion

According to International Law, Israel exists as a legal and viable state with de facto borders along the 1949 ceasefire lines. The lands acquired in the Six Day War of 1967 are considered occupied-in-trust and should be devolved to Arab States as soon as a long-term peace deal is viable.

As for the 78% of Mandatory Palestine which is now the State of Israel, this came about through Israel's acceptance of UN Resolution 181 and its border defense against Arab aggression to counter international laws that they did not like. As a result, the acquisition in the 1947-1949 of war was not an illegal act since self-defense is not a criminal act unless it is grossly disproportionate to the attack and the war was a relatively balanced affair as well as being resolved at the moment that each Arab state was willing to engage in an armistice. Just to clarify, this means that the 1949 borders of Israel belong to Israel and since there was no act of theft it is impossible to say how an act of theft occurred in this instance.

As for the Palestinian Territories, there is more of a discussion to be had. There are two general ways that Israeli Jews have acquired land in the West Bank in contravention to International Law. The first is urban expansion of Jewish residences beyond the 1949 boundaries (especially in Jerusalem) and the second is the establishment of settlements in the West Bank and formerly in the Gaza Strip. Israel has maintained the West Bank for over 40 years, which was far longer than originally contemplated in UN Resolution 181. Therefore, there is a question about whether Israel has the ability to negotiate urban planning in cities that were wholly or partially divided due to the armistice. Unfortunately, some areas of a city may gentrify, populations move and reorganize, and it is natural for Jews and Arabs to live in areas that they did not live in 40 years ago. This has resulted in some Jews buying Arab houses in up-and-coming districts and re-zoning in order to accommodate changes in the city.

As for the settlements, these are usually taken by a legal showing that the Palestinians living there do not actually own the land that they live on and that the Israeli Jews were able to purchase the land and construct on it. This is probably the most indefensible of the Israeli positions. The International Courts have clearly ruled against such settlements.