freeing palestine.

history part one

i wanted to begin with my best, and other people's, explanations of the history built upon palestine and israel.

palestine is a country located in the levant in western asia. it borders lebanon, syria, jordan, and egypt. currently, it is being occupied by the state of israel, a jewish ethnostate established by zionists in 1948.

there are many conflictions in conversations about how palestine and israel was founded — who was there first and wether or not the british mandate 'happened.' keep in mind; these are not my opinions, i am explaining multiple people's opinions so you understand why people argue over this.

a brief rundown with information specifically from freepalestine.carrd.co and decolonize palestine:
a common zionist talking point is that palestine did not exist until the british mandate. however, this point is easily refuted by the countless historical documents and other evidence that prove otherwise.
the name palestine (filastin in arabic) was first documented more than 3200 years ago. the name was used by ancient egyptians, ancient assyrians, the romans, shakespeare, as well as the greeks.
there is countless material evidence (documents, maps, historical records, letters) that use the name palestine. it has been used consistently from ancient history to current day.

""didn't arabs colonize the levant in the 7th century?""
"this is another popular zionist talking point; "the jews were exiled, and the arabs colonized the levant so really, it's palestinians that are the real colonizers."
what people who use this talking point do not understand is that palestinians, along with many other shami (levantine) arabs, are an arabized people. they are not the arabs who colonized the levant, but are indeed part of the indigenous levantine population. they are people who simply began to identify as arabs after a long period of arabization took place."

+ what this means is that palestinian arabs are the same people that have living in palestine for thousands of years. their identifying as arabs does not make them any less indigenous to the land.

you may be asking:: what is a zionist point? what is zionism?
— zionism is a racist settler-colonial ideology that advocates for a jewish ethnostate built on palestinian land. zionism as an ideology is inherently anti-palestine because it is only feasible through the ethnic cleansing and constant uprooting of the palestinian people. zionist founders admitted that zionism is a settler-colonial project and that in order for a jewish state to be established, the palestinians need to be ethnically cleansed from their homes and homeland.

read the diaries and writings of early zionist founders — theodor herz, ze'ev jabotinsky, david ben-gurion, and more.

for a jewish state to exist, there needs to be a jewish demographic majority; this means that palestinians will never be given the right of return. despite what zionists claim, palestinians will also never be equal citizens under the state of israel — liberation is the only solution to peace.

another question:: is anti-zionism antisemitic?
— no. anti-zionism is a stance taken by palestinians, and by non-palestinians in solidarity with the palestinian people. while some anti-zionists can be antisemitic (just as some zionists can be antisemitic towards palestinians), the position itself is not. it is also not antisemitic to criticize israeli policies.

(ilan pappé, an anti-zionist jewish israeli historian, explains in better detail on why anti-zionism is not antisemitism in previous debates online.)
antisemitism is weaponized against palestinians and allies who stand up for palestinian human rights by zionists as a way to shut down crilicism of israel. by saying that anti-zionism is antisemitism, zionists label all palestinians as antisemites for not wanting to be oppressed, as well as anyone who supports palestinian human rights.
antisemitism is most definitely a thing but is used against palestinian arabs as well — so the topic of this will always be brought up in this conversation.

continue to next chapter.