The Request [Under Construction]

Blog Post #7: Palestine, a History

Julie Adams

June 13, 2016: Monday

Day 11: Gaza

Occupied Land. A term often used to describe land that has been unlawfully taken from the rightful owner. This, in a nutshell, is exactly what has happened to Palestine.

Terminology you're going to need to know:

Anti-Semitism: The hostility or prejudice against Jews.
Zionism: An [extreme] movement to protect the Jewish nation Israel.

Okay, so when did this all start? World War II, basically. According to history, in 1948, the British terminated their rule on Palestine. However, instead of Palestine becoming completely independent, David Ben-Gurion created the State of Israel and consequently became the first Israeli Prime Minister.

Ben-Gurion is a whole other story, but in a nutshell, he was a long-time advocate of Zionism.

Let's backtrack a little. When the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I, the British took control of Palestine. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration was passed. This declaration basically stated that Palestine will be established as the national home for the Jewish people. These Jewish people will clearly understand that nothing will be done that will harm the civil and religious rights of the Palestinians. [Clearly, no one read that part!] Thus, in 1922, Britain was granted a mandate over Palestine. This included the power to establish the Jewish homeland, facilitate and encourage Jewish immigration and settlement.

"His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." – Balfour Declaration.

At first, the Palestinians were welcoming of the influx of people, however, once they realised that their land was been taken, they started to oppose the Jewish immigration and fought for their land back and out of British control. Following this outbreak of attacks, the British appointed a royal commission in 1936 to investigate the situation. The commission, later known as the Peel Commission, recommended that the Palestinian land, which still belonged to Palestine, be divided into two: Palestinians and Jews. [You tell me, how this is fair? Why are they being forced to share their land?]

Of course, the Palestinians rejected this idea but the Jews accepted. However, here's where the "real" illegality started. The Jews continued stealing more and more Palestinian land. This is still carrying on today, and has resulted in the genocide of millions of Palestinians. [I've seen it with my own two eyes! Just look at the pictures I've added below!]

This brings us to World War II, where because the British persisted in their immigration restrictions and Palestine refused to allow any Jews to cross their shores, Jewish agencies helped smuggle Jewish Holocaust survivors into Palestine.

Thus, the British felt that they could no longer manage to control Palestine, so they handed the issue over to the United Nations. Again, the UN echoed the Peel Commission and said that Palestine should be two states: Jewish and Arab. Again, the Jews accepted and the Palestinian did not. However, while all this was going on, the people of Israel had already formed political, social, and economic powers and when the British withdrew their rule in Palestine, David Ben-Gurion came into power.

Now, I know what you must be thinking, this is all the Palestinians fault, right? If only they had accepted the first commission, we wouldn't be in this situation! But think about it like this:

You have a lovely house, four bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, lounge and dining room. You have a large garden too. This house has been passed down from generation to generation and has been in your family for years. You wish to pass it down to your children one day too. One day, a gas explosion happens uptown and many families are left homeless. Your house is selected by social services to help a homeless family so you let a family live with you. You give them one of your bedrooms to live in. For some time, there's peace and they're wonderful houseguests. However, one day you realise that they've taken over a second bedroom, but it's okay so you allow them to. They, however, aren't happy with just two bedrooms so they take a third. They start inviting guests over and throw parties without your permission. Now you're getting a bit unhappy so social services steps in and says that, okay, you have four bedrooms, so you can have two and the other family can have two. You don't find this fair, though, because it's your house, right? And you've already given them one bedroom. However, your disagreement falls on deaf ears because your guests agreed to social services' terms. Before you know it, though, this new family soon takes over your bathroom, your kitchen, and your lounge. When you confronted them about it, they denied everything so you complained to social services again. They said it's out of their hands and gave the job to the government. The government said the same thing as social services did: that you keep two rooms and give the other two to the guests. They keep saying this, and when your guests took over your garden and your second bedroom, the government pretended there was no problem. Now you're trapped in your one room, what's left to do but to argue with this new family? Instead of rationally listening to you, they punch you, and they kick you. Finally, you get the courage to throw a punch back but uh-oh, you've crossed a line. They kidnap your spouse and children and you're now left alone, your family and house taken away from you. But what did you do to deserve this mistreatment?

Nothing.

As a result of the unrest, and by request of the British back in 1947, the United Nations created a special task force for Palestine called United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. They've accepted the rejection of Arab rights as being within bounds of a legitimate and reasonable solution. Because they think that they've solved the issue on Palestine, it no longer needed to be discussed.

When presented with the idea of a two-state nation, the UN believes that it cannot deprive the majority of the people of Palestine their territory and transfer it to the minority. Scary thing? They consider the Jews/Israel as the majority [only because they stole the land from Palestinians!]. Now, politically, Palestine no longer has the majority vote, so even if they did want a two state country, it can't happen because they wouldn't win the vote.

You can look at this religiously too. In the Bible, it says that Israel is the Land of the Jews because God gave it to them. However, due to transgression, God took the land away and they were exiled. Thus, the land technically does not belong to anyone.

So you tell me, what do you think now of the situation in Palestine?

As always,

Be alert.

Be smart.

Keep reading and remember: #DownWithIsrael!

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A/N

Hello! So while I have done extensive research, there may be mistakes which you can gladly, and politely, point out. 

Go ahead and drop your thoughts in the comments section :) 

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