Brief History of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict Part 1. 1919-1950

The Facts:

The area known as Palestine had been under control of the Ottoman Empire since the 16th century. The Sykes-Picot Treaty broke up the Ottoman Empire following its defeat in World War I. The area of Palestine was placed under control of the British and was known as the British mandate. During the time between the world wars, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased following persecution and anti-Semitism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The British made several attempts to divide Palestine into two separate Jewish and Palestinian countries due to ongoing violence between the two peoples. None of these succeeded. Following WWII, the frustrated British handed control of Palestinian to the newly created United Nations.

The United Nations devised a plan to create two countries. Israel agreed and declared independence, but the Palestinians did not, Instead they decided to attack the fledgling Israeli state with the help of its Arab neighbours, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Although losing at first, Israel won the war and armistice agreements were sign in 1949. Israel gained some of the land that had been designated as Palestinian by the UN. What is now known as the West Bank became part of Jordan, Gaza became part of Egypt, and the Golan Heights were part of Syria. A country called “Palestine” has never existed in the past 500+ years. As a result of the 1948 war, there about 750,000 Palestinian refugees and 600,000 Jewish refugees, whom were kicked out of Arab countries. The Jewish refugees were absorbed into Israel, but the Palestinian refugees were not permitted to settle in neighbouring Arab countries, instead being held in refugee camps, where many remain today.

My Opinion:

The question of a “Palestinian right of return” is the demand for these Palestinian refugees to return and reclaim their old pre-1948 land and houses, which is now firmly part of Israel and lived on and owned by hundred of thousands of Israelis for several generations. This would lead to essentially the destruction of Israel and will never be accepted by any Israeli government. It would be like Native American Indians demanding Manhattan Island being returned to them. In the 2000 Camp David Accords, this was the only demand not willing to be accepted by Ehud Barak out of all of Yassar Arafat’s demands.

Palestine gambled on defeating Israel in 1948 and lost. They gave up their best chance for statehood, when they attacked Israel. This is a similar situation with the West Bank and Gaza today where lost wars by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria against Israel caused them to lose territory. If you go to a casino, gamble and loose, you cannot whine until you get your money back. There are parts of Germany or Russia, which are now part of another country, because of lost wars. The resulting Palestinian situation has never gotten better because they are used as pawns again Israel. They are not permitted to resettle in other Arab countries, still living in poverty and temporary camps.