[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Hippikos

So, history starts in 1947? Before that it's a black hole? Even in 1947 the Jews were in minority (third of the population).

The Jews were in the majority of the land partitioned to Israel by the UN.

The official UN estimate was 538,000 Jews and 397,000 Arabs (a number that included Christians, Bedouins, Druze, and others).

The planning of colonisation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine originated already before the Holocaust. Herzl and the "Der Judenstat", remember?

I'm sorry, when you say "Palestine", are you referring to British land which they intended as a Jewish homeland?

Originally Posted by Arthur J. Balfour

Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

"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."

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour

Sure, in hindsight, one might say that was a huge mistake. Personally, I think it would have been a better outcome if ALL the European Jews decided to move there in 1917. See, if they had only done that, they would still have a chance at being alive in 1947. Unfortunately they faced pogroms in Palestine so I'm sure many Jews weren't convinced it was safe.

People might compare your map with this one. This map is 1947, yours begins in 1948. The difference was a war, in which the side that started the war lost.



People might notice how the orange areas coincide with the blue areas on your map.

Does history begin in 1947? No it sure doesn't; nor in 1917, nor 1948, nor 1967. We can go back further to how the whole concept of colonization no longer worked in the 20th century, and how the world had to wreak havoc for a while to settle on what it is now, and how this is the last vestage of that old problem.

But the best thing for all concerned would be if they would just sit down and shut the fuck up. All the land Israel has gained since the orange areas on that map are due to initially-defensive wars. The land Israel has gained has been the land from which they were attacked. If the Arabs would have sat down and shut up in 1947, they would have not only a state but a huge and great one. Instead they have been used, over and over again.