Was Israel Purchased or Palestine Stolen?

Too frequently in discussions on the Arab-Israeli conflict are arguments brought to the table when justifying the colonization of Palestine as a "lesser of two evils" when comparisons are presented that describe land attained by violent conquests throughout the ages during the Imperial era.

Too often we hear the same cry against the barbaric rule of the Roman Empire; or the conquering Crusaders marching into Jerusalem with horses "knee-deep in blood".

The frequency of these historic events which illustrate examples of brutal occupation doesn't necessarily make them the standards by which we consider "historical norm" to be the accepted methods of occupation. Moreover, simply by using these examples to fuel the argument for justifying Israeli occupation puts the Zionist methodology within the same category as these archaic forms of conquests.

When focussing on the matter of colonialism however, there is a grave difference between the British colonization verses the current Zionist occupation. Even though Britain colonized most of the surrounding regions, just as the Ottoman Empire did before them, the colonies were still identified as Arab land with the presence of British military rule. Occupation itself is not illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention, however the Jewish state has not adhered to the rules of the Occupying Power's responsibility under these laws, engaging in ongoing land confiscations, home demolitions, expanding settlement construction, systematic deportations, civilian displacements, residency revocation, water resource reallocation, economic strangulation, child imprisonment, violent checkpoint misconduct, border blockades, airspace "no-fly" restrictions, and maritime seaport blockades. All these impositions have been deemed violations of international law with regards to the rules of occupation.

In order to justify these actions, some traditionalists like to claim that the Jews were the original inhabitants of the region so it is their "right" to do as they please with "their" land. However they weren't the original people. They lived there 3000 years ago when David conquered Goliath, then his son Solomon created a kingdom, then a subsequent civil war ensued two generations later between Judea and Samara, and Nebuchadnezzar conquered and exiled the Jews to Babylon shortly after that. Four generations: A moment in the history of Jerusalem. People lived before the Jewish rule and people lived after the Jewish rule. One cannot compare four generations with one thousand years of Arab habitation.

Starting with the original rallying cry of Zionism - thought up by Israel Zangwill and adopted by Theodor Herzl - the following statement was used from the original Christian quote: "a people without land for a land without people" and that was the first Zionist lie. They knew full well that the region was not a land without people. In fact, they had sent a delegation of Rabbis to inspect the territory. The message that the Rabbis sent back was "the bride is beautiful, but she is married to another man". From the very beginning, the Zionists knew that their entire project was based on fabrication.

During the time when Palestine was under British authority, land ownership within each sub-district (as shown in the figure) shows a significant percentage of Palestinian Arab ownership compared to the Jewish people and the British forces.

The cause and effects of the British Mandate when permission was given for a mass Jewish immigration in the 1930's as a gesture of appreciation for Rothschild's funding of WWI, caused great unrest throughout the entire region. While early explanations of the Palestinian refugee crisis alleged that Arab leaders urged them to flee in radio broadcasts so that they wouldn't get in the way of attacks from Jewish forces, there was no evidence to support this. At the time British and US intelligence, as well as the BBC, were monitoring Arabic language radio broadcasts in the region and none of them recorded exhortations to flee.

Palestinians today still consist of the largest population of refugees in the world totalling 4.3 million as confirmed by the UNHCR, and are displaced in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. To claim that they sold their land to become refugees is a complete misrepresentation of historical events.

There are claims that suggest the Jews purchased 10% of the land prior to the mass migration in the late 1930s / early 1940s, and there is in fact evidence to suggest that 10% of the population in the region that was called Palestine were of Jewish heritage; however that still does not include the rest of the land that was either unilaterally declared the state of Israel, annexed, or occupied. Israel's PR campaigns do not clarify the specific details of the amount of the land that was actually purchased compared to the remainder that was taken by force.