Has a sovereign Palestine ever existed?, page 1

Originally posted by grover
What a silly question.

Palestine is the Latin name of of the region and except for a few brief periods of self rule has been a province of one empire or another for its entire history.

People have come and gone through the region for thousands of years just like they have almost every other place on earth... The Jews and the Arabs are just two many.

None of that however changes the fact that the area exists and that people lived there prior to the 47 war who called it home and in some cases called it home for hundreds if not thousands of years.

At the risk of sounding extreme what happened to the Palestinians in the years leading up to 47 and after wards is not so much different as to what happened to the American Indian with the advent of the Europeans... i.e. a long established people was forced off of their land to make room for another.

The Arabs there (who BTW are Muslim, Christian and Jewish as opposed to all Muslim which the media seems to suggest) were long standing stewards of the land and as such have a right and a valid claim to be there and sooner or later Israel has got to get off its high horse and accept that fact or there will never be peace there.

Really the only solution that will work is the one no one wants to talk about and that is the formation of a joint Israeli/Palestinian state with full rights for all of the people there and to work out some sort of fair compenstation.... this will happen before this century is out if only because of demographics but the sooner both sides recognize this and start a legitimate and valid dialogue to achieve the less blood will be spilled.

You are quite wrong on all accounts.
The Arab people who lived there were refered to as palestinians. The Jews lived among them and they were generally at peace prior to the early 20th century. The place was a possession of the Ottoman Empire at that time then after WWI it became controlled by the British. This is where all the modern conflict started.
Research AL Heuseini who was appointed as Gran Mufti of Jeruselem for life. He was directly seated by the British to that authority. His nephew Yasser Arafat took over his role when he died. HAMAS and the PLO are his surviving entities.
The Gran Mufti was considered a common thug by the ruling Arabs at the time before his appointment. Later he allied with Hitler, was forever banished from Jeruselem, he raised SS divisions in the Caucuses, was found guilty of war crimes in Yugoslavia after WWII, at the Nuremburg trials testimony was given that he was a close confidant of Himmler and personally toured the gas chambers at Auschwitz. He was also implicated in the asassination of King Abdulah of Jordan in 1951. A sinister character indeed.

Above is referenced from this source.
www.palestinefacts.org...

For a unique perspective from an author at the time before WWII of the situation in Palestine here is a good read. It lays heavy blame on British colonialism against both the Arabs and the Jews and bears witness to the populations peacefull attitudes and hopes and asperations towards one another.

www.twf.org...

To sum it up IMO, todays structure is the final chapters of what was started during the period before WWII and after WWI. The power structure of the Palestinians is exactly the same today. It could have been a lot different with the Palestinians living side by side with the Jews sharing mutual prosperity. When the British empire gave up control, where did the support come from for the Mufti and later Arafat and the PLO? Or Perhaps the Mufti and later Arafat solidified their control by extending networks of support throughout the world. In either case the palestinian people have no control over their own destiny and are held hostage to this power structure that is still in place.

[edit on 13-1-2009 by SectionEight]