The Daily Populous Sunday May 23rd, 2021 evening edition
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Arch2000 on May 23rd, 2021 at 04:53 UTC »

It should be noted that pre-1947, the United Kingdom had control of the land, known as ‘Palestine’ but not ruled/administered by Palestinians. The 1947 partition plan was drawn up in preparation fir the UK’s withdrawal from the area, but it was not accepted by Palestinians.

RDeb062 on May 23rd, 2021 at 05:17 UTC »

How is this a cool guide?

TheRightOne78 on May 23rd, 2021 at 08:26 UTC »

So slightly disingenuous depiction. While Palestinians were living there in 1947 (and had for centuries), it was not "Palestinian" land in 1947. It was British, as a colony under British administration. Yes. The Brits massively messed up deciding to arbitrarily give huge portions to the Jewish population (who was recovering from the holocaust, and displaced by WW2), but in 1947, the land wasnt "Palestinian". Palestinians were living there, but it was a British colony with limited self rule. Before the British administered it, the Ottoman Empire administered it. There hasnt been a nation of Palestine for centuries. Like biblical time frame.

The Israelis didnt just take the land for themselves. They were given it, by the British, in what could be considered one of the most significant geopolitical decisions in modern history. It was the Balfour Declaration of 1917 that established the region of Palestine as a home for the Jewish people. And before that occurred that, the calling for the state went back as far as 1897 and the Basel Program in 1897. So 50 years before this map shows, a call went out world wide for Jewish people to migrate to the region. Interestingly enough, the runner up location for a Jewish state wasnt in the middle east, it was Uganda. Its critical to remember that both the Jewish and Palestinian people have had ties to the region known as Palestine since the pre-christ era of human history.

This map accurately depicts the settlement boundaries, but it skimps the awareness of the overall situation. Depending on when you want to start the clock on the left hand side, you can see that the boundaries between the Jewish and Palestinian people have been in competition since the BCE. For comparison, if we started the map in 931 BCE, it would look like this. Again, territory divided between the Kingdom of Rehoboam and the Israelite's, and the Kingdom of the Philistines (anyone catch the similarities in names?).

The OPs map makes it appear as if the Jewish people just took the land for themselves. They were given the land by the nation that owned it. And yes. That decision was made in an astoundingly foolish manner. But this issue and the historic events behind it are FAR more complex than you are going to get out of a simple graphic or gif narrative. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is one where there arent so much right and wrong sides, as there are competing interests and 80 years of bad blood that makes each side happy to victimize the other side for both territorial and political purposes.

I strongly recommend people look into the full history of this region before taking a judgement stance on modern events. What we see in the news is only a drop of water in a bucket that goes very, very deep in terms of religious, cultural, and ethnic ties to the region. When you look at the conflict holistically, the concepts of "good and bad" sides become much more ambiguous.

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Edit- Ok. So this post exploded. I want to make something clear. I am not advocating for either side. Im not Israeli, Jewish, Arab, or Palestinian. Im an American who was fortunate enough to take a fantastic class in college covering the history of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. It was taught by two professors. One, a former IDF officer, and the other a Palestinian refugee teaching in the US. The co-taught the class and did an absolutely amazing job of educating me on the historical context of this conflict. I made this post, not to take sides, but to try to elaborate on the enormously complex cultural and historic causes for this conflict, and why both sides view themselves as justified, and seeking to reclaim the land they see as historically "theirs". Please do not take my post to mean I am favoring one side over the other. Both sides have been treated horribly throughout history, and both sides have treated each other horribly. I just wanted to shed some light to the often overlooked events that led to the modern creation of Israel, and the foundations for the Israel/Palestine conflict.

Edit 2: Jesus, the inbox. Ok, I have enjoyed this, but it is really late. I meant to post this on my way to bed, and made the mistake of refreshing my browser before checking out for the night. Ill keep responding in the morning, as I am enjoying the discussion, but I have to get some sleep.

Final edit since thread is locked- I cant possibly respond to every post in chat. I will try to answer questions or clarify though.

Final final edit. Everyone is asking for a book. Sadly, course was well over a decade ago, so I dont remember most of the texts, save for one. The Olive Grove: A Palestinian Story. Truly amazing book from the perspective of a young Palestinian in the Ottoman Empire, who grew up and grew old watching the region transition from Ottoman to British to Israel. Heartbreaking, but a very good read that explains much of the situation and how the creation of Israel evolved over the decades.