The West Bank and Gaza were to be the Palestinian's independent state. The Palestinians were to get the shitty half of what had been Palestine. Thanks to the Six Day War, the Israelis believe they can dictate the terms.
What? You really don't know the history that well. Do you know what Palestine was?
And who lived in Palestine before the Zionists came over from Russia and Europe?
Not only did it include modern Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, but also all of what is now Jordan. The Jews were promised all of that by the British, who controlled it at the time, in 1917.
Yes, in a vacuum the Brits made a promise they could not keep.
After the leader (King Abdullah's grandfather) of the Hashemites helped suppress an Arab uprising in the '20s, the British gave him what became Jordan as a reward (roughly 70% of Palestine). Soon after that, after the Arabs in Hebron massacred the Jews there, the British confined the Jews to only the western part of what was remaining.
Whoa.......there is a lot of history in between the 20s and he 40s, a period where rising Arab/Palestinian nationalism needed to be assuaged........after all, it was they who were occuping Palestine when the Jews decided to return to Zion. How presumptious of the Zionists to think that they should have all of Palestine for themselves.
By the time all was said and done in 1948, the UN gave the Jews about 10% of what they were originally promised,
And turned around and violated the first of many UN resolutions by expanding their UN boundaries by 40%......to make the boundary between Israel and Palestine what is now called the Green Line.
mandate and the Arab inhabitants were given the remainder for another state (they soon after were given the name 'Palestinians'). The Jewish land was pretty much just the Negev desert. The Arabs weren't happy with the deal, however, and declared war the second Israel became an independent state.
And you wouldn't be pissed? You've been farming a piece of land for centuries and suddenly you're told you have to given up the better half to a bunch of Zionists who appeared on the scene a hundred years before? I know I would be pissed. Plus the Palestinians were supposed to get sea access with Jaffa on the Mediterranean........well that never happened! So now Palestine is land locked on land that's mostly scrub and desert. What a deal!
Israel captured some land in that war, and that plus the Golan heights is modern Israel. After the Arabs lost, they still could've taken the West Bank and Gaza and given the Palestinians a state, but did they? No. Jordan took the West Bank and Egypt took Gaza, and put the Palestinians in refugee camps. They weren't insterested in helping the Palestinians, they just wanted to destroy Israel.
The issue is between the Israelis and the Palestinians; what the other Arabs did to the Palestinians sucks. Of course, the Arabs hadn't expected the newly founded Israel to kick their butts.
Bottom line: Israel got its independence; was awarded the cream of Palestine; then grabbed more of the land then they were entitled while keeping the Palestinians 'down on the farm', all the while paying lip service to Palestinian complaints for nearly 60 years. If you don't think that's the makings for a blood feud, then I don't know what is.
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