<<The didn't invade, they bought land at high prices from willing sellers. Might I point out that the Arabs did not control the land, the Turks did>>
Nadine,
Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think it was as simple as "they sold us their land for a high price".
You are right that there was a good deal of land buying by incoming Jewish settlers, and I'm sure many Arab owners were willing sellers. But that was in the early land-rush years, as the Jewish population built up by immigration, prior to the declaration of Israeli independence. Land confiscation is also part of the story. A well-researched history I read a while ago informs that under the Turks there were not organized, written land ownership records. Instead, those actually living on the land (in cases for hundreds of years) were simply accorded the right to continue living there. Once the State of Israel was created, Israel decreed that what had been the dominion of the Turks would now be the State of Israel's to parcel out, and it commenced doing so, to Jewish settlers of course. The Turks' failure to maintain formal land records was used to facilitate substitution of ownership from Arab to Jew, without compensation. That's a rock in the shoe for the Palestinians.
<<those same lands had been Jewish long before they were Muslim>>
Of course the lands couldn't have been "Muslim" before Mohammed was born! Equally, they couldn't have been "Jewish" before the formation of Judaism. Going back thousands of years, there were only non-Jewish residents there; then there was an invasion of the lands by Jewish tribes; then the lands were taken over and majority occupied for over a thousand years by non-Jewish residents; and most recently, the eastern portion has been taken over and majority occupied by Jews. I've never understood the "I was there first" argument by either side. When was first?
John |
