Fake war
Out of context: Reply #219
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Get back to the real!
Competing Versions of History:
The Israeli version of history, deeply embedded in Zionist ideology, is starkly different from that of the Palestinians. Most Israelis blame the Arab states for creating the refugee problem by refusing to accept the UN partition of Palestine in 1947, declaring war on Israel, and urging the Palestinian population to leave until the Arab armies had defeated the Zionists. Few Israelis would agree with the Palestinian view that Israel itself was responsible for “ethnic cleansing,” and that in rescuing themselves from the tragedy of the Jewish holocaust they, in turn, created another tragedy of loss and exile for Palestinians.
The Palestinian version of history is now being confirmed by a new generation of Israeli historians. They argue that, although there may not have been a coordinated strategy to “transfer” the whole Palestinian population, Israel’s founding fathers recognized that a large Arab population could threaten the Jewish character of the emerging state. Then-Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his contemporaries used specific acts or threats of force to terrorize Palestinians into evacuating their homes in large numbers. The outstanding instance of such use of force was the massacre of over 100 Palestinian civilians at the village of Deir Yassin on 9 April 1948, conducted by fighters of two irregular Jewish forces, the Irgun and Stern Gang.
Property Expropriation:
While the Israeli and Palestinian versions of history remain at odds with each other, there is no ambiguity about the massive forced transfer of property from Palestinian to Israeli hands. When Israel was established in 1948, Jews controlled only eight percent of the land; the British government held an additional six or seven percent.
Today the situation is nearly reversed, with 93 percent of the land in Israel being held by Israeli Jews. Much was seized from Palestinian refugees now living outside of Israel, as well as from some 230,000 Palestinian Israeli citizens remaining inside. Jewish immigrants quickly settled on the refugees’ land, sometimes occupying their homes, sometimes erecting new towns near bulldozed Palestinian villages. Additionally, some 97 percent of the West Bank and 40 percent of Gaza are physically controlled by the Israeli military.