[Sabinus]

There's a belief in the western left that Israel was set up by Western countries as colonialism. That way they can more easily call for the dissolving of the illegitimate country for a 1 state solution. If you acknowledge that the Jews were elbowing their way into the area of their own desire for a state, against the wishes of the Ottomans and then British, it makes it more difficult to paint them as evil invaders.

[sillyfluke]

>against the wishes of the Ottomans and then the British

Who has convincingly argued that it was against the wishes of the British? It was the British government's stated objectives.[0][1]

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandate_for_Palestine

[dotancohen]

Jerusalem had been majority Jewish for decades before the Balfour declaration.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Jerus...

[NaomiLehman]

more or less every territory belonged to another tribe in the past. Should descendants of Prussia be allowed to take over Poland and Germany today?

[dotancohen]

That's a great point. Should anyone be allowed to take over Israel today?

[brazukadev]

No. But does Palestine still exist or is it Israel? Is Syria Israel? Lebanon? Jordan? Egypt?

[dotancohen]

The word Palestine is a geographical term. The only political entity to include the name Palestine was Mandatory Palestine. And that entity no longer exists.

[sillyfluke]

Your claim has nothing to do with the sentence I quoted or my response to it.

[dotancohen]

I was refuting the notion that British desires had little to do with the fact the Jews eventually created their own state. British presence or no British presence, Jerusalem was already Jewish decades before the fall of the Ottomans.

[sillyfluke]

You're insisting on responding to some phantom comment no one made in order make it seem other people's opinion is not supported by overwhelming facts.

>I was refuting the notion that British desires had little to do with the fact the Jews eventually created their own state.

No one said this. What was claimed was that Jews were elbowing into the area against the wishes of the British without any references. I asked for evidence that it was against the wishes of the British because it was news to me and presented references pointing to the contrary. Neither you or the commenter have presented any evidence yet that it was "against the wishes of the British".

I will quote you again:

>I was refuting the notion that British desires had little to do with the fact the Jews eventually created their own state.

How would you wish me to read this sentence? So you are refuting the notion that British desires had little to do with the fact the Jews eventually created their own state, so by refuting it you're saying that the British had a lot to do with the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine?

[dotancohen]

  > How would you wish me to read this sentence?

I think that Gboard sometimes adds or changes words. Or I just messed up. That should have read:

I was refuting the notion that British desires had to do with the fact the Jews eventually created their own state.

Rephrased: The Jews were intent on creating a state, whether the British supported the notion or not.

In any case, in 1923 the British split Mandatory Palestine into two entities. Everything east of the Jordan river they gave to the Hashemite kingdom, who they helped the house of Saud overthrow after the al-Hashimi family ruled Mecca for ten centuries. The areas west of the Jordan river, 1/3 the original size of the territory, retained the name Palestine in English. The Jews were also calling the area Palestine, but the Arabs rejected the name as being the name of foreign invaders. Which makes sense, the root of the word Palestine literally means "invader" in Semitic languages. וכן, אני מדבר עברית.‫ وانا بحكي عربي كمان.‫

  > I asked for evidence that it was against the wishes of the British because it was news to me and presented references pointing to the contrary.

After the Arab uprising of 1936, the British outlawed Jewish immigration to the holy land.

[dotancohen]

The Ottomans, needing tax money after losing a war to Prussia, began encouraging immigration to the holy land for all religions. In 1856 they passed a law that anyone who comes to work the untilled land, owns it. They happily accepted what they saw as the Jews returning home, as the area was very sparsely populated (but not empty as some Jews say (and yes, I'm Jewish)). The waves of Arab immigration began after the turn off the century, mostly from Egypt and the Damascus area.