How Israel Was Created (Palestine 1900-1947)

Many people find it difficult to understand Americans. We often speak about concepts like freedom, justice, equality, democracy, truth, religious choice and free speech because we are proud of these values and believe they symbolize America. However, US actions abroad don't mirror our values. For instance if Americans learned the real history of Israel, no American (including Jewish Americans) would approve any support for the Israeli state. But speaking against Israel can end a career, invite a lawsuit, or even get you killed.

Palestine 1900-1947

In the early 1900's Europe & Russia became increasingly hostile toward its Jewish population.

1914- Jewish population of Palestine was less than 8%, Jewish land ownership less than 2%


1917- Britain promoted the concept of Zionism* and facilitated the movement of Jews to Palestine (to get them out of their country). The British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour drafted an official letter now known as the Balfour Declaration.

"His Majesty's Government view [sic] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."~Lord Balfour 1917

At that time, many Arabs felt sorry for the Jews and sold them land. Palestinians had lived as neighbors to Christians & Sephardic** Jews for thousands of years with very few problems. So they had no reason to worry about the new immigrants. They also thought welcoming the Ashkenazi+ population might help improve their own local economy. They soon found the Zionist Ashkenazi++ had no plans of working with Arabs or aiding the Palestinian economy at all. With the assistance of Britain the Jews set up their own economy. They only used Jewish labor, only purchased merchandise from Jewish stores, they refused to hire any Palestinian workers and even set up a Jew-only banking system all in preparation of creating a Jewish state.

1919- This obviously went against the first declaration, so Balfour issued a new one:

"...in Palestine, we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country…Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-old tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder impact than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit this ancient land."~Lord Balfour 1919

1937- Zionists made up only 27% of the Palestinian population, yet when Britain offered the Peel partition plan (below) it was rejected by the Zionist Jews as being too small an area. The Peel partion plan also included forced relocation of the Arabs within the borders of the proposed Jewish state. This map shows the rejected Peel Partition.




Yellow=Zionist State/ Green=Palestinian State/Red=No Man's Land


1946-1947- Zionists had run more than 300,000 Palestinians off their own land using force and terrorism to take what they wanted. Because of the war the Jewish population increased due to immigration, but at 33% was still signifigantly less than the Palestinian population. They also owned less than 7% of the land. The Zionist Jews also refused to accept a proposed unity government because as the minority they would not have majority control. They set aside a one million dollar budget for lobbying US officials, and it worked.

1947- The USA then used cohersion to get many countries to vote for a generous UN partition plan for the Zionists including threats to:

• Greece & France: would cut off foreign aid
• Liberia: impose a rubber embargo & Firestone tire threatened not to expand there
• Latin America: the US bribed by hinting they'd fund a Pan-American highway
• Philippines: 2 Supreme Court Justices and 10 US Senators warned the president that millions of Americans would be 'displeased'

So there was no big surprise when the 1947 partition plan passed in the UN creating Israel and giving the Zionists who owned less than 7% of the land and made up less than 33% of the population 56% of the land of Palestine. This is what the 1947 plan awarded:





Now consider if this were America and we helped out Haiti, by letting the Hatians come to California because they were being killed for their Nationality. Then they went to the UN paid them off and the UN agreed to give them 56% of the USA. Would you agree to it?



Now you know how Israel was created, and hopefully understand a little of why they are so upset!




* Zionism: generally refers to an ideology calling for a "homeland for the Jews" some say it can be anywhere others say it must be in Palestine. There are different forms of Zionism: cultural, spiritual and political.
** Sephardic generally refers to the Jews who remained in the Middle East (they're technically Arab Jews and tend to be persecuted by the Ashkenazi)
+ Ashkenazi generally refers to the European Jews. It is Ashkenazi Zionist Jews who created & run Israel.
++ Many Zionist Ashkenazi tend to look down on other races, regardless of their religion

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