ISRAEL WAS JUST RECLAIMING THEIR ORIGINAL HOMELAND. First of all, the Jews were not given Palestinian land as a direct result of the Holocaust. In fact, the issue began thousands of years before . . . The Jews originally inhabited what is now Palestine, then called Israel, during the days of the Roman Empire. The Jews were forcibly removed from their homes during the Diasporas (dispersion) and that is when they started turning up in Europe and other places in the world. Throughout history, the Jews were scapegoats for many of the worlds problems, and they found themselves being persecuted in their new lands. Indeed, their were many mini-holocausts in which Jews were targeted and killed (especially in Russia), and they always dreamed of returning to the land they were promised by God, Israel (now Palestine). At the turn of the 19th century, a movement called Zionism started. This was basically Jewish nationalism, and called for the Jews to return to their homeland. Then WWI happened and the Ottoman Empire was on the losing side, meaning that the Middle East was in even more disarray. Former German colonies and territories controlled by the Ottomans were split between the winning Allies. England got control of Palestine and the Jews began pressuring England to allow them to immigrate to Palestine. England resisted and some Jews resorted to trying to strong-arm the English government into giving them Palestine/Israel! Finally, the English Prime Minister caved a little and allowed some Jews to immigrate back to Palestine. This caused the Palestinians to be very upset and angry, and their was some resistance. This issue continued with sporadic violence until WWII broke out, and then it got put on hold for awhile. Fast forward to the end of WWII. The Jews of Europe have been virtually obliterated. If they are lucky enough to be alive, they certainly have no homes to return to. Once again, the pressure was on England to allow them to return to Palestine/Israel. England, now tired of dealing with this problem decided to turn over Palestine and the question of the Jewish homeland to the United Nations (1947). After much debate, the UN decided to partition Palestine and give half of it to Israel so the Jews could create their own nation.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 21:43:51 +0000