Who are the Palestinians?
After the Roman destruction of Israel in A.D. 70, Israel began to be called 'Palestine.' It was ruled by many different invaders for the next few hundred years, including European Crusaders who tried to wrest it back from the muslims when they took control in the 7th century.
Muslims ruled the land of Palestine with neglect from A.D. 635 until 1917. In time and under their lack of care, the land became desolate with withered fields, no trees, no people, very little rain, eroded soil, malaria-ridden swamps, and rocky mountainsides.
Such a sorry and heartbroken sight was the land of Palestine. Mark Twain called it monotonous and uninviting and famously remarked in his 1869 book, The Innocents Abroad:
"Stirring scenes occur in the valley [of Jezreel] no more. There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent – not for 30 miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings."
Meanwhile, as the Jews suffered persecutions in Russia and Eastern Europe, some of them fled to Palestine to escape the massacres.
During the 1800's, the Jews were able to buy property from the Ottoman Turks. Since the land was useless, the Turks were glad to sell it to the 'dumb' and desperate Jews; and the Turks got away with selling pieces of land at extremely high prices.
Baron Edmond de Rothschild, the “Father of the Yishuv” (the Jewish settlement in Palestine) was for decades the largest Jewish landowner in Palestine and Transjordan.
Britain encouraged Jewish immigration to Palestine and Jerusalem by establishing several religious societies and missionaries to help the Jews settle in. Some of these societies are Al Torah Society (1802), Palestine (1805), and London Missionary (1825). Al Maseery 1982
The Jews worked hard to make the land prosper, many of them dying from hardship and the disease of malaria. They didn't give up, and their efforts were rewarded. The land began to blossom.
Neighboring peoples were amazed. Hoards of muslim poor from Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt came into the land to work for the Jews. Arab workers stayed and formed small settlements. From those workers is where most of today's 'Palestinians' have descended. (Israel has in the past offered them citizenship.)
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. Isaiah 61:4
When the Hashemite Tribe (they trace their ancestry from Hashim, the great-grandfather of Muhammad, and they ruled over Mecca and Medina for centuries) were driven out by the Saudis, the British gave them rulership over the immigrant migrant workers in Transjordan. The British said this would be "The State of Palestine." The Hashemites, who make up about 20 percent of the population, turned it into the Kingdom of Jordan.
On August 23,1959, the Prime Minister of Jordan stated, "We are the Government of Palestine, the army of Palestine and the refugees of Palestine."
The West Bank and the Gaza Strip were controlled by the Jordanians and Egyptians from 1948 to 1967. There was no mention of giving up that land out of concern and fairness for today's Palestinians. After the Six-Day War in June, 1967, Israel controlled the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Suddenly, there was outcry that the Palestinians needed land and that they should get the West Bank and Gaza from Israel.
From Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee: "Since the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees was established 55 years ago, the number of Palestinians registered on its dole has expanded exponentially. What was originally intended as a temporary agency has become a vast entitlement program, feeding, housing and clothing tens of thousands of people and providing free medical care and other services."
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