Jewish Groups Pull Support From Oregon Food Bank for Blasting 'Israel's Violence' in Gaza

[wnylib]

25. "Half their 'original' homeland?"

A large number of Arabs in British Palestine who now call themselves Palestinians came from other Arab nations to work for the British.

As for British favoring of Jewish settlements in Palestine, they wavered depending on which way the wind was blowing. Despite the Balfour Declaration, pressure from Arabs working for the Brits in Palestine and from oil rich Arab nations in the region resulted in Britain denying entry of Jewish refugees from Europe who were fleeing the Holocaust. The ones who did get there were smuggled in by underground resistance groups. But, if caught by the Brits, the ships were turned away, back to Nazi occupied Europe.

This is a good time to point out a common misunderstanding about Britain guaranteeing land for the Arabs in Palestine. In the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, there were many international discussions of what to do about the part of the Ottoman Empire called Palestine by the Romans who had tried to erase the names Judea, Israel, and Samaria from the map.

Some suggestions were to include Palestine in Syria, Jordan, or other nations in the region. The Arabs in Palestine objected to becoming part of those other nations. Britain agreed that they should have a separate identity and land. That was NOT a statement that all the land of Palestine should belong to the Arabs, since Britain had also offered a homeland for Jews. But Palestinian Arabs chose to interpret it as meaning that ALL of Palestine was theirs. They've been using terrorism to support that interpretation ever since.