Marcus Wilder of the Naive and Abroad book series offered this. It’s one of the introductory chapters for a book he’s writing on Israel and Palestinians.
Naked Data
In 1844, the first modern census of Jerusalem found 7120 Jews…5760 Muslims…3390 Christians.
In 1848, the United States took almost half of Mexico in the War of 1848. We still have it.
In 1869, Mark Twain wrote of the emptiness of Palestine. Mark Twain wrote of Arab sloth and filth and flies.
In the 1880s, Americans forced Indians from their land to resettle Indian land with whites. Many Indians had to be killed.
In the 1880s, Australians forced Aborigines from their land to resettle Aborigine land with whites. Many Aborigines had to be killed.
In the 1880s, white New Zealanders forced Maoris from their land to resettle Maori land with whites. Many Maoris had to be killed.
In the 1880s, European Jews bought idle land in what is now Israel, joining Mizrachi Jews continuously there since Abraham.
Beginning in 1882, forty Jewish families settled at Rishon L’Tzion. Four hundred Arab families settled around them. Some of the Arab families were Bedouin. Some came from Egypt.
A British official reported Arabs sought employment, clean drinking water, better health care, and lower infant mortality. The official reported this pattern was repeated across areas where Jews settled.
In the 1890s, Belgians cut off the hands of Africans who did not gather enough rubber.
In the 1890s, Arabs flocked to Jewish areas of Palestine for jobs created by Jewish investment and enterprise.
After WWI, the British tried to set up a governing body of twelve…eight Arabs…two Christians…two Jews. Arabs said two Jews were too many. A cynic might say Arabs knew then two Jews outnumbered eight Arabs.
In 1917, the British Balfour Agreement promised a national home for Jews in Palestine. The British did not mean it.
Arabs turned down two-state solutions in 1917, 1937, 1948, and 2000.
After a Nazi supported Arab revolt in 1936-1939, the British-appointed Arab religious leader Husseini fled to Germany. Husseini is revered throughout Islam today.
In 1939, A British White Paper severely restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine, effectively keeping Jews from escaping the Holocaust.
After WWII, European Jews sought refuge in what is now Israel. The Arabist British did all they could to keep Jews out of Palestine. Under United Nations mandate, Jews established the State of Israel over strong objections from Arab states and Britain.
In the United Nations document authorizing the formation of the state of Israel, an Arab/British/African clause was added to weight population numbers in favor of Arabs. In 1948, the Arab population was still largely transient. This clause identified any Arab who had been in Palestine for two years as a permanent resident.
Do we give casual Mexican labor citizenship after two years in the United States?
In 1948, Arab countries attacked the infant Jewish nation. Jewish citizen soldiers decisively defeated combined professional armies of four Arab nations.
In 1948, a disputed number of Arab residents of Israel fled and/or were expelled. There is evidence Arabs residents were encouraged by Arab invaders to flee to give the invaders a freer hand.
Only Jordan offered refugees citizenship. In all other Muslim countries, Palestinian refugees remain in camps, sixty years later…anti-Israeli propaganda pawns.
In the months following the 1948 war, 850,000 Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews fled or were expelled to Israel from the Arab countries who lost the war. We do not know how many Jews fled to other nations. We do not know how many Jews were killed. Arab nations claim no knowledge of this flight/expulsion.
Sephardic Jews had been in these countries since 1492, Mizrachi Jews since Abraham.
If Palestinians wanted their own country, Palestinians would call a constitutional convention…write a governing document…declare a nation. There is precedent.
Since the 1967 War, these Arabs have been called Palestinians. Palestinians are Arab-speakers…not Arabs. Palestinians came from Cyprus.
Palestinians are the Philistines of the Bible…the Sea People. What is now Gaza was Philistia. Gaza is theirs…unless Gaza belongs to Canaanite peoples Philistines displaced…peoples who had been there since time before memory.
Romans called the province Palestine to insult rebellious Jews. Ottomans kept the name.
If Palestinians had lived in peace beside Jews in democratic Israel, Palestinians would own Israel. With the differential in birth rates, Palestinians could have taken democratic Israel with the vote.
The story of modern Israel & Palestine is not what you have been told. Palestinian leader Musa Alami said in 1948, “The people are in great need of a myth to fill their consciousness and imagination.”
The King Abdullah of Jordan also denied the displacement of Arabs by Jewish settlements. The king said, “The Arabs are as prodigal in selling their land as they are in…weeping [about it].