How Did Israel Acquire Its Land?

One of the most important questions someone should ask themselves these days is, 'If truth and a lie were put in front of me, would I be able to tell the difference?'. It seems like it should be a pretty straight forward question right? You look at the sky and you think, 'That is definitely blue!', or you look at a deadly car accident and say, 'That is so sad.'...but in this day and age the truth does not seem to be so easily determined. One's age doesn't seem to play a big role in this inability to discern good and evil. Let's take a look at how the modern nation of Israel was formed as an example, and I would ask you to put aside all of your preconceived notions (if that is at all possible) and just look at the subject from a rational point of view.

When looking at history it is important to make sure you are using good source material such as a written book at the library or going to your local bookstore and finding something that was written based on other good source material...not relying on Alexa or Siri. When dealing with Israel this is very important as many have tried to alter history in a way to paint the nation in a way they see fit. Many people around the world, and especially in the United States, claim that Israel was stolen from the Palestinians, but is that really the case? If you read War Without End by Anton La Guardia you will find a very pro-Palestinian approach to the Land of Israel and may even find yourself feeling compassion for the 'displaced' people of Gaza and the West Bank, but the book fails to address some very real truths. First, only dealing with modern Israel, there have always been a handful of Jews living in the region and in 1917 the British issued the Balfour Declaration in an attempt to establish a homeland for the Jewish people and that homeland was to be what is now Israel. The British were in control of the land some call Palestine and offered what would now be described as a 'two-state solution'. So how did they Jews acquire this land?

This question is never really answered by people who are opposed to Israel existing as a nation. They make the logical jump from a Palestinian majority in the land to an 'Apartheid' Israeli dominated land, but how did that occur? Was there a large invading force of Israelis that stormed the land and subjugated the people in a blitzkrieg of violence? No the answer to how the land was obtained was much simpler and uneventful than anything you have imagined. The movement was definitely founded and backed by Zionist and there is no denying that, but it was far more peaceful than revisionist history would suggest. In Seeds of Turmoil by Bryant Wright you learn that the initial land that was obtained by Jews was purchased by people who were content with living a simple communal lifestyle with farming and cattle at its core. Later, the wealthier Zionist around the world began to simply purchase the land from the Palestinians and establish their own settlements. This continued until the Israelis had acquired large amounts of land.

The people lived in relative peace until the end of World War II came. At this point the world became aware of the horrors of the Holocaust and the nearly 6 million Jews that had been slaughtered. The non-Muslim world new that something had to be done and on November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to partition the land into two states, one Jewish and the other Arab. The Arabs fiercely objected to this idea and the result was Israel declaring it's independence on May 14, 1948. At midnight on May 14 the English left 'Palestine' and the Jews were forced to defend themselves against the invading armies of several Muslim nations. In what can only be called a miracle the new small Jewish nation of Israel was able to defeat the far larger army of invaders.

In the aftermath of this conflict the Israelis, as the victors, were able to dispose of the land as they saw fit. But as with future wars where the Muslims attempted to invade and lost the Israelis have always returned land to the Arabs that they had rightfully won in battle. Now you have a general overview of how the land of Israel was acquired and now you have to decide if what you have believed was truth or a lie.

By Jeffrey Brandon Lee