In addition to justifying bloodshed, each side trots out maps and other "evidence" to back up their side's claim to the land. Here's a map that tries to show that Israel has been systematically stealing Palestinian land since 1947:
The problem with the first map on the left is that it implies that all of that green land was occupied by Arabs. It does do a pretty good job of showing, in white, areas of Jewish majority settlement though. The downward pointing triangle in the south is the Negev desert, a sparsely populated (by Jews or Arabs) literal desert. Giving it to the nascent Jewish state was no prize. Some similar maps discard entirely the white areas, suggesting that there was no significant Jewish presence in Palestine. The truth is, no matter whether the population was Jewish or Arab, neither group owned Palestine, it had been part of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. After World War I, the British took over administration of the area, which originally included what is now Jordan. The second map indicates the borders of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. Note that, other than the Negev, the border roughly follow the areas in the first map designated a "Jewish" land. (Reminds me of those post-election county maps in the United States). The borders were intended to award majority Jewish areas to the Jewish state and majority Arab areas to the Arab state. But the Arabs would not accept the plan, and with the support of neighboring Arab nations, attacked the newly formed State of Israel. The third map is accurate in that Israel now controlled more land than the U.N. plan called for, but those green areas do not represent a Palestinian State, the West Bank and Gaza were occupied, not by Israel, but by Jordan and Egypt respectively. Another war, in 1967 resulted in Israel taking those lands from Egypt and Jordan. The fourth map is broadly accurate in that it represents the encroachments by Jewish so-called settlers who have been little by little building Jewish "settlements" in the West Bank, supposedly Palestinian Arab territory.
On the other side, those who believe that the Palestinians have no claim to the land sometimes base it on the fact that there never was a nation called Palestine. There's a social media post making the rounds:
A crash course on history of the so-called 'PALESTINIAN STATE'
1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a 'Palestinian state.'
2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
3. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a 'Palestinian state.'
4. Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid Arab-Kurdish Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
5. Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a 'Palestinian state.'
6. Before the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a 'Palestinian state.'
7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
8. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sassanids, not a 'Palestinian state.'
9. Before the Sassanid Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
11. Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean (Jewish) state, not a 'Palestinian state.'
12. Before the Hasmonean state, there was the Seleucid Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
13. Before the Seleucid Empire, there was the Empire of Alexander the Great, not a 'Palestinian state.'
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
15. Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a 'Palestinian state.'
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a 'Palestinian state.'
17. Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a 'Palestinian state.'
18. Before the Kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, not a 'Palestinian state.'
19. Before the theocracy of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a 'Palestinian state.'
20. Actually, in this piece of land there has been everything, EXCEPT A 'PALESTINIAN STATE.'
A little more history for those wanting to 'restore Palestine'.
In 132 AD the Emperor Hadrian resolved to stamp the Jews and their religion out of existence. He sold all Jewish prisoners into slavery after the revolt of Bar Kokhba, forbade the teaching of the Torah, renamed the province Syria Palaestina, and changed Jerusalem’s name to Aelia Capitolina. He renamed Israel to wipe out the national identity of Israel and the Jews.
So if you are looking to 'restore Palestine to the Palestinians', you should consider giving it back to the Jews. After all, the Jews are called "Jews" because they are the indigenous people from Judea.
The first time I saw this I was taken aback at how utterly stupid it is. (The very first line of this idiocy should make you stop and think - the name of the British Mandate was Palestine) Not that it's historically inaccurate, the chain of rulers of the area are, as far as I can tell, correct, it's just irrelevant to now. No one is claiming that there existed a Palestinian State that Israel somehow caused to cease to exist. No one is claiming that they are trying to restore a Palestinian state. The Arab inhabitants of the area, as well as the neighboring Arab nations, saw the creation of a Jewish state in the midst of a mostly Arab land as akin to invasion, an imposition of something foreign. Of course Jews had lived in what is now Israel and Palestine for millennia, but pre-World War I they accounted for around 3% of the total population. Due to decades of immigration, at the time of Israel's independence, it was still only around 35%. It's very easy to see how indigenous Arabs would be dismayed that another culture would be supplanting theirs. They're not demanding a return to an earlier political status, but to self-determination in a land that most of them have lived in for generations, if not centuries.
The part of the narrative that appeals to the Bible doesn't help. If you believe that the creator of the heavens and the Earth gave you a plot of land (which according to Israeli hardliners includes the West Bank) it's hard to be convinced otherwise. It doesn't matter that you didn't have physical possession of that land for close to 2000 years, God still gave it to you, so everyone else is wrong! The unequivocal support for Israel by most American politicians is also based on the Bible - the "End Times" can't start until the nation of Israel has been re-established. Americans who have no use for Jews in particular are big supporters of a Jewish nation because it jibes with their apocalyptic worldview. But it's not like the Palestinians aren't hardheaded either. Despite their opposition to a Jewish state in their midst, Israel as a sovereign nation is a fact. Palestinian leaders had multiple opportunities for their own sovereign nation, but turned down the opportunity each time. They're as irrational in their demands as the Ultra-Orthodox settlers are in claiming that the West Bank is theirs because it's really "Judea and Samaria".
These competing narratives have had the effect of legitimizing anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred. Hate speech and violent actions by those who conflate Jews with the Israeli government and pro-Palestinians with Hamas, has intensified. Bigots look for any excuse to exercise their bigotry.
I feel sorrow for the Israelis as well as the foreign nationals who were brutally murdered on October 7th. I'm saddened at the continued oppression by the Israeli government of ordinary Palestinians and the unbelievable death toll due to the retaliation against Hamas that affects all of Gazans. But I certainly don't "stand" with either the Israeli government or Hamas. And I don't support us once again getting involved in the never-ending mess in that small patch of real estate.
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