7- Was Palestine an empty land before occupation in 1948?
Palestine is the place where Jesus was born. Palestine has been a recognized country since Roman times. Romans granted the land the name, “Palestine”. From the mid-seventh century onwards, Palestine’s history was closely linked to Arab and Muslim worlds. It is the home of the second holiest place in Muslim religion after Mecca and Medina. It also had another attraction due to its fertility and strategic location. Palestine was a place not only for Muslims, but for other religions as well.
Palestine was occupied in 1517 by the Ottoman Empire, who remained in Palestine 400 years. Their legacy is still there. When the Ottomans occupied it, they found a society of Muslims and rurals with small urban elites who spoke Arabic. Less than 5 % of the population was Jewish and 10-15% were Christians [xxvii].
Palestine, during the Ottoman period, was part of the Arab societies around it. The Palestine people were readily exposed to interactions with other cultures, as a part of the wider Ottoman Empire. In fact, Palestine began to develop as a nation long before the arrival of the Zionist movement. The very opposite of a desert, Palestine was a flourishing part of “Bilad al-Sham” and a rich agriculture industry. Palestine was a place of Small towns and historical cities served a population of millions on the eve of the Zionist arrival.
Despite the claim that there was not a Palestinian state, the cultural location of Palestine was very clear. There was a unifying sense of belonging. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the newspaper “Falastin”[1] reflected the way the people named their country. Palestinians spoke their own dialect, had their own customs, and appeared on the map of the world as living in a country called Palestine. [xxviii]
Palestine was not a desert waiting for Zionists to bloom. Its colonization by the Zionist movement turned this process into a disaster for the majority of the native people living there.
It is worth mentioning that not all Jews are Zionists. On the contrary, many Jews are against Zionism and support the Palestinian cause.
Zionism was a settler colonial movement, similar to movements of Europeans who had colonized the two Americas, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. It is worth mentioning that the only way for Zionist settlers to control Palestine was the genocide of the indigenous locals. [xxix]
8- Was Palestine ever run by Palestinians? [xxxi]
Essentially, none of the region’s populations had autonomy following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. For example, there were no such countries as Syria, Lebanon, or Jordan. These small states gained their independence from the British and French mandates respectively.
Palestine, like Jordan, was colonized by Britain. Others, such as Syria, Lebanon, Algeria etc. were colonized by France.
If each nation that was colonized for 100’s of years would have lost their rights to gain their independence, then France would have been able to keep Algeria as part of its country following a 100-year colonization era. The same would have applied to Europe where many countries would have the right to claim other countries based on the history of their colonies and chaos would prevail. For example, Austria would claim parts of Italy; Germany would claim parts of Poland, and Russia would claim Ukraine … etc.
Britain did not abide by its commitments and promises to the people who lived under its mandate. Instead, they promised to give the land to other populations via the Balfour Declaration, which gave the right to Zionist groups around the world to create a Jewish state in Palestine. [xxxii]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falastin
Ref: Abandoned Palestine Refugee