Palestine Question and Answer
1948 Arab--Israeli War (Annakbah = Catastrophe)
Before talking about the 1948 war let's take a quick look at Palestine's latest history at the time.
(Palestine) Palestine was under Islamic rule for more than 1200 years
(Under the Ottoman Empire) Muslims, Christians, and Jews co-lived there until the dawn of the 20th century under the Ottoman empire
Until 1900, majority of population were Muslims with a rough percentage of 85%
Christians with a rough percentage of 10%
Then Jews with 5% which means Jews were only 5% of Palestine's population
(2nd Zionist Congress 1898) But the zionist project was already under way, and many jews started immigrating to Palestine
(Theodor Herzl: president of the Zionist Organization) And this immigration is the main trigger for the Palestinian plight.
(World Zionist Organization)(Jewish migration to Palestine) The incoming Jews firmly believed in Zionism which entails that Palestine's land is theirs regardless of its native people opinion
They wanted to establish a Zionist state using any method
(the first Zionist settlement 1878)
(Sykes--Picot Agreement 1916) After end of WW2 Britain and France divided the Levant region between them
Then Britain granted Jews a promise to establish a state for them on the land of Palestine thus providing them with a legal cover and helped with their migration. Truly it was a promise from one who doesn't own to one who doesn't deserve.
(Jewish settlements in Palestine at the beginning of the British Mandate administration) Due to the dense waves of migration the structure of population changed in Palestine.
(Population approximation in the years 1900 - 1947) Jewish population increased from 5% in 1900 to 31% in 1947
(Approximate percentage of land ownership in 1948)
Despite all that, Jews legally owned very low percentage of Palestinian land. This diagram shows Jewish land ownership until 1948
Annakbah (Catastrophe), the 1948 war.
In May 1948 Britain withdrew from Palestine and Zionists declared the state of Israel. On the next day war broke out between Arabic armies and Zionist forces.
But the lack of coordination between Arab armies, conflicting orders, secret treacherous deals, limited supplies and ammunition, and more... All that led to the defeat of the Arab armies.
(Land ownership after the 1948 war) The 1948 war ended with Zionists occupying 78% of Palestine land where they established the Zionist state.
So Palestine was divided into 3 parts: The West Bank and Gaza strip remained under Arab control until 1967
(Division of Palestine after 1948) As for the 48 territories they fell under Zionist control where they established the state of Israel.
(Palestinian land ownership after 1948) From 9% of Palestine land >>> to 78% !! that's 1948 war !!
(Results of the War) (Massacres)
In this war more than 15,000 Palestinian and Arabic martyrs were killed. Zionists committed more than 50 (documented) massacres against Palestinians.
More than 531 town and village were ethnically cleansed and completely destroyed.
(Immigration) Before the war, 1.4 million Palestinians lived in Palestine. Afterwards, more than 780,000 were deported
In the following 10 years more than 850,000 Jewish immigrants came to Palestine.
(Division of Jerusalem) One of the results of the war was the division of Jerusalem into East Jerusalem (stayed under Arab control), and West Jerusalem (stayed under Jewish control)
Btw, East Jerusalem contains the Old city which contains the Aqsa mosque.
(Palestinians cities occupied) After 1948, all these Palestinian cities became part of the Zionist state (Israel).
(Jews occupied 78% of Palestine) Arabs called these lands, "occupied Palestine", or "48 territories"
In 1949, Israel joined the UN. This means it became an official state recognized by most of the world.
For this and more, this war is called Annakba (Catastrophe)
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