Jews, Christians and Palestinians, historically and today who has a rightful claim to Israel
This is a much contested topic, the Muslim Palestinians insisting on a right of return, the Jews claiming Israel is their's, so who is right?
Firstly we need to clarify a few facts (hereafter, Palestine means the former British Mandate of Palestine that is now Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip collectively and does not include the former parts of the French Palestine, being Syria and Lebanon).
Population of Palestine (numbers)
In 1920, the official British Government's Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine by T.E. Lawrence stated that there were hardly 700,000 people living in Palestine. Palestine at the time was today's Jordan, Israel, Gaza Strip and the West Bank, meaning today the population of the same area is 18.7 million (an increase of 18 million over the last 95 years). To put this into perspective, the entire area of what was then called Palestine was 116,127 km², slightly smaller than the small African nation of Eritrea with a population of 6,380,803 (2014). The 1920 report stated that the demographics of Palestine were:
- 78% were Muslim (a small proportion of these were Bedouin Arabs, the rest were largely of mixed race).
- About 11.1% of the population were Christians.
- About 10.9% of the population where Jews.
Birth Rates
Each year, Jordan has a birth rate of 25.23 births per 1,000 population, the Palestinian Territories have a birth rate of 24.56 births per 1,000 population and Israel has a birth rate of 21.3 births per 1,000 population. Statistically there are about 3.3 generations every 100 years on average, this means that to obtain a naturally born population from 700,000 to 18.7 million in 95 years is impossible, meaning that the population increases were mainly due to immigration on all sides. Also, it would be very unlikely that today's couple's would have a blood line that originates solely from 1920 relatives, and any such unlikely couples would be so few and be of no statistical consequence.
Land Size & Governance
The size of Jordan is 89,342 km², the size of Israel is 20,770 km², the size of the West Bank is 5,655 km² and the size of the Gaza Strip is 360 km². This means that today's Israel is 17.9% of the former Palestine and the other 82.1% of the land is under Muslim Arab rule. There is no Christian rule today as Bethlehem, the largest historical concentration of Christians, now has a minority Christian population.
Immigration
The Arab population of Palestine doubled during the British Mandate era, from 670,000 in 1922 to over 1.2 million in 1948, mainly due to Amin al-Husseini (the Grand Mufti) calling for Muslims to immigrate into the area to drive out the Jews. The British also put limits on Jews entering in an effort to appease the Arabs due to oil (there were no limits for Arabs or Christians). In 1922, only 11% of the population had lived in Palestine for over 20 years.
Origins
Muslim Arabs
The Arabas in the Gaza Strip are 99.8% Shafi'i Muslims (Sunni offshoot) They originate from Egyptian Fellahins. Muslims who resided inside Israel pre 1948 either left Israel on their own accord to fight alongside the Egyptians against Israel, left out of fear due to back fired Arab propaganda, evictions from their homes by Jewish landlords and the rest were driven out by Jewish Militias. The Muslims in the West Bank are of mixed race, many of whom were driven out of Jordan during Black September and left Israel under similar circumstances to the Muslim Arabs in the Gaza Strip. For the curious readers, the Arab propaganda was a failed attempt to frighten the Arabs into fighting the Jews, spreading rumours like "Jews going into towns and eating Arab babies". This had a detrimental effect for the Arab leadership, as Arab families left in fear instead of rising to arms.
Jews
The Jews are again of mixed race, today 35.11% of Jews parents came from Europe, America or Oceana, 15.53% from Muslim ruled African countries and 12.33% from Muslim ruled Asian countries. The remaining 37% had parents born Israel. Before and after 1948, the Jews that came from Africa and Asia where kicked out of their homes (estimated 900,000), and fled to Israel, England and America.
Christians and Others
In the Palestinian Territories, Christian and other populations have decreased drastically. In Israel there has been an increase. Christians have always lived in the area, mainly places like Bethlehem where in 1948 they were 85% of the population, today they are 6% in Bethlehem.
The Arabas in the Gaza Strip are 99.8% Shafi'i Muslims (Sunni offshoot) They originate from Egyptian Fellahins. Muslims who resided inside Israel pre 1948 either left Israel on their own accord to fight alongside the Egyptians against Israel, left out of fear due to back fired Arab propaganda, evictions from their homes by Jewish landlords and the rest were driven out by Jewish Militias. The Muslims in the West Bank are of mixed race, many of whom were driven out of Jordan during Black September and left Israel under similar circumstances to the Muslim Arabs in the Gaza Strip. For the curious readers, the Arab propaganda was a failed attempt to frighten the Arabs into fighting the Jews, spreading rumours like "Jews going into towns and eating Arab babies". This had a detrimental effect for the Arab leadership, as Arab families left in fear instead of rising to arms.
Jews
The Jews are again of mixed race, today 35.11% of Jews parents came from Europe, America or Oceana, 15.53% from Muslim ruled African countries and 12.33% from Muslim ruled Asian countries. The remaining 37% had parents born Israel. Before and after 1948, the Jews that came from Africa and Asia where kicked out of their homes (estimated 900,000), and fled to Israel, England and America.
Christians and Others
In the Palestinian Territories, Christian and other populations have decreased drastically. In Israel there has been an increase. Christians have always lived in the area, mainly places like Bethlehem where in 1948 they were 85% of the population, today they are 6% in Bethlehem.
Synopsis
Due to the lack of records, the statistics available are not very accurate and are estimates at best. What is obvious that today nearly 100% of the population in Jordan, Israel, West Bank and Gaza Strip all have immigrant descendants. To claim historical claims today does not hold any weight in the argument of who should rule what.
It was also Amin al-Husseini (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem whose nephew was Yasser Arafat) who wrote to Hitler on 28 November 1940 asking for Hitler's help in establishing Arab states "that would support the elimination of a national Jewish homeland", which was an admission by the then Arab leader that what is now Israel was a Jewish majority "homeland" back then, as you can't eliminate something that doesn't exist.
In modern Western societies we have democracy, giving people the right to choose their leadership. Under this principle, the current inhabitants of areas should be allowed to choose who they want to be governed by, meaning that if there is a Two State Solution, the boundaries would be more or less as they are today. The exceptions would be the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, however to deny a person the right to live on land or vote based solely on their religion (a stance currently held by the Palestinian Authority), is a violation of International Human Rights and has no place in modern society. The Jewish settlers don't help the situation and are not the cause, however these are poor people who can't afford to live in Israel and are attracted by cheap housing and religious beliefs.
It was also Amin al-Husseini (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem whose nephew was Yasser Arafat) who wrote to Hitler on 28 November 1940 asking for Hitler's help in establishing Arab states "that would support the elimination of a national Jewish homeland", which was an admission by the then Arab leader that what is now Israel was a Jewish majority "homeland" back then, as you can't eliminate something that doesn't exist.
In modern Western societies we have democracy, giving people the right to choose their leadership. Under this principle, the current inhabitants of areas should be allowed to choose who they want to be governed by, meaning that if there is a Two State Solution, the boundaries would be more or less as they are today. The exceptions would be the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, however to deny a person the right to live on land or vote based solely on their religion (a stance currently held by the Palestinian Authority), is a violation of International Human Rights and has no place in modern society. The Jewish settlers don't help the situation and are not the cause, however these are poor people who can't afford to live in Israel and are attracted by cheap housing and religious beliefs.
* All statistics and facts can be easily verified via Google
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