Gavin Pierce

Even if you think Israel shouldn't have been created the way it has, if you don't accept the reality of its existence today, if you think that Israelis should just give up the land or open it up, then what YOU are supporting is the ethnic cleansing and destruction of a people indigenous to the land, if that's the sort of thing you care about. You're probably aware that, in 1943, the United Nations adopted a resolution that would divide Great Britain's former Palestinian mandate into Jewish and Arab states in 1948. The land was a British Mandate, not Palestinian, though many Arabs lived there along with Jews. Arab states threatened to attack almost as soon as the UN passed the partition resolution. And they did. But what you may not be aware of is that Israel's history in the region doesn't begin in 1948 and that's something that many people fail to understand. Israel's location wasn't picked randomly or purely because of religious beliefs. According to Historians, the region was ruled by King David around 1000 BC. His son, King Solomon, built the first holy temple in ancient Jerusalem. And there are records of the establishment of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah after it was divided into two kingdoms around 931 BC. Israel has existed for a long time before 1948. But the land was invaded by many over the years and changed hands. Maybe you'll want to call THAT colonialism? The Assyrians invaded and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in around 722 BC. Then came the Babylonians. Then there were the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes, Islamists, and others.  As you see, the land has a rich history of being conquered. But Israel existed long before 1948. In clearer terms... It's not so different than when Native Americans were conquered, then given some land back (where they have their reserves), and then we would have had non-native Americans who have been living alongside them decide they had no claim and started campaigns against them and called murdering, kidnapping and torturing them "resistance." And yes, it's a bit more complicated than that and there are issues for Palestinians we need to address too, but distilled, that is what's happening.