Quote from: Padma on March 19, 2012, 02:36:39 AM
From Wikipedia (where I'm sure this would be contested if untrue):
"The Palestinian people, (Arabic: الشعب الفلسطيني, ash-sha'b al-Filasṭīnī) also referred to as Palestinians (Arabic: الفلسطينيون, al-Filasṭīniyyūn), are a people descending from the peoples who have lived in Palestine over the centuries.[15][16] Today, Palestinians are largely culturally and linguistically Arab. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one half of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Israel. In this combined area, as of 2004, Palestinians constituted 49% of all inhabitants,[17] encompassing the entire population of the Gaza Strip (1.6 million), the majority of the population of the West Bank (approximately 2.3 million versus close to 500,000 Jewish Israeli citizens which includes about 200,000 in East Jerusalem), and 16.5% of the population of Israel proper as Arab citizens of Israel.[4]" etc.
They were definitely present in the 60's when my family were living there.
Since you lived there, you probably already know the complicated history of the region. At the conclusion of World War I, the Ottoman Empire, which controlled present day Israel and it neighbor, Jordan, was broken up into several pieces. One of those pieces became the British Mandate of Palestine.
The Balfour Declaration established that the Mandate would be set aside for the repatriation of the Jews. Just as British India was partitioned among the Hindus and the Muslims after World War II, so too was the Mandate destined for partition among the Muslims and the Jews.
The first state created out of the Mandate was the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It comprised the greater portion of the Mandate. The British got cold feet when it came to Israel, and the Jews declared their independence. They were immediately attacked by forces from the Arab League, but established their independence by force of arms.
Soon thereafter, Jews were expelled from Muslim countries all over Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Hundreds of thousands migrated to Israel. At the same time, the Israelis
did not expel the Arabs from Israel, nor would the neighboring Arab states accept the refugees.
Thus, a class of persons was created by their Arab cousins. Furthermore, the Kingdom of Jordan annexed what is today called the "West Bank." Jordan lost that area in the 1967 war. The refugees that resettled in Jordan tried to overthrow the Kingdom, and were sent packing. Similarly, the Egyptians established military rule in the Gaza Strip, but did not assimilate the Gazans.
The so-called Palestinians reject a "two state" solution. Indeed the "Palestinian" organization, HAMAS, has pledged to eliminate Israel and initiate a second Holocaust. The "Palestinians" need to leave Israel and go to Jordan, Egypt, and other nearby Muslim countries.
