The State of Israel?

Question

Im looking for factually based responsive as apposed to purely emotive ones when I ask the question of wether or not Israel should've been created (by man) in the manner with which it was. I am doing a debate and have to argue that we regret the creation of Israel.

Please dont get angry at the question. As a member of a debating team I am looking for viable arguments on both sides-I dont want "I hate Israel" or "I love Israel" I would love informative answers please. I will give the 10 points to the answer I feel does this.

thanks!

Answer 1

israel belongs to the jewish people, it was not stolen.

Despite the growth in their population, the Arabs continued to assert they were being displaced. The truth is that from the beginning of World War I, part of Palestine's land was owned by absentee landlords who lived in Cairo, Damascus and Beirut. About 80 percent of the Palestinian Arabs were debt-ridden peasants, semi-nomads and Bedouins.

Jews actually went out of their way to avoid purchasing land in areas where Arabs might be displaced. They sought land that was largely uncultivated, swampy, cheap and, most important, without tenants. In 1920, Labor Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion expressed his concern about the Arab fellahin, whom he viewed as "the most important asset of the native population." Ben-Gurion said "under no circumstances must we touch land belonging to fellahs or worked by them." He advocated helping liberate them from their oppressors. "Only if a fellah leaves his place of settlement," Ben-Gurion added, "should we offer to buy his land, at an appropriate price."

It was only after the Jews had bought all of the available uncultivated land that they began to purchase cultivated land. Many Arabs were willing to sell because of the migration to coastal towns and because they needed money to invest in the citrus industry.

When John Hope Simpson arrived in Palestine in May 1930, he observed: "They [Jews] paid high prices for the land, and in addition they paid to certain of the occupants of those lands a considerable amount of money which they were not legally bound to pay."

In 1931, Lewis French conducted a survey of landlessness and eventually offered new plots to any Arabs who had been "dispossessed." British officials received more than 3,000 applications, of which 80 percent were ruled invalid by the Government's legal adviser because the applicants were not landless Arabs. This left only about 600 landless Arabs, 100 of whom accepted the Government land offer.

In April 1936, a new outbreak of Arab attacks on Jews was instigated by a Syrian guerrilla named Fawzi al­Qawukji, the commander of the Arab Liberation Army. By November, when the British finally sent a new commission headed by Lord Peel to investigate, 89 Jews had been killed and more than 300 wounded.

The Peel Commission's report found that Arab complaints about Jewish land acquisition were baseless. It pointed out that "much of the land now carrying orange groves was sand dunes or swamp and uncultivated when it was purchased....there was at the time of the earlier sales little evidence that the owners possessed either the resources or training needed to develop the land." Moreover, the Commission found the shortage was "due less to the amount of land acquired by Jews than to the increase in the Arab population." The report concluded that the presence of Jews in Palestine, along with the work of the British Administration, had resulted in higher wages, an improved standard of living and ample employment opportunities.

In his memoirs, Transjordan's King Abdullah wrote:

It is made quite clear to all, both by the map drawn up by the Simpson Commission and by another compiled by the Peel Commission, that the Arabs are as prodigal in selling their land as they are in useless wailing and weeping (emphasis in the original).

Even at the height of the Arab revolt in 1938, the British High Commissioner to Palestine believed the Arab landowners were complaining about sales to Jews to drive up prices for lands they wished to sell. Many Arab landowners had been so terrorized by Arab rebels they decided to leave Palestine and sell their property to the Jews.

The Jews were paying exorbitant prices to wealthy landowners for small tracts of arid land. "In 1944, Jews paid between $1,000 and $1,100 per acre in Palestine, mostly for arid or semiarid land; in the same year, rich black soil in Iowa was selling for about $110 per acre.

By 1947, Jewish holdings in Palestine amounted to about 463,000 acres. Approximately 45,000 of these acres were acquired from the Mandatory Government; 30,000 were bought from various churches and 387,500 were purchased from Arabs. Analyses of land purchases from 1880 to 1948 show that 73 percent of Jewish plots were purchased from large landowners, not poor fellahin.29 Those who sold land included the mayors of Gaza, Jerusalem and Jaffa. As'ad el­Shuqeiri, a Muslim religious scholar and father of PLO chairman Ahmed Shuqeiri, took Jewish money for his land. Even King Abdullah leased land to the Jews. In fact, many leaders of the Arab nationalist movement, including members of the Muslim Supreme Council, sold land to Jews

Answer 2

Many Jews believe that David ben Gurion was G-d's Messiah; thus, it was G-d who answered the prayers of His People Israel. I beg to differ with you, but Israel was NOT CREATED--it was there as Bialik's tale of the sleeping King David: Ha-melekh David lo maith--hoo raak yoshen!

Answer 3

I agree with Glarbel. Israel has every right to exist. Who can question this?

Answer 4

Wow, there is literally a debate as to whether Israel should have been created? I guess it shouldn't really surprise me, Israel is the only country in the world whose right to exist is constantly called into question or even outright denied. Yes, Israel deserved to be created. If history has shown us that any group of people need their own sovereign, autonomous nation for self-preservation, then it is certainly the Jews. That is what Zionism is all about-Jewish self-determination. Although the creation of Israel has caused a lot of problems, no one can definitively say if in the end it was a benefit or not. I believe the true reason for the conflict is not the creation of Israel, but the Arab's outright refusal to accept ANY idea of Jewish nationhood, no matter the borders. As a result, Israel was declared unilaterally. This resulted in a war instigated by surrounding Arab nations to destroy the nascent Jewish state and commit genocide against its Jewish population (just three years after the holocaust). Surprisingly Israel won, which sadly resulted in the Palestinian refugee crisis. This was no different than a lot of other state's birthing pains - take the partition of Pakistan from India-millions of Hindus went from Muslim Pakistan to Hindu India and vice versa. The difference is that these Palestinian refugees were never resettled (except ironically in countries like the US or the UK). Jordan, which was created slightly before, made up 70% of historic Palestine, but didn't grant Palestinians citizenship. The West Bank, captured by Israel from Jordan in the six-day war would probably be the best area to provide the Palestinians with a state of their own (Jordan has since relinquished their rights to the territory). This is currently being discussed between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Sorry if I got a little off-track...I sometimes feel it is my obligation to inform people of the true story so they don't get a biased, unfair look. So yes, in my opinion the creation of Israel was just and necessary.

Answer 5

So how is the situation sounds?

1. You have a house, live with your lovely family. Everything was nice and suddenly..

2. A group of people(let call them Ziogist) invading your house, claiming it is theirs.

3. You and your family have no option but to give the house to them. But they repay you by killing the entire family.

So, who has the right for the house? Do the Ziogist deserved to own the house?

Answer 6

I think that the Jews do belong have rights to live in Jerusalem but at the same time I say that Christians do as well.

I don't think what happened by man could happen without spirit.   What happened in Israel was called upon by the Bible and Torah.

Israel has been the bloodiest event in history after world war II, it has caused a lot of blood..

but at the same time history passes, times change, and empires fall.....

the jews belong in israel and to create a new jerusalem.

we are all just pawns in time.

ben gurion didnt create israel, man did, and it was because of the biblical prophecies that man did this....

Answer 7

I don't think so,the link shows the reason.

added. I'm not oposed to Israel's creation,just some of the tactics used by the early Jewish leaders.

Answer 8

All I can say is Moses is turning over in his grave.. THIS is not what he wanted from his followers.. far from it.. anyone today should be ashamed!

Answer 9

The problem with Israel and the concept of Zionism is that these Zionists Jews come from all over the world and they have decided that they need to create a jewish homeland the problem here is that the land they have decided to create this jewish state on happened to be inhabitated by Arabs.  Israel  has taken this land called Palestine today by force from the Palestinians, and they do that by demolishing their homes, killing them and buliding illegal settlements.

The conept of zionism would have been okay if they had decided to take a piece of empty land but no they have destroyed almost a whole nation in order to create Israel this is really a big fat crime.

Answer 10

Check this out.