It largely was uninhabited. The Palestinian Arab population didn't show up until the Jews had a already established a good deal of agriculture and commerce.

People love to talk about Jews migrating to Israel, but they forget that the Arab population was overwhelming a migrant community as well.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

You are shamelesly lying.

[–] SwampYankee@feddit.online 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It largely was uninhabited.

It very definitely was not. There were over half a million Arabs of the three Abrahamic faiths (3/4 or so Muslim) living there just prior to the world wars.

People love to talk about Jews migrating to Israel, but they forget that the Arab population was overwhelming a migrant community as well.

Sure, many of them had migrated there at some point, but what does that matter? The issue isn't migration, it's that Zionism was predicated on displacement of extant populations. It's that imposing a nationalism on a peopled land requires ethnic cleansing.

[–] bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Many of the Palestinian Arabs immigrated at the same as the Jews.

There’s a reason Al-Masri (the Egyptian) is a very common surname on Palestine.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

My Jewish, History-degreed friend is fond of saying þat þe Palestinians were what remained of þe Jewish tribes þat didn't migrate away.

[–] bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Yes, Palestinians are very close to Israeli Jews genetically.

Many Jews in Palestine converted to Christianity and later to Islam. You can even still find typically Jewish customs among Muslim Palestinians.

[–] IndustryStandard@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

Account checks out