"The State of Israel was established on the lands of the Arabs" - know what to reply to a common lie

First of all, one must ask: which 'Arabs' are we talking about? The whole 'Arab nation' including Irak and Tunisia? If so, then why not claim that every country that was once under Arab control was established 'on Arab land', including half of Hungary, half of Austria, and half of Spain?

Well, assuming that this false statement refers to the 'Arabs' who lived in the territory that today is under the control of the State of Israel, one must first start by distinguishing between two types of land ownership: personal ownership on the one hand, and political sovereignty on the other. Another important question is which "lands" are we talking about?

Regarding personal-proprietary ownership, it is a well-known fact that by 1900 most of the land was registered in the name of very few Arabs, who for obvious reasons (money) decided to sell them to the highest bidder (the Jews that would pay anything for miserable lands). In other words, until 1948 Jewish settlement, which covered only 7% of the territory of today’s Israel, was carried out only and exclusively on lands purchased from private landowners, most of them Arabs, or on state lands controlled by the British Mandate, but handed over to the British by the League of Nations with the stated aim that these state lands must be used for Jewish settlement, as part of the effort To establish a 'national home for the Jewish people', meaning a Jewish state, which will, of course, protect the rights of all citizens.

Regarding political sovereignty: until the beginning of the Mandate, and from 1516, the entire Land of today’s Israel was the political property of the Ottoman Empire. It is nice and fun to chit-chat about the Indian wisdom or the one written in Leviticus, according to which there is no such thing as land ownership, because “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers” (Leviticus, 25:23).

sure thing. Everything belongs to no one because everyone and everything stems from our creator God all mighty. Yet in the meantime, for all kinds of reasons, human organizations called for example “states” have sovereign ownership of countries, as well as human organizations, called for example “households” have the right to hold a house, Indian or Leviticus deep and moving wisdom notwithstanding.

And as well as human organizations, called for example “households” have the right to handout their hold of a house to another household, so do states, albeit in this latter case, sometimes war is the reason for this or that shift in ownership, but war always terminates with an agreement among parties.

This happened for instance in late 18th century in north America, and in the early 19th century in south America. insteas of a Great British Kingdom’s control over North America, the U.S and Canada were established. And so was also the case in 1919, when the Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated, its lands passed to human organizations called 'states' such as Hungary, Austria and Czechoslovakia. When the Ottoman Empire fell apart, its lands were transferred to new-established people's organizations called states such as Egypt and Turkey, and later to new-established states such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and, god forbid, Israel.

In short, just as Turkey does not belong to the "Arabs" or Lebanon belongs only to some certain "Arabs”, so the State of Israel today sits on territory that once belonged to the Ottoman Empire, later to the League of Nations, and later to the Jewish people.

Interim summary: from the two points of view mentioned, the argument according to which the State of Israel sits entirely on the lands of the Arabs, is a complete and utter lie.

But to all that has been said, another very important issue must be added. What "lands" are we talking about? Was all the territory that is under Israeli sovereignty today "land" in the common sense? definitely not.

Here are the facts that many try not to recognize, to forget, or to erase: before Zionists began to settle this land, most of it was not only empty (in 1878 there were at most 360,000 people living in the Land of Israel, with no more than 350 settlements, covering no more than 20% of the todays’ Israeli territory), but Most of the lands were not suitable for human habitation.

In other words, Zionism was (and still is) the main factor, in most cases the only factor, thanks to which arable land increased. How so? because Zionism, in complete contrast to the traditional Muslim approach, which treats reality as dictated by the hands of heaven, assumed the opposite and acted accordingly: unsuitable lands can be cultivated; If there is not enough water here or there, humans must look for a solution: collect, improve, desalinate, save and purify water. And last but not least: thanks to Zionism, all inhabitants of the land under dispute, enjoy today the Sine Quo Non for human life and justice: security. One must read 19th travelers' descriptions of the situation in this land (try Henry Baker Tristram for instance), in order to appreciate this aspect.

So demography and geography speak for themselves: before Zionism began to develop this land, about 360,000 people lived there, in miserable conditions and with a life expectancy of no more than 40 years. Today, more than 13 million people live in this country, enjoying human conditions that some 140 years ago were impossible to even imagine.

Only Jewish sovereignty over this land made this "miracle" possible, and every lie that is told, even, or especially with the dignified aim of "promoting peace" is nothing more than a lie, and it certainly does not promote peace, nor does it add respect to those who spread it.