the history of the jewish people is quite comprehensive, so i will do my best to condense the history into a few paragraphs. not every empire or colonization attempt will be mentioned, but please note they are just as important.the jewish people, as a whole, originate from the levant and modern day israel & palestine along with its neighboring territories. the jewish people's connection to the region is based in both scripture and historical fact, and even without scripture, there is enough secular evidence to quantify the indigenous status of jews to the region. archaelogical discovers such as the dead sea scrolls (jewish texts written in hebrew and aramaic), ancient synagogues discovered via excavation, hebrew inscriptions and settlements, etc. the earliest known reference to israel, a distinct people living in canaan, is mentioned by the egyptian pharoah in 1208 bce. assyrian records mention the kingdoms of israel and judah as distinct entities of the levant, and baylonian chronicals describe the conquest of judea and the babylonian exile of the jewish population. the house of david inscription mentions the dynasty of king david and affirms the early jewish monarchy of the nothern kingdom, and thousands of artifacts were discovered in jerusalem and judea from the second temple.now onto genetics. the analyses of the y chromosome, which dictates paternal lineages, indicates that the jewish communities of today share paternal lineages that trace back to the middle east through the j1 and j2 haplogroups. this remains relevant through all groups of the diaspora -- ashkenazi, sephardic, mizrahi. autosomal dna studies examined the entire genome of jewish populations ad confirmed that jewish populations predominantly share their genome with middle eastern populations amidst the admixture of diasporic influences.as for the historical narrative, jewish people began as a loosely connected confederation of tribes which cohesively formed the indentity of israelites. around 11th to 10th century bce, the twelve tribes united under centralized authority into a united monarchy. however, internal stife and differing interests within the region split the kingdom into two entities -- the kingdom of israel in the north, and the kingdom of judah in the south. however, these kingdoms were destroyed through the conquest and colonization of the neo-assyrian and babylonian empires. the assyrian empire destroyed the northern kingdom and jews were ethnically cleansed & resettled in different parts of the empire, replaced with a foreign population. the southern kingdom of judah fell to the neo-babylonian empire that besieged jerusalem and destroyed the first temple. the babylonian empire also expelled the jews and forcibly relocated them in what is known as the babylonian exile.the exile from our homeland brought fourth great sorrow for the jewish inhabitants of the region, in which psalm 137 accounts for. "by the waters of babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered zion." it was only until the persian empire permitted the return of jews that the jewish population was able to return and rebuild the first temple destroyed by the babylonian empire. however, as the region came under hellenistic influence, the roman conquest of the region caused tremendous suffering for the jewish people. the roman general captured jerusalem and incorporated the region of judea as a client state of rome, which we know now today as colonization. the romans desecrated the jerusalem temple which sparked massive jewish revolts against roman authorities, culminating in the roman-jewish wars and the bar kokhba revolt. to punish the jews for their uprising, emperor hadrian killed over 580,000 jews and massacred their villages and towns. jews were consequently banned from jerusalem and in an effort to erase all jewish ties to the region, renamed "judea" to "syria-palaestina".to clarify, this "palaestina" does not refer to modern day palestine or palestinians. the term "palaestina" refers to "philistia", the land of the philistines. the philistines were an aegean sea people from greece and neighboring countries that settled in the coastal areas of the levant. the roman intentions behind the renaming sought to dissociate the jewish identity with the land and incorporate the province with the larger region of syria and inevitably its integration into the broader roman empire.following the exile from jerusalem and the destruction of the second temple, jewish communities who were ethnically cleansed were forced to flee & resettle in various regions around the globe. this is what is known as the modern day diaspora -- however, many jews were able to remain within the region, retain our culture & heritage, and survive despite the oppressive rule of the romans -- mainly in areas such as galilee, safed, tiberias, and hebron. those in the diaspora were forced to assimilate to the majority culture for survival, which created jewish communities in eastern europe (ashkenazim), jewish communities in spain & portugal (sephardic), jewish communities in north african & the broader middle east (mizrahi), and more. local authorities either explicitly or implicitly encouraged assimilation and the conditions in which jews were forced to survive in the diaspora sometimes led to the erosion of religious and cultural practices in favor of adopting the customs of their host societies.with the discovery of islam came the desire to bring the message of prophet muhammad from the arabian peninsula to the broader region. thus, in the mid-7th century, arab forces under the early muslim caliphates waged a war against the byzantine empire and captured jerusalem, which weakened the byzantine control (te roman empire has now divided at this point) of the region. arabic become the dominant language as the caliphate sought to impose arabic over greek & the native aramaic language that many of the inhabitants of the region spoke. with the islamic administration of these caliphates, the region gradually became colonized and arabized as local governance was structered around arabic-speaking bureaucracies and legal systems. over time, the region became culturally and linguistically arabized with laid the framework for the arab population living in the region. however, the jewish communities of the region retained their identities apart from this event.in 1517, the ottoman empire defeated the caliphates & sultanates of the region and reorganized its administration into provinces. although the ottomans were originally turkish, many of the customs and traditions from the arab administration remained in place. during the ottoman period, the region was referred to as bilad al-sham, or "greater syria". "filastin" was used in sparsely during this time, which was the arabic pronunication of palestine. palestine was the name evolution of "palaestina" from the roman term syria-palaestina. this is due to the fact that latin began to evolve into various languages and thus the pronunciation and spelling of the word changed which was cemented by the crusades and their chronicles of "palestine". when the ottoman empire was defeated in the first world war, the imperial control over the levant collapsed and the league of nations granted britain administrative control of the territory, which became known as the british mandate of palestine.despite the exile, jewish liturgy, culture, and identity maintained a continuous focus on returning to our ancestral lands. jewish liturgy consistently references zion, jerusalem, and for all those exiled to return & restore jerusalem. the seder conducted at passover ends with the declaration of "next year in jerusalem", reflecting this hope of return. all of jewish traditions, language, and practices link the jewish people back to their homeland.international law recognizes the right of indigenous peoples to maintain and reclaim their ancestral lands. the united nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples affirms the right of indigenous communities to self-determination and the preservation of their cultural integrity and territories. self-determination, the concept that peoples who share a national identity (not to be confused with nationality) have a legal right to choose their own governance, is a basic tenet of international law which is applicable to all peoples. this is the foundation of zionism.

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please note that while this section does try present a cohesive historical timeline of events, some paragraphs do jump back and fourth between years based on relevancy.i alluded to this point in the previous section, but zionism is the collective yearning of the jewish people to return to our ancestral homeland. this is a value that has been central to jewish identity for thousands of years, and remains to be a core value of judasim and the jewish identity in modern day. however, zionism as a political movement saw its emergence in the late 19th century.despite attempts to assimilate with host societies in the diaspora, jews were victim to state-sanctioned discrimination, murder, and mass violence exemplified through the russian pogroms. jews were viewed as outsiders whose religious and cultural practices were incompatible with the "social and moral order" of society; the distinct culture and ethnic identity of the jewish people were perceived as threats to the standing culture, purity, and stability of their host nation. no matter how hard jews tried to assimilate, they were constantly viewed as "other" and segregated from mainstream society through the ghettoization of jewish neighborhoods. the life for jews in the iaspora gave little hope to these communities that assimilation would ever grant security, safety, or equality. the dreyfus affair, in which a jewish army officer was falsely accused of treason due to antisemitic hysteria, exemplified that even the most modern and liberal societies scapegoated and mistreated jews. the reccurring episodes of segregation, violence, mass murder, and displacement reaffirmed the belief that life outside of the jewish ancestral homelands were a threat to jewish survival.theodor herzl who is considered the father of political zionism witessed this exclusion and expulsion firsthand. herzl argued that no matter how well jews tried to integrate into their host culture and society, jews would never be safe or fully accepted. the illusion of safety through assimilation was shattered through the increasing sentiment of jew-hatred throughout the world, most notably in europe. jewish safety and dignity could not be guaranteed through integration and assimilation; thus, the beginnings of political zionism took hold as jews sought to return to their homeland. in 1896, theodor herzl published der judenstaat ("the jewish state") that laid out the framwork for a modern nation as both a refuge and means of self-determination for the jewish people. the jewish state was seen as a safe haven where jews had the right to governm themselves, practice their culture and religion safely, and ensure their survival from external persecution. his ideas spread throughout the jewish diaspora and quickly gained support as jews continued to suffer from persecution & discrimination, which helped to organize the first zionist congress in 1897.the above information should be enough proof that the holocaust did not give birth to political zionism. this was a notion that predated such a horrific atrocity; however, the holocaust did act as a catalyst towards the success of political zionism as it proved the argument in which political zionists had espoused. the holocaust demonstrated that the jewish diaspora was inherently precarious and subject to the whims of oppressive regimes; in order to ensure jewish survival, political zionism argued that an independent jewish state must be established to give jews the right of self-determination and self-governance after centuries of colonization and oppression. to the international community, the holocaust created a moral imperative to prevent such a genocide from reoccurring; the creation of israel was not seen as simply a nationalist or political goal but the very livelihood and future of the jewish people, no longer at the mercy of hostile societies or merciless empires.i want to make a note that zionism is not exclusive to the ashkenazi jewish population of the diaspora. mizrahi and sephardic jews were also openly zionist, with morrocan rabbi yehuda bibas traveling through jewish communities in the mediterranean to advocate for our return to zion in the 19th century. there was also sephardic rabbi ben-zion meir hai uziel who believed in the redemption of israel and the gathering of jewish exiles to create a jewish homeland; he consistently emphasized jewish return and the revitalization of our culture amidst persecution. it was not just ashkenazi jews who were being expelled, as sephardic jews were expelled from spain as a byproduct of the alhambra decree. sephardic jews were also routinely discriminated against in the ottomn empire, especially during the balkan wars. mizrahi jews were also subject to state-sponsored discrimination and large-scale exile from iraq, egypt, morocco, and yemen. in the countries that allowed them to stay, they were forced to live as second-class citizens and restricted from employment or education. the exile and discrimination both sephardic and mizrahi jews faced coalesced with the ashkenazi struggles in the diaspora, fueling the need for zionism amongst all regions of the diaspora.as i explained in the previous section, the discovery of islam and the arabic conquest of the levant drastically altered the demographic makeup of the region. this was something early zionist leaders were aware of and intended to address in their creation of the jewish state. theodor herzl specifically envisioned a pluralistic society where the arab and jewish populations of the region shared equal rights to all citizens of the nation and this belief was echoed by many other zionist leaders. chaim wiezmann, who later became the first president of israel, stated in 1918 that in relation to the creation of the jewish state, "arabs are not to be disinherited or driven out". nahum sokolow stated in the paris peace conference that zionists sought to "live with the arabs as two brothers". david ben gurion, the first prime minister of israel, stated that, "we do not intend to marginalize the arabs, or to displace them from their land and take their place" (1915) and "had zionism desired to evict the inhabitants of palestine, it would have been a dangerous utopia and a harmful, reactionary mirage". (1918) various binational proposals emerges within the zionist movement, along with labor zionist organizations making efforts to organize joint arab-jewish labor unions and agricultural cooperatives. hebrew classes began teaching arabic to reflect this union of the two people's.even before the creation of political zionism, many jews were returning to the homeland to escape the growing persecution throughout the region. many of the jews who arrived during the first wave (1882-1903) of immigration were agricultural settlers who established new farming communities to support the idea of a self-sustaining, jewish agricultural society. however, the second wave of immigration saw a substantial increase in the number of jews (1904-1914) as violence throughout the diaspora increased. jewish immigrants to the region began to establish "kibbutzim" that served to create an agricultural and cooperative economy. however, at the time the region was under ottoman rule -- it was politically unstable & underdeveloped. the jewish population also clashed with the arab population of the region. to explain, the return of jews to their ancestral homeland was viewed as a direct threat to arab nationalism and previously established communities. at the end of the 19th century and more so in the early 20th century, the national consciousness of arabs emerged as palestinian nationalism and that nationalism aspired to independence. thus, the arab desire for independence clashed with the jewish desire for return; the idea of the jewish return was viewed as endangering the very culture and existence of the arab populations. seeking to maintain arab control of the region, violent clashes between jewish and arab populations broke out throughout the region.desparate to quickly resolve the issue at hand, the peel commission in 1937 sought to partition the land into separate jewish an arab states with a jewish state in the north and along the coast & an arab state in the south and the center, united with transjordan. the jewish community agreed to the partition however the plan was strongly rejected by the arab population as they believed the entirety of the region belonged to the arab population and any transfer of peoples was seen as unfavorable. when palestinian arab nationalist leader haj amin al-husseini asked if an independent arab palestinian state would agree to absorb the jews already living in palestine in lieu of a jewish state, he refused and implied that jews would be expelled from the state.it is important to note that in 1941, the same palestinian arab nationalist leader (haj amin al-husseini) met with fascist leaders adolf hitler and benito mussolini to solve the "jewish problem" in palestine and resist british control. he claimed that jews were planning to destroy islam and arab society, calling for open violence against the jewish population in the region. adolf hitler and the nazi party openly collaborated with haj amin al-husseini to destroy the jewish presence in the region of palestine. in a 1943 letter, he wrote, "it is the duty of the arabs to drive all jews from arab and muslim lands." and in a 1944 radio address, he called on arabs to "kill the jews wherever you find them.". al-husseini openly supported the nazi's regime "final solution" of genocide to the jewish population, and sought to extend that practice to the region of palestine. al-husseini helped to recruit bosnian muslim soldiers into the ss ranks to help with the nazi cause.given the failure of the peel commission, the british empire instead chose to restrict jewish immigration to the region via the white paper and stated that there would not be either an arab or jewish state. this sparked outrage amongst the arab community and the jewish community as nazi germany began the mass execution and genocide of the ashkenazi jewish population. jews seeking to flee the holocaust were turned away from both the united states and their ancestral homeland, which only served to fuel the need for a jewish state. furthermore, the sykes-picot agreement reflected the notion that the british did not have altruistic favor of the jewish or arab people but sought to manipulate the jewish and arab independence movements for their own regional interests. the failure of the peel commission, world war ii, the mounting violence in the region, and resistance from imperial forces by both the jews and arabs ultimately resulted in the british viewing the land as a burden rather than a strategic asset which led to the end of its mandate in 1947.the united nations had formed in 1945 at the end of world war ii, and the issue of the region was handed over from the british. the un general assembly appointed a special committee -- the united nations special committee on palestine (unscop) -- to make recommendations on the land’s future government. unscop recommended the establishment of two separate states, jewish and arab, to be joined by economic union, with the jerusalem & bethlehem region as an enclave under international administration. in 1947, the un general assembly voted on the partition plan which outlined this division. the jewish side accepted the un plan for the establishment of two states, however arab leaders vehemently rejected this partition as a threat to the arab population and arab nationalism. to explain, the jewish state encompassed about 55% of the region while the arab state encompassed 45%. this was because many jewish residents of the region had legally purchased land through the jewish national fund from arab merchants, and the specific allocation of the negev desert which comprised about 60% of the proposed state. the negev desert was sparsely populated and difficult to cultivate, which seemed to be strategic given the lack of arab population to conflict with.jewish agreement to this partition plan was met with outrage by the arab populations, which resulted in a civil war between the jewish and arab populations of the region. the mufti of gaza during this time, haj muhammad said al-husseini, issued a fatwa stating that zionism had created a reality where jews have forgotten their place in society amongst arab populations, using the word "dhimmis" to refer to their second-class status in arab socieites. after the jewish agreement to the 1947 partition plan, the arab liberation army began infiltrating palestine to attack jews and jewish villages. keep in mind, this is prior to israel's establishment. most of this conflict was restricted within the region however; it was only until israel's declaration of independence in 1948 in accordance with the 1947 partition that surrounding arab nations launched a multi-front war against israel.the 1948 arab-israeli war significantly changed the borders proposed in the partition plan, as it was never fully implemented as intended due to the war. given the defeat of the arab nations and territorial gains, israel became a much larger state prior to the war -- going from 55% to 78% of mandatory palestine. these borders were determined by the armistice lines that were drawn based on ceasefire aggreements between israel and the neighboring arab states. after the 1948 arab israeli war, the palestinian arab state was never established and instead annexed by both jordan (west bank & east jerusalem) and egypt (gaza strip). these borders would not be redrawn until the 1967 six day war in which israel launched a preemptive strike as egypt, syria, and jordan conspired to start another war with israel & "reclaim the territory" as reflected by aggressive and antagonistic measures such as the blockade of the straits of tiran and the expulsion of un peacekeepers from sinai.as a byproduct of the 1948 arab-israeli war, over half of the pre-war arab population fled the region. this mass displacement is collectively referred to as the nakba, "the catastrophe". civilians escaping the mass casualties and destruction was a horrific byproduct of a violent war fought by warring populations, but not a premeditative and/or deliberate "zionist act" to expel the arab population from the region. furthermore, this war was not a between the "powerful oppressor" and a "poor palestine". the jews that immigrated to the region did not bear arms and a significant portion of them were emaciated holocaust survivors who were physically and psychologically weakened by their trauma, arriving on crowded ships seeking refuge whereas most countries refused large-scale jewish immigration.now that i have covered the origins of modern political zionism, i want to assert that at the fundamental level, zionism is a movement that supports the jewish people's right to self-determination and self-governance in the land they are indigenous to. zionism contains a diverse range of ideological streams, and is not restricted to a political party or belief system -- there are socialist, queer, leftist, conservative, and religious zionists. being a zionist does not equate to the unequivocal support of any israeli government or their policies, especially in relation to the ongoing war. zionism recognizes the legitimate national aspirations of the palestinian people and believes in a just solution to accomodate the rights and needs of both peoples. many zionist organizations advocate for an equal palestinian state alongside israel. i, myself, disagree with the standing government of israel and their military practices while still believing in the jewish right of self-determination. i support palestinian self-determination while still believing in the jewish right of self-determination. i disgaree with the annexation of gaza and the west bank while still believing in the jewish right of self-determination. i believe that both arabs and jews deserve to live in the land peacefully and safely with their own government and state.

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zionism is settler colonialism : settler colonialism is a form of exogenous (of external origin) domination over an indigenous population organized by an imperial authority which maintains a connection or control to the territory through the settler's colonialism. settler colonialism seeks to impose their culture or religion onto the colonized people and extract resources from the land for economic gain. first and foremost, the jewish people are not exogenous to the region; zionism emerged as an aspiration for the return of the exiled jews to their ancestral homeland. colonialism occurs when the external population imposing over a territory has little to no historical connection to the region, which is not applicable here. the zionist movement was not imposed by an imperial power, but rather within the jewish diaspora and community as a response to persecution and displacement. furthermore, there was no metropole (mother country) that the zionist movement colonized from. the zionist movement was not organized or driven by an external imperial agenda, but the jews themselves. while it is true that british policies did initially help to facilitate jewish immigration, they also restricted jewish immigration later on via the white papers; furthermore, the jews of palestine were not the only ones to "benefit" from an imperial power, as the arabs of palestine also received support for arab nationalism and the hope of an independent arab state. the jewish people and the zionist movement itself did not seek to economically extract resources from the land or subjugate the arab population to their culture or religion. rather, the jews simply sought to establish their own homeland in the region in which they are historically indigenous to. the zionist movement did not seek to erase or dominate other cultures within the region, but to coexist alongside them in respective jewish and arab states. the jews who came to palestine much more fit the definition of refugees rather than an imperial power seeking to colonize. furthermore, both the arab and jewish communities in palestine resisted and fought against british imperialism. zionism had no imperial sponsor and, for all intents and purposes, lost any british support in 1939 when they abandoned the british mandate. zionism is a movement that serves jews worldwide, not the british. while it is true that early political zionists did use the word "colony" and "colonization", however this terminology has had historical and contextual shifts throughout history. the use of the word "colonization" or "colony" referred to jews establishing settlements in the region and cultivating the land as a means of national restoration, restoring the land through sustainable agrarian practices -- not the pejorative sense associated with european colonialism and imperialism. the contemporary perjorative understanding of "colonization" stems from the historical record of european expansion, which is not applicable in this case.zionism is racism : given the definition of zionism, the need for self-determination in the ancestral homeland of the jews has no racial motivation of discrimination or supremacy. self-determination in of itself is not racism. furthermore, zionism has been widely accepted by a diverse range of jews -- ashkenazi, sephardic, mizrahi, kaifeng, etc. zionism has been widely supported by ethnically diverse jews, which contradicts this claim. zionism was created out of response to racism and discrimination towards the jewish people, not an expression of it. furthermore, israel's declaration of independence explicitly guarantees "complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race, or sex". arab citizens of israel compromise about 21% of the population and have the legal ability to vote in elections, serve in the knesset (parliament), on the supreme court, governmental positions, and medical & legal positions. israel also protects freedom of worship for all religions, which muslim, christian, druze, and baha'i holy sites preserved and accessible. while the implementation of these policies are not perfect, as in all countries, the foundational commitments of israel and zionism as a whole contradict the racist characterization of the movement. furthermore, a plethora of countries define themselves in similar ethnic, religious, and cultural terms without facing similar accusations -- japan (ethnic japanese state), ireland (constitutional special position for irish people), greece (privileged position for greek orthodox church), and the numerous arab states that are constitutionally defined as arab and/or islamic. other countries alsoshare preferential immigration policies for co-ethnics without being labeled as racist -- take germany (automatic citizenship to ethnic germans from eastern europe), hungary (citizenship to ethnic hungarians in neighboring countries), greece (expedited citizenship to those of greek origin), and armenia.jews and arabs lived equally pre-1948 : under islamic rule, jews were classified as second class citizens with limited rights and restrictions that sought to humiliate them. the jizya tax was an act of submission and inferiority for the jews. jewish testimony was not accepted in islamic court against muslims, and jews were forbidden from building new places of worship or repaiiring existing ones without special permission. jewish homes could not be taller than muslim homes. jews were required to wear distinctive clothing or badges to mark their non-muslim status, and were forbidden from riding horses or bearing arms. jews were prohibited from raising their voice around muslims, reuired to stand in the presence of muslims, and forbidden from displaying religious symbols publicly. jewish quarters in the ottoman empire were subject to mob violence and looting. in 1834, arab riotord attacked the jewish settlement of safed and looted homes & synagogues for 33 days. in 1840, jews were accused of ritual murder, tortured, and killed. in 1847 there were widespread pogroms against jews in jerusalem. in 1920, arabs targeted, harassed, and sexually assaulted the jewish communoty of jerusalem. in 1921, riots in jaffa killed and wounded the jewish community. in 1929, jews were tortured, mutilated, and massacred in hebron. in 1929, jews were murdered in safed and their homes were looted and burned. from 1936 to 1939, the arab revolt killed hundreds of jews and carried out numerous attacked against jewish civilians and communities. in 1938, arab militants killed 19 jews and burned their bodies. british authorities consistently failed to protect jewish communities from arab violence and frequently disarmed jewish self-defense groups. the british denied jews immigration to palestine, specifically jews fleeing the holocaust, leaving them to die in europe. jews were required to remove their shoes when passing by mosques and were not allowed to walk on the same side of the street as muslims. jews were routinely spit at and had stones thrown at them when walking near mosques or muslim settlements. jews were heavily restricted within the land and forced to live in extreme poverty and deteriorating conditions in palestine before zionist settlement. furthermore, the middle east and north africa were known for their mistreatment of jews prior to 1948. the jews of morocco faced violent pogroms and massacres, and jewish quarters were established to segregate jews. in yemen, jews were forced to conert and the mawza exile removed jews from the land to die and legally codified jewish inferiority. in iraq, the farhud pogrom (1941) openely massacred jews and destroyed jewish homes. in libya, the tripoli pogrom killed jews and destroyed their homes as well. in syria, the damascus affair of 1840 saw jews torturted and killed following blood libel accusations and the synagoguge of damascus was destroyed in a 1943 pogrom. in egypt, jews were subject to periodic violence due to blood libel accusations. to say that jews lived peacefully or were accepted by arabs before israel is a blatant lie.zionism is nazism : the false equivalence of these two ideologies is incredibly harmful and distorts history willfully. nazi ideology was based on racial supremacy that and the inherent superiority of the "aryan germans". it explicitly sought to eliminate entire peoples that were deemed inferior, and rejected democracy to embrace totalitarianism as an ideal means of governance. nazism centered on the "cult of personality" and absolute loyalty to a singular, fascist leader. zionism, however, is based on national self-determination for a persecuted minority that seeks refuge and safety rather than domination. zionism openly embraces democratic governance since its inception and was focused on developing a historical homeland for the exiled jewish population. equating a movement born from the experience of persecution with the ideology of the persecutions is 100% historical inversion and holocaust inversion.zionism came at the expense of palestinians : i will not deny that there have been historical manifestations of zionism that has caused suffering and pain for arab palestinians. with this in mind, the historical causation of events shows that no single actor or movement dictated the outcome of the region. the ottoman collapse created a power vacuum in the region, and british imperial policies negatively affected both arab and jewish communities. the decisions made by palestinian arab laders and regional arab state interventions dramatically shaped the outcomes of our current day, and international decisions through the league of nations & united nations impacted frameworks of partition. the united nations always envisioned two states living side by side, and the jordanian annexation from 1948 to 1967 of the west bank prevented palestinian statehood. alternative outcomes to the current situation were possible at multiple historical junctures -- however, this does not negate the fact that international, arab, and jewish leaders are all responsible for the current situation in the region, with the creation of israel playing a role in palestinian displacement, arab leadership rejecting compromises that compounded on pre-existing issues, and the international community failing to address the refugee status of palestinians.

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