Before Palestine became a battlefield of competing nationalisms, it was something far less dramatic and far more instructive: a plural society. Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived across the country under the governance of the Ottoman Empire – not as equals in the modern democratic sense, but as communities governed by a legal order that prioritised coexistence over domination.
That historical reality matters today, because it challenges a central myth: that Zionism arrived to redeem a land defined by religious hostility or demographic absence. Neither was true.
A plural society, not a vacuum
In the late nineteenth century, Palestine was overwhelmingly Arab in language and culture, religiously mixed, and socially interconnected. Jewish communities – often called the Old Yishuv – were long-established, Arabic-speaking, and locally embedded. Christian Palestinians maintained churches, schools, and civic institutions dating back centuries. Identity was local and communal, not nationalist.
This was not an idyllic society. Ottoman Palestine was hierarchical and imperfect. But it was not organised around ethnic replacement, nor did it pursue a political project of removing one people to secure the sovereignty of another.
Were Ottoman laws fair?
By contemporary standards, Ottoman governance was not democratic or fully equal. Yet by the standards of its time, it was comparatively tolerant and functional.
Under the Ottoman millet system, non-Muslims were recognised as protected communities (dhimmi), permitted to practise their religion, manage communal affairs, and hold property. Jews expelled from Christian Europe repeatedly sought refuge in Ottoman lands, including Palestine.¹
In the nineteenth century, the empire initiated the Tanzimat Reforms, which aimed – however unevenly – to equalise subjects before the law regardless of religion.² These reforms reduced religious hierarchy rather than intensifying it.
Crucially, Ottoman law did not pursue demographic engineering. It governed diversity; it did not attempt to erase it.
Zionism as rupture, not return
Political Zionism emerged not from Palestinian Jewish life but from nineteenth-century Europe, shaped by ethnic nationalism and colonial settlement logic. Its leaders were explicit about the central obstacle they faced: Palestine was already inhabited.
Rather than abandoning the project, early Zionists debated how to overcome that reality. Theodor Herzl wrote privately of removing the indigenous population through economic exclusion.³ Zionist institutions adopted policies of land acquisition coupled with tenant removal, “Hebrew labour only”, and the construction of a separate economy.⁴
Demographic dominance was understood as a prerequisite for sovereignty. Mass immigration would create irreversible “facts on the ground,” after which political recognition could follow.
“Transfer” and force
By the 1930s, leading Zionists discussed population removal – often termed “transfer” – as necessary. David Ben-Gurion acknowledged that a Jewish state could not be realised without displacement, writing that compulsory transfer could provide “something which we never had.”⁵
Ze’ev Jabotinsky was even more candid. In his 1923 essay The Iron Wall, he argued that indigenous peoples never consent to colonisation, and that Jewish sovereignty would require overwhelming force until resistance was broken.⁶ This was not a religious argument; it was a settler-colonial one.
Palestinian Jewish opposition – erased from memory
These developments were not universally welcomed by Jews in Palestine. Many Palestinian Jews opposed Zionism, fearing it would shatter coexistence, recast Jews as settlers, and provoke conflict with Muslim and Christian neighbours. Their objections were pragmatic and prescient. They understood that they – not European ideologues – would live with the consequences.
Zionism’s eventual dominance owed less to universal Jewish consent than to imperial sponsorship, particularly British support following the 1917 Balfour Declaration, and to the catastrophic narrowing of perceived alternatives after the Holocaust.
What was lost
Zionism transformed Jewish identity from a plural, diasporic, and ethical tradition into a political nationality defined by territory, demography, and security doctrine. Dissent increasingly became framed as disloyalty. Equality became a threat.
The tragedy is not that Ottoman Palestine was perfect. It is that a plural society governed by law – however flawed – was dismantled and replaced by a project that required dominance to succeed.
That is the historical rupture. And it is why the conflict is modern, political, and structural – not ancient or inevitable.
A society that already contained Jews, Christians, and Muslims was remade into a battlefield by a European nationalist project that could not tolerate equality.
Understanding that history does not deny Jewish suffering. It honours it – by insisting that persecution should never be answered with its reproduction.
Footnotes and Primary Sources
- Karen Barkey, Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
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Carter V. Findley, Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity (Yale University Press, 2010).
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Theodor Herzl, The Complete Diaries, ed. Raphael Patai (Herzl Press, 1960), entry for 1895.
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Gershon Shafir, Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914 (University of California Press, 1996).
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David Ben-Gurion, letter to his son Amos, 1937, cited in Simha Flapan, The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities (Pantheon, 1987).
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Ze’ev Jabotinsky, The Iron Wall (We and the Arabs), 1923.
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Readers may consider reading more, “A History of the Arab Peoples”, Albert Hourani, Faber, London. 1991. There was a legal Palestine up to May 1948, destroyed by zionist policy of murder and theft, with the treacherous British and uncaring oafish USA involved. Only one leading zionist of nearly fifty, Rabin, was born there, and the rest were superstition fantasy driven invaders. So Europe and elsewhere “got rid of jews” more nicely than Adolf’s ways had. Superstition kills and should be eliminated for our sake, and for that of civilisation.
We seem poised on how far we go to please the Jewish community after the recent event, but one aspect of our commitment is what we teach our young at school>
Jillian Segal is most insistent that she wants to catch them young and plant ideas in their head which may remain for a life span.
Historical facts as detailed in this piece may be quite different from what is taught in Jewish schools, and what Ms Segal has in mind for Aussie kids.
I have a strong preference for facts which can be verified over the delusional history which is cobbled together for the current generation of Israeli schools.
A brief recap of the more recent history…
* members of the Arab League declared war on Israel immediately after it was legally created by the United Nations
* the 2 state solution was accepted by Israel but rejected for decades by other Middle Eastern countries
* the neighbours of Israel again declared war in 1967 and 1973
* illegal settlements have been able to flourish in Israeli occupied territory , this has almost put an end to a viable 2 state solution
* on 7 October 2023 Hamas slaughtered over a thousand Israelis
* Israel engaged in a totally disproportionate and brutal response, which probably amounts to genocide
* Israel has almost entirely lost the support of those traditionally supportive
In all that, I struggle to identify the “right” side
Thanks for taking the time to summarise the history. Much of what you’ve written reflects commonly cited points, but a few elements are either overstated or miss important context. I hope you don’t mind a brief clarification, offered in good faith.
1. “Israel was legally created by the United Nations”
This is partly true but often overstated. UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947) recommended partition; it did not legally create a state and was not binding. The UN had no sovereign authority to allocate territory still under British mandate. The plan proposed allocating roughly 56% of the land to a Jewish population that was about 33% of the population and owned around 7% of the land. So while there was international endorsement, there was no legal creation in the full sense implied, and no consent from the indigenous majority. That framing matters because it removes Palestinian political agency at the outset.
2. “Arab League members declared war immediately”
This is chronologically misleading. Large-scale Zionist militia operations and expulsions began months before 14 May 1948 (Plan Dalet, Deir Yassin, Haifa, Jaffa). By the time Arab states intervened, more than 250,000 Palestinians had already been expelled. The war did not begin simply because Israel declared independence; it followed a civil-war phase that had already devastated Palestinian society. This reverses cause and response.
3. “Israel accepted the two-state solution; others rejected it”
This is historically selective. Zionist leaders accepted partition tactically, not as a final settlement; Ben-Gurion himself spoke of later territorial expansion. Israel has never recognised a sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, and since 1967 every Israeli government has expanded settlements, making a viable two-state solution structurally impossible. By contrast, the PLO formally accepted a two-state solution in 1988. Focusing only on 1947 freezes history and ignores the last four decades.
4. “1967 and 1973 prove ongoing aggression”
Context is important. In 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike and then occupied Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Sinai, and the Golan Heights. In 1973, Egypt and Syria sought to reclaim territory occupied since 1967, not to destroy Israel. Neither war justifies permanent occupation or settlement, which international law explicitly forbids.
5. “Illegal settlements almost ended the two-state solution”
This is actually the strongest point you make, but it understates the issue. Settlements didn’t almost end the two-state solution; they were designed to end it. This was not an accident or oversight but a long-term state policy.
6. “7 October 2023 Hamas slaughtered over a thousand Israelis”
This is factually correct and morally necessary to acknowledge. However, the framing omits context such as blockade, occupation, and prior mass killing, and it’s crucial to note that international law still applies after atrocities. Acknowledging 7 October does not license collective punishment.
7. “Israel’s response probably amounts to genocide”
This creates a kind of false balance. Genocide is not a matter of opinion but a legal determination. Multiple UN experts, genocide scholars, and the ICJ have found a plausible risk and imposed provisional measures. Describing this as “probably” both distances responsibility and concedes horror, without engaging the legal findings.
8. “I struggle to identify the ‘right’ side”
This is the core difficulty. It implies symmetry where there is structural asymmetry, and moral confusion where international law is actually quite clear. There may be no “right side” in a state-versus-state sense, but there is a right side when it comes to civilian protection, equality before the law, opposition to ethnic cleansing, and rejection of apartheid and permanent occupation.
Overall
The summary doesn’t appear malicious, but it reflects a mainstream framing that starts history too late (around 1947 rather than earlier), treats Zionist acceptance as good faith while portraying Palestinian rejection as irrational, acknowledges atrocities yet avoids locating responsibility structurally, and ultimately ends in moral fog rather than ethical clarity.
In short, it sounds fair because it distributes blame — but justice isn’t arithmetic. The central issue isn’t simply who rejected what in 1947, but how a settler-national project displaced a plural society and then entrenched inequality through occupation and settlement, a reality your own points partially acknowledge.
I’m entirely comfortable with differences in emphasis or clarification.
I think it is also worth noting-
* in 1917 the Balfour Declaration foreshadowed the creation of the state of Israel, within the Palestinian administrative area of the Ottoman Empire
* with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Britain inherited legal authority for the region
* the precedessors to the Arab League had 32 years prior to the creation of Israel to figure out a proposal or compromise.
Israel vs Palestine is an awful human and historical tragedy and a diplomatic debacle.
All parties have a legitimate claim, it just depends on the point in time you choose to start
And I’m fine with dropping the word “probably” re genocide
I agree that this is a profound human tragedy and a diplomatic failure, and I appreciate the willingness to refine language — particularly on genocide.
Where I still disagree is with the idea that all parties have a legitimate claim depending on where history is started.
Historical depth does not automatically generate legitimacy. Claims are not made equal simply by choosing an earlier or later date. Legitimacy rests on how claims are pursued, not merely on their existence.
Jews unquestionably have deep historical, cultural, and religious ties to the land. That is not in dispute. But political Zionism was a modern nationalist project that sought sovereignty through demographic transformation, land acquisition, and ultimately displacement of an existing population. That method matters.
Palestinian Arabs — Muslim, Christian, and Jewish — did not assert a competing nationalist claim in 1917 because they were already living there as a society, not as a movement seeking to replace another people. Their claim was not aspirational; it was lived.
To say “both sides have legitimate claims” risks flattening a crucial distinction:
between historical connection and political entitlement
between self-determination and settler sovereignty
between defence of an existing society and creation of a new one through exclusion
This isn’t about picking a convenient starting point. It’s about recognising that one project required displacement to succeed, and the other did not.
That doesn’t deny Jewish suffering or history. It simply insists that injustice cannot become legitimate through time, repetition, or international endorsement — especially when inequality and occupation persist.
Where I think we do agree is that the enduring tragedy lies in the failure to protect equality, civilian life, and coexistence — principles that international law is actually quite clear about, even if politics has not been.
Well done, Lachlan.., cogent, clear, accurate, nuanced, insightful, sweeping while concise. We might all hope, even now, for peace, and two states may still be the only vague if long refused hope. Superstition kills.
Terrific, timely, article!
“7th October Hamas killed 1,000 Israeli`s” is a statment worth challenging, and I do not accept it as a fact while it originates from Israel media.
While the world wants to see Netenyahoo in the dock for war crimes, his constituents are shouting for an in depth investigation of 7th oct.
I dont think Hamas are silly enough to wage war with Zealots in tanks and bombers, when they have none. There had to be an understanding discussed between the 2 sides, and if we have learned nothing else in the past couple of years, we have noted that the Israel word is worth zip.
Yes hostages were taken by Hamas, and this may have been significant in pre conflict talks, but what transpired later in the day of the 7th involved helicopter gun ships, and some heavy bullets. Only one side has helicopters and we did get some warning of unrest from Egypt before the break out.
There is a lot we not know, and if miracles are still about, then we may see an investigation of events leading up to the significant day
I tend to think those that deny the death of a thousand Israelis on 7 October don’t bother to read outside their narrow, prejudiced comfort zone.
A sample of the non Israeli government findings-
* United Nations Commission of Inquiry reviewed digital evidence, eyewitness testimonies, and data from Israeli sources. It documented the systematic killings in various locations, including at the Nova music festival (364 deaths) and several kibbutzim, and estimated the total killed at approximately 1,200.
* Human Rights Watch cross-referenced various data sources to determine that 815 of the 1,195 people killed were civilians.
* Amnesty International interviewed survivors, victims’ families, and forensic experts, reviewing hundreds of videos and photographs to confirm that around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
I thank you Lachlan by way of endorsing Phil Pryor’s comment.
You are quite right to insist upon both context and historical accuracy. Without that we are adrift in a sea of ‘fake news’, alternative facts and revisionism.
It is beyond dispute that the State of Israel was born from mayhem, murder and the forced removal of many thousands of the original inhabitants of Palestine – almost all of whom became refugees, and those remaining in Palestine became subject to Israeli occupation. The subsequent history of land-theft and dispossession by the Israelis (as noted by the ICJ in 2024), together with well-documented ongoing ill-treatment was not a process to be enjoyed.
As noted by former Israeli citizen Avigail Abarbanel: “All colonialists have used psychological warfare to break, subdue and control the colonised. The world has largely been oblivious to the fact that Palestinians have had to live with this for seventy-five long years.”
https://avigail.substack.com/p/you-cannot-reason-with-an-abuser?publication_id=749647&post_id=139070841&isFreemail=true&r=1sqhym
Retired academic lecturer, author and commentator Jeremy Salt noted in August, 2024 that regarding the wholesale slaughter of children in Gaza:
“Older ‘liberal’ Israelis are shocked. They say this is not the Israel they grew up in but it always was. They just didn’t see it, didn’t want to see it or were too deeply indoctrinated to see it.”
“The evidence is all there in the hundreds of villages destroyed and depopulated and the people massacred all the way up to 1967, including children as sweet and innocent as those obliterated in Gaza. The Gaza subset of a long-running genocide is the evil fruit of seeds sown long ago.”
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/evil-fruit-of-seeds-sown-long-ago-what-makes-gaza-genocide-different/
What might a long oppressed and embittered people do – given the history, and what of the response?
“The resulting wave of total violence unleashed upon the Palestinian people since [Oct 07] is not that of a just cause. It is precisely the opposite. As with the French in Algeria, the Americans in Vietnam, and the British in Ireland, this Zionist settler-colonial project has failed on its own terms. It can only be sustained by extreme violence and slaughter, such is its unsustainability on the basis of its supremacist idea.”
“The simple and unvarnished truth is you cannot keep 2.2 million people confined to a latter-day Indian reservation for 17 years, control their access to electricity, clean drinking water, and all the necessities of life, while also denying them freedom of movement, dignity, hope and a future. No, you can’t do all that and expect next-to-no resistance.”
“*This is the context in which Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, launched by Palestinians in Gaza … must be understood. No ugly oppression has ever given rise to a pretty resistance. History leaves no doubt of it.”
[My emphasis] https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/06/the-meaning-of-october-7/
Lachlan Mckenzie etc, very useful, but some here need to pull their finger out.
AC,
I didn`t say that 1000 Israelis did not die on 7th Oct, but I did say that Hamas was not responsible for all the deaths.(Hannibal)
Yeah, you tend to wonder at much of what Douglas Prtichard says.
And they tell us the Gazan death toll is 70,000, but people keep coming up with reports that the death toll is immensly higher than the “official” figure despite a backdrop of censorship, spin and white-collar cowardice.
And now we drown in IA and other methods used, to not just avoid the truth but for lying unrepentantly and unceasingly over the most tragic of horrors.
Normalisation of genocide is a bit horrific at the end of it all.
To the brief points of history above, It is probably of interest to note that at no time in the creation of the State of Israel were Palestinians included in any negotiations, so while the UN may have passed the vote establishing the State of Israel, Palestinians may feel a bit miffed that they were not asked if they wanted to be (re)colonised, or even asked whether they were prepared to share their lands with an incoming population.
The question of who declared war on whom in 1967 and 1973 if open to question, since there were claims of Israel mounting pre-emptive strikes in order to avoid negotiations.
In summary: there is fault on both sides, but it isn’t equal, and claims of the “legality” of the British decision to hand so much of Palestine over to the Zionists are technicalities that have no connection to the reality of the situation on the ground at the time.
If Israel had stayed within 1948 borders and behaved like a civilised nation is expected to, its existence, while unfair on those who were displaced, would have been tolerable. Given the ongoing bastardry of the Zionists, the nation has lost whatever legitimacy it may once have been able to claim.