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Caught under crossfire

31.12.69

I RECEIVED various responses to and critiques of my Sept. 28 column, “ Lines in the sand .” I have benefited immensely from the lively discussion that has followed, as it has allowed me to learn more about the various viewpoints in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. I gave thought and consideration both to comments submitted via The Cavalier Daily website and to other articles published in response. I now would like to put forward a reflection on and critical analysis of some of those contributions.

On the website, user “Marvin Edwards” stated the following: “The land in Palestine was purchased by European Jews! And agricultural coops were established by the Jewish immigrants. Under the British Mandate, both Palestinians and Jews were encouraged to form their own states within their partition of Palestine.” After consulting “The Arab-Israeli Conflict: a History” by David W. Lesch, I arrived at a different conclusion. According to Lesch’s account, the Arab absentee landowners from whom lands were purchased by Zionist settlers originally owned no more than 30 percent of the property. He reports that “by 1939, Jews owned about 5% of the Palestine mandate… the Arabs owned approximately 10%, with the remainder under state-owned British mandatory control.” In other words, the most the Zionists could have purchased was 30 percent of Palestinian land. What they did purchase legitimately was considerably less than that.

Source: University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily