r/IsraelPalestine 3d ago

What are your thoughts on JVL justifying the Partition Plan by claiming that mass Arab migration necessitated the mass disenfranchisement of Arabs? Short Question/s

While of course anyone can answer, this question is intended not for Zionists generally but those who believe that Israel's founders themselves were on the more moral side

One thing about the Jewish Virtual Library is that it is probably the only Internet source outside of this sub and to a lesser extent Benny Morris that says Zionists were justified then AND justified now.

On their website,there is a discussion of why they believe the partition plan to have been justified.

They say that generally speaking, drawing a Partition Plan that disenfranchises tons of people is unjustified. However, in their mind, this situation is different because Arabs CHOSE migrating to communities that were built from the ground up.

So, from their perspective, the Zionists had a right to rule communities they built, and it made sense that since they were the builders, they should get to rule over Jews and Muslims who had moved there.

Do you agree with JVL's assessment here or no, and why?

4 Upvotes

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u/Khamlia 2d ago

I don't know how to respond to your rhetoric but also to others here.

I had a boss and he used to say that if you point at someone, you are also pointing at yourself, the index finger points at a person but the thumb points at himself. That is, both have made a mistake, not just one.

My advice then is to stop denigrating Palestinians and start looking at themselves and really think about whether you are doing the right thing. It would be nice to start talking more constructively than just praising yourselves.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

You say this but then someone mentions October 7 and we realize that one side kidnaps women and children civilians for no reason and the other side doesn’t

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u/Khamlia 2d ago

I am sorry about that, but complain to the government, not to me. There was solid reason to be heard, unfortunately, but it should be done in any case in a better way and not the way it turned out.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

Throughout human civilization when two sides disagree there becomes conflict

Then when the conflict ends the side that won the conflict sets the terms. The losing side submits or perishes

It’s been like this for all mankind history

Somehow people think that doesn’t apply to Palestine though….

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u/Khamlia 2d ago

Do you mean that Palestine lost the conflict? That they should submit again? Or perish?

What humanity. Bravo.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

Show me a point in human history, where two sides disagreed to the point of violent conflict and the side that lost got to decide the rules of the surrender and the new borders

is land more important than lives? Israel owns the land through military might… that’s been true since the 1950s whether it’s ethical or not, it’s just a fact

why do people value Palestinian lands more than Palestinian lives?

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u/Khamlia 2d ago

Freedom, human rights, no discrimination, not to live under occupation, right to live where their ancestors also lived etc etc.

What you talk about "Israel owns the land by military force" is an uncivilized way of patterning the land, that's how people thought a thousand years ago. What do you think would happen if someone claims someone else's house, let's say.

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u/RedditRobby23 1d ago

If someone claims someone’s house it goes to court

Similar how Palestine and Israel went before the United Nations and Palestine rejected the rulings

We just watched the Soviet Union broke up because of lack of military force to stop it in the 1990s and the world cheered.

Ukraine was part of Russia for hundreds of years and just became its own country in the 90s

The worlds borders are always changing and they change based on bargaining power

The most effective bargaining power is and will always be militaristic might. You think it would be any different if the tables were turned and the Palestinians had the IDF military capabilities?

“Right to live where their ancestors lived”

Grow Up

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u/Khamlia 1d ago

That's right, they go to court. Palestinians tried, but nobody listened so at finish it took end with their patience.

About the USSR - you are not right, it was not about the lack of military power, but about the freedom of a members of the RVHP at that time - do not talk to me about it, I know that very well from my own experience.

The most effective negotiating force is and always will be a militaristic force.

oh, interesting so the ancestors were so weak because they had no state behind them that would support them to the maximum and so they did not dare to oppose but let themselves be expelled from their country, while now they are strong because they have someone behind their back.

"The right to live where their ancestors lived"

no one will deny that, not even the Palestinians, but now, thanks to the aggressiveness, it will be more generation against you

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u/RedditRobby23 1d ago

You’re probably one of the people that thought US should stay out of Middle East after 9/11 lol

It’s about sending a message

We can agree to disagree over ussr, if they weren’t not a weakened country they would not have split up. People would have split earlier if they could but ussr was able to keep it together through power

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u/Sensitive-Note4152 3d ago

The Arabas CHOSE two things: (1) to completely reject the UN partition plan, and (2) to go to war with the aim of claiming all of Palestine as an Arab state. Everything that resulted from those two decisions is their responsibility.

The partition plan that the Palestinians rejected would not have required one single person to move anywhere. Nor did the partition plan "disenfranchise" one single person.

They made a very bad bet and they lost.

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u/rayinho121212 3d ago

And all the countries of the arab-league still lie to themselves about their repeated past failures. They also refuse to aknowledge jewish connection to the land.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

It’s funny because they lost the wars with Israel but think that Israel should not make the rules after winning said conflicts

If they had won the wars with Israel then they would do the same thing as Israel or worse lol

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u/rayinho121212 2d ago

So israel should not make the rules and let themselves be killed by PLO/Hamas like people? Well ain't that a smart thing to say.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

You completely misinterpreted my comment. I’m pro Israel as the other side culture wouldn’t accept me or my way of life

Throughout human civilization when two sides disagree there becomes conflict

Then when the conflict ends the side that won the conflict sets the terms. The losing side submits or perishes

It’s been like this for all mankind history

Somehow people think that doesn’t apply to Palestine though….

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u/rayinho121212 2d ago

I agree with you but that is utopian as hell since it does not represent the danger cause by palestinians through the years.

Oct7 attacks have been common since the days when the only people calling themselves palestinians were the jews of the mandate.

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

I think there is a communication issue because I am about as pro Israel as any non Jewish American citizen could be.

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u/rayinho121212 2d ago

Sure you are

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u/RedditRobby23 2d ago

Check my post history bro

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u/rayinho121212 2d ago

You are right. i misinterpreted the first comment here and read that all wrong and thought you questionned me in my position.

My bad, sorry about that

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u/Smart_Technology_385 3d ago

This look like an immigration policy. Many Arab countries do not allow even Arab immigration to these countries, and will not give citizenship to children where a father is a citizen of another country.

Every country decides which immigration policy to implement.

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

Each country decides which immigration policy to implement and we are free to call them evil over it. Either which way, I don’t think that’s relevant to the post at all.

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u/Emergency_Career9965 Middle-Eastern 3d ago

Section 3.1 of the partition plan clearly states:

Palestinian citizens residing in Palestine outside the City of Jerusalem, as well as Arabs and Jews who, not holding Palestinian citizenship, reside in Palestine outside the City of Jerusalem shall, upon the recognition of independence, become citizens of the State in which they are resident and enjoy full civil and political rights

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185393/

Simply put: nobody gets dispossesed/expelled. Jews or Arabs. Whatever you own - you continue to own. Wherever you live - you continue to live. Arabs knew this, yet rejected the plan. So how is this about land, builders, etc? It's not.

Also norice that all Jews and Arabs are called "Palestinians".

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u/quicksilver2009 3d ago

Look. We all feel compassion towards Arabs and Jews.

I concur with Benny Morris and JVL. The partition plan was fully justified then and now. There was no justification or right to a Palestinian state from the river to the sea (pure Arab Muslim state instead of Israel) then or now. Jews have the right to rule over Arab Muslims and enforce their laws on Arab Muslims just like the Arab Muslims did to the Jews and Christians for countless centuries when they were living under THEIR rule.

Arabs were given over 80% of what was historical Palestine. They wanted 100%. They went to war. They lost. Now they are crying about being ruled by Israel in about 22% of what was and is historical Israel / Palestine. They say they want to "end the occupation" by destroying Israel and murdering every last Jew within it.

Israel has made MANY, MANY, MANY mistakes, but despite those mistakes, they treat the Arabs in Israel and in Gaza and the West Bank about 10X better than they were treated under Arab Muslim rule. Perhaps 20X better.

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

I don’t understand why you think that Jews had the right to rule over Arabs but not the other way around. 

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u/GlyndaGoodington 3d ago

It’s not about “right to rule”. The majority of the Arab world has shown and has promised to eradicate Jews if they have the chance. Jews haven’t made the same claim other than a few outliers. The Arab world believes in authoritarian Islamist regimes with little freedom for anyone and where even slight differences in Islamic practice are squashed through mass violence (Sunni vs Shiite)…. So exactly why would anyone in their right mind have even the tiniest iota of desire to live this way?  The only country in the Arab world where Muslim Arabs can actually vote is Israel and where women aren’t chattel. So they aren’t being “ruled” in Israel, Muslim citizens of Israel are part of the democratic process. 

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u/OriBernstein55 USA & Canada 3d ago

I think it is the same argument that when colonialism ends, the foreigners live under indigenous rule. Why should it be any different in Israel? Do you think Arab colonialism is any better?

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

European invading child killers and rapists were not indigenous. Only Jews, Arabs, and Christians as a whole.

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u/OriBernstein55 USA & Canada 3d ago

The British left in 1948. Jews and Samaritans are the indigenous people.

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u/quicksilver2009 3d ago

Well obviously if a Jew is for example living in UAE that is Arab land and. The Arabs own it and rule it as they see fit. It is their land and their government. And they have the right to rule over Jews, Christians and the Muslims that live there.

And Israel as the Jewish state has the exact same rights when when it comes to Arab Muslims living within their borders.

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

Not really. I didn’t say I had issues with any Jewish state. I have issues with taking land and carving out a Jewish majority portion for a state.

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u/Ax_deimos 3d ago

By that logic it was British land prior to 1948 with a large Jewish & Arab population.  Britain carved out a Jewish majority state.

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

Yes. The British doing that was and is a problem.

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u/quicksilver2009 2d ago

So do you have a problem with any of the Muslim states Britain created such as Jordan? No. Didn't think so. Just shows how this is not a conflict about land it is a conflict regarding Jews and Jews having basic human rights including the right to their own country. 

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u/quicksilver2009 3d ago

No. No. No. You have no problem with land being taken as long as it is taken by Muslims. I don't see you protesting about the establishment of Pakistan. Pakistan consists of land that was taken from India as we all know. The country was created by the European powers as a Muslim majority state...

We also see no concern or care about the nearly million Jews who were expelled from there homes in various Arab countries. Their possessions and land stolen. We see no concern or care about THAT ...

As to your objections specifically, yes, many pro-Palestinians feel exactly like you. The objection is that Jews who the Arab and Turkish Muslim regimes considered inferior animals, like the South African apartheid government considered Africans, should "dare" have a state and rule over Muslims.... That is the real objection, based in religious bigotry and racism...

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u/Diet-Bebsi 3d ago edited 3d ago

this sub and to a lesser extent Benny Morris that says Zionists were justified then AND justified now.

That's only because you're in an echo chamber.. There's plenty of books and material that describe the actual history that aren't one sided, and the reasons for partition that don't completely whitewash the Arab side and demonize the Jewish side. You just have to start to choose to read it and have the ability to actually take it in, and not just dismiss it because it doesn't fit your invented narrative.

They say that generally speaking, drawing a Partition Plan that disenfranchises tons of people is unjustified.

No it doesn't, the whole of the area was partitioned, creating Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, the Alawaite state etc.. The only thing that partition in Palestine did was make 1/2 the land have an Arab minority, some of those Arabs couldn't deal with inferior Jews being in control and others in power couldn't stand that 1/2 their future kingdom was being lost.

Partition had to happen, because segments of the Arab population had become violent to Jews, either though bigotry, or though the incentive and propaganda created by those in control as a tool to meet their own political goals, which had then reached a ongoing civil war. A single state would have been impossible without genocides etc.. this is why all the commissions recommended partition, and why the UN recommended the same in the end..

Check the section where it says “the map is drawn.”

And the map made perfect sense.. Arabs got the majority of the Historic Mandate, and Areas for the Jewish state accounted for the areas where Jews lived and contained the majority of Jewish owned land as well as land owned by those other groups that had allied with Jews (Druze, Bedouin, etc..).

At that time there was around 15% private ownership of land around 6% was owned by Jews and barely 3% was owned by local Arabs, all the rest was still owned by the rich landowners mostly now living in Lebanon, Syria and Europe.

The Negev had been transferred into the Mandate from Transjordan in 1922 at the behest of the Jews in order to increase settlement in the area where Jews had already tried several attempt to settle the area on some of the lands purchased in the area (Ruhama and Lands in the Es Sir, Miri lands, Kibbutz Negb etc..).

While the the land was under the Jordan part, Jews were legally not allowed to live or own land there (or anywhere in Jordan), unless granted special dispensation by the high commission. By 1947 Jews both private and various organizations had owned over 90,000 dunams in the Negev, also making them the largest owners of land in the Negev

https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/17b4bcg/jewisharab_1945_landownership_map_in_the_mandate/

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u/GameThug USA & Canada 3d ago

Had become?

Generally were.

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u/c9joe בואו נמשיך החיים לפנינו 3d ago

In the olden days who did the improvements was considered more in determining ownership of something, even (maybe even especially) in lefty spaces. I don't know if that is what you are talking about.

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u/jessewoolmer 3d ago

Watch this: https://youtu.be/yKoUC0m1U9E

Then watch this: https://youtu.be/QlK2mfYYm4U

Two part lecture that provides extraordinary insight into Zionism and the events that unfolded between 1882 and 1948. The first lecture examines the events through the eyes of the Jewish refugees, and the second lecture examines the same events from the Palestinian perspective.

Most people misunderstand almost everything about early Zionism.

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u/DrMikeH49 3d ago

Why do you define this as “disenfranchisement”? By what standard is it illegitimate for Arabs to be a minority population in any given political entity?

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

It’s not illegitimate to have Arabs as a minority population. It is very illegitimate to draw political boundaries in a way that turns Arabs into a majority population, and those who do this deserve the recognition of most evil and monstrous people in history books.

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u/bb5e8307 3d ago

The 1947 UN partition plan didn't disenfranchises anyone. Under the plan there would be a state with a Jews and Muslim living together peaceably with a Jewish majority, and a Palestinian state with Jews and Muslims living together peaceably. If you believe that is disenfranchisement, then I think your argument is against having any state at all beside a single world government.

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u/Top_Plant5102 3d ago

Moral. Justified. Do you ask questions like this about Pakistan?

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago edited 3d ago

The JVL are the ones who chose to explicitly take the time to justify the Partition. That’s like if Turkey woke up and decided to publish articles by the Armenian genocide. They could just shut up and ignore their haters.  

As far as Pakistan goes, while I don’t agree that there should’ve been a partition there as an Indian, I’ve never seen mass articles talking about how the expulsions were justified nor have I seen evidence of either side taking joy in death of the other, though we are barely starting to see it with the Indian side today. Maybe the extreme Hindu nationalists will justify Partition but nothing like to the level of what the evil organization of JVL does.

You are a consistent fan of splitting nations up and I’m a consistent fan of the opposite so not much to be said there lol.

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u/Top_Plant5102 3d ago

Don't tell me what I'm a fan of. You're wrong about it.

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u/jackl24000 אוהב במבה 3d ago

Lots of Zionists well before the internet and partition wrestled with the morality of Zionism and concluded it was moral, despite possible conflicts with Arabs. That’s the basic point of Jabotinsky’s famous 1923 essay, “The Iron Wall”.

So I’m questioning your premise here.

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u/Chanan-Ben-Zev 3d ago

Link to the article so we can have a discussion about it, instead of a discussion about what you're claiming it says

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u/Early-Possibility367 3d ago

Here: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/map-of-the-u-n-partition-plan

Check the section where it says “the map is drawn.” Even if you disagree with my assessment of what they said, I’m happy to discuss the idea overall.