Yes, it is a unique position, which by no means invalidates the Jewish plight for independence - just like displacements and dispossession did not invalidate independence of other nations. Your “majority over a specific period of time” rule has no rational or moral basis. Its only purpose is to selectively deny the Jewish people the right for independence.
Somewhat reminiscent of the current Muslim immigration to Europe. Yet, expressing this very sentiment in that context is deemed atrociously racist.
As I said, the Zionists were prepared to have a Jewish state with a sizable non-Jewish minority.
And what makes this data “actual”? I gave you a link with references.
Besides, Jerusalem District is not Jerusalem. The district included a much wider area - about half of the West Bank.
It is not at all completely clear. The point you make is indeed moot, since no one checks who is descendant of whom. Every Jewish Israeli in East Jerusalem is considered an illegal settler simply by virtue of being a Jewish Israeli.
It is interesting that the old city of Jerusalem, which had been practically a Jewish city prior to the war, had been completely ethnically cleansed of all Jews and no one seems to care. Moreover, the Arabs who took the place of the expelled Jews during the Jordanian occupation had never been “awarded” the title of “illegal settlers”. Yet, when the Jewish presence was restored merely 19 years later, it was decried as a “war crime”.
BTW, I’d like to draw you attention to the word “ethnic” in “ethnic cleansing”. It is not “individual cleansing” or “familial cleansing”. It is ethnic. This action is directed against an ethnic group as a whole, not just individuals. Therefore, its implications go far beyond some people losing their private property or inheritance. So, the whole “descendants” argumentation is totally inappropriate in this context.
No, the Arab state received most of the fertile land. After you exclude the Negev desert, the remaining territory allocated for the Jewish state was by far smaller than that of the Arab state.
Again. Illegal by what law? There was nothing illegal about Jewish immigration to Palestine (the British occupation laws notwithstanding).
The fact is that a great number of nations in this world have been created throw this exact process that you’ve mentioned - migration of an outside population into certain region until they become a majority and eventually have their own state their. For instance, this process is responsible for the fact that the Arab states are not limited to Arabia. Then, we have almost all of the states on the American continents, from Canada to Argentina. I can also mention the Turkish Cyprus and Kosovo in Europe, and I can go on.
Yet, I agree that the creation of Israel is indeed fairly unique. I can point out 2 major distinctions.
Usually, this nation formation process of that kind starts with a military conquest and then followed by moving in of the new population backed up by the military force of the conquering power. This is what happened in all the examples I’ve mentioned. However, the Jews came to Palestine “Indie style”, not on the back of a military conquest, and the conquering powers actually resisted the Jewish immigration rather than assisted it.
The second important distinction is the fact that the land the Jews were coming to was not at all new to them. They were returning to the land where they used to be a dominant population for hundreds of years.
These facts make the creation of Israel even more justified than creation of most of the states in this world.
On the other hand, the Druze population was not harmed in any way by the Jews. Their towns and villages were not attacked and none of them was expelled from the Jewish state despite their “non-Jewishness”. This is because they refused to side with the Arabs and really remained neutral.
I think I was clear. Most of these settlers were either born there or brought there as children. These settlements are their home, the only home. They did not purchase anything or steal anything. All their “fault” is that they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, you have no problem expelling them from their homes.