Member Info for LoungeLizard1

Correct. When the Mandate was established under The League of Nations, the British renamed it Palestine as a homage to the Romans who had changed Judea to 'Syria Palaestina' as a slight to the Jews when Hadrian crushed their uprising, expelling a large part of the population to ensure it could never happen again. Under the Ottomans, the area was known as South Syria and encompassed modern day Israel and Jordan. Arabs were granted tracts of land by the Ottoman Caliphate to create homesteads, after 3 years they had to pay tribute to the Caliph or lose that land which they never actually owned - They were moved in to the area from neighbouring Arab lands in small numbers, the census of 1882 showed just over 220,000 Arabs across the whole of modern day Israel and Jordan. Bigger Arab migration to the area came in the 20th Century when the Jews were rebuilding their soon to be independent state which offered job opportunities which were far better than in the other Arab lands. Furthermore, when Israel was recreated, the constitution of the country stated equality for all citizens irrespective of background which continues to this day - 20% of Israeli citizens are of Arab background and serve at all levels of society, from the Health Service to government, judiciary and even the IDF. Those 'Palestinians' (A Term created in the 60's by PLO leader, Yasser Arafat) who scream about oppression have rejected Israeli citizenship and live under their own rule, in Gaza under Hamas and in Judea & Samaria (Known as 'The West Bank' after renaming by The Jordanians during their 1949-67 occupation) under the PA. Both were given autonomy under the terms of The Oslo Accords in the 90's, an agreement that the Arabs reneged on less than 48 hours after they signed it whilst Israel still honours the terms.