Reply #53: The Zionist movement and the Palestinian independence movement could have occured side-by-side [View All]

[oberliner]

The anti-semitism that was enveloping much of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century served as part of the impetus for the Zionist movement. It is clear from the events that followed during World War II that fears for the safety of the Jewish people during the period of the early Zionist movement were not unfounded as a fate worse than what was imagined ended up befalling the Jews of Europe not long after the early Zionists began moving to Palestine.

Look at the region in the late 19th, early 20th century. The Palestinian Arabs were not a free people. They had been under various forms colonial rule for generations. There were areas of Palestine that had well-established Arab villages; there were also areas that were very sparsely populated. There was no reason why an independent Palestinian Jewish state and an independent Palestinian Arab state could not have been established simultaneously and peaceably with no bloodshed or acrimony whatsoever.