xtisme’s post beat my reply and I don’t have much to add to that, except Jews have been living on that land since biblical times but in the more fertile lands near the Jordan River. In the late 19th century, there were two large influxes of Jews, who bought the barren, desert lands and tried to make a living on it. The first influx got sick with malaria, yellow fever, etc., and gave up. The second influx was more successful.
Some are under the misapprehension that the Romans eliminated the Jews from the area. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Zealot movement arose in opposition to Roman rule, but Masada, the last Zealot holdout, fell in 73 CE. However, a new Judaism developed, post-Temple. The synagogue rose as the locus of Jewish worship. The Second Jewish Revolt (132-135), led by Simeon Bar-Kohkba, ended in disaster. The Romans forbade the Jews from living in Jerusalem and its environs, but the center of Jewish life moved north to Galilee, although many Jews moved to other lands. The Dead Seas Scrolls were discovered in 1947and the years following near the Qumran caves, south of Galilee. Most scholars believe they were the works of a Jewish sect called the Essenes. That period of settlement was from 134 BCE to around 68 CE.
I digressed a little to give you a little background of the area and to show that Jews have lived in some of the area since biblical times. In the late 19th century, at the time of the two immigrations, Zionism arose. Theodor Herzl, although a journalist, obtained funds from various Jewish philanthopists, and got the funds to buy the lands from, for the most part, from the Ottoman empire, headed by the Egyptian ruler at the time. For those lands to which title was determined to be in individuals, the land was purchased from the individuals, who were glad to get rid of the barren lands. The Jews irrigated the lands and the rest was history until after the Holocaust.
After WWI, Britain, who held the League of Nations Mandate over the former Ottoman empire, agreed to give some of the land to the Jews so they could build a homeland. Due to Arab influence, the implentation of that was delayed until after WWII. The UN divided the land between the Jews and the Arabs. The Arabs did not, and still do not, want a Jewish state in their midst. (BTW, yesterday I saw a newsreel concerning protestors in California. When interviewed, one protestor said she did not mind Jews living there, but they cannot have their own state. But the whole purpose is to have a state wherein the Jews can feel safe.) Israel immediately declared statehood, but the Arabs did not, as they wanted the whole pie, and still do. Arab leaders were the first to leave the area designated for the Jewish state and soon implored the Arabs living there to move out temporary. The Arab leaders believed it would be temporary as the combined Arab forces would soon drive the Jews to the sea. Most Arabs did, but some remained, especially in Haifa. 20% of Israel are Arabs with all the rights of other Israeli citizens. Some of those Arabs hold political offices. This is not a debate as to whether some of the Arabs were driven out (one poster referred to the “ethic cleansing” in 1948; even if some were driven out - a question still no settled - this was just a small percentage of the Arabs who left.) I’ve merely given this short synopsis for the benefit of the few who are completely ignorant of the history, as indicated by their posts. Whether there was some “ethnic cleansing” at that time is not relevant now. 700,000 Arabs fled and became “refugees,” the majority of whom no other Arab country would take in.
As I’ve posted before, and others have mentioned, Israel has lived up to some of the Oslo accords, but the “Palestines” have not acceded to any, including their charter to drive the Jews to the sea. Gaza and the West bank (which Transjordan, now Jordan, occupied during the 1967 war, which she belatedly entered on the false belief that the Arabs were winning) were then occupied by Israel. Israel fought a defensive war in 1967. Since it was a defensive war, she is not required to automatically give the land back, but she can negotiate for the return of the land. However, she forcibly evicted her occupants from the Gaza strip so that the Palestinians can build a society, but instead, as we all know, Hamas run the Palestinian election as to which of the two Palestinian parties, Hamas or Fatah, should govern the land, and Hamas fortified the land to bombard Israel on a daily basis. Despite Israel finally going in to eliminate the constant bombardment, Hamas continues to bombard Israe.
So, I ask, where was the UN, and where is the UN, all the time Israel has been attacked? Not a peep from the UN. But as soon as Israel is seen by some Arabs as violating international agreements, the UN is up in arms. In many cases, the USA was the only nation to object. Sometimes England joined the USA.
I might also add, and so I will, that the Palestinians label the entire area “Palestine.” They have not acknowledged the Jewish state. I will also add that Egypt joined the blockade, as she, along with many of the neighboring Arab states, are terrified of Hamas. Privately, they root for Israel, but will never publicly admit that.