White Phosphorus is not a chemical? C'mon.


And now:

"Britain was entrusted with a League of Nations mandate over Palestine in 1922. This provided an interim resolution to the power vacuum in post World War I Palestine caused by the 1917 defeat of the Turks by British forces and the subsequent collapse of the Ottoman Empire. The British task was to facilitate the partitioning of Palestine to establish a Jewish national home that did not prejudice the civil and religious rights of the Arab majority. Jewish and Arab communities were granted the right to run their internal affairs, but this was not without tensions and outbreaks of violence, which did occur during the 1920s and 1930s.

In April 1947, after failing to reconcile the conflicting demands of both the Jewish and Arab communities, Britain indicated an intention to withdraw from Palestine and requested that a permanent solution be discussed by the United Nations General Assembly. Subsequently, a United Nations Special Committee was established to draft proposals for the future of Palestine.

Under the chairmanship of the Dr HV Evatt, the Australian Minister for External Affairs, the UN Special Committee recommended the establishment of an independent Jewish State in Palestine, together with a neighbouring independent Arab State, and this was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in November 1947.

The State of Israel was subsequently proclaimed in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948."


So, broadly, there was no Jewish state prior to 1948.


From 1922 (ish) to 1948 Britain ruled the relevant area under a "League of Nations mandate".   Now I may be wrong but I think no legitimate authority from that area empowered the League of Nations to award that mandate - because there was no authority from which to derive legitimacy.

Prior to that, from 1299 to 1917, the entire area was part of the Ottoman Empire. After 1917 there was no authority until 1922.

"The Ottoman Empire[dn 4] or Sublime Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye,[7] (also عثمانلى دولتى Osmanlı Devleti),[dn 5] Modern Turkish: Yüce Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was a Turkish empire that lasted from 27 July 1299[8] to 29 October 1923.

At the height of its power, in the 16th and 17th centuries, it controlled territory in southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and North Africa (see List of Ottoman Empire dominated territories).[9] The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.[dn 6]

With Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Ottoman Turkish: استنبول, Istanbul[10] and قسطنطينيه, Kostantiniyye) as its capital city,[11][12] and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (ruled 1520 to 1566), the empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries."




So since 1299 if not earlier there had been no Jewish state in the area.



We are surprised that those who lived there objected to the establishment of one without their consent?



Bear in mind that many here celebrate the ejection in 1922 of the UK from most of Ireland, ruled by England for centuries, and that the complete ejection seems likely in the not so distant future, which will no doubt also be celebrated by many here.



I do not yet see the legitimacy of Israel's claim to any east Mediterranean land, much less Gaza or the parts formerly part of Jordan. Nor its razing of infrastructure in Gaza or the Lebanon.