How did Palestine (after 1949?) end up being the the land that is the
West Bank and East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip?

Hi,
Thanks for the question.

Since 1967 Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem and
the Gaza Strip. Currently the Disengagement  Plan of 2004 is underway,
with Israel withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West
Bank.
The historical facts, naturally, will differ from each side's views:
From the Israeli perspective or from the Palestinian perspective.

While not going into depth of the entire Israeli-Palestinian-Arab
nations conflict, here is a timeline the gives an overview of the
various divisions and partitions, occupations and withdrawals of the
land in the region leading up to the occupation of the West Bank, East
Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Key maps can be seen here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/key_maps/



The Balfour Declaration 1917
=============================
Nov 2 1917 The British issued the Balfour Declaration, viewed by Jews
and Arabs as promising a ?National Home? for the Jews in Palestine. 
The Balfour Declaration was a letter from the British Foreign
Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild in which the British
announced their support of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Later on in In 1939, Great Britain failed to keep their promises
detailed in the Balfour Declaration by issuing the 'White Paper',
which stated that creating a Jewish state was no longer a British
policy (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/brwh1939.htm).


The Balfour Declaration : 
Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917 

Dear Lord Rothschild, 

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's
Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist
aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their
best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the
civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country."

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the
knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour 


The British Administrative Division of Palestine 1922-1946
===========================================================
"In July 1922 the British divided Palestine into two administrative
districts. Jews would be permitted only west of the black line. To the
east, in what became known as "Transjordan", the British installed a
Hashemite ruler named Abdullah, who had been expelled from the Arabian
peninsula. By making this division, the British reduced the area
available for the Jewish National Home to only 22% of the entire area
of Palestine. " maps can be found here:
http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/maps/divide.html



Britain's Partition 1946
==========================
"In 1946, that Britain unilaterally granted Transjordan its
independence. By granting Transjordan's independence, the British had
partitioned Palestine and created an independent Palestine-Arab state
east of the Jordan River."
http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/maps/bpart.html



UN Partition Plan 1947
========================
"On November 29, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations
voted with a 2/3 majority to partition western Palestine into a Jewish
and an Arab state. The Jews were to be granted what appears on the map
in blue. Over 75% of the land allocated to the Jews was desert....The
Arabs, intent on preventing any Jewish entity in Palestine, rejected
it." See the map here:
http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/maps/part.html 
Another map can be found here:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsname=Wikipedia+Images&dekey=UN+Partition+Plan+For+Palestine+1947.png&gwp=8&linktext=%3CIMG%20height%3D327%20alt%3D%22Map%20of%201947%20Partition%20Plan%20showing%20West%20Bank%20as%20part%20of%20Palestinian%20Arab%20state%22%20src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.answers.com%2Fmain%2Fcontent%2Fwp%2Fen%2Fthumb%2Fe%2Fe9%2F180px-UN_Partition_Plan_For_Palestine_
1947.png%22%20width%3D180%3E



War of Independence 1948
==========================
"On May 14, the British Mandate expired. The State of Israel declared
itself as an independent nation, and was quickly recognized by the
Soviet Union, the United States, and many other countries"
Less than 24 hours later - the regular armies of Egypt, Trans-Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon and Iraq invaded the regions held by Israel (according
to the UN's partition of 1947).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab-Israeli_War

  


Armistice April 3, 1949  (The Green Line)
========================================
Israel and Arab states agree to armistice. Israel gained about 50%
more territory than was originally allotted to it by the UN Partition
Plan:  The coastal plain, Galilee and the entire Negev were within
Israel's sovereignty, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) came under
Jordanian rule, the Gaza Strip came under Egyptian administration, and
the city of Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan controlling the eastern
part, including the Old City, and Israel the western sector.
This came to be known as Green Line Israel, the pre 1967-borders.



Suez Campaign Oct. 29, 1956
===========================
Israel invades the Sinai peninsula and occupies it for several months,
with French and British collaboration.


 
The Six Day War 1967
======================
June 5-11,1967, Armed forces in the Arab countries were mobilized.
Israel was confronted by an Arab force of some 465,000 troops, over
2,880 tanks and 810 aircraft. The armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi
Arabia and Iraq were contributing troops and arms to the Egyptian,
Syrian and Jordanian fronts. Israel destroys the Egyptian air force on
the ground, conquers and occupies Sinai and Gaza, then conquers the
West Bank from Jordan (including East Jerusalem), and the Golan
Heights from Syria.
At the end of six days of fighting, previous cease-fire lines were
replaced by new ones, with Judea, Samaria, Gaza, the Sinai peninsula
and the Golan Heights under Israel's control.

History of Jordanian rule of the west bank and Jerusalem can be found here:
http://www.answers.com/topic/rule-of-the-west-bank-and-east-jerusalem-by-jordan


Detailed background to the Six Day War and descriptions of the actual battles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War

UN Resolutions on Palestine since 1967:
http://www.palestine-un.org/res/1d.html


Yom Kippur War 1973
======================
Oct. 6, 1973 Yom Kippur War (October War).  Egypt and Syria launched a
coordinated surprise assault against Israel, with the Egyptian army
crossing the Suez Canal and Syrian troops penetrating the Golan
Heights. Israel pushed back the attackers, crossing the Suez Canal
into Egypt and advancing to within 20 miles (32 km.) of the Syrian
capital, Damascus. Two years of difficult negotiations between Israel
and Egypt and between Israel and Syria resulted in disengagement
agreements, according to which Israel withdrew from parts of the
territories captured during the war.


Disengagement Plan 2004- 2005
==============================
The Disengagement Plan was first announced by Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon in April of 2004 . After various amendments the following
was decided: Israel will evacuate the The Gaza Strip of all 21
civilian settlements and 4  civilian settlements in the West Bank.
Both these areas contain numerous Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
installations. These also will be withdrawn.
Implementation of the plan is underway at this very moment.

Over-All Concept of the Disengagement Plan:
http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/DisengagemePlan/DisengagementPlan.htm




Please let me know if you are interested in more details.
Regards,
Landog-ga


Search Engine Used: Google
Search Terms Used:
://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&safe=off&q=israel+palestinian+conflict+history&spell=1


Other sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_unilateral_disengagement_plan_of_2004
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_sixday_backgd.php
http://www.unitedjerusalem.com/HISTORICAL_PERSPECTIVES/Israel_Wars_Maps___History/israel_wars_maps___history.asp#anchor1_map1947

this site will give you an answer   http://www.palestinehistory.com/

or instead of that site you could just curl up in front of the
fireplace with a copy of grimm's fairy tales. in grimm's the stories
are more factual, more like the real world and the characters are less
good and evil.

want to know why there can't ever be a resolution in the middle east?
beyond the outright lies and distortions of historical facts presented
on sites like this, it's because one side isn't interested. read that
site which in summary says, all jews and israelis are bad and of
course conversely all arabs and muslims are god like. nothing jews or
israelis do is legal, right or justified and conversely everything
arabs and muslims do is legal, justified and inspired. when you start
justifying and white washing the never ending killing of defenseless
civilians in the name of your cause, your credibility now resides in
the sewer with your tactics. when you start claiming as this site does
that it is your right to kill civilians, you, your site and your cause
become unfit for a place at the table of civilized society.

as you read through realize that most of what you are reading is
simply historically incorrect. everyone is entitled to their own
opinion. you are not entitled to your own facts. most of what appears
here as to historical context is fabrication, distortion or outright
lies. without going through the site a line at a time, as debunking
this site properly could fill a few books, i draw your attention to a
couple of places.

let's start at the very end. the self-generated question is, "is
israel the only democratic country in the middle east?" while the
simple answer is, yes... the site goes on to list a barage of nonsense
and charges directed at the israeli government, it in fact avoids it's
own question. once again, the propaganda not withstanding, the answer
to the question is a simple yes.

as to the question on the site, "what is the palestines refugee
issue?", not a single word in this section is true, valid, or reliable
information. again, the history of this issue is very long and complex
but a very very very short summary to refute the claims of this site
will be attempted.

to begin with, no one was pushed out of the newly formed state of
israel. in a proclamation of independence, on may 14, 1948, the
israeli government couldn't have been more clear about how its
position with regard to arabs living within the borders and the arab
nations in the region. the proclamation included this passage,

"In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab
inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and
play their part in the development of the State, on the basis of full
and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and
institutions....We extend our hand in peace and neighborliness to all
the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate
with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all."

the statement or idea that the new government exiled anyone or took
anything from them is prima facia just not the truth. in fact the
first to leave were some, maybe 30,000, wealthy arabs who understood
fully the rhetoric of war coming from the arab states and leaders and
chose to leave and weather the storm elsewhere. there was a migration
of people out of the newly formed state. most of them left to find a
safe place out of the path of battle. contemporary news reports of the
time do not recite forcible departures. to the contrary, news accounts
of the battles describe the arab populations as "fleeing" or
"evacuating" their homes. so either all the news reports got it wrong
or there is an agenda driven attempt to rewrite history.

some of the most aggressive claims of forcible disposition involve the
cities of tiberias and haifa in april of 1948. the claims are false.
april 19, 1948 jewish forces took control of tiberias. the population
of some 6000 arabs left their homes and the city. the jewish community
council issued a statement at the time, that was totally unchallenged
as to it accuracy at the time. the statement in part said, ""We did
not dispossess them; they themselves chose this course....Let no
citizen touch their property." seems fairly clear and in direct
conflict with the statements of the cited site.

as to hiafa at the time, in early april, an estimated 25,000 arabs
left haifa after an arab led offensive in the area and in the face of
rumors that arabs air forces would soon bomb in the area. on april 23,
israel defense forces - hagana, controlled haifa. a british police
report, dated april 26 is quoted as saying, "every effort is being
made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on
with their normal lives, to get their shops and businesses open and to
be assured that their lives and interests will be safe." again, a
verifiable third party source attesting to the fact that what was
happening on the ground then is very very very different than what is
being claimed now.

april 23rd, the british representative at the UN, sir alexander
cadogan, told the delegates that the fighting in haifa had been
provoked by the continuous attacks by arabs against jews a few days
before and that reports of massacres and deportations were erroneous.

april 23rd, jamal husseini, the chairman of the palestine higher
committee, told the UN security council that instead of accepting the
haganah's truce offer, the arabs "preferred to abandon their homes,
their belongings, and everything they possessed in the world and leave
the town." that is a quote. i'm not sure i see a deportation in that
quote.

april 22nd, the U.S. consul-general in haifa, aubrey lippincott, wrote
that "local mufti-dominated Arab leaders" were urging "all Arabs to
leave the city, and large numbers did so."

they left not because they were forced out. they left because their
arab brothers told them to get out an wait until they destroyed
israel. the jews would be slaughtered and they would be given all the
property upon their return. the newly formed state of israel offered
them a full participation in the building of the new state. some
stayed and prospered. some left and have been used and mistreated and
politically manipulated by those who told them to leave, for the last
sixty years.

had the arabs simply accepted the 1947 UN resolution and not declared
a war of annilation against israel an independent and prosperous arab
state could now exist right along side the state of israel. the only
democratic state in the region. they chose a different course and now
want to rewrite history.

there is an arab perspective that needs to be represented and
recognized to effect resolution. the site you have been encouraged to
reference isn't it.

Simplistically, Palestine never really existed

Post 1948 the Gaza Stip was controlled by Egypt, and what we call the
West Bank was part of Jordan.

Neither seem very interested in reclaiming their territory.

The problem is both democratic and demographic
- while Israel's population is approximately 20% of Arab origin, if it
absorbed Gaza and the West Bank it would be swamped.

They had a bit of an accident in 1967, the Israelis were just a bit
more successful than they anticipated ( or perhaps they reckoned that
the Arabs would run away again ).

I did not know that the Arabs were told to leave by their own,
elwtee-ga's statements are interesting and I'll check them out, also
they make sense.

However, being controversial, the 'Palestinians' have played their
hand very badly, rationally they should have returned. There were
atrocities, but they were relatively small scale and would not have
been repeated in say 1949.

Fortunately the majority of Israelis have realized that it is
pointless setting up settlements in areas that are militarily
difficult to protect
- hence The Wall and the exodus of very few people (9000) from Gaza.

The interesting thing about Walls is that after a bit, people get
interested in circumventing them - then tearing them down.

I anticipate that will happen, Israel quite likes inexpensive labour
and 'Palestinians' regard the Shekel as a pretty sound currency.

While Jordan and Egypt would not really appreciate reclaiming their
territory, it might be an idea to ask them ...

Well, although elwtee-ga is certainliy right that most sources on the
Israeli-Arab Conflict are biased, unfortunately his own comment only
proves this fact. The tragedy of the Palestinian refugees is mostly
underestimated, especialy in Israel itself. As the public and the
media is yet (for a greater part) unable to face the true history of
early Israel, the need for a "truth and reconciliation" committee is
more necessary than ever. Especially since the palestinian side itself
is at least as unable to accept reality as it has become since 1948.
The fact that Palestinians whose families came from Jerusalem, Haifa,
Jaffa, Lod, Ramle, Tiberias, Deir Jassin, etc, etc will not be able to
return to their homes nor become citizens of Israel is not yet
accepted by many Palestinians.

Obviously elwtee has not yet visited places like Tiberias or Zfat
(Safed) where you can find signs about the liberation of these cities
of their Arab population by the heroic Palmach (The predecessor of the
Israeli Army). Now to set up signs about the expulsion of human beings
- even if they fought against you - is in my eyes cruel and an
indication of the ignorance towards the fate of those expelled.

When it comes to learn about the fact of their expulsion/flight I can
only recommend the lecture of "1949 The First Israelis", by Tom Segev.
(Interview with Tom Segev on <a
href="http://www.gazette.de/Archiv/Gazette-Juni2002/Interview.html">Die
Gazette</a>) It is a critical account about the early Years in Israel
and its political leadership. Maybe after reading this remarkable book
elwtee will accept that many Palestinians have suffered a tragic fate
that was mostly ignored by the world for decades and is not yet
solved. It will only be solved after ignorance about the other sides
suffering has waned significantly.

Thumbs up for the answer by Landog, though.