Starting in 1946 is cherry picking to absurdity. The history of Jews in Israel goes back literally thousands of years, to around 1800 BC, and there has been a continuous and often subjugated Jewish presence every since. The size of Israel varied over the years, but at some points it was much, much larger than modern Israel. The history of Islam in Israel goes back to conquests in the 600s AD. Any historical discussion should go back thousands of years. Subjugation of Jews in Israel by Islam began then.
Two fun facts:
# of Muslim citizens in Israel: About 1,700,000.
# of Jewish citizens in Islamic nations: About 30,000.
You want to have a talk about ethnic cleansing? Figure out the numbers before 1948, since that's your favorite year.
The war in Israel is not and has never been a conflict between Palestinians and Jews. Palestinians are just a newish identity subgroup of Arabs, who are mostly Muslim. This is a conflict between Islam and Judaism, with Christianity throwing a stone now and then.
As for the terms like Jew, Arab, Muslim, and Islam, they have fluid, multi-faceted, and often clashing uses.
You are correct that I cherry-picked the timeline.
The rationale is how far back should we go back?
I would say we should go back to when the world came together as a United Nations.
Otherwise, American Natives could take back Washington, D.C., because they were there first, and the Europeans were late discoverers.
Yes, Israel was in Israel long ago when God promised them "a
land flowing with
milk and honey."
Remember that despite the promise, that land already had natives living there at that time, and God instructed Joshua to exterminate the natives there.
The extermination was successful, and the Israelis got the land that God promised.
They were prosperous and independent until various empires conquered the land: the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Roman Empires. The population of the Jews during those occupations drastically decreased, as most went exiled. The last King of Judah was Zedekiah, who reigned 597-586 BC.
Atrocities and mass killings of civilians happened in the past, but as the world becomes more connected, such behaviors are no longer tolerated, and the United Nations has agreed on international laws to deal with the mistreatment of civilians.
The United Nations agreed to divide the land between Israelis and the Palestinians.
Israel agreed, and the state of Israel was then again created in 1948.
Just like when Joshua came to take the land flowing with milk and honey, inhabitants already lived there. Those inhabitants were forced to leave or be killed.
Since the creation of the state of Israel, Israel has not honored the borders and considers the whole area from the river to the sea to be one state: the State of Israel, which includes the West Bank (Eat Jerusalem) and Gaza.
Israelis have been invading the West Bank and Gaza since 1948. Palestinians who abandoned their farms and preserved their lives and those who insisted on staying in the West Bank and Gaza were harassed and killed daily.
The United Nations considers Israelis an occupation force and has to abide by international law even in case of occupying another land, West Bank and Gaza.
In 1400 BC,
"So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded."
However, in 1400 BC, there were no United Nations at that time. There was only God!
In 1948, the United Nations was created 3 years earlier in 1945.
Powerful nations must follow international laws even when they can occupy lands.