the front page is now like half articles on this currently, so it’s probably time for a megathread because none of us want to keep track of 12 threads on this subject and all the resulting comments. only major subsequent developments (for example, boots on the ground; pronunciations by governments; that sort of stuff) will get their own thread. otherwise please post stuff in here for the time being. any threads not meeting this criteria will be locked and removed. thank you in advance for your cooperation.

  •  bbbhltz   ( @bbbhltz@beehaw.org ) English
    6•1 year ago

    Maps and Misinformation

    Sorry, not news or updates, but also not worth creating a thread.

    I’ve been seeing lots of maps on Lemmy (mostly in French-speaking communities communities). A number of them look like this:

    standard conflict maps

    And then I’ve seen others that look like this (usually labelled as “fact” or “reality”):

    alternative versions

    With the exception of an amazing 3-day event that took place in my school (we had some history professors/researchers come in over 3 days and present us arguments from both sides, then moderate a debate…) I received no education about this, and even if I had it would have been about 20 years ago or more.

    I suspect we have all seen a version of this map before. I can read the Wikipedia, and watch the documentaries, but where should I look to be able to come to a decision on my own regarding these maps? Meaning, is one of them more factual than the other?

    •  jarfil   ( @jarfil@beehaw.org ) 
      5•1 year ago

      All those maps seem to show the same things, in slightly different ways. Basically, “statistics massaging” done with maps.

      The “Fact” one seems to have the most information, as in:

      • Since 1917, the British had control ver the “Mandate of Palestine”, which was neither Israel nor Palestine.
      • Both Jews and Arabs started buying land and settling there, hoping to become the majority population in case a referendum was held when the British retired.
      • Since 1941, the Jewish ideated a plan on how to win a possible referendum by getting One Million of their own in there, presenting it in 1944 as a solution for Holocause refugees, but then realizing that it wouldn’t be enough, that they’d still be missing people and they’d need “Arab refugees”, as in Jews fleeing persecution from Arab countries.
      • In 1947, after WWII, the UN proposed a plan to split the land, which the Arab countries rejected.
      • In 1948 the British planned to GTFO… and just the day before, Israel was formed and declared that the whole land would be theirs.
      • The moment the British left, all the Arab countries attacked Israel which they saw as illegitimate… and with the idea of genociding everyone.
      • However, Israel won that war, and let any Arabs choose whether to stay or GTFO. About 150,000 decided to accept Israeli citizenship, about 700,000 got pushed into Jordan/Palestine.
      • As predicted, a lot of Jews fled Arab countries fearing persecution, which propped up the numbers of Israeli citizens, and further increased the hatred in Arab countries.
      • In 1967, Israel got attacked again, and won again, letting it lay claim to the area previously known as Jordan/Palestine.
      • But people in that area, were mostly Arabs, which didn’t sit well with Israel, who started a colonization process, mainly to cut off the “Palestine enclave” from Jordan… and to intersperse some Jewish population inside, lest the area decoded to hold a referendum and the Arab side win.
      • People in the Gaza area were Arab/Palestinian, and it has open access to the sea, so instead Israel tried to contain those people by walling them off, and telling Egypt to take them… which Egypt doesn’t really want to (we’re in the middle of a worldwide migration crysis, nobody wants millions of immigrants).
      • In 1995, after a lot dirty tactics from bother sides, a Palestinian governance was established… but by then the ex-Jordan area was already decimated by Israeli colonists.

      Misinformation:

      • The “disappearing Palestine” map, starts by claiming all the territory was Palestine, which is false, it was a “Mandatory Palestine” under British control. If you compare it with the first “Fact” map, you’ll notice it claims all the white area as Arab owned, which is false.
      • The UN plan seems to be correct on all the maps, little to manipulate there since it failed anyway.
      • The 1948/1949 maps match what Israel claimed after preemptively declaring itself as a state, getting attacked, and winning.
      • The 1967 maps also show how Israel got control over the whole area, and progressively has been eating away at any possible Arab/Palestinian claim.
      • The 1995 and “NOW” maps show why Israel conceded a Palestinian governance: mainly over territories where people identifying as Palestinians are no longer a majority.

      Personally, I’d say the “Fact” one along the AlJazeera one, paint the most complete picture.

      For sources, check Wikipedia for: