As a Palestinian why do you avoid calling it a conflict ?
The term “conflict” is inadequate to describe the Palestinian question. It holds within it connotations of symmetry, of two conflicting and equal parties, rather than a case of an indigenous population resisting colonial dispossession and ethnocide. It obfuscates that this is not some local squabble between two already existing populations, but a case of foreign settlers seizing land to construct an exclusivist ethnocracy at the expense of the natives. Settler colonialism, by its very definition, is unequal.
Further reading:
Palestine throughout the history:Palestine has a long and vast history. First documented in ancient Egyptian tablets as Peleset over 3000 years ago, the region between the Mediterranean and the river Jordan has come to mean many different things to many different peoples.Throughout the ages, Palestine has been home to dozens of cultures, kingdoms and empires. From Assyrian and Nabataean, to Persian and Roman -and many more- each influencing as well as being influenced by the rich cultural and civilizational mélange that defined the area. These ancient influences can still be felt today in the idioms, vocabulary and toponymy used by its native Palestinian population. Even Palestinian agricultural practices can be traced back to the Natufians -one of the peoples credited with inventing agriculture- who called Palestine and the fertile crescent their home, as far back as 9,000 BCE.Before we continue, it is important to stress that when we talk about Palestine, we are not talking about a Palestinian nation state. For the vast majority of history, the concept of a nation state did not exist. Today the nation state is so ubiquitous that many have come to internalize it as natural. This is not the case, and we should be especially wary of imposing our modern conceptions on a context where they would be nonsensical. For example, the impulse to imagine our ancestors as some closed-off, well-defined, unchanging homogeneous group having exclusive ownership over a territory that somehow corresponds to modern day borders has no basis in history. Unfortunately, this is the foundational myth of many reactionary ethno-nationalist ideologies.As elsewhere, over the millennia kingdoms rose and fell, religions were founded, wars both holy and unholy were waged, and peoples lived, mixed, moved and died out. In other words, history happened.This article does not aim to delve into the minutiae of this Palestinian history, indeed entire books could be -and have been- written on the subject. Rather the goal of this introduction is to describe the political context that lead up to the modern Palestinian question.Palestine under the ottoman empire:Following the decisive defeat of the Mamluks in the battle of Marj Dabiq (1516), the Levant laid open for the conquering Ottoman armies. A few months later they would enter Jerusalem and usher in one of the longest chapters of Palestinian history, lasting over 400 years.Jerusalem held an important place in Ottoman eyes due to its religious and historic significance. From the onset of their rule, sweeping and majestic construction projects were carried out which would become staples of Jerusalemite architecture and topography, such as the striking walls of Jerusalem erected by Suleiman the magnificent.Over its history, the Ottomans divided Palestine into various political configurations and divisions. The last of which came in 1887, where Palestine was divided into 3 districts (Sanjaks): Jerusalem, Nablus and Acr