BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

12
Survey of Palestinian Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (2006-2007)
Zionist Colonization of Palestine
The displacement of Palestinians from their homeland since the beginning of the 20 th century has been accompanied by a
simultaneous process of Zionist colonization. Between 1922 and 1948, the Jewish population in Palestine increased by more than
six times, primarily due to immigration. At the same time, the international community was facilitating the resettlement of displaced
European Jews in Palestine in violation of international commitments not to resettle displaced persons in non-self-governing territory
without the consent of the indigenous population of that territory. During this period, the borders of many Western countries, including
the United States, remained largely closed to Jewish refugees, many of whom did not consider Palestine as their country of first
choice for seeking asylum. In the United States, for example, opinion polls revealed that the majority of Americans were unwilling
to permit further Jewish immigration to the country, despite their knowledge of Nazi persecution and atrocities. 51
Within the first decade of Israel’s
existence, Jewish immigration
accounted for over 70% of the growth
of the Jewish population. 52 Over
more than six decades, immigration
has remained the primary source
of growth of the Jewish population
inside Israel. Since 1948, over three
million Jews have immigrated to
Israel. 53 As of 2006, immigration
accounted for 57% of the growth
of the Jewish population inside
Israel. The greatest demographic
shift occurred in the areas that
became the state of Israel, where
the number of Jews increased
by more than five times between
1949 and 2006. 54 The increase in
the Jewish population in historic
Mandate Palestine due to mass
immigration between 1922 and 1948
was approximately the same. An
equally massive demographic shift
Zionist soldiers take position in the neighborhood of Yamin Moshe, Jerusalem, 14 June 1948. © Israeli
Government Press Office.
occurred in occupied eastern Jerusalem after 1967, where the Jewish population increased from nil in 1967 to more than 50% of
the population today, primarily due to colonization. In 2006, the number of Jewish settlers in colonies in the occupied West Bank,
including eastern Jerusalem, reached over 440,000.
During the period of the British Mandate, the primary means of land acquisition was through purchase by several Zionist
associations, including the Jewish National Fund (JNF), 55 established to buy land for the settlement of new Jewish immigrants
in Palestine. The JNF purchased the majority of the land acquired during this period. Total Jewish land ownership increased by
a relatively small amount during the period of the British Mandate as a percentage of the total land in Palestine. In 1922, Jews
owned approximately 2.5% of the total land in Palestine. By 1945, total Jewish ownership had increased to approximately 6%. 56
Average annual acquisitions, facilitated through the promulgation of new laws during the British administration in Palestine,
however, increased nearly twenty-fold during the Mandate.
While total Jewish ownership remained small, the real impact of the acquisition of land by Zionist colonization associations during
the period of the British Mandate lay in the location and quality of land. By 1948, land acquisitions and settlement of Jewish
immigrants had created the “strategic and demographic backbone” of the nascent Jewish state. Land acquired by the various
Zionist colonization associations included a high percentage of land in some of the most fertile areas of Palestine. While Jewish
land ownership comprised slightly less than 7% of the total area of Palestine by the end of the British Mandate, Jews owned
more than 12% of the cultivable land. 57 Unlike the indigenous Palestinian Arab population, Jews in Palestine had 100% of the
land required for their rural subsistence. 58
The amount of land under Jewish “ownership” or control increased more than ten times between 1948 and the early 1950s. This
dramatic increase in land under Jewish control can be attributed solely to the expropriation of Palestinian property. As of the
mid-1950s, Jewish “ownership” and control of land in historic Mandate Palestine increased from approximately 7% to over 70%.
Inside the borders of the new state of Israel, Jewish “ownership” and control of land increased from approximately 11% to over
90%. The confiscation of refugee property and so-called state land in the OPT in 1967 increased total Jewish “ownership” and
control to at least 45% of the 1967-occupied territory. By 2006, it was estimated that Jewish “ownership” and confiscation of land
comprised 88% of the total area of historic Mandate Palestine. 59