The short answer is no. This is a zionist talking point which is as silly as it is offensive. It goes with other nonsensical hasbara lines like "There was no Palestine before Israel" and the original that began all of this horror,
"A land without a people for a people without a land."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_land_without_a_people_for_a_people_without_a_land.
These early lies remain today, but are arguments only put forth by the most extreme and usually paid zionists. The ridiculousness of these claims are right there for all to see. When Israel first declared her independence or war on the Muslim world in 1948, over 80% of the indigenous population was wiped off the map. This is some 800,000 people. Many were killed and the vast majority left in fear of their lives. The zionists claim that they were just defending themselves in their new country which really makes no sense. Picture, if you will, a group from another country come to your land and declare their independence on it. Are you good with that? Would anyone be?
I wish there was a definitive answer to this whole Israel/Palestine thing but there never will be i suppose.
The answer to what exactly? I am Jew, but not a zionist. That concept, in and of itself is paramount in understanding what is going on in that region.
What do I mean? There are two primary misunderstandings that must be addressed. 1) The zionists do not speak for the Jewish people. The zionists, by their actions and their words prove this. 2) The biblical land of Israel and the modern state of Israel are two completely different things and the people who occupied the biblical land of Israel are completely different people than those who occupy Palestine today. The vast majority of Jews in Palestine today, nearly 100% in fact, are from a completely different continent, they are not a Semitic people, they are for the most part Caucasian.
I know in the West the majority seems to be on the Palestinian side along with hatred of Israel. I've tried over the years to understand this problem but always come away with more questions. As far as i'm aware the jews have been in that part of the world for thousands of years haven't they? Do the Palestinians claim they were there before that?
1) 50 million Christian zionists in America would have no problem with a complete ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. How this happened is for another thread, but Christian zionists far outnumber Jewish zionists. This is more proof that Jews and zionists are two different things.
2) Jews were there in biblical times as were several other groups and of course the Canaanites were there prior to Judaism. As the story goes, the Jews got thrown out and made slaves in Egypt, many returned centuries later in attempt to take back 'their' land by force, it lasted a few years and they were expelled again. This will be a very important point going forward.
3) Around 300 CE, whatever Jews were there were forced to convert to Christianity. Many, from this group later became adherents to Islam. Islam flourished in that region of the world for centuries. Today, around 2 billion people call themselves Muslims.
So, the Palestinians don't claim they were there before the Jews, but they are of a Semitic bloodline that has been in that region since the Canaanites or even prior.
This brings us back to the Caucasians in Palestine today. Or, the men from another continent who claim both Jewishness, and also Palestine today. In 1976, a well respected Jewish writer/historian named Arthur Koestler wrote a truly earthshaking book called the The Thirteenth Tribe. In it, he puts forth what is known as the Khazar hypothesis. This impeccably researched work drove the zionist leaders crazy because what this work showed was that the vast majority of Jews today were not the Hebrew speaking people in the bible, but originated in the Khazar kingdom after an 8th century mass conversion which was ordered by their king. This area today is basically Turkey and southern Russia. It was these new Jews who then migrated all over Europe, hence German Jews, Polish Jews, French Jews, etc., not the Semitic Jews from biblical times.
Fast forward to what we know now. The zionists went crazy, smear campaign and all and felt comfortable that they had put this entire issue to rest. The press rarely mentioned it, and today, I would wager that most people should know none of this. But, along came a brilliant, young Jewish scientist, Dr. Eran Elhaik. His work changed everything because now we have the actual science that supports the Khazar hypothesis and much of Koestler's work from some 40 years ago.
Here is a quote from one of the links:
“Palestine has never existed – before or since – as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire, and briefly by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their homeland....
1) The people of Palestine existed for centuries prior to the European zionists who declared their state in 1948. When these immigrants from another continent began arriving (late 1800s), the population was approximately 85-90% Muslim, a small percentage of Christians and a smaller percentage of Jews.
2) After WWI, Britain claimed the land from the Ottomans. In the Queens great wisdom, she had her Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour write a letter to Lord Rothschild (of the most powerful banking family on earth) and his zionist federation. This letter is known today as the Balfour Declaration and Palestine has been a killing field ever since.
Soon after came the San Remo conference where more European Caucasians (not Semitic middle easterners) sat down to figure out how they could install the zionist regime in Palestine. Tensions by now on both sides were off the charts and then, based on the British mandate (following San Remo) that was never implemented, Israel's leaders declared their independence in 1948.
It must be pointed out, that the zionist claim to that land only holds water if you accept that a group of people can give another group of people, yet a third party's land. If you argue that they took it in war, then that is a war crime with no statute of limitations.
I apologize for my long-windedness, but separating the narrative that has been repeated to us ad nauseum from the historical facts is the first key to any possible solution.