"The Palestinians have been on those lands for hundreds of years. The Israelis claim that they have a right to the land based on the deals they made with foreign landowners (recent) and former occupation of that site (ancient) or "divine right."

Actually, population figures for 1844 show that Jews were the majority population of Jerusalem, prior to the Zionism of 1880-1948.

Jews have had a continuous presence on the ancient land of Israel for the past 3,300 years. Though the bulk of the Jewish immigration occurred between 1880 and 1950.

Immigration from nearby Arab countries has paralleled Jewish developement of agricultural lands and of Jewish-owned businesses. These advances made first by the Zionists and later by the Israelis, provided well-paying jobs for Palestinian Arabs. For instance, the population of the West Bank increased three-fold since 1967, mostly due to a high immigration rate.

The Palestinian Arab whose family has lived on the land for centuries is the exception. Few Israelis or Palestinians can claim a continuous family presence in the region going back centuries.

Israel's claims on the land have little to do with "divine right" although the Torah does state that God gave the land to the Jews "from the river to the sea" which includes the WEst Bank and Gaza. ANd despite Islamic resistance to a Jewish state, the Koran also restates this right of ownership of land to the Jews. (Chapt. 5 verse 2).

Instead, Israel's claims are based on Jewish ownership of land (purchased by Zionists), the Balfour Declaration of 1917 (won by Zionist lobbyists), the League of Nations (which accepted the Balfour Declaration) and UN resolution 181 which partitioned the remnants of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab State.

Hence, Jewish ownership of the land came about through international agreement and a UN resolution.

That said, The Israeli govt. has no plans to dislocate the palestinian Arab population, despite numerous claims made on the pages here.

The only forcible transfer of People that has occurred was against 9,000 Jews in GAza.