Unlike many Palestinian advocates, I don't subscribe to racist blood quantum. People are mixed and so am I. I used the argument against Jews in the Levant back at Haniyeh to prove a point. There are far more people denying any Jewish connection to the land or claiming we are not really Jews (converts or Khazars etc), than people who deny Palestinians exist or have a connection to the land.

I have Prussian Jewish ancestry that left Hebron in 1517, moved to Beirut and eventually found themselves in Konigsberg, now Kaliningrad. We were a relatively late addition to the diaspora.

I also have Scottish/Irish (and a touch of Welsh) in my family tree as well Australian Torres Strait Islander.

My point was when Haniyeh's family moved to Palestine, being Kurdish and Yemeni Arab- they had zero connection to the land, not one iota could be described as indigenous. Not descended from Jews who converted to Islam or Christianity, not descended from canaanites. Purely settler colonialist. Just like Australia or America were settled, without asking the native population. One often heard the argument, especially among white Americans that they have been there for generations, even back to the Mayflower. But their right to be there is not greater than the indigenous population- even if they have been there for hundreds of years.

So I don't take issue with anyone living there now. I am an original Zionist who believes much like the spirit the Balfour Declaration and San Remo were written in. Also the biblical commandment to be kind to strangers in the land. And Jews tried that, tried for one state with Palestinians all the way into the 1920s but were met with riots and Jews returning and legitimately buying land(which had been a problem even in the 1800s prior to Zionism). Eventually, Irgum and Stern gang were formed to fight first the British, but later Arabs who had attacked. How they did that is not a proud or glorious moment. Some Jews/Zionists did terrible things as part of the formation of the State of Israel. That is history and should be told.

The world would be a vastly different place if the majority of Palestinians had welcomed the Jews returning. There should not have been a war in 1948. No one should have been dispossessed. Where we differ is who is to blame for that.

I primarily blame the British, after the Mayor of Jerusalem was willing to work with Zionists to make a state, only to be sidelined when the British deliberately released Al-Husseini from prison to counter Jewish and Arab cooperation. Al-Husseini, as self titled "Grand" Mufti rallied local Arabs to resist Jews, pressured the British to restrict immigration of Jews prior to the Holocaust, and was instrumental in organising Egypt to invade in 1948. It is interesting to note that the French did much the same by releasing Khomeni to Iran at the time of the revolution against the Shah of Iran. Same playbook.

Today, Israel is a country with harmony between Jews and 20% of its population that is Arab(Palestinian) who are in all stratas of society up to judges and members of the Knesset, proving both sides can get along. Then there is Gaza and Judea/Samaria (labelled by Jordan as the West Bank) , where Jews and Palestinians don't get along. The world wants two states, this has been the argument since 1937 Peel Commision when it was clear the majority of Palestinians did not want to live alongside Jews- an attitude that predates Zionism, as reflected in the many pogroms there. But I have never believed in two states, I believe- just like Balfour- in One state with equal rights for all. But I do not believe in One State where Jews are ever subject to the whims of another ever again. Unlike Haniyeh, there are some Palestinians who are descended from us Jews and have equal claim to the land. The rest came later but have been there a long time and aren't going anywhere. Much like I don't advocate for non-indigenous to leave America or Australia, all can stay.

But the rights of the indigenous Jews and Samaritans, as well as those descended from them(some Palestinians) should not be diminished in doing so in Israel/Palestine.