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Did Israel Steal Palestinian Land?

In this episode of New Ideal Live, Elan Journo and Nikos Sotirakopoulos challenge the misleading narrative of the shrinking Palestinian lands and the claim that Israel has allegedly stolen them. They explore the history of how the Israeli territories were lawfully acquired, the Palestinians’ repeated failures to form an enduring, peaceful state, and the broader philosophical questions of what moral premises are necessary to validate any claim to statehood.

Among the topics covered:

  • The dishonest narrative of the “shrinking Palestine” maps;
  • The documented history of how individuals acquired the land through trade;
  • The Arab rejection of the two-state UN partition plan;
  • How the very idea of a partition plan ignored the moral dimension of the Palestinian claim for statehood;
  • Why the issue is not fundamentally about land but the type of society being established;
  • How Israel ended up occupying the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights;
  • How the flawed “land for peace” policy exposed the impossibility of a peaceful Palestinian state;
  • The fact that the Palestinians’ goal has never been to build a free, prosperous society.

Mentioned in this podcast are Journo’s What Justice Demands and ARI’s resources on Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East.

The podcast was recorded on October 26, 2023. Listen to the discussion below. Listen and subscribe from your mobile device on Apple PodcastsGoogle Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Watch archived podcasts here.

Podcast audio:

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Ibis Slade

Ibis Slade is a junior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute and a content creator. He focuses on American intellectual and moral history.

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