Above: One of the best teaching tools to convey succinctly what has happened to the Palestinian people, this postcard-size Loss of Land map card (sometimes called “Shrinking Palestine”) can be ordered online with several options for information on the back of the card. To order them, see FOSNA’s website.
Above: A more detailed Loss of Land series of maps, with some brief information on the events leading to each change of borders. See a larger view here.
More
Above: Click here to see a larger view of this map which also includes a brief history of the changing borders in Palestine.
Above: Many people have noted the similarities between the ethnic cleansing that American Indians were subjected to during the colonization of North America and the events in Palestine over the last century. Today there is growing solidarity in action between American Indians and Palestinians. See the video and statement at a demonstration during the United Methodist General Conference 2016 and Palestinian actions for and with those protecting land and water at Standing Rock in North Dakota.
Above: Many comparisons also have been made between the bantustans to which black South Africans were confined during that country’s apartheid era and the fragmented communities that Palestinians have now in the West Bank, similarly created by systemic colonialism and racism – a system of apartheid.
Clearly such fragmentation of their land and of their communities was not intended – then or now – to facilitate a cohesive, viable homeland for either peoples; rather it is a method of controlling an oppressed people and fully exploiting/colonizing the territories to which they have lost access.
The South Africans understand too well what is happening to the Palestinian people and South African leaders have testified to what they have identified as apartheid – worse than they experienced in South Africa – on their visits to occupied Palestinian territory. In 2009, the South African government commissioned a study by an international team of legal analysts to determine if the Israeli occupation regime met the legal criteria for the crime of apartheid under international law: The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. See the results of that study here.
All Map Pages:
• Maps “home page” includes map of The Middle East
• Ottoman Empire through 1949
• 1967 to the present
• Jerusalem
• Bethlehem (coming soon)
• Area C/ Jordan Valley (coming soon)
• Loss of Land
See also the collection of maps in the Palestine Teaching Trunk.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.