there are two very different narratives that explain the experiences of the people involved in the palestinian israeli conflict two sides of a coin that are not often enough seen and assessed side by side the prevailing view of the palestinian israeli conflict continues to be dominated by the narrative of history at lease were nine hundred forty eight is referred to by israel as its were of independence a war that resulted in the establishment of the jewish state the story of the war of independence is presented as a noble struggle that return the jewish people to the promised land a land that we are urged to believe remain empty and fallow since the jews were dispersed from it by the romans nearly two thousand years ago the image of palestine is an empty uninhabited land has been a central motif of the ideological conception of a modern jewish state the most often repeated slogan used to recruit jews to immigrate to palestine in the twentieth century was that palestine is a land without a people for a people with but continued to be populated by non jews who later adopted christianity and islam as their religions the landed not lay fallow in the absence of the jews but continued to be cultivated by and to provide for eight habitants of the societies that remained gonna for the past two millenia those inhabitants are the ancestors of the modern palestinians they have lived in cared for and belong to that land for thousands of years it's important to remember that the palestinian israeli conflict is not an ancient conflict some would have you believe the conflict is very much a modern political conflict that started in the second decade of the twentieth century with the british empire as decision to actively support the establishment of a jewish state in palestine creating a modern nation for the jews of palestine meant that the land had to be cleansed that is non jewish and happened the myth of a land without a people for a people without a lair is one of the many slogans that psychologically prepared the ground for the ethnic cleansing of palestine the events of the world nine hundred forty eight are referred to by the palestinians as the next that would a great catastrophe what israel calls its world of independence that did a systematic destruction of palestinian civil and political societies and it displacement of eight hundred thousand palestinians from their homes and homeland in a calculated effort to eradicate their very identity this is the great catastrophe to the palestinians referred to as the next an israel is referred to as the war of independence two very different sides of the same coin two very different experiences by two cultures in conflict two very different narratives of intimately into related all of the one thousand fifteen habitants of call for a beer or were driven from their land and were never allowed to return to the homes in feels the day and their ancestors had inhabited and cultivated for centuries some of the villagers managed to resettle in a nearby village of jewish but most were cast into exile in neighboring in distant countries the ethnic cleansing of cover was not a unique event but was part of a carefully calculated and systematically implemented plan to judaize palestine by stripping it of its arab inhabitants in an effort to establish an exclusively jewish nation eighty five percent of the palestinian population that lived in the land that became israel in one nine hundred forty eight were expelled from their homes and homeland fifteen percent of the palestinian population managed to remain in historical palestine most were internally displaced refugees meaning that they were displaced from their homes in lands but not expelled from their country those palestinians were given israeli citizenship and i referred to as israeli arabs and not palestinian israelis as they should be called their palestinian identity continues to be denied and neglected by their israeli conquerors palestinians currently make up twenty three percent approximately one point three million of the population of israel is palestinian israelis live as third class citizens in their historical homeland a once multicultural land that has been redefined as a jewish nation and not as a nation for all of its citizens during the summer of two thousand and six i was traveling in palestine and israel working on a film project on contemporary palestinian art after interviewing the artist in the village of just nestled high up in the northern galilee near the lebanese border i decided to drive to covert better the village her family was expelled from one thousand nine hundred forty eight i had never seen the ruins of course for better before and did not know what to expect what i got was an amazing lesson in history the stones and trees of the village spoke to me he spoke to me through the poetic voice of a remarkable survivor of the neck back at the cemetery i ran into a gentleman abraham who is tending to the graves of his family and his neighbors families this rather unassuming man turned out to be a remarkable historian who experienced the nec but the rectally and bears witness to its memory  poetry as well as through the very practical action of tending to the graves of his ancestors an action that keeps him connected to the land he was displaced from an action that confirms his desire and his right to return an action that proclaims the presence of absence in the heart and soul of the five million palestinians who currently live in exile and whose primary desire is to of palestine began in december one nine hundred forty seven a few months after the british empire the colonial rulers of the region since the end of the first world war announced that it was turning over control of palestine into the newly conceived united nations on november twenty ninth one thousand nine hundred seven after a period of deliberation the united nations heavily influenced by the western powers issued resolution one eight one the clarinet palestine would be divided into two states the jewish state comprising approximately fifty six percent of the land and an arab state in the remaining forty four percent of the land in one nine hundred forty seven jews made up thirty three percent of the population of palestine their numbers had increased dramatically through the influx of european jews during the three decades of british rule at the beginning of the british mandate in one thousand nine hundred eighteen made up six percent of the population of palestine between december one nine hundred forty seven in the end of one nine hundred forty eight jewish military forces heavily financed trained and armed by britain and other european nations implemented plane delate also known as plane d a came pai designed by david ben gurion the first president of israel and other zionist leaders to rid palestine of its arab inhabitants in order to make room for jewish settlers recruited from various countries according to zionist ideology the establishment of a jewish state in palestine require that the lane be stripped of its arab inhabitants during the ethnic cleansing campaign entire towns and villages in the lane that would become israel or depopulated of their palestinian habitants five hundred thirty one villages were completely destroyed most were literally wiped off the map in the process of expelling the palestinian population from palestine horrific atrocities were committed by jewish military forces he five percent of the arabs that lived in a land that became israel in one nine hundred forty eight were driven by force from their homes the lands that they and their ancestors had cultivated for centuries and millennia appropriate by the new jewish state to be exclusively use by jewish settlers between december one nine hundred forty seven and december nine hundred forty eight over eight hundred thousand palestinians were sent into the ethnic cleansing was repeated after the war of one nine hundred sixty seven when three hundred seventy five thousand palestinians were displaced and sent into exile the palestinians refer to their experience at the next israelis call it the six  consequences of these experiences continue to dominate the political landscape of the region and affect the global geopolitical landscape to this day sixty years after the bitter and brutal events of nine hundred forty seven and one nine hundred forty eight and forty years after the displacement of nine hundred sixty seven millions of palestinians continue to live in a siren many have only known the misery of squalid refugee camps in neighboring lands as well as the latter dated in heavily overcrowded camps in the west bank gaza israel heavily financed armed and unequivocally supported by the united states and european powers continues to deny the palestinians the right to return to their lands and homes a right