From the first hours of Zionist colonization in Palestine in 1880, the appropriation and expropriation of the land was a major objective; the stated aim was: the creation of a Jewish state. Palestine was portrayed as a “land without a people” and Jews everywhere were encouraged to become real pioneers and to settle there.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF), established at the time of the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel (Switzerland) in 1901, was the principal institution established to acquire land, which then became the “inalienable property of the Jewish people.” Lands bought from the large, feudal owners, mostly absentee landlords living in the cities of Lebanon, Turkey or Syria, were systematically cleansed of their Palestinian smallholding peasants, who farmed them only according to customary law.

The British never ceased encouraging immigration and colonization, sending their troops to help evacuate lands acquired by the JNF. In 1925, the JNF was replaced by a body still functioning today, Keren Kayemet L’Israel BM. (National Fund for Israel Ltd.). When, on November 29, 1947, the UN voted for its partition plan (Resolution 181), “Jewish”-owned land was only 7% to 8% of the total surface area of Palestine. The UN recommended the creation of a Jewish state on 56% of the country, leaving 43% for the Palestinian majority, while the region of Jerusalem (including Bethlehem) was to become an international zone.