5 ms·
And you can't link HK being a Commonwealth colony up until recently... somehow? I don't want to say that Palestinian people shouldn't be helped. What I want to
by stanislavb 5y ago
And you can't link HK being a Commonwealth colony up until recently... somehow?
I don't want to say that Palestinian people shouldn't be helped. What I want to say is that it's more or less obvious why the UK is more eager to help HK.
- alisonatwork 5y agoI think the British bear some responsibility for the current situation in Israel/Palestine as well, given the region was a British mandate between the wars. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_Palestine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandatory_Palestine
- crossroadsguy 5y agoIs there anywhere that British left from and didn’t ensure an everlasting rift in the region?
- tru3_power 5y agoLol - this is colonialism in general right?
- umanwizard 5y agoNot necessarily. Plenty of former colonies are not now partitioned.
- slipframe 5y agoThis is a point worth expanding on. Among other things, the British changed the nature of land laws in the region. Under the Ottoman system, a whole lot of land was not owned by the Arab farmers and villagers who had been living on that land for generations, but was instead owned by foreign absentee landlords. Under the Ottoman system, these landlords were entitled to collect rent from the people living on 'their' land, but weren't allowed to kick everybody living there off the land (there were some attempts, but they mostly got rebuffed. The Fula Affair is an example of this.) The British changed the laws, allowing these foreign absentee landlords to sell the land and eviction of everybody living there. Dozens of Arab villages were depopulated with little if any compensation. Landlessness among the Arab population increased significantly, causing uncertainty and resentment that inflamed tensions with the people who were buying and moving onto that land.