Confront the history of Palestinian dispossession

During a public conversation in Belfast, former President Barack Obama said that Jews seeking refuge “took land off people,” adding, “And those people understandably said, ‘This is injustice and I want my land back.’”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, “Our land is not stolen land.” But that assertion should not obscure the documented history of Palestinian dispossession.

Israeli historian Adam Raz’s 2024 book, Loot: How Israel Stole Palestinian Property, provides a carefully researched account of how ordinary Israelis and soldiers systematically looted Palestinian homes, shops, and farms during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to prevent Palestinians from returning.

Looting encompassed everything from furniture, household items and valuables to factory and farming equipment. The book also documents how these actions were acknowledged and lamented by contemporary Israelis, with Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, privately condemning the theft as widespread even as it continued.

Raz bases his work on extensive archival research, including newly opened records, eyewitness accounts, diaries, and newspapers, making the evidence particularly credible.

Palestinians lost more than possessions. They lost livelihoods, communities and access to homes and land. An honest response to Obama must confront that history.

Terry Hansen

Grafton, Wisconsin