Shrinking Palestine, Expanding Israel

‘Shrinking Palestine’ describes the military, legal and financial tools that have been utilised by the Zionist movement over the past century to acquire land, and maps the gradual and ongoing transformation of historic Palestine into ‘Greater Israel’.

Prior to 1948, the black areas denote the land purchased by Jewish individuals and organisations, foremost the Jewish National Fund (JNF), amounting to less than 5% of historic Palestine in total. Post-1948, the black areas refer to land administered by the Israel Lands Authority, the vast majority of which has been expropriated from Palestinian landowners.

Even in the West Bank, over which Israel has no legitimate claim, the state has used an obscure Ottoman law to claim ‘ownership’ of around a quarter of the territory. The result is that Palestinians  – even those holding Israeli citizenship – are now largely excluded from living in the vast majority of their homeland.