Green symbolizes Palestinian land that is inexorably disappearing from 1947 to the present day. This series of four cards has been widely shared online since October 7 and the Israeli military's response to the Hamas attack in Israel.
The legends of these four maps are simple: on the first, intended to show the situation in 1947, “Palestinian territories” are shown in green, while “Jewish settlements” are shown in white. On the second and third maps, showing the 1947 partition plan and then the situation from 1949 to 1967, “Israeli territories” and “Palestinian territories” are visible. Finally, a final map simply titled “currently” presents “Palestinian Territories” and “Israeli and Occupied Territories.” A series of maps intended to provide a visual representation of the reduction in Palestinian land.
This map has been widely shared online since October 7th. – Reddit screenshot
Some observers of the conflict or supporters of Israel respond to this visual communication with another, more detailed set of cards. These are even called “facts,” while the maps with the Palestinian territories in green are called “fiction.”
The final set of cards below “mixes four very different concepts,” as the author himself admits. It's a response to the first series of cards above, which has been circulating on the Internet for about ten years. – Anonymous author and NDubes/Reddit
On social media, both camps accuse each of the two maps of being incomplete or factually incorrect. The last series of cards was created four years ago. Its author, an anonymous person on the Reddit website, explains that he created it in response to the first series of maps showing the decline of Palestinian land. As he himself admits, his creation is not an example for criticism: “I am very aware that the maps mix four very different concepts: private land ownership, a United Nations proposal that was never implemented, the territories of Israel, Egypt and Jordan. “ after 1967 and the status after the signing of the Oslo Accords and the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. »
Is the first set of cards too easy? Is the imagined reaction on Reddit misleading? We presented them to geographer Eric Verdeil, a specialist in the region and professor at Sciences-Po Paris. “The first series of cards is a little simple, the second is based on enormous mystification,” he summarizes 20 Minutes.
“The progressive dispossession of the Palestinians, which occurs both on land and administratively and politically”
“Qualify the first series of cards [avec les terres palestiniennes en vert] “In my opinion, the term “fiction” is a little wrong,” explains the specialist. This first series shows the loss of substance of Palestinian sovereignty over this land in favor of Israeli control. »
And in detail: “On the first map, shown in white, it is Israeli property, land that the Zionists bought to exploit.” The second and third maps do not show quite the same thing: where we are in the order of politics and administration, not in the order of property. The final map in this series is a somewhat simplified representation showing the areas over which the Palestinian Authority is said to have control and administrative capacity. »
For the geographer, the questionable thing about this first series of maps is “that it mixes slightly different data.” But overall, it clearly shows the progressive dispossession of the Palestinians, which is taking place both on land and administratively and politically. »
“The questionable process is to make Palestine look like a desert in 1947”
Eric Verdeil is more critical of the second series of maps, which conflates “private ownership, land and resource use, official sovereignty and effective sovereignty, which were absent or greatly reduced for the Palestinians after 1967.”
For the geographer, the first map showing the situation in 1947 “in a way illustrates the Zionist slogan “A land without a people for a people without a land,” which the people of Israel boast of “making the desert bloom.” to have. The questionable process is to make Palestine in 1947 appear as a desert, caused by the white areas (public and state-owned), which suddenly appear as if they were neither Palestinian nor used. »
However, he emphasizes that “the majority of it was actually Palestinian land and was used, although not necessarily privately: grazing land for livestock, often jointly owned by village communities, as was often the case in this region where the land is amirieh .” That is, they were nominally owned by the prince (Amir) and served as usufruct for those who developed them. »
The third map contains an error: Egypt administered the Gaza Strip and did not “colonize” it. As for the final map, it obscures the colonization of part of the West Bank or the divisions surrounding East Jerusalem. “And what we don't see is that we have the impression of a country without borders, although on the contrary there are obstacles everywhere. »