re: Did Israel Steal Palestinian Land?

Damascus was the provincial capital in the Ottoman period, and the money was there. Many of these rich Syrians had large holdings in what is now Israel. These were the people the early Zionists were buying their land from. It was a personally unfortunate deal for the Palestinians, because they were often renters and long term renters, and they lost out with these sales. But it was all fair and legal.

In the war though there was a mass appropriation of housing from the Palestinians who fled the fighting. And Israeli has continually annexed and appropriated Palestinian property since then.