This article is amazingly ignorant. In the 1800s, Jerusalem and Palestine were part of the Ottoman Empire. The British and French mandates were not created until after WWI, when the Allies carved up the Ottoman Empire in the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
You are absolutely correct. Sykes-Picot was negotiated between Britain and France. It cut up the middle east with no consideration of historical boundaries, tribal allegiances, religious differences etc. that area has never known peace since.
This. The author obviously knows nothing about history since there was no Mandate until after WWI. I’ve heard some bizarre theories in my day but the idea there were no Muslims in Palestine is definitely one of the weirder ones. There have been Muslims there continuously since the 7th century. Europeans and Arab Muslims fought a whole series of wars over the issue - the Crusades.
“In the 1800s, Jerusalem and Palestine were part of the Ottoman Empire”
That does not mean that there were large numbers of muzzies living there.