The Palestinian narrative — largely adopted by leftists worldwide — is that from its inception, Israel has been a settler-colonial state. Jews were foreigners with no connection to Palestine who came to steal the land. Like the French in Algeria or the Belgian in the Congo, they used the most brutal means to achieve this goal. The wars of the last 100 years have been about the just struggle of Palestinians against their colonial oppressors.
The Israeli narrative is a story of indigenous return and liberation. The homeland of the Jews is Judea, Jerusalem the foundation of Judaism. Jews were expelled and massacred by Roman conquerors who renamed the land Palestina. Over 2,000 years of exile and persecution, Jews have longed to return. It was only after the Shoah (the holocaust) that they regained their homeland. For this dream, they were met with massacre by pan-Arab military forces. Against all odds, they won. Think the Lenape reclaiming Manhattan but with a longer backstory.