Arab-Israeli Conflict. One House, Two Stories: Dalia “Growing up, Dalia would frequently ask her parents and teachers: “What are these houses we are living

Arab-Israeli Conflict

One House, Two Stories: Dalia “Growing up, Dalia would frequently ask her parents and teachers: “What are these

houses we are living in?”

“These are Arab houses,” she was told.

“What are these Arab houses that everyone talks about?” she would reply.

Dalia’s school was in an Arab house, and there she would learn Israel’s history. She learned about the creation of the state of Israel as a safe haven for the Jews. She studied the War of Independence as the story of the few against the many. The Arabs had invaded, Dalia would read, in order to destroy the new state and throw the Jews into the sea. Most nations confronted with such hostilities would have been paralyzed, but tiny Israel had withstood five Arab armies. Little David had defeated Goliath. As for the Arabs, Dalia’s textbooks would report that they ran away, deserting their lands and abandoning their homes, fleeing before the conquering Israeli army. The Arabs, one textbook of the day declared, “Preferred to leave” once the Jews had taken their towns. Dalia accepted the history she was taught. Still, she was confused. Why, she wondered, would anyone leave so willingly?”

--Excerpt from: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, page 115

One House, Two Stories: Bashir

“We were exiled by force of arms. We were exiled on foot. We were exiled to take the earth as our bed. And the sky as a cover. And to be fed from the crumbs of those among the governments and international organizations who imparted their charity. We were exiled but we left our souls, our hopes and our childhood in Palestine. We left our joys and sorrows. We left them in every corner, and on every grain of sand in Palestine. We left them with each lemon fruit, with each olive. We left them in the roses and flowers. We left them in the flowering tree that stands with pride at the entrance of our house in al-Ramla. We left them in the remains of our fathers and ancestors. We left them as witnesses and history. We left them, hoping to return.”

--Excerpt from: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, page 217

Introduction• Two conflicting sides over land, resources,

sovereignty, religion, and culture.– Jerusalem/Temple Mount– Jordan River

• Israelis – Judaism, claim rights to ‘Israel’ a recognized state of the UN

• Palestinians – Islam, claim the same land as ‘Palestine’, are not recognized by the UN, but have a central ‘PNA’

• Both sides have contributed considerably to violence.

Who are the Palestinians and Israelis?

• Palestinians include Muslims, Christians, and Druze– Currently a ‘state-less’ nation

and therefore ‘citizenship-less’• Israelis include Jews, Christians,

Muslims, Druze– Became a political state in

1948• The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not simply Jews vs. Muslims, though it is often represented that way

Wailing Wall (Jewish) and Dome of the Rock (Muslim)

Palestinians Today• Palestinians are Arabs [Muslim,

Christian, Druze] with historical roots to the territory of Palestine defined in the British Mandate

– 3 million live within this area divided among Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip

• 700,000 are Israeli citizens

• 1.2 million live in West Bank

• 1 million in Gaza Strip

– 3 million in diaspora

• The diaspora community is without citizenship; Jordan only Arab state to grant citizenship

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The Issues• Palestinian Refugees and the Right of

Return• Status of Jerusalem• Borders and the Occupied Territories• Israeli Security Concerns in relation to

sovereignty• Settlements in the West Bank

Israelis Palestinians

• Ancestors lived in area nearly 2000 years ago

• Jerusalem home to most important Jewish site—Western Wall

• Ancestors have been living in area nearly 2000 years

• Jerusalem home to 3rd most important Muslim site-Dome of the Rock/Al-Aqsa Mosque

Claims to the Land

Jewish and Palestinian Claims to Land

Jewish Claims:

1. Biblical promise of land to Abraham and his decedents [begets Isaac, begets Jacob a.k.a. Israel]

2. Historical site of the Jewish Kingdom of Israel

3. Need for haven from European anti-Semitism

Palestinian Claims:

1. Several hundred years of continuous residence

2. Demographic majority

3. Bible is not a legitimate basis for modern claim to territory

Jewish Biblical Claims to Land

• Cultural Conflict goes back several thousand years – mainly religious– Old Canaan conquered by Israeli tribes out of

Egypt (according to Torah) [1200 BCE]– Hebrew settlements/conquests of present-day

Jerusalem under Solomon • First Temple Built in Jerusalem on “Temple Mount”• Later split into two kingdoms: Israel and Judea (both

later fall to Assyrians) after Solomon’s death

– Land referred to as ‘Palestine’ by ancient Egyptians and ‘Israel’ by the Jewish tribes

• Same place, different language

Israel: The Western Wall• Jerusalem is the site of the holiest

site in Judaism, remains of the earliest Temples.

• “The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20 B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could visit once a year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as the ‘Wailing Wall.’” (http://www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html)

http://www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html

http://www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html

Jewish Ancient History– Control continuously changes from app. 530 BCE

– 61 BCE ending with control from Roman Empire

• Christianity is founded around 4 BCE – 35 CE, followed by Islam in 622 CE– Non Jewish inhabitants of Israel/Palestine convert

begin to practice Islam/Christianity– Roman Empire Collapses after schism,

Israel/Palestine is conquered by Persians in 614 CE

– Then, conquered by Arab Islamic armies – Al-Aqsa Mosque is built in 715 CE on Temple Mount (considered Third Holiest site in Islam)

Palestine: Homeland for Palestinians

• Palestinians are the Arabic speaking people that live in Palestine.

• Most Palestinians practice Islam which came to Palestine around 638 AD, although some are Christian.

• Jerusalem is one of the most holy cities for Islam because Moslems believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven here

The Holy Land for Christians

• Israel and Palestine has been a major site for Christian pilgrimage and Crusades

• Jesus is said to have been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth.

• He is said to have been crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem

Medieval History• European Christian crusaders begin their

attacks on ‘The Holy Land’ occupied by Saladin and his Kurds– Crusaders briefly occupy Jerusalem in 1229 CE,

retaken by Mameluke Muslims, later defeated at acre and evicted from ‘Palestine’

– Ottoman/Turk conquest of area in 1517, part of official Ottoman Empire until 1917

• Demographics in Jerusalem under Ottoman Rule: 7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians

1800s• 19th Century Palestine was a

province of the Ottoman Empire.

• In 1850 the population was around 4% Jewish, 8% Christian and the rest Muslim. There was no conflict between the communities.

• In Europe Jews faced anti-Semitism and pogroms.

• In the 1880s over 200,000 Jews were murdered in state organised Russian pogroms.

Anti-Semitism• As anti-Semitism in Europe increased

leading Jewish figures came to the conclusion that without a state of their own Jews would always be persecuted.

• “For the living, the Jew is a dead man; for the natives, an alien and a vagrant; for property holders, a beggar; for the poor, an exploiter and a millionaire; for patriots, a man without a country; for all classes, a hated rival… a people without a territory is like a man without a shadow: something unnatural, spectral.” Dr Leo Pinsker, 1882.

The Pogrom.• This is the name given to a racist attack, particularly on a

Jewish community.• ‘Pogroms’, as a term, came from Russia in the 19th century. It

means ‘to destroy’.• Jewish communities had long suffered from pogroms even as

long ago as Roman times. • As a close-knit group they were small, easily identifiable and as

a result were easy to scapegoat (blame for others’ problems ).• Jewish people had no specifically Jewish country that would

defend their rights or allow them a place to flee.• They were uniquely vulnerable, sustained only by their faith

and traditions.

A Jewish house after a pogrom.

Examples of anti-Jewish attacks Throughout History

• The Roman Emperor Caligula• 12th century London and York riots• After the Black Death in Europe.1348• In Ukraine 1648• 1821 Ukraine. (the first riot actually called a ‘pogrom’)• 1881-4 Russia. Few deaths, but much fear and property destruction.• 1903-6 Russia. Many deaths. Much Jewish emigration to Europe

and the USA• 1918, and beforehand, sporadic outbreaks in Poland.• 1919 Argentina• 1927 Romania• 1933 Germany. The Holocaust• 1945 Arab states such as Libya

1905 Jewish victims of a pogrom in Odessa.

ZionismZionism

Theodore Herzl1860-1904Theodore Herzl1860-1904

GOALS:The spiritual andpolitical renewal ofthe Jewish peoplein its ancestralhomeland ofPalestine.

Freedom from Western anti-Semitism.

GOALS:The spiritual andpolitical renewal ofthe Jewish peoplein its ancestralhomeland ofPalestine.

Freedom from Western anti-Semitism.

Zionism-Late 1800s• Zionists are a political group of Jewish people. • They argued for a homeland for all Jewish people, a place where

Jews would not fear pogroms, and where they could live safely. • ’Zion’ is a Biblical name for Israel.• They received a huge amount of support towards the end of the

19th century when many Jews were being displaced from around the world.

• Zionists looked particularly at the land of their Jewish ancestors in Palestine, the land that had been called Judea and had given its name to ‘Jew’.Capital city Jerusalem.

• This land was already occupied, however, by Arabic peoples called ‘Palestinians’.

• Many Jewish people were anti-Zionist however despite the pogroms.

• They felt that a small country would make them easy targets and in any event their ‘Jewishness’ did not make them any less Russian, or German or American. Judaism, they argued, was a religion.

“A land without a people for a people without a land”

• Theodor Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism. He advocated mass Jewish immigration to Palestine.

• Herzl initially did not consider the indigenous people, when he realised they existed he advocated transferring them.

• “We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in transit countries, while denying it employment in our country. The property-owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.”

• Before they left however the indigenous population would be put to work exterminating snakes and wild animals.

26

Benjamin Ze'ev Herzl

“Oppression and persecution cannot exterminate us. No nation on earth has survived such struggles and sufferings as we have gone through.

“Palestine is our ever-memorable historic home. The very name of Palestine would attract our people with a force of marvelous potency.

“The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.

“The idea which I have developed in this pamphlet is a very old one: it is the restoration of the Jewish State.

Pamphlet: "The Jewish State.” (1897)

First Zionist Conference, 1897First Zionist Conference, 1897

Herzl writes Der Judenstaat, orThe Jewish State in 1896.

Met in Basel, Switzerland.

Creates the First Zionist Congress.

Becomes an international Jewishorganization.

“Next Year in Jerusalem!”

Herzl writes Der Judenstaat, orThe Jewish State in 1896.

Met in Basel, Switzerland.

Creates the First Zionist Congress.

Becomes an international Jewishorganization.

“Next Year in Jerusalem!”

Aliyah (Ascension)

• From 1882 onwards mostly eastern European Jews seeking a new life free from persecution began arriving in Palestine.

• The first arrivals quite often mixed with the Palestinians, after 1900 they increasingly self-segregated.

• Around 60,000 arrived between 1882 and 1914.

Reflection

• Write for three minutes about BOTH of the following questions.– If you were Israeli, why might you think you

should live on the land that is now Israel? – If you were Palestinian, why might you think

you should live on the land that is now Israel?

The Ottoman Empire in WW1

The Ottoman Empire in WW1

The Middle East in 1914The Middle East in 1914

Hussein-McMahon Letters, 1915Hussein-McMahon Letters, 1915

....Britain is prepared to recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs in all regions lying within the frontiers proposed by the Sharif of Mecca....

Hussein ibn Ali,Sharif of Mecca

Hussein ibn Ali,Sharif of Mecca

Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916

The Arab Revolt: 1916-1918The Arab Revolt: 1916-1918

World War One

• World War I breaks out; Turkey (Ottoman Empire) fights against Allies– Balfour Declaration by the UK in Nov 1917

• “His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object…” - British Foreign Policy during wartime

– British control of Egypt extends itself to the Israel/Palestine area under pressure from the ‘Zionist Movement’ Dec 1917

The Balfour Declaration• In 1917 Britain, at the height of World War

One, agreed for its own imperial reasons agreed to sponsor the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• Palestinians were not consulted, Lord Balfour wrote:“in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country. The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who inhabit that ancient land… In short so far as Palestine is concerned, the powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate.”

37

Balfour Declaration

The Balfour DeclarationThe British Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment

in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Signed by Arthur James Balfour

Post World War One

• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement – Jan 3, 1919; part of the Paris Peace Conference– Leader of the Zionist Commission (Chaim Weizmann)

met with Emir Faisal (Kingdom of Hedjaz)– Encourage mass Zionist/Jewish settlements in

Palestine, in exchange for an Arab nation encompassing present-day Iraq, Syria, and the Fertile Crescent

– Became irrelevant – Kingdom of Hedjaz was conquered in 1923 and incorporated under the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The dividing up of the Middle East after World War I.

Redeeming the Land---Post World War One

• After Britain took control of Palestine in 1918 a whole new wave of Zionist immigration began.

• These new immigrants sought to have as little to do as possible with the Palestinian population – boycotting their produce, culture and economy.

• Instead these immigrants with British support set up their own exclusive institutions, used their own language and generally ignored the fact that another people was already living in Palestine.

• A key element of their settlement was the idea of “the conquest of labour” whereby they would “redeem the land” by establishing modern farming communities. In this way they hoped to become “a light unto the nations.”

Palestine 1920.

The flag of the British Mandate over Palestine

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Palestine-Mandate-Ensign-1927-1948.svg

Violence in the 1920s

• Palestinians demanded representative self-government but Britain ignored their calls.

• Tensions between the Palestinians and the new immigrants rose throughout the 1920s and 30s as Palestinians feared for their future.

• Violence broke out in 1920, 1921 and 1929. The worst single incident was the murder of 67 Jews in Hebron in 1929.

1920 Anti-Jews Riots• The Arabs had been promised Palestine after World War One, but the

British had decided to retain control in the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

• This supported the Zionists’ idea of a national home for Jews in Palestine whilst promising to curb any erosion of the rights of the local Arab population.

• Many Arabs did not believe that the British could, or would, protect their rights if many Jewish settlers were to arrive.

• Meanwhile Jewish people who already lived in Palestine had been clashing with their Arab neighbours.

• April 4,1920,during a Muslim procession, a riot broke out in Jerusalem. It lasted 4 days.

• Jewish people- ironically non-Zionists- were the main casualties.

• The consequences were: that Jewish immigration to Palestine was temporarily stopped (turning the Zionists against the British),and the Jews themselves realised that they had to defend themselves if they were to survive.

1921 More AntiJew Riots.

• Clashes between rival Socialist and Communist Jewish groups in Tel-Aviv reached a peak.

• Arab Palestinians, feeling threatened by the violence, readily joined in and had to be controlled by the British military.

• The Arabs were ever fearful that they were being pushed out of Palestine by the growing numbers of Jewish immigrants.

• Riots also occurred in Jerusalem. • Casualties were low, and were mostly where Arab

protesters met with a military response from the British.

46

Winston Churchill

Jews are in Palestine“as of right and not

on sufferance...”

British Secretary of State for the ColoniesJune, 1922

“When it is asked what is meant by the development of the Jewish National Home in Palestine, it may be answered that it is not the imposition of a Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole, but the further development of the existing Jewish community, with the assistance of Jews in other parts of the world, in order that it may become a centre in which the Jewish people as a whole may take on grounds of religion and race, an interest and a pride.”

47

A Telling Terminology“Recognition … to the Historical Connection of the Jewish People with Palestine.

(Preamble to the Mandate)

“Reconstituting their National Home in that Country [Palestine]

(Preamble to the Mandate)

“Recreation of Palestine as the national home of the Jewish race.”

(U.S. Congress 1922)

Post World War One Canges

• European Zionists continue to settle in Palestine – Britain begins to decolonize – grants independence to nearby Egypt and Transjordan

• League of Nations – France and Britain divide the Middle East into ‘Mandates’ – Churchill White Paper (June 3, 1922) – clarifies

Balfour Declaration in response to anti-semeiic riots in Palestine

– Main Point: Europe dividing new nations for ‘self-determination’ – deconstruction of imperialism

49

July 24, 1922“Mandate for Palestine”

• 51 member countries – the entire League of Nations – unanimously declared:

“Recognition Has Been Given to the Historical Connection of the Jewish People with Palestine and to the Grounds for Reconstituting their National Home in that Country.”

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil,

British India, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,

Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland,

France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan,

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Latvia, Liberia,

Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua,

Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Persia, Peru, Poland, Portugal,

Republic of China, Romania, Siam, Spain, Sweden,

Switzerland, Union of South Africa, United Kingdom, Uruguay,

Venezuela.

The British mandate of Palestine. 1923.

The area labelled ‘Palestine’ by 1936 had become a war zone with regular clashes between Arab and Jewish settlers.

By 1939 however the Arabs were completely repressed by the harsh British military presence.

A Jewish military was being encouraged, and the partition of Palestine would seem to be an acceptable solution along the line shown on this map.

51

Mandate for Palestine - The British Mandate

• Confused

•?A Trust – “Mandate for Palestine”

“The Mandates of the League of Nations have a special status in international law. They are considered to be trusts, indeed ‘sacred trusts.’”

Professor Rostow

Trustee (Mandatory) – Great Britain

Great Britain was entrusted by the League of Nations with the responsibility to administer the area delineated by the “Mandate for Palestine” in accordance with the provisions of the articles of the Mandate.

52

Mandate for Palestine – Front Cover

LEAGUE OF NATIONS__________

MANDATE FOR PALESTINE,

TOGETHER WITH A

NOTE BY THE SECRETARY - GENERAL RELATING TO ITS APPLICATION

TO THETERRITORY KNOWN AS TRANS-JORDAN,

under the provisions of Article 25.

===============================Presented to Parliament by Command of His Majesty,

December, 1922.===============================

LONDON:PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY’S STATIONARY OFFICE.

This Land Is My Land“MANDATE FOR PALESTINE” THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF JEWISH RIGHTS ELI E. HERTZ 53

1920 – Original Mandate Territory

Assigned to the Jewish National Home


Article 25 - “Mandate for Palestine”

“In the territories lying between the

Jordan and the eastern boundary of

Palestine as ultimately determined, the

Mandatory shall be entitled, with the

consent of the Council of the League of

Nations, to postpone or withhold

application of such provision of this

Mandate as he may consider

inapplicable to the existing local

conditions...”


Article 25 of the “Mandate”

Where Jews arenot permittednot permitted to settle

Iraq was given to Faisal bin Hussein, son of the sheriff of Mecca in 1918. To reward his younger brother Abdullah with an emirate, in 1922, Britain cut away 77 percent of its mandate over Palestine earmarked for the Jews and gave it to Abdullah, creating the new country of Trans-Jordan or Jordan, as it was later named.


1922 - Final territory in which the Jewish National Home was to be reconstituted.


Palestine is a geographical areaNot a nationality

Palestine lies on the western edge of the continent of Asia between Latitude 30º N. and 33º N., Longitude 34º 30’ E. and 35º 30’ E.

On the North it is bounded by the French Mandated Territories of Syria and Lebanon, on the East by Syria and Trans-Jordan, on the South-west by the Egyptian province of Sinai, on the South-east by the Gulf of Aqaba and on the West by the Mediterranean. The frontier with Syria was laid down by the Anglo-French Convention of the 23rd December, 1920, and its delimitation was ratified in 1923.

Briefly stated, the boundaries are as follows:North. – From Ras en Naqura on the Mediterranean eastwards to a point west of Qadas, thence in a northerly direction to Metulla, thence east to a point west of Banias.

East. – From Banias in a southerly direction east of Lake Hula to Jisr Banat Ya’pub, thence along a line east of the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias and on to El Hamme station on the Samakh-Deraa railway line, thence along the centre of the river Yarmuq to its confluence

with the Jordan, thence along the centres of the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Wadi Araba to a point on the Gulf of Aqaba two miles west of the town of Aqaba, thence along the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba to Ras Jaba.

South. – From Ras Jaba in a generally north-westerly direction to the junction of the Neki-Aqaba and Gaza Aqaba Roads, thence to a point west-north-west of Ain Maghara and thence to a point on the Mediterranean coast north-west of Rafa.

West. – The Mediterranean Sea.

Report by his Majesty’s G0vernment. 1938, page 439


Article 2 - Mandate for Palestine

Just & Legal

Occupation

The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion.


Article 6 - Mandate for Palestine

“The Administration of Palestine …, shall encourage … close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.”

Where Jews are permittedpermitted to settle

Jewish Settlements are Legal


PalestineRights under the “Mandate”

At no point in the entire document is there any granting of political rights to non-Jewish entities (i.e., Arabs) because political rights to self-determination as a polity for Arabs, were guaranteed under the Mandate system to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Jordan

JewsReligious Rights

Civil Rights &Political Rights

Other Inhabitant

Religious Rights

Civil Rights


Jewish rights to Palestine were internationally guaranteed

“The [Balfour] Declaration was endorsed at the time by several of the Allied Governments; it was reaffirmed by the Conference of the Principal Allied Powers at San Remo in 1920; it was subsequently endorsed by unanimous resolutions of both Houses of the Congress of the United States; it was embodied in the Mandate for Palestine approved by the League of Nations in 1922; it was declared, in a formal statement of policy issued by the Colonial Secretary in the same year, ‘not to be susceptible of change’; and it has been the guiding principle in their direction of the affairs of Palestine of four successive British Governments. The policy was fixed and internationally guaranteed.”

Report of the High Commissioner 1920-1925Report of the High Commissioner 1920-1925

The Western Wall- a flash point in 1928-1929

• In Jerusalem, is the Western Wall of the old temple of Solomon. It is sacred to Jews who pray there regularly.

• Above the wall is the Al Aqsa Mosque which Arab Muslims revere as the sacred place where Muhammed (PBUH) ascended to heaven.

• The two sides angrily watched each other here for the slightest sign of an infringement onto their territory. This duly came in 1928-9.

Armed and organised Arab fighters launch an attack on a Jewish settlement.

1928-29 Events• September 1928. Jewish people were seen putting out chairs (!)in

the area of the Western Wall. • The Arab Muslims were furious because the Jews had never been

allowed to build anything in this sensitive area. • This was seen as Jewish people marking out territory, a deliberate

provocation.• 1929. Jewish Zionists met at the wall shouting that it was theirs!• This infuriated the Arab Muslims who began rioting. • Many Jews were killed by the Arabs who, in turn were shot by the

British police who came to restore order.• The British police were vastly outnumbered however.• There were merely 300 to cover the whole country.• They just couldn’t control the fighting everywhere. • In nearby Hebron over 60 Jews were murdered in other riots.• The single policeman could only telephone for assistance and

watch helplessly.

1929 Arab Riots 1929 Arab Riots IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”]IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”]

Jewish

1919 1,806

1920 8,223

1921 8,294

1922 8,685

1923 8,175

1924 13,892

1925 34,386

1926 13,855

1927 3,034

1928 2,178

1929 5,249

1930 4,944

Immigration

1931 4,075

1932 12,533

1933 37,337

1934 45,267

1935 66,472

1936 29,595

1937 10,629

1938 14,675

1939 31,195

1940 10,643

1941 4,592

The British Response 1929• Over 20,000 soldiers were sent to Palestine. The main

Arab leaders either fled, or were expelled.• 120 Arabs were executed. Houses were demolished.

People were arrested without trial.• The British began cooperating with the rudimentary

Jewish forces ‘Haganah’ to restore order.• Some of the Jewish settlers decided to launch revenge

attacks of their own however. The fighting was often indiscriminate and this made the conflict nasty for men, women and children alike.

• Some historians take 1929 as the time when Israel actually began functioning as a state independent of Palestine.

Blood dripping down steps after the massacre in Hebron 1929.

The Haganah- the Jewish settlers’ ‘self-defence’ force.

1930s Events

• Britain caught in the middle of appealing to Palestine and Israel – violence escalates– Racial profiling, religious desecration, segregation,

power struggle within Palestine – Zionist immigration continues– British policy continually changes with pressure from

both sides

• Progress in Middle East halts somewhat as WWII begins in Europe – Britain is distracted, situation becomes even more

unclear, violence continues to escalate

70

Jewish Palestine …

• The Jerusalem Post, founded in 1932, was called The Palestine Post.

• Bank Leumi L’Israel, incorporated in 1902, was called the “Anglo-Palestine Company” until 1948.

• The Jewish Agency –a an arm of the Zionist movement engaged in Jewish settlement since 1929 – was initially called the Jewish Agency for Palestine.

• Today’s Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1936, was originally called the “Palestine Symphony Orchestra,” composed of some 70 Palestinian Jews.

• The United Jewish Appeal (UJA), established in 1939 as a merger of the United Palestine Appeal and the fund-raising arm of the Joint Distribution Committee.

In fact the term “Palestine” applied almost exclusively to Jews and the institutions founded by new Jewish immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, before the Israel’s independence.

Palestine Arab Revolt: 1936-1939

Palestine Arab Revolt: 1936-1939

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Hussani, with Adolf Hitler.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Hussani, with Adolf Hitler.

An end to Jewish immigration to Palestine.

An end to the transferof lands to Jewish owners.

A new “generalrepresentative government.”

An end to Jewish immigration to Palestine.

An end to the transferof lands to Jewish owners.

A new “generalrepresentative government.”

Their Goals:Their Goals:

1936-9 Arab Revolt.

• The British tried in vain to compromise between the two sides.

• 1936, an Arab leader suggested a general strike as a protest to Britain against giving Jewish immigrants permission to settle and buy land in Palestine.

• Elsewhere Palestinian Arabs became more organised and deadly. Outlying Jewish areas were attacked, buses bombed and the oil pipeline blown up.

• A British Commissioner was assassinated.

• Still the Jewish immigrants arrived.

The Arab Revolt

• In April 1936 the Palestinians rebelled. Their demands were representative government leading to independence and an end to unlimited immigration.

• The revolt continued until 1939 before the British eventually managed to crush it. Around 5,000 Palestinians were killed.

Zionist Violence• A number of Jewish paramilitary groups also

became active during the Arab Revolt – these were the Stern Gang, the Irgun and the Haganah.

• Ostensibly these groups sought to protect the Jewish settlements but they also engaged in terrorism – the speciality of the Irgun being the placing of bombs in Arab marketplaces for maximum casualties.

• Ze’ev Jabotinsky, an influential leader amongst these groups was under no illusion about the need to use violence:

• “Every indigenous people will resist alien settlers as long as they see any hope of ridding themselves of the danger of foreign settlement… We must either suspend our settlement efforts or continue them without paying attention to the mood of the natives. Settlement can thus develop under the protection of a force that is not dependent on the local population, behind an iron wall which they will be powerless to break down.”

The Peel Partition Plan• In 1937 the British Peel Report

investigated the reasons behind the outbreak of violence, it recorded, “the Arabs have been driven into a state verging on despair; and present unrest is no more than expression of that despair.”

• Nevertheless it recommended partitioning Palestine, a solution that was completely unacceptable to the Palestinians.

• The Zionist leadership however accepted the principle but not the actual size to be granted to the Jewish state.

• In the face of Palestinian resistance the partition plan was dropped.

The Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937

The Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937

British White Paper of 1939 British White Paper of 1939 Limited Jewish

immigration toPalestine to 75,000 over the next five years.

It ended Jewish landpurchases.

Independence forPalestine within 10 years.

It is NOT British policythat Palestine become aJewish state.

Limited Jewish immigration toPalestine to 75,000 over the next five years.

It ended Jewish landpurchases.

Independence forPalestine within 10 years.

It is NOT British policythat Palestine become aJewish state.

The 1939 White Paper

• In 1939 Britain, fearing war with Germany, reversed its policy regarding Palestine.

• It agreed to grant Palestine independence within 10 years and to limit Jewish immigration to 15,000 a year for the next five years after which it would be at the discretion of the Palestinians whether it would continue.

• David Ben Gurion said, “We shall fight the white paper as if there were no Hitler and we shall fight Hitler as if there were no white paper.”

• Many Israelis still harbour bitterness towards Britain believing that at the time the Holocaust was about to be launched Britain closed the only remaining escape route.

Documents

Arab-Israeli Conflict. One House, Two Stories: Dalia “Growing up, Dalia would frequently ask her parents and teachers: “What are these houses we are living