THE CONFLICT SO FAR

BOTH SIDES LAY CLAIM TO LAND Both claim descent from Abraham (God promised him this holy land) Both lived there 4000 years ago (Canaanites and Israelites) Jews were driven out and disperse around Europe (diaspora), esp in 70AD under Trajan Canaanites remained – became Palestinians – most converted to Islam after 600s AD

WWI Jews were already looking for a homeland (Zionism) by WWI because of persecution – e.g. pogroms in Russia Those of Jewish descent in Britain sympathised and wanted to make this happen The Palestinians and other Arabs resented being ruled by the Ottoman Turks. When Britain promised them independence if they rebelled against the Ottomans, they went for it (Hussein-McMahon letters) In secret, Britain was promising Jewish homeland (Balfour Declaration)

PEACE SETTLEMENT 1919 League of Nations made Palestine a mandate of Britain Britain was supposed to set things up to allow the Palestinians gradual self-government The Arab leaders felt they were already capable of self-government and staged a short-lived insurrection against the British Meanwhile, Britain started to allow a lot of Jewish migrants into Palestine In 1921, Palestinian resentment of the influx of Jewish migrants came to a head in riots that claimed the lives of 46 Jews Britain slowed down immigration and there was some peace until 1929 In 1929 a Zionist protest near the Dome of the Rock led to another outbreak of violence with 133 Jews killed and 339 injured However, Britain kept allowing more immigration

NAZIS 1930S ON 1933 Hitler came to power Huge pressure on Britain from Jews and also the USA to allow more immigrants into Palestine to escape Nazi persecution 1936 General Strike – Palestinians refused for 6 months to operate transport networks, etc. Hard for Britain to govern. Peel report suggested solving this by making half of Palestine a Jewish state  Arab rebellion Britain supplied Jewish militia (Haganah, Lehi, Irgun) with weapons to fight Palestinians Britain didn’t want to increase the numbers too much for fear of provoking violence – Whte Paper limiting Jewish immigration NEITHER SIDE HAPPY – Palestinians still thought there were too many Jewish migrants and feared they would try to set up a Jewish state. Jews were angry at Britain for refusing to take Nazi refugees  1946 bombing of King David Hotel by Lehi, 91 killed

PARTITION AND CIVIL WAR Britain was sick of governing Palestine and handed it back to the United Nations The UN proposed a partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish (56% of land) and one Palestinian The Holy City (Jerusalem) would be governed by the UN Palestinians rebelled as they would get to keep less than half of their land and only the poorer areas Extremist Jews rebelled as they believed God gave them the whole land Civil war broke out The state of Israel was declared in 15 May 1948, when Britain’s mandate came to an end Its Arab neighbours instantly declared war The Israelis were far better equipped and drove out the Arab invaders within the year They ended up in control of 80% of the land Many Palestinians fled to neighbouring Arab states as refugees when the Jewish armies approached – why? Because they were afraid of being massacred (Deir Yassin) or because they didn’t want to live in a partitioned state? The Jewish army refused to return their land as they said it was abandoned – as a result Palestinians ended up with only around 20% of the land and no recognised state.