Arab-Israeli Conflict Background Arab-Israeli Conflict Background
1800 to 1500 BCE Semitic people known as the Hebrews settle area known today as Israel
1000 BCE King David unites 12 tribes, creates Kingdom of Israel Son Solomon builds 1st Temple
720 BCE Start of 2,500 yr period of area conquered by other empires – Jewish Diaspora (scattering of a homogenous people)
Palestine – name given to the area along the Mediterranean Sea by the Romans 135 CE (Presently known as Israel & Jordan)
300 CE Christianity becomes dominant religion of area
650 CE Islam becomes dominant religion of region
1500s Area conquered by Ottoman Empire & Palestine is no longer official name
Anti-Semitism increases in Europe… An American Tail
…resulting in the start of Zionism (movement to create a Jewish homeland) in the 1880s Theodore Hertzl
1920s British gain control of Palestine as a result of WWI & restore Palestine as name
Why does this action cause anger amongst the Arab people? Britain & France broke their promise to Arabs if Arabs helped fight against the Ottomans, then Arabs get land
Read passage on the following slide and explain what it is saying in your own words:
Balfour Declaration “His Majesty’s government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people… it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
1939-1945 WWII; 6 million European Jews killed during the Holocaust
1945-1947 Huge migration of Jews into Palestine
1947 – 1948 UN Partition Plan: proposed Arab Palestine & Jewish Israel w/ Jerusalem under international control; Partition – divide into parts
International Zone (Jerusalem) Jewish state Arab state International Zone (Jerusalem) Jewish state
The Jewish people accepted the proposal, but the Arabs did not Why do you think the Jewish people accepted the partition, but the Arabs did not? Jewish accept U.N. partition because… Arabs do not accept the UN partition because…