1. Chapter 26, Section 4 and Chapter 28, Section 2

2. During the 1800s, persecution of Jews led to the modern form of Zionism. Zionism is a political movement which called for the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. As anti-Semitism spread throughout Europe, the calls for Zionism became much louder.

3. In 1897, Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jew living in Austria, formed an organization to promote Zionism. Under Herzl’s encouragement, Jews from Eastern Europe began migrating to the British mandate of Palestine. They set up communities there and called on Britain and other European powers to support them.

4. In 1917, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration. The key paragraph declared: “His Majesty’s Government views with favour 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.”

5. At the same time as the Balfour Declaration, nationalism was spreading throughout the Middle East. Although Arabs greatly outnumbered Jewish settlers in Palestine, increasing Jewish migration during the 1930s led to heightened tensions. Zionist leaders helped Jews to buy land from Arab farmers. Those landless Arab farmers were then forced to move to the cities where they found little opportunities and severe hardships.

6. During and after World War II, thousands of Jewish refugees had left Europe for Palestine. Hitler’s murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust showed the need for a homeland where Jews could live in safety. Arabs, unhappy to be giving up their land to the Jews, began attacking Jewish settlements. Unable to end the violence, and exhausted by World War II, Britain withdrew from Palestine and turned the area over to the United Nations.

7. In 1947, the UN recommended that Palestine be partitioned, or divided, into a Jewish state and an Arab state. Zionists accepted the plan. Arabs, however, objected to giving any territory to Jews. When the last British troops left Palestine in May 1948, Jews announced the creation of the state of Israel. Israel then won recognition from major world powers.

8. To neighboring Arabs, Israel was a creation of the western powers who wanted to continue their domination of the Middle East. Vowing to destroy Israel, Arab nations declared war at once. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon send separate military forces against Israel. Despite suffering heavy losses, Israel defended itself and defeated the divided Arab forces.

9. More than 500,000 Arabs fled or were driven out of Palestine during and after the 1948 war. Many Palestinians settled in UN refugee camps. These camps were designed to be temporary, but soon became home to several generations of Palestinians. Arab and Palestinian leaders resisted leaving these camps because they felt that would be interpreted as a willingness to give up their goal of regaining a Palestinian homeland.

10. Since the 1948 war, the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors had erupted into three more wars. While Israel won each of these wars, its enemies were not entirely defeated. Cold War During the Cold War, the United States provided military and economic aid to Israel. Israel’s Arab enemies turned to the Soviet Union for support.

11. In 1964, Palestinian leaders formed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to reclaim Palestine and destroy Israel. PLO activists waged guerrilla war against Israel. By the 1970s, the PLO and other radical groups spread the Arab- Israeli conflict beyond the Middle East. They lashed out at the United States and other nations which had supported Israel. They often used kidnappings, assassinations, and terror attacks to achieve their means. Former PLO President Yasser Arafat

12. Peace between Israel and the Arab world has been difficult. Over the years, several peace attempts have been made: Camp David Accords: President Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat. Egypt agreed to recognize Israel in order to gain formerly lost land. The Arab world saw Egypt as betraying them. Sadat was assassinated two years later.

13. In 1987, Palestinians, angered over years of Israeli military control, began a mass uprising against Jews. This uprising is known as the intifada, or “the shaking.” Israel responded forcefully to this uprising, killing many and destroying homes. Arabs began to turn to extremist groups (Hamas, Fatah) in order to have their needs met.

14. One of the main areas of contention between the Israelis and Palestinians concerned the occupied territories of the West Bank, Golan Heights, and Gaza Strip. At the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel and the PLO agreed to recognize one another in an attempt to stop the ongoing violence.

15. Several issues between Israel and Palestine continue to exist because the Oslo Accords did not solve them. These issues include: Control of Jerusalem (In 1980, Israel made Jerusalem its capital. Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem the capital of Palestine.) The “right of return:” Palestinians want to return to the lands that they fled during the Arab-Israeli wars. The future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Eastern Jerusalem. Compromise is difficult because both sides believe in the justice of their cause. As a result, the bloodshed continues in the Middle East.