Arab-Israeli Conflict
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 www. cnn. com/. . . /mideast/stories/ history. maps/accords. html • 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
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
Claims to Land
Claims to the Land Israelis • Ancestors lived in area nearly 2000 years ago • Jerusalem home to most important Jewish site—Western Wall Palestinians • Ancestors have been living in area nearly 2000 years • Jerusalem home to 3 rd most important Muslim site-Dome of the Rock/Al-Aqsa Mosque
Jewish and Palestinian Claims to Land Jewish Claims: 1. Biblical promise of land to Abraham and his descendents [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
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/s 01 p 05. html)
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
Anti-Semitism and Pogroms
1800 s • 19 th 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 1880 s over 200, 000 Jews were murdered in state organised Russian pogroms.
Anti-Semitism in Europe increased • As anti-Semitism 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 19 th 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.
1905 Jewish victims of a pogrom in Odessa.
Zionism
Zionism Y GOALS: The spiritual and political renewal of the Jewish people in its ancestral homeland of Palestine. Y Freedom from Western anti-Semitism. Theodore Herzl 1860 -1904
Zionism-Late 1800 s • 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 19 th 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.
First Zionist Conference, 1897 Y Herzl writes Der Judenstaat, or The Jewish State in 1896. Y Met in Basel, Switzerland. Y Creates the First Zionist Congress. Y Becomes an international Jewish organization. Y “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 selfsegregated. • 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?
Role of the British
Hussein-Mc. Mahon 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
Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
The 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. ”
CH 34: Section 4 – “The Early Stages” Text p. 901; Packet p. How did the Treaty of Versailles change the world map? 1918 - Ottoman Empire is defeated in World War I igniting widespread Turkish nationalism leading to the creation of Turkey. The League of Nations asks Britain to oversea Palestine as a mandate – a territory to be controlled by the League of Nations until ready for independence. T. Loessin; Akins H. S.
CH 34: Section 4 – “The Early Stages” Text p. 901; Packet p. How did the Treaty of Versailles change the world map? 1918 - Ottoman Empire is defeated in World War I igniting widespread Turkish nationalism leading to the creation of Turkey. The League of Nations asks Britain to oversea Palestine as a mandate – a territory to be controlled by the League of Nations until ready for independence. • Arabs were concerned about the increased immigration of Jews to Palestine. • Jews were making requests for a homeland to be carved out of the region when the war ended. T. Loessin; Akins H. S. 1. Britain issues the Balfour Declaration. Unable to settle the matter after World War II, Britain decides to turn the issue over to the U. N.
Violence in the 1920 s • Palestinians demanded representative selfgovernment but Britain ignored their calls. • Tensions between the Palestinians and the new immigrants rose throughout the 1920 s and 30 s 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.
Arab Riots and Violence Against the Jews
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 IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”] Jewish Immigration 1919 1, 806](https://present5.com/presentation/0256595898d270e48e64349cebf78388/image-39.jpg "1929 Arab Riots IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”] Jewish Immigration 1919 1, 806")
1929 Arab Riots IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”] Jewish Immigration 1919 1, 806 1931 4, 075 1920 8, 223 1932 12, 533 1921 8, 294 1933 37, 337 1922 8, 685 1934 45, 267 1923 8, 175 1935 66, 472 1924 13, 892 1936 29, 595 1925 34, 386 1937 10, 629 1926 13, 855 1938 14, 675 1927 3, 034 1939 31, 195 1928 2, 178 1940 10, 643 1929 5, 249 1941 4, 592 1930 4, 944
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.
1930 s 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
Palestine Arab Revolt: 1936 -1939 Their Goals: Z An end to Jewish immigration to Palestine. Z An end to the transfer of lands to Jewish owners. Z A new “general representative government. ” The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Hussani, with Adolf Hitler.
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
British White Paper of 1939 § Limited Jewish immigration to Palestine to 75, 000 over the next five years. § It ended Jewish land purchases. § Independence for Palestine within 10 years. § It is NOT British policy that Palestine become a Jewish 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.
World War Two and Holocaust
Shoah
The Nazis • In 1933 the Nazis came to power in Germany. • Immigration exploded as Jews sought to escape Europe. Between 1933 and 1936 140, 000 new immigrants arrived. • The Palestinians believed they were being swamped.
The Holocaust. • Nazi Germany, and Hitler, perpetrated the worst ‘Pogrom’ in living memory by systematically trying to eliminate all Jewish people. • The factory-like process by which Jewish men, women and children were identified, labelled, moved, stored, abused and finally killed became called the ‘Holocaust’. • Over 6 million Jewish people died. • The Germans did not succeed in eliminating the Jews however.
World War II • The discovery of Hitler’s death camps profoundly shocked the world and highlighted the case of the Jewish people who had survived. • Many Jewish people began seeking refuge in Palestine. • The Arab states near Palestine were, meanwhile, throwing off colonial rule and getting together to preserve Palestine for the Arabs.
World War II 1939 -1945 The British Empire was severely shocked by the war and needed men fast. It was proposed that Palestine could be a recruiting base for Jewish soldiers. The government agreed and a Jewish Brigade was established. It was even allowed the Zionist emblem as its flag. By the end of the war the British sought to break up the Brigade. They confiscated equipment- but military knowledge they couldn’t erase.
Redemption---Post WWII • After World War Two Holocaust survivors desperate to get out off Europe and with the gates of the world closed to them headed for Palestine. • Most arrived as illegal immigrants and had to be smuggled into the country. • The fate of the refugee ship The Exodus became an international scandal after the British beat its passengers on to prison ships and then returned them to camps in Germany. A US newspaper ran the headline, “Back to the Reich. ”
Jews & Arabs in Palestine, 1920 × In 1920, there was 1 Jew to every 10 Arabs in Palestine. × By 1947, the ratio was 2 Arabs for every Jew. The Arabs felt that they were loosing control of their “country!”
Jews & Arabs in Palestine, 1920 × In 1920, there was 1 Jew to every 10 Arabs in Palestine. × By 1947, the ratio was 2 Arabs for every Jew. The Arabs felt that they were loosing control of their “country!”
UN Partition Plan 1947
The Creation of Israel • Nationalism led to the creation of Israel • Late 1800 s Jewish nationalist movement of Zionism growing • Jews calling for an independent state in ancient homeland British Mandate of Palestine • After World War I, League of Nations gave Britain control over Palestine, required Britain to make preparations for Jewish homeland • After World War II, Jewish leaders in Palestine pressed British to create Jewish state End of British Mandate • 1947, Britain announced it was giving up control of mandate, turning matter over to the UN • UN proposed to partition, or divide, Palestine into Jewish state and Arab state with Jerusalem under international control Jewish leaders accepted the proposal, but Arabs did not. Despite Arab objections, the UN passed a resolution supporting the partition as valid.
The United Nations Plan of 1947 • The world was sick of war by 1945 and the prospect of another starting in the Middle East cheered no-one up. • The United nations decided to partition Palestine as a way to separate the warring Arabic and Jewish peoples. • Neither the British, nor the United Nations implemented this plan, and the cavalier way in which it was seen to be an outside imposition did not appeal to Jew or Arab. • British limits on immigration also further angered Zionist groups. • The idea of an ‘international’ city (Jerusalem) was also found to be unworkable. Neither side could recognise others’ control of their most special places. • The rejection of the plan laid the path clear for the Arab-Israeli war of 1948
UN Plan for Palestine (1947) • • • Partition (separate) the area into 2 countries Israel (Jewish State) and Palestine (Arab State) 55% of land goes to the Jews 45% of land goes to the Arabs Total Population: 1. 8 million • 1. 2 million Arabs living in area • 600, 000 Jews living in area Jerusalem: “international city” controlled by UN Accepted by Jews Rejected by Arabs No Arab on committee
The Arab League 1947 • The Arab states now combined together to form the “Arab League” • The Arab League consisted of Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and it became a formidable Arab force arranged against the Jewish settlers.
Israel Becomes a Nation: May 14, 1948 Chaim Weizmann, 1 st President David Ben-Gurion, 1 st Prime Minister
1948 War of Independence
Independence and War • As British pulled out of Palestine, David Ben-Gurion, other Jewish leaders, declared birth of democratic State of Israel, May 14, 1948 • Ben-Gurion later became Israel’s first prime minister • Day after Israel declared independence, armies from Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Iraq invaded Israel, launching first Arab-Israeli war No Arab State Gaza Strip, West Bank • War lasted from May to December; Arab armies soundly defeated • Both Israel, neighboring Arab countries seized, held land planned for new Arab state • Arab states negotiated cease-fire agreements, but would not sign permanent peace treaties • One result: Arab state proposed by UN did not come into existence • Egypt controlled Gaza Strip, Transjordan controlled territory west of Jordan River known as West Bank
1948 -9 Israeli War of Independence. • Arab League countries declared war on the new Israel immediately. Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon all planned invasions. • The idea was to crush Israel before it could become established.
The war itself. • It was a disaster for the Arabic nations. The Israeli forces were far stronger than any of them expected. • Many Jews had fought in World War II and they had reasonable weaponry-mostly also from World war II. • The Jewish army also greatly increased in size, whereas the Arab forces grew only slowly. .
Results of the war. • Only the Jordanians and the Egyptians made any real gains. • The Jordanians grabbed East Jerusalem and the ‘West Bank’ land. • The Egyptians gained a strip of coast-line called the ‘Gaza Strip’. • Elsewhere the Arabic forces were all pushed back. • 1949 the United Nations declared a cease-fire on the ‘Green Line’. • Israel signed armistice agreements with all the Arab states. • Israel had expanded by another 25%!
Palestinian Refugees Right of Return
Refugee Problems Arab-Israeli war caused massive refugee problems • By end of fighting around 700, 000 Palestinian Arabs had become refugees • Fled or expelled from areas that Israel took control of, as well as from general war, chaos • Jewish refugees fled Arab countries and resettled in Israel
Nakba ‘disaster’ • Up to ¾ of a million Arab Palestinians lost their homes in the war and fled South or East. • Massive refugee camps sprang up and conditions were horrific. • These camps proved ideal places for Arab resistance movements to begin recruiting members.
Nakba (The Catastrophe) • As Plan Dalet continued more and more of Palestine was ethnically cleansed. • Over half of the Palestinian refugees had already been forced out before Israel declared its independence. • Even after this, despite promises of equal citizenship, Palestinians continued to be expelled.
The Right of Return • The Right of Return remains the central demand of the Palestinian people. A right Israel absolutely refuses to acknowledge. • Speaking before the UN General Assembly, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat put the Nakba and the refugees at the heart of the conflict. In 1948, he explained, the Israelis “occupied 524 Arab towns and villages, of which they destroyed 385, completely obliterating them in the process. Having done so, they built their own settlements and colonies on the ruins of our farms and our groves. The roots of the Palestine question lie here. Its causes do not stem from any conflict between two religions or two nationalisms. Neither is it a border conflict between neighbouring States. It is the cause of people deprived of its homeland, dispersed and uprooted, and living mostly in exile and in refugee camps. ”
Perspectives on Partition and 1948 War Israeli Palestinian Creates state of Israel War of Independence Holocaust and other periods of violence against Jews throughout the past centuries might not have happened if there was a Jewish Homeland • They had no input • Nabka: “Catastrophe” • Land set aside for Palestinians now under control of Arab countries or Israel
Conflicts with Israel • 1948, Israel established; since then most Middle Eastern countries have refused to recognize its right to exist • Some countries have repeatedly attacked Israel, funded militant groups that conduct raids, terrorist attacks against Israelis Expansion of Israel • Series of wars between Israel, neighbors has led to expansion of Israel • Israel controls more land now than in 1948 when created • Result: many Palestinian Arabs live under Israeli control; another source of tension, conflict in region
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