a Troubled Land

“Arabs and Jews have each claimed it as their own”

ZIONISM

• Diaspora

• “next year in Jerusalem”

Pogroms

• Anti-Semitism• "to wreak havoc, to demolish violently") is a form

of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious or other, and characterized by destruction of their homes, businesses and religious centers.

• spontaneous or premeditated -- but it has also been applied to similar incidents against other, mostly minority, groups.

• physical violence against the targeted people and even murder or massacre.

Theodore Herzl

• “The Jewish State”

• “rebuild the Jewish Nation”

• No possibility of normal lives

• ZIONISM: reestablishment of a national Jewish State in Palestine

First Zionist Congress

• 1897 – World Zionist Organization

• National flag

• National Anthem

• Purchased land from Ottomans

• Jewish National Fund

Balfour Declaration

• “His Majesty’s Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors 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”

• November, 1917

WHY?

• To gain support of Jews in Europe and Jews in USA for war against Germany

What about the Arabs?

Palestine between WWI and WWII

• Became mandate of Great Britain in 1920 (Sykes-Picot)

• Immigration became a huge issue for the Arabs at this point in time

• Palestinian Arabs (Arabs living in “Israel”) worked hard to end this immigration that the Brits were allowing…

• Violence seems to work into the 1920s

Jewish Population in Palestine

• 1880s – 25,000

• 1918 - “The Jewish State”, end of WWI, Balfour Declaration: 80,000

• 1930s – 450,000

• What happened in the 1930s?

Nazi Germany

The White Papers

• The Brits need Arab Support – They have the Jews right where they want

them – there is no way the Jews would support Germany

– Now the Brits need a way to make the Arabs happy….

• Solution was the White Papers….

The White Papers

• 1939

• Jewish Immigrants into Palestine, over the next five years, would be 75,000 or less

• After those 5 years?.....NO MORE IMMIGRATION

World War II

• 1939-1945

Holocaust

• Of Europe’s 10 million Jews….6 Million killed in the Holocaust

• Sympathy from around the World…

• …especially the United States

The United States’ involvement

• Favored Zionism

• Urged that European Jewish refugees be allowed into Palestine

• But this goes against white papers

• The Brits were exhausted….

Quitters never Win

• The Brits were between a rock and a hard place.

• Unable to keep both sides happy – and the increase in violence from both the Jews and the Arabs…they quit.

• They turned Palestine over to the United Nations (aka old League of Nations)

• From wikipedia: The United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues.

Why do we get Punished?

• The Arabs are saying, “We understand the plight of the Jews…but you are punishing us, the “rightful owners” of Palestine, by allowing these refugees into Palestine.

• Arab League was formed to strengthen the Arab states in the ME– Syria, Transjordan, Egypt, Iraq, SA, Yemen

Creation of “Israel”

• Zionism= Western Imperialism?– Zionists wanted to bring science and

democracy to the ME

• 3 partitions– Jewish State (56 percent of land)– Arab State– Small internationally run zone (including

Jerusalem)

Immediate reactions

• Fighting

• British mandate ended

• US and Soviets recognized Israel

• Israel was independent

• A day later war broke out – the 1948 War– Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan invaded

Israel