IsraelCreation of a Jewish State and a Half

Century of Turmoil

Background

• Great Britain had administered Middle East region in post WW I era

• Zionists and Arab Nationalists challenged British rule

• 1917 Balfour Declaration– Arthur Balfour, British Foreign Sec.– Britain favored a national home for the Jewish

people in Palestine– Under Ottoman rule at the time

Zionists• Theodore Herzl

– Founder World Zionist movement (1897)• Chaim Weizmann

– Leader of Zionists after Herzl

Goal of establishing homeland for Jews

Between the Wars

• 1919 – 1930 thousands of Jews began to immigrate to Palestine from Europe

• Yisuv, Jewish community in Palestine, flourished, developed

• Arabs already living in Palestine considered the Jews intruders

• British tried, but failed to mediate

WW II• Hitler’s persecution and attempted

extermination of the Jews united many behind the idea of a Jewish state

• British attempted settlement between Jews and Palestinians

• In 1947, the British government announced it would withdraw from Mandatory Palestine, stating it was unable to arrive at a solution acceptable to both Arabs and Jews.***

U.N Resolution and Israeli Independence

• 1947 U.N. resolution divided Palestine into two states

• One Jewish, one Arab• Many Palestinian Arabs were displaced• RESENTMENT!!!• Surrounding Arab nations also resented

arbitrary allocation on THEIR land

Independence

• May 1948 – British withdrew from Palestine• Yishuv declared independence of new Jewish

State of Israel on May 14th • Two days later, USA recognized new nation• David Ben-Gurion was Prime Minister• Immediately, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt,

and Iraq invaded Israel

• War 1948 – 1949• By the end of the war, Israel had expanded its

borders beyond what the U.N. had originally set forth

• Jerusalem divided between Israel and Jordan

Israeli Timeline

• On 14 May 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state to be known as the State of Israel

• The following day, the armies of four Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq—entered what had been British Mandate Palestine, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War; Saudi Arabia sent a military contingent to operate under Egyptian command; Yemen declared war but did not take military action

• After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established

Growth of Israel

• Over next decade (1948 – 1958) holocaust survivors and others flooded to Israel.

• Population grew from 800,000 to 2 million• Austerity Period• Reparations (3 billion marks)

Israel 1950s

• Egypt and Suez (1950, 1956)• Constant attacks (Palestinian fedayeen)

Israel 1960s• Since 1964, Arab countries were trying to divert the

headwaters of the Jordan river to deprive Israel of water resources, provoking tensions with Syria and Lebanon.

• Arab nationalists led by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to recognize Israel, and called for its destruction.

• By 1966, Israeli-Arab relations had deteriorated to the point of actual battles taking place between Israeli and Arab forces

• In 1967, Egypt announced a partial blockade of Israel's access to the Red Sea.

• In May 1967 a number of Arab states began to mobilize their forces.

• On 5 June 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. In a Six-Day War, Israeli military superiority was clearly demonstrated against their more numerous Arab foes.

Victory• Israel succeeded in capturing the West Bank,

the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Jerusalem's boundaries were enlarged, incorporating East Jerusalem, and the 1949 Green Line became the administrative boundary between Israel and the occupied territories

Holy David and Goliath Batman!

Six Day War 1967

Continued Struggles• Most important among the various Palestinian and

Arab groups was the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), established in 1964, which initially committed itself to "armed struggle as the only way to liberate the homeland".

• Palestinian groups launched a wave of attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world

1972 Summer Olympics

• Massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

• The Israeli government responded with an assassination campaign against the organizers, a bombing and a raid on the PLO headquarters in Lebanon

Camp David• 1977 marked a major turning point in Israeli political

history • Menachem Begin's took control of Israel• Later that year, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat

made a trip to Israel and spoke before the Knesset in what was the first recognition of Israel by an Arab head of state.

• Sadat and Begin signed the Camp David Accords (1978) and the Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty (1979).