Have you ever wondered why Jews and Arabs have been fighting for so long?
I mean, what’s it all about, and why can’t they get along…
In order to understand the present, we must understand the past.
Global Powers Divide The Ottoman Empire
During World War I, the superpowers of the day made decisions about the future of Palestine, (Israel). They did this without much thought for the indigenous inhabitants of the land. Their decisions didn’t just concern Palestine, but the land that made up the entire Ottoman Empire.
The global powers of the day were made up of Britain, France, and Russia. They figured the Ottoman Empire was going to fall, and they would decide how the land was carved up and divided amongst them.
From July 1915 to March 1916, Great Britain promised Palestinian Arabs independence in the “Husayn-McMahon correspondence.” Britain made commitments to the Arabs in return that they support Britain against the Ottoman Empire.
Remember the plan to divide up the fallen empire?
Just a few months later, in May 1916, Great Britain, France, and Russia had reached an agreement, they decided who was going to get what after the Ottomans fell. This agreement was called the “Sykes-Picot Agreement.”
Then things got really complicated…
The Balfour Declaration
In November 1917, Arthur Balfour, the British Secretary of State addressed a letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild.
This letter is known as the “Balfour Declaration,” it contains just 67 words…
The letter reads,
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you. on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet
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, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours,
Arthur James Balfour
“Zionism” was a political organization founded in 1897 under Theodor Herzl. The point of Zionism was to establish, develop, and protect a national home for the Jewish people.
The Balfour Declaration contradicted the “Husayn-McMahon correspondence,” which promised the Arabs the land, if they joined the war, it also contradicted the newly inked “Sykes-Picot Agreement.”
Great Britain was now going to grant Jews a national home in Palestine.
Now, there’s much history involved here…
How and why the Balfour Declaration came about may never be fully understood, and there are many questions.
Jews And Palestine
In the early 1900s, there was hardly a Jew to be found in the land of Palestine.
In 1917, it was estimated that Jews made up just 6% of Palestine’s population.
Yet, Britain was going to break their agreement with the Arabs, and even break the Sykes-Picot Agreement, all due to 67 words from Balfour to Rothschild.
It clearly shows, money talks.
The Jews have always been known to be money changers. We can only imagine all the backroom deals that must have taken place, which led to the Balfour Declaration and its implementation.
So over time, the Jews began to immigrate into the land of Palestine. You can imagine the hostilities that ensued as two opposing cultures and religions began to occupy the land.
The British Mandate
By July 1922, the Council of the League of Nations approved the British Mandate for Palestine. This included the preamble which incorporated the Balfour Declaration, and it stressed the Jewish historical connection with Palestine.
Of course, that thought was based on the concept that Ashkenazi Jews are Biblical Israelites, which they’re not. History, science, and even the Bible tell us that.
Nevertheless, for the first time in centuries, Palestine had now become a political entity.
We can only imagine the troubles that brewed and erupted. Arabs and Jews both realized that by the end of the mandate period, the region’s future would be determined by the size of each respective population and their land ownership.
As you can imagine, this created massive social problems which led to violence, and the British were forced to take action time and time again.
As you can see, we have learned nothing from history.
Governments always get involved in foreign matters to resolve a dispute, only to cause more trouble for someone else.
Some things just never change.
Once the British Mandate became official, the British replaced the military administration over Palestine with a civilian one in July 1920. Sir Herbert Samuel was appointed the first high commissioner, and he was a Zionist.
Under Samuel’s administration, he began to implement the Balfour Declaration. In August, a quota of 16,500 Jewish immigrants were admitted to Palestine in the first year. By 1936, the Jewish population of Palestine had reached almost 400,000, or one-third of the total.
Even with heavy Jewish immigration to Palestine over a 16-year period, Jews still only made up one-third of the entire population. Yet, they were slowly but surely being given the land.
As you can imagine, the Jews and Arabs were in constant conflict.
During 1936-1939, the first sustained Arab Resolve took place. It was the first violent uprising among Palestinian Arabs in more than a century. In September 1937, the British were forced to declare martial law.
All in all, more than 5,000 Arabs were killed, 15,000 wounded, and 5,600 imprisoned during the revolt. This would truly mark the beginning of Arab resistance to the Zionist movement.
Then, World War II reared its ugly head.
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At this point, Britain was less concerned with the Jews in Palestine. They didn’t want to face Arab hostility in Palestine, much less with neighboring countries.
So, “the British government issued a White Paper, which essentially yielded to Arab demands. It stated that the Jewish national home should be established within an independent Palestinian state.”
Britanica
World War II
By September 1939, British and Zionist policies had come into direct conflict. The Jews wanted to keep immigrants flowing into Palestine, and the British wanted to prevent Jewish immigration to keep the peace.
It was too little, too late.
David Ben-Gurion, the primary national founder of the State of Israel declared,
“We shall fight [beside Great Britain in] this war as if there was no White Paper and we shall fight the White Paper as if there was no war.”
For Jews, the only concern or allegiance they had was to form their own state on Arab soil.
Britain then attempted to halt Jewish immigration into Palestine, again, to keep the peace.
However, two ships carrying Jewish immigrants sunk, though not at the hands of the British.
The Patria (November 1940)
The Struma (February 1942)
In response, the “Revisionist Zionists” (Irgun) led a small terrorist group called LEHI (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), who led widespread attacks on the British. This led to the murder of Lord Moyne, British Minister of State, by two LEHI members in Cairo in November 1944.
As with any political movement, you have moderates and extremists.
Therefore, the Jewish experiment didn’t end, but continued to press forward.
In August 1945 U.S. President Harry S. Truman requested that British Prime Minister Clement Attlee facilitate the immediate admission of 100,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors into Palestine, and in December the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives asked for unrestricted Jewish immigration to the limit of the economic absorptive capacity of Palestine.
Britannia
As the war came to an end, everyone began to turn their attention back to Palestine.
In October 1944, Arab leaders formulated the “Alexandria Protocol.”
They made clear that, although they regretted the bitter fate inflicted upon European Jewry by European dictatorships, the issue of European Jewish survivors ought not to be confused with Zionism. Solving the problem of European Jewry, they asserted, should not be achieved by inflicting injustice on Palestinian Arabs.
Britannia
It’s quite interesting…
How did Europe’s problem, become the Arab’s problem?
From 1945 to 1948, both Jews and Arabs were trying to build their own state, on the same land.
Times had changed, Britain had received much help from the Arabs during the war, so they sought to limit more Jewish immigration into the land. The U.S. backed up Britain on this, though holocaust survivors were allowed into the region without impediment.
On July 22, 1946, the Israeli terrorist group Irgun destroyed a part of the King David Hotel where British government and military officers were located. 91 lives were lost. As history recalls, anytime progress of the Jews was slowed, they resorted to violence, even against those who stood for their Zionist vision.
U.N. Resolution 181
By 1948 the British Mandate collapsed under the pressure of force and diplomacy. Britain was worn out from the war, so they brought the question of Palestine before the newly formed United Nations.
On August 31, 1947, the UN Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) recommended that the region be partitioned into an Arab and a Jewish state. These recommendations were substantially adopted by a two-thirds majority of the UN General Assembly in Resolution 181, dated November 29, 1947.
Land that had historically belonged to Arabs was now split in two.
We should note, by 1946, there were 1,269,000 Arabs and only 678,000 Jews in Palestine.
As you can imagine, soon after the adoption of U.N. Resolution 181, fighting broke out in Palestine as the Zionists continued to bring in more immigrants.
The United States was concerned by the continued fighting, all despite Resolution 181. By March 1948, the U.S. opposed forcibly implementing the partition of Palestine between Jews and Arabs.
This concerned Zionist Jews greatly, so they pushed ahead with two attacks against Arabs in April of 1948. They were victorious, and on May 14th, the last British high commissioner left Palestine.
Remember the British Mandate over Palestine?
The Brits officially terminated this mandate on May 15, 1948. Within hours, the State of Israel was declared, and it won recognition from the United States.
War then ensured…
Between Arab nations, and the newly formed Israel, but the Arabs were defeated once again.
By the summer of 1949, Israel had concluded armistices with its neighbors, and the rest is history.
Nebka
The violent birth of Israel led to a major displacement of the Arab population. They were driven out by the Zionist military before 1948 and after by the Israeli army.
To this day, the Arabs call this “Nebka,” which means “catastrophe.”
From 1947 to 1949, it’s estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Arabs were driven from the land now called “Israel.” They were not allowed to live on the land since they were not Jews. Ironically enough, the Jews were doing the same thing to the Arabs, that Hitler did to the Jews before.
Ethnic cleansing.
Summary
It’s been a long bloody battle.
This historical perspective helps us understand, Arabs are not “anti-semitic” as is commonly proposed. Instead, they know their history. A history that witnessed the superpowers of the day placing Jews in the land of Arabs. An injustice that continues to this very day.
So, Arabs and Jews continue to fight and struggle due to a long historical dispute over land.
It created undue hate and hostility between these people, and now, it’s beginning to engulf the entire world.
Thanks for reading, The History Of Israel’s Founding
The History Of Israel’s Founding
Have you ever wondered why Jews and Arabs have been fighting for so long?
I mean, what’s it all about, and why can’t they get along…
In order to understand the present, we must understand the past.
Global Powers Divide The Ottoman Empire
During World War I, the superpowers of the day made decisions about the future of Palestine, (Israel). They did this without much thought for the indigenous inhabitants of the land. Their decisions didn’t just concern Palestine, but the land that made up the entire Ottoman Empire.
The global powers of the day were made up of Britain, France, and Russia. They figured the Ottoman Empire was going to fall, and they would decide how the land was carved up and divided amongst them.
From July 1915 to March 1916, Great Britain promised Palestinian Arabs independence in the “Husayn-McMahon correspondence.” Britain made commitments to the Arabs in return that they support Britain against the Ottoman Empire.
Remember the plan to divide up the fallen empire?
Just a few months later, in May 1916, Great Britain, France, and Russia had reached an agreement, they decided who was going to get what after the Ottomans fell. This agreement was called the “Sykes-Picot Agreement.”
Then things got really complicated…
The Balfour Declaration
In November 1917, Arthur Balfour, the British Secretary of State addressed a letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild.
This letter is known as the “Balfour Declaration,” it contains just 67 words…
The letter reads,
“Zionism” was a political organization founded in 1897 under Theodor Herzl. The point of Zionism was to establish, develop, and protect a national home for the Jewish people.
The Balfour Declaration contradicted the “Husayn-McMahon correspondence,” which promised the Arabs the land, if they joined the war, it also contradicted the newly inked “Sykes-Picot Agreement.”
Great Britain was now going to grant Jews a national home in Palestine.
Now, there’s much history involved here…
How and why the Balfour Declaration came about may never be fully understood, and there are many questions.
Jews And Palestine
In the early 1900s, there was hardly a Jew to be found in the land of Palestine.
In 1917, it was estimated that Jews made up just 6% of Palestine’s population.
Yet, Britain was going to break their agreement with the Arabs, and even break the Sykes-Picot Agreement, all due to 67 words from Balfour to Rothschild.
It clearly shows, money talks.
The Jews have always been known to be money changers. We can only imagine all the backroom deals that must have taken place, which led to the Balfour Declaration and its implementation.
So over time, the Jews began to immigrate into the land of Palestine. You can imagine the hostilities that ensued as two opposing cultures and religions began to occupy the land.
The British Mandate
By July 1922, the Council of the League of Nations approved the British Mandate for Palestine. This included the preamble which incorporated the Balfour Declaration, and it stressed the Jewish historical connection with Palestine.
Of course, that thought was based on the concept that Ashkenazi Jews are Biblical Israelites, which they’re not. History, science, and even the Bible tell us that.
Nevertheless, for the first time in centuries, Palestine had now become a political entity.
We can only imagine the troubles that brewed and erupted. Arabs and Jews both realized that by the end of the mandate period, the region’s future would be determined by the size of each respective population and their land ownership.
As you can imagine, this created massive social problems which led to violence, and the British were forced to take action time and time again.
As you can see, we have learned nothing from history.
Governments always get involved in foreign matters to resolve a dispute, only to cause more trouble for someone else.
Some things just never change.
Once the British Mandate became official, the British replaced the military administration over Palestine with a civilian one in July 1920. Sir Herbert Samuel was appointed the first high commissioner, and he was a Zionist.
Under Samuel’s administration, he began to implement the Balfour Declaration. In August, a quota of 16,500 Jewish immigrants were admitted to Palestine in the first year. By 1936, the Jewish population of Palestine had reached almost 400,000, or one-third of the total.
Even with heavy Jewish immigration to Palestine over a 16-year period, Jews still only made up one-third of the entire population. Yet, they were slowly but surely being given the land.
As you can imagine, the Jews and Arabs were in constant conflict.
During 1936-1939, the first sustained Arab Resolve took place. It was the first violent uprising among Palestinian Arabs in more than a century. In September 1937, the British were forced to declare martial law.
All in all, more than 5,000 Arabs were killed, 15,000 wounded, and 5,600 imprisoned during the revolt. This would truly mark the beginning of Arab resistance to the Zionist movement.
Then, World War II reared its ugly head.
Study and news with a fresh Christian perspective in your inbox.
At this point, Britain was less concerned with the Jews in Palestine. They didn’t want to face Arab hostility in Palestine, much less with neighboring countries.
World War II
By September 1939, British and Zionist policies had come into direct conflict. The Jews wanted to keep immigrants flowing into Palestine, and the British wanted to prevent Jewish immigration to keep the peace.
It was too little, too late.
David Ben-Gurion, the primary national founder of the State of Israel declared,
For Jews, the only concern or allegiance they had was to form their own state on Arab soil.
Britain then attempted to halt Jewish immigration into Palestine, again, to keep the peace.
However, two ships carrying Jewish immigrants sunk, though not at the hands of the British.
In response, the “Revisionist Zionists” (Irgun) led a small terrorist group called LEHI (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), who led widespread attacks on the British. This led to the murder of Lord Moyne, British Minister of State, by two LEHI members in Cairo in November 1944.
As with any political movement, you have moderates and extremists.
Therefore, the Jewish experiment didn’t end, but continued to press forward.
As the war came to an end, everyone began to turn their attention back to Palestine.
In October 1944, Arab leaders formulated the “Alexandria Protocol.”
It’s quite interesting…
How did Europe’s problem, become the Arab’s problem?
From 1945 to 1948, both Jews and Arabs were trying to build their own state, on the same land.
Times had changed, Britain had received much help from the Arabs during the war, so they sought to limit more Jewish immigration into the land. The U.S. backed up Britain on this, though holocaust survivors were allowed into the region without impediment.
On July 22, 1946, the Israeli terrorist group Irgun destroyed a part of the King David Hotel where British government and military officers were located. 91 lives were lost. As history recalls, anytime progress of the Jews was slowed, they resorted to violence, even against those who stood for their Zionist vision.
U.N. Resolution 181
By 1948 the British Mandate collapsed under the pressure of force and diplomacy. Britain was worn out from the war, so they brought the question of Palestine before the newly formed United Nations.
This seemed astounding to grasp…
Land that had historically belonged to Arabs was now split in two.
We should note, by 1946, there were 1,269,000 Arabs and only 678,000 Jews in Palestine.
As you can imagine, soon after the adoption of U.N. Resolution 181, fighting broke out in Palestine as the Zionists continued to bring in more immigrants.
The United States was concerned by the continued fighting, all despite Resolution 181. By March 1948, the U.S. opposed forcibly implementing the partition of Palestine between Jews and Arabs.
This concerned Zionist Jews greatly, so they pushed ahead with two attacks against Arabs in April of 1948. They were victorious, and on May 14th, the last British high commissioner left Palestine.
Remember the British Mandate over Palestine?
The Brits officially terminated this mandate on May 15, 1948. Within hours, the State of Israel was declared, and it won recognition from the United States.
War then ensured…
Between Arab nations, and the newly formed Israel, but the Arabs were defeated once again.
By the summer of 1949, Israel had concluded armistices with its neighbors, and the rest is history.
Nebka
The violent birth of Israel led to a major displacement of the Arab population. They were driven out by the Zionist military before 1948 and after by the Israeli army.
To this day, the Arabs call this “Nebka,” which means “catastrophe.”
From 1947 to 1949, it’s estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Arabs were driven from the land now called “Israel.” They were not allowed to live on the land since they were not Jews. Ironically enough, the Jews were doing the same thing to the Arabs, that Hitler did to the Jews before.
Ethnic cleansing.
Summary
It’s been a long bloody battle.
This historical perspective helps us understand, Arabs are not “anti-semitic” as is commonly proposed. Instead, they know their history. A history that witnessed the superpowers of the day placing Jews in the land of Arabs. An injustice that continues to this very day.
So, Arabs and Jews continue to fight and struggle due to a long historical dispute over land.
It created undue hate and hostility between these people, and now, it’s beginning to engulf the entire world.