HISTORY OF THE JEWISH HOMELAND
• Diaspora from the original settlement of Jews in Zion (Palestine) by the Romans in the first century AD. Dispersed all over Europe and Asia Minor.
• Arab people began to occupy the area, only consisting of a few thousand Jews, especially in the seventh century AD, following the conquest of Jerusalem by Moslem forces. Had an especially strong claim to the land the Romans called Palestine.
1. OUTLINE THE FACTORS THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL IN 1948. EXPLAIN PALESTINE’S POSITION
• Zionist movement and early Jewish immigration in early 1900s
• Balfour Declaration in November 1917 pledged support for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Leading British Jews such as the illustrious Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild, Chaim Weizmann and Herbert Samuel had persuaded the British government to publicly acknowledge and support the Zionist movement. Against the backdrop of World War I, Prime Minister David Lloyd George genuinely believed in the Zionist cause, which was fuelled by a hope that a formal declaration, such was the Balfour Declaration, would help gain support for the Allied cause amongst large Jewish populations in the United States and Russia.
• After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 during World War I, British forces assumed control of Palestine, which allowed for massive immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe and Russia, where there had been mass persecution under the Tsarist government?
• In 1922, the League of Nations assigned the British a mandate over Palestine, which allowed for the creation of a Jewish homeland, the ease of Jewish immigration and the ability to champion Jewish settlement on the land.
• The outbreak of WW2 in 1939 saw the Palestinian Jews fighting in support of the British, despite the growing discontent of the imperialistic nature in the British control over the Palestinian Mandate. But, they knew that their enemy for now was Nazi Germany, doubtless of the fact that all would be lost if Rommel’s Afrika Korps captured Palestine. They were sure that the fight for Allied victory would leave the British weak and unable to safeguard the Jewish position in Palestine against the Arabs. As a result, the Zionist leaders realized that America’s support, a powerful country and with the greatest number of Jews and the most influential of them, would be more fruitful, after the end of WW2.
• The General Assembly of the UN in 1947 (PARTITION)
• Palestinian Arabs reaction to the Balfour Declaration and the lead up to the establishment of Israel (evidence to support this)
2. SUMMARY OF CONFLICTS IN 1948, 1967 AND 1973.
INCL. THE RESPONSES OF KEY NATIONS TO THESE DEVELOPMENTS
Long-term causes
1948 First Arab-Israeli War
• Immediately began after the proclamation of the new State of Israel by David Ben-Gurion, who later became the first Israeli prime minister. This was on the 14th of May.
• A coalition of Arab forces mainly from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon quickly secured the areas in southern and eastern Palestine not given to the Jews by the UN and seized east of Jerusalem.
• The invading forces then took control of the Arab areas and attacked Jewish settlements and Israeli soldiers.
• The fighting lasted 10 months, with a few truce periods in between, in the areas previously part of the British Mandate as well as the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon.
• Relations in pre-war Palestine were already dreary, but was quite insignificant compared to when Israel became a state on its own right.
• Although the attack was much a surprise, the Israelis were equipped and militarily well-prepared. The country had a navy and most soldiers had combat experience due to WW2, fighting for the British forces against the Axis forces.
• Aftermath:
– Israel signed separate armistice agreements with the countries of Egypt (24 February), Lebanon (23 March), Jordan (3 April), and Syria (20 July).