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Arab-Israeli conflict

Arab-Israeli conflict . “a real estate dispute” ( Gelvin ) Palestine, by any yardstick, is less than prime real estate (Rodgers). Zionism. Diaspora, history, religion and hope  dream of return to the Holy Land

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Arab-Israeli conflict

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  1. Arab-Israeli conflict “a real estate dispute” (Gelvin) Palestine, by any yardstick, is less than prime real estate (Rodgers)

  2. Zionism • Diaspora, history, religion and hope  dream of return to the Holy Land • “God would in the future bring about an ingathering of the exiles and restore the children of Israel to the Promised Land” (Tessler) • 19th century Western Europe: liberal nationalism  legal emancipation of the Jews • 19th century Eastern Europe: intensified persecution of the Jews (pogroms)  emigration to USA or Palestine • Pinsker; question of national identity

  3. Political Zionism Theodor Herzl Created Zionist “coherent international movement” Existence of a Jewish nation, absence of a Jewish state Did not find a power willing to sponsor the movement

  4. Definitions of modern political Zionism • Cleveland: Jewish nationalism focusing on Palestine • Gelvin: a nationalism movement that redefined a religious community – Jews – as a national community … [which] asserts the right to an independent existence in its historic homeland. • The politics of Zionism was influenced by nationalist ideology, and by colonial ideas about Europeans’ rights to claim and settle other parts of the world (www.merip.org)

  5. The Balfour Declaration • Unilateral British declaration • Result of belief that Jewish groups in the US and Russia (and Germany) could influence their governments’ war policies • Aimed to win the “hearts and minds” of Jews around the world

  6. Balfour Declaration • Unilateral British declaration • Result of belief that Jewish groups in the US and Russia (and Germany) could influence their governments’ war policies • Aimed to win the “hearts and minds” of Jews around the world

  7. Chaim Weizmann Lloyd George

  8. Palestine What was Palestine? • To the Muslims: A geographical expression • To the Christians: historical memory with religious significance • To the Jews: roughly conterminous with the land of Israel (Yapp)

  9. The Palestinians • Majority were cultivators living in villages • Less than 1/3 of Arabs lived in towns • Many merchants and professionals were Christian • Sunni Muslim urban notables had become more powerful under the late Ottoman period (50 urban notable families identified)  Rivalry • No cities comparable to Aleppo, Baghdad or Damascus •  1936 – Palestine Arab politics were the politics of notables (Yapp)

  10. Palestinian identity? • Very little idea of Palestine before 1918 • Arabism not so prominent in Palestine as in Syria • Two options: • Palestine = southern Syria; Faysal in Damascus a potential leader • Palestinian identity; Muslim-Christian cooperation • Strongest identity linked to local, ethnic or religious group

  11. The Palestine Mandate • Britain awarded the mandate for Palestine at San Remo in 1920 • The League of Nation’s mandate (1922) incorporated the Balfour Declaration • No stipulation of independence or constitution in the mandate • Yapp: The original draft of the mandate agreement had been prepared by the Zionist Organization which had been closely involved throughout the discussion  the thrust of the mandate plainly towards the fulfillment of the Zionist programme

  12. British Administration • 1920: Civilian administration replaced the military administration • Sir Herbert Samuel appointed High Commissioner; a Jewish ardent Zionist • Goal for mandate? Weizmann: to make “Palestine as Jewish as England was English” • Additional obligation to uphold the rights and privileges of the “non-Jewish” population  Dual obligation; insoluble contradiction

  13. Jewish-Arab cooperation? • Riots in 1920-21  Samuel reconsidered his policy: Goal to create an integrated political community in a unitary state • Attempts to establish representative institutions • Negotiations led nowhere because of the Zionist issue; the Arabs wanted control over the Jewish immigration, the British did not want to abandon their obligation nor mandate • Yapp: little doubt that the Palestinian Arabs missed a great opportunity during the years 1921-23 Palestine never had a constitution, a parliament, or mandatewide elections

  14. The White Paper of 1922 • Emphasised Britain’s commitment to support of Zionism but played down the implications of Zionism for Palestine (Yapp) • If the white paper was intended to removed the ambiguities contained in the Balfour Declaration, it failed utterly to do so. (Cleveland)

  15. Leadership Arabs Jews – the Yishuv Well organized, well financed and well connected Jewish Agency a quasi government National Assembly Histadrut separate Jewish economy Control of Haganah, defense force • Politics of provincial notables • Moderate opposition and cautious cooperation with the British • Collective leadership weakened by factionalism

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