Arab-Israeli Conflict

1. Arab-Israeli Conflict

2. Introduction • Two conflicting sides over land, resources, sovereignty, religion, and culture. • Jerusalem/Temple Mount • Jordan River • Israelis – Judaism, claim rights to ‘Israel’ a recognized state of the UN • Palestinians – Islam, claim the same land as ‘Palestine’, are not recognized by the UN, but have a central ‘PNA’ • Both sides have contributed considerably to violence.

3. Who are the Palestinians and Israelis? • Palestinians include Muslims, Christians, and Druze • Currently a ‘state-less’ nation and therefore ‘citizenship-less’ • Israelis include Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze • Became a political state in 1948 • The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not simply Jews vs. Muslims, though it is often represented that way Wailing Wall (Jewish) and Dome of the Rock (Muslim)

4. Palestinians Today • Palestinians are Arabs [Muslim, Christian, Druze] with historical roots to the territory of Palestine defined in the British Mandate • 3 million live within this area divided among Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip • 700,000 are Israeli citizens • 1.2 million live in West Bank • 1 million in Gaza Strip • 3 million in diaspora • The diaspora community is without citizenship; Jordan only Arab state to grant citizenship www.cnn.com/.../mideast/stories/ history.maps/accords.html

5. The Issues • Palestinian Refugees and the Right of Return • Status of Jerusalem • Borders and the Occupied Territories • Israeli Security Concerns in relation to sovereignty • Settlements in the West Bank

6. Claims to Land

7. Palestinians Claims to the Land Israelis Ancestors lived in area nearly 2000 years ago Jerusalem home to most important Jewish site—Western Wall Ancestors have been living in area nearly 2000 years Jerusalem home to 3rd most important Muslim site-Dome of the Rock/Al-Aqsa Mosque

8. Jewish Claims: Biblical promise of land to Abraham and his descendents [begets Isaac, begets Jacob a.k.a. Israel] Historical site of the Jewish Kingdom of Israel Need for haven from European anti-Semitism Palestinian Claims: Several hundred years of continuous residence Demographic majority Bible is not a legitimate basis for modern claim to territory Jewish and Palestinian Claims to Land

10. Israel: The Western Wall • Jerusalem is the site of the holiest site in Judaism, remains of the earliest Temples. • “The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20 B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could visit once a year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as the ‘Wailing Wall.’” (http://www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html)

11. Palestine: Homeland for Palestinians • Palestinians are the Arabic speaking people that live in Palestine. • Most Palestinians practice Islam which came to Palestine around 638 AD, although some are Christian. • Jerusalem is one of the most holy cities for Islam because Moslems believe that Muhammad ascended to heaven here

12. The Holy Land for Christians • Israel and Palestine has been a major site for Christian pilgrimage and Crusades • Jesus is said to have been born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. • He is said to have been crucified and resurrected in Jerusalem

13. Anti-Semitism and Pogroms

14. 1800s • 19th Century Palestine was a province of the Ottoman Empire. • In 1850 the population was around 4% Jewish, 8% Christian and the rest Muslim. There was no conflict between the communities. • In Europe Jews faced anti-Semitism and pogroms. • In the 1880s over 200,000 Jews were murdered in state organised Russian pogroms.

15. Anti-Semitism • As anti-Semitism in Europe increased leading Jewish figures came to the conclusion that without a state of their own Jews would always be persecuted. • “For the living, the Jew is a dead man; for the natives, an alien and a vagrant; for property holders, a beggar; for the poor, an exploiter and a millionaire; for patriots, a man without a country; for all classes, a hated rival… a people without a territory is like a man without a shadow: something unnatural, spectral.” Dr Leo Pinsker, 1882.

16. The Pogrom. • This is the name given to a racist attack, particularly on a Jewish community. • ‘Pogroms’, as a term, came from Russia in the 19th century. It means ‘to destroy’. • Jewish communities had long suffered from pogroms even as long ago as Roman times. • As a close-knit group they were small, easily identifiable and as a result were easy to scapegoat (blame for others’ problems ). • Jewish people had no specifically Jewish country that would defend their rights or allow them a place to flee. • They were uniquely vulnerable, sustained only by their faith and traditions.

17. A Jewish house after a pogrom.

18. 1905 Jewish victims of a pogrom in Odessa.

19. Zionism

20. Zionism • GOALS:The spiritual andpolitical renewal ofthe Jewish peoplein its ancestralhomeland ofPalestine. • Freedom from Western anti-Semitism. Theodore Herzl1860-1904

21. Zionism-Late 1800s Zionists are a political group of Jewish people. They argued for a homeland for all Jewish people, a place where Jews would not fear pogroms, and where they could live safely. ’Zion’ is a Biblical name for Israel. They received a huge amount of support towards the end of the 19th century when many Jews were being displaced from around the world. Zionists looked particularly at the land of their Jewish ancestors in Palestine, the land that had been called Judea and had given its name to ‘Jew’.Capital city Jerusalem. This land was already occupied, however, by Arabic peoples called ‘Palestinians’. Many Jewish people were anti-Zionist however despite the pogroms. They felt that a small country would make them easy targets and in any event their ‘Jewishness’ did not make them any less Russian, or German or American. Judaism, they argued, was a religion.

22. “A land without a people for a people without a land” • Theodor Herzl was the founder of modern Zionism. He advocated mass Jewish immigration to Palestine. • Herzl initially did not consider the indigenous people, when he realised they existed he advocated transferring them. • “We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in transit countries, while denying it employment in our country. The property-owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.” • Before they left however the indigenous population would be put to work exterminating snakes and wild animals.

23. First Zionist Conference, 1897 • Herzl writes Der Judenstaat, orThe Jewish State in 1896. • Met in Basel, Switzerland. • Creates the First Zionist Congress. • Becomes an international Jewishorganization. • “Next Year in Jerusalem!”

24. Aliyah (Ascension) • From 1882 onwards mostly eastern European Jews seeking a new life free from persecution began arriving in Palestine. • The first arrivals quite often mixed with the Palestinians, after 1900 they increasingly self-segregated. • Around 60,000 arrived between 1882 and 1914.

25. Reflection • Write for three minutes about BOTH of the following questions. • If you were Israeli, why might you think you should live on the land that is now Israel? • If you were Palestinian, why might you think you should live on the land that is now Israel?

26. Role of the British

27. Hussein-McMahon Letters, 1915 ....Britain is prepared to recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs in all regions lying within the frontiers proposed by the Sharif of Mecca.... Hussein ibn Ali,Sharif of Mecca

28. Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916

29. The Arab Revolt: 1916-1918

30. World War One • World War I breaks out; Turkey (Ottoman Empire) fights against Allies • Balfour Declaration by the UK in Nov 1917 • “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…” - British Foreign Policy during wartime • British control of Egypt extends itself to the Israel/Palestine area under pressure from the ‘Zionist Movement’ Dec 1917

31. The Balfour Declaration • In 1917 Britain, at the height of World War One, agreed for its own imperial reasons agreed to sponsor the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. • Palestinians were not consulted, Lord Balfour wrote: “in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country. The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who inhabit that ancient land… In short so far as Palestine is concerned, the powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate.”

32. CH 34: Section 4 – “The Early Stages” Text p. 901; Packet p. How did the Treaty of Versailles change the world map? 1918 - Ottoman Empire is defeated in World War I igniting widespread Turkish nationalism leading to the creation of Turkey. The League of Nations asks Britain to oversea Palestine as a mandate– aterritory to be controlled by the League of Nations until ready for independence. T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

33. CH 34: Section 4 – “The Early Stages” Text p. 901; Packet p. How did the Treaty of Versailles change the world map? 1918 - Ottoman Empire is defeated in World War I igniting widespread Turkish nationalism leading to the creation of Turkey. The League of Nations asks Britain to oversea Palestine as a mandate– aterritory to be controlled by the League of Nations until ready for independence. • Arabs were concerned about the increased immigration of Jews to Palestine. • Jews were making requests for a homeland to be carved out of the region when the war ended. 1. Britain issues the Balfour Declaration. Unable to settle the matter after World War II, Britain decides to turn the issue over to the U.N. T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

34. Violence in the 1920s • Palestinians demanded representative self-government but Britain ignored their calls. • Tensions between the Palestinians and the new immigrants rose throughout the 1920s and 30s as Palestinians feared for their future. • Violence broke out in 1920, 1921 and 1929. The worst single incident was the murder of 67 Jews in Hebron in 1929.

35. Arab Riots and Violence Against the Jews

36. The Western Wall- a flash point in 1928-1929 • In Jerusalem, is the Western Wall of the old temple of Solomon. It is sacred to Jews who pray there regularly. • Above the wall is the Al Aqsa Mosque which Arab Muslims revere as the sacred place where Muhammed (PBUH) ascended to heaven. • The two sides angrily watched each other here for the slightest sign of an infringement onto their territory. This duly came in 1928-9.

37. Armed and organised Arab fighters launch an attack on a Jewish settlement.

38. 1928-29 Events • September 1928. Jewish people were seen putting out chairs (!)in the area of the Western Wall. • The Arab Muslims were furious because the Jews had never been allowed to build anything in this sensitive area. • This was seen as Jewish people marking out territory, a deliberate provocation. • 1929. Jewish Zionists met at the wall shouting that it was theirs! • This infuriated the Arab Muslims who began rioting. • Many Jews were killed by the Arabs who, in turn were shot by the British police who came to restore order. • The British police were vastly outnumbered however. • There were merely 300 to cover the whole country. • They just couldn’t control the fighting everywhere. • In nearby Hebron over 60 Jews were murdered in other riots. • The single policeman could only telephone for assistance and watch helplessly.

39. 1929 Arab Riots IZBAH AL-YAHUD! [“Slaughter All the Jews!”]

40. The British Response 1929 • Over 20,000 soldiers were sent to Palestine. The main Arab leaders either fled, or were expelled. • 120 Arabs were executed. Houses were demolished. People were arrested without trial. • The British began cooperating with the rudimentary Jewish forces ‘Haganah’ to restore order. • Some of the Jewish settlers decided to launch revenge attacks of their own however. The fighting was often indiscriminate and this made the conflict nasty for men, women and children alike. • Some historians take 1929 as the time when Israel actually began functioning as a state independent of Palestine.

41. Blood dripping down steps after the massacre in Hebron 1929.

42. The Haganah- the Jewish settlers’ ‘self-defence’ force.

43. 1930s Events • Britain caught in the middle of appealing to Palestine and Israel – violence escalates • Racial profiling, religious desecration, segregation, power struggle within Palestine • Zionist immigration continues • British policy continually changes with pressure from both sides • Progress in Middle East halts somewhat as WWII begins in Europe • Britain is distracted, situation becomes even more unclear, violence continues to escalate

44. Palestine Arab Revolt: 1936-1939 Their Goals: • An end to Jewish immigration to Palestine. • An end to the transferof lands to Jewish owners. • A new “generalrepresentative government.” The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Hussani, with Adolf Hitler.

45. 1936-9 Arab Revolt. • The British tried in vain to compromise between the two sides. • 1936, an Arab leader suggested a general strike as a protest to Britain against giving Jewish immigrants permission to settle and buy land in Palestine. • Elsewhere Palestinian Arabs became more organised and deadly. Outlying Jewish areas were attacked, buses bombed and the oil pipeline blown up. • A British Commissioner was assassinated. • Still the Jewish immigrants arrived.

46. The Arab Revolt • In April 1936 the Palestinians rebelled. Their demands were representative government leading to independence and an end to unlimited immigration. • The revolt continued until 1939 before the British eventually managed to crush it. Around 5,000 Palestinians were killed.

47. Zionist Violence • A number of Jewish paramilitary groups also became active during the Arab Revolt – these were the Stern Gang, the Irgun and the Haganah. • Ostensibly these groups sought to protect the Jewish settlements but they also engaged in terrorism – the speciality of the Irgun being the placing of bombs in Arab marketplaces for maximum casualties. • Ze’ev Jabotinsky, an influential leader amongst these groups was under no illusion about the need to use violence: • “Every indigenous people will resist alien settlers as long as they see any hope of ridding themselves of the danger of foreign settlement… We must either suspend our settlement efforts or continue them without paying attention to the mood of the natives. Settlement can thus develop under the protection of a force that is not dependent on the local population, behind an iron wall which they will be powerless to break down.”

48. The Peel Partition Plan • In 1937 the British Peel Report investigated the reasons behind the outbreak of violence, it recorded, “the Arabs have been driven into a state verging on despair; and present unrest is no more than expression of that despair.” • Nevertheless it recommended partitioning Palestine, a solution that was completely unacceptable to the Palestinians. • The Zionist leadership however accepted the principle but not the actual size to be granted to the Jewish state. • In the face of Palestinian resistance the partition plan was dropped.

49. The Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937

50. British White Paper of 1939 • Limited Jewish immigration toPalestine to 75,000 over the next five years. • It ended Jewish landpurchases. • Independence forPalestine within 10 years. • It is NOT British policythat Palestine become aJewish state.