Depth Study 2: Palestine

Jewish claim to Palestine

• The Jewish people lived in the land of Palestine from about 1500BC.

• They were scattered and faced persecution after rebelling against Roman rule in AD 70 and AD 135. Many Jews fled to neighboring countries (Eastern Europe- Russia and Bulgaria), but some remained in Palestine.

• Pogroms in Russia after Alexander III referred to them as the ‘black hundreds’ and Nicholas II launched 600 pogroms against them- 1st Aliyah (1882-1903): 25,000- 35,000 migrated

• The Zionist movement emerged in the late 19th century, with Jews demanding a national homeland in Palestine- 1896- Herzl: ‘The Jewish State’

• 1901- Establishment of the Jewish National Fund- used to support Jews buying land in Palestine

• By 1914, 60,000 Jewish people had settled in Palestine.

Arab claim to Palestine

• Palestine was originally conquered by Muslim Arabs in the Middle Ages.

• In the 16th century, the Ottomans (who were not Arabs) took control of Palestine.

• Arab nationalism began to spread in the early 20th century, with Arabs seeking independence from Turkish rule.- looked to Balkan minorities who had gained independence by 1912

• Three Core Concepts of Arab Nationalism:

  1. Anti- Zionist

  2. Anti-Turkish

  3. Anti-Imperial

• By 1914, Palestine had 657,000 Muslim Arabs and 81,000 Christian Arabs

Young Turk Revolution

• In 1908, the Ottoman Empire experienced significant changes due to the Young Turks seizing power.

• The reinstatement of the Constitution led to the repeal of press censorship and the formation of new political parties.

• This allowed for increased expression of anti-Zionist sentiments in Palestine- anti-Zionist newspaper founded in Haifa- Al-Karmil ran 134 articles about Zionism between 1908-13.

Arab-Jewish hostilities in Palestine pre-1914

There were few instances of conflict between Arab and Jewish communities in Palestine before 1914.

However, evidence suggests that Palestinian peasants were relatively cordial to their Jewish neighbors. In some cases, Jewish settlers hired more Palestinians than Jews to work their lands. Violent incidents occurred, such as the accidental shooting death of an Arab man in the newly formed Rosh Pinna in 1882 leading 200 Arabs to descend on the Jewish settlement and vandalise it.

McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, 1915

• In 1915, Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca, sent a letter to the British High Commissioner outlining conditions for a partnership with Britain during WWI.

• Hussein wanted British acknowledgment of Arab independence. The correspondence traded British support for an independent Arab state for Arab assistance against the Ottoman Empire in the war.

• However, the correspondence was ambiguous, and disagreements persisted.

The role of Palestine in WWI

• During WWI, the British encouraged Arab rebellion against the Turks, who had control over Palestine.

• The Arab revolt (30,000 men), led by Faisal I and supported by British forces, successfully captured Jeddah, Rabigh and Yanbu in Palestine and captured 6000 ottoman soldiers.

• The capture of Jerusalem in 1917 marked a significant milestone in the British campaign.

• By 1918, the British were paying Arab allies £220,000 a month in gold to fight the Ottoman Turks

The Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916

• The Sykes-Picot Agreement was a secret treaty between the UK and France that defined their spheres of influence (and access to resources e.g. oil fields) in the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.

• The agreement divided Turkish-held territories, including Palestine, into French and British administered areas.

• Palestine was designated for international administration, contradicting the promises made in the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence.

The role of the Jewish community in WWI

• Jews from Palestine, Russia, Turkey, and elsewhere lobbied the British government to allow them to join the war effort.

• They formed the Zion Mule Corps and later advocated for the formation of a Jewish fighting group, the Jewish Legion- became 38th, 39th, 40th and 42nd Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers.

• The Jewish community played a role in the Middle Eastern campaign and the liberation of Palestine from Turkish forces- 40th battalion had more than 1000 Palestinian Jews enlist for the British.

• Key leaders such as David Ben Gurion and Isac Ben Zevie were in the 40th battalion also

Balfour Declaration

• A declaration issued in November 1917 by the British government expressing support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but not a Jewish state.

• At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, British Zionist Chaim Weizmann was asked what was meant by a Jewish national home. He replied: ‘to make Palestine as Jewish as England is English’.

British Mandate of Palestine

• Under the Treaty of Versailles, Britain was given a mandate to govern Palestine until the Arab people were considered ready to govern themselves.

• League of Nations (1922)- given dual mandate to rule on behalf of Palestine

British Policy in the 1920s

• In August 1922, the British unveiled a draft constitution for Palestine. There would be a legislative council made up of 8 Muslims, 2 Christians, and 2 Jews. This proposal was however boycotted by the Muslims and Christians because they were denied the right to advise on matters concerning Zionists. 

• In 1921, on a visit to Palestine, Churchill was asked by a group of Arab leaders to refute the Balfour Declaration and stop immigration. He responded with ‘This is not in my power, and it is not my wish’.  

• However, in 1922, Winston Churchill issued a White Paper which revised the 1917 Balfour Declaration to make it clear that, whilst "the Jewish community in Palestine should be able to increase its numbers by immigration”, the British did not support the imposition of a Jewish state on Arab inhabitants of Palestine.

• The 1920 Land Transfer Ordinance made it easier for Jews to buy large tracts of land from Arabs although it also required any new landlords to provide for Arab peasants who worked their land. 

Jaffa Riots

• The Jaffa Riots: Yosef Haim Brenner, one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature, was murdered along with several of his housemates. As the violence spread, the British called in air support to bomb Arab crowds attacking Jewish settlements.

• The Jaffa Riots: When the violence subsided a week later, 47 Jews and 48 Arabs had been killed (95 total)—most of the latter by the British—and another 146 Jews and 73 Arabs (219 total) had been wounded.

Jewish immigration

• The Third Aliyah (1919-1923): In total, the Third Aliyah saw the arrival of approximately 40,000 Jewish people to Palestine. 

• The Fourth Aliyah (1924– 1928): The immigration wave of the 1920s peaked in 1925, consisting of 34,386 immigrants. In total, the Fourth Aliyah saw the arrival of more than 67,000 Jewish people to Palestine. 

• Between 1921 and 1925, the Jewish National Fund and the American Zionist Commonwealth purchased 240,000 dunams (about 100 square miles) of Palestinian land from the wealth Arab Sursuq family. This purchase left some 8,000 Arab peasants landless, as the Zionist buyers wanted to settle on the land themselves. 

Haganah

• Underground militia established by Vladimir Jabotinsky, June 1920.

• in 1925, Jabotinsky founded the Revolutionist Party

• The first Betar instructors’ school was set up in Tel Aviv in 1928, and its trainees took part in the violence that erupted in 1929- Western Wall incident.

Western Wall Issue

• Weizmann pursued efforts to buy the wall and had collected £61,000 by December 1928. 

• On the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) - September 24th, 1928, Jews brought a screen to the wall to divide male and female worshippers. 

• Weizmann wrote in an open letter to the Yishuv (Jewish population in Palestine) in November 1928 that the only feasible solution to the problem of the Western Wall was to ‘pour Jews into Palestine’ and gain control of their ancient homeland.

• The rampage lasted nearly a whole week. 133 Jews had been killed, and 116 Arabs. 

Hebron Massacre

The Hebron massacre refers to the violent event in which 67 Jewish lives were taken in Hebron as a result of rumors spreading that Jews were planning an attack on the al-Aqsa mosque.

Passfield White Paper

The Passfield White Paper, issued in October 1930, criticized Zionist colonialism, limited Jewish immigration, and condemned the actions of the Jewish Agency, especially the expulsion of Arabs from newly purchased land.

MacDonald Letter

The MacDonald Letter, sent by British Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald to Weizmann, clarified British policy to support Jewish immigration and land purchases, and was regarded as a withdrawal of the Passfield White Paper.

Peel Commission

The Peel Commission proposed in July 1937 to partition Palestine into three zones:an Arab state, a Jewish state, and a neutral territory containing the holy sites. The proposal was rejected by Palestinian Arab nationalists but agreed to in principle by the Twentieth Zionist Congress.

1939 White Paper

The 1939 White Paper proposed limiting Jewish immigration to 10,000, granting Arabs control over Jewish immigration in 5 years, and establishing an independent Palestine in 10 years. It was influenced by Britain's strategic thinking and the need for Arab goodwill during a potential war with Nazi Germany.

Fifth Aliyah

The Fifth Aliyah refers to the period from 1929 to 1939 when the Jewish population in Palestine rose from 160,000 to 430,000 due to increased Jewish immigration, particularly from Germany after the rise of the Nazi Party- 1933 to constitute the second massive influx of 228,170 people from 1933-39. 

Land Issues

• 650,000 dunums were held by Jewish organisations in 1920, at the end of 1946 the figure had reached 1,625,000 dunums – an increase of about 250% 

• Jewish settlement had displaced large numbers of Palestinian Arab peasants. -

• Even so, this area represented only 6.2% of the total area of Palestine and 12% of the cultivable land.

Illegal Immigration

• Increasing numbers of Jews arrived as ‘tourists’ and never returned to their countries of origin. In 1935, close to 5,000 Jews entered the country in this way. 

• In June 1938, a convoy of three boats carried 381 illegal immigrants from Vienna who disembarked at Tantura where Irgun members loaded them onto buses and dispersed them throughout the country. 

• By the beginning of WWI, around 24,000 Jewish people had been brought into Palestine as illegal immigrants. Of these, about 18,000 were brought by the Revisionist and Irgun. 

• June 19^th, 1939: 18 Arabs were killed by explosives mounted on a donkey at a marketplace in Haifa by the Irgun gang. 

Arab Revolt

• The Arab Revolt began in April 1936 as a response to Jewish immigration and advances in Palestine.

• The Arab Higher Committee declared a national strike and demanded an end to Jewish immigration, land sales to Jews, and the establishment of an Arab national government.

British Response to Arab Revolt

• The British Government announced the appointment of a Royal Commission to investigate the causes of the “disturbances” and turned to the rulers of other Arab States for mediation, which eventually led to the strike being called off in October 1936.

• The official count of casualties was 275 dead and 1,112 wounded.

• The British shipped more than 20,000 troops into Palestine and by 1939 the Zionists had armed more than 15,000 Jews in their own nationalist movement. 

• The toll on the Arabs was estimated to be roughly 5,000 dead, 15,000 wounded, and 5,600 imprisoned.

Partition of Palestine

The UN Partition Plan was voted for on November 30, 1947, and led to the decision to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

The British officially left Palestine 14th May 1948

Arab-Israeli War

The Arab-Israeli War began immediately after the British left Palestine on May 14, 1948. It lasted from May 15, 1948, to March 10, 1949, and was characterized by conflicts between Arab and Israeli forces.

Palestinian Refugee Crisis

The Palestinian refugee crisis began during the civil war but exacerbated during the Arab-Israeli War, leading to a large number of Palestinians becoming displaced from their homes.

Struma (December 1941)- Moral imperative

• A ship that sailed from Romania with 769 Jewish refugees aboard, aiming to anchor in Turkey and await immigration certificates for Palestine.

• The ship was prevented from disembarking in Turkey and was eventually sunk by a torpedo from a Russian submarine, resulting in the death of 103 children and only 1 passenger survived.

Exodus (Summer 1947)- Moral imperative

• A ship carrying 4,500 Jewish refugees from Europe that was prevented by British authorities from landing in Palestine and sent back to Europe.

• This event gained widespread publicity and sympathy for the Jewish refugees, leading to criticism of the British authorities.

Zionist actions

• King David hotel attack (July 1946):

  • An attack by the Irgun on the King David hotel in Jerusalem, which housed the British military headquarters in Palestine at 12:37pm.

  • The attack resulted in the death of 88 people, including 15 Jews, and had a significant impact on British public opinion.

• February 1947: killing of 20 British soldiers in the officers’ club in Jerusalem

• Summer 1947: Two British soldiers were hanged in revenge for the execution of three Irgun members: a photograph of the two men hanging from a tree appeared in the front page of several British newspapers. The impact on British public opinion was massive, with the Manchester Guardian suggesting that it was “time to go”. 

• By October 1947, Zionist attacks had killed 127 British soldiers and wounded 133 others.

British economic weakness/changing Labour ideology

• By 1945 Britain was overspending by £2 billion per year. Bread was rationed until 1948. Crisis was abetted by the freezing winter of 1946-7 which placed further strain on energy supplies. 

• By 1947, the cost of maintaining the British force in Palestine cost nearly £40 million per year.

• The new Labour government’s commitment to constructing a welfare state – new schools, homes, and the NHS - further increased government spending. Between 1948 and 1951, Attlee’s government increased spending on health by 80%

US influence

• May 1942: The American Zionist Conference had declared support for a ‘Jewish commonwealth’ in all of Palestine. This became known as the Biltmore Declaration. 

• American Zionists launched a propaganda offensive, they addressed meetings, held rallies, placed advertisements, and above all, lobbied members of the US government in congress. 

• In the 1944 presidential elections, both Democrat and Republican election platforms endorsed the Biltmore Declaration. 

• In April 1946, the US president, Harry Truman, called on the British government to allow the immediate entry of 100,000 Jewish refugees to Palestine. Six months later, he came out in support of the partition of Palestine. Attlee and his foreign secretary Ernest Bevin were outraged, but they could do nothing:

• Britain needed US financial assistance. The Anglo-American loan of 1946 was for $3.75 billion and was not paid off until 2006.

UN Partition Plan

• The United Nations recommended the partition of Palestine into an Arab state, a Jewish state, and an international government of Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency but rejected by Palestinian Arab leadership and most of the Arab population. Britain announced acceptance but refused to enforce it.

• The UN General Assembly voted in favor of the plan, leading to the termination of the British Mandate and the proclamation of the state of Israel.

• 56.47% of land would go towards creating a Jewish state (this land included 498,000 Jews and 325,000 Arabs). 43.53% of the land would go to the Arabs (this land included 807,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews)

Civil War (November 30th, 1947 - May 14th, 1948)

• In December 1947 the Arab League (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen) pledged its support to the Palestinian Arabs at a meeting in Cairo. They adopted a series of resolutions endorsing a military solution to the conflict and organised a force of 3,000 volunteers. 

• When hostilities commenced, the Haganah had: 10,000 rifles, 3,500 submarine guns, 775 light machine guns, 157 medium machine guns, 670 two-inch mortars, and 84 three-inch mortars. 

• The Haganah had a force of 2,000-3,000 members. From November 1947-May 1947 it was transformed from a militia into an army. 

• Between December 1947-February 1948, a 4,000 strong force of well-equipped volunteers (most of them Syrians and Iraqis) known as the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) were sent in to support the Palestinian cause.

Plan Dalet

•  ‘the purpose conveyed in this programme is domination over the area of the Jewish state, and the protection of its border’.   

• Plan D: The Plan explicitly stated that operations would include ‘destruction of villages, (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines and debris), especially those population centres which are difficult to control continuously’. 

• Plan D: ‘in the event of resistance, the armed forces must be wiped out and the population must be expelled outside the borders of the state’

• The Haganah launched military operations under Plan Dalet at the beginning of April 1948. 

• Explosions were set off by Jewish forces in Arab areas of the city- nearly all the Arab population of 10,000 fled.

Deir Yassin Massacre

• The killing spree by Zionist troops in April 1948, resulting in the death of 107 women and children.

• Alan Cunningham, the British high commissioner in Palestine, acknowledged that a “deliberate mass murder of innocent civilians” occurred during Deir Yassin

Palestinian National Committee

Under the leadership of Dr Hussein Fakri El Khalidi, the committee attempted to rally Arab governments to send troops by exaggerating the Deir Yassin massacre in a radio broadcast.

Arab retaliation

The militia that escorted a civilian convoy bringing medical supplies to Hadassah Hospital, which was ambushed by Arab forces in April 1948, resulting in the death of 79 Jews.

Palestinian Exodus

By the time the state of Israel was declared in May 1948, between 250,000 and 300,000 Palestinians had already been expelled from their homes and communities by Zionist forces.

Arab-Israeli War

• The war that started on May 15, 1948, with the proclamation of the new state of Israel by David Ben-Gurion, and the subsequent invasion by armed forces from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Transjordan, and Egypt.

Transfer Committee

• An unofficial body set up by the new Israeli government, with the main aims of evicting the Palestinian people, blocking their return, and destroying and expropriating their homes.

•  “the destruction of villages as much as possible during the military operation”.  

Battle for Jerusalem

The conflict between the Israeli forces and the Arab Legion for control of Jerusalem, resulting in the Israelis gaining control of West Jerusalem but failing to gain Eastern Jerusalem.

Count Bernadotte's Peace Plan

• On 10^th June 1948, the UN persuaded the warring parties to agree to a ceasefire

• A peace plan proposed by the special UN mediator, Count Bernadotte, which included giving added land to the Arabs in the South and more land to the Israelis in the north, while keeping Jerusalem as an international city under UN control.

• The following day, Bernadotte was assassinated by the Stern gang. The new Israeli government intended to maintain international support and ordered the dissolution of the Stern Gang and Irgun.

Results of the Arab-Israeli War

• The new nation of Israel had lost 6,000 lives, which amounted to 1% of the entire Jewish population of 650,000. 

• The Israeli’s now controlled 79% of what had been the British mandate of Palestine rather than the 55% allocated to the new state by the UN. (War of conquest?)

• For the Arabs, the 1948-49 war became known as the ‘Nakbah’, the catastrophe or disaster. 

Palestinian Refugee Crisis

• The displacement and forced removal of Palestinians from their homes, resulting in 750,000 Palestinian Arabs becoming refugees by the end of the war.

• In 1948, only about 150,000 Palestinians remained in the area that became the State of Israel. 

• In 1948 military intelligence report of the Haganah:

  • "At least 55% of the total of the exodus was caused by our (Haganah/IDF) operations." 

  • The operations of the Irgun and Lehi, which "directly (caused) some 15%... of the emigration". 

• 1948, Israeli soldiers battling the Arab Legion and local irregulars in the towns of Lydda and Ramle were given orders by Lieutenant-Colonel Yitzhak Rabin to expel the inhabitants. Over two days, between 50,000 and 60,000 inhabitants were driven from their homes.