How and why was the state of Israel created?

Not overly important

What was Arab nationalism, what did it compete with, and what were its main issues?

• Strongly anti-Turkish

• Anti-colonial and anti-imperial due to:

1. Entrance of European colonial powers

2. Foreign control of Arab land

• Interacted and competed with Zionism

• Not unified

• Ideological and leadership struggles

What are the key events of the Arab rebellions, key dates, and why did they happen?

• Arab fear for loss of land to Jewish immigrants

1936 - Zionist settlements expanded

• Arab peasants became landless and impoverished

Arab Higher Committee

• Palestinian Arab leaders

• Called Arab population to fight against British rule

• Called strikes, which were largely unsuccessful

1939 - British victory

• Hung several, and exiled Arab leaders

• Destroyed houses thought to contain terrorists or arms

What is the general strategic importance of the Middle East?

Suez Canal (Egypt) - crucial shortcut for British ships travelling to Egypt

Vast oil reserves - fuel for empires

• Regional stability and influence top priority for industrial nations

• Control of local resources meant control of economic growth and military

• Cross-continental transit - Europe, Africa and Asia

Global interests - Britain and France strong ministry and administrative group through mandates

Cold war shifts - key influence for USA and USSR

What were the European mandates given out by the League of Nations? When/how was the mandate given, and what date? When did countries under control gain independence from colonial rule, and what are the key points?

• 1919 Treaty of Versailles mandate

French control: Syria and Lebanon

• French Assembly declined treaties for independence, but was gained from the UN in 1945

British control: Transjordan, Egypt and Iraq

Iraqi independence: 1920 rebellion

• Dissatisfied with British control

Egyptian independence: 1922

• Importance of the Suez canal

• Became independent sovereign state

Transjordan independence: 1923

• Troops remained under British control

Why did the Balfour declaration happen, when did it happen, and how did it negatively impact Arabic and Jewish people living in Palestine?

• British Zionists (Chaim Weimann) believed Jewish people in the USA could influence their government’s actions

• After WW1, Britain allied with Arabs and Zionists

• Britain promised for future Arab independence

• November 1917 - national home for Jews and Arabs within Palestine

• Zionists and Arabs both believed that Palestine was promised to them (wasn’t specific about borders promised to either Jewish people or Arabs)

What was the Sykes-Picot agreement, when did it occur, and why?

1916

• Britain and France agreed to share Turkey’s Arab lands, in some direct and some indirect control

• Most of Palestine under international control

Reasons for the agreement

• Britain wanted to maintain a strong alliance with France after World War 1

• Extensive trading links with the Middle East

• Protect the Suez canal (British and French joint ownership and operation)

What was the White Paper, when was it declared, and what was the reaction to it?

1939 - Britain declared they wanted an independent Palestine within 10 years

• Would mean Jewish and Arabs would have shared responsibility over the Palestinian government

• Jewish felt betrayed but accepted it

Arab Higher Committee formally refused

• Felt it didn’t grant immediate independence

• Allowed thousands of Jewish immigrants

• Failed to secure fundamental national rights

How did Russia affect Jewish immigration, what did they do, and when? Why were the effects of this not great for Jewish people, due to historical tensions?

1881 anti-Jewish riots

• Jewish people blamed for tsar’s death

Tsar government encouraged violence

• Persecution of Jewish people

• Synagogues were burned down

• Jewish homes attacked, thousands of Jewish people were killed

Caused Jewish people to flee Europe and the USA

• Originally Europeans forced Jewish people to live separately, and they were expelled from much of Western Europe into Russia and Poland

What were the Arab-Jewish riots in resistance to British colonial rule, when did they take place, where, and what happened? What was Britain’s response?

1921 Tel Aviv

• Jewish riots in Jaffa (main point of arrival for Jewish immigrants)

• Riots between rival Jewish groups in Tel Aviv - Arab attacks on Jewish people and property

• British authorities immediately stopped all Jewish immigration in the area

August 1929 violence in Jerusalem

• Arab riots, crowds attacked Jews out of the city

• Spread throughout Palestine

• 133 Jewish people died

• 116 Arabs died - by British police attempting to stop anti-Jewish violence

What was the effect of the Holocaust on tensions within Palestine?

(1939)

• Thousands of Jews fled to Palestine

• Arabs feared loss of their land

• British planned to restrict immigrants and land sales

• Became an uproar for Jewish people in Europe and the USA

• Pressure on Britain to allow Jewish immigrants into Palestine

What was the Jewish resistance to the British mandate after World war 2 leading up to the King David Hotel bombings, and why?

August 1945 Zionist conference

• Policy of active opposition to British rule in Palestine

• Ordered Haganah (Jewish defence force) to cooperate with irgun and Stern Gang

• British railways, trains, military bases and bridges in Palestine targetted

April 1946 - Truman ordered British government to allow immediate entry of 10,000 Jewish refugees

Why?

• British authority stopped illegal Jewish immigration into Palestine

• Palestinian Arabs opposed Jewish state - feared Nazi immigrants from Europe

What were the Camp David Accords? What additional terrorist event occurred afterwards, and why was the British Prime minister paranoid?

22nd July 1946 Irgun bombed King David Hotel

• British military headquarters in Palestine

• 88 people died, including 15 Jewish people

• Weakened morale of British people

British frustrated and angered

• Saw support for terrorism from American Zionists

February 1947

• Jewish terrorists killed 20 British soldiers in officers’ club in Jerusalem

• British Prime minister complained of a report that the mayor of New York had a Zionist drive to raise £2 million

What were the reasons for the UN partition of Palestine?

• May 1948 British control of Palestine given to the UN

• UNSCOP recommended resolution to problem in Palestine

• UN General Assembly acceptance of UNSCOP’s recommendations

• Post-Holocaust international pressure for Jewish refugees to be let into Palestine

• Raising Arab-Jewish violence and opposition to British rule

• Jewish organisations purchased significant amounts of land

• Arab majority in Palestine

When and why did Britain give control of Palestine to the UN?

• May 1948

• Hanging of 2 British soldiers for the execution of 3 Irgun members

The Exodus, 4,500 Jewish refugees prevented at Palestine

• Widespread publicity and Jewish sympathy

• Huge Zionist propaganda success

Britain exhausted after ww2

• Food shortages and rationing

• Could barely afford military and police upkeep in Palestine

What were the Jewish and Arab reactions to the UN partition of Palestine?

Jewish - officially accepted plan despite exclusion of Jerusalem

• Pleased with international support for the idea of a Jewish state

• Unhappy that many Jewish settlements were allocated to Arab states

• David Ben-Gurion, Irgun and Stern Gang were unhappy

Arab - Arab Higher Committee rejected the plan

• Unhappy that Jews were allocated a larger area

• Unhappy that Jews gained many cities with large Arab majorities (Haifa and Jaffa)

What were the events of the 1947-1948 Palestine civil war?

Arab Higher Committee strikes led to violence against Jews

December 1947

• Jews fought for land allocated by the UN

• Jews fought to gain Jewish settlements in Arab land

1948 - Syria and Iraq crossed Palestinian borders to fight for Arabs led to no centrally organised military forces, divided

February 1948 - Palestinian elites left, led to insecurity to the Arab masses

March 1948 - Haganah Plan D

• Takeover evacuated military installations

• Expel as many Palestinian Arabs as possible

April 1948 - Jews forcibly expelled Arabs

• Armed Jewish forces surrounded each village, forcing Arabs to flee to the fourth side

What happened during the Deir Yassin massacre?

• Struggle to control roads leading to Jerusalem

• Massacres of civilians from both Arabs and Jews

Jewish retaliation for Palestinian attacks on:

• Jewish settlements

• Jewish convoys to supply the Jewish population in Jerusalem

—

• Occurred in Arab territory, last West Jerusalem Arab village to have not fled the civil war

April 9th 1948 - Irgun fighters led by Menachem Begin

• Attacked the last village, killing 242 inhabitants

• Believed the village was Arab headquarters within Palestine

What actions did the UN take in regards to the responses by the Arabs and Jews to the UN partition of Palestine?

December 1947

• Created UNPC (UN Palestine Commission)

• Oversaw transition of power to provisional government

• Unable to enter Palestine successfully, Brits delayed it

May 1948 - Resolution 186

Count Folke Bernadotte became UN mediator in Palestine

• Suggested Negev given to Arabs and Galilee given to Jews, and a federation

• Suggestion rejected by both sides

June and October 1948 - ceasefire, UN Security Council intervenes

December 1948 - Resolution 194

• Refugees should be able to go back to their home, and to peace

May 1949 - De Facto recognition, Israel member state