ORIGINS OF THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT 1880s -1947
Syllabus Topics - Year 11
Zionism - its origins and aspirations
ZIONISM - ITS ORIGINS AND ASPIRATIONS
The term 'Zionism'
Zionism is the term used to describe the national movement of the Jewish people, expressed as a Jewish commitment to the restoration of the land of Israel.
The term 'Zion' is derived from Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which traditionally symbolises both the city and the land. Psalm 137, for example, is a poem written after the destruction of the First Jewish Temple there in 586 BCE and the Jewish exile to Babylon which followed:
“By the waters of Babylon,
There we sat, there we wept,
When we remembered Zion...
If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem,
May my right hand forget its skill.”
In the nineteenth century the word 'Zionism' was adopted as the term to describe the national movement of the Jewish people, expressed as a Jewish commitment to the restoration of the land of Israel. The concluding words of Israel's national anthem, "Hatikva" (The Hope) summarises the aim of Zionism as follows:
"The hope of 2000 years:
To live as a free people
In our own land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
Zionism has always been an ancient/modern movement, with its roots in the Jewish people's historical longing to return to their spiritual home, the land of their ancestors; and its modern impetus arising from the nationalist movement of the 19th Century.
Historical background
Roman 'Judea Capta' coins
The Romans marked their conquest of the Holy Land in 66 BCE by minting special coins bearing the words 'Judea Capta' (Judea is Captive). There followed two centuries of resistance by the Jewish inhabitants and devastation, including the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70CE.
From that time on, prayers offered every day for the restoration of Jerusalem and the ingathering of the exiles became a central feature of Jewish life. This yearning was intensified by the cycle of persecution suffered almost every generation by a people living as strangers and outsiders in the mono-cultural societies of Christian Europe.
After the final defeat and expulsion of the Jews in 135 CE, the Romans renamed the land 'Syria Palestina' ('Philistine Syria' - in English 'Palestine'). This land was ruled successively by the Romans, Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders and Egyptians and, from 1517 to 1917, by the Ottoman Turks. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, a country which in Roman times had supported some three million people had been reduced to an impoverished population of less than half a million.
The term 'Zion' is derived from Mount Zion in Jerusalem, which traditionally symbolises both the city and the land. Psalm 137, for example, is a poem written after the destruction of the First Jewish Temple there in 586 BCE and the Jewish exile to Babylon which followed:
“By the waters of Babylon,
There we sat, there we wept,
When we remembered Zion...
If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem,
May my right hand forget its skill.”
In the nineteenth century the word 'Zionism' was adopted as the term to describe the national movement of the Jewish people, expressed as a Jewish commitment to the restoration of the land of Israel. The concluding words of Israel's national anthem, "Hatikva" (The Hope) summarises the aim of Zionism as follows:
"The hope of 2000 years:
To live as a free people
In our own land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.”
Zionism has always been an ancient/modern movement, with its roots in the Jewish people's historical longing to return to their spiritual home, the land of their ancestors; and its modern impetus arising from the nationalist movement of the 19th Century.
Historical background
The origins of modern Zionism
The 19th Century began as the era of democratic revolution, of "liberty, equality, fraternity". It ended as the age of rampant nationalism, of Pan Germanism, Pan Slavism, and the Italian Risorgimento.
The Jews of Europe were als caught up in the political whirlwind of 19th century nationalism. Liberalism implied and even explicitly promised the emancipation of the Jews from the legal, physical and psychological ghetto that had been their European experience until that time. On the other hand a national concept based on race both specifically excluded the Jews from the national destiny, and provided a stimulus for a secular Jewish national consciousness.
Rome and Jerusalem (1862) by Moses Hess, a former associate of Karl Marx, and Seeking Zion, written in the same year by Hirsch Kalischer, an Orthodox rabbi, both recognised the essential incompleteness of emancipation and responded with a call for a Jewish national movement dedicated to the rebuilding of the ancient homeland. The same call coming from two such different men represented the melding of ancient religious Zionism and modern political Zionism.
The events of 1881-2
Tsar Alexander III
By the 1800s more than five million Jews were living in Russia, the vast majority in conditions of desperate poverty. No liberal revolution had taken place in that country, although Tsarist autocracy was modified by liberal ideas in the reign of Alexander II (1855-1881). In 1861 the serfs of Russia were emancipated, and during the same period the Jews enjoyed an incomplete emancipation under which discriminatory laws were generally not enforced.
Then in 1881, Alexander II was assassinated. His successor, Alexander III, took pride in describing himself as an autocrat. He promulgated the 'May Laws', which placed severe restrictions on the areas where Jews were permitted to reside. Jewish boys were again conscripted into the army at the age of 12 for a period of 25 years. Pogroms (riots and murderous attacks on Jewish areas and villages) took place throughout Russia with the implied support of the authorities.
Jews fleeing the Russian pogroms
One response to the new conditions was Jewish emigration to America. Between 1882 and 1914 some two and a quarter million Jews left for the United States. Another response was Zionism. Leo Pinsker, a physician who had previously been one of the leading advocates of cultural assimilation, expressed the new feelings forcibly in his pamphlet "Autoemancipation" (1882) in which he diagnosed "Judeophobia" as an incurable disease in European society. The pamphlet reflected the new determination that only with the restoration of a Jewish homeland would the eternal cycle of degradation and persecution ever come to an end.
Members of the Hovevei Zion group of Vilnius
Associations for Jewish emigration to Palestine known as 'Hovevei Zion' ('Lovers of Zion') were founded in a number of Russian cities. One group of students from Kharkhov, calling themselves the 'BILU' (an acronym for the Hebrew "House of Jacob, let us arise and go") immediately left to set up a collective settlement in Palestine.
Thousands of other young Jews followed, establishing settlements in what was then a desolate corner of the Turkish empire, consisting very largely of malarial swamp, desert and rocky hills, and often relying on the support of Jewish philanthropists for their survival. In 1884 a conference of the Hovevei Zion was held at Katowitz, in German Poland, and Leo Pinsker was elected as its first president. The organisation was not effective politically, however, and made very little impact outside Russia.
The first Zionist Congress
Viennese journalist and leading Zionist Theodore Herzl
In 1896 Theodore Herzl, a journalist for a Viennese newspaper, was in Paris, covering what 'The Dreyfus Affair'. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French Army, had been convicted of treason on the basis of forged documents, and was not released even after government officials became aware that the documents were forged. The scandal which followed reflected and further fueled an outbreak of fierce antisemitism.
Herzl, who had witnessed the growth of a new racial antisemitism in Germany and Austria, was shocked at this manifestation in France, the centre of liberalism and democracy. His conclusion was that the effective emancipation of the Jews of Europe was impossible and that Jewish dignity could be protected only with the restoration of a Jewish Commonwealth.
He published a pamphlet, “Der Judenstaat” (“The Jewish State”), in which he called for a legally recognised state, established by negotiation with the great powers, in a land restored by Jewish labour and the application of modern techniques. "If you will it," he said, "it is no dream", and forecast the establishment of a Jewish state within 50 years.
Metal sculpture of Theodore Herzl atop a water tank in the modern Israeli town named after him, Herzliya. the Hebrew writing on the tank says "If you will it, it is no dream."
The pamphlet generated a powerful response throughout the Jewish world, and on 29 August 1897 Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress at Basel in Switzerland. The Congress took the form of a Jewish parliament, comprising 204 representatives of Jewish communities from around the world. The Congress created the World Zionist Organisation, and adopted as its program:
“Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law.”
In 1900 the Jewish National Fund was established, and its blue coin boxes appeared in every Jewish home for the purpose of raising money to buy and thereby legally acquire land in Turkish Palestine. Herzl was a charismatic figure, able to attract and move the Jewish masses, and he had a flair for public action on a grand scale which gave international standing to the Zionist movement. He was able to confer with British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain and with Russian Interior Minister Von Plehve; to meet publicly in Jerusalem with Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and to have continuing discussion with Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey.
Herzl’s search for an internationally-endorsed legal Charter for Zionism was ultimately unsuccessful, and he was unable to open the gates of Palestine for large-scale settlement. However, he did succeed in creating a political identity for the movement, so that it became an international address for governments coping with Jewish dislocation.
After the Russian pogroms of 1903, culminating in the Kishinev massacre, the British Government faced a surge in Jewish immigration, and approached the Zionist movement with a proposal for a Jewish place of refuge in El Arish, a tiny enclave on the northern coast of Sinai. This was followed by a more developed proposal for Jewish settlement in Uganda. The Zionist movement was deeply split, but in 1903, faced with the desperation of Russian Jewry, voted by a majority to send an investigatory commission to East Africa. In 1904 Herzl died at the age of 44.
Zionist ideologies
Early socialist Zionists: "Lovers of Zion"
From the beginning the Zionist dream always had a utopian element. The great hope of restoring the land of Israel and ingathering the exiles was not enough by itself. The socialists who dreamed of an ideal and just society, the "revisionists" who sought a revival of Jewish dignity through courage and self reliance, and the religious who demanded a State bound by biblical precepts, all had their distinctive visions. These varied visions still form the basis of the complex pattern of Israeli politics today.
Typical of the early years was the Tolstoyan vision of A.D. Gordon, who preached the dignity of physical labour for the redemption both of the land and the Jewish people. Other ideologists contributed their differing visions of a utopian socialist State. Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the charismatic Revisionist leader, wrote of the necessity for military self defence and arranged for Jewish participation in the allied forces during the First World War. Rabbi Avraham Kook, one of the architects of modern religious Zionism, took issue with those who refused to take active steps to restore the land before a messianic divine intervention. Eliezer Ben Yehuda developed Hebrew from the language of prayer and study into a language of daily speech and action capable of uniting a diverse people in a modern State.
However the dominant ideology among the early settlers was socialist. Various kinds of socialist enterprises were established, such as the kibbutz (communal settlement), the moshav (farmers co-operative) and the Histadrut (the trade union movement). Meanwhile, in the Diaspora, the Zionist movement established branches in countries with Jewish communities and raised funds for the purchase and development of land. World Zionist congresses were democratically elected, and consisted of parties representing the different ideologies of the movement.
The Balfour Declaration and the Mandate
Sir Arthur Balfour (l) and the Balfour Declaration (r) 
World War I created a dramatically new situation. The World Zionist Organisation was based in Germany and Turkey, the ruler of Palestine, was Germany’s ally. The British Zionist Federation under the chairmanship of Chaim Weizmann now became the centre of Zionist activity. By 1917, when it became clear that Turkish Palestine would come under British control, Weizmann was able to present the Zionist case to the British Government. With the historic Balfour Declaration, and the subsequent mandate, came the charter for a Jewish homeland envisaged by Herzl. (This was somewhat ironic, as Weizmann had always been sceptical of Herzl’s vision of a charter from the great powers, and regarded actual settlement and development - “another cow in Gedera” - as the Zionist priority.)
The Mandate had provided for an "appropriate Jewish Agency" to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national home, and in 1922 the British Government recognized the Zionist Organisation as that agency.
The Zionist movement now had the aims of developing the economy of Palestine, facilitating immigration, and conducting relations with the British Government. Their task was immensely difficult. Under an unsympathetic administration, land was purchased and Jewish immigrants worked to restore its fertility. Collective settlements were established, desert areas were developed, trees planted and malarial swampland drained. Infrastructure, including the electricity company created by Pinchas Rutenberg, came into existence, industries were established and the city of Tel Aviv, founded in 1908, started to grow from the sand dunes. As a result of the attraction of this economic development, the Arab population of the region doubled between 1917 and 1946.
At the same time, Arab riots in opposition to Jewish settlement led to Royal Commissions and subsequent White Papers in 1922, 1930 and 1939 which drastically limited Jewish immigration and settlement. Meanwhile the situation of the Jews in Europe became increasingly desperate with the threat of the approaching holocaust.
The Zionist movement continued to grow in Jewish communities throughout the world. The Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand was formed at a conference in Melbourne in 1927, under the presidency of Sir John Monash, the former General Officer Commanding the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Europe during the First World War.
Major General Sir John Monash, first president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand
By the 1930s the Zionist movement was split between those who supported Weizmann's policy of continued co-operation with the British and those who joined Jabotinsky in advocating opposition to the Mandate and the establishment of a Jewish State. In 1942 the Zionist movement adopted the "Biltmore Program" at a conference at that city in the U.S., proclaiming "the establishment of Palestine as Jewish Commonwealth" as the Zionist aim.
Leading Nazi Adolf Eichmann's cynical offer of a million Jewish lives for 10,000 trucks was conveyed to the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, by the Zionist leaders Weizmann and Sharett, as was the Jewish Agency's call for the bombing of Auschwitz. Both requests were refused. During the war Zionists in Europe struggled to save Jewish lives - one example was the evacuation of children in a sealed train. The trickle of 'illegal' Jewish immigration to Palestine continued, sometimes with tragic consequences as ships were refused permission to land anywhere at all. One example was the “Struma”, refused permission to refuel or take provisions in Turkey and eventually scuttled at sea with the loss of all the passengers’ lives.
By the end of the war it became clear that the Nazi atrocities had resulted in the death of six out of every seven of the Jews of Europe. After the war, when hundreds of thousands of survivors still remained stranded in the DP (Displaced Persons) camps of Europe, the Zionist movement joined in the struggle against the British to open the doors of Palestine. Illegal immigrants in their small ships struggled to land, and intense resistance broke out in Palestine.
Illegal Jewish immigrants crowded onto ships bound for Palestine
Britain referred the issue to the United Nations, the Zionist movement engaged in the intensive representations which led to the Partition Resolution of 1947, and eventually, on 15th May 1948, Israel became an independent state. With the establishment of the State of Israel, the primary aim of the Zionist movement was fulfilled. The movement remains in place as a symbol of the commitment of Jews to the Jewish homeland. Elected Zionist congresses are still held in Israel and the world movement now engages in immigration, settlement and development projects in partnership with the government of Israel.
Sir Arthur Balfour (l) and the Balfour Declaration (r) 
World War I created a dramatically new situation. The World Zionist Organisation was based in Germany and Turkey, the ruler of Palestine, was Germany’s ally. The British Zionist Federation under the chairmanship of Chaim Weizmann now became the centre of Zionist activity. By 1917, when it became clear that Turkish Palestine would come under British control, Weizmann was able to present the Zionist case to the British Government. With the historic Balfour Declaration, and the subsequent mandate, came the charter for a Jewish homeland envisaged by Herzl. (This was somewhat ironic, as Weizmann had always been sceptical of Herzl’s vision of a charter from the great powers, and regarded actual settlement and development - “another cow in Gedera” - as the Zionist priority.)
The Mandate had provided for an "appropriate Jewish Agency" to assist in the establishment of the Jewish national home, and in 1922 the British Government recognized the Zionist Organisation as that agency.
The Zionist movement now had the aims of developing the economy of Palestine, facilitating immigration, and conducting relations with the British Government. Their task was immensely difficult. Under an unsympathetic administration, land was purchased and Jewish immigrants worked to restore its fertility. Collective settlements were established, desert areas were developed, trees planted and malarial swampland drained. Infrastructure, including the electricity company created by Pinchas Rutenberg, came into existence, industries were established and the city of Tel Aviv, founded in 1908, started to grow from the sand dunes. As a result of the attraction of this economic development, the Arab population of the region doubled between 1917 and 1946.
At the same time, Arab riots in opposition to Jewish settlement led to Royal Commissions and subsequent White Papers in 1922, 1930 and 1939 which drastically limited Jewish immigration and settlement. Meanwhile the situation of the Jews in Europe became increasingly desperate with the threat of the approaching holocaust.
The Zionist movement continued to grow in Jewish communities throughout the world. The Zionist Federation of Australia and New Zealand was formed at a conference in Melbourne in 1927, under the presidency of Sir John Monash, the former General Officer Commanding the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in Europe during the First World War.
Major General Sir John Monash, first president of the Zionist Federation of Australia and New ZealandBy the 1930s the Zionist movement was split between those who supported Weizmann's policy of continued co-operation with the British and those who joined Jabotinsky in advocating opposition to the Mandate and the establishment of a Jewish State. In 1942 the Zionist movement adopted the "Biltmore Program" at a conference at that city in the U.S., proclaiming "the establishment of Palestine as Jewish Commonwealth" as the Zionist aim.
Leading Nazi Adolf Eichmann's cynical offer of a million Jewish lives for 10,000 trucks was conveyed to the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, by the Zionist leaders Weizmann and Sharett, as was the Jewish Agency's call for the bombing of Auschwitz. Both requests were refused. During the war Zionists in Europe struggled to save Jewish lives - one example was the evacuation of children in a sealed train. The trickle of 'illegal' Jewish immigration to Palestine continued, sometimes with tragic consequences as ships were refused permission to land anywhere at all. One example was the “Struma”, refused permission to refuel or take provisions in Turkey and eventually scuttled at sea with the loss of all the passengers’ lives.
By the end of the war it became clear that the Nazi atrocities had resulted in the death of six out of every seven of the Jews of Europe. After the war, when hundreds of thousands of survivors still remained stranded in the DP (Displaced Persons) camps of Europe, the Zionist movement joined in the struggle against the British to open the doors of Palestine. Illegal immigrants in their small ships struggled to land, and intense resistance broke out in Palestine.
Illegal Jewish immigrants crowded onto ships bound for Palestine 
Britain referred the issue to the United Nations, the Zionist movement engaged in the intensive representations which led to the Partition Resolution of 1947, and eventually, on 15th May 1948, Israel became an independent state. With the establishment of the State of Israel, the primary aim of the Zionist movement was fulfilled. The movement remains in place as a symbol of the commitment of Jews to the Jewish homeland. Elected Zionist congresses are still held in Israel and the world movement now engages in immigration, settlement and development projects in partnership with the government of Israel.
Relevant Quotations
Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1863)
“The further we went the hotter the sun got and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became. There could not have been more fragments of stone strewn broadcast over this part of the world if every ten square feet of the land had been occupied by a separate and distinct stone-cutter's establishment. There was hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country
... Nazareth is forlorn; about that ford of Jordan where the hosts of Israel entered the Promised Land with songs of rejoicing, one finds only a squalid camp of fantastic Bedouins of the desert ... Renowned Jerusalem itself, the stateliest name in history, has lost all its ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper village ... Palestine is desolate and unlovely ... It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land.”
Moses Hess, Rome and Jerusalem (1862)
“We shall always remain strangers among the nations. They may even be moved by a sense of humanity and justice to emancipate us ... but despite enlightenment and education, the Jew in exile who denies his nationality will never earn the respect of the nations among whom he dwells.”
Leo Pinsker, Autoemancipation (1881)
“Judeophobia is a psychic aberration. As a psychic aberration it is hereditary, and as a disease transmitted for two thousand years, it is incurable...
The Jewish people have no fatherland of their own, though many motherlands; they have no rallying point, no centre of gravity, no government of their own, no accredited representatives. They are everywhere as guests and nowhere at home. The nations never have to deal with a Jewish nation but always with mere Jews...
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...
We must have a home if not a country of our own.”
Theodore Herzl, Der Judenstaat (1896)
“What glory awaits those who fight unselfishly for the Cause! Therefore I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again. Let me repeat once more my opening words. The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there to accomplish for our own welfare will react powerfully and beneficially for the good of humanity.”
A.D. Gordon, Writings (1920)
“In Palestine we must do with our own hands all that makes up the sum total of life. We must ourselves do all the work from the least strenuous, cleanest and most sophisticated, to the dirtiest and most difficult. In our way, we must feel what a worker feels, think what a worker thinks - then, and only then, shall we have a culture of our own, for then we shall have a life of our own.”
© Ian Lacey (This article originally appeared in Teaching History, the journal of the NSW History Teachers' Association.)
Click here for the Jewish Agency's detailed "Concepts of Zionism" history and information.
Conflicting Arab and Jewish responses to the Balfour Declaration
CONFLICTING ARAB AND JEWISH RESPONSES TO THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
On 2nd November 1917, one month before British troops under General Allenby entered Jerusalem, the British Government made the following declaration in a letter from Lord Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, President of the British Zionist Federation:
Lord Balfour
Foreign Office
November 2nd, 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.
"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour
A leading figure in seeking the Declaration was Chaim Weizmann, a Jewish research chemist from Russia who had represented the British Zionist Federation in the negotiations. As chief scientist working for the British Admiralty, Weizmann had invented a process for synthesizing acetone, an essential component in the production of cordite for munitions. As a result he had the opportunity to personally convey the intensity and urgency of Jewish feeling on the issue to Prime Minister Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, both of whom were men with a knowledge of the Biblical history, and essentially in sympathy with the Zionist cause.
Most importantly, the British government saw the Balfour Declaration as providing a legitimate basis for a British protectorate over Palestine after the War. However they also sought support for the Allies among the five million Jews of Russia after the Social Democratic February revolution of 1917; as well as the Jews of the United States.
(As it happened, the Bolshevik revolution of 7 November 1917 came five days after the Balfour Declaration, and Soviet Russia unilaterally ceased hostilities against Germany almost immediately.)
The Initial Arab Response
In December 1918 Weizmann met the Emir Faisal, the leader of the Arab forces in the war and the son of Hussein, the Sherif of Mecca, at Ma'an in southern Transjordan. Weizmann and Faisal reached an agreement. The document written in January 1919 contained the following preamble:
“mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations, is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous further of confirming the good understanding which exists between them, have agreed upon the following articles:”
The agreement contemplated the drawing of new national boundaries between Palestine and “the Arab State” which would be negotiated as part of the post-war settlement. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 Faisal conveyed the spirit of the agreement in a letter which he sent to United States Justice Frankfurter, leader of the American Zionist delegation: “The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both...We shall welcome the Jews back home.”
Nevertheless, in March 1920, a Syrian congress held in Damascus rejected the Balfour Declaration and elected Faisal King of a united Syria which was to include Palestine. The French then deposed Faisal in July 1920, and he later became King of Iraq under a British mandate.
Lord BalfourForeign Office
November 2nd, 1917
A leading figure in seeking the Declaration was Chaim Weizmann, a Jewish research chemist from Russia who had represented the British Zionist Federation in the negotiations. As chief scientist working for the British Admiralty, Weizmann had invented a process for synthesizing acetone, an essential component in the production of cordite for munitions. As a result he had the opportunity to personally convey the intensity and urgency of Jewish feeling on the issue to Prime Minister Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, both of whom were men with a knowledge of the Biblical history, and essentially in sympathy with the Zionist cause.
Most importantly, the British government saw the Balfour Declaration as providing a legitimate basis for a British protectorate over Palestine after the War. However they also sought support for the Allies among the five million Jews of Russia after the Social Democratic February revolution of 1917; as well as the Jews of the United States.
(As it happened, the Bolshevik revolution of 7 November 1917 came five days after the Balfour Declaration, and Soviet Russia unilaterally ceased hostilities against Germany almost immediately.)
The Initial Arab Response
“mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realising that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations, is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous further of confirming the good understanding which exists between them, have agreed upon the following articles:”
1920 The Treaty of San Remo and the Palestine Mandate
At the allied conference at San Remo, in April 1920, at which the Allied Powers determined the fate of the former Turkish possessions, the Balfour Declaration was approved, and it was agreed that a mandate to Britain should be formally given by the League of Nations over the area which now comprises Israel, Jordan and the Golan Heights, which was to be called the "Mandate of Palestine". The Balfour Declaration was to apply to the whole of the mandated territory. The Treaty also contemplated an “appropriate Jewish agency” to represent the Jewish population and this was established as the elected Jewish authority in Palestine under the title of “the Jewish Agency”.
Britain and the Hashemite dynasty
Meanwhile, the Hashemite dynasty of Hussein of Mecca faced difficulties in Arabia. Between 1919 and 1925 King Ibn Sa'ud recovered his ancient family kingdom in Riyadh in central Arabia, defeated the Hashemites and annexed their kingdom of the Hejaz on the Western coast. The newly created Kingdom of Sa’udi Arabia opened its doors to the American oil companies and developed a close relationship with the United States.
Unable to fulfil their commitments to the Hashemites on the Arabian Peninsula, the British decided to divide the area of the Palestine Mandate in 1922 by establishing a Hashemite Emirate of Transjordan on the eastern bank of the Jordan under the Emir Abdullah, a son of the Sherif Hussain of Mecca. At the same time his brother Faisal was to become King of Iraq under another British Mandate
The treaty of San Remo which was ratified by the League of Nations in July 1922 was therefore amended in September 1922. The British Mandate still extended over the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River, but a clause was added excluding Transjordan from the operation of the Balfour Declaration, which was therefore now limited to the western side of the river. The British then installed the Emir Abdullah as ruler of Transjordan under British tutelage.1 In 1946 Transjordan gained its independence as "The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan"
In 1923 the Golan Heights was ceded by Britain from Palestine to the French Mandate of Syria, in exchange for an adjacent region on what was to become the Lebanese border.
The British Mandate 1922 - 1948
Great Britain's Division of the Mandated Area,
1921 - 1923Notes:
This is the territory held by Britain under the Mandate agreed upon in the Treaty of San Remo in 1920 and formally granted by the League of Nations in 1922. The Mandate incorporated the provisions of the Balfour Declaration, “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
In 1922 Trans-Jordan was separated from the Jewish national home. In 1946, the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan gained its independence, and Israel became independent in 1948.
The Golan was ceded to the French Mandate of Syria in 1923 in exchange for a smaller adjacent area on the Lebanese border.
Unable to fulfil their commitments to the Hashemites on the Arabian Peninsula, the British decided to divide the area of the Palestine Mandate in 1922 by establishing a Hashemite Emirate of Transjordan on the eastern bank of the Jordan under the Emir Abdullah, a son of the Sherif Hussain of Mecca. At the same time his brother Faisal was to become King of Iraq under another British Mandate
The treaty of San Remo which was ratified by the League of Nations in July 1922 was therefore amended in September 1922. The British Mandate still extended over the whole of Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River, but a clause was added excluding Transjordan from the operation of the Balfour Declaration, which was therefore now limited to the western side of the river. The British then installed the Emir Abdullah as ruler of Transjordan under British tutelage.1 In 1946 Transjordan gained its independence as "The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan"
In 1923 the Golan Heights was ceded by Britain from Palestine to the French Mandate of Syria, in exchange for an adjacent region on what was to become the Lebanese border.
The British Mandate 1922 - 1948
Great Britain's Division of the Mandated Area,
1921 - 1923Notes:
This is the territory held by Britain under the Mandate agreed upon in the Treaty of San Remo in 1920 and formally granted by the League of Nations in 1922. The Mandate incorporated the provisions of the Balfour Declaration, “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
In 1922 Trans-Jordan was separated from the Jewish national home. In 1946, the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan gained its independence, and Israel became independent in 1948.
The Golan was ceded to the French Mandate of Syria in 1923 in exchange for a smaller adjacent area on the Lebanese border.
The Jewish Response to the Balfour Declaration – Immigration to Palestine
Between 1919 and 1923, some 40,000 Jews, mainly from Eastern Europe, arrived in Palestine. Many had been trained in agriculture in the European Zionist movements and established settlements of the type pioneered by the early arrivals, and on land purchased with funds raised by Jewish communities throughout the world.2 The dominant ideology was socialist, and this found expression in the development of unique social and economic enterprises, such as the Kibbutzim3, the Moshavim4 and the Histadrut.5 During this period malarial swamps were drained and converted to agricultural use, and national institutions such as an elected Jewish assembly and the Haganah voluntry defence force were established.
Between 1924 and 1929, 82,000 Jews arrived, mainly as a result of anti-semitic outbreaks in Poland and Hungary, and at a time when the immigration quotas of the United States kept Jews out. This group contained many middle class families who moved to the growing towns, establishing small businesses and light industry. Of these approximately 23,000 left the country to escape the harsh economic conditions.
Between 1929 and 1939, with the rise of Nazism in Germany, a new wave of some 250,000 immigrants arrived. Of these about 174,000 arrived between 1933 and 1936, after which the British imposed increasing restrictions on Jewish immigration. Many of those who fled from Germany as Nazi racial laws were introduced, were qualified professionals. Refugee architects introduced the “modern” style which characterised Tel Aviv as it rose from the sand dunes, and refugee musicians founded the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. The port at Haifa and its oil refineries were completed and new industrial development transformed the economy.
The Jewish population in Palestine thus increased from about 85,000 in 1919 to 678,000 by 1946. uring the same period, the development of the country attracted substantial Arab immigration, and the Arab population doubled from about 600,000 to 1,269,000.
1920 -1939 The Arab Response to Jewish Immigration
In April 1920, during the British Military Occupation which preceded the Mandate, the Arabs of Palestine rioted in protest against Jewish settlement. In Jerusalem the riots took the form of violent attacks on the Jewish population. In Galilee, armed groups attacked Jewish settlers.
On 1 May 1921 a Jewish Labour Day march was attacked and 47 Jews were killed.
In August 1929 a dispute at the Western Wall6 in Jerusalem flared into riots which spread throughout the country. The Jewish community in Hebron (the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) was wiped out. In all 133 Jews were killed and many hundreds were wounded.
In December 1931 a Muslim Conference in Jerusalem attended by 22 countries denounced Zionism, and in 1933 a boycott of British and Zionist goods was proclaimed.
In April 1936 the Arab political parties formed an Arab Higher Committee under the presidency of Haj Amin El Husseini, the Mufti [7] of Jerusalem and head of the influential Husseini clan. A general strike was proclaimed, which lasted for six months. Armed groups were again organised to attack Jewish settlements, and the violence developed into revolt against the British and a war against the Jews which became known as the "Great Uprising" of 1936-1939.
In 1937, when the British outlawed the Arab Higher Committee, the Mufti fled from Palestine to Nazi Germany where he established close relations with the government. Here he endorsed and offered assistance in Hitler's "final solution" of the Jewish problem.
Between 1924 and 1929, 82,000 Jews arrived, mainly as a result of anti-semitic outbreaks in Poland and Hungary, and at a time when the immigration quotas of the United States kept Jews out. This group contained many middle class families who moved to the growing towns, establishing small businesses and light industry. Of these approximately 23,000 left the country to escape the harsh economic conditions.
Between 1929 and 1939, with the rise of Nazism in Germany, a new wave of some 250,000 immigrants arrived. Of these about 174,000 arrived between 1933 and 1936, after which the British imposed increasing restrictions on Jewish immigration. Many of those who fled from Germany as Nazi racial laws were introduced, were qualified professionals. Refugee architects introduced the “modern” style which characterised Tel Aviv as it rose from the sand dunes, and refugee musicians founded the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. The port at Haifa and its oil refineries were completed and new industrial development transformed the economy.
The Jewish population in Palestine thus increased from about 85,000 in 1919 to 678,000 by 1946. uring the same period, the development of the country attracted substantial Arab immigration, and the Arab population doubled from about 600,000 to 1,269,000.
1920 -1939 The Arab Response to Jewish Immigration
On 1 May 1921 a Jewish Labour Day march was attacked and 47 Jews were killed.
In August 1929 a dispute at the Western Wall6 in Jerusalem flared into riots which spread throughout the country. The Jewish community in Hebron (the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) was wiped out. In all 133 Jews were killed and many hundreds were wounded.
In December 1931 a Muslim Conference in Jerusalem attended by 22 countries denounced Zionism, and in 1933 a boycott of British and Zionist goods was proclaimed.
In April 1936 the Arab political parties formed an Arab Higher Committee under the presidency of Haj Amin El Husseini, the Mufti [7] of Jerusalem and head of the influential Husseini clan. A general strike was proclaimed, which lasted for six months. Armed groups were again organised to attack Jewish settlements, and the violence developed into revolt against the British and a war against the Jews which became known as the "Great Uprising" of 1936-1939.
In 1937, when the British outlawed the Arab Higher Committee, the Mufti fled from Palestine to Nazi Germany where he established close relations with the government. Here he endorsed and offered assistance in Hitler's "final solution" of the Jewish problem.
(See The Mufti in Berlin for the official record of a conversation with Adolf Hitler).
1920-1939 The British reaction
The emergence of the economic centrality of oil in the 1920’s, and the discovery of vast oil fields in the Persian Gulf area, added a further crucial dimension to the strategic significance of the Middle East as a whole. From now on, the maintenance of an economic and military presence in the area became even more essential to British policy. This required both friendly relations with the Arab world and the maintenance of strategic bases in the Middle East.
In Palestine this strategic necessity was translated by the Mandatory administration into a need to find a balance between maintaining good relations with the Arab world and at the same time continuing the Mandate on the basis of the Balfour Declaration.
The British therefore responded to the Arab riots of 1921, 1929 and 1936-8 by instituting commissions of inquiry, holding Royal Commissions and issuing policy statements in the form of “White Papers”, which gradually and progressively closed the gates of Palestine to Jewish immigration and settlement. The 1922 Churchill White Paper limited immigration to the “economic absorptive capacity of the country”. The 1930 policy statement restricted the transfer of land to Jews.
In 1937 the Royal Commission presided over by Lord Peel came to the conclusion that the Mandate was unworkable, and proposed a partition plan. The plan proposed that the cities of Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Jerusalem and the corridor between them (including the Arab towns of Lod and Ramle) should remain under British control, that the remaining area should be divided between Arab and Jewish states, and that Jewish immigration should be strictly limited. The Jewish reaction to the plan was ambivalent. The Arabs were strongly opposed and stepped up their revolt.
The British therefore responded to the Arab riots of 1921, 1929 and 1936-8 by instituting commissions of inquiry, holding Royal Commissions and issuing policy statements in the form of “White Papers”, which gradually and progressively closed the gates of Palestine to Jewish immigration and settlement. The 1922 Churchill White Paper limited immigration to the “economic absorptive capacity of the country”. The 1930 policy statement restricted the transfer of land to Jews.
In 1937 the Royal Commission presided over by Lord Peel came to the conclusion that the Mandate was unworkable, and proposed a partition plan. The plan proposed that the cities of Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Jerusalem and the corridor between them (including the Arab towns of Lod and Ramle) should remain under British control, that the remaining area should be divided between Arab and Jewish states, and that Jewish immigration should be strictly limited. The Jewish reaction to the plan was ambivalent. The Arabs were strongly opposed and stepped up their revolt.
Peel Commission Partition Plan 1937
Martin Gilbert, from The Arab-Israel Conflict - Its History in Maps
FOOTNOTES
[1] The background negotiation was very complicated. The Hashemites claimed Syria (including Palestine and Lebanon) and Iraq as independent Arab Kingdoms. The allies had agreed that Britain would take mandates over Palestine and Iraq, and that France would have a mandate over Syria. Matters were resolved at meeting between Abdullah and the British in March 1921 in Cairo, at which it was agreed that Faisal would rule Iraq, and Abdullah would take Transjordan, both under British tutelage, and that Abdullah would receive a regular “subsidy”.
[2]. In 1900 the World Zionist Organisation had created the Jewish National Fund which raised money for the purchase and development of land, mainly from blue coin boxes found in most Jewish homes.
[3]. Plural of Kibbutz. Communal agricultural settlements based on pure socialist principles ("to each according to need; from each according to capacity”)
[4] Plural of Moshav. Co-operative villages with varying degrees of communal ownership.
[5] The trade union movement, both protecting workers and actively engaged in large-scale industrial enterprise, for which capital could not otherwise be raised.
[6] The only remnant of the destroyed Jewish Temple.
[7] The official Muslim religious leader, as approved by the Mandatory authority.
The nature of Arab and Jewish Responses to the question of a Jewish homeland post-World War II
THE NATURE OF ARAB AND JEWISH RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION OF A JEWISH HOMELAND POST-WW2
(See also World War II and the Nazi Holocaust)
1938 The Evian Conference
By 1938 the position of the Jews in Europe was desperate. The Nuremberg racial laws had been enacted in 1935, and concentration camps were in operation. Germany would let the Jews leave, but no country would grant sufficient entry visas, and they remained trapped. At the Conference on Refugees held by the International Red Cross at the resort town of Evian in France, the participants refused to make any substantial increase in their strict immigration quotas.1
By 1938 the position of the Jews in Europe was desperate. The Nuremberg racial laws had been enacted in 1935, and concentration camps were in operation. Germany would let the Jews leave, but no country would grant sufficient entry visas, and they remained trapped. At the Conference on Refugees held by the International Red Cross at the resort town of Evian in France, the participants refused to make any substantial increase in their strict immigration quotas.1
1939 The London Conference and the White Paper
In January 1939 a conference between the British Government and Jewish and Arab representatives took place in London. The Arabs demanded an immediate end to Jewish immigration and land acquisition. The Jews of Germany sent a message stating that their situation was one of life or death, that it was inconceivable that Britain should sacrifice them.
The outcome of the conference was the 1939 White Paper. This provided for strict limitations on Jewish land ownership, that during the next five years no more than 75,000 immigrants would be permitted, and that after that period no further Jewish immigration should be allowed unless the Arabs of Palestine were 'prepared to acquiesce in it'.
The Arabs rejected the White Paper on the ground that it continued to permit Jewish immigration and settlement. When the world war broke out, the Jews of Palestine adopted the slogan: “We shall fight the Germans as if there were no White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no Germans.”
The outcome of the conference was the 1939 White Paper. This provided for strict limitations on Jewish land ownership, that during the next five years no more than 75,000 immigrants would be permitted, and that after that period no further Jewish immigration should be allowed unless the Arabs of Palestine were 'prepared to acquiesce in it'.
The Arabs rejected the White Paper on the ground that it continued to permit Jewish immigration and settlement. When the world war broke out, the Jews of Palestine adopted the slogan: “We shall fight the Germans as if there were no White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there were no Germans.”
1939-1945 The Nazi Holocaust
Six million Jews were exterminated in Europe in conditions of calculated atrocity unique and unprecedented in world history. The world's conception of the nature of human civilization will never be the same. The perpetrators of the mass-produced sadism of the Holocaust were, after all, products of one of the most highly cultured and technically advanced societies ever known. For many Jews one lesson was clear: in times of severe crisis in any country, no outsider is safe. In the last resort the survival of any people with a separate identity depends on the existence of national territory and a capacity for self-defence.
During the war “illegal” refugees on unseaworthy chartered boats struggled to escape. Some were intercepted by the British and interned in Mauritius or returned to Europe. In a typical case in1941 the Struma, a small ship of 180 tons, docked at Constantinople for repairs with 769 refugees from Romania on board. The British refused permission to proceed to Palestine, the Turkish government ordered the ship to leave Turkey, and it sank almost immediately with the loss of all passengers.
The Muslim Grand Mufti in Berlin with Hitler, 1941
Record of the conversation between Adolf Hitler and
the Mufti of Jerusalem on November 28, 1941, in the
presence of Reich Foreign Minister Groppa, in Berlin.
Memorandum by an Official of the Foreign Minister's Secretariat
Füh. 57a. g Rs. BERLIN, November 30, 1941.
Record of the conversation between the Fuhrer and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on november 28, 1941. In the presence of reich foreign minister and minister Grobba in Berlin.
“The Mufti began by thanking the FÜHRER for the great honour he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuhrer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks for the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause...
In the struggle, the Arabs were striving for the independence and unity of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq. They had the fullest confidence in the Fuhrer and looked to his hand for the balm on their wounds which had been inflicted upon them by the enemies of Germany.
The Mufti then mentioned the letter he had received from Germany, which stated that Germany was holding no Arab territories and understood and recognized the aspirations to independence and freedom of the Arabs, just as she supported the elimination of the Jewish national home...
The Fuhrer then made the following statement to the Mufti, enjoining him to lock it in the uttermost depths of his heart:
1. He (the Fuhrer) would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire in Europe.
2. At some moment which was impossible to set exactly today but which in any event was not distant, the German armies would in the course of this struggle reach the southern exit from Caucasia.
3. As soon as this had happened, the Fuhrer would on his own give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany's objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would then be his task to set off the Arab operations which he had secretly prepared. When that time had come, Germany could also be indifferent to French reaction to such a declaration."
Source: Germany. Auswärtiges Amt. Title: Documents on German foreign policy, 1918-1945, from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry. Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik. English Publisher: Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949.
During the war “illegal” refugees on unseaworthy chartered boats struggled to escape. Some were intercepted by the British and interned in Mauritius or returned to Europe. In a typical case in1941 the Struma, a small ship of 180 tons, docked at Constantinople for repairs with 769 refugees from Romania on board. The British refused permission to proceed to Palestine, the Turkish government ordered the ship to leave Turkey, and it sank almost immediately with the loss of all passengers.
The Muslim Grand Mufti in Berlin with Hitler, 1941
Record of the conversation between Adolf Hitler and
the Mufti of Jerusalem on November 28, 1941, in the
presence of Reich Foreign Minister Groppa, in Berlin.
Memorandum by an Official of the Foreign Minister's Secretariat
Füh. 57a. g Rs. BERLIN, November 30, 1941.
Record of the conversation between the Fuhrer and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem on november 28, 1941. In the presence of reich foreign minister and minister Grobba in Berlin.
“The Mufti began by thanking the FÜHRER for the great honour he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuhrer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks for the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause...
In the struggle, the Arabs were striving for the independence and unity of Palestine, Syria, and Iraq. They had the fullest confidence in the Fuhrer and looked to his hand for the balm on their wounds which had been inflicted upon them by the enemies of Germany.
The Mufti then mentioned the letter he had received from Germany, which stated that Germany was holding no Arab territories and understood and recognized the aspirations to independence and freedom of the Arabs, just as she supported the elimination of the Jewish national home...
The Fuhrer then made the following statement to the Mufti, enjoining him to lock it in the uttermost depths of his heart:
1. He (the Fuhrer) would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire in Europe.
2. At some moment which was impossible to set exactly today but which in any event was not distant, the German armies would in the course of this struggle reach the southern exit from Caucasia.
3. As soon as this had happened, the Fuhrer would on his own give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany's objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would then be his task to set off the Arab operations which he had secretly prepared. When that time had come, Germany could also be indifferent to French reaction to such a declaration."
Source: Germany. Auswärtiges Amt. Title: Documents on German foreign policy, 1918-1945, from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry. Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik. English Publisher: Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949.
The Mufti then mentioned the letter he had received from Germany, which stated that Germany was holding no Arab territories and understood and recognized the aspirations to independence and freedom of the Arabs, just as she supported the elimination of the Jewish national home...
The Fuhrer then made the following statement to the Mufti, enjoining him to lock it in the uttermost depths of his heart:
1. He (the Fuhrer) would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire in Europe.
2. At some moment which was impossible to set exactly today but which in any event was not distant, the German armies would in the course of this struggle reach the southern exit from Caucasia.
3. As soon as this had happened, the Fuhrer would on his own give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany's objective would then be solely the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would then be his task to set off the Arab operations which he had secretly prepared. When that time had come, Germany could also be indifferent to French reaction to such a declaration."
Source: Germany. Auswärtiges Amt. Title: Documents on German foreign policy, 1918-1945, from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry. Akten zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik. English Publisher: Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949.
1945-1947 The Post-War Immigration Crisis and the Jewish Revolt
After the war, some 230,000 Jewish refugees and concentration camp survivors were held as Displaced Persons in camps in Europe. No country would allow unrestricted immigration and the surviving Jews demanded the right to migrate to Palestine.
Meanwhile Britain was anxious to protect its Middle East interests. Under Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary in the Labour Government, the White Paper policy of severe restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine was continued. “Illegal immigration” by desperate survivors increased in scale, and those who were unsuccessful in avoiding the British Navy were put into camps in Cyprus.
In 1946 a joint Anglo-American Committee was formed to investigate the emergency situation in Europe. The committee concluded that no country other than Palestine was ready or willing to help find homes for Jews wishing to leave Europe, but Palestine alone could not solve their emigration needs. It therefore recommended that 100,000 certificates for immigration to Palestine be issued immediately and that the US and British governments try to find new places for the Displaced Persons, in addition to Palestine. Future immigration to Palestine should be regulated by the Mandatory administration, and the land transfer regulations of 1940, which strictly limited the sale of land to Jews, should be annulled.
The Jewish Agency accepted the committee's recommendations; the Arabs rejected them, and US President Harry Truman regarded them favourably. British Prime Minister Clement Atlee eventually made any provision of 100,000 immigration certificates contingent on the acceptance by the Jewish Agency of the “Morrison Report” which proposed the division of Palestine into three sections, British, Arab and Jewish, with the Jewish section comprising 17% of the territory, and with strict limitations on future Jewish immigration.
Thousands of British troops were shipped to Palestine to meet the growing Jewish resistance. Various groups opposed the British. TheHaganah (“Defence”) – the underground military force of the Jewish Agency, had been formed for the purpose of defending the Jewish population against Arab attacks.2 The Irgun Z’vai Le’umi (“National Military Organisation”) was the military force of the nationalist “Revisionist” party3, and the smallest and most extreme was Lehi, described by the British as the “Stern Gang” after its leader.
After the effective British rejection of the proposals of the Anglo-American committee, the military groups agreed on a united Jewish resistance movement. In June 1946 strategic road and rail bridges were blown up by the Haganah, and the British responded with curfews and searches and some three thousand arrests. The discovery of arms was punished with flogging and the Irgun responded by flogging British soldiers. The Haganah decided to concentrate on “illegal” immigration, in order to avoid escalating the conflict, while the Irgun continued to strike British installations.
Matters came to a head with the bombing by the Irgun of the British Army Headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, resulting in British, Arab and Jewish casualties. The Irgun claimed that the building had not been evacuated despite clear telephone warnings before the event. The Jewish population was deeply shocked and the Haganah ended its co-operation with the Irgun.
Leaders of the Irgun and Lehi were arrested. Some were imprisoned, some deported and some hanged. In retaliation five British sergeants were kidnapped by the Irgun and hanged. The fundamental differences in policy between the Jewish Agency, which hoped to negotiate a compromise solution with the British, and the Irgun, which urged full-scale warfare, culminated in the Haganah actually sinking theAltalena, a ship bringing arms to the Irgun.
Meanwhile Britain was anxious to protect its Middle East interests. Under Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary in the Labour Government, the White Paper policy of severe restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine was continued. “Illegal immigration” by desperate survivors increased in scale, and those who were unsuccessful in avoiding the British Navy were put into camps in Cyprus.
In 1946 a joint Anglo-American Committee was formed to investigate the emergency situation in Europe. The committee concluded that no country other than Palestine was ready or willing to help find homes for Jews wishing to leave Europe, but Palestine alone could not solve their emigration needs. It therefore recommended that 100,000 certificates for immigration to Palestine be issued immediately and that the US and British governments try to find new places for the Displaced Persons, in addition to Palestine. Future immigration to Palestine should be regulated by the Mandatory administration, and the land transfer regulations of 1940, which strictly limited the sale of land to Jews, should be annulled.
The Jewish Agency accepted the committee's recommendations; the Arabs rejected them, and US President Harry Truman regarded them favourably. British Prime Minister Clement Atlee eventually made any provision of 100,000 immigration certificates contingent on the acceptance by the Jewish Agency of the “Morrison Report” which proposed the division of Palestine into three sections, British, Arab and Jewish, with the Jewish section comprising 17% of the territory, and with strict limitations on future Jewish immigration.
Thousands of British troops were shipped to Palestine to meet the growing Jewish resistance. Various groups opposed the British. TheHaganah (“Defence”) – the underground military force of the Jewish Agency, had been formed for the purpose of defending the Jewish population against Arab attacks.2 The Irgun Z’vai Le’umi (“National Military Organisation”) was the military force of the nationalist “Revisionist” party3, and the smallest and most extreme was Lehi, described by the British as the “Stern Gang” after its leader.
After the effective British rejection of the proposals of the Anglo-American committee, the military groups agreed on a united Jewish resistance movement. In June 1946 strategic road and rail bridges were blown up by the Haganah, and the British responded with curfews and searches and some three thousand arrests. The discovery of arms was punished with flogging and the Irgun responded by flogging British soldiers. The Haganah decided to concentrate on “illegal” immigration, in order to avoid escalating the conflict, while the Irgun continued to strike British installations.
Matters came to a head with the bombing by the Irgun of the British Army Headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, resulting in British, Arab and Jewish casualties. The Irgun claimed that the building had not been evacuated despite clear telephone warnings before the event. The Jewish population was deeply shocked and the Haganah ended its co-operation with the Irgun.
Leaders of the Irgun and Lehi were arrested. Some were imprisoned, some deported and some hanged. In retaliation five British sergeants were kidnapped by the Irgun and hanged. The fundamental differences in policy between the Jewish Agency, which hoped to negotiate a compromise solution with the British, and the Irgun, which urged full-scale warfare, culminated in the Haganah actually sinking theAltalena, a ship bringing arms to the Irgun.
Britain decides to end the Mandate
In January 1947, Britain decided to return the issue to the United Nations. On May 15, 1947, the UN resolved to establish UNSCOP, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, which eventually recommended partition.
[1] The Australian representative, Colonel T. White, expressed his government's view in these words:
"As we have no real racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one."
In the event, Australia did agree to the entry of 9,000 refugees over a period of three years, which at the time was regarded as a substantial number.
[2] "Defence"; the underground military organization of the Jewish Agency, which after independence became the regular army of the State of Israel.
[3] "Irgun Z'vai Le'umi"- "National Military Organisation", the military arm of the Revisionist party, now part of the Likud.
The UN Partition of Palestine
THE UN PARTITION OF PALESTINE
Britain eventually decided to hand the issue to the United Nations in January 1947. On May 15, 1947, the UN resolved to establish a special committee for Palestine. The committee, known as UNSCOP, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, comprised representatives of 11 countries that were not permanent members of the Security Council. It heard testimony in the US and in Palestine, and submitted its recommendations to the UN General Assembly on 1 September, 1947. UNSCOP proposed the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state in economic union (each state consisting of three segments). While the Jewish state comprised sixty percent of the total area, over half of that was the Negev Desert. The city of Jerusalem was to remain an enclave under international rule. (See map below.)
An Ad Hoc Committee of the UN, under the chairmanship of Dr. H.V. Evatt, Foreign Minister of Australia, now drafted a Partition Resolution. On 29th November 1947, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly, also chaired by Dr. Evatt, the resolution was passed by the necessary two-thirds majority by a vote of 33 to 13 with ten abstentions and one absentee. (See Partition Resolution for extracts and voting detail.) In effect there was now an international charter for the creation of a State of Israel.
It is notable that the partition resolution was strongly supported by the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc, as they opposed British interests in the Middle East. At the same time the US supported the resolution partly in order to relieve pressures for large scale immigration of the Jewish survivors to America.
An Ad Hoc Committee of the UN, under the chairmanship of Dr. H.V. Evatt, Foreign Minister of Australia, now drafted a Partition Resolution. On 29th November 1947, at a meeting of the UN General Assembly, also chaired by Dr. Evatt, the resolution was passed by the necessary two-thirds majority by a vote of 33 to 13 with ten abstentions and one absentee. (See Partition Resolution for extracts and voting detail.) In effect there was now an international charter for the creation of a State of Israel.
It is notable that the partition resolution was strongly supported by the Soviet Union and the Communist bloc, as they opposed British interests in the Middle East. At the same time the US supported the resolution partly in order to relieve pressures for large scale immigration of the Jewish survivors to America.
1947-1948 From the Partition Resolution to Independence
The Jews accepted the partition plan with celebration in the streets. The Arabs denounced the plan and refused to set up a provisional government for the proposed Arab state. Britain announced that it would not co-operate in the actual execution of the partition plan, and would withdraw its forces on 15th May 1948.
Arab hostilities began immediately in the form of a general strike, widespread rioting, and attacks on Jews throughout the country. Armed Arab forces appeared, the largest being the Arab Liberation Army led by Fauzi AI-Kaukji, a former Turkish officer, and supported by Syrian officers and irregular troops, which invaded from Lebanon.
By March 1948, with British forces still in Palestine, an all-out war for access to Jerusalem and control of Galilee was in progress. By mid-May the Jewish population had sustained some 2,500 dead, half of them civilians. Arab casualties are not readily available.
On 18 March 1948 the United States called on the Security Council to postpone the implementation of the Partition, and to set up a temporary UN Trusteeship. The British, certain that the Arabs would succeed in destroying the new State, gave assistance to Transjordan, and Major-General Glubb led the Transjordanian Arab Legion. Britain and the United States both denied arms to the provisional Government of Israel, which now looked to Czechoslovakia for supplies.
This period saw the beginnings of an exodus of Arabs away from areas of Jewish control. The numbers of those who left, and the circumstances in which they left, are matters of controversy. Estimates of the number of Arab refugees who left their homes during the conflict both before and after May 1948, range from about 419,000, based on population figures before and after the conflict, to 726,000, based on United Nations relief figures.
Arab writers accuse the Jewish forces of a concerted terror campaign. They give as an example the events on April 1948 at Deir Yassin, a village commanding the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, in which 250 civilians were killed by the Irgun forces. Menachem Begin, commander of the Irgun at the time, insisted that a full warning of the attack was given by loudspeakers, and that those civilians who remained were killed in the cross-fire in the fierce battle for the village.
Arab newspapers and radio gave extensive coverage of the attack, and this was an important element in precipitating the flight of Arabs away from the area. Shortly after, Arab forces attacked a medical convoy to Hadassah Hospital near Jerusalem, killing 77 doctors, nurses, teachers and students.
Israeli sources point to an intensive media effort by Israel to persuade the Arab population to remain and participate in the development in the State of Israel. They also refer to Arab calls for the inhabitants of the area to leave their homes and make way for an Arab invasion, which was expected to result in the annihilation of Israel.
(See British Police Memorandum and Arab Sources.)
Arab hostilities began immediately in the form of a general strike, widespread rioting, and attacks on Jews throughout the country. Armed Arab forces appeared, the largest being the Arab Liberation Army led by Fauzi AI-Kaukji, a former Turkish officer, and supported by Syrian officers and irregular troops, which invaded from Lebanon.
This period saw the beginnings of an exodus of Arabs away from areas of Jewish control. The numbers of those who left, and the circumstances in which they left, are matters of controversy. Estimates of the number of Arab refugees who left their homes during the conflict both before and after May 1948, range from about 419,000, based on population figures before and after the conflict, to 726,000, based on United Nations relief figures.
Arab newspapers and radio gave extensive coverage of the attack, and this was an important element in precipitating the flight of Arabs away from the area. Shortly after, Arab forces attacked a medical convoy to Hadassah Hospital near Jerusalem, killing 77 doctors, nurses, teachers and students.
(See British Police Memorandum and Arab Sources.)
1948 Israel's Independence
When the actual partition and the inevitable conflict approached, the US government had second thoughts, as the intensity of Arab opposition and the corresponding threat to US oil interests in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf became apparent. In the UN Security Council the US representative called on the Jewish provisional government to postpone its declaration of independence. The US call was rejected by two votes in Israel’s provisional cabinet, in the face of serious doubts by Israel as to the outcome of the expected war.
On 14th May 1948 the British flag was lowered and the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed. It included the following words:
“We appeal in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the up-building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions…
We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of co-operation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.”
(See Declaration of Independence for full text.)
Historical background, documents and maps
Timeline 1900 BCE - 1948 CE
On 14th May 1948 the British flag was lowered and the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel was proclaimed. It included the following words:
“We appeal in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the up-building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions…
We extend our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of co-operation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in common effort for the advancement of the entire Middle East.”
(See Declaration of Independence for full text.)
(See Declaration of Independence for full text.)
TIMELINE 1900 BCE - 1948 CE
View of Jerusalem, which King David established as the Jewish capital some 3,000 years ago
View of Jerusalem, which King David established as the Jewish capital some 3,000 years ago
c.1900 BCE
| The era of Abraham and the biblical patriarchs. Also Canaanite city states under Egyptian protection. c.1500 BCE Some Jews leave Canaan becuase of famine and move to Egypt. Within 100 years they are enslaved there. c.1300 BCE The Exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Jews return to the land of Israel. |
c.1000 BCE
| The Kingdoms of David and Solomon. See The Story of the Jewish People for a brief outline of the biblical period. |
586 BCE
| The Baylonians destroy the First Holy Jewish Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon and exiled the Jews to Babylon. many are permitted to return 30 years later. See The Story of the Jewish People for a brief outline of the biblical period. |
70 CE
| Roman destruction of the Second (rebuilt) Temple in Jerusalem ends Jewish sovereignty. This is the traditional date for the beginning of the Dispersion, although a substantial Jewish presence remains in the land. |
135
A Jewish revolt is defeated by the Romans. The Roman historian Cassius Dio records that 580,000 Jewish soldiers were killed and over 900 villages and towns destroyed. The Emperor Hadrian decrees that name 'Judea' should be replaced by the name 'Palestine' (literally 'Syria Palestina' - Syrian Palestine). The dispersion of the Jewish people as captives, slaves and refugees is accelerated. |
70-638
Syria Palestina is ruled by Rome, and later by Constantinople (Byzantium) as part of the Christian Greek-speaking Byzantine Eastern Roman Empire. |
622
| Mohammed’s 'migration' from Mecca to Medina (the Hijra) marks the foundation of Islam. In 638 his successor Omar takes Jerusalem. |
638-1099
| Palestine is part of the Arabian Empire. Arabic language and Islamic religion are introduced. |
1099-1291
| Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. |
1291-1516
| Egyptian Mamluk rule. |
1516-1917
| Palestine part of the Turkish Empire. |
1881
| Tsar Alexander II assassinated. Anti-Jewish laws are revived and pogroms break out in Russia. |
1882
| Organised Zionist movement founded in Russia. A wave of Jewish immigration (the 'First Aliyah') to Turkish Palestine begins. |
1896
| Theodore Herzl publishes Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State). |
1897
| The first Zionist Congress establishes the World Zionist Organisation. |
1914-1918
| The Allies defeat Turkey in the First World War. |
1917
| Britain announces the Balfour Declaration – “His Majesty views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people...” Allenby enters Jerusalem in December 1917. |
1922
| The League of Nations grants a Mandate to the UK on the basis of the Balfour Declaration, but excludes Transjordan from that provision. |
1929
| Widespread Arab riots against Jewish immigration. The Jewish poulation of Hebron (a constant presence since biblical times) is massacred. |
1930
| British White Paper restricts Jewish immigration. |
1933
| Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. First concentration camp opened. |
1935
| Nuremberg racial laws passed. |
1936-1939
| Arab riots against Jewish immigration. |
1937
| Peel Royal Commission recommends a 2-state partition of Palestine, with Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Jaffa under British control. |
1938
| Evian conference on refugees fails to achieve substantial international immigration quotas for Jews fleeing Germany. |
1939
| London Conference. British White Paper effectively prevents Jewish immigration into Palestine. |
1939-1945
| The Second World War. Six million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust. |
1945-1947
| White Paper policy enforced to prevent immigration of survivors to Palestine. |
1946
| Anglo-American Committee recommends immigration of 100,000 survivors. Jewish uprising in Palestine begins. |
1947
| Britain refers issue to UN. |
1947
| The United Nations, by General Assembly Resolution 181 “recommends to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine” a new 2-state Partition Plan which envisages the establishment of an Arab state, a Jewish state and an internationalised Jerusalem. |
1947
| Hostilities begin with Arab armed opposition to Partition Plan and attacks on the Jewish population. An exodus of the Arab population begins. |
1948
| Britain relinquishes its Mandate in Palestine. Israel declares its independence. The Partition Resolution is formally rejected by the Arab states, and as a result the proposed Palestinian state and the internationalisation of Jerusalem are not established. Israel is invaded by the armies of Egypt, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia and irregular forces from Lebanon and Sudan. |
Historical Background 70 CE - 1917
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 70 CE-1917
70 CE1 The Destruction of the Temple and the Jewish Dispersion
Jews have lived in the Land of Israel for nearly 4000 years, going back to the period of the Biblical patriarchs (c.1900 BCE). The story of Jewish life in ancient Israel is recorded in detail in the Hebrew Bible (the Christian "Old Testament").
The dispersion of the Jewish people is traditionally dated from the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, an event considered by the Romans to be a victory of such significance that they commemorated it by erecting the triumphal Arch of Titus, which still dominates the Roman Forum. The Roman historian Cassius Dio records that in a subsequent revolt in 135 CE some 580,000 Jewish soldiers were killed; and following that revolt the Emperor Hadrian decreed that the name "Judea"2 should be replaced by "Syria Palestina" - Philistine Syria or "Palestine"3.
Detail from the Arch of Titus- Spoils from the Jerusalem Temple
Source Wikipedia. Photo in public domain.
In the ensuing years the greater part of the Jewish population went into exile as captives, slaves and refugees, although Galilee remained a centre of Jewish institutions and learning until the sixth century CE.
As strangers and outsiders in the countries of their dispersion, the Jews were subjected to discriminatory laws and taxes and, particularly with the rise of Christianity, to humiliation and active persecution. However, through the centuries of exile, the hope for redemption of the land of Israel remained a focal point of the Jewish religion and national identity.
The dispersion of the Jewish people is traditionally dated from the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, an event considered by the Romans to be a victory of such significance that they commemorated it by erecting the triumphal Arch of Titus, which still dominates the Roman Forum. The Roman historian Cassius Dio records that in a subsequent revolt in 135 CE some 580,000 Jewish soldiers were killed; and following that revolt the Emperor Hadrian decreed that the name "Judea"2 should be replaced by "Syria Palestina" - Philistine Syria or "Palestine"3.
Source Wikipedia. Photo in public domain.
622 The Birth of Islam
The Hijra, the "migration" of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina, marked the establishment of the Islamic religion in Arabia. At the height of its power during the next hundred years, Islamic rule extended from India to southern France. A highly sophisticated Arabic culture was developed, renowned for its science and philosophy, and its literature, art and architecture.
638 The Arab conquest of Palestine
In the seventh century Palestine was predominantly Christian and Greek speaking, ruled from Constantinople ("Byzantium") as a part of the Byzantine Empire, the successor of the eastern Roman Empire.
In 638 the Islamic Caliph Omar I completed the Arab conquest of Palestine with the capture of Jerusalem from the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Omar built the Dome of the Rock on the site of the Temple, and henceforth Jerusalem was proclaimed the third most holy site of Islam.
From 638 to 1099 Palestine was part of the empires successively ruled by the Arab dynasties centred in Damascus and Baghdad. The result was an entrenchment of the Arabic language and culture and the dominance of Islam, although a significant proportion of the population remained Christian. Like most of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, the people of Palestine thus came to describe themselves as "Arabs".
1099 The Crusaders establish the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1187 Saladin, the Kurdish ruler of Egypt defeats the Crusaders.
1516 Suleiman the Magnificent of Turkey takes Jerusalem
Under Turkish Muslim rule Palestine was governed from Constantinople for the next four hundred years, ending with the defeat of Turkey as an ally of Germany in the First World War in 1917.
By the 19th century the population of Turkish Palestine had been reduced to less than 500,000, including about 25,000 Jews. The only fertile areas were in the narrow central plain. The north consisted of rocky hills and of valleys in which large regions had degenerated into malaria-ridden swampland, while the south was mostly desert.
In 638 the Islamic Caliph Omar I completed the Arab conquest of Palestine with the capture of Jerusalem from the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. Omar built the Dome of the Rock on the site of the Temple, and henceforth Jerusalem was proclaimed the third most holy site of Islam.
From 638 to 1099 Palestine was part of the empires successively ruled by the Arab dynasties centred in Damascus and Baghdad. The result was an entrenchment of the Arabic language and culture and the dominance of Islam, although a significant proportion of the population remained Christian. Like most of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, the people of Palestine thus came to describe themselves as "Arabs".
1099 The Crusaders establish the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1187 Saladin, the Kurdish ruler of Egypt defeats the Crusaders.
1516 Suleiman the Magnificent of Turkey takes Jerusalem
Under Turkish Muslim rule Palestine was governed from Constantinople for the next four hundred years, ending with the defeat of Turkey as an ally of Germany in the First World War in 1917.
By the 19th century the population of Turkish Palestine had been reduced to less than 500,000, including about 25,000 Jews. The only fertile areas were in the narrow central plain. The north consisted of rocky hills and of valleys in which large regions had degenerated into malaria-ridden swampland, while the south was mostly desert.
1882 The Jews of Russia and the origins of modern Zionism
Meanwhile, some five million Jews lived in Russia. Following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, and the succession of the more repressive Alexander III, anti-Jewish laws were re-introduced. Boys of twelve were conscripted for twenty-five years in the army; Jews were allowed to live only in restricted areas and "pogroms" (violent attacks on Jewish villages and neighbourhoods) swept through Russia.
The overwhelming response was emigration to America. Another was Zionism, the political movement aimed at restoring a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In 1882 the first of the modern Zionist waves of immigration (the “First Aliyah” = “ascent”) began, with the establishment of agricultural settlements under Turkish rule, in harsh and often malarial conditions, and generally dependent on the support of Jewish philanthropists. A second wave of immigration came in 1904 after another outbreak of pogroms in Russia. By 1914 the Jewish population was approximately 85,000 in a total population of approximately 650,000.
The overwhelming response was emigration to America. Another was Zionism, the political movement aimed at restoring a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In 1882 the first of the modern Zionist waves of immigration (the “First Aliyah” = “ascent”) began, with the establishment of agricultural settlements under Turkish rule, in harsh and often malarial conditions, and generally dependent on the support of Jewish philanthropists. A second wave of immigration came in 1904 after another outbreak of pogroms in Russia. By 1914 the Jewish population was approximately 85,000 in a total population of approximately 650,000.
1897 Theodore Herzl calls the First Zionist Congress
As a journalist in Paris representing a Viennese newspaper, Herzl witnessed the anti-semitic outbreaks at the beginning of the "Dreyfus Affair".4
Shocked by the anti-semitism in France, the land of liberty and emancipation, he concluded that Jewish freedom and dignity could only be achieved with the restoration of a Jewish national homeland, and in 1896 he wrote "Der Judenstaat", a program for the establishment of a Jewish state. He forecast that a state would come into existence within 50 years. "If you will it", he said, "it is no dream".
In 1897 he convened the first Zionist Congress at Basle in Switzerland, comprising 204 representatives of Jewish communities, which created the World Zionist Organisation. The official statement of the Zionist aims, the Basle Program, was adopted by the First Zionist Congress on 31 August 1897.
After a series of pogroms in Russia, culminating in a massacre at Kishinev in 1903, there was great pressure in Britain to take Jewish immigration. The British government first offered to the Zionist organisation the enclave of El Arish, on the coast of the Sinai desert, and then seriously offered Uganda (then known as "East Africa") as a Jewish homeland and place of refuge.
Shocked by the anti-semitism in France, the land of liberty and emancipation, he concluded that Jewish freedom and dignity could only be achieved with the restoration of a Jewish national homeland, and in 1896 he wrote "Der Judenstaat", a program for the establishment of a Jewish state. He forecast that a state would come into existence within 50 years. "If you will it", he said, "it is no dream".
In 1897 he convened the first Zionist Congress at Basle in Switzerland, comprising 204 representatives of Jewish communities, which created the World Zionist Organisation. The official statement of the Zionist aims, the Basle Program, was adopted by the First Zionist Congress on 31 August 1897.
After a series of pogroms in Russia, culminating in a massacre at Kishinev in 1903, there was great pressure in Britain to take Jewish immigration. The British government first offered to the Zionist organisation the enclave of El Arish, on the coast of the Sinai desert, and then seriously offered Uganda (then known as "East Africa") as a Jewish homeland and place of refuge.
1914-1918 The First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Palestine was a part of the Turkish Empire, which also included Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and western Arabia. Turkey came into the war on the side of Germany and Austria, shortly after the war had commenced.
The major British concern at that time was the protection of the British sea route to India and the British Empire east of Suez, including Australia. There was also the possibility of a British-controlled railway from Baghdad to the port of Haifa in Palestine.
On 25 April 1915 the British launched a massive naval invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli. The British expected a rapid victory, which would be followed by an overland march to Istanbul and the collapse of the Turkish Empire. Even while the Gallipoli campaign was still in its planning stages, the British cabinet debated its “war aims”, in effect the future carve-up of Turkey’s Middle Eastern possessions between the Allied powers.
Once it became clear that the Gallipoli campaign would fail, an alternative strategy was developed, which involved an approach to Istanbul from the south, through Palestine and Syria. Britain therefore sought an alliance with the Arab subjects of the Turkish Empire.
In 1915 Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, opened a correspondence with the Sherif of Mecca, who claimed descent from Mohammed as the leader of the Hashemite dynasty which ruled the Hejaz in Western Arabia. The British government promised military support for an Arab revolt against the Turks, and British recognition of Arab independence after a successful uprising. The area of Arab rule was ambiguously described, and the British Government later denied any promise that Arab independence would extend to Palestine.5 (See text and map).
The Arab uprising took the form of a march of Bedouin tribes through the Arabian Peninsula, which then joined the Allied force in Egypt which eventually took Transjordan and reached Damascus. (Colonel T.E. Lawrence - "Lawrence of Arabia" - was one of several officers seconded to the Arab forces). Meanwhile, many Jewish settlers who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks, joined either the "Zion Mule Corps" which fought at Gallipoli, or the Jewish Legion, a regiment of the British Fusiliers, which fought with the Allied Forces in the Middle East.
Australian forces also fought in Palestine, and the famous charge of the Australian Light Horsemen which resulted in the capture of Beersheba, was a turning point in the campaign.
[
FOOTNOTES]
1. “Common Era” – a non-religious alternative to “AD”.
2. The name “Judea” originally described the territory allocated to the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes descended from Jacob. This area is now the southern half of the “West Bank”. The Romans extended the use of the name to the whole of the province, and its inhabitants were described as “Judaei” or “Jews”. The term “Judaism” hence describes the monotheistic religion and the ethnic culture of the Jewish people.
3. In this outline the name “Palestine” will be used as the description of the whole geographical area of the Mandate up to 1948.
4. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was convicted of treason on the basis of documents which were subsequently found to have been forged, but was not released after the forgery was discovered.
5. Hence the appellation “the twice promised land”, arguably even thrice promised, given the draft Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 1916 defining British and French interests in a post-war Middle East which included an allocation of part of Palestine to joint British, French and Russian protection.
The major British concern at that time was the protection of the British sea route to India and the British Empire east of Suez, including Australia. There was also the possibility of a British-controlled railway from Baghdad to the port of Haifa in Palestine.
On 25 April 1915 the British launched a massive naval invasion of Turkey at Gallipoli. The British expected a rapid victory, which would be followed by an overland march to Istanbul and the collapse of the Turkish Empire. Even while the Gallipoli campaign was still in its planning stages, the British cabinet debated its “war aims”, in effect the future carve-up of Turkey’s Middle Eastern possessions between the Allied powers.
Once it became clear that the Gallipoli campaign would fail, an alternative strategy was developed, which involved an approach to Istanbul from the south, through Palestine and Syria. Britain therefore sought an alliance with the Arab subjects of the Turkish Empire.
In 1915 Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, opened a correspondence with the Sherif of Mecca, who claimed descent from Mohammed as the leader of the Hashemite dynasty which ruled the Hejaz in Western Arabia. The British government promised military support for an Arab revolt against the Turks, and British recognition of Arab independence after a successful uprising. The area of Arab rule was ambiguously described, and the British Government later denied any promise that Arab independence would extend to Palestine.5 (See text and map).
The Arab uprising took the form of a march of Bedouin tribes through the Arabian Peninsula, which then joined the Allied force in Egypt which eventually took Transjordan and reached Damascus. (Colonel T.E. Lawrence - "Lawrence of Arabia" - was one of several officers seconded to the Arab forces). Meanwhile, many Jewish settlers who had been expelled from Palestine by the Turks, joined either the "Zion Mule Corps" which fought at Gallipoli, or the Jewish Legion, a regiment of the British Fusiliers, which fought with the Allied Forces in the Middle East.
Australian forces also fought in Palestine, and the famous charge of the Australian Light Horsemen which resulted in the capture of Beersheba, was a turning point in the campaign.
[
1. “Common Era” – a non-religious alternative to “AD”.
2. The name “Judea” originally described the territory allocated to the tribe of Judah, one of the twelve tribes descended from Jacob. This area is now the southern half of the “West Bank”. The Romans extended the use of the name to the whole of the province, and its inhabitants were described as “Judaei” or “Jews”. The term “Judaism” hence describes the monotheistic religion and the ethnic culture of the Jewish people.
3. In this outline the name “Palestine” will be used as the description of the whole geographical area of the Mandate up to 1948.
4. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, was convicted of treason on the basis of documents which were subsequently found to have been forged, but was not released after the forgery was discovered.
5. Hence the appellation “the twice promised land”, arguably even thrice promised, given the draft Sykes-Picot Agreement of May 1916 defining British and French interests in a post-war Middle East which included an allocation of part of Palestine to joint British, French and Russian protection.
A map based on the McMahon letter
from Atlas of the Arab-Israel Conflict.
Documents
McMahon-Hussein letter 1915
The Balfour Declaration 1917
White Paper Extracts 1939
The Mufti in Berlin 1941
UN Partition Resolution 1947
MapsThe Middle East
Australia and Israel - A Comparison
McMahon-Hussein Letter 1915
The British Mandate 1920-1948
Peel Commission Partition Plan 1937
UN Partition Plan 1947
Links
Bibliography and Links
GOLDA MEIR 1898-1978
(Prime Minister of Israel 1969-1974)
See also The Creation of Modern Israel and relevant articles under Israel after 1948 for additional context.
In her autobiography My Life Golda Meir recalled her feelings when the Labour Party called on her to assume the office of Prime Minister of Israel following the death of Levi Eshkol in 1969:
In her autobiography My Life Golda Meir recalled her feelings when the Labour Party called on her to assume the office of Prime Minister of Israel following the death of Levi Eshkol in 1969:
“I became Prime Minister because that was how it was, in the same way that my milkman became an officer in command of an outpost on Mount Hermon. Neither of us had any relish for the job, but we both did it as well as we could.”
It was statement typical of a lifetime shaped by a sense of duty arising from her Jewish experience. Born to the family of a carpenter in Kiev in the Ukraine, she was a five-year old child living in Minsk in 1903 at the time of a “pogrom” in neighbouring Kishinev. In the rampage inspired by a medieval-style “blood libel”, which took place with the complicity of the Tsarist authorities, 49 Jews lost their lives, more than 500 were seriously injured, and some 700 houses and 600 Jewish shops were looted and destroyed. That year Golda’s father left for Milwaukee in the United States, and three years later he had saved enough to send for his family.
The Kishinev pogrom was just one of a continuing wave of anti-Jewish outbreaks of slaughter and destruction which swept through Russia after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Alexander II, the “liberal” Tsar who had emancipated the Russian serfs, had not enforced many of the anti-Jewish laws of his predecessors, and the five million Jews of Russia looked forward to emancipation under his rule. His successor, Alexander III, on the other hand, proclaimed himself as “proud to be an autocrat”. He encouraged the pogroms and revived the laws of Nicholas I, including the so-called “Nicholas system” under which twelve year-old Jewish boys were conscripted into the army for 25 years, and Jews were allowed to reside only in specified regions and towns.
Between 1881 and 1914 over two and a quarter million Jews left Russia for the United States. Others fled elsewhere, to Germany and the Austrian empire, to Britain, Canada and Australia. It was also the time of the birth of the modern Zionist movement, epitomised in the writings of Dr Leo Pinsker, a Jewish leader who had previously worked for Jewish emancipation. In his pamphlet Auto-emancipation written in 1881, he now came to a pessimistic diagnosis:
Between 1881 and 1914 over two and a quarter million Jews left Russia for the United States. Others fled elsewhere, to Germany and the Austrian empire, to Britain, Canada and Australia. It was also the time of the birth of the modern Zionist movement, epitomised in the writings of Dr Leo Pinsker, a Jewish leader who had previously worked for Jewish emancipation. In his pamphlet Auto-emancipation written in 1881, he now came to a pessimistic diagnosis:
“Judeophobia is a psychic aberration. As a psychic aberration it is hereditary, and as a disease transmitted for two thousand years, it is incurable...
The Jewish people have no fatherland of their own, though many motherlands…We must have a home if not a country of our own.”
1881 was also the year in which the first of a few thousand young Jews left Russia to re-build the land in the deserts and malarial swamps of Turkish Palestine. One year before Golda’s birth, in 1897, Theodore Herzl had created an organised international Zionist movement, dedicated to the restoration of the land of Israel, and the first World Zionist Congress was held at Basle in Switzerland. When Golda arrived in America in 1906, a second wave of immigration to Palestine had followed renewed outbreaks in Russia.
As a young teacher in America Golda became an active member of the Labour Zionist party, and represented Milwaukee as a delegate to the American Jewish Congress. In 1924, she and her husband Morris Myerson left for Palestine, then under the British Mandate after the First World War, and joined a kibbutz – a Jewish communal settlement. In those early years of Jewish settlement the kibbutz system, operating on the community-based principle “from each according to capacity and to each according to need”, played a major role in the agricultural development of the country in a harsh and unpromising environment.
Golda eventually became an active participant in the Jewish political life of Palestine. By 1934 she was an executive committee member of the Histadrut, the “General Confederation of Jewish Labour”. Like the Kibbutzim (pl.) the Histadrut also played a key role in the economic development of the country. It began as the sole trade union of the Jewish population. However in the absence of an economic base for capital formation, it became necessary for the Histadrut to undertake the task of creating and administering the first large-scale industrial enterprises and financial institutions. By the time Golda became an executive member, the organisation was both defending the rights of Jewish workers and running the leading building and housing company, a bank, a health service and an industrial conglomerate.
In 1938 Golda Myerson attended as the “Jewish observer from Palestine” at the International Conference on Refugees which was called at the resort town of Evian-les-Bains in France. It was a critical moment in Jewish history. The Nuremberg laws depriving the German Jews of their civil rights had been proclaimed in 1935, and the first concentration camp had been opened at Dachau. Germany still allowed its Jews to leave, but the doors of Palestine had been effectively closed by the British. Except for the Dominican Republic and Shanghai, no country would allow the free immigration of refugees. The Australian delegate at Evian, Colonel T.E. White, reflected the mood of the Conference in a memorable statement:
“As Australia has no racial problem, we are not desirous of importing one”.
In the end Australia agreed to take one of the larger quotas, 9000 refugees over a period of three years.
Golda’s reaction to the Conference was a wish which was almost fulfilled:
“There is only one thing I hope to see before I die and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy any more.”
After the Second World War and the murder of six million Jews (including one and a half million children) in the Nazi Holocaust, the British Mandatory authority effectively closed the gates of Palestine to the survivors. Eventually the Jewish uprising led Britain to announce its intention to withdraw from the Mandate and to refer the issue to the United Nations. During this period Australia’s UN representative Dr. H.V. Evatt (later federal leader of the ALP and Chief Justice of NSW) played an active role in formulating the partition proposal which called for the creation of Israel and a Palestinian state in an economic union, and he was the President of the UN General Assembly at the time the Partition Resolution came to a vote in November 1947.
As the UN vote on the Partition Resolution approached, the Jewish Agency, which was at that time the self-governing authority of the Jewish population, prepared for the expected outbreak of hostilities after the Palestinian Arabs rejected partition. In particular the Agency sought the neutrality of King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan, whose Arab Legion, British trained and commanded, was the strongest military force in the region.
The task fell to Golda as acting Head of the Political Department of the Agency. The first secret meeting between Golda and Abdullah took place in a house on the Jordan River. Abdullah said that he would not join in any Arab attack, and suggested a further meeting after the UN vote.
In May 1948, as Israel’s independence approached, the Arab Legion attacked the Etzion Bloc, a cluster of four Jewish villages near Jerusalem. On 10 May, disguised in Arab costume and accompanied by one of Abdullah’s Bedouin retainers, Golda was smuggled through Trans-Jordan to the King’s palace in Amman. Her mission was to obtain Abdullah’s agreement to a peace on the basis of the UN partition. As she described the conversation in her memoirs, she began by bluntly asking the King “Have you broken your promise to me, after all?” The King responded: “When I made that promise, I thought I was in control of my own destiny, and could do what I thought right. But since then I have learned otherwise.” He then suggested that war could be averted.
“Why don’t you wait a few years? Drop your demands for free immigration. I will take over the whole country and you will be represented in my parliament. I will treat you very well and there will be no war.”
(Even after he had joined with the seven other countries of the Arab League in the 1948 invasion of Israel, Abdullah was still widely accused of being too accommodating to the Jews. He was assassinated on 20 July 1951 in the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – at a memorial service for the prime minister of Lebanon, himself assassinated by a Syrian nationalist five days earlier. He was succeeded by his grandson Hussein.)
On 14 May 1948, in a ceremony at the Tel Aviv Museum, the State of Israel came into existence with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The new state would be based on “freedom, justice and peace, as envisaged by the prophets of Israel”, and the Declaration appealed to the Arabs of Israel to “participate in the up-building of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship.” Golda Myerson attended the ceremony as one of the 38 signatories to the Declaration.
In September 1948, at the height of the Arab invasion, Golda arrived in Moscow as Israel’s first Minister to the Soviet Union. It was a country with a history of intense opposition to Zionism, including the deportation of Zionists to the prison camps of Siberia and laws against teaching the Hebrew language. Nevertheless the Russians had seen the establishment of Israel as a strategic counter to British and American influence in the Middle East, and the Soviet Union had been among the first to give de jure recognition to the new State.
When Golda attended the Central Synagogue in Moscow for the Jewish New Year she received a rapturous welcome from some 50,000 Jews enthusiastically cheering in the surrounding streets. The Soviet authorities were alarmed. The leading Yiddish journal was closed down, and the Jewish Anti-fascist Committee was dissolved and its members arrested. Nevertheless the Soviets agreed to provide diplomatic support and to facilitate military supplies. Most important was an airlift of armaments from Czechoslovakia which were crucial to Israel’s survival in 1949.
In the next few years, however, the Russians found it more useful to support Arab nationalist movements than to support Israel as a means of contesting British power in the Middle East, and relations progressively deteriorated. The Prague show trial of Jewish Communist officials in 1952, complete with a conspiracy of Israeli “spies”, was followed by the “Jewish doctors’ plot” in 1953, in which Stalin’s physicians were accused of attempting to poison him. An exponential growth of officially promoted anti-semitism followed, and then the first formal break in diplomatic relations with Israel as the Russians developed their alliances in the Arab world.
In 1949 Golda was elected to the first Knesset (Israel’s Parliament, named after the Knesset Hagedolah, the “Great Assembly” of sages who collated the Hebrew Bible after the return from Babylon in the fifth century BCE). Despite the opposition of some religious members to the appointment of a woman, she became Minister for Labour. She introduced the National Insurance Act and other social legislation, and she was also largely responsible for the enormous housing and infrastructure projects needed to cope with the massive waves of immigration which followed independence.
In 1956, she followed the custom of adopting a Hebrew name, changing her name from Myerson to Meir, meaning “burn brightly” and pronounced “May-ear”. (Her husband, Morris Myerson, had died in 1951.) In the same year she became Israel’s Foreign Minister, engaging in the secret negotiations with France before the Suez conflict. It was a time when the interests of Israel, Britain and France coincided. Egypt had nationalized the Suez Canal, which had previously been the property of the British and French companies which had built it. At the same time Egypt closed the Canal to shipping to and from Israel and blockaded the Straits of Tiran at the entrance to the Gulf of Akaba, which would otherwise have provided Israel with alternative access to the Red Sea and the East, including Australia. Meanwhile Egyptian irregular forces, described as Fedayeen, were using the Sinai as a base to mount attacks on Israelis in the south of the country.
In the war planned by the three temporary allies, the British and French forces seized the Canal Zone, and the Israelis moved through the Gaza Strip to the Sinai to the Canal and to Sharm el Sheikh on the Straits of Tiran. In preparation for the post-war negotiation, Golda visited those places, and described her impressions:
“The area of Sharm el-Sheikh is incredibly lovely; the waters of the Red Sea must be the bluest and clearest in the world, and they are framed by mountains that range in colour from deep red to violet and purple. There, in that beautiful and tranquil setting, on an empty shore, stood the grotesque battery of huge naval guns that had paralysed Eilat for so long.Then I toured the Gaza Strip, from which the fedayeen had gone out on their murderous assignments for so many months and in which the Egyptians had kept a quarter of a million men, women and children in the most shameful poverty and destitution.”
Meanwhile the US and the USSR joined in demanding that Israel should evacuate the Sinai desert and should depend on international assurances to maintain access to the Red Sea and to protect Israel from attacks by Egyptian irregular forces. Golda then went to the US to engage in “difficult and fruitless negotiations” with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Her aim was to convince him that Israel should not be forced to withdraw without a peace agreement with Egypt, or at least a formal non-aggression pact. Eventually, faced with unrelenting American and Russian pressure, Israel agreed to a withdrawal from the Sinai in 1957, on the basis that a United Nations Expeditionary Force would shield Israel’s southern border from attack, and that international guarantees would ensure freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran. Significantly, it was the failure of these guarantees and the withdrawal of UNEF that resulted in the war of 1967.
One of Golda’s proudest achievements as Foreign Minister, however, was the establishment of positive relationships with countries in the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where Israel provided a “shared experience in nation-building”. On her initiative, Israel sent experts with experience of dealing with some of Israel’s development problems, and provided active assistance in agricultural, public health and education projects.
In 1960 Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official who was in charge of organizing the transport of millions of the Jews of Europe to the extermination camps, was found in hiding in Argentina by Israeli agents. He was seized and smuggled out of the country, and brought to Israel for trial. Argentina accused Israel of violating its sovereignty and demanded that the prisoner be returned. Golda addressed the Security Council with a powerful speech, and eventually Argentina was persuaded to accept an apology and to withdraw its demand for Eichmann’s return.
In 1966 Golda retired as Foreign Minister and left the government. However after a short time duty called again, and as Secretary-General of Mapai (an acronym for the “Labour Party of Israel”) until 1968 she worked to bring together the various fragments of the labour movement to form the entity known as the “Labour Alignment”, which resulted in a new stabilization of the Israeli political scene. However she was not part of the government of Levi Eshkol during the Six-day War of 1967, and the intense diplomatic pressures which preceded and followed the war were handled in a rather different style (and with some misgivings in the Cabinet) by the polished and urbane Abba Eban as Foreign Minister.
Then, in February 1969, Levi Eshkol died in office. A contest for the succession now arose between Defence Minister Moshe Dayan, a former Chief of Staff and Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Allon, the former leader of the Palmach commando force. In order to avoid a damaging political split the Central Committee of the Labour Alignment called on Golda Meir, now nearly 71 years of age and diagnosed with lymphoma, to return from her retirement and become Prime Minister.
The period of her government was momentous. It began during a war and with a fruitless search for peace. A new concept of Palestinian identity emerged, together with the international terrorist strategy of a re-organised Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat. For the first time Jews were permitted to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel; the first settlements appeared in the Territories; and Israel was shaken to the core by the surprise attack of the October War of 1973.
As the new Prime Minister of a tiny country of three million people (about one-third the size of Tasmania) Golda came to office at a time of national optimism. Two years earlier the forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan had massed on Israel’s borders. The “guarantees” that Golda had received in 1956 had proved worthless. The United Nations Emergency Force in the Sinai had simply been withdrawn at Egypt’s demand, and Egypt had blockaded the Straits of Tiran in defiance of the international assurances that had been given in 1956. On 25 May 1967 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had announced to the Egyptian parliament:
“The problem before the Arab countries is not whether the port of Eilat should be blockaded or how to blockade it – but how totally to exterminate the State of Israel for all time.”
In a pre-emptive strike on 6 June 1967 Israel had effectively destroyed the opposing air forces on the ground, and gained possession in the ensuing war of the Sinai, the Gaza strip, the West Bank, the Golan and East Jerusalem (including the holy places in the Old City.
Then, in Resolution 242 the Security Council had affirmed “the principles which should apply in the establishment of a just and lasting peace”, including the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”.
Then, in Resolution 242 the Security Council had affirmed “the principles which should apply in the establishment of a just and lasting peace”, including the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”.
Now, as Golda began her term as Prime Minister in 1969, Israel’s existence was no longer precarious and problematical. The country had survived a threat of attack by its three immediate neighbours, and the Territories now in its possession created a “strategic depth” which provided a sense of security which had not been known since the state was established. The policy adopted by the Israeli government was therefore to demand full recognition by the confrontation states as well as direct face-to-face negotiations with them, in order to achieve a secure long-term peace in exchange for territory as envisaged by Resolution 242.
However in 1969 the prospects of such a negotiated peace did not seem to be great. In September 1967 the Arab League Conference at Khartoum had issued the statement which came to be known as the “Three No’s”: “No peace, no negotiations, no recognition.” Dr. Gunnar Jarring, the Swedish ambassador appointed as the United Nations Special Representative to explore peace negotiations under Resolution 242, reached an impasse. He reported to the Security Council that
“the Israeli Government was of the firm view that a settlement of the Middle East question could be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties culminating in a peace treaty and that there could be no question of withdrawal of their forces prior to such a settlement. The United Arab Republic and Jordan, for their part, insisted that there could be no question of discussions between the parties until the Israeli forces had been withdrawn to the positions occupied by them prior to 5 June 1967.”Meanwhile on the ground the “War of Attrition” increased in intensity. Immediately after the Six-day War both the Soviet Union and Egypt had decided that it was a political necessity to avenge what they saw as a humiliating defeat. The Russians sent massive arms shipments to Egypt including new MiG fighter planes and improved SAM missiles. Eventually over 10,000 Russian military advisers arrived, and a Soviet naval armada appeared in the eastern Mediterranean.
The original Egyptian strategy was a campaign of artillery bombardments across the Suez Canal aimed at the Israeli forces in the Sinai. The intention was to cause a continuous flow of casualties and force the Israelis into a unilateral withdrawal from the Canal. The prospect of any such withdrawal without peace or recognition was as unacceptable to Israel as was the prospect of passively absorbing the bombardment indefinitely. Israel therefore responded with an intensive retaliation, including the bombing of military positions deep inside Egypt.
On taking office Golda renewed the call for peace: “We are prepared to discuss peace with our neighbours, all day and on all matters.” Three days later Egyptian President Nasser replied. “There is no voice transcending the sounds of war, and no call holier than the call to war”.
As the military situation escalated and the prospect of serious international conflict loomed, the Americans decided to promote a full-scale peacemaking effort, complete with peace plans, international conferences and US-Soviet dialogue. It was a difficult situation for an Israeli government demanding Arab recognition and direct negotiation, and in September 1969, the new Prime Minister flew to Washington to meet with President Nixon. Golda recorded her emotions as Israel’s national anthem Hatikvah (“The Hope of 2000 years”) was played on the White House lawn, but no joint communiqué was issued, and the content of the discussion was never disclosed.
By 1970 Israeli and Soviet pilots were engaged in direct combat in the air, and four Russian MiG’s were shot down. As the threat of full-scale warfare intensified, the American peace plans became a less ambitious proposal for a ceasefire. Nasser urged the Russians to accept it and the ceasefire came into effect in August 1970.
Despite the continuing stress of international events, Golda Meir maintained her central interest in improving the conditions of life of the poorest segment of the Israeli population. In a televised address to the nation she called for wage increases for the lowest income earners, and for the middle classes to exercise restraint to make those increases possible. Another campaign was to eliminate the problem of High School drop-outs in the development towns.
Meanwhile, in the absence of any prospect of a permanent peace treaty, the Meir government developed policies for a benevolent administration of the Territories in the hope that the inhabitants might find this preferable to the previous rule of Jordan and Egypt.
Moshe Dayan, who remained as Defence Minister, set the tone for that administration in his instructions to Chaim Herzog, then Military Governor of the West Bank and later President of Israel:
Moshe Dayan, who remained as Defence Minister, set the tone for that administration in his instructions to Chaim Herzog, then Military Governor of the West Bank and later President of Israel:
“Don’t try to rule the Arabs, let them rule themselves. It’s enough that we suffer from Israeli bureaucracy, they don’t deserve it. I want a policy whereby an Arab can be born, live and die in the West Bank without ever seeing an Israeli official.”
In 1969 Israel established the Economic Development and Refugee Rehabilitation Trust, which spent some millions of dollars on infrastructure projects in the camps and provided loans and subsidies for agriculture and new housing. Between 1968 and 1972 agricultural production more than doubled. Per capita income in the West Bank increased by 80% and unemployment in Gaza had been reduced to 2%.
In the current conditions of 2005 it is interesting to recall that the journalist Walter Eytan was able to report from Gaza in May 1973 that:
“The Arab population is more prosperous, and probably freer, than at any time before, bound by increasing economic and personal ties with Israelis… Where formerly unemployment was endemic and terrorism was rife, today every able-bodied person can find work either in Israel or in the Gaza Strip itself (where in fact a labour shortage prevails at the present time) while terrorist action for the most part belongs to a nightmare of the past.”
At the same time Defence Minister Moshe Dayan called for the establishment of “facts on the ground” in the Territories. Immediately after the 1967 Eshkol’s Deputy Prime Minister, Yigal Allon, who had been Commander of the Palmach commando force in the war of 1947-9, proposed a plan for territorial compromise in the event of peace. The aim of the “Allon Plan” was to ensure that Israel would always be protected by a defensive barrier along the valley adjacent to the river Jordan and on the road to the south of Jerusalem. With this objective in mind the Meir government permitted the establishment of some ten small settlements in the Jordan Valley and the rebuilding of four settlements in the “Etzion Bloc” near Jerusalem which had been destroyed by the Jordanians in 1947. The settlements established in the Golan Heights after 1967 were also maintained as a defensive barrier in the absence of peace with Syria. There was also the first settlement which had been established by religious activists returning to the Jewish Quarter in Hebron near the tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which had been destroyed in the Arab riots of 1929. .
East Jerusalem, however, including the holy places of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Old City, had been incorporated into an undivided city of Jerusalem under Israeli rule in June 1967. In contrast to the previous Jordanian administration which had forbidden Jewish access, the holy places were now open to the adherents of all religions. Henceforth the indivisibility of a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty remained a central doctrine, almost universally supported by Israelis and the Jewish Diaspora, and notwithstanding repeated condemnation by the United Nations.
All this occurred within the context of an official policy of opposition to the concept of a Palestinian state as part of any peace settlement, which Golda Meir announced and repeatedly explained. Israel and Jordan were the two state successors to the British Mandate, she noted, and
“there is no room for a third. The Palestinians must find the solution to their problem together with that Arab country, Jordan, because a Palestinian State between us and Jordan can only become a base from which it will become even more convenient to attack and destroy Israel.”
Meanwhile the Palestine Liberation Organisation had taken took new shape after Yasser Arafat and his Fatah movement gained control at the Palestinian National Assembly in Cairo in July 1968. Arafat’s program was clearly stated:
“Our basic aim is to liberate the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. We are not concerned with what took place in June 1967 or in eliminating the consequences of the June war. The Palestinian revolution’s basic concern is the uprooting of the Zionist entity from our land and liberating it.”
(The Palestine National Charter, incorporating this principle, was adopted by the Assembly at the same conference. It is available, updated to 2005, at www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/plocov.htm although it no longer appears on the official website of the Palestinian Authority.)
The PLO acted as a roof body for a dozen different Arab “guerilla” organisations, the most active of which were the Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Marxist group. Initial PLO campaigns in the Territories in 1968 and 1969 were eventually contained by the Israeli military, and in the absence of local support in the Territories for “guerilla” attacks in Israel in the relatively benign conditions of the time, the PLO now embarked on an international campaign of action against soft civilian targets. The first such attack occurred on 13 February 1970, when a Swissair plane was sabotaged and the passengers and crew were killed, and on the same day seven residents of a Jewish old age home in Munich were killed.
At the same time the PLO began to establish “state within a state” within Jordan.
In September 1970, the PFLP hijacked four international airliners, landed three of them on an airstrip inside Jordan, and blew them up. In the context of the ceasefire with Israel, Egypt closed the PLO offices in Cairo. King Hussein decided to move against the PLO threat to the Hashemite regime, and Jordan erupted into civil war. With Russian encouragement Syrian tanks crossed the Jordanian border and an Iraqi division which had remained in Jordan since 1967, also supported the PLO forces. Eventually an Israel mobilization and US naval deployment persuaded the Syrians and Iraqis to withdraw, and Hussein overwhelmingly defeated the PLO forces. By 1971 their new centre of operations had moved to south Lebanon.
In September 1970, the PFLP hijacked four international airliners, landed three of them on an airstrip inside Jordan, and blew them up. In the context of the ceasefire with Israel, Egypt closed the PLO offices in Cairo. King Hussein decided to move against the PLO threat to the Hashemite regime, and Jordan erupted into civil war. With Russian encouragement Syrian tanks crossed the Jordanian border and an Iraqi division which had remained in Jordan since 1967, also supported the PLO forces. Eventually an Israel mobilization and US naval deployment persuaded the Syrians and Iraqis to withdraw, and Hussein overwhelmingly defeated the PLO forces. By 1971 their new centre of operations had moved to south Lebanon.
The new international campaign against civilian targets now accelerated. On 10 May 1972, gunmen of the “Japanese Red Army” opened fire in Lod airport, killing 27 passengers, including 21 Christian pilgrims. In September 1972, eleven Israel athletes were murdered at the Olympic Games in Munich, by a group calling themselves “Black September” in recollection of Hussein’s defeat of the PLO. The perpetrators who had been arrested by the German authorities were later released following a PLO plane hijack, and most were later tracked down and killed by the Mossad.
Meanwhile many of the Jews of the Soviet Union had reacted to the events of the Six-Day War with a campaign for the right to emigrate to Israel. The leaders were arrested and exiled to Siberia, but the campaign gathered force and received international support, and by 1972, 32,000 Jews were allowed to leave. One of Golda’s many trials during this period was an unsuccessful mission to Vienna to persuade the Austrian Premier Bruno Kreisky not to close the transit station for the Soviet emigrants after the PLO bombed an Austrian train.
Then, on 6 November 1973, the Soviet-Egyptian-Syrian alliance put into effect their plans to avenge the defeat of 1967. The proposed invasion had been well camouflaged, indeed kept absolutely secret from all but the Presidents and Chiefs of Staff of Egypt and Syria until the day before the attack, with even the military command instructed that they were merely engaged in exercises. Russian advisers were ceremoniously expelled from Egypt in 1972, cordial peace negotiations with the US continued until the last moment, unarmed men strolled along the front lines, and Egyptian officers announced a proposed pilgrimage to Mecca. It was also the time when US President Nixon was deeply enmeshed in the Watergate scandal and threatened with impeachment for his role in the telephone bugging of the Democrat headquarters during the previous election.
The invasion began at 2 pm on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and prayer on which all but the most essential activity totally ceases in Israel. Following an intense bombardment by missiles and artillery, tens of thousands of Egyptian infantrymen crossed the Canal in boats, bridges were laid, and hundreds of Egyptian tanks raced north through the Sinai desert. As the Israel tanks moved forward to meet them from the mountain passes, they faced a new Soviet secret weapon, the “Sagger” anti-tank missiles, infantry-operated tracer-guided rockets capable of totally destroying their targets and incinerating their crews. At the same time the new Soviet surface-to-air SAM missiles brought down large numbers of Israeli planes.
The invasion began at 2 pm on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and prayer on which all but the most essential activity totally ceases in Israel. Following an intense bombardment by missiles and artillery, tens of thousands of Egyptian infantrymen crossed the Canal in boats, bridges were laid, and hundreds of Egyptian tanks raced north through the Sinai desert. As the Israel tanks moved forward to meet them from the mountain passes, they faced a new Soviet secret weapon, the “Sagger” anti-tank missiles, infantry-operated tracer-guided rockets capable of totally destroying their targets and incinerating their crews. At the same time the new Soviet surface-to-air SAM missiles brought down large numbers of Israeli planes.
Simultaneously with the Egyptian crossing, Syrian helicopter-borne troops seized the strategic observation point at the summit of Mount Hermon. An artillery bombardment was then followed by the advance of some eight hundred tanks into the Golan Heights, almost entirely overcoming the first Israeli resistance. It appeared that a full-scale invasion of northern Israel was imminent.
Israel was caught unprepared for the onslaught. The intelligence assessment had been that the confrontation states were definitely not ready for war, that the observed troop concentrations did not present a threat, and that Israel could rely on the strategic depth created by possession of the Sinai. When knowledge of the impending attack became more definite on the day before the invasion, Golda called an emergency meeting, and it was decided to order a partial mobilization. At Golda’s insistence a pre-emptive strike was ruled out.
Israel was caught unprepared for the onslaught. The intelligence assessment had been that the confrontation states were definitely not ready for war, that the observed troop concentrations did not present a threat, and that Israel could rely on the strategic depth created by possession of the Sinai. When knowledge of the impending attack became more definite on the day before the invasion, Golda called an emergency meeting, and it was decided to order a partial mobilization. At Golda’s insistence a pre-emptive strike was ruled out.
By the second day of the war the Israeli cabinet decided that the most urgent threat to Israel’s survival came from the north and that the newly mobilized reserves should be concentrated on the Syrian front. After desperate battles in which the few remaining Israeli tanks held the line, reinforcements arrived and a counter-attack eventually drove deep into Syrian territory, and within artillery range of Damascus.
Meanwhile a Soviet airlift, commencing on 8 October, delivered immense quantities of armaments to Egypt. At first the American policy was not to intervene. According to Sachar (see Note 2 below):
“Joseph Sisco and the other professionals at the Near East desk favoured a stand-off in the Sinai; Egypt was the key to peace and should not be humiliated once it had reclaimed its honour.”
However given the extent of Israeli losses and the scope of the Soviet arms deliveries, it soon became apparent that US interests demanded the prevention of a Soviet-backed military success against an American ally. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger decided that the maintenance of American influence in the Middle East required urgent action, and President Nixon finally authorized the delivery of the desperately needed planes and tanks. The first delivery arrived on 14 October, some eight days after the war began. As Golda was later to claim, her decision not to launch a pre-emptive strike had proved to be a crucial factor in enabling the Americans to come to the rescue at the moment of crisis.
As the war progressed the Arab oil producers announced an oil embargo against any nation which assisted Israel. The British and the Europeans responded with an arms embargo on Israel and refused to allow the transit of American arms and planes through their territories.
Eventually the Egyptian advance was halted after an immense tank battle in the Sinai, greater in the scope of forces involved than the battle of El Alamein in the Second World War. Then, in a plan devised and led by General Ariel Sharon (Israel’s present Prime Minister), the Israelis forced a bridgehead across the Canal, and established a presence on the Egyptian side which effectively encircled the Egyptian Third Army, which was still on the Sinai side of the Canal.
With combined Soviet and Arab pressure the UN Security Council now called for a ceasefire, and this was agreed. Once again Golda called for peace and recognition as a condition for withdrawal, and once again this was frustrated by international pressure. The Arabs intensified the oil embargo, cut production and raised prices astronomically. The Russians threatened to intervene on the ground if the Third Army was not released. A number of third world countries, including the Africans who had benefited from Golda’s plans for co-operative assistance, severed their diplomatic relations with Israel.
Eventually, after some months of “shuttle diplomacy” US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger negotiated agreements for “disengagement of forces” with Egypt and Syria. Both agreements required Israel to withdraw from its positions on the ground to new positions some distance back from the ceasefire lines of 1967. In effect the international realities of the “cold war” and the control of oil supplies had denied Israel the opportunity to convert victory into peace. The only achievement was an informal Egyptian agreement to clear the Canal, open it and permit traffic to Israel.
It was also a victory which had not come without sacrifice. On the Israeli side over 2,500 young men had been killed. Egypt lost more than 7,700 and Syria more than 2,000 dead. In Israel it was a time of mourning and sober re-assessment, and the government appointed a Commission led by Chief Justice Shimon Agranat to investigate Israel’s intelligence failure and lack of preparedness.
However, despite the tragedy of the war, the Labour Alignment was still returned with reduced numbers as the largest party at the election which was postponed from October to December 1973. Eventually Golda formed a coalition which took office in March 1974. In April the Agranat Commission published an interim report which very severely criticized the military leadership, but made no comment on the political responsibility of the government. Ten days after the report was released, and in the face of an outburst of mutual recrimination within the Labour Alignment, Golda Meir resigned. She was succeeded as Prime Minister by Yitzchak Rabin.
A postscript. When Anwar Sadat arrived in Jerusalem in 1977 to make his historic offer of peace in an address to the Knesset, Golda Meir was in the receiving line. Later she made a simple comment: “I am looking forward to the day when I can do my shopping in Cairo.” It was a typical Golda remark, communicating immediately the meaning of the peace which Israel longed for, and with a complete absence of rancour.
Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem also highlighted the paradox that the peace was arguably achieved because Egyptians had been able to perceive the “War of the 10th of Ramadan” as a great national achievement. On the other hand, despite the eventual hard-fought victory, Israel was badly shaken by the deaths of so many young men in the “Yom Kippur War”. In this sense Golda Meir’s resignation was typical of her leadership in the way in which it reflected the mood of the nation.
David Ben Gurion is said to have described Golda as “the only man in the Cabinet”, and she is said to have responded: “How would you like me to describe you as the only woman in the Cabinet?” The apocryphal exchange illustrates much of Golda’s reputation for toughness and clarity of vision - and her insistence on real gender equality to the point of abrasiveness. (There is another account, for example, of a time when there was an outbreak of attacks on women in the street at night, and it was suggested that the women should stay indoors. Golda’s response was that it would be fairer to impose a curfew on the men.)
Her formidable clear-sightedness did not, however, imply inflexibility. Indeed her diplomatic skill involved both the ability to convey the essence of Israel’s needs in simple and dramatic terms, and the capacity to recognize when concessions were necessary in the light of the realities of international power. This also required the courage to stand firm against coalition partners who protested against agreements for ceasefires and troop withdrawals without obtaining a formal guaranteed peace.
It was unfortunate that that Golda’s term in office ended at a time of diplomatic isolation and a low point in national morale, although she did live to enjoy the national euphoria of the peace with Egypt to which she had contributed some of the foundation. However she is perhaps most remembered for her ability to convey an understanding of the issues facing Israel with a direct eloquence, as a builder of the nation in its early years with a strong concern for those most in need, and for the trust which she inspired as a firm and steady leader in times of crisis.
NOTES
1.The “Historical context” in the Syllabus for this topic includes material in
Creation of Modern Israel,
Causes, course and consequences of the 1967 (Six-Day) War,
Causes, course and consequences of the 1973 (Yom Kippur) War, and
Attitudes and policies of the Israeli Labour and Likud parties towards the Territories.
1.The “Historical context” in the Syllabus for this topic includes material in
Creation of Modern Israel,
Causes, course and consequences of the 1967 (Six-Day) War,
Causes, course and consequences of the 1973 (Yom Kippur) War, and
Attitudes and policies of the Israeli Labour and Likud parties towards the Territories.
2.Sources for this essay, in addition to the writer’s recollection of the events, include the following:
Golda Meir, My Life(Futura Publications, London 1976.) ISBN 0 8600 7394 7
Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time (Alfred Knopf , New York 2000.) ISBN 0 679 44632 x
At 1153 pages this is the authoritative work, useful for the school library.
At 1153 pages this is the authoritative work, useful for the school library.
Martin Gilbert, Israel, A History (Doubleday, New York 1998)
ISBN 0385 404018. 750 pages.
(This article originally appeared in Teaching History, the journal of the NSW History Teachers' Association.)
ISBN 0385 404018. 750 pages.
(This article originally appeared in Teaching History, the journal of the NSW History Teachers' Association.)
No comments:
Post a Comment