Emergent Nationalism in the Middle EastThe Struggle for Palestine

OVERVIEW

In this lesson we examine:• The background of the Zionist movement• The conflict over Palestine• Long-term effects of the 1948 Arab-Israeli

War

Background of Zionism• From 990BCE-597BCE,

the Jews ran the city states of Judah and Israel

• After 597BCE, the Jewish ‘Diaspora’ spread throughout the Middle East and Europe

• During the 18th century, European Jews attempted assimilation into European society

• During the 19th century, increased anti-Semitism in European forced many Jews to immigrate to the US or Palestine

• In 1896, Theodor Herzl proposed the creation of a Jewish state as a solution for anti-Semitism.

• Zionists were able to secure the Balfour Declaration of 1917 by the British government towards the creation of a “national home” in Palestine

Why would the British government support a Jewish state in the context of WWI?

The conflict over Palestine

Context Question:

What factors led to an increase in Jewish immigration from 1919-1947?

From 1922-1939, the Arab population rioted against continued Jewish immigration. As WWII approached, what options did the

British have?

Support the Jews

By supporting the Jews, the British would risk

losing support from the Arabs, potentially

threatening their supply of oil and access to India

via the Suez Canal

Support the Arabs

By supporting the Arabs, the British

would be rejecting the Balfour Declaration and lose the support of the

Zionists in Western countries

On what major reasons could Palestinian Arabs have laid claim to the

territory?

• The Holocaust had increased sympathy for the Jews

• Jews illegally immigrated to Palestine, reaching 600,000 by 1948

• Jewish terrorists attacked British targets in Palestine

During and after WWII, the British attempted to limit Jewish immigration to Palestine as

per the White Paper of 1939. Several factors worked against them:

The UN proposed the following plan in November 1947:

• Divide Palestine into two states: Israel and Palestine

• Jerusalem would become an international city run by the UN

Why would the Jews approve of the plan while the Arabs would reject it?

On May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was declared. How did neighbouring Arab states

react and what was the result?

• Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon launched attacks on Israel

• Israel defeated all Arab forces and expanded its territory beyond the partition plan

• About 750,000 Palestinian refugees flooded into neighbouring Arab states

Long-term effects

The outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War would be unresolved in several ways:

• Arab states would seek vengeance• Palestinian refugees had limited rights in

host countries• Israel would begin settlements of territories

occupied outside of the UN partition plan