Israeli-Palestinian conflict 1920-1948
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a political and military dispute between Israel and Palestine has become the main element of the larger Arab-Israeli conflict. This conflict, in turn, is part of larger series of Middle East conflicts, as the entire region has been and is host to many disputes and wars not involving Israel.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict summary articles chronology:
Early modern history 1920- 1948, Recent History 1948-1992, Current events 1992- present,
For an overall historical background, see Arab-Israeli conflict
WWI
The current Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its root in the deep geopolitcial changes caused by the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WWI, when the land now called Israel, Jordan, and the land referred to as Palestinian settlements, were placed under British control by mandate of the new League of Nations In 1920.
British Mandate of Palestine
The Mandate territory in 1920 included all of what would later became the State of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, a part of the Golan Heights, and the Kingdom of Jordan. The population of this area was mostlyArab, although with a growing Jewish minority (approaching 10%), and Bedouin and Druze.
In 1921, due to political complications, the territory was split up into several administrative units. The British claim to have fulfilled their mandate promise by turning an area to the east of Jordan River, consisting of 78% of the whole Mandate of Palestine, into an independent Arab Kingdom of Jordan.
Arabs opinion did not accept this arrangement as just: The British were not considerate in their reapportionment scheme, and did not fulfill their original promise to create a single unified Arab nation. This was the source of much of the Palestinian Arab and Arab resentment of British rule, and would soon extend to the growing number of Jews living on former Arab lands.
Jewish Immigration
Jews were allowed to immigrate only into the Mandate proper, and Arabs were allowed unlimited immigration into both the Jordanian part of Palestine, as well as the western quarter. In 1923 Britain transferred a part of the Golan Heights to the French mandate of Syria, in exchange for the Metula region. Arab immigration was allowed; Jewish immigration was limited by a continually decreasing quota.
Palestinian opposition to Jewish immigration
During the 1920s, 100,000 Jewish immigrants and 6,000 non-Jewish immigrants entered Palestine. Initially, increased Jewish immigration met little opposition from the local Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe, Jewish emigration to Palestine began to markedly increase, increasing the Arab resentment of the British governments immigration policies.
There was loud, and sometimes violent opposition from the Palestinian population at large. In an increasing new trend , land purchased by the Jewish agencies from absentee landlords led to the eviction of Palestinian tenants, who would be replaced by Jewish settlers.
The Olive Tree
When imigrating Jews of financial means, purchased land from the British, both ignored the long-established laws dictating rights of Palestinian ownership, which though did not often extend to the land, extended to the trees they planted. The olive tree is particularly important here as it can remain productive for over 1000 years, and represents a long family history, lifestyle, and means for making a living. This extended into lands designated for Arabs as well, often for industrialization and to make use of increasing amount of Palestinian labor.
Violence
The British government put severe limitations on the Jewish immigration to Palestine. Immigration was allowed, but up to a certain quota. Both Arabs and Jews disliked this policy, each side for its own reasons. The Palestinians would frequently riot, and commit act of violence against Jewish communities.
Two Jewish groups, the Irgun and the Stern gang carried out several acts of terrorism against British targets.
Great Uprising
In 1936 the British proposed a partition between Jewish and Arab areas, which was rejected by both the Arabs and the Zionist Congress. / External link UN.org )
In 1936-1939 came an upsurge in militant Arab nationalism, some of which was supported financially and logistically by Zionist movement organizations, to add fuel to the fire, and make Arab opposition appear to the British as delegitimized and violent relative to Zionism.
The Great Uprising came as Palestinian Arabs saw they were being marginalized in their own country. In addition to non-violent strikes and protests, some began resorting to terrorism, that would eventually leave left hundreds of Jews dead. The uprising was put down by the British force, with the concerted forces of the Jewish self-defence organization, Haganah.
The British placed restrictions on Jewish land purchases in the remaining land, to limit the socio-political damage already done. Jews alleged that this contradicted the provision of the League of Nations Mandate which said
- ...the Administration of Palestine ... shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency ... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not acquired for public purposes.
According to Jews, the British had alloted over twice as much land to Arabs, relative to Jews, and this violated the letter of the contract, though considering the relative poplulations at the time, was disproportionately in favor of Jewish settlement.
In particular, the influential mufti Haj Amin El-Husseini supported Hitler openly and convened with Nazi leaders several times. Despite being no great friend of any Arab cause, Hitler accepted Palestinian support in the hope that they would rebel against his enemies, the British, in the region, thereby advancing Hitler's military interests. Though many prominent Arab intellectuals opposed the persecution of the Jews by the hands of the Nazis including Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia, and Egyptians Tawfiq al-Hakim and Abbas Mahmoud al-Arkad, the British were eventually forced to imprison Arabs who actively supported Hitler.
During the war and after, the British forbade entry into Palestine to European Jews as a calculated move to maximise support for their cause in World War II among Arabs. The Jewish support for the anti-semitic Axis was unlikely, and the British considered it more important to sacrifice Jewish sentiment in favor of securing Arab support.
Opposing the British policy to disallow new emigrants from Europe, even until after the war was over, the Irgun in 1946 blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 91 people, and injuring hundreds more. The Jewish leadership decided to begin an illegal immigration (haa'pala) using small boats operating in secrecy. About 70,000 Jews were brought to Palestine in this way between 1946 and 1947, and a similar number were captured an imprisoned by the British while sailing.
The Holocaust, had begun to come to light, and the killing of approximately 6 million European Jews by the Nazis, had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. Seeing that the situation was quickly spiraling out of hands, the British announced their desire to terminate their mandate and to withdraw by May 1948. This decision threw Palestine into the middle of civil and ethnic unrest.
continued: Israel-Palestinian conflict (Recent history)