Yesterday’s event regarding the Balfour Declaration was given by Charles Smith. The 100th year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration serves as a great reminder of the cornerstone to the existence of the Israeli state today. Dr. Smith argues that, at the time, Lord Balfour’s letter was written to Rothschild favoring a national home in Palestine. Which is what many Zionists wanted; a state in all of Palestine, not just a national home. He discusses to key elements that helped the Jewish movement further push for the Balfour Declaration’s implementation. These were the European Jewish relations within Europe at the time, which marginalized the Jewish communities. Also, European imperialism, with respect to the British, is an important point …show more content…
Smith explained that colonization had meant an existing state, and Zionism was unique in the sense that Jews had no state. He brings up that leaders like Ben Gurion and Jabotinsky, two very different political Zionists, recognized the existence of Palestinians in Palestine at the time they were pushing for the promises of the Balfour Declaration. The Zionist vision was to ally itself with British ambitions and become a state against barbarism in a region with “backwards people.” Dr. Smith brings up the other promises made by the British alongside the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The Hussein-McMahon deal promising Arabs a united state if they revolted against the Ottoman. Yet also promising the French land in the region through the Sykes-Picot Agreement. However, these promises were unrealistic given that the British had their own interests in mind. Weizmann, one of the leaders of Zionism, had strong relations with the British government. Him and Balfour saw a Jewish state as an outpost of European superiority over the region in the Middle East. The Balfour Declaration had several drafts and the final draft called for the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish national home. The Balfour Declaration served a great deal at the peace conference later on, which worked in obligation for the Jews. Recognizing that Palestine was a unique situation when it came to the mandates, there was a plan to turn the 10% Jewish minority in Palestine to a majority that would lead to a Jewish
Within the span of a few years, the political, social, and cultural climate in Palestine was whiplashed from being under the control of the Ottoman Empire, to colonization and state building by Jewish immigrants from the diaspora, to British rule through mandate, and finally the establishment of the Israeli state. The rhetoric that was used in both Zionist and Arab Palestinian propaganda created a situation that was very complex under the surface, and needs to be approached with delicate care. Taking this into consideration, as historians it is important to remain as objective as possible when reading documents from both the Jewish and Arab side because they both will show a view of the conflict that will benefit them most. As situations change, so will these views and the tone of newspapers and consumerism will change along with it.
This was a result of the Balfour declaration, which promised a homeland to the Jews and vowed to protect the rights of non-Jewish people in Palestine. While Britain kept control over Palestine, remaining states such as Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria gained independence. The Balfour declaration essentially triggered a Zionist movement and encouraged Jews to migrate to Israel – altering the demographics of Palestine, as Arabs had previously been the majority population. As conflict between the Arab and Jewish population started emerging, the “Irgun” emerged as a Jewish guerrilla force. Eventually the British withdrew after World War 2 in 1948 and left Israel more land than agreed on under the UN plan and this enforced the repositioning of thousands of Palestinians. In response, the Arab nations rejected the state of Israel and its claims over Palestine and conflict was physically ignited in the 1956 Israel invasion of Sinai. This demonstrates how the violent conflict between the Arab and Jewish communities is largely caused by the political and social contentions of the
When Harry Truman became President, the last thing on his mind was creating a viable solution to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. WW II had not ended in Europe, the world's first nuclear weapon was being created, and tensions were rising with the Cold War. In addition to these developing problems, few around the world saw what would be the longest lasting conflict of them all. It was this problem that Truman ultimately failed at resolving. Right before the end of World War I, Britain passed what soon to be called the Balfour Declaration. It was this document that would stir up trouble for decades to come. Right before the start of World War II, the League of Nations entrusted Britain with the Mandate of Palestine.After
Britain began to support Jewish immigration to the area because of a few key reasons. Foremost was the destruction of enemies and gaining of allies. Britain looked to help the Arabs establish independent states as a way to gain support against the Ottomans (Immell 16). Britain also wanted to assist the Jews in their transition to Palestine because it felt Russia would be grateful for such a maneuver with its own population (17). Of course, Britain didn’t want to make new enemies in this process. They decided to stay as neutral as possible, doing so through the Balfour Declaration, issued in 1917. This document encouraged a Jewish homeland in Palestine without being a detriment to the rights of Arabs in the region – a clever but difficult balance between both sides (Immell 17). As many politicians discover, it was because of Britain’s awkward, double-edged stance that it found it to be a struggle to support both sides. Instead of focusing on both at the same time, Britain bounced from interest to interest, shifting its focus by favoring both sides at different times (Immell 19). Thus Great Britain’s investment in the affairs of Palestine declined.
With the rise of anti-Semitism and the pogroms targeting European Jews in the late 1800s, there were many Jewish theorists and practitioners arose to find the ultimate solution for “the Jewish question”. In addition, the derived tension between the personal life of a Jew and the public life amongst secular society was the main challenge facing European Jewry. As a result of the long-term process through which Jews attempted to resolve the tension between their personal and public lives in a secular society wrought with anti-Semitism, the Zionist Movement emerged on the world scene lead by many intellectual and respected key figures. Among them, Theodore Herzl and Ahad Ha’Am were the two most prominent Zionist leaders. They both shared the same idea of nationalism where it was time for all European Jews to unite and be recognized as a nation. Although having a sense of national consciousness to unite the displaced Jews, their visions were completely opposite. The Zionist Idea, a text by Arthur Hertzberg, described their different visions in term of mass evacuation, statehood, religion, and culture.
The Balfour Declaration allowed for the establishment of a new Jewish national homeland called Israel and the striping of land from the native Palestinians. Ironically, this declaration came at a time when the idea of self-determination was beginning to be recognized (Hisham, 1990). During an address to the United States Senate in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson highlighted that:
The first reading was about the origins of Zionism, and it was a portion of Theodor Herzl’s pamphlet discussing the importance of and the benefits of establishing a Jewish state. Written in the late 19th century, it was clear from the pamphlet that anti-Semitism had been a problem in Europe for centuries, and this was Herzl’s solution to that problem. This is significant because it displayed the reasons behind Zionism and the Jewish population’s feelings about constantly facing discrimination in Europe.
Zionism is a Jewish national and political movement that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel (the “Holy Land”). The movement was emerged in the end of the 19th century in Europe. Over time, different Zionism ideological movements was raised, but all of them considered Theodor Herzl as the founder of the Zionist movement. The ancient main goal of all the Zionist movements, as Herzl partly imposed in his book, “The Jewish State”, was to create the desired Jewish sovereignty in the state of Israel, ingathering of the exiles, and saw it as a solution of the anti-semitic discrimination and persecution that cured in the
During the period of 1915-1948 the British Policy toward Palestine and the creation of Israel changed frequently in the period of 1915-1948. This can be seen in many documents and reports of the British Government and their correspondences with the Jewish, Arabs and German in their quest to gain allies and an independent Jewish State. Some of these documents include Der Judenstaat, The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate by the League of Nations and the British White Papers. The first push toward an independent Jewish State began in 1896 with the publication of a pamphlet called Der Judenstaat, written by Theodor Herzl. In Der Judenstaat, Herzl aspires for a peaceful creation of an independent
A year before the Balfour Declaration, the British had secretly promised the French that they would divide up the Arab territories and the Brits would keep Palestine. Furthermore, in 1915, other British officials had promised the ruler of Mecca, Sharif Hussein, that he would rule over an Arab state including Palestine if he led an Arab revolt against Ottoman rule, which Hussein promptly did, so basically the Brits had promised Palestine to the Meccans, to themselves, and to the Zionists. What could go wrong? So shortly after the end of the war, the British established a colony in Palestine with the idea that they'd rule until the Palestinians were ready to govern themselves, at which point, the people living in Palestine were like, " Well,
The objective of Zionists was to elevate the Jewish people from their oppressed past, to “reverse” the course of Jewish history which had been characterized by persecution and exile. They sought, in the extremes, to break with Jewish history entirely and create a modern version of the Hebrew nation. On the whole, however, Zionists intended to reshape Jewish life by synthesizing Jewish tradition and history with modern ideology (Dowty, 1998).
A similar act of contradiction such as the Sykes-Picot, was the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British foreign secretary, Arthur James Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild a leader of the British Jewish community, which was then forwarded to the Zionist federation of Great Britain and Ireland. Palestine had a religious significance to the Jews and they had sought it as a viable place to establish a homeland. The
But it turned out the british couldn’t keep their promise when it came to Palestine. Because a year before the Balfour Declaration the british had secretly promised the french that they would divide the arab territories and the brits would keep Palestine. Furthermore in 1915 other
According to Jeanne Kuebler, a journalist for CQ Researcher states, “The first World Zionist Congress, … spurred the Return movement; the aim of the congress … was to create a national home in Palestine for the Jewish people”(Kuebler). Prior to the Congress, Jewish people fled their former homeland of Palestine for various reasons. Following the Return movement and World War II, support for this resurgence would be recognized by various countries. Great Britain colonized Palestine, to push forth the plans of the Balfour Treaty, which insisted that Palestine would be a nation for Jewish people. Since the declaration was made, a mass emigration to Palestine was immediate. Although there was a cap of 75,000 Jewish immigrants, others found ways around the system finding ways to Palestine leading to a higher number of immigrants in Palestine than the maximum allowed by Great Britain. As Palestinians demanded their own dependence from the Jewish nation, Great Britain was unable to create this which led to a series of terrorist attack against the Jewish residents. Great Britain sought the help of the Leagues of Nations, which suggested a split into two nations (Brewer).
One of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century was the sudden creation of the Jewish state. It had been the dream of almost every Jew to have their own nation in which they would be free from persecution but its very creation appeared to be beyond human possibility. Almost 6 million Jews been viciously massacred under the “Final Solution” Plan of Nazi Germany and the remaining were dispossessed refugees. The small communities in Palestine faced fierce Arab resentment and British had disallowed any further immigration. Even when the state was finally declared in May 1948,