History of the Founding of Israel

The Balfour Declaration in 1917 had been proposed to "favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, but that nothing should be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine." (8 IMFA) In 1916 many Arab areas including Palestine were under British control which excited the Jewish population about having settlements on either side of the Jordan River, yet at the same time worried the Arab population with the incredibly quick advancements being made on their land. It seemed as though no matter who was being pleased, the other party would continue to grow uneasy with the advancements made by the other. Jewish immigration to Palestine continued to grow significantly while the British mandate remained in effect primarily due to the mass of anti-seminisitc feelings spreading throughout

Ever since Zionists (an extremist part of the Jewish population) immigrated to Palestine In the late 1800s, violence has plagued the region. The sheer numbers of Zionists moving in to Palestine scared the Arab population already living there, and fighting began. In an attempt to stop the violence spreading through Palestine, the United Nations stepped in and divided the nation into two separate states, one for the Jewish residents, and one for the Arab population. The dividing of the nations made the Arab people feel cheated, due to a larger amount of land being given to the Jewish people, even though there were less of them. Britain, which had been in control of the nation, quickly withdrew after the separation.

The Jews took to Palestine to establish their homeland and the situation worsened until the Palestinian revolution against the Zionist movement and continued British and American support for the Jews until the United Nations decided to divide Palestine into a Jewish state and another Arab. The State of Israel was declared on the land of Palestine with American and British support. The Arabs rejected this decision, while the Jews who declared their state accepted it until a war broke out that the Arabs lost. This encouraged the Jews to expand and occupy more Palestinian land. Where the Zionist government stripped the Arabs of Palestine from their land.

These attacks brought fear to the Jews and lead to the aforementioned movement where the Jews sought to re-establish their homeland of Palestine, or currently known as Israel, since they would be safe in a state of their own. Soon after the first World War, the British, in need of soldiers, made conflicting promises to colonial subjects, such as the Jews, with the Balfour Declaration. The declaration acknowledged the establishment of a Jewish

The Jewish religion makes Israel’s culture in 722 B.C. - 540 B.C. distinctive. Israel’s religion is important in the fact that it started the Catholic culture. Though most Christians do not do the same things the Jews did back then, the bases for their beliefs and ideas came from the Jews. The Israelites’ way of life was influenced by their religion. They maintained their faith even when they were being exiled. Their work, customs, laws, and other things were all influenced by their Jewish religion. The geography of Southern Israel was also important in the way that the location affected their way of life and work. These folkways and work are important since their religion influenced them. Religion was their structure of life.

In 1948, the British mandate announced their intentions to terminate its mandate in Palestine due to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews. Britain faced difficulties trying to bring peace to Palestine. After the British mandate left Palestine, the Jewish people declared the establishment of a Jewish state (Israel). On the same day, Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq intervened and this marked the first Arab-Israeli war. After this war, over 800,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees as a result of the independence of Israel. Also, Jews in the Arab countries were made to abandon their properties and flee.

“The Zionists came and destroyed a sovereign Palestinian State and then kicked out all of its inhabitants forcing them to be perennial refugees. Just as bad the Zionists then erased all vestiges of this ancient Palestinian State and built their Imperialistic Racist State on the ruins of Palestine. This all happened in 1948 – 1949. There will never peace in the Middle East until the Zionist entity is destroyed and the indigenous Palestinian people are allowed to reestablish their state of

The key episodes that established leadership among Israel are the accounts of their tribulations while in the wilderness and God’s responses. Starting in Number Chapter 11 the Israelites are beginning to complain about their misfortunes. It was not clear to scholars whether the Israelites were complaining to Moses or to God. Either way God herd their complaints and took it as if they were toward him. In return to their complaints God “burned against them”. “Then the fire of the Lord burned against them. And consumed some outlying parts of the camp”. Mosses then asked God to cease the fire in prayer and God did. “But the people cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated”.

There they waited to be admitted to places like the United States, South Africa, or Palestine. At first, many countries continued their old immigration policies, which greatly limited the number of refugees they would accept. The British government, which controlled Palestine, refused to let large numbers of Jews in. Many Jews tried to enter Palestine without legal papers, and when caught some were held in camps on the island of Cyprus, while others were deported back to Germany. Great Britain's scandalous treatment of Jewish refugees added to international pressures for a homeland for the Jewish people. Finally, the United Nations voted to divide Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. Early in 1948, the British began withdrawing from Palestine. On May 14, 1948, one of the leading voices for a Jewish homeland, David Ben-Gurion, announced the formation of the State of Israel. After this, Jewish refugee ships freely landed in the seaports of the new nation. The United States also changed its immigration policy to allow more Jewish refugees to enter.

With little resistance possible against the German persecution, tensions heightened between the Zionists and the British in 1940 as a direct result of the continued British opposition of securing Jewish statehood despite Zionist offers to form Jewish fighting units with the British against the Germans. Consequently, the Jewish Agency’s efforts to rescue Jews from Europe and transport them to Palestine were prevented by sinking illegal transport ships filled with refugees, resulting in the formation of several underground paramilitary groups such as the Irgun and LEHI. By building up the supply of weapons, conducting guerilla attacks on local British forces and police, and by arranging the illegal entry of refugees from Europe, Jewish fighters and Zionist leaders were able to help thousands of Holocaust survivors break the British blockade and reach Palestine between 1945 and 1948. Additionally, Bickerton and Klausner point to the success of the Yishuv in creating a situation that forced the British to take the issue to the UN and subsequent activities related to Europe’s Jewish displaced persons, as being highly influential to the formation of Israel after the Holocaust. The Yishuv, fired by shame, agony and

Over the next 20 years, the number of Jews immigrating to Palestine increased due to the Zionist movemnt, and so did Arab-Jewish tensions. From 1936-1939, a large group of Arabs revolted. This revolt was led by leaders who were unwilling to give any Palestine land for the establishment of a Jewish nation (Cottrell 32-35). After this revolt and the growing Zionist movement, it would have seemed apparent to the United Nations that the Arabs and Jews in Palestine needed to be separated. So although the United Nations did pass Resolution 181 which essentially created the Jewish nation, Israel, the United Nations merely carried out the legislature that was promised from the Balfour Declaration of the British government. By not being able to peacefully live together, the Arabs and Jews of Palestine themselves ended up playing a role in the separation and partition of Palestine

While the Bedouin communities did not particularly agree with the Turks, they did opt to fight against the British. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, the former territory was divided up among British and French to establish mandates. While the British government had made several promises to both Arabs and Zionists, it became clear that the favored result was the creation of the Jewish state in Palestine. Britain was placed in charge of the Palestine and the Negev through the Balfour Declaration, which was an agreement that Britain would remain in control of Palestine until it could be declared as a Jewish state. Arab groups including Bedouin, were not pleased with the traditional lands being divided up between them and the new Jewish population. Plans were organized by the UN that called for land to be divided between the two groups, however neither side fully agreed on the terms of the proposal. While disagreements began about the idea of a Jewish state, the Bedouin found themselves in yet another position that involved the dispersal of their traditional

In this book Michael Cohen concentrates on the last crucial years of the British Mandate, precisely on 1945-48. This book is a sequel of his earlier volume, the British retreat from the Mandate from 1936-45. The book describes the British, American and Zionist policy making process and these main characteristics and personalities based on mainly primary sources. As a general rule, during these years the British and the United States were constantly negotiating with each other about the problem. They had several committees and plans, take for instance the Anglo-American Report or the Morrison- Grady plan, but they were unable to form an ambiguous policy due to their domestic issues. The Arabs and the Zionists tried to influence the Great Powers’ decision making process from the peripheries in which the Zionists lobby seemed to be more successful. The will of the Arabs played an unimportant role. It has to be said that the impact of the Holocaust and the European refugee problem made the Zionists win in the long run. From 1947 onwards the Brits took a backseat and the Palestine issue remained in the hands of the United Nations. On 29, November, 1947 the General Assembly adopted the Resolution 181 which meant partition with the support of the Soviet Union and the United States. In fact, the Great Powers made a decision about Palestine, but they refused to carry it out by force. The implementation of the plan was left to the residents, which inevitably meant an armed

in 1918 britain aided by the arabs captured palestine from the the ottoman turks but britain had now made too many promises that hey couldn't keep . Many Arabs opposed British troops because of England's failure to fulfill its promise and were also getting angry about the increase of jewish migrating to palestine. Arabs became concerned that Jewish immigration would threaten their position in Palestine which lead to large scale attacks on the jews. At the time of Hitler's dictatorship in Germany, Jewish immigration increased dramatically in 1933. An Arab revolt started which Britain suppressed with the help of Zionist militias. Zionist settlements climaxed in 1936. In 1947, Britain forbid Jewish refugees from nazi concentration camps to land in Palestine to prevent war between Jews and Arabs, which resulted in worldwide criticism of Britain. Britain withdrew itself from the situation handing over the mandate over Palestine, leaving the United Nations to deal with the situation. The United Nations proposed that Palestine was divided into two states, one for the Arabs and one for the Jews, however the Arabs opposed this idea claiming that the UN plan allotted too much territory to the Jews. the arabs thought it was unfair that the jews should get more land because the arabs were by far the larger population but because of the holocaust the was a lot of sympathy for the jews and this may be why the got more land.

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).