Jewish Immigration to Palestine 1945-1948 Essay

For ages the Jewish population did not have a place to call home. They had been wandering around deserts, were once slaves in Egypt, but didn’t have any land to their name. Following the Holocaust, after many Jews had been persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis, a good portion of the overall amount of Jews in the world let alone Europe had been exterminated. As a result, Harry Truman and the UN suggested Israel, a homeland for the Jews. Tensions had been growing throughout the beginning of the 20th Century regarding the Palestinian area in the Middle East. This area was off to the side of Asia, near Africa. When the Jews and Arabs were offered part of this land, war broke out and still continues today. Even though a war happened as a result

Throughout the history of America, there has always been a influx of Jews from Europe. Even though Emma Lazarus wrote her poem after the massive immigration of German Jews to America, her poem can be used to describe the Jewish Immigrants. Many German Jews arrived in New York " tired ... poor... [and] yearning to breathe free." While New York City was still a hub for German Jewish immigrants, some had also moved to Atlanta and more Western states. Several of the German Jewish families who immigrated to America will forever have their names etched into her history, through their central role as entrepreneurs in America's expanding clothing industry. They began from humble careers and worked their way up the proverbial food chain. Once

As of recent years, with the rise of right-wing, nationalistic politicians in Israel, the hunger for settlement of Palestine has increased. Seeing the land as theirs to take, more and more Jewish settlements have been improved and expanded on in the West Bank, culminating and high profile confrontations between the new Jewish settlers and the Palestinian

This investigation assesses to the direct effects by the 1919 British Mandate System on Palestine. Tis investigation will discuss the tensions between the Zionists and Arabs and what role the British played in the conflict. It will also discuss the overlying events during the mandate of Palestine. This investigation will not discuss the Mandate System as a whole or other parts of the world being affected by it. The investigation is solely focusing on the impact on Palestine by the British Mandate.

The big question we ask ourselves today is, will Israel and Palestine ever agree to stop fighting? The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been traced all the way back to 1948 through 2005 in The Israel Palestine Land Settlement Problem, written by Charles Rowley and Jennis Taylor. However, this conflict did not end in 2005. This article was written in 2006, so anything within the last 10 years is not included. The conflict between the two counties still continues to this day and still remains a major problem. Israelis and Arabs have been fighting over Gaza on and off for decades now. The three issues laid out in this article are the four major wars that took place, the refugee problem, and the conflict between religions. It concludes with the road map to peace. Throughout his whole book, The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Gelvin speaks of the same historical events that occurred between Israel and Palestine, while the article reveals there are still other conflicts, the land settlement problem has been the major conflict between Israel and Palestine since 1948.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most controversial conflicts in modern history. The expansion of Israel since 1947 is seen as the beginning of the conflict, although its origins go back to the end of the 19th century, when Jewish immigration to Palestine began to increase. Since the start of the conflict, several peace negotiations have been carried out, resulting in variable degrees of success.

The scattering a Jews beyond Israel has been a reoccurring pattern of events in history. Essential Jewish practice and creation of cultural identity has formed far from Jerusalem, despite the Torah’s vital theme of longing for the Promise Land. The idea that Jews are outsiders is ingrained in Jewish culture and identity Jerusalem faces being exiled too because it is “merely an extension of Western colonialism,” from its neighboring countries. However, today Jews are starting to close the chapter in history of exile and statelessness by returning to the Promise Land but this doesn’t mean that the Diaspora is coming to an end. Jewish history has continuous movement that caused great triumph and sadness. The issue that Jews have faced for so long is not having a home, power, and a sense of belonging because of the continuous exiling and persecution they face, at home and away, while still trying to create an identity for themselves.

In the early stages of the Zionist movement, Theodore Herzl, the founder and “Father of Zionism”, negotiated with Britain, a major world power at the time, to give up five thousand square miles of Uganda. In 1903, this idea was brought to the Zionists, which offered geographical protection and isolation from Russia. These negotiations, however, came to a halt when Herzl died in 1904. Months later, however, the cause did find potential in the area of Palestine. Palestine was remote enough that Jews had geographical protection and had suitable weather for agricultural purposes. Similarly, Palestine was religiously significant because it contained the holy land of Jerusalem. As a result, in a span of twelve years (1902-1914), the Zionists move around 70,000 Jews within two migration periods known as the First and Second Aliyahs. These major movements gave the Jews the manpower they needed to make a serious threat to the Palestinian forces. Nevertheless, WWI put a halt in the Zionist efforts until the end of the war in 1917.

One of the major concerns was the Arabs already living on the land the Jewish wanted to populate. Among the players who had different views was Ze’Ev Jabotinsky, a Jewish nationalist and the founder of the Revisionist Zionism. The Revisionist advocated that the Land of Israel should be encompassed all the land within the Palestine mandate and the immediate Jewish right to political sovereignty over the entire area. The Revisionists wanted to maintain the “territorial integrity” of the Land of Israel and objected to the partition of Palestine and advocated for the establishment of Israel on both banks of the River Jordan. Jabotinsky suggested that it was the “moral right” of the Jewish people to return to Palestine and the world had already “acknowledged this right.” Further, Revisionists believed it was impossible to have an agreement with the Arabs as long as they hope they could create their own independent state. Consequently, the Jewish must create a state regardless of the Palestinians resistance secured by an “Iron Wall” which would be unbreakable by the Palestinians. The iron wall would lead to a peace resolution with the Arabs after which the Jewish state would give them “civil and national rights.” Revisionist Zionism adamantly advocated the creation of a strong Jewish state to guarantee and protect the

America, like most countries, builds walls to keep immigrants out. Israel, in contrast, measures how a year’s success based on the number of immigrants that make their way to their country (Senor & Singer, 2009). In Israel, nine out of ten Jewish Israelis are first or second generation immigrants, making the majority of the country either foreign born or directly related to someone who is. In comparison to the United States, “Israel is a country of immigrants and, much like New York of the 19th Century, it is this ‘melting pot’ that has encouraged the entrepreneurial spirit and enabled businesses and commerce to flourish” (Seal, 2011, p. 1). Because of this, Israel’s essence as a country can truly be encapsulated by its perspective and policy

However, when faced with the true reality of the situation, it seems simple to reach the conclusion that the British, and to some extent the United States, put aside the events of the Holocaust in favour of securing oil interests over an aggressive Soviet expansion, thus delaying the inevitable establishment of the Israeli state. Nevertheless, it is of great importance that the American and British political stances be analysed. Firstly it is essential to note the Jewish presence within the United States. Despite 1.5 million Jews being assimilated into society, anti-Semitism still existed with Jews being excluded from joining certain organisations and clubs and restrictive immigration laws operating under a quota system, thus limiting the number of Jews admitted. Despite this however, Zionist leaders saw it as essential that they enlist the American Jewish population in an attempt to get US government support for a Jewish state. In terms of the American view of Palestine, prior to the war the American government had regarded Palestine as a British responsibility. However, by March 1943, the US state department became concerned about

The investigation assesses demographic shifts to Palestine in the context of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. It more specifically inquires about the impact of Jewish immigration on Palestine in terms of the effects it had on Jewish-Arab relationships in Palestine. It seeks to determine the extent the third, fourth, and fifth aliyahs of 1919-1939 had on the economic development of the Israeli State and its social implications. Monographs and general texts will be used to provide background on the conflict, including the rise of Zionism, the British Mandate, the White Paper, and the Peel Commission. This context will also be used to critically analyze the role of Jewish immigration to Palestine and the role it played in land reforms, rioting, and the implementation of restrictions set by the British government on Palestine. Two secondary sources, William L. Cleveland’s A History of the Modern Middle East and Howard M. Sachar’s A History of

Pappe documents the events that led to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their lands, beginning with the Zionist vision from the partition plan, forward. Also, Pappe uses oral history to fill the gaps in the Palestinians narrative, along with military archives, and Ben-Gurion’s diary. The Jewish National Fund contained files that were used to systematically eliminate Arab villages, and Plan D provides the

In the years just after World War II, Zionism (the desire to rebuild a Jewish national presence in the Promised Land) became a popular Jewish cause all around the world. Many Jews who were not practicing Judaism at all with religion became involved with the establishment of the State of Israel. Even today, many years after the successful founding of the State of Israel, there are Jews whose only real tie to Judaism is their belief in Zionism and their support for the State of Israel. They are joined by many Jews who are members of synagogues and support a modern Jewish religious movement, but who also find their prime identity as Jews in the Zionist cause.

Tensions between the Arabs and Zionists started after the 1800’s when the immigration of the European Jews to Palestine was on the increase. The population of Palestine from 1882-1883 was 468,000 and the population consisted of 408 Muslims, 44,000 Christians and 15,000 Jews. During this time Palestine was under the Ottoman Empire.