Arab-Israeli Conflict

2 Peoples• Palestinians

– religion: Muslim (90%) & Christian (10%)– language: Arabic– supported by Arab countries

• Israelis– religion: mainly Jewish– language: Hebrew– supported by US and Britain

Claims to Land

IsraelisPalestinians

• Biblical promise of land to Abraham and his descendants [begets Isaac, begets Jacob a.k.a. Israel]

• Ancestors lived in area nearly 2000 years ago

• Jerusalem home to most important Jewish site—Western Wall

• Need for haven from European anti-Semitism

• Ancestors have been living in area nearly 2000 years

• Demographic majority• Bible is not a legitimate

basis for modern claim to territory

• Jerusalem home to 3rd most important Muslim site-Dome of the Rock/Al-Aqsa Mosque

Claims to the Land

Temple Mount

Israel: The Western Wall• Jerusalem is the site of the holiest

site in Judaism, remains of the earliest Temples.

• “The Western Wall is part of the retaining wall supporting the temple mount built by Herod in 20 B.C. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., Jews were not allowed to come to Jerusalem until the Byzantine period, when they could visit once a year on the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. Because of this, the wall became known as the ‘Wailing Wall.’” (http://www.levitt.com/slideshow/s01p05.html)

Western or Wailing Wall

Dome of the Rock

Al Aqsa Mosque

Zionism

Zionism

Theodore Herzl1860-1904

GOALS:The spiritual andpolitical renewal ofthe Jewish peoplein its ancestralhomeland ofPalestine.

Freedom from Western anti-Semitism.

Role of the British

McMahon-Hussein Correspondence

Hussein-McMahon Letters, 1915

....Britain is prepared to recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs in all regions lying within the frontiers proposed by the Sharif of Mecca....

Hussein ibn Ali,Sharif of Mecca

Role of the BritishRole of the British

The Balfour DeclarationThe Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration• In 1917 Britain, at the height of World War

One, agreed for its own imperial reasons agreed to sponsor the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

• Palestinians were not consulted, Lord Balfour wrote:“in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country. The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who inhabit that ancient land… In short so far as Palestine is concerned, the powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate.”

British Mandate

How did the Treaty of Versailles change the world map?

1918 - Ottoman Empire is defeated in World War I igniting widespread Turkish nationalism leading to the creation of Turkey. The League of Nations asks Britain to oversea Palestine as a mandate – a territory to be controlled by the League of Nations until ready for independence.

T. Loessin; Akins H.S.

World War Two and Holocaust

The Nazis

• In 1933 the Nazis came to power in Germany.

• Immigration exploded as Jews sought to escape Europe. Between 1933 and 1936 140,000 new immigrants arrived.

• The Palestinians believed they were being swamped.

UN Partition Plan 1947

UN Plan for Palestine (1947)• Partition (separate) the area into 2 countries• Israel (Jewish State) and Palestine (Arab State)• 55% of land goes to the Jews • 45% of land goes to the Arabs • Total Population: 1.8 million

• 1.2 million Arabs living in area • 600,000 Jews living in area

• Jerusalem:“international city” controlled by UN • Accepted by Jews• Rejected by Arabs• No Arab on committee

PLO and Terrorist Activities

1967-1971

Flag of the PLO-Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

By Arabs the PLO were seen as freedom fighters.By Jewish settlers the PLO were seen as terrorists.

Yasser Arafat- leader of the PLO from 1968 onwards.

The Palestinians (Arabs) set up a more efficient organisation to promote itself in 1964- with the assistance of the Arab League (all the Arab nations).This was the PLO – or Palestinian Liberation Organisation, based originally on the West Bank