Israel-Palestine Conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict is an interment and ongoing series of clashes between the Jewish nation of Israel and the Arab Palestinians, allied with some of the surrounding Arab countries. The conflict has, in some form or another, lasted the whole of the 20th century, and a solution still remains elusive.

Beginnings

The conflicts origins trace back to the late 19th century. In response to the ongoing anti-Semitism in Europe, Jews such as Theodore Herzl began to advocate the return of Jews to their ancient homeland of Israel, known to its Arab inhabitants and most of the world as Palestine. This idea soon became known as Zionism. Zionism gained a following among some Jews, and in 1897 the first Zionist conference was held in Basel, Switzerland. Inspired by Zionist ideas, several tens of thousands of Jews had immigrated to Palestine by the start of World War I.

At the end of that War, the Muslim Ottoman Empire, which had been in control of Palestine, and indeed much of the Middle East, was dissolved. Palestine became a mandated territory of Great Britain. During World War I, British Foreign Minster Arthur Balfour had issued the Balfour Declaration, a statement that Britain supported the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, as long as the civil rights of the Arab population were preserved.

Following its handover to the British, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased greatly. Between 1915 and 1931, British Palestine recieved almost as many Jewish immigrants as it had in the entire time before World War I. This alarmed the Arabs, and tensions between the two communities increased, leading to rioting on several occasions in the 1920's and 1930's. At this time, British officials looking for a solution to the problem began to propose the division of Palestine into Jewish and Arab components. Since Jews and Arabs were both scattered throughout the country, and since both would want control of the holy city of Jerusalem, dividing the country up proved to be a practically unsolvable problem. The British also implemented measures restricting further Jewish immigration to Palestine, in hopes of comforting Arab fears of a demographic takeover and reducing tensions.

The problem, however, wasn't going away. In 1933, the extremely anti-Semitic Nazi party, led by Adolph Hitler, came to power in Germany, which, at the time, had a fairly large Jewish population. The Nazis immediately passed laws discriminating against German Jews, going so far as to strip them of German citizenship. For many of Germany's Jews, immigration to Palestine became an ever more attractive option.

Hitler's influence did not remain only in Germany for long. In 1938, Hitler forced the nations of Austria and Czechoslovakia to submit to German rule. In 1939, he invaded Poland, starting World War II. During this War, Hitler's Germany took over most of Europe and held it for a four to five year period. Hitler took his anti-Semitic ideas to their horrific conclusion, murdering over six million people-the majority of Europe's Jewish population, in the Holocaust

The implications for Palestine were profound. Jews attempting to flee Nazi brutality saw Palestine as a potential refuge, and in the period leading up to the war, immigration to Palestine had increased dramatically. After the war, most of Europe's surviving Jews had lost their homes and livelihoods, and needed a new place to rebuild their lives. The Holocaust had also had a profound psychological effect on the Jews-many, rightly or wrongly, believed that their non-Jewish neighbors had been complicit in their persecution, or at least allowed it to happen. They began to feel that they would never be truly safe an any country were they were a minority-which, at the time, was everywhere in the world. Many began to see Zionism as the solution, and what was once a minority opinion among Jews quickly became mainstream. The number of Jews wishing to go to Palestine exploded.

Tensions, meanwhile, between Arabs and Jews in Palestine had likewise gone through the roof. The British had completely closed Palestine to Jewish immigration in the years leading up to World War II-a move designed to placate the Arabs, who feared being made a minority in their own country, but which infuriated the Jews. Jewish terrorist groups such as Irgun and the Stern Gang were formed to throw off British rule and establish a Jewish state by force. They attacked the British as well as the Arab population, who they saw as enemies conspiring against the Jewish people. In 1946, Irgun bombed the southern wing of the King David Hotel, in Jerusalem, which the British had established as their headquaters. Ninety-one people were killed.