Palestine up until
1939
By Hugh, Imogen and Leann
Introduction
• Non-existent in modern society – currently known as Israel
• Palestinians lived in Palestine for the past 2000 years under
different rulers
• Descendants of the Canaanites and the Edomites (1517 –
Ottoman Empire)
• Mainly argiculture
• Many religions – attracted pilgrims and welcomed them
• Harmony – multi-cultural, multi-confessional
• 19th century – pan-Arab nationalism movement began to take
shape
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People began to feel hope for an Arab independent state.
National identity for the Arabs
Arabs unhappy with the peace treaties
1920 – First Arab group came together to go against Zionism
Jewish Home in Palestine
• 1881 - First group to propose idea – Hovevei Zion (Lovers of
Zion) after being persecuted
• First wave of immigrants called the First Aliyah
• By end of 19th century – a number of small, Jewish
settlements totaling an estimated 4,500 inhabitants
• Early settlements maintained peaceful relations with locals and
went largely unnoticed
• 1896 – Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State which began
Zionist movement
• Jewish people should have a national home to avoid persecution
as a minority in other nations
• 1917 – UK back Jewish national home through Balfour
Declaration
Jewish Home
• Financial backing from National Jewish Fund to purchase
Palestinian land
• Goal for Jews to outnumber Palestinians
• Land purchased not to be resold to non-Jews
• Employers encouraged not to employ Palestinians to force them
out of area
• Ideological justification – Jewish Biblical history showed that
Jews had lived in Palestine previously
• Moral justification – show that land belonged to no one
• Reject Palestinian nationhood
• “A land without people for a people without land.”
Jewish Organization
• Establish common history, common language, and common
religion as cornerstone for future Jewish nation
• 1906 – First Jewish political parties, Hebrew newspapers, and
collective farms established
• 1909 – Jewish militia called Hashomer established
• 1922 – League of Nations ratified Palestinian mandate
• Article 4 - “an appropriate Jewish Agency would advise and cooperate with the administration for the purpose of establishing
the Jewish National Home”
Hostilities Between Jews and
Palestinians
• Local Palestinians were Arabs
• Palestinians angered at Jewish buy up of land and refusal to
employ locals
• Anger turned to violence which caused Jewish retaliation
resulting in British intervention
• British arrested perpetrators which made them unpopular
with the Palestinians
• British set up a number of commissions to find cause of
violence
• Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary group, was established to fight
the Palestinians and protect Jewish farmers
Hostilities
• UK government published “White Paper” which said that
Britain did "not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should
be converted into a Jewish National Home, but that such a
home should be founded in Palestine”
• Recommendations made such as controlling the amount of
land purchased by Jews
• Recommendations caused riots and move from militia to
underground army
Social/Economic Development
• From 1930 to 1935 – Jewish population doubled
• From 1931 to 1935, Tel Aviv expanded from 46,000 to 135,000
• By end of 1930s – Jews made up 1/3 of people in Palestine
• Many immigrants were highly skilled but fleeing from antiSemitic persecution
• Brought skills and wealth to Palestinian economy
• Haifa, the terminus of the oil pipelines linking Mosul to the
Mediterranean became major industrial center
Uneven Economic Growth
• Palestinian farmers could not compete with imported goods
and so were forced to sell land and leave to other nations
• Between 1922 and 1947
• Annual growth of Jewish sector was 13.2% while Palestinian
annual growth was 6.5%
• Investment in Jewish establishments were at 12.1 million pounds
while in Palestinian establishments they were at 2 million pounds
• By 1936 – average Jewish worker made 2.6 times more than
the average Palestinian worker
• Economic difference caused Palestinian resentment of Jews
Social/Cultural Growth
• 1919 – Centralized Hebrew school system
• 1925 – Two Hebrew universities
• 1932 – Jewish literacy rate at 86% while Palestinian literacy
rate at 22%
Great Arab Revolt of 19361939
• Triggered by murders of two Jews – retaliation by murder of
two Palestinians
• Mob attacks on communities and guerilla attacks on British
installations
• Arab Higher Committee formed and demands made
• Stop Jewish immigration
• End transferal of land to Jewish owners
• Representative government based on democratic rules
• Palestinians became more organized with better tactics and
long term objectives
• Destruction of crops, pipelines, and roads
Revolt
• Irgun formed – in response to Palestinian revolt
• “The national military organization in the land of Israel”
• Ideology demonstrates the two communities’ inability to
harmonize
• British officials later became targets
• Revolt caused deaths of 101 Britons, 463 Jews, and
approximately 5000 Palestinians
British White Paper of 1939
• Much retribution from the British caused many arrests,
imprisonments, executions, causing collapse of Arab national
movement
• Arab-Palestinian national identity formed after unity from
Palestinians
• Britain convinced of existence of Palestinian national response
• White Paper challenged the idea of a ‘Jewish state’
• White Paper proposed:
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Limit of 15,000 Jews a year for 5 years
Acceptance of 25,000 refugees
Only specific zones of land could be handed to Jews
Palestine would be settled with independence within ten years
• Zionists disagreed with British promise, prompting them to look
elsewhere for support