The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Judaism
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Judaism
• Anti-Semitism
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
• Judaism
• Anti-Semitism
• Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a nationalist Jewish political
movement that, in its broadest sense, calls for
the self-determination of the Jewish people
and a sovereign, Jewish national homeland.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel,
the Zionist movement continues primarily to
support and advocate on behalf of the Jewish
state, and its current existence.
Theodor Herzl (1860 - 1904)
• Born in Budapest,
lived in Vienna
• A Journalist
• Paris
correspondent for
Austrian
newspaper
Der Judenstaat, Theodor Herzl
(1896)
• Problem = antiSemitism
• Assimilation into
Europe is a proven
failure
• Solution = A national
home for the Jews
The Middle East, pre WW1
Herzl negotiates for territory
• With the Ottoman
Sultan for a state in
Palestine
• With the British for
a state in Cyprus,
the Sinai peninsula,
El Arish, Uganda
WW1: The Entente vs. The Central
Powers
The Hussein-McMahon
Correspondence 1915/ 16
Sayyid Hussein bin Ali,
Sharif of Mecca
Sir Henry McMahon,
British High Commissioner
in Egypt
The Hussein-McMahon
Correspondence
• Supports Arab independence. (Roughly) modern day
Lebanon should be excluded from an Arab state. (This
position is attributable to British (GB) consideration of the
French, who have a long association with the large Christian
population in this area.)
• In return, the Arabs will assist Britain by fighting against the
Turks. The Arabs will only adopt as GB as their advisor and
mentor and will let GB directly control modern day Iraq.
• A (Subsequently) Controversial Phrase
"The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and
portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of
Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo cannot be said
to be purely Arab, and should be excluded from the
limits demanded."
Post-WW1 Arab State under the
McMahon-Hussein Correspondence
Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916
(Between Britain and France, assent from Imperial Russia)
Sir Mark Sykes
British Diplomat
Francois Georges-Picot
French Diplomat
The Sykes-Picot Agreement,
1916
The Balfour Declaration, 1917
Arthur James Balfour
British Foreign Secretary
Baron Rothschild
Leading British Zionist
The Balfour Declaration, 1917
"His Majesty's government view with favour
the establishment in Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people, and
will use their best endeavours to facilitate the
achievement of this object, it being clearly
understood that nothing shall be done which
may prejudice the civil and religious rights of
existing non-Jewish communities in
Palestine, or the rights and political status
enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
What motivated the British to
make the Balfour Declaration?
What motivated the British to
make the Balfour Declaration?
• "Mr Lloyd George and Mr Balfour were
deeply religious men and knew the Bible,
knew the value of the Bible and the knew
the effect the Bible had on the character
and life of the British nation…."
• "In America there was a powerful Jewish
community…"
Chaim Weizmann (British Zionist)