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
Claims to the Land
Israelis
Palestinians
• 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
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/s01
p05.html)
Western or Wailing Wall
Dome of the Rock
Al Aqsa Mosque
Zionism
Zionism
 GOALS:
The spiritual and
political renewal of
the Jewish people
in its ancestral
homeland of
Palestine.
 Freedom from
Western anti-Semitism.
Theodore Herzl
1860-1904
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 British
The 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
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
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.