UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 6:
Zionism and the Modern State of Israel
Jewish settlers clash with the Arabs
London’s policies under the British Mandate increased the Jewish population in Palestine. Britain’s first High Commissioner of Palestine was Sir Herbert Samuel. He encouraged Jewish immigration and land acquisition. The aforementioned Third Aliyah (1919-1923) took place under his tenure.
While these policies furthered the cause of Zionism, they also resulted in violent clashes between Jews and Arabs. After Jewish homes and businesses were repeatedly attacked by Arabs in 1919, the settlers formed the Haganah in 1920. This paramilitary Jewish self-defense force ultimately evolved into the Israeli Self-Defense Forces (IDF).
The need for the Haganah soon became apparent. In 1928 and 1929, the Arabs stepped up their attacks on the Jews. The Arabs slaughtered Jewish settlers in Jerusalem and Safed. In Hebron, ten percent of the Jewish population perished in Arab attacks.
The massacres did not stop Jewish immigration. Between the end of World War I and the early 1930s, about 100,000 European Jews settled in Palestine. After Hitler came to power in Germany, the Jewish influx accelerated. Between 1933 and the outbreak of World War II, 170,000 European Jews arrived in Palestine, most of them from Germany.
In 1935 the Arab High Commission (a representative body comprised of Arab groups in Palestine) petitioned British authorities for an end to Jewish immigration. The British refused, and the Arabs responded with more violence. Nineteen thirty-six was a bloody year in Palestine, as the Haganah struggled to defend Jewish settlements from a series of Arab attacks.
The Peel Report
The British government was becoming frustrated with the violence in Palestine. In 1937 Lord Robert Peel was appointed to study the problem. In his written assessment, the Peel Report, he concluded that earlier British hopes for a peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs in Palestine were probably unrealistic. Peel proposed the division of Palestine into three zones: a Jewish zone and an Arab zone, with a British-controlled “mandate zone” occupying a corridor of land between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The gist of the plan was to divide the warring parties between the British, who would keep the peace.
Neither the Arabs nor the Jews were pleased with the Peel Report. Both sides wanted control of all of Palestine. In the end, only the Jewish side accepted the recommendations. The Arab Higher Committee rejected the Peel Report, as did the League of Nations.
Amid yet another outbreak of Arab violence against Jewish settlers, the British sponsored another study of the situation on the ground. The Woodhead Commission determined that the creation of separate Jewish and Arab homelands in Palestine was a virtually impossible task. The now exasperated British were back to square one.
In 1939, London backpedaled on the Balfour Declaration with the publication of the White Paper of May 17, 1939. This document envisioned an independent Palestinian state within ten years. A Jewish national homeland was to be included in the state. However, the White Paper also acknowledged Arab discontent over Jewish immigration and land acquisition; it included a recommendation to restrict Jewish immigration.
The White Paper was an earnest attempt by London to end the violence between Jews and Arabs. Nevertheless, it proved to be even more unpopular than the abortive Peel Report. Zionists rejected any restrictions on the Jewish influx. Arabs, meanwhile, wanted to freeze Jewish immigration. They also wanted to deport a percentage of the Jews who had settled in Palestine since 1918.
Copyright 2005 Beechmont Crest Publishing
