Arab Isreal - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the late 19th century in which there was a rise in national movements, including Arab and Zionism nationalism. Zionism, a Jewish national movement, was seeking sanctuary when they sought to establish a Jewish State in Palestine (Seger, Tom, pp26).
The mandate for Palestine was a historical League of Nations document. It contained the Jewish legal right of settling anywhere in western Palestine between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan river. Palestine became a trouble spot of competing territorial claims and also political interest by the early years of the twentieth century. While World War one was underway the British high commissioner, Sir Henry of Egypt corresponded secretly with the patriarch of Hashemite family and governor of Mecca and Medina. He convinced them to lead an Arab revolt against the empire of Ottoman aligned with Germany against Britain and France with the promise of the establishment of an independent Arab state (Price, Randal, pp20).
In 1921 the British divided Jordan into two: the Emirates of Transjordan and the Palestine Mandate. Arabs were angered by Britain’s failure to fulfill the creation of an independent Arab state. The situation was most complicated in Palestine because of the promise to support the creation of a Jewish national home by the British. The Palestine Arabs opposed the British Mandatory because it threatened their aspiration for self-rule. Moreover, the massive immigration of the Jews threatened their position in their country. Clashes broke out between the Arabs and the Jews in 1920 and 1921 whereby roughly equal numbers from the two communities got killed. The Jewish National Fund purchased large portions of land from the absentee Arab landowners leading to their eviction. The displacements led to increasing tensions and violence between the Arab peasant tenants and Jewish settlers (Haiduc-Dale, pp34).
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