The Origins of a Conflict (Part 1 of 3 or 4)

There is much misinformation in the cyber-world about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are a lot of people who are loaded up on opinion but deficient when it comes to facts. It is my intent to provide a factual background to the current conflict from a non-partisan perspective. History is never truly non-partisan, but I will do my best to keep the editorialization to a minimum. Because I feel it is important to provide people references for an undertaking like this, here are the sources I rely on. 1) ISRAEL by Martin Gilbert; 2) A History of the 20th Century by Martin Gilbert; 3) Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler; 4) Ben Gurion: The Burning Ground 1886-1948 by Shabtai Teveth; 5) Menachim Begin: The Man and the Legend by Eitan Haber; 6) From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman; and 7) Brother Against Brother by Ehud Sprinzak. Where I rely on websites, I will try to relate that in the text.

The Birth of Zionism (from 70 AD to 1918)

At the time of the American Revolution, 300 Orthodox Jewish families left Poland and settled in Jerusalem. Shortly after, 400 Jews made the trip from Lithuania to Palestine, settling in the country that had been under Muslim rule since the seventh century, and Ottoman rule since the early 16th century. By the middle of the 19th century, 10,000 Jews lived in Palestine, with 80% of them living in Jerusalem. They joined a small minority of Jews who had lived continuously in the village of Peki'in since Roman times. This is long before the ideals of Zionism were formally created.

This period was marked by attempts at creating Jewish communities throughout Palestine. These attempts were made difficult by the rough environment, attempts by the Sultan to forbid land transfers to Jews, and by occasional attacks from bands of Arabs. With the financial backing of European Jews like Baron Edmund de Rothschlid and Baron Maurice de Hirsch, several Jewish communities that still exist today were created, "Rosh Pinah, "Petah Tikvah," "Zichron Yaakov," "Rishon leZion," "Rehovot," "Hadera," and "Metulla." By 1850, Jews were the majority in Jerusalem and by 1889 there were 25,000 Jews in Jerusalem and 14,000 Arabs.

Meanwhile, Jews were suffering throughout Europe, were anti-Semitism was high. While life for European Jews was particularly bad in Tsarist Russia, the culmination was to be seen in France's "Dreyfus Affair." The 1891 trumped up conviction of Alfred Dreyfus inspired young journalist Theodore Herzl to start a movement to set up a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Between 1882 and 1903, 25,000 more Jews would settle in Palestine, marking what is called "the First Alliyah."

In 1897, in Basel Switzerland, Theodore Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress. The Congress agreed on a resolution that stated, "Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisrael secured under international law." The second Zionist Congress was held the following year and the Third in 1899. By the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901, Herzl had met with Kaiser William II and Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey to discuss the creation of a Jewish homeland. The Sixth Zionist Congress would be Herzl's last as he died the next year. With programs growing worse and Jews continuing to suffer, the Zionist congress considered other options besides Palestine. Most notably, the Congress seriously considered an offer of a Jewish homeland in Uganda. At the Seventh Zionist Congress, the Uganda plan was rejected and the Zionist Congress committed itself to a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

At this time, between 75,000 and 100,000 Jews were already living in Palestine. As mentioned, life for the Jews in Europe was not good, especially in Tsarist Russia. thus, from 1904 to 1914, the Second Alliyah brought about 40,000 more Jews to Israel. It was a group of these Jews who, in 1909, set up the first communal farm, or Kibbutz. Likewise, they set up Ha-Shomer, the first Jewish self-defense organization in Palestine.

At the dawn of WWI there were competing interests. Those of the Zionists and those of Arab nationalists. The Zionists were lesser in numbers but greater in organization as the Arab nationalist movement was splintered among Islamists, pan-arabists, and statists. Promises of an Arab state led to the "Arab Revolt" attacks against the ruling Ottoman empire. Similarly, the British were worried about protecting their colonial interests in the region and securing another ally in the fight against the Ottomans. A major concern was that the Jews of Palestine, with their connection to Eastern Europe, could be persuaded to fight for the Germans with a promise of a post-war nation. Thus, in 1917, the British issued a private document called the "Balfour Declaration," promising a Jewish homeland in Palestine so long as the rights of non-Jews living in the area were safeguarded as well. The rest, as they say, is history.

Look for my next segment "From Balfour to Hitler" as soon as I get a respite from my busy work schedule.