In the latest chapter of bloodshed in the Israel-Palestine dispute, the Israeli military has ordered thousands of civilians to leave Gaza City as it prepares for a possible ground offensive. While the modern contours of the Israel-Palestine conflict are well-known — Palestinians saying Israel was forcibly established on their homeland, Israel claiming it has every right to exist on its Biblical homeland — how did the Jewish migration to 'Israel' first begin? Before the official declaration in May 1948 of the creation of Israel, how was the stage set for it? What was the role played by the British and other Arab powers? Anti-semitism and Zionism According to the Hebrew Bible, 'Israel' is the name God gave to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, who is considered the patriarch of all three 'Abrahamic' religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The descendants of Abraham settled in Canaan, which is roughly the territory of modern Israel. Cut to millennia later, to the late 19th century, when the land of Canaan was a part of the Ottoman Sultanate after passing through several empires (Greeks, Romans, Persians, Crusaders, Islamists, to name a few). The followers of Judaism, or Jews, were living in many countries — often as prosperous minorities, but vulnerable to persecution, especially in Europe. In Imperial Russia, there were pogroms targeting Jews in the 1880s. In France, the Dreyfus affair of 1894, in which a Jewish soldier was falsely convicted of passing on vital information to Germany, highlighted the prevalent anti-Semitic prejudices. A feeling began to grow in the Jewish community that they would not be safe till they had a country to call their own. This movement — of trying to establish a Jewish homeland — came to be known as Zionism. In 1896, Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian, published a pamphlet called 'Der Judenstaat', describing his vision of a Jewish nation. This pamphlet attained such popularity that Herzl is considered the father of political Zionism. Initially, countries like Uganda and Argentina were considered as potential locations for this homeland. However, opinion soon settled on Palestine, where the biblical home of the Jews had once stood, and where many of their holy sites were still located. Before World War I Soon, Jewish migration (Aliyah) to Palestine began. The first wave of arrivals, from 1881 to 1903, is known as the First Aliyah. The migrants began to buy large tracts of land and set to farming it. Very soon, these arrivals meant losses for the native Palestinians, but it was some years yet before the conflict would be framed in these terms. Palestine at this time was just one province of the vast and not-well-governed Ottoman empire. The residents did not necessarily see themselves as 'Palestinians', identifying more as Ottoman subjects, Arabs, Muslims, or along clan and family lines. Absentee landlordism was common. Thus, land was being sold to Jews by landowners who did not live in those parts and by Ottoman officials who were open to bribing. Local residents and actual tillers of the land — rural, poor, and not very literate — had little say in it. As the new settlers came in, it soon became clear they were not here to assimilate. Unlike the Jews who had always lived in Palestine, these new residents spoke little Arabic and mingled only among themselves. While earlier, Arab labourers were hired to work on their farms, as more and more Jews poured in, this too became infrequent. Also, earlier, when land changed hands, the tenants had stayed on to work under the new master. However, when a Jew bought land, the Arab tenants were often let go, dispossessed of their home and community. The Jews marked out their different — and 'superior' — status in many other ways. Agriculture was mechanised, electricity brought in. Driven by the mission to create an ideal homeland, they did not take to the local ways. Their towns and settlements followed European sensibilities — Tel Aviv, founded in 1909, being a case in point — and gleamed distinct from the humble Arab neighbourhoods. The enterprise in Israel was being funded by wealthy Jews abroad, like the Rothschild family. Local alarm and resentment against the newcomers grew. Ottoman officials did forbid the sale of land to foreign Jews, but the order was never effectively implemented. In 1908, after the Young Turks revolution overthrew the Ottoman Sultan, Jewish migration efforts became more streamlined. Outside Palestine, Jews in other countries worked to gain international support for their cause. The Balfour Declaration What possibly changed the face of West Asia forever was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, when a letter sent by a British official to a wealthy British Jew sealed the fate of lakhs of Palestinians. The British government needed Jewish support in its World War I efforts. To secure that, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour backed the Zionist cause. His letter to Baron Lionel Walter Rothschild read: “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.” This would become the template for many future resolutions on Palestine — while there would always be some lines about the “rights of Palestinians”, little would be done on the ground about it. By now, Palestinian nationalism was growing. Various groups and organisations had come up to voice opposition to the growing Jewish influence. However, these were ridden by factionalism, and lacked the organisation and single-minded focus of the Jewish bodies. Also, the long-simmering conflict had created enduring hostility and mistrust between the two communities, and was flaring up into sporadic instances of violence. British Mandate and World War II After the defeat of the Ottoman empire in World War I, its erstwhile domains were divided among the Allies, with the eventual aim of promoting self governance. Palestine fell under the British mandate. The three decades of the Mandate saw various commissions, white papers, and resolutions, even as violence raged and thousands of lives were lost, only for the 'Palestine question' to end up at the UN in 1947. After World War I, the Arab frustration and feelings of being cheated were erupting into attacks on Jewish settlements, on railroad tracks, on civilians. They were also resisting the British, believing that freedom from the British was essential in solving the Zionist problem. Jews by now had efficient intelligence wings and trained, disciplined militias. Moderate Jews had long advocated that Arab rights should be accommodated. They began losing influence in the community. On the Arab side, broadly two rival factions emerged, under the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Amin al-Husseini and the influential Nashashibi family. The armed resistance groups were often entirely dissociated from the political resistance factions. There were some attempts at talks between Jews and Arabs, notable being a 1919 pact, that soon came to nothing. World War II and the Holocaust brought much international sympathy to the Jewish cause. Training with British soldiers also brought much more discipline and lethal power to the Jewish armed groups. The years 1936 to 1938 saw immense bloodshed, with Palestinians attacking Jews and the British, the British imposing collective punishment on Palestinian villages, and the Jews carrying out killings of their own. The Palestinians call this period 'al-thawra al-kubra', or great rebellion. One of the armed groups was called Black Hand, led by Izzedin al-Qassam. The military wing of Hamas today is called the al-Qassam Brigades. Around this time, the Peel Commission, set up by the British, proposed partition as the only solution to the problem. The Jewish side negotiated for better terms, but the Palestinian side boycotted the suggestion. In May 1939, a White Paper released by the British was much more favourable to the Palestinian side. However, the divided Palestinian leadership did not capitalise on the chance. Eventually, the British did what they had with Partition violence in India — let trouble simmer to breaking point and then withdraw. In 1947, with neither side agreeing to a partition or any other solution, and distrust and hostility at an all-time high, the British announced they were exiting Palestine, and the question would be settled by the UN. UN resolution and wars Throughout this period, one thing had been clear — the Jewish determination to fight and win. The Jews were very much a minority, but whenever violence broke out, they dominated. A crucial factor was they also mobilised better medical treatment facilities, while for the Palestinians, even treatable injuries could mean disaster. British journalist Ian Black in his book 'Enemies and Neighbours' quotes the Zionist military group Haganah as stating, “‘.that a place where the foot of a Jewish settler has trod, where the blood of a Hebrew defender has been spilled, will not be abandoned by its builders and defenders.” On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under UN control. According to Black's book, “The proposed Jewish state was to consist of 55 per cent of the country, including the largely unpopulated Negev desert. Its population would comprise some 500,000 Jews and 400,000 Arabs. The Arab state was to have 44 per cent of the land and a minority of 10,000 Jews.” The Arab areas would include the West Bank and Gaza. The outraged Palestinian side rejected the resolution. Israel, on the other hand, declared independence on May 14, 1948. This entire period was marked by civil war, and the Israeli military groups managed to drive out a large number of Palestinians. The creation of Israel is called Naqba, or the catastrophe, by Palestinians, who see it as the day they lost their homeland. Immediately after Israel's declaration of independence, it was invaded by Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. However, the determined Israeli side, bolstered by arms and funds from the US, managed to beat them back. This was followed by more Arab-Israeli wars, with Israel capturing large territories. Today, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 139 recognise Palestine, while 165 recognise Israel. Gaza and the West Bank remain under Israeli military control.
