ORIGIN OF THE ISSUE:
After World War I, the British gained lands in the M.E. that had belonged to the Ottoman Empire since 1520 or so. After 1919, the British Mandate of Palestine, which the League of Nations entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I, became a Mandate Territory and the U.K. tried to govern fairly so that both the Arabs and the Jews would be able to live peacably together in separate lands.
1. Britain told the Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British. This area did not include Palestine.
"I feel it my duty to state, and I do so definitely and emphatically, that it was not intended by me in giving this pledge to King Hussein to include Palestine in the area in which Arab independence was promised. I also had every reason to believe at the time that the fact that Palestine was not included in my pledge was well understood by King Hussein"
The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence
2. Britain had promised to create and foster a Jewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917.
"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."
The Balfour Declaration
Tensions were up from the beginning. As tens of thousands of Jews immigrated to the ME, many Arabs started to resent it. Violence ensued as Arabs attacked and killed Jewish civilians over issues like land ownership, and ownership of what grows on the land. Different understandings of ownership and miscommunication coupled with increasing numbers of Jews immigrating and being diplaced by rising anti-semtism over time and into the 1930's and Hitler/Facism say an increase in violence.
WWII had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. During the war, the British forbade entry into Palestine of European Jews escaping Nazi persecution, placing them in detention camps or deporting them to places such as Mauritius.
Following the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of US President Harry S. Truman and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, the British refused to lift the ban on immigration and admit 100,000 displaced persons to Palestine. The Jewish underground forces then united and carried out several attacks against the British. In 1946, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people.
Seeing that the situation was quickly spiraling out of hand, the British announced their desire to terminate their mandate and to withdraw by May 1948.
III. Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in part III of this plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed but in any case not later than 1 October 1948. The boundaries of the Arab State, the Jewish State, and the City of Jerusalem shall be as described in parts II and III below.
Palestine Center - UN Resolution 181
The U.N. votes on the creation of two States: one for the Jewish inhabitants of the Palestine Mandate, and a second one for the Arab inhabitants. The Jewish residents accept, but the Arabs and Palestinians refuse the two State solution and the 1948 war is under way.
It is quite clear that the Arabs feel slighted due to a misunderstanding. They were never promised the Palestine area, but they feel that the encroachment of the Jews and the ommishion of Palestine to their territory justifies violence. Gradually, over time, the Israelies have tightened their grip.
I do not want to get into modern policies, nor do I want to talk about the 1967 War or any other until we can nail down and address the root of the issue. If one side or another is operating off of a false premise of righteousness, then that is how we begin to address a solution.
“Israel is the only state in the world today, and the Jews the only people in the world today, that are the object of a standing set of threats from governmental, religious, and terrorist bodies seeking their destruction. And what is most disturbing is the silence, the indifference, and sometimes even the indulgence, in the face of such genocidal anti-Semitism.”
— Canadian Minister of Justice and Attorney General Irwin Cotler