Homelands: Conflict in the Middle

East

Part 3 of 3

Focus Questions:

How was the British Mandate a ‘poisoned chalice’?What was the reaction to Jewish immigration to Palestine?

• 1919 League of Nations gives Britain mandate over Palestine

• Britain had authority over Palestine until the region was ready for self-government

• Some said that Britain was given a “poisoned chalice”

• What might this mean?

Post war British Mandate

1917-1947 “The Mandate Years”• After WWI, the area had become the British

mandate of Palestine.• When Jewish immigration accelerated,

friction was created between Jews and Palestinian Arabs

• After 1945, Zionists and Palestinian Arabs wanted individual nations and both felt they had claim to Palestine.

• Britain withdrew in 1947 and the U.N. proposed that the country be partitioned 50/50

Kibbutz ,ִקבּוּץ קיבוץ

• 1920’s and 30’s socialist Kibbutzim movement

 • New cities such as Tel Aviv developed

next to Arab Jaffa.• Arab tenant farmers were often

evicted from land bought by Zionists from absentee Arab landlords.

Making the Desert Bloom

Kibbutz Population

Year No. ofkibbutzim

KibbutzPopulation

1910   1  1920  12      8051930  29   3,9001940  82  26,5501950 214  67,5501960 229  77,9501970 229  85,1001980 255 111,2001990 270 125,100

2000 268 117,300Organization 

Defense/Offence• Jewish % rose from 20% to

30% in 3 years 1933-36• Arab guerrilla groups

attacked railways, Jewish settlements, destroyed orchards etc

• Jewish defense group – the Haganah

• radicals created Irgun and the Stern Gang.

Jewish Immigration to Palestine

Population of Palestine by religions[15]

Year Muslims Jews Christians Others

1922 486,177 83,790 71,464 7,617

1931 493,147 174,606 88,907 10,101

1941 906,551 474,102 125,413 12,881

1946 1,076,783 608,225 145,063 15,488

• Why do you think immigration increased so dramatically in 1941?

• Why are the British in a difficult position?

• Much of the immigration to Palestine was illegal.

• There were Arab riots and attacks on Jews.

• What should the British do? What are their options?

Why are Jews emigrating?

1936 German children’s book

Illustration from a children's book. The headlines say "Jews are our misfortune" and "How the Jew cheats." Germany, 1936.

“The bride is beautiful but she’s married to another man”

• Watch Part 1 BBC Documentary - The Birth of Israel

• Explain what is meant by the quote above

• What did some of the early Zionists warn the conference after visiting Palestine?

• Other Zionists argued that Arabs would be glad to see them – why?

Illegal Jewish Immigration• The US and many European

powers tried to slow the flow of Jewish immigration to Palestine.

• 1939 British threatened to cut immigration to 25,000 a year

• Haganah established an intelligence arm – Mossad – to help illegal immigrants

Jewish ‘Terrorism’ / ‘Freedom Fighters’

Stern gang argued the British were like Nazis and terrorism was justifiable in order to expel them. One member was future Israeli PM Yitzhak Shamir.

Irgun leader – Menachem Begin, also a future PM.

Shamir ordered the killing of Lord Moyne, a close friend of Churchill in Cairo 1944.