Transcript Roots of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

T he Dreyfus Case, 1894
Capt. Alfred
Dreyfus
Emile Zola
• Anti-Semitism beginning in Europe…
• Zionist movement gaining support
Zionism (know this term)!
 GOALS:
The spiritual and
political renewal of
the Jewish people
in its ancestral
homeland of
Palestine.
 Freedom from
Western anti-Semitism.
Theodore Herzl
1860-1904
First Zionist Conference, 1897
 Herzl writes Der Judenstaat, or
The Jewish State in 1896.
 Met in Basel, Switzerland.
 Creates the First Zionist Congress.
 Becomes an international Jewish
organization.
 “Next Year in Jerusalem!” (Notice
that they planned to be BACK in
JERUSALEM ASAP!
T he Ottoman Empire in WW1
T he Main Players in WW1
Allied
Powers:
Central
Powers:
Nicholas II
[Rus]
Wilhelm II [Ger]
George V [Br]
Victor Emmanuel
II [It]
Pres. Poincare [Fr]
Enver Pasha
[Turkey]
Franz Josef [A-H]
T he Middle East in 1914
Hussein-McMahon Letters, 1915
....Britain is prepared
to recognize and
uphold the
independence of the
Arabs in all regions
lying within the
frontiers proposed
by the Sharif of
Mecca....
Hussein ibn Ali,
Sharif of Mecca
Sykes-Picot A greement, 1916
T he Arab Revolt: 1916-1918
T he Allied Advance A gainst
the Ottoman Turks
Br. General
Edmund Allenby
T he British & Arab Armies
Meet
British Forces
Lawrence
& Faisal’s
Forces
T. E. Lawrence [1888-1935]
“Lawrence of Arabia,”
The Legend Begins
***British Promise to the Jews:
Balfour Declaration, 1917
Sir Arthur James Balfour
Br. Foreign Secretary
His Majesty’s Government
views with favor the
establishment in Palestine
of a national home for the
Jewish people and will use
their best endeavors 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…
Turkish Genocide A gainst the Armenians
1.5 million: Future Horrors to Come!
Turkish Genocide A gainst the Armenians
Districts & Vilayets of Western
Armenia in Turkey
1914
1922
Erzerum
215,000
1,500
Van
197,000
500
Kharbert
204,000
35,000
Diarbekir
124,000
3,000
Bitlis
220,000
56,000
Sivas
225,000
16,800
Western Anatolia
371,800
27,000
Cilicia and Northern Syria
309,000
70,000
European Turkey
194,000
163,000
73,390
15,000
2,133,190
387,800
Other Armenian-populated Sites
in Turkey
Trapizond District
Total:
Prince Faisal at Versailles, 1918
Arab Disappointment!
T he League of Nations Mandates
“New” Countries & Ruling Families
Emerge!
 Prince Faisal  “ruler” of Trans-Jordan.
 Prince Abdullah  “ruler” of a newly-created
Iraq [pasted together from three distinct
geographic regions].
 The House of Saud  put on the throne of the
newly-created Saudi Arabia.
 The Pahlavi Family  put on the throne of a
new Iran.
 Mustafa Kemal  leads a military/nationalist
movement in Turkey.
Treaty of Lausanne, 1923
Modern Turkey Is Born.
Mustafa Kemal “Ataturk”
(1881-1938)
Ataturk’s Reform Program
 Capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara.
 Secularism  Qur’an in Turkish translation.
 Adoption of a republican constitution and a
Swiss civil code.
 Westernization & nationalism:
 Compulsory, secular education.
 Banning the fez.
 Western [Roman] script.
 Western clothing.
 Women unveiled & given full citizenship
and the right to vote.
Oil Discovered in Mesopotamia!
 First discovered on Masjid-I Suleiman in Persia
in 1908.
 Turkish-Petroleum Co. [TPC] founded in 1911 
drill for oil in Mosul, Mesopotamia.
 Britain signed a secret agreement with the sheikh
of Kuwait who, while outwardly pledging
allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan in Istanbul,
promised exclusive oil rights to the British.
 Kuwait became a British protectorate in
November, 1914.
 In 1927, oil was struck in Kirkuk, Iraq, and the
Iraq Petroleum Co. [IPC] was created.
Oil Becomes the New International
“Coin of the Realm!”
 American oil companies
[Texaco & Chevron], gain
oil concessions in Bahrain
in 1929.
 In 1933, American oil
companies win an oil
concession in Saudi Arabia.
 ARAMCO [Arab-American
Oil Co,] is created in 1939.
Rezah Khan (1877-1944)
 an Iranian officer, seized
control of the govt. in 1921.
 declared himself SHAH in
1925.
 created the Pahlavi Dynasty.
 ruled from 1925-1941.
 initiated some modern
reforms.
 forced to abdicate his
throne by the Allied armies
in 1941.
Reforms in Iran
 Secularization  seizure of
religious lands.
 Adoption of the French civil
code.
 Built the Trans-Iranian
Railroad.
 Improved education.
T he Middle East Between the
Wars
Essential Question:
How did Britain’s actions
in Palestine after 1918 lay
the groundwork for the
on-going conflict between
the Jews and the Arabs in
the Middle East today?
Palestine Was Part of the
Ottoman Empire
Jews & Arabs in Palestine, 1920

In 1920, there
was 1 Jew to
every 10 Arabs in
Palestine.

By 1947, the ratio
was 2 Arabs for
every Jew.
The Arabs felt that
they were losing
control of their
country
British
Mandate in
Palestine
Created
July, 1922
Jewish Settlements:
T he Kibbutz System
 First one founded in 1908.
 Communal living.
 “Make the Desert
Bloom!”
1929 Arab Riots
IZBAH AL-YAHUD!
[“Slaughter All the Jews!”]
Jewish
Immigration
1919
1,806
1931
4,075
1920
8,223
1932
12,533
1921
8,294
1933
37,337
1922
8,685
1934
45,267
1923
8,175
1935
66,472
1924
13,892
1936
29,595
1925
34,386
1937
10,629
1926
13,855
1938
14,675
1927
3,034
1939
31,195
1928
2,178
1940
10,643
1929
5,249
1941
4,592
1930
4,944
Palestine Arab Revolt:
1936-1939
Their Goals:
 An end to Jewish
immigration to Palestine.
 An end to the transfer
of lands to Jewish
owners.
 A new “general
representative
government.”
The Grand Mufti of
Jerusalem, Haj Amin
al-Hussani, with
Adolf Hitler.
T he Peel
Commission
Partition
Plan, 1937
British W hite Paper of 1939
 Limited Jewish
immigration to
Palestine to 75,000 over
the next five years.
 It ended Jewish land
purchases.
 Independence for
Palestine within 10 years.
 It is NOT British policy
that Palestine become a
Jewish state.
T he “Arab Legion” of the
British Army During WW2
T he “Jewish Brigade” of the
British Army During WW2
Hitler’s
“Final
Solution”
The Jewish population in each country in 1942.
Nazi Concentration
& Extermination Camps
T he Nazi Holocaust
 6,000,00 Jews killed
by the Nazis [1/2 in
the concentration
camps.]
Aliyah Bet : Illegal Jewish
Immigration
Aliyah Bet
 Illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine.
 The Exodus, 1947.
Palestine
Population
in 1946
British “Detention” Camps
in Cyprus : 1946-1948
Jewish “Freedom Fighters”
(or “Terrorists”?)
Irgun Zvai Leumi
[Natl. Military Org.]
Avraham Stern &
The Stern Gang
U. N. Partition Plan of 1947
Israel Becomes a Nation:
May 14, 1948
Chaim Weizmann,
1st President
David Ben-Gurion,
1st Prime Minister
War Begins: May 15, 1948
Arab Refugees, 1948
The Palestinian Diaspora begins!
Armistice Signed, 1949
Why do the Palestinians feel
that the land is theirs?
• Roots in the Ottoman Empire
• Under Muslim control for centuries
• Given to them by the British after WWI
Why do the Jewish people feel that
the land is theirs?
• The “Promised Land” according to the
Torah
• The Jewish people built Jerusalem and
settled this land 3,000 years ago
• The United Nations granted them this
land in 1948
How would you solve the conflict?