Transcript Zionism and the Creation of Israel

Zionism
Beginnings
 Before World War I, the British and French
had promised Arabs independence if
they helped them fight against the
Ottoman Empire
 After the war, the Europeans did not hold
up their end of the bargain-they were
more interested in oil & money
 The Europeans created “Mandates,” to
be divided into countries at a later date
Groups
 Different groups argued for different kinds
of countries to be created:
 Pan-Arabists-Wanted one Arab country
across the Middle East. Argued that Arabs
had a common history, culture, religion,
and language and should be one country.
 Islamists-Wanted countries set up that
would be governed by sharia, Islamic law.
 Zionists-Argued for the establishment of a
Jewish homeland in the Middle East
 Many Pan-Arabists and Zionists were
secular-did not want a religious
government
Britain’s Problem
 Britain was responsible for dividing up the
land they called Palestine
 Arabs believe these are Arab lands
 Zionist Jews believe this is the place
where the Jewish homeland should be
 In 1917, about 70% of the people there
were Arab, and about 30% were Jews
The Arab Case
 Arabs had been living on this land for
centuries
 They have strong religious ties to the city
of Jerusalem
 Dome of the Rock
 Al-Asqa Mosque
 Jerusalem is where Muhammad ascended
into heaven
The Jewish Case
 Jews had first settled in Palestine in ancient
times (they called it Canaan)
 They established a kingdom there in roughly
1000 BCE
 They were forced to leave their homeland
(Diaspora), but feel God had promised
them this land
 Jerusalem is the holiest city with the holiest
place in Judaism-the Temple Mount
 Jews were persecuted everywhere they
lived, so they needed their own country to
be safe.
Zionism
 Zionists worked to create a Jewish
homeland and to persuade more Jews to
settle in Palestine.
 The leader of the Zionist movement was
a Hungarian Jew named Theodor Herzl
 Herzl’s speeches and book The Jewish
State convinced many Jews to return and
persuaded some European leaders
The Balfour Declaration
 In 1917, British foreign secretary Arthur
Balfour wrote to Baron Walter Rothschild,
another Zionist leader
 Balfour supported the idea of a Jewish
homeland in Palestine
 This encouraged many more Jews to
move to Palestine, but enraged Arabs
“A land without a
people for a people
without a land.”
Zionist Slogan
“The bride is beautiful,
but she is married to
another man.”
Report from a delegation of
European Jews to Palestine