THE CHRONOLOGY OF ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT
Part 1
1882 and onwards: The First Aliyah. Aliyah is the name given to the onset of first arrival of Jewish settlers in Palestine in notable numbers though relatively small. Even before these new settlers’ arrival, Palestine has been home to a small number of Jews for hundreds of years, half of them living in Jerusalem largely in harmony with their Palestinian Arab neighbors.
1896: Theodor Herzle, a lawyer and a journalist wrote a book titled, ‘The Jewish State’ after he witnessed increasing anti-Semitism in Europe. In this book he envisaged creation of a Jewish state where Jews could live with peace and security.
1897: World Zionist Organization (WZO) was founded at Basel, Switzerland during an international convention of Jews.
1914–1918: World War 1
July 1915 – January 1916: Correspondence between Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca and Henry McMahon British High Commissioner in Egypt. Upon Sharif’s request for help against Turks, McMahon assured him of British help to achieve independence and formation of Arab Caliphate post war.
May 1916: Sykes-Picot Agreement. British and the French diplomats, Sykes and Picot made an agreement that after the defeat of Ottoman Empire the Arab countries will be partitioned between France and Britain to be held under their mandatory powers. Syria and Lebanon went to France and Sinai while Palestine, Iraq and Transjordan and Egypt to Britain.
November 1917: Balfour Declaration. This was in the form of a letter written by Arthur Balfour the British Foreign Secretary to Lord Rothschild a leading British Jew and a Zionist. In this letter British government accepted and supported the idea of forming a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The declaration was also aggressively pursued and lobbied for, in the British government by Chaim Weizmann the most prominent Zionist in Britain. This paved the way for immigration of Jews to Palestine which gradually kept increasing.
The above three agreements prove the treacherous role of Britain in the world that has been to this date producing devastating consequences with thousands of innocent people dead.
1920 : League of Nations was formed as an outcome of an international peace conference in San Remo Italy after the end of WW1.
1923: Balfour Declaration approved by the league of Nations and the mandates were officially recognized. Balfour Declaration was included in the British mandate giving official recognition. It was made even more pro-Zionist in its content even as British deceptively reassured Palestinian Arabs of Britain having no intention to create a Jewish State in their land.
1920 Arab Jewish Riots: 200 Jews and 120 Arabs were killed or wounded. The British Court of Inquiry concluded that ‘the Balfour Declaration and its implementation was undoubtedly the cause of the trouble’. Jews at that time made up only 10 percent of the population of Palestine.
1922: Supreme Muslim Council. Sir Herbert Samuel, the first British High Commissioner to Palestine, by way of reassuring Arabs, helped establish the Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) and appointed Hajj Amin al Hussaini a member of Jerusalem’s leading Muslim families as its head.
Early 1920s: great strides were made in the development of Jewish national community with a clear goal to build the foundations of a Jewish state in Palestine. Jews formed three institutions, 1. The Jewish Agency, representing the administrative body, in effect the government of the Jewish population, 2. the Histadurt, the Zionist labor federation and 3. the Hagannah a military force which later evolved into Israeli Defense Force (IDF). David Ben-Gurion became the head of the Histadurt in 1921, then Head of the Jewish Agency in 1935 and in 1948 the first Prime Minister of Israel. He was an ardent socialist and committed to establish the Jewish State. At about the same time Vladimir Jabotinsky, a Russian born Jew founded the Revisionist Party. Its ideological successor today is the Likud Party.
1929: Arab-Jewish Riots: These riots happened in Jerusalem and Hebron in which 113 Jews and 116 Arabs were killed. Increasing resentment among Arabs was the cause. The reasons were following: 1. While Balfour Declaration gave Jews their political rights, national identity and a Jewish State, Arabs were mentioned as ‘other communities’ with only civil and religious rights. 2. Jewish institutions were well funded by WZO and moving fast towards creating a Jewish State while Arabs were generally poor and totally dependent on Britain for their rights which were often neglected. 3. Influx of Jewish immigrants in Palestine under British protection and support with more and more land going under their occupation. 4. Rumors of a Jewish plot to take control of Muslim holy places.
1931: The IRGUN: Haganah was reorganized into a new more aggressive military body called the Irgun.
October 1933: A large Arab demonstration was violently dispersed and two weeks later 26 Arabs were killed by British police during a demonstration at Jaffa.
November 1935: Izzuddin al-Qassam, a Syrian born Palestinian who was forced to flee from his homeland after fighting against French occupation of Syria, formed a band of fighters and took to the hills and launched a guerilla war against Jews and the Britishers. He was hunted down and killed by the British. Hamas’ military wing al-Qassam brigade is named after him.
1936-1939: This period was full of violent clashes which finally culminated into a widespread Arab Revolt what is called as “The Great Rebellion”. It started with young Palestinians and soon was joined by shopkeepers, merchants and city workers. Palestinians attacked British police stations and shot one police officer and bombed Jewish targets. 200 Arabs, 80 Jews and 28 Britishers were killed.
1937 Peel Commission: Following the bloodshed a commission of inquiry was set up led by Lord Peel. The commission recommended partition of Palestine into two states. The proposed Jewish State was given 20% of the land of Palestine. Ben Gurion though accepted the plan, did not conceal his ideas concerning the Greater Jewish State which was to comprise of the whole of Palestine. Commission also recommended mutual transfer of population. Arabs got very apprehensive of Jewish plan to expand and occupy whole of Palestine once their state was allowed to form. The recommendations of Peel Commission eventually died off.
1939 – 1945: World War 2
1939 The British Government White Paper: When Arab rebellion ended, the government issued a white Paper that recommended formation of an independent Palestine within 10 years. It was to be neither Jewish nor Palestinian state but one in which Arabs and Jews shared responsibilities of governance.
1944-1946: British authorities started severely curtailing Jewish immigrants to Palestine since they realized this was the source of violence and bloodshed which was a costly liability for the British since restoring order drained their resources .
1946 Jewish Terrorism: It was mainly directed against British for their stopping of Jewish immigrants. In July 1946, IRGUN carried out an attack on King David Hotel in Jerusalem which housed British military headquarter. A truck full of explosive was tricked into the premises. 91 people were killed. In February 1947, 20 British soldiers were killed in officers’ club in Jerusalem, by Jewish terrorists. In August 1847 two British soldiers were hanged by members of Irgun.
1947: UN Partition Plan: In February 1947, upon the request and advice of the British government, at the end of second world war, “The UN Special Committee on Palestine” (UNSCOP) was set up to investigate and recommend how to resolve Jewish – Palestinian problem. UNSCOP recommended partition of Palestine. In November General Assembly voted on the plan and approved with 33 in favor, 13 against and 10 absentees. This was an unfair partition plan. Although Jews made up only one third of the population and owned only 10 percent of land, they were given 55% of the total territory while Arabs only 45%. Arabs rejected the plan.
December 1947: The British decided to leave Palestine. The British announced they would leave Palestine five months later and end the mandate in May 1948.
1947-1948 Civil War in Palestine: An expected British departure, even as situation in Palestine was unresolved on the ground, and an unfair partition plan unilaterally accepted by Israel, gave rise to civil war. Volunteers from Syria and Iraq began crossing into Palestine while many of the Palestinian elite and big landowners left Palestine to avoid fighting. In April 1948 Jewish forces began forcible expulsion of Arabs from villages that were to fall inside the Jewish state as per the partition plan. An estimate of more than 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from the villages and made refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza and West Bank. On April 1948 Irgun forces led by Menachem Begin attacked the village of Dier Yassin and killed over hundred Palestinian villagers 75 of them being women, elderly and children. This widespread expulsion and murder of Palestinians is remembered among them as “NAKABAH”
To be continued
in Part 2 in the next issue.