Arab-Israeli Conflict Flashcards
British high commissioner in Cairo 1915
Sir Henry McMahon
McMahon declaration
1915; British high commissioner in Cairo promised British support for arab independence within the limits demanded by the sharif of Mecca, if the Arabs rose up against Turkish rule
Sykes-picot agreement
1916; Britain and France will split the Ottoman Empire between themselves
Balfour declaration
1917; the Zionist federation would pay money towards britain’s war in the Middle East and in turn Britain promises the Jews Israel
The Zionist federation
The IS American Jews
British motives in the McMahon declaration
To break up the Ottoman Empire
British motives in the Sykes-picot agreement
Greater British control/influence in the Middle East
British motives in the Balfour declaration
To get financial support to fight the Turks
Zionism purpose
Created 1897; Seeks a publicly recognized legally secured homeland in Palestine for the Jews
Arab claim to Palestine
Religious: land should have gone to Ishmael
Historical: living in Palestine for more than 2000 years
Jewish claim to Israel
Religious: is the “promised land”
Historical: kingdom of Israel was established 1000s of years ago
Contradiction in the Balfour declaration
One country (Britain) is promising another country (Israel) the land of a third (Palestine)
Collapse of the Ottoman Empire
1916-1918 - Arab forces helped British troops seize control of Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
October 1918 - Turkey surrendered
Treaty of sèvres
1920stripped the Turks of territories in the Middle East and North Africa stating that most of the Middle East would one under jurisdiction if the ‘mandate’ system
Which territories did Britain mandate?
Palestine
Mesopotamia (Iraq)
Transjordan (Jordan)
What territories did France mandate?
Lebanon
Syria
Why did Arab-Jewish tensions escalate in the 1920s?
- both peoples were disappointed at the way in which Britain had back stabbed them
- increasing numbers and prosperity of the Jewish settlers in Palestine:
1918: 60,000 v. 500,000
1928: 150,000 v. 600,000
British White paper 1930
Britain recommended restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchases, but after protests from zionists in Britain and the USA, it shelved the proposed restrictions
Hitler’s effect on Jewish migration in Palestine
1920-1939: Jewish land holdings rose 185% (held 15% of land)
1929-1939: 450,000
The Arab revolt
1936-1939; large scale Arab protests erupted in 1936 starting with general strike and continued on through 1939
1938: +1600 Arabs killed, 290 Jews, 69 British soldiers
How did the Jewish community in Palestine respond to the Arab revolt?
- the Jewish agency expanded the haganah to defend the Jewish population
- the Irgun and lehi were formed
The haganah
The Jewish agency secret army
The lehi
Aka the stern gang
The Irgun and lehi
Terrorist paramilitaries who launched attacks on both the Arabs and the British; disapproved of by the Jewish agency