British involvement in Palestine Flashcards
1896
The Zionist movement was created. Theodor Herzl published his book, ‘Der Judenstaad’, in which he envisioned a national home for Jews. There were many options as to where this homeland could be, but the Jews ended up opting for Palestine.
June 1916
The Arab Revolt. During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire sided with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This encouraged Britain to make the Arab countries living under Ottoman rule to revolt against it. Hussein, the Arab Sharif and descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, proclaimed himself ‘King of the Arabs’, and was recognized as such by Britain, France, and Russia.
July 1915 - March 1916
The MacMahon Letters. A series of letters between Ahariff Hussein and Sir Henry MacMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, agreed that if the Arabs revolted against the Turks, Britain would support their independence.
May 1916
The Sykes-Picot Agreement. Concluded that the whole of the Middle East would be under European control.
Syria and Lebanon became French mandates.
Transjordan and Egypt had British bases but were independent.
Saudi Arabia and Iran were influenced by the British, with many Anglo-Iranian oil companies.
Palestine was a British mandate.
November 1917
The Balfour Declaration. Britain proclaimed Palestine as a ‘national home’ for the scattered and persecuted Jews.
1920
America began using oil from the Middle East. It was agreed that oilfields in Kuwait and Iraq would be for the British, while those in Saudi Arabia would be for the Americans.
May 1939
The White Paper Plan. So that Britain could intervene in World War II without any trouble in Palestine, it announced that Palestine would gain independence within ten years and jewish immigration would be limited to 10,000 a year so that the Arabs could still be a majority. The decision favoured the Arabs as the Jews could not do anything until the war against Hitler was over.
November 1947
UN Partition Plan. Britain turned the Palestine issue over to the United Nations’ special committee, which proposed a partitioning of Palestine into a Jewsish state and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international control. The UN General Assembly approved it. The Jews happily accepted, but the Arabs still wanted the whole of Palestine to remain Arab.
May 1948 - March 1949
The first Arab-Israeli war. Britain removed its remaining troops from Palestine. As the last British soldiers pulled out, David BenGurion — leader of the Jewish struggle against British power — declared the independence of the state of Israel. A few hours later, it was invaded by neighbouring Arab armies. The war continued until ceasefires were finally concluded. The new Jewish state’s borders had been enlarged by almost 50% beyond what had been established by the UN in 1947.
October 1956
The second Arab-Israeli war or the ‘Suez Crisis’. Britain, France, and Israel allied themselves against Egypt to regain control of the Suez Canal. However, Israel left once assured the Canal would be open to Israeli shipping. In the end, Nasser, president of Egypt, retained control of the canal and won by November 1956.
June 1967
The third Arab-Israeli war or the “Six-Day War”. Israelis captured East Jerusalem, the West Bank of the River Jordan, Syria’s Golan Heights, the Gaza strip, and the Sinai peninsula. The war left Arabs humiliated and Israelis with borders much easier to defend. Jews began settling in these newly accquired areas, but this was often condemned by the Arabs.
October 1973
The fourth Arab-Israeli war. During the Jewish “Jom Kippur”, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt sent troops into Israel, catching the Israelis by surprise. Other Arab nationalists joined in and fighting lasted for 18 days. Egypt was ultimately defeated. The Egyptians took the Franco-Anglo-Israeli invasion to the UN, where all 3 powers were told to pull out of Egypt. The Middle Eastern oil-producing nations cut off petroleum shipments to Western nations that were unsympathetic to the Arab cause, which triggered a worldwide fuel crisis. Once the fighting had come to an end, Israeli troops still occupied the Western bank of the Suez canal and had crossed the 1967 ceasefire lines, advancing towards Damascus.
September 1939 - September 1945
The Second World War
1947
France pulled out of Syria and Lebanon.
