Ch1 the great powers in the middle east 1900-39

Question 1

when did jews begin getting expelled from palestine

Answer 1

as early as AD 70 by the roman soldiers

Question 2

balfour declaration 1917

Answer 2

the British govt declared its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, in the form of a letter that would become known as the Balfour Declaration.

careful about their wording, expressed their suport for a jewish homeland not a jewish state - nonetheless the jews took this as a promise of aid

Question 3

who did turkey side with in ww2

Answer 3

german side

made GB & US worried cos of their reliance on oil

Question 4

diaspora

Answer 4

dispersal of a people, in this jews, to different places in the world

Question 5

synagogue

Answer 5

building where jews meet to worship

Question 6

promised land

Answer 6

land of palestine which jews believed god had promised to them

Question 7

zionists

Answer 7

those who advocated the creation of a jewish homeland and later an independant state in palestine

Question 8

prophet muhammad

Answer 8

572 - 632

was born in the arabian city of mecca
the messanger + prophet of god

Question 9

mandate

Answer 9

an order from the league of nations

giving britian + france control of arab lands previously ruled by turkey

Question 10

wafd

Answer 10

arabic for delegation, suggesting the partys claim to represent hte people

a nationalist political party in egypt

Question 11

said zaghlul

Answer 11

egyptian nationalist leader

Question 12

jewish agency

Answer 12

the governing body of the zionist movement in palestine during the british mandate

Question 13

arab higher committee

Answer 13

committee of palestinian arab leaders formed in 1936 in an attempt to direct the arab rebellion

Question 14

haganah

Answer 14

the jewish defence force which was set up in the 1920s + was later to form the basis of the israeli army

Question 15

david ben-gurion

Answer 15

leader of the jewish agency + first prime minister of israeli in teh 1940s to 60s

Question 16

mcmahon hussein letters

Answer 16

in 1915

promising british support + advice if the arabs were to begin fighting off the turks

Question 17

1916 the arab revolt

Answer 17

arab army led by faisal blew up turkish trains + disrupted the flow of military supplies to turkish soldiers

Question 18

sykes picot agreement

Answer 18

in 1916

Refers to how the British and the French agreed to carve up Turkey’s Arab lands after the war & share it amongst themselves.
This was obviously not communicated the Arabs, who felt they had fought the Turks for sufficient time & now deserved self-govt, and were justifiably fuming when they found out

Question 19

why did gb start sykes picot agreement

Answer 19

WW1 wasn’t going swimmingly & they couldn’t not have a super strong alliance with France, her main ally

ME is such a useful trading link

Want to protect the Suez Canal, which was jointly owned by the French. Britain already controlled Egypt & saw Palestine as an additional buffer zone to protect the canal

Question 20

treaty of versailles 1919 - what came of it regarding the middle east

Answer 20

french given syria + lebanon mandates

gb given palestine transjordan + iraq mandates

decided by the league of nations

Question 21

1945 what changed regarding french mandates

Answer 21

recognised the independance of both syria + lebanon

the two states joined the UN + the french military were promptly removed

Question 22

british administration of transjordan

Answer 22

1923 brits acknowledge transjordan as its own state
providing a financial subsidy to support the building of schools + roads
kept in charge of some foreign policy + military troops

Question 23

british administration of iraq

Answer 23

huge rebellion by iraqi nationalists - cycle of rebellions rising and being crushed

1932 iraq was granted independance
gb kept control of foreign poicy + some airbases

Question 24

1919 egyptian revolution

Answer 24

the result of popular egyptian nationalist leader, said zaghlul

Question 25

egypt was declared a soverign state in

Answer 25

1922

Question 26

arab jewish riots of 1921 where

Answer 26

jaffas ( a western port town) that had lots of jewish immigrants

Question 27

churchill visits palestine in 1921 and says

Answer 27

goes back on the balfour declaration + said to stop immigration for good

that is not in my power + it is not my wish

Question 28

immigration in teh 20s

Answer 28

slows down a lot in the 20s

the jewish population doubles. by 1929, there are a million arabs + 160,000 jews in palestine

Question 29

british control of jewish immigration becomes evermore complicated in teh 40s

Answer 29

estricting immigration makes them look insensitive to the jews’ plight at the hand of the nazis; but not doing anything will result in only more arab fear & violence

caught between a rock and a hard place
jews are leaving europe in their hundreds of thousands due to anti semitism headed by hitler

Question 30

ARAB REBELLION IN TEH 30S

Answer 30

the displaced palestinians peasants (all arab) who find themselves landless & impoverished

Fighting was becoming more and more widespread until there was a mini palestinian war - the british responded harshly, cracking down on mostly arab leaders, having some hanged exiles and their houses destroyed
Also, the british helped train the jewish defence force the Haganah

may 1936, the leader of the Jewish agency David Ben-Gurion recognised the widespread support for the arab rebellion and concluded “we both want palestine. And that is the fundamental conflict.” suggesting that only war would resolve the conflict

Question 31

arabs response to the british partition plan of 1937

Answer 31

reject - they think they should have all of palestine as the brits promised them in the hussein macmonald letters

Question 32

zionist response to british partion plan of 1937

Answer 32

jewish agency agreed to the plan + but made it clear they were expecting more soon

Question 33

The british partition plan 1937

Answer 33

THE HEIGHT OF THE REBELLION: the british govt set up an inquiry led by lord peel, concluding that cooperation between the arabs and jews was impossible. The report recommended the parition of palestine into two seperate states, one jewish & the other arab.

Question 34

The british govt white paper, 1939

Answer 34

With the rebellion over, the brits have given up on the idea of partition. And with WW2 brewing, the brits are aware they need to have the arabs of their side so they can continue to receive oil & win this war

The govt issues a special white paper (a doc that makes recommendations for discussion) that declared the brits were wanting an independant palestine in the next 10 years, where jews and arabs share responsibility for governing the country. They conceded there would be considerable restrictions on jewish immigration in the coming years. Only 10,000 jewish immigrants for each of the following 5 years, and thereafter there would be no further jewish immigration unless the arabs of palestine where in agreement