The British Withdrawal and Creation of Israel Flashcards
Why was Jerusalem important to Jews?
wailing wall, where the holy temple once was
Why was Jerusalem important to Islam
night of power happened here
When was the Balfour Declaration
1917
What was the Balfour Declaration
Statement from Britain in which Britain expresses support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine without impacting Arabs negatively.
Why were the British in a difficult situation after the Balfour Declaration
It is impossible to protect the rights of Arabs whilst also creating a Jewish homeland in their land
How long has Palestine been owned by the Arabs before the Jewish wanted to claim it as their homeland
1500 years
When was the British mandate set in place, and by who
?
The League of Nations gave Britain the mandate over Palestine in 1922
Who was Ernest Bevin
foreign secretary of Britain, (managing mandate)
How many immigrants did Ernest Bevin allow into Palestine a month (from July 1945)
1500 jews/month
How many displaced Jews were there in Europe in 1945
250,000
Why did Ernest Bevin restrict the immigration of Jews into Palestine to 1500/month
-Believed a flood of Jewish immigrants would cause a civil war in Palestine
-Britain needed to stay on good side of Arabs as their countries had a lot of oil
What was the Irgun?
An extremist Zionist group
What was the Haganah
A moderate Zionist group
What was the aims of the Irgun?
Wage a campaign of violence against the British to forcefully make them leave Palestine
Horrify British public into demanding British withdrawal from Palestine
What was the aims of the Haganah
Help as many Holocaust survivors as possible immigrate to Palestine by any means necessary
Get worldwide sympathy for the establishment of a Jewish state
How did the irgun groups harm Britain in Palestine?
Haganah and Zionist teamed up
-Blew up 153 parts of Palestinian railway to hamper British communications
-Blew up any British police station or buildings
-Stole British weapons
-73 British troops killed in 1946 alone
Example of extreme cruelty of Irgun
in response to 2 irgun members being imprisoned for 18 years and stroked with cane 18 times,
Leader of Irgun, Menachem Begin, killed 4 British soldiers and beat them 18 times with a cane.
When was the Bombing of the King David Hotel
22 July 1946
Who was inside the King David Hotel
mandate administration, british army
How was the bombing executed
a lorry drove up to
the tradesmen’s entrance of the hotel. Irgun, disguised
as Arabs, then entered the premises carrying a number
of milk churns. The milk churns contained explosives
and were placed by the main columns supporting
the southern wing.
Who died due to the King David Hotel Bombing?
91 people killed
41 Arabs, 28 Britons, 17 Jews
What was the SS exodus
American passenger ships used by the Haganah to smuggle Jews into Palestine.
How was the SS exodus both a failure and a success?
Very few vessels actually ended up in Palestine
However this was great publicity for the zionist cause. Each ship turned away damaged Britain’s reputation and increased sympathy for the Jewish cause.
What happened in the SS Exodus incident 1947
4500 Jews picked up from France, then when sailing to Palestine was stopped by the Royal Navy. Passengers refused to disembark and went on hunger strike. Britain placed them in refugee camps in Germany. camps. This caused outrage against Britain and had a major part in creating support for a Jewish state.1
What was the impact of Jewish terrorism on Britain?
-made mandate more expensive to run
-hard to justify keeping 100,000 soldiers in Palestine whilst Britain was recovering from WW2
-Public did not understand why soldiers were still dying after WW2 ended
-mandate security increase - Palestinians subject to random searches, mass arrests, road blocks and military curfews
Details of US support of zionism
-the USA had over 5 million Jews by 1945
-Some helped smuggle immigrants into Palestine, others helped with money
-1945: Americans gave $46 million to the zionist cause
-US printed articles supporting Jewish terrorism
-Harry Truman (pressured by zionist population) told Britain to let 100,000 Jews into Palestine
Why was Ernest Bevin’s refusal to the USA’s request for allowing 100,000 jews into Palestine futile
USA applied economic pressure to Britain. Britain was reliant on USA money due to Marshall Plan for recovery after WW2.
What caused Britain to finally give up the mandate in early 1947
US pressure, lack of money, inability to stop jewish terrorism, unable to please both Jews and Arabs, pressure from British public
Who did Britain ask to solve the Jewish-Arab problem?
Newly formed United Nations
What was UNSCOP
11 investigators from different continents aiming to find solution to the Palestine problem by touring the country and gathering evidence
How were UNSCOP treated by Jews and Arabs?
Jews were very welcoming
Arabs showed hostility
Who did UNSCOP meet with for Arabs?
former muslim mayor of Jerusalem, transjordan, lebanon
What plan did UNSCOP return with?
UN Partition Plan: resolution 181
separate Jewish and Arab states, currency would be same and transport&communications run for the common good.
JERUSALEM would be under international control
What was the British reaction to the Partition Plan
Believed it was unjust to Arabs and would cause war. Preventing war would be very expensive so British public demanded quick withdrawal from Mandate.
What was Arab reaction to the Partition Plan
complete refusal, they believed the UN had no right to take away their land
Why was the Partition Plan unfair to Arabs?
-400,000 Arabs left in Jewish territory
-Jews got over half of Palestine despite being only 1/3 of the population
-most fertile parts of Palestine given to Jews
-Palestine was Arab for over 1000 years
What was the Jewish reaction to the Partition Plan?
Reluctant acceptance
-They wanted Jerusalem to be their capital, but due to the plan it would be deep in Arab territory
-extremist jews thought plan was unacceptable ,Jerusalem had to be capital
What happened after Britain announced they would withdraw from Palestine by 15 May 1948
preceding May, 5 months of extreme violence and chaos in Palestine.
What happened in the 12 days after the UN vote for the partition plan
79 Jews killed by Arabs, Jewish reprisals lead to more deaths
How many refugees had fled Palestine by Feb 1948?
250,000
What was Plan D?
Plan made by Haganah in order to secure the future of Israel.
-Took control of Arab villages in or near the Jewish state, resistors expelled
Evidence that Plan D was offensive
Aimed also to take control of Jewish settlements, even if in proposed Arab state
What did Israeli historian say about plan D
“It paved the way for ethnic cleansing”
when was the Deir Yassin massacre?
April 9 1948
What motivated the Deir Yassin massacre
Jewish wanted control of main road leading to Jerusalem so they could control supplies going to the 100,000 Jews living there. Deir Yassin was near this road
What happened in the Deir Yassin massacre
100 Irgun & Lehi fighters kill 100 inhabitants including women and children
What did current PM of Israel say to justify the Deir Yassin massacre?
Claimed Arab fighters were using Deir Yassin as a base
What was Arab reprisal to Deir Yassin?
Broadcasted on radio, causing Arab fighters to ambush a convoy of Jewish doctors & nurses, killing 70.
How many Palestinians fled to Arab-controlled territory due to the Arab radio broadcast about Deir Yassin
250,000
When was did Israel declare itself a nation
14 May 1948
Who recognised Israel as a nation
USA and USSR
When did the British mandate end
15 May 1948
When was the Arab-Israeli war
1948-1949
What countries were in the Arab-Israeli war?
Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, Lebanon vs Israel
What was Phase 1 of the Arab-Israeli war? May-June 1948
Israel losing
-only 1/3 of its troops had weapons
-only had 5 field guns, Arabs had 150
Transjordan captured West Bank and East Jerusalem (inc Wailing Wall),
Iraqi forces invaded North
Egyptian forces invaded South
Count Bernadotte arranged a months truce.
Against truce terms, the American Zionist bought 30,000 rifles, 4500 machine guns,47milllion rounds of ammunition and 87 aeroplanes for fighters in Israel.
How was defence of Yad Mordechai a display of Israel weakness but also good co-ordination and determination?
this Kibbutz (farm) was invaded by 2,500 Egyptians. Just before attack, 92 women and children evacuated. The remaining 110 settlers stalled the Egyptian forces for 5 days, allowing Israeli forces to organise a defensive line to prevent Egyptians from taking Tel Aviv.
What was Phase 2 of the Arab-Israeli war? June 1948
Israel broke truce 2 days early by going on the offensive. Israeli forces captured Arabic towns Lydda and Ramleh and expelled their Arab population.
UN called a 3 month truce
What was Phase 3 of the Arab-Israeli war? October 1948-July 1949
-Israel forces broke truce early
-Israel recaptured Galilee from the Lebanese then retook the Negev desert.
Armistice agreements signed with Egypt (February), Lebanon (March) , Transjordan (April), and Syria (July)
Iraq refused to sign one.
How many Arabs were there compared to Israelis during the war
450 million Arabs : 650,000 Jews
What factors lead to Israel winning the war?
1)Arab states complacent, thought Israel was weak. Started war by sending around 25,000 troops against 35,000 Israel soldiers. By December 1948, Israel had 108,000 soldiers, double that of the Arabs.
2)Israeli soldiers much more experienced, Haganah soldiers fought with the British and Irgun against the British. Also helped by foreign volunteers who had military experience. On the other hand, Transjordan was the only Arab country with an effective army (and they mainly used it defensively to hold Palestinian land)
3)Months truce at beginning of war meant Israel could regroup from its losses and buy weapons from Czechoslovakia.
4) Israel army more co-ordinated (eg Yad Mordechai). Each Arab army had its own aim and leaders.
5)Israelis were determined and motivated as they were fighting for religious reasons
What proved the British wanted no more soldiers dying after the war ended
Voted in labour instead of Churchill & conservative
