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