History 244

Haganah

Created in 1920, the Haganah was a rudimentary guard force. Haganah means "defense" in Hebrew. Eventually, Haganah evolved into Palestine's mainstream military force. During the War of Independence in 1948, the Haganah privately warned Ben-Gurion that the chances of Israel surviving was 50-50. In early 1948, the Haganah and local militias merged into one single army, unlike the Palestinians whose military forces operated separately. The Haganah switched from defense to offense in March of 1948 because destroying guerilla bases in the countryside (drying up the lake vs. trying to catch each fish) was more effective. Also, with the British leaving in May 1948 and nearby Arab states pledging to invade Israel, the Haganah felt they needed to consolidate control over the interior.

David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion is viewed as one of the most important political figures of Zionist Movement. Born on October 16th, 1886, he became involved in the zionist movement during his childhood. In May of 1918, Ben Gurion enlisted in a Jewish Battalion of the British Royal Fusiliers during WWI. In the 1930s' and 1940's Ben Gurion's political importance grew as he lead the Zionist Movement in Palestine. In 1935, Ben Gurion was elected Chairman of the Jewish Agency's executive committee. Finally in 1948, Ben Gurion announced the creation of the independent state of Israel in May 1948 and acted as the prime minister of the state until 1963. He was in charge of the Labor Party and was a large supporter of the Socialist platform, he was also strongly opposed to Jabotinsky and all of his ideas.

White Paper of 1922

Drafted at the request of Winston Churchill in direct response to anti-Jewish riots, contradicted Balfour Declaration (which zionists claimed said settlements were allowed on both sides of the Jordan river) by declaring settlements east of the Jordan River were forbidden from Jews, denied Palestine west of the Jordan River would be converted into a Jewish state, and emphasized Jews would not be allowed to create an independent state (but instead set up center in which the Jewish people may "take interest and pride."

Arab Revolt of 1936-1939

In April of 1936, after years of social and political protests by Palestinian Nationalists against Western influence of Jews and British in the mandate, the Arab Higher Committee called for a general strike, initiating the revolt. These protests soon escalated into violent attacks from Arabs on Jewish settlements. Eventually it became un-beneficial for urban Palestinians to continue the revolt, and so it transferred to rural areas. The rural areas continued attacks on Jews and British alike through Guerilla warfare, often cutting off their means of communication. By enforcing more british control and troops, the revolt was finally suppressed and the third white paper by the british was issued in response.

Kafr Quassem

Israeli Arab village. During the 1956 war, it was attacked by the Israeli police, and close to 48 Arab civilians were killed. On October 29, 1956, on the eve of the Sinai Campaign, the Israeli army ordered all Israeli Arab villages near the Jordanian border placed under a wartime curfew that was to apply from 5 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next day. Any Arab on the streets was to be shot. The order was given to the Israeli border police at 3:30 before most of the Arabs from the villages could be notified. Many of them were at work at the time. Villagers began to arrive from work to their homes in Kfar Kassem and Israeli troops opened fire on them. A total of 47 Israeli Arabs were killed. The news of the killings was censored and the general Israeli public did not learn what happened until several weeks later when Prime Minister David Ben Gurion announced the findings of a secret inquiry. Eleven border policemen were eventually charged with crimes and eight were convicted. Those who were imprisoned had their terms reduced; no one served more than three and a half years in jail. The brigade commander received a symbolic penalty — a fine of 10 prutot (a coin equal to 1/1000 of an old Israeli pound). In 2006, Israel's Edcuation Minister, Tamir ordered schools to commemorate the event. In addition, the mayor of Kfar Kassem announced plans to open a museum commemorating the massacre.

Mizrachim:

Jews of North African and Asian origin that immigrated to Israel after the establishment of the Law of Return. These Jews were poor and illiterate, hence experienced prejudice and violence from the richer and more educated Jews of European origin, the Ashkenazim. This intercommunal struggle was handled by the government by pouring money into Mizrachim education in order to close the educational gap. It is important to note that the Mizrachim did not assimilate into the Ashkenazim, but rather the two groups formed a mosaic unified by education, military, and a common Israeli I.D. Still, however, as the Mizrachim became more wealthy, intermarriage between the two groups rarely occurred.

Haj Amin al-Husayni

Leader of Palestine from 1921-1937. Spent WWII in Germany, allied himself with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Hated zionism and Jews

First Intifada

By 1987, a global economic outturn began to hit the Palestinians very hard. Unemployment began to surge. All of these pressures and feelings of isolation were the background for the First Intifada. The incident that sparked this was a small traffic accident, which killed numerous Palestinian pedestrians. Although it was violent, it stopped short of lethal attacks on the Israelis. Rather, they merely threw stones, set fires to cars with Israeli license plates, etc. They urged Palestinians to withhold taxes; they held street demonstrations in which little children were put in the front lines. By late 1988, Israel had recovered enough to retake the initiative. They demolished the leaders of the Intifada's houses. They imposed curfews, mass arrests, prevented villagers from bringing their crops to markets (economic pressures), etc. Gradually, the Intifada began to subside. However, it ultimately gave a boost to the idea of Palestinian victimization in addition to increasing Arab sympathy for their cause. Furthermore, it sent a powerful message to three groups — the Israelis, America and Europe, and neighboring Arab states.

White Paper of 1939

The most sympathetic to Arab position of the White Papers. Promised to replace British mandate with a single, independent bi-national state of Jews and Arabs within 10 years. However, the Jewish population would not be allowed to grow past ⅓ of the total, and all Jewish immigration would end within 5 years. Senior government posts would follow the ratio of 2 Arabs:1 Jew, and it restricted Jewish land purchases. It offered the best chance in 20 years to "fix" the conflict, but Palestinian leadership refused to accept it, and it was unrealistic in the wake of Nazism and European anti-semitism.

Yishuv

Yishuv is a term that literally translates to settlement, and more importantly refers to the Jewish community established through immigration during the mandate of Palestine. The most important document for the Yishuv was the Balfour Declaration. This document supported the creation of a jewish national home for the British and allowed the Yishuv to establish a par-state within the mandate with institutions of self-government. Due to the European education of the Yishuv, their par-state became extremely economically prosperous, growing at a rate of roughly 13.5%, during this time period. The Yishuv community also implemented many so cial programs for the jews including educational system that also made the literacy rates between them and palestinians drastic. It was in response to the success of the Yishuv community in the mandate that Palestinian nationalism was created.

White Paper of 1930

Written by colonial secretary Lord Passfield (a known anti-zionist), more unsympathetic to zionism than White Paper of 1922. Declared in effect that Jews will never get a state of their own in Palestine and that Jewish land purchases and Jewish immigration into Palestine would be severely curtailed. Caused English zionists to lobby inside and outside parliament and encourage news campaigns against the White Paper of 1930.

Ottoman Empire

Ruled Palestine until 1918. Lost control to British after defeat in WWI. Ottoman Empire controlled the Middle East for centuries, including most of the Arab world. However, Arab loyalties were never national; Arabs defined themselves in local terms.

Ayans

The Ayans were the rich elite of the Palestinian society who remained in control of power for a large portion of the conflict until 1940. Haj Amin Al Husayni was the main person in power and he had close ties with the Nazi's in World War II. There was a lot of tension between the Ayans and the lower class because they were more preoccupied with family fueds between them, rather than worrying about the poor. The British also sought their cooperation during the mandate period.

Balfour Declaration

The Balfour Declaration, written on November 2nd 1917, dramatically changed the zionist movement by pledging British support for a Jewish National home in Palestine. During World War One, in need of Arab support and assistance to help win, the British promised in return a Palestinian independent state. However, the Balfour Declaration, lucrative for the British economically and politically, reversed this earlier promise to the arabs. Furthermore, the Balfour Declaration allowed zionist's to thrive within the mandate while it stunted any ability for Palestinians to grow. The Declaration recognized the Jewish people as a population, while it never officially even referred to or mentioned the Palestinian's at all. This allowed the Jewish people to create a sub-state within the mandate political and economic institutions backed by the british and other foreign entities, while it prohibited the Palestinians from doing the same.

Irgun

The Irgun was a military organization, founded by Vladimir Jabotinsky. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Israeli government. It was founded in 1937 and was dissolved in 1948. The Irgun was an offshoot of the Haganah and was much more violent. The Irgun committed itself to taking action against any opposition to the creation of a Jewish state. It is most famous for blowing up King David Hotel in 1946 which was the headquarters of the British military.

Knesset

The Knesset was the national Jewish assembly. There were advantages and disadvantages to this system. Two advantages was that it was democratic as well as discussing a range of political and ideological positions. Many Israelis liked the Knesset because they felt that they had a stake in the system because of the small parties. One disadvantage was that coordination was difficult. The Knesset represented an European legacy. East Jerusalem Arabs were unequal because they could not vote; however, Druze Arabs were overrepresented.

Theodore Herzl

Theodore Herzl, born on May 2nd, 1860, is known as the founder of political zionism, which lead to the creation of the Jewish State. Unlike Eastern European Jews, Herzl was assimilated into European culture, and originally believed that assimilation was the answer to anti-semitism. However, while being a journalist in France, which he considered the epitome of a progressive society, Herzl observed the trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was an army officer accused falsely as a traitor because he was Jewish. Realizing that even the most forward countries such as french could not accept the assimilation and high accolades of a Jew, Herzl changed his position on assimilation and proposed the idea of a Jewish state in a book by the same name. Herzl would go on to create the world Zionist Congress in 1897.

United Nations Resolution 3379

This was a PLO-backed resolution passed by the United Nations in 1975. The resolution condemned Zionism as a form of racism, echoing the beliefs of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. This indicated a major shift in the UN's support of Israel, as the UN had previously been favorable towards Israel, and now moved to support the Palestinians. Moreover, the UN's support of the PLO and passing of this resolution meant that the UN recognized the PLO, despite the fact that the PLO had pledged to destroy Israel, a UN member-state. This resolution reflected the growing anti-west sentiment in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the solidarity of many new African and Asian with Palestine. These new states followed the Palestinians' belief that Israel, due to its support from the US, Britain, and France, was another colonial power and part of the colonial system that these new states wanted to eliminate. The international support for Palestine and the PLO shown by the passage of UN Resolution 3379 was a major success for the PLO against Israel

Vladimir Jabotinsky

Vladimir Jabotinsky, born on October 18th, 1880 in Odessa, Russia, is most widely known as the founder and leader of the World Union of Zionist-Revisionists. This movement heavily contrasted Ben-Gurion's Zionist movement in Palestine. Opposed to Ben Gurion, Jabotinsky tried to mobilize violence and force against the British due to their plans for the partition of Palestine. Through this offensive movement, Jabotinsky advocated the establishment of a Jewish State, increased immigration in Palestine, and military opposition to British mandate power.