Arab-Israeli Conflict Final Exam

Theodor Herzl

- Often considered to be the father of the modern Zionist movement - Witnessed the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and concluded that the best solution would be the mass exodus of Jews to a state they could call their own. In 1896, Herzl published "Der Judenstaat" or "(translated into) The Jewish State" which quickly became the primary piece of Zionist literature & outlines arguments and plans for the creation of a Jewish state - His argument for the assimilation of Jews into western society: wherever the Jews go, the seeds of antisemitism are already sown - Next, he advocates the creation of a *Jewish Company* (handle the business and real estate aspects of a mass migration) and a *Jewish Society* (in charge of life in the new Jewish state, and Herzl dictates detailed plans for every aspect of the new society including housing, labor, immigration, etc) It is important to note that Herzl does not specify the land of Palestine as the most desirable territory, instead leaving it open to where the Jews could acquire land peacefully In 1897, Herzl founded the First Zionist Congress - Herzl was elected president and spent years trying to enlist financial and political support for his dream

The Haganah

A Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1928, witch later became the Israel Defense Force (IDF) - It was created to protect the Jewish farms and kibbutzim and to warn and repel Palestinian Arab attacks - Following the 1929 riots, the Haganah's role changed dramatically and became much larger and acquired foreign arms transforming from a poorly organized militia to an underground army - In 1931 the more militant members split off and created the Irgun.

Deir Yassin

A Palestinian Arab village of 600 people near Jerusalem. It was depopulated after a massacre (48') of around 107 of its residents by the Irgun and Lehi groups - This was done to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem - This was used as argument against Israel around the Jewish world.

Haycraft Commission (of the 1921 riots)

A Royal Commission set up to investigate the Jaffa riots of 1921, but its release was widened and its report entitled "Palestine: Disturbances in May 1921" The report blamed the Arabs for the violence: - The racial strife was begun by the Arabs, and rapidly developed into a conflict of great violence between Arabs and Jews, in which the Arab majority, who were generally the aggressors, inflicted most of the casualties. The report identified the fundamental cause of the riots was a feeling among the Arabs of discontent with, and hostility to, the Jews, due to political and economic causes, and connected with Jewish immigration, and with their conception of Zionist policy as derived from Jewish exponents. This pattern repeated itself over the decades: Arab riots with Jewish casualties, British official inquiry, followed by appeasement of the Arabs.

Ottoman Empire

A Turkish Empire, which was one of the largest and longest lasting. It came to an end in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne The Empire had been greatly weakened because of WWI - This is because it had signed a treaty with Germany and was thus on the losing side - The Arab revolt, which began in 1916, turned the tide against the Ottomans at the Middle Eastern front and the Treaty of Sevres solidified the partitioning of the empire and formed many independent countries.

Irgun

A Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 31'-48' It was an offshoot of the Haganah. Irgun members were absorbed into the IDF at the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. They disagreed with the policy of the Yishuv and with the World Zionist Organization - They also helped to carry out illegal immigration of European Jews to Israel.

The Arab Revolt 36-39

A nationalist uprising by Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine against British foreign rule as a demand for independence and violence again erupted in Palestine in April 1936 A new union of Palestinian political parties was formed, the Arab Higher Committee (represented Arab interests in Palestine until 1948), headed by the Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini - The Committee called for a general strike intended to bring pressure to bear on the British to change their policies - Despite strong Palestinian resistance to Jewish immigration, the British Government issued permits for several thousand new immigrants, offering further provocation to Palestinian nationalists - There were attacks on British troops and police posts as well as on Jewish settlements, sabotage of roads, etc - The British administration imposed curfews, called in troop reinforcements from Britain and Egypt and resorted to mass arrests, etc - The revolt was branded by many in the Jewish Yishuv as "immoral and terroristic", often comparing it to the fascism and Nazism - Ben Gurion, however, expressed Arab causes as fear from growing Jewish economic power, opposition to mass Jewish immigration and fear of the English identification with Zionism - Then the Peel Commission, a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, set out to propose changes to the British Mandate following the 1936-39 Arab Revolt. - In 1937 they returned to England, reporting for the first time a recommended partition

Unit 101

A special forces unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), founded and commanded by Ariel Sharon on orders from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in August 1953 Drew much criticism due to deaths of innocent civilians, in particular, the killing 63 civilians including women and children in his Unit 101 raid on Qibya in 1953 (Unit 101 only existed for five months and was disbanded and merged into the 202nd Paratroop Brigade) - Sharon announced that in his vision, Israel would continue the tactics of deploying terror in hopes of forcing Arab neighbors to accept Israel - However, its decisive style of action developed in its later attacks against heavily-guarded military objectives became one of the fundamental cornerstones in the development of the Israel Defence Forces How it started: - A reaction to the Palestinian infiltration into the young state of Israel from its Arab neighbors, although most of the infiltrators were refugees, looking after their own property they had been forced to abandon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and some chose to rob and kill Israelis. - As early as 1953, the Egyptian military intelligence was sending infiltrators into Israel and Israel was not able to block the infiltrations - After a series of unsuccessful raids, the Israeli government decided in summer 1953 on the creation of a special forces unit, Israel's first.

"The Rejectionist Front"

Abu Nidal takes to violence armed struggle group seeing Arafat as a sell out (seen as Pal terrorism even though Arafat doesn't have any control over them) they become grouped together in the eye of the West and the public

Baruch Goldstein

An American-born Israeli physician and religious extremist and known for being the mass murderer who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Palestinian Muslim worshippers and wounding another 125 - He was beaten to death by survivors of the massacre - He starts the cycle of suicide bombing and violence the Israelis never forget and forgive; his actions were meant to derail the peace process The Israeli government condemned the massacre and responded by: - Arresting followers of affiliated movements as terrorists, forbidding certain Israeli settlers from entering Palestinian towns, demanding that those settlers turn in their army-issued rifles, and Jewish Israelis were barred from entering major Arab communities in Hebron. - Although rejecting a PLO demand that all settlers in the West Bank be disarmed and that an international force be created to protect Palestinians The Israeli government also took extreme measures against Palestinians following the deadly riots after the massacre expelling them from certain streets near Jewish settlements in Hebron where many Palestinians had homes and businesses, and allowing access exclusively to Jewish Israelis and foreign tourists

The Munich Olympics

An attack during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, on eleven Israeli Olympic team members, who were taken hostage and eventually killed, along with a German police officer, by the Palestinian group Black September--a PLO offshoot. This attack prompted Israel to launch "Operation Wrath of God" and "Operation Spring of Youth." (retaliation attacks don't need to know these specifics)

Haj Amin Al-Husseni

Appointed Mufti of Jerusalem by Herbert Samuel, the first high commissioner of Palestine in 1921 - It was odd that Samuel, a British Jew, would appoint a man who would be responsible for so much unrest within the Mandatory area. Anti-British and anti-Jewish, the mufti was the key nationalist figure among Muslims in Palestine - Fearful that increased Jewish immigration to Palestine would damage Arab standing in the area, the mufti engineered the bloody riots against Jewish settlement in 1929 and 1936 One of the mufti's most successful projects was the restoration of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque.

The three No's of Khartoum

Arab leaders met in Khartoum in August 1967 and released a statement showing their unwillingness to compromise: no negotiations with Israel, no peace with Israel, no recognition of the state of Israel.

World War I

Brings the end of the Ottoman Empire, the emergence of British and Western control over Palestine - The Western powers are seen as favoring the Jews - WWI signals the beginnings of the ampting of anti-Semenitism and new Jewish homeland is appealing to the Jews

The Biltmore Conference (1942)

Due to the war, no Zionist Congress could be held that year. The Extraordinary Zionist Conference was thus called to serve a similar purpose of forming Zionist policy Ben-Gurion helped secure the adoption of the Biltmore Program, which called for fulfillment of the Balfour Declaration and urged the establishment of Palestine as a Jewish commonwealth - Ben-Gurion was determined to seek a resolution that Jewish immigration to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state would proceed despite British opposition The Biltmore Program adopted at the conference and approved by the Zionist General Council in November 1942 called for unlimited Jewish immigration to Palestine and control of immigration by the Jewish commonwealth

Practical Zionism

Emphasized practical means of attaining Zionist goals, such as aliyah (immigration), rural settlement and educational institutions, despite inadequate political conditions This approach originated in the Hibbat Zion movement in the 1880s, well before Political Zionism - After Theodor Herzl's death, Practical Zionism, calling for the intensification of rural settlement in Palestine, gained strength The champions of this doctrine were the members of the Second Aliyah, who settled in Palestine at this time - They founded rural settlements, some along cooperative principles; built modern towns, and established the first industrial enterprises.

Fatah

Founded by Yasser Arafat in the 1950s to promote the armed struggle to liberate all Palestine from Israeli control - By then the basic theory of Fatah ideology and tactics was that revolutionary violence, practiced by the masses, was the only way to liberate Palestine and liquidate all forms of Zionism. It developed into the largest Palestinian political faction and, after recognizing Israel's right to exist, led efforts towards a two-state solution with Israel under the 1990s Oslo peace accords. The party lost power in the 2006 parliamentary elections to Hamas, after Fatah officials came to be perceived as corrupt and incompetent. The shift in power heralded a period of violence on the streets of Gaza.

Jabotinsky's "Iron Wall" Concept (1923) (page 50 of textbook)

He developed an "Iron Wall" philosophy holding that only a strong show of force toward the Arabs would block their efforts to do away with Zionism and eventually lead to dialogue and even reconciliation - He later formed the Zionist Revisionist party (argues there will never be a rational peace between Jew and Arabs, they will fight for homes and power) - He criticized the ideologues in the Zionist leadership (such as Ben-Gurion) who thought that Palestinians could be bribed into selling their country and rights - He was the first to warn the Zionist Movement that the clash between Jewish and Palestinian nationalisms is inevitable, and it should not be ignored - As the Nazis rose to power in Germany, Ben-Gurion and other Zionist leaders recognized the "importance" of Jabotinsky's doctrine (more for a violent showing then actually committing an expulsion)

The Sykes-Picot Agreement (May 1916)

In 1916, representatives of Great Britain and France secretly reached an accord, known as the Sykes-Picot agreement - Most of the Arab lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire are to be divided into British and French spheres of influence with the conclusion of World War I. - Palestine was to become an international zone, a compromise because both powers were interested in retaining influence in the Holy Land.

Chaim Weitzmann

In 1917, he was credited with securing a promise from the British to build a "Jewish National Home" in Palestine (better known as the Balfour Declaration) - Weizmann was one of the three Zionist leaders (along with Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion) most responsible for turning Zionism into a reality) - Chaim Weizmann attempted to lay down the foundations of realizing Zionism, and began by asserting that Palestine was empty and that its current inhabitants have no say in its fate - As the Zionist movement center of gravity shifted from Europe to Palestine in the late 1930s-early 1940s, Weizmann played a secondary role behind David Ben-Gurion, who led the movement until 1962 - Soon after the conclusion of the 1948 War, and the establishment of the "Jewish state" he became first Israeli President - Weizmann was a very patient and savvy politician, who knew how to patiently lobby for Zionism in Europe, especially among the British whom he knew very well how to charm and court -He is credited with clarifying Herzl's vision of Zionism in the West and many Western Jewish communities - Weizmann's style of management was almost the exact opposite of Ben-Gurion's, who became militant, rigid, and uncompromising after the Nazis rose to power in Germany.

Sir Herbert Samuel

In 1920, he served as high commissioner of Palestine for five years - His appointment was viewed by many Jews as an affirmation that the British promise for a Jewish National Home in Palestine would be honored Samuel made it clear that his policy was to unite all dissenting groups under the British flag - Attempting to appease the Arabs in Palestine, Samuel made several significant concessions and appointed al-Husseini, a noted Arab nationalist extremist, to be Mufti of Jerusalem - In addition, he slowed the pace of Jewish immigration to Palestine, much to the distress of the Zionists - In attempting to prove his impartiality, the Zionists claimed that he had gone too far, and had damaged the Zionist cause - Many Zionists were ultimately disappointed by Samuel, who they felt did not live up to the high expectations they had of him.

1920 Riots/April Uprising

In 1920, the first violent clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine erupted, which later became known as the 1920s riots - The clashes were concentrated in two main regions: Tel Hai and Jerusalem In Jerusalem: - Nabi Moussa holiday celebrations turned into riots - Started by the Arabs who believed the Jews were trying to take over Muslim holy places - Several Jews and Arabs killed and many more were injured Significance: lack of intervention by British police led to Jews forming the Haganah: a defence force for the Yishuv.

Tel Hai

In 1920, the first violent clashes between Jews and Arabs in Palestine erupted, which later became known as the 1920s riots. - The clashes were concentrated in two main regions: Tel Hai and Jerusalem - In the course of the event, a Shiite Arab militia, accompanied by Bedouins from a nearby village, attacked Tel Hai - In the aftermath of the battle, several Jews and Arabs were killed - Tel Hai was eventually abandoned by the Jews and burned by the Arab militia The incident is often considered the first violent incident of the Arab-Israeli conflict (Joseph Trumpeldor said it's a valiant thing to die for your country--escalation of violence between Arabs and the Zionist movement)

UN Resolution 181

In 1947 by the UN General Assembly; noted Britain's planned termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and British plans to complete evacuation of Palestine by August 1948 It also recommended the partition of Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state - Jews get more land—mostly desert, but Arabs get the better land (and Jerusalem will become a universal city under UN control) The Plan was accepted by the Jews through the Jewish Agency, but it was rejected by the Arab Higher Committee - Arabs rejected because they didn't want to partition their land (reject out of pride, historical precedent, it seems unfair, etc) The passing of the resolution marked the start of the 47'-48' Civil War in Mandate Palestine

PLO

In 1964, The Palestine Liberation Organization was established and was a group that sort to combine various Arab organizations under one banner - The PLO's primary objective was to (re)gain the land handed by the United Nations to Israel. From 1967 on, the PLO became dominated by Fatah led by Yasir Arafat - It became more extreme as Israel became more successful militarily (1967 and 1973) and more uncompromising about handing back land conquered from the Arabs - Even more extreme units developed within the PLO: especially 'Black September' and the 'Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine' - These two groups believed that the only way Israel could be forced into returning land was to use violence - and bombing, hijacking and murder became their modus operandi. It wasn't until 1974 that the Arab League, meeting in Rabat, Morocco, officially recognized the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinians Israel expelled the PLO from Lebanon in 1982 in the culmination of Israel's invasion of Lebanon and then established its headquarters in Tunis - By the late 1980s, the PLO was directing the first intifada in the Palestinian territories. In 1988, Arafat recognized Israel's right to exist by symbolically declaring the independence of Palestine while endorsing United Nations Security Council 242--which calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops to pre-1967 borders - Arafat's declaration was an implicit endorsement of a two-state solution.

Madrid Peace Conference

In 1991, just after the First Gulf War, a breakthrough occurred when US President George H.W. Bush called a conference in Madrid, Spain between Israel and the Arab nations - An attempt by the international community to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process through negotiations, involving Israel and the Palestinians as well as Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations eventually led to the exchange of letters and the subsequent signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 The Israel-Jordan negotiations that emanated from the Madrid conference led to a peace treaty in 1994

The Sharif Hussein and McMahon letters

In an exchange of letters in 1916, during World War I between the Sharif of Mecca and Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, concerning the political status of lands under the Ottoman Empire. - Growing Arab nationalism had led to a desire for independence from the Ottoman Empire In the letters, Britain agreed to recognize Arab independence after WWI "in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca", not including areas in which France had interests. - Under the assumption of British support for Arab independence as discussed in the letters, Hussein led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire that began in 1916 - The Arabs faced disappointment once the war ended, however, when McMahon and Hussein disagreed on what areas had been included in the territory to be granted independence. - The communications were a contradiction to the Balfour declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised a Jewish National Homeland in Palestine

Yitzhak Rabin (role in Intifada and in Oslo, assassination)

In the 1st Intifada of 1987: - Rabin was the Defense Minister at the time - Initially, Rabin assumed that the riots would quickly decrease in intensity - He ordered a massive IDF military presence, and the arrest of Palestinian inciters, coupled with orders to the military to minimize contact with rioters and to refrain from shooting live ammunition unless directly threatened - Later, in January 1988, Rabin ordered a firmer response: the forceful confrontation of the demo nstrators and a policy of beatings By the Oslo Accords in 1993, Rabin became the Israeli Prime Minister - The accords created the Palestinian Authority and granted it partial control over parts of the Gaza Strip and West Bank - Prior to the signing of the accords, Rabin received a letter from Arafat renouncing violence and officially recognising Israel, and on the same day, Rabin sent Arafat a letter officially recognising the PLO In 1995, Rabin was assassinated by an Orthodox Jew who opposed the signing of the Oslo Accords

The Kibbutz Movement

Israel's first kibbutz was Degania, founded in 1909 by a group of young Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. - They dreamed of working the land and creating a new kind of community, and a new kind of Jew-stronger, more giving, and more rooted in the land. - Aimed to realize the Marxist principle, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." In the early years, kibbutz members worked mostly in agriculture - Instead of earning individual incomes for their labor, all money and assets on the kibbutz were managed collectively - In keeping with the ideal of total economic equality, kibbutz members ate together in a communal dining hall, wore the same kibbutz clothing (and had them washed at the kibbutz laundry), and shared responsibility for child-rearing, education, cultural programs, and other social services. Today, most kibbutzim have branched out into industry to increase their productivity - Kibbutz factories manufacture a wide variety of products from electronics, furniture, household appliances and plastics to farm machinery and irrigation systems

Palestinian and Israeli reaction to the Oslo Accords

Israelis on the right opposed dealing with the PLO, a group it considered a terrorist organization - Israeli settlers feared that Rabin's land-for-peace formula would result in their eviction from land they regarded as theirs by Biblical right, even if the United Nations had ruled their settlements were a violation of international law. Among Palestinians, supporters of Arafat's Fatah movement accepted Oslo as an unfortunate, but necessary, compromise - But rival groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine refused to recognize Israel, and warned that a two-state solution would betray the aspirations of Palestinian refugees to return to land inside Israel lost during the "Nakba" of 1948.

The Fifth Palestinian Congress (1922)

Its leader, Musa Kazem, opposed anti-British agitation and discouraged the use of violence - Instead of violence, Congress approved an economic boycott of the Zionists - Called on all Arabs to refuse to sell them land and boycott Jewish businesses - The Congress also opposed Jewish immigration to Palestine, opposed the establishment of a Jewish national homeland, and called for a repudiation of the Balfour Declaration Kazem reported that possibilities still existed for progress through negotiations

Yasser Arafat

Leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the coordinating body for Palestinian organizations, and head of Al Fatah, the largest group in the PLO In 1964, the PLO was established, under the sponsorship of the Arab League, bringing together a number of groups all working to free Palestine for the Palestinians - The Arab states favoured a more conciliatory policy than Fatah's, but after their defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, Fatah emerged from the underground as the most powerful and best organised of the groups making up the PLO, took over that organisation in 1969 when Arafat became the chairman of the PLO executive committee - The PLO was no longer to be something of a puppet organisation of the Arab states, wanting to keep the Palestinians quiet, but an independent nationalist organisation, based in Jordan then to Tunis The period after the expulsion from Lebanon was a low time for Arafat and the PLO. Then the intifada (shaking) protest movement strengthened Arafat by directing world attention to the difficult plight of the Palestinians. In 1988 came a change of policy. - In 1988 the PLO, under Arafat's leadership, in effect renounced terrorism and accepted Israel's right to coexist with an independent Palestine A 1993 accord with Israel led to limited Palestinian self-rule in Jericho and the Gaza Strip in 1994, and Arafat became president of the Palestinian Authority.

Al-Nakbah

Occurred when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes, during the 1948 Palestine war Around 80 percent of the Arab inhabitants of what became Israel (50 percent of the Arab total of Mandatory Palestine) left or were expelled from their homes Factors involved in the exodus include: - Jewish military advances and attacks against Arab villages and fears of another massacre by Zionist militias after the Deir Yassin massacre, which caused many to leave out of panic - Arab evacuation orders; expulsion orders by Israeli authorities - The collapse in Palestinian leadership and an unwillingness to live under Jewish control The expulsion of the Palestinians has since been described by some historians as "ethnic cleansing" The status of the refugees, and in particular whether Israel will grant them their claimed right to return to their homes or be compensated, are key issues in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The language of Hebrew

Originally, Hebrew was virtually only a written language and not a spoken tongue Among the first arrivals of the first Aliya was Eliezer ben Yehuda in 1881 and came to live in Jerusalem - He became acquainted with Zionism and concluded that the reviving the Hebrew language in the Land of Israel would unite all Jews worldwide - At that time, it was believed that one of the criteria needed to define a nation worthy of national rights was its use of a common language spoken by both the society and the individual. While he worked tirelessly to raise awareness and fought its opponents, what finally brought about the revitalization of Hebrew were not Ben-Yehuda's activities in Jerusalem, but developments in the communities of the First Aliya and the Second Aliya - The first Hebrew schools were established in these communities; Hebrew increasingly became a spoken language of daily affairs, and finally became a systematic and national language - Yet Ben Yehuda's fame and notoriety stems from his initiation and symbolic leadership of the Hebrew revival.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

President of Egypt and led Egypt to secular independence in the 1950s and held the office of president from 1956 (he played a highly prominent role in the 1956 Suez Crisis) until his death in 1970 He challenged British, French and Israeli forces for control of the Suez canal, nationalizing the canal in 1956 - Nasser had a knack for turning military failure into political victory -- defeated by Israel in 1956 in the Sinai Peninsula and humiliated in 1967's Six Day War (June 5-11), he nonetheless emerged a hero in the Arab world and a player in the uneasy relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. - Nasser has been described as the first leader of an Arab nation who challenged what was perceived as the western dominance of the Middle East

The Yishuv

Referring to the body of Jewish residents in Palestine, before the establishment of the State of Israel The Old Yishuv refers to all the Jews living there before the aliyah (immigration wave) of 1882 by the Zionist movement. The Old Yishuv residents were religious Jews, living mainly in Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron The New Yishuv (Zionists came after 1880s-90s) refers to those who began building homes outside the Old City walls of Jerusalem in the 1860s, to the First Aliyah of 1882, followed by the founding of neighborhoods and settlements until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 Prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Ben-Gurion decided that the Yishuv would probably have to defend itself against both the Palestinian Arabs and neighboring Arab states and accordingly began a "massive, covert arms acquisition campaign in the West" (preparing themselves for a State)

Pan-Arabism

Refers to the nationalist ideology that all Arab people from around the world constitute one nation, and the pan-Arab movement sought to unite them all Pan-Arabism climaxed in the 1960s but has since lost momentum - The pan-Arab alliances reached their peak in the 1960s, but declined due to a number of factors, including the stunning Israeli victory in the Six-Day War, the inability of the united Arab governments to generate an income, and the death of Nasser, a powerful pan-Arab figure - The tactic of using the Arab countries' major oil reserves as a political weapon unified many of the Arab countries after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel put an end to that, too Soon, Islamic fundamentalism took over as the reigning Arabic ideology.

Lord Balfour

Served as a foreign secretary, though he is best remembered for his World War I statement expressing official British approval of Zionism - The Balfour Declaration was issued in the form of a letter from the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, to Lord Rothschild and delivered to Chaim Weizmann Weizmann began drafting a proposal for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine, under British suzerainty - This was supported by several factions in the British government and received some support because the British envisioned Palestine as an effective post for guarding the Suez Canal - It received support for sentimental reasons because beginning in the 19th century some leading figures in Britain had become interested in the idea of restoring the Jews to Palestine. - Issued in 1917 by Great Britain, the Declaration gave international recognition to the Zionist movement and promised them a Jewish state in the land of Palestine

Political Zionism

Stressed the importance of political action and deemed the attainment of political rights in Palestine a prerequisite for the fulfillment of the Zionist enterprise. Political Zionism is linked to the name of Theodor Herzl whose aim was to obtain a charter, recognized by the world leadership, granting the Jews sovereignty in a Jewishowned territory - The Basle Program, drawn up in accordance with these principles, states that Zionism aims to establish "a secure haven, under public law, for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel." - Organizational and economic mechanisms were established to carry out this program.

Black September (where does the name come from?)

The Jordanian civil war of September 1970, also known in the Arab world as Black September, was an attempt by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the more radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to topple Jordanian King Hussein and seize control of the country. - By 1970, Hussein and the PLO sign a cease-fire mediated by Arab nations - Arafat and the PLO were expelled from Jordan by early 1971 Black September (group) was a Palestinian terrorist organization, named after the war, responsible for the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Transjordan

The League of Nations Mandate eventually created Transjordan and the Republic of Lebanon - League of Nations granting Britain a mandate over Palestine and Transjordan To appease the Arabs, and due to British inability to control Arab violence in the Mandatory Palestine: - In 1922 on the Eastern side of the Palestinian Mandate: The trans-Jordan (77% of the Palestinian Mandate) was given to the Saudi Arabian king's brother The Sinai, which was given to Egypt - Golan Heights (5% of the Palestinian Mandate) was ceded to the French controlled Syrian Mandate In 1946, Trans-Jordan was renamed to "Jordan"

Oslo Accords (1993)

The Oslo Accord forced both sides to come to terms with each other's existence. - Israel agreed to recognize Yasser Arafat as its partner in peace talks and agreed to recognize Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by beginning to withdraw from the cities of Gaza and Jericho -- essentially exchanging land for peace. - The Palestinians, in turn, recognized Israel's right to exist while also renouncing the use of terrorism and its long-held call for Israel's destruction Oslo sketched out a peace process with a two-phase timetable - During a five-year interim period, Oslo envisioned a series of step-by-step measures to build trust and partnership - Palestinians would police the territories they controlled, cooperate with Israel in the fight against terrorism, and amend those sections of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) charter that called for Israel's destruction - Israel would withdraw almost entirely from Gaza, and in stages from parts of the West Bank - An elected Palestinian Authority would take over governance of the territories from which Israel withdrew. After this five-year interim period, negotiators then would determine a final peace agreement to resolve the thorniest issues: - Dinal borders, security arrangements, Jerusalem, whether the Palestinians would have an independent state, Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and Palestinian refugees' claims to land and property left behind when they fled Israel.

How did the Oslo Accords come about?

The Palestinian mass uprising known as the intifada that began in 1987 failed in its goal of ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but proved to be a game-changer - Images of teenagers throwing stones at tanks won international sympathy for the Palestinian cause and deepened many Israelis' disquiet about the continued occupation - It also prompted PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to shift his movement's strategy in November 1988, from seeking to reverse the creation of Israel in 1948 with its attendant displacement of the Palestinians, to seeking Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip The substantive peace talks between Israeli and PLO officials were conducted in secret in Oslo, Norway's capital, and by 1993 the two sides had agreed on a "Declaration of Principles."

Basel Program

The draft of the objective of the modern Zionist movement submitted to the First Zionist Congress of the Zionist Organization in 1897 read: "Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law." - Numerous delegates sought to insert the phrase "by international law", which was opposed by others A compromise formula was adopted, which came to be known as the Basel program (an outline statement of Zionist goals), and read: - "Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine" Principle point to the Program: The federation of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various countries.

Tel Aviv

The first Jewish city built in 1909 (by the 2nd Aliyah)—another Zionist achievement

Churchill's White Paper (1922)

The first official interpretation of the 1917 Balfour Declaration by the British Government after an investigation of the Arab riots of 1920-1921 and months of empty negotiations between the British Colonial Office and Arab and Zionist delegations - Although the riots/attacks were primarily facilitated by the Arabs, the British White Paper concluded that the violence was sparked by resentment towards Jewish Zionists and the perceived favoritism towards them by the British, as well as Arab fears of occupation - The paper emphasized that "the status of all citizens of Palestine in the eyes of the law shall be Palestinian", that the Balfour Agreement did not support "the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language, or culture in Palestine", and that British intended to "foster the establishment of a full measure of self-government in Palestine". -In response, the paper called for a limitation of Jewish immigration to "the economic capacity of the country to absorb new arrivals" in order to reduce tensions between the Arabs and Jews in the region - This was considered a great setback to many in the Zionist movement

Sabra and Shatila (1982)

The killing of between 762 and 3,500 civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by the Christian Phalangist militia (a predominantly Christian Lebanese right-wing party) This widespread massacre was carried out by the militia virtually under the eyes of their Israeli allies - The Phalanges, allies to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), were ordered by the IDF to clear out Sabra and Shatila from PLO fighters, as part of the IDF maneuvering into West Beirut - The IDF received reports of some of the Phalanges atrocities in Sabra and Shatila but failed to stop them In June 1982, the Israel Defense Forces had invaded Lebanon with the intention of rooting out the PLO - By mid-1982, the PLO withdrew from Lebanon following weeks of battles in West Beirut and shortly before the massacre took place The United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide It was deemed that Israel was indirectly responsible, and Ariel Sharon, then Defense Minister, bore personal responsibility "for ignoring the danger of bloodshed and revenge" - He was forced to resign.

Hamas

The largest of several Palestinian militant Islamist groups and originated in 1987 after the beginning of the first Intifada against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip - More religious than nationalistic/secular - Hamas most famously started suicide bombings and car bombings as a reaction to the vigilante violence Using violence was a political tactic, Hamas emerges as a more radical faction after the PLO backs away from violence, they up the ante (people still want violence against Israelis) - Hamas came to prominence after the first intifada as the main Palestinian opponent of the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the PLO - Under the group's charter, Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel, but to its supporters, it is seen as a legitimate resistance movement In 2006, Hamas won a stunning victory in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, but tensions with the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Abbas heightened - Deadly clashes between Fatah and Hamas erupted in Gaza in June 2007, after which Hamas set up a rival government, leaving Fatah and the PA running parts of the West Bank not under Israeli control In the second Intifada, Hamas gained power and influence as Israel clamped down on the Palestinian Authority, which it accused of sponsoring deadly attacks

Kfar Qassem

Took place in the Israeli Arab village of Kafr Qasim situated on the Green Line, at that time, the de facto border between Israel and the Jordanian West Bank in1956 - It was carried out by the Israel Border Police (Magav), who murdered Arab civilians returning from work during a curfew, imposed earlier in the day, on the eve of the Sinai war, of which they were unaware - In total, 48 people died The border policemen who were involved in the shooting were brought to trial and found guilty and sentenced to prison terms, but all received pardons and were released in a year

British Mandate

With the end of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the First World War, Palestine became a mandate of the British Empire - In 1922, the League of Nations formally gave temporary control of Palestine to the British government; the stated objective of the League of Nations Mandate system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire - Great Britain was tasked with creating a national homeland for the Jewish people and to implement the Balfour Declaration During the years of the mandate, which lasted from 1922 until the declaration of an independent State of Israel in 1948, the Jewish population grew - As anti-Semitism and persecution in Europe began to increase, so did the number of immigrants to Israel--> over 300,000 Jews immigrated to Israel at this time (legally and illegally) - The Arabs began to feel uneasy and resentful, and the British government placed strict limits on immigration. - - Tensions increased between the Jews and Arabs, and riots broke out and at this time that the Jewish population began to form their own defense forces, such as the Haganah, which formed the basis of the IDF—the Israel Defense Forces - After World War II, the United Nations (the former League of Nations), adopted the Partition Plan, essentially dividing Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, with Jerusalem under international control - This led to Britain ending its mandate and Israel declaring its independence in May of 1948.