Lynda

FYI those who are interested in the history of Palestine.

Lynda
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Beginnings of the Conflict
By Denis Mueller

Theodore Herzl is considered the father of Zionism. He felt that Jews across
the world would always be susceptible to anti-Semitism as long as there was
no Jewish State. At first, he looked at Argentina and then Uganda before
settling on Palestine for the Jewish homeland.

Arab nationalism was a simple idea. It was a search for long lost Arab
identities. For hundreds of years the Arabs had been under the occupation of
the Ottoman Empire. At the early part of the 20th century, there was a
possibility for these two movements to co-exist. This is a story of that
lost opportunity.

At the beginning of the 20th century, about a half a million Arabs lived in
Palestine and about 50,000 Jews. The budding discontent within the Ottoman
Empire provided the new Zionist movement with its first real choice. Should
they work with the Arabs against the Turks and join the upcoming revolt or
should they try to acquire an international charter for a Jewish homeland?
Unfortunately, the early Zionists sided with the Turks, but a small minority
advocated working with the Arabs.

The Arab leaders faced a dilemma of their own. Should they work with the new
settlers or oppose them? This is not as unusual as it sounds today. The
early deputies of Palestine spoke of the common Semitic heritage among the
two people. But Jewish leaders felt that getting along with the Arabs was
secondary to the establishing of a Jewish homeland. What they needed was the
help of a European state to help them establish a charter.

At first, Herzl went to the Sultan but the conversations went nowhere. Then,
he approached Kaiser Wilhelm who considered the idea briefly but the Kaiser
was rigid anti-Semite who eventually sided with the Turks. Finally, Herzl
turned to the British who liked the idea because it was a way to extend the
British control and protect the Suez Canal.

Nothing happened until the outbreak of the First World War. But the war
opened the doors of opportunity for the Jewish State. In November of 1917,
the Zionists achieved their aim with announcing of the Balfour Declaration.
The reasons for the British decision are many; an effort to engage the
United States in the war, the fear of a Bolshevik revolution and British
interests who saw this as a way to maintain a foothold in the Middle East.

The British also made a pact with France to divide the Middle East in
spheres of influence. So the British had made three separate pledges. One
was the establishment of a Jewish state; the other was with France and the
third with the Arabs who they promised independence if they would fight on
the British side in WWI. All were in contradiction of each other.

The leader of the Arabs was Emir Faisel, who was fighting the Turks with the
hopes of creating a great Arab kingdom; T.E. Lawrence, who was a British
agent in Cairo aided him in this. Lawrence was extremely anti-French and
saw the Arab Nationalist movement as a way to cheat the French and extend
British control over the area. Faisel, for his part, was sympathetic with
the aims of a Jewish state. He felt it should be part of his great kingdom.
In a letter to Felix Frankfurter, he stated:

"We know the Arabs and Jews are racial relatives...We shall do everything we
can, as far as it depends on us, to assist the Zionist proposals by the
Peace Conference, and we shall welcome the Jews with all our hearts on their
return home."

This was no idle boost. Two months earlier, Faisel and Welzmann, under the
guidance of Lawrence, had drawn up such a plan. The agreement never
happened. After the war, the French invaded Damascus and drove Faisel out of
Syria. The Zionists were rewarded by the British and talk of a great Semite
State disappeared. But the possibilities were there, it was a defining
moment that was missed, and the people of the Middle East have paid for it
ever since.

Sources: Israel Without Zionism, Uri Avnery