Arab-Israel Conflict: Origins and 1948

Background: Zionism and the Mandate

Imagine a shopkeeper who sells the same flat to two families, each getting a signed letter. When both arrive with their luggage, a fight is certain. That, in simple terms, is how the conflict began.

Zionism is the movement for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, the land of ancient Israel. It grew because Jews faced hatred and attacks, called pogroms, across Europe. Herzl, an Austrian journalist, gave it shape.

Arab nationalism was the wish of Arabs to rule themselves after centuries under the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.

Britain’s three promises clashed:

• Hussein–McMahon letters: promised the Arabs independence if they revolted against the Ottomans.
• Sykes–Picot Agreement: a secret plan to split the Arab lands between Britain and France.
• Balfour Declaration (1917): Britain backed “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

A Mandate was a territory the League of Nations handed to a power to run until it was “ready” for self-rule. Under the British Mandate, Jewish migration rose sharply after Hitler came to power in 1933. Arabs revolted in 1936–39. The Peel Commission first suggested splitting the land, and the 1939 White Paper then capped Jewish migration.

Creation of Israel (1947–49)

After the Holocaust, the killing of about six million Jews by Nazi Germany, world sympathy for a Jewish state grew. Britain, worn out, handed the problem to the UN. Resolution 181 split Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state and an international Jerusalem. Jewish leaders accepted; Arab leaders rejected it.

The day after Israel was proclaimed, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon attacked. Israel won. Palestinians call this time the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe”, because hundreds of thousands lost their homes and became refugees.

Why India voted against partition

India had just suffered its own painful partition in 1947. It did not want a land split on religion, and proposed one federal state with Jewish and Arab parts instead.

Common doubts

Why is Jerusalem so disputed? It is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and both Israelis and Palestinians claim it as their capital.

Who are the Palestinians? The Arab people who lived in Palestine for centuries, mostly Muslim with some Christians. Many today live as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

What UPSC asks

Prelims: Herzl, Balfour 1917, Resolution 181, 14 May 1948, Nakba. Mains: how British promises and the Mandate created the conflict, and India’s stand.