History of Israel--Part I of III

Throughout history, Israel has always been known as the base country of the three main religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. All three have fought throughout time for this small piece of land, Israel, but the Jews have made the biggest impact on the world when they showed how a country with only 18,000 Jews in 1900, could soon become a Jewish state with a population of over five million. One of the wars which impacted the world was the Six Day War. Through the Six Day War, Israel proved to the rest of the world that a small country nearly the size of Maryland could beat Syria, Jordan and Egypt, three big countries with far more power than Israel.

There were always Jews living in Israel. Even if only a small amount, they were always found hard at work and caring for a land which they considered rightfully theirs. Between the years 1919 and 1939 Israel was under British control. Israel was then called Palestine and there was a much higher population of Arabs living there compared to Jews. On July 24, 1922 the United League of Nations provided a mandate providing a self government for the Jewish population in Palestine. In 1923 there were 93,000 Jews living in Palestine, over the next two years more than 48,000 Jews came to help the Jewish movement in Palestine. Most were immigrants from Eastern Europe, Yemen and Iraq. Between 1929 and 1939 the Jewish population rapidly changed. In 1931 there were 175,000 and by 1939 that number had risen to 475,000. A majority came from Germany, fleeing because of Hitler's rise to power. In order to rescue the Jews of Europe from prosecution throughout the Holocaust, a man by the name of Chaim Weizmann founded the Central Office for Settling the Jews, of Germany. Together with the help of another group, the Youth Aliya they both managed to bring thousands of men, women and children to Palestine during the Holocaust.

The Arabs of Palestine reacted with hate from the beginning of the first signs of a growing Jewish population,. They felt that the Jews were destroying their land. In 1920 a mad group of Arabs attacked a Jewish settlement in Galilee. Almost the whole settlement was killed and destroyed. Another band of Arabs attacked the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem. Due to these constant attacks made by the Arabs, the British appointed Herbert Samuel, a Zionist Jew as high commissioner of Palestine. This only outraged the Arabs even more. The Arabs began calling themselves Palestinians and tried to convince the British not to allow the Jews to establish a home in Palestine. Because of the number amounts of Arab riots and outbreaks, the British limited the number of Jews who could immigrate to Palestine. The Arab leader in Palestine was the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini. He wanted every Jew in Israel to be killed so he told the Arabs a blunt lie. He said that the Jews were a danger to the Muslim's holy places such as the Temple Mount. In 1929 the Arabs started riots in Jerusalem, Hebron and Safed. Hundreds of Jews were murdered and seven small Jewish settlements had to be evacuated. When the Arabs saw that the riots didn't help scare the Jews away and only brought more Jewish immigrants to Palestine, the were furious. In 1936 they started a campaign of violence and terror against the Jews and the British. They later became known as the Riots of 1936-1939. The Riots began in Jaffa and went throughout the Country. Hundreds of people were once again killed and wounded. Thousands of acres of fields and orchards were destroyed. Seeing that these riots again did not help the Arabs declared a general strike. For 175 days no Arab reported to work and all companies owned by Arabs were closed. A short time later, David Ben Gurion announced "The Arab strike does not threaten our economic survival. On the contrary, our economic independence has grown" [ Shamir, P 78 ] In 1937 a group in London sat down to figure out what had caused the Riots and to come up with some solutions. They recommended to the Arabs and the Jews that the Country be divided up for both sides. The Arabs rejected this and more violence occurred. Now the Arabs were angry at the British and started to raid British army camps. When the British saw what was happening they said that the Arab High Committee which was responsible for most of the attacks illegal and arrested many of its members.

England wanted a peaceful solution to this problem. In 1939 the British government invited a few agents of the Jewish Agency and the Arab states to a meeting in London. They had to meet with each side separately because the Arabs refused to sit together at a table with Jews. The Arabs refused to give up any piece of Palestine to the Jews. The British gave in to the Arabs and issued new laws that limited Jewish immigration to Palestine and made it very difficult for the Jews to defend themselves. When the Jews heard this, they decided to defend themselves, so they decided to fight the British, both with weapons and also by gaining Political power.

In 1920 the Haganah [Hebrew word foe defense] was established in order to protect the Jewish citizens of Israel. It was the start of the Jewish resistance force. In 1929 a big riot occurred and the Jews realized that the British were not going to protect them. Soon after the British also began to forbid Jews to purchase land in Palestine. After this the Jews of the land realized that no one was going to care if the Arabs kill them. By 1937 the Haganah was an army of around 25,000 men and women. When the Arabs decided to attack the British, the Jews offered their service, and without hesitation, Britain agreed. Soon after, they expanded the Jewish police force and British officers began teaching Jewish soldiers how to defend themselves against their Arab enemies. Between 1936 and 1939, 86,000 new immigrants reached Palestine. Most of them had come illegally. The Jews began to set up settlements in places where the Arabs would not be able to ambush and attack them, where the Jews could defend themselves and ensure that the Jews get a piece of Palestine. Around this time, over 50 new settlements were established within a few weeks. The period in which settlements were growing up overnight ended in 1939 when the British issued new regulations against immigration. World War Two started that same year.

Write to Dovid Femen

Stay tuned for next month's History of Israel Part 2

Also in this section:

• Teen's Day
• Why I love Israel

Virtual Jerusalem Site Terms, Conditions of Use and Warranties.