Of all the classes I've taken in my lifetime, none of the history ones ever dealt with the specifics. I'm interested to hear everyone's take on the matter...
I have to admit I know little or nothing about just how Israel was formed but I do remember the European Jews that were trying to excape from Hitler were not let into the area by the Brits before WWII of course some got in anyway but it was a drop in the bucket, so to speak. Here are some links which seem to link the forming to a 1922 LON deal with England. http://www.theocracywatch.org/christian_zionism_israel_forms.htm http://www.zionism-israel.com/issues/holocaust1.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel
well i'll put out the theory i have on it from reading numerous sources over the years. i'm just going on memory so if my facts are incorrect please correct them. also some of the conclusions regarding motivations could be wrong but they make more sense to me than others i have heard. in the late 19th century a nascent return to palestine movement began in europe in response to rising anti semitism there. this was the birth of the zionist movement so to speak. at some point some prominent jews with political clout got involved including the rothchilds. there is too many wild conspiracy theories that revolve around the rothchilds to ever be certain what their role was in establishing israel years later. anyway prior to world war 1 the jews in then palestine made up approximately 5% of the population. there were more christians in palestine than jews prior to world war 1. the big break for the israel movement came through britain which had its eyes on control of the middle east. they wanted it for obvious reasons but had to figure out how to deal with turkey. it seems that the rothchilds and others in conjunction with the british government may have funded an exodus from europe into palestine around the time of world war 1. the theory as to why britain wanted a jewish state in palestine is based on using an antagonistic foreigner to divide and conquer the arab population similar to the irish model of catholics vs protestants. the idea was to grow the jewish population to the point of conflict and then have britain play one off the other. the jewish population would be protected and provide a nice beachhead close to turkey as well as having a vitally important and strategic port. after world war 1 and the defeat of the turks, the floodgates opened and the mass exodus was unleashed. britain carved up the ottoman empire into smaller parts and nations (kuwait was created froma slice of iraq -one of the reasons iraqis always felt that kuwait was historically theirs btw). the arabs became increasingly agitated with the british but the british used the jewish population in palestine to deflect some of the anger. eventually they halted emigration to palestine to appease the arabs. emigration continued from russia and ukraine however. by 1930 the jewsih population was approximately 10%. the great depression caused more emigration and the jewsih population spike to about 30 or 35%. at this point the britisih had enough of a jewsih population to ensure the jewish survival and created the white paper that would end or severly limit jewish emigration. the jews would be capped at 30 to 35% to appease the arabs who were sick of british rule but wound up attacking the jjews because they were easier targets and were also seen as a sign of british imperialism which is what the british wanted in the first place. after world war 2 the british empire began crumbling and the United states saw its opportunity to rule the middle east. britain tried to hold on to palestine but the organized jewish resistence made it too difficult. whether we had a part in that resistance is open to speculation but there were many american jews going to palestine at that time. eventually the UN declared Israel and the United States has backed them ever since and dominated the middle east this is overly brief and the timeline probably needs to be tightened up somewhat but i think its the moist likely geopolitical look at the birth of modern day israel
That's a pretty good summation Adam. There are some things to add. The British facilitated the immigration of Jews into Palestine through the Balfour Declaration just after WWI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917. Many streets in Israel are named "Balfour." They later issued the White Paper as you state above. I completely agree with your assessment about the British strategy. It was to play one against the other. After awhile Jews felt that we needed our own state and that was how the Palmach and Irgun were formed. American support was high, but it was the Czechs who armed us. It's interesting to note that when the vote came before the UN to establish the State of Israel, the British abstained.
The British have oppressed or screwed people on every continent save Antarctica. In a weird way, it really is a testament to their abilities. I mean its not like they're a huge nation or anything.
The concept of Israel was formed before WW2. It was right after the Russian pograms which also killed thousands of Russian Jews that rekindled hatred of Jews in Europe that has existed in Europe for thousands of years. Spain, Russia, France, Italy, Poland, and obviously Germany are very guilty. The realization of Israel was pushed forward by a few countries, notably the US and Britain. The reasoning was different; both wanted an ally in that area of the world but the U.S. at that time was becoming a leader of the free world but economically had been struggling until WW2. They wanted the servicemen coming home to have jobs that the women of this country were holding down and as a country were afraid of further immigration at that time. We were going through one of the very few periods of U.S. history that were bordering on isolation. We weren't allowing anyone in unless they knew someone here and had somewhere to stay. Israel was formed on the basis of a safe haven for Jews when persecution struck again.
us has done some ****ed up stuff for sure, I don't think worse then the europeans did though. I think looking back though pretty much all countries have gotten their hands dirty one way or another.
Russia did oppress their people pretty bad to make up for it. Learning about they built Saint Petersburg sent a chill down my spine. Japan does deserve a shout out though. What they did the the Chinese was amazingly cruel.
Well, before it is glossed over, the USSR was Israel's largest booster pre formation of Israel, soo many people do not recall that the mandate was issued by the UN security council in the 40's, meaning France, the UK, the US, Chaing Kai Shek's China, and the Soviet Union. And at the time of the Balfour declaration, the Hashemite King in the region backed the creation of Israel...of course he was assassinated for his support..
