How did the conflict in Israel/Palestine begin?

Voiceover:  "In 1936, British Mandatory Palestine was in flames. In response to rising Jewish immigration and economic dominance, Arab Palestinians revolted against the British, attacking military installations and Jewish settlements. The British authorities were scrambling for an answer."

Dr James Bulgin: The British sent a commission led by Lord Peel to investigate the causes of the violence. And in 1937, that commission concluded that problems in Palestine were ‘so deep-rooted that the only hope of a cure lies in a surgical operation’. Some Jewish leaders were enthusiastic about the idea, although did not publicly admit this. Most Arab leaders, however, rejected the proposals outright. Instead of ending the violence, the Peel Report made things worse."

Voiceover: "In our last episode, we explored the conflicting promises made by the British during the First World War and how they tried to resolve them. In this episode we’ll examine how the Second World War transformed the conflict once again. Why did Britain change its mind about a Jewish homeland, how did a Zionist underground insurgency defeat the British, and how were the borders of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank created?

Britain controlled Palestine under a League of Nations Mandate. Its job was to prepare the territory for independence. As part of the Mandate, Britain had committed to setting up what was described as ‘a homeland for the Jewish people’ in Palestine, but it had also promised to respect the rights of the existing populations. Doing both was proving extremely challenging. 

After the failure of the Peel Report, Britain declared Martial Law and used a surge of troops to supress the revolt. They brought in Jewish Auxiliaries to add to their numbers and killed, imprisoned or exiled Arab Palestinian leaders. But with a Second World War on the horizon, the British government felt they had to go one step further to end the dissent."

Dr James Bulgin: "Britain was trying to balance a number of different objectives. It wanted to maintain stability in the region in order to protect its territorial interests – most notably the Suez Canal, which was not only a vital link to Britain’s overseas Empire, but was also the channel through which Persian oil was transported to Britain. The looming threat of war caused Britain to reason that placating Palestinian Arabs was more politically and strategically advantageous than siding unambiguously with Palestinian Jews. While support from Jewish groups in any future conflict could be assured in the near term because of Hitler’s ideology, support from Arabs was far less certain and Britain wanted to do whatever it could to keep bring them onside."

Voiceover: "The result was a complete reversal of the British government position. In the White Paper of 1939, Britain claimed that, with 450,000 Jewish people now living in Mandatory Palestine this was already the National Home for the Jewish people and the Balfour Declaration had already been delivered. Now, instead of partitioning the country, the British planned to create an independent Palestinian State within the next 10 years, in which Arabs and Jews would share government. However, the White Paper also included strict limitations on Jewish land purchases and restricted Jewish immigration to just 75,000 over the next five years. This all but ensured that Palestinian Arabs would be the dominant group in the new Palestinian state."

Dr James Bulgin: "Most Zionists were appalled by the proposals outlined in the 1939 White Paper, not only because it suggested an entirely different overall objective but because the restrictions on immigration would condemn hundreds of thousands of Jews in Europe to ongoing persecution and suffering under the Nazis and their collaborators. This is given particularly potent expression in the fact that the report was initially issued a mere 30 minutes before the death of Nazi official Ernst vom Rath. His murder would be cynically exploited as the pretext in events that became known as the November pogrom and were described by the Nazis as Kristallnacht."

Voiceover: "But the Arab response to the White Paper was not as the British expected either. The revolt of 1936 had hardened positions on all sides and while moderate Palestinian Arabs accepted the White Paper, hard-line nationalists like Amin al-Husseini rejected it for not going far enough. In response to the restrictions on migration, the Zionist militias that Britain had trained, began facilitating illegal Jewish immigration. But before their resistance could turn to open revolt, the Second World War began. Now, Palestinian Jews rallied to the Allied cause as did many Palestinian Arabs. Al Husseini on the other hand, tried to get support from the Axis Powers. The war and in particular the Holocaust, in which 6 million of Europe’s Jews were murdered, would turn the conflict in Mandatory Palestine on its head."

Dr James Bulgin: "The outbreak of the Second World War had a profound impact on events in Mandatory Palestine. Most Zionist underground members stopped any direct action, wary of doing anything that could jeopardise the Allied war effort against Germany. As David Ben Gurion, future Israeli Prime Minister suggested, "They would fight the White Paper as if there was no war and the war as if there was no White Paper." Internationally, increasing understanding about the Holocaust generated considerable sympathy for the Zionist cause. Many surviving Jews believed that their ongoing existence in Europe was untenable after everything that had happened. Having lost everything, and often everyone, they had no desire to return to the places in which their lives had been so completely devastated. Britain, for its part, remained very reluctant, despite the pressure of world opinion, to lift restrictions on immigration to Mandatory Palestine."

Voiceover: "By 1944, as Allied victory seemed more assured, two hard-line Zionist militias, the Irgun and Lehi, began an insurgency against British rule, assassinating diplomat Lord Moyne in November. But resistance was not widespread. In 1945, Britain’s newly elected Labour Government under Clement Atlee campaigned on a promise to end restrictions on Jewish immigration. But fearful of exacerbating tensions among Palestinian Arabs and damaging relations with neighbouring Arab states, upon arriving in office, Atlee changed his mind. Instead, some 50,000 Jewish refugees inbound to Palestine were redirected to camps on Cyprus. The conditions and the sight of Jewish Holocaust survivors being held behind barbed wire generated widespread criticism. With Britain’s position now clear, the largest Zionist militia, the Haganah, joined the Irgun and Lehi to form the Jewish Resistance Movement. They aimed to drive the British out. Together, they targeted immigration control, transport infrastructure and British military installations. In response, the British curbed civil liberties in 1945 and launched a series of raids and searches in 1946, codenamed 'Operation Agatha'."

Dr James Bulgin: "Their intention was to combat what's described as a 'Jewish illegal armed organisations in Palestine'. It says here 'these organisations have been conducting a campaign of violence, terror, sabotage, and murder'. A vast amount of documents were seized during the course of the operations 'that will prove of the greatest value and interest'. Now these documents were all moved to the King David Hotel in Jerusalem where the British administration were being housed alongside a number of military personnel. In July 1946 that hotel was bombed by the Irgun."

Newsreel: "Palestine and the world was shocked by the blowing up of the King David Hotel Jerusalem. In broad daylight dozens of Jews, Arabs and Britishers were murdered in cold blood by the notorious Jewish terrorist organisation Irgun Zvai Leumi."

Dr James Bulgin: "The attack killed 91 people and attracted widespread criticism from both international governments and other Zionist organisations. The Irgun, for their part, claimed that it was never their intention to kill anyone and that warnings sent in advance of the attack had been ignored. Their main target was the documents that had been captured during Operation Agatha. Now amongst the public condemnation, many people in Britain started to wonder if the mandate was worth the trouble it was causing. There was dwindling public appetite to expend more British lives protecting it."

Voiceover: "The violence now intensified. Though the Jewish Resistance Movement dissolved after the King David Hotel attack, the Irgun and Lehi continued to attack British targets. Meanwhile, Britain continued to send ever-larger numbers of troops to Palestine, hoping to suppress the insurgency in the same way that they had supressed the Arab Revolt of 1936. But it wasn’t working. In July 1947, the Irgun kidnapped, hung and boobytrapped the bodies of two British Sergeants in a eucalyptus grove near Netanya. The attacks were widely condemned and lead to anti-Jewish rioting back in Britain. To many the Sergeant's Affair, as it came to be known, was the 'straw that broke the Mandate's back'."

Dr James Bulgin: The Second World War had virtually bankrupted the UK and public sentiment both within Britain and across the countries concerned was changing. In the three years after 1945, India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon all achieved independence. Whilst in Europe, the dividing lines of a new global conflict were being drawn, preparing for and responding to this Cold War dominated military planning and strategy. Ultimately, the Mandate in Palestine was only ever supposed to be temporary, and Britain didn’t want it anymore. It was too complicated and too costly."

Voiceover: "With all other Class A League of Nations mandates now having received their independence, Britain turned over Mandatory Palestine to the newly formed United Nations in 1947. Taking inspiration from the Peel Report of 1936, they recommended a partition into two independent states with an economic union and an international zone around Jerusalem. Most Arab groups rejected the plan. They were opposed both to partition in principle, and to the way the lines were drawn. They pointed to the fact that while Jews represented just over 30% of the population, they were apportioned 54% of the land, although arguments persist about the quality of that land. Most Zionists, on the other hand, willingly accepted the proposal, seeing it as a stepping stone towards their ultimate ambition for a Jewish state that extended further.

In November 1947, the plan passed a vote in the UN with backing from both the United States and Soviet Union. The United Kingdom abstained and declared that it would leave on May 15th 1948. Now, violence took hold between Palestinian Arabs and Jews, and a Civil War broke out between militias from each side. But even as the death toll mounted, Britain largely did not get involved."

Dr James Bulgin: "These documents come from Major General William Scott Cole who was tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the British withdrawal from Mandate Palestine. Whilst Jewish and Arab groups were fighting it out to determine the future shape of Palestine, Britain's focus became about how to remove itself from the place entirely. For example, here it says in January 1948, 'difficulties arose at this time due to absence of staff owing to internal troubles. Jews will not go to or through Arab areas and vice versa.' As well there's a note talking about the disposal of Sherman tanks that had to be destroyed by Royal signals and blown up until they were quote 'unrecognisable scrap'. As Rees Williams, undersecretary of state for the colonies, told the House of Commons 'the manner in which the withdrawal took place is unprecedented in the history of our Empire'. It was, in many ways, emblematic of the entire episode."

Voiceover: "Meanwhile, the Civil War in Palestine continued. At first, Arab forces seemed to have the upper hand. The Jewish communities in Palestine were spread out and Arab forces were able to blockade them, most notably in Jerusalem where 100,000 Jewish people were trapped. But in late March 1948, Zionist militias launched Plan Dalet. This offensive aimed to create territorial continuity and secure their borders in anticipation of an invasion by neighbouring Arab states. As the Zionist forces attacked, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arab refugees fled their homes. The causes of this flight are still considered controversial. Some left by choice, others in fear and some by force. Many refugees took their keys with them, planning to return home someday soon.

On the 14th of May, Zionists declared the new state of Israel. The following day, neighbouring Arab states invaded. But the Arab forces were unprepared for war, and the Israeli forces were able to hold onto their territory. Over the next nine months, they built enough forces to push well beyond the land allotted to them in the 1947 UN Plan."

Dr James Bulgin: "The 1936 Revolt had left Arabs in Palestine leaderless and significantly weakened. Though they were supported by other Arab states, these states had different interests and agendas and were often at crossed purposes. In contrast, while there may have been differences between the convictions of different Jewish groups, they were completely unified in the common cause of creating and protecting the Jewish State. They also benefited from having received military training and arms from the British administration in earlier years."

Voiceover: "By the war's end in 1949, Palestine had been wiped off the the map. Israel controlled 60% of the proposed Arab state, with the remainder controlled by Jordan and Egypt. 700,000 Palestinian Arabs either fled or were expelled from their homes, an event remembered as 'the Nakba' or 'catastrophe'. In the following years, 260,000 Jewish people emigrated from neighbouring Arab states, some by choice and others by force. Around 150,000 Palestinian Arabs remained in Israel. Today their descendants number over 2 million people, making up the largest minority group in the country. The legacy of the Arab-Israeli War is still at the heart of today's conflict in Israel-Palestine."

Dr James Bulgin: "Ultimately,  Britain’s administration of the Mandate never proved to be much more than a firefighting exercise, lurching for one policy to another in an attempt to hold the mandate together and protect its own strategic interests. On the last day of the mandate, the chief secretary of the British administration called a press conference in his Jerusalem office. One of the journalists there asked: "And to whom do you intend to give the keys to your office?". "I shall leave them under the mat," was the reply."