Understanding the History of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Britain’s secret carving up of the Holy Land

In order to understand the recent events in Israel and Gaza, it is necessary to look back to the historical facts that created this terrible humanitarian crisis which affects innocent civilians on both sides.

One voice that I’ve always respected has been Dr. Gabor Mate, a world-famous Canadian psychiatrist and author, of Jewish descent, who was a holocaust survivor as an infant. He gave a brief history of the Palestine/Israel conflict.

“In order to make this Jewish dream a reality, we had to visit a nightmare on the local population. There were people living there (in Palestine) who’d been living there for hundreds of years, or even longer. It’s the longest ethnic cleaning operation in the 20th and 21st centuries. It’s still going on.”- Gabor Mate

Jewish historians write that the expulsion of the Palestinians was persistent, pervasive and cruel. This was called the Nakba (Arabic for disaster or catastrophe). The documentary, ‘How Britain started the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Promises and Betrayals’, describes that the roots of the conflict are to be found much earlier in British double-dealing during the First World War, and how conflicting promises made to both Arabs and Jews created a legacy of bloodshed.

During WW1, in order to defeat the Ottoman Empire, Britain began courting Arab leaders to join them, making promises to let them establish their own state. Following the war, the British, French and Russians devised secret plans to carve up the Ottoman Empire to further their imperial ambitions. This meant tough luck for the Turks and Arabs, or anyone else who got in their way. 

In meetings with the French, Britain offered France a stake in what was left of the defeated Ottoman Empire (The Sikes-Picot Agreement). A map was drawn which amounted to a virtual carve-up of the Middle East. Britain took Iraq with its oil. France took Syria and Lebanon. Palestine was to be an international zone, except for Haifa, which Britain retained for purposes of shipping.

The Arabs, being unaware of these secret agreements, had unwittingly hitched their fortunes, and their future, with the British.

During WW2, Britain, again, made promises to Jewish leaders to set up their independent state in Palestine. However, the promises made to both the Arabs and the Jews could never be reconciled. The British never considered the consequences of this double-dealing and the conflict continues to this day.

To understand Middle Eastern politics, the Balfour Declaration, issued on Nov 2nd, 1917, was a defining moment in the history of the Jewish people and the Arab world. It’s the foundation of the disputes that have never been resolved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Balfour Agreement states:

“His Majesty’s government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.

Britain had already promised the Arabs independence in the land of Palestine for their support in defeating the Ottoman Empire. The Allies had been doing all sorts of double-dealing behind the scenes in which they had carved up large sections of the Ottoman Empire, meanwhile openly preaching Democracy and telling the Arabs they are supporters of self-determination.

The Arabs, realizing they had been lied to, began protesting. Britain, once again, scripted another written promise which stated, “That the Entente Powers are determined that the Arab race shall be given full opportunity of once again forming a nation in the world. That this can only be achieved by the Arabs themselves uniting, and that Great Britain and her allies will pursue a policy with this ultimate unity in view.”

However, in the spring of 1920, in Jerusalem, when an administration was established for the British, there were no plans for devolving power in Palestine. The British began to honor their commitment to the Jews and ignore the Arabs. Zionists began financing land purchases and the building of settlements for immigrant Jews.

The Arab population living in Palestine were incensed. They couldn’t conceive of their country being divided and given away to another community, which was almost entirely European. To them it seemed absurd that they should just hand over their land, their villages, and their towns, to a minority.

Jewish historians say the Balfour Declaration was one of the most serious mistakes in British imperial history. It meant that British troops were then committed to stay in Israel to protect the Jewish communities.

During the 1930s, and the years of the Holocaust, Jewish immigration to Palestine increased rapidly. What happened was an ever widening polarization between the Arab-Palestinians and Jewish Israel, and increasing violence. In response to terrorist attacks by Arabs, Britain restricted the immigration. That policy, in turn, stimulated Jewish terrorism against the Arabs.

Following the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948, thousands of Palestinians were cruelly forced out of their homeland, dispersing in the Arab world. Many refugees were squeezed into the narrow strip of land called Gaza, where they lost all hope of independence and the ability to direct their own lives. Some say the people of Gaza live in the largest open-air concentration camp in the world. 

Thus, the secret dealings and policies of Britain during WW1, namely the Balfour Declaration, created the deep divide between Arabs and Jews. These are the historical roots of the continuing conflict we are seeing today.

I would like to see the Palestinian civilians of Gaza to be free of the terrorist group Hamas and finally be granted their independence and recognition as a sovereign people. The U.S. should be supporting this endeavor along with the United Nations.

October 18, 2023, while in Israel, President Biden addressed the world, saying, “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.”

“It’s not what you know, it’s what you could know if you wanted to find out. There are no two sides. In terms of power and control, and it’s pretty straightforward, there was a land with the people living there, and other people wanted it. They took it over, and they continue to take it over, and they continue to discriminate against, oppress, and dispossess that other people. That’s what happened, and that’s what’s happening”- Gabor Mate

Sources

YouTube: Dr. Gabor Mate (video has since been removed by YouTube)

Video (YouTube): How Britain started the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Promises and Betrayals

The Balfour Declaration: 67 words that changed the world.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement - Jewish Virtual Library