Lecture 17

        In the 20^th century there was a ride of European Nationalism which led to anti-Semitic pogroms in the Islamic world and anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia (which caused Jews to flee to Palestine). In 1902 there was the second aliyah as Jews fled from Russia and Eastern Europe to Jerusalem. Then came World War I in which the British conquered Egypt and the Ottomans allied with Germany against France and Britain. Under General Allenby, the British conquered Palestine and created the Balfour Declaration, which promises a Jewish national homeland in Palestine. There was also the Sykes-Picot Agreement which was a secret agreement between France and the UK that divided the former Ottoman empire into areas of control- France got Turkey, Northern Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, and the Brits got Palestine, Jordan, and Southern Iraq.  From 1918-1948 the British Mandate was in effect, in which the Brits promised to protect holy places of all faiths. Then Churchill’s White Paper was published which was a paper written to clarify how Britain viewed the Balfour Declaration, but even after this it was still unclear. Britain partitioned an area to the West of Jordan for a Jewish settlement, renamed it Transjordan, and gave it to Abdullah I. The Peel Commission was suggested in response to the violence between Arabs and Jews. There would be Jewish state established in Galilee and the Coastal Plain, and an Arab state in Central Hills, West Bank and Negev. Jerusalem was the “international city.” This plan was approved by the UN in 1947 and it was accepted by all Zionists but rejected by the Arabs, which caused outbreaks of fighting. This led to the War of Independence in 1948. In May of this year the British departed the land amidst the fighting because it was not their war to fight. There was a truce arranged by the UN in July which created the Green line between Israel and Jordan. Then in 1967 the six-day war broke out. Jordan signed a military agreement to join battle with Egypt. The Israelis launched a strike and within hours they wiped out the Egyptian air force. Israelis entered the Old City and control of the Haram was given to the Muslims. Israelis annexed the Old City and East Jerusalem, but the UN rejected this annexation. The Palestinians ended up with nothing except a small piece of the West Bank. The Oslo Accords was the first face to face agreement between Israel and PLO in Norway.