The War On Terror (Part 003)

The Balfour Declaration

The Zionist Federation was a Jewish group based in Europe and the USA dedicated to settling Palestine with Jews and creating a Jewish state in the region.
In 1917, the UK Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, wrote a letter to the The Zionist Federation. This became known as The Balfour Declaration. The text cuts through Arab national aspirations like a knife but is virtually unknown in the West:
"His Majesty's Government view with favour 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."
In 1917, the Jewish population of Palestine was 56,000, or 10% of the total. The remaining 90% were mainly Palestinian Arabs; the majority were Muslims but there was a substantial Christian minority. The remaining population was a mixture of Kurds, Greeks, Turks and Armenians.
The UK had, essentially, given permission for Arab territory to be used to create a state for a people whose claim to the land was religious, and dated back to nearly 2000 years before.
By 1948, the Jewish population had increased by immigration to 600,000, but that was still only 31% of the total.

Between The Wars

Between 1918 and 1948, the Arab lands were ruled in three distinct ways.
Some like Yemen and Algeria were colonies ruled by UK and France respectively. In Algeria, the French settled in the region while the indigenous people were treated like second class citizens. Both countries would be used for military bases and for access to resources.
Others (like Syria) were ruled by a President either directly appointed by the ruling European power (in this case, the French) or armed and supported by them. Their role was to police their country and keep the population quiet so that foreign companies could do business safely. Neighbouring countries were encouraged to be suspicious of each other rather than see each other as fellow Arab peoples.
The majority (Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia) were ruled by undemocratic and often autocratic monarchs. The kings, sultans and emirs would live in luxury, funded by oil revenue and armed by the UK (and later, by the USA). As long as they obeyed the West, allowed Western military and naval bases and set up economic systems and laws that allowed Western companies to do their business in peace, the ruling powers would turn a blind eye to any human rights violations.
Many intellectual Arabs wanted real independence, democracy, and an economic system that benefited the people rather than foreign companies. These people would often be labelled as dissidents and were persecuted, exiled or killed.
Arabs had no real say in their affairs. They were cut off from their brethren in neighbouring countries by the artificial borders put in place by the West. Their governments were unrepresentative but were kept in place by Western arms and support.
When the Western public was told anything about the Arab countries, the emphasis was on violence, Islamic fundamentalism and the fact that they were not democracies. The public in the West was told that Arabs could not rule themselves effectively because they were primitive or because of their religion.

The State of Israel

The Partition Plan for Palestine (UN Resolution 181, 1947)

In 1947, the UK decided to leave Palestine. Jews and Arabs had been attacking each other and the British.
The newly created United Nations passed a resolution to partition Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arabic state. The area around Jerusalem would remain under international control.
At this time just 33% of the inhabitants of Palestine were Jewish. The population percentage ratio in the section alloted to the Arab State was 10% Jewish to 90% Arab. In the section alloted to the Jewish State the population percentage ratio was 55% Jewish to 45% Arab. Even in the area alloted to the Jewish State the Jews were barely a majority.
At the time, there was a huge emotional movement to allow the Jews to set up a Jewish State in Palestine because 6 million Jews had been killed in one of the world's largest genocides in Central Europe under the Nazis of Germany.
The powerful countries of the world (USA, Russia and Europe) voted for the partition because of the guilt and pity felt for the genocide. Unfortunately, the Arabs living in Palestine would pay (and continue to pay) the price.
In 1948 the State of Israel was set up. It had long been planned that the Arabs living in the Jewish State would be expelled. David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel had written:
"With compulsory transfer we [would] have a vast area [for settlement] .... I support compulsory transfer. I don't see anything immoral in it."
"We adopt the system of aggressive defense ; with every Arab attack we must respond with a decisive blow: the destruction of the place or the expulsion of the residents along with the seizure of the place."
"The transfer of Arabs is easier than the transfer of any other [people]. There are Arabs states around . . . And it is clear that if the [Palestinian] Arabs are transferred this would improve their situation and not the opposite."
This "transfer" (which would now be called "ethnic cleansing") meant that over 1,000,000 Palestinians were expelled and forced into refugee camps in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. 500 Palestinian villages were depopulated and destroyed. The Israelis attacked parts of the territory allocated to the Arab State and cleared West Jerusalem of its Arab residents. In the end, 68% of the indigenous people of Palestine were expelled and Israel ended up with 78% of the territory after having been allocated less than 57%.
The State of Israel was immediately recognised by Western countries. The (Arab) Palestinians and their suffering were ignored. The Arabs saw Israel as a Western colony on their land and vowed to destroy it - many of the inhabitants of the new state were immigrants from Europe or the USA. In fact, the Arab countries were not powerful enough to stop the creation of the new state. The Arab nations did not recognise Israel, any more than the USA would recognise a Cree or Apache state that was supported by Cuba within its borders.
To the Arab peoples, the creation of the State of Israel and the subsequent exile of the Palestinians is called The Catastrophe and it is the biggest stumbling block to good relations between the West and the Arabs.
The Arabs ended with two bits of land separated by Israel. The West Bank became part of Jordan while Gaza became part of Egypt. This situation remained unchanged until 1967. The map below shows the situation in 1949 when there was an armistice between the two sides.

Palestine in 1949