Israeli-Palestinian Conflict History (Pt.1)

This major unsolvable conflict that has plagued the Middle East perhaps will not be solved in the foreseeable future, but it stems from many things in the past and I feel that the world needs a condensed version of this history.

The Ottoman Empire

As you can see, it encompasses many of the countries which are today known as the middle east. After World War I this country collapsed having survived for 7 long centuries. The British and the French trying to fulfill their imperialists ambitions draw lots to which land belongs to whom and in essence cause this whole mess. Not only does this directly tie with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it also is to blame for the current situation in Iraq to a degree with the sectarian violence.

The British Mandate for Palestine


The British anxious to keep this area a way from the French issue the Mandate for Palestine to the League of Nations (precursor to the United Nations) and receive the okay in which they planned to offer the Jews, one of the most hated groups of people in Europe, a homeland. Of course, the Arab's living in British Palestine at the moment opposed the idea because they thought that the land was theirs and they did not enjoy the idea of possibly living with the Jews.

Instead, the Arab's of British Palestine lobby for this area to become part of the French Mandate of Syria. They later formed a national movement to combat the terms of the British Mandate and Aref Pasha Dajani, the mayor of Jerusalem during World War I made the claim that, "their (the jews') history and their past proves that it is impossible to live with them. In all the countries where they are at present, they are not wanted..."

The case of the Arabs and the Jews was ultimately heard at the Paris Peace Conference and the British Mandate was accepted. With that said, the main issues taken into account at the conference were those of Britain and France rather than the inhabitants.