The origin of the socalled PalestineIsrael conflict has its historical roots in the events of the late 19th century in this area. Its causes lie not in religion, but in colonization by the Zionist movement. Zionism is both a doctrine and a political project, nationalist and fundamentally colonialist.
Zionism, the secret SykesPicot Accords and the Balfour Declaration
Since 1896, the term Zionism has been used to refer to the political movement founded by Theodor Herzl, a Jewish journalist born in the AustroHungarian Empire. Although this movement was not originally based on religion, it used this factor as a means to demand the creation of a Jewish state.
When Herzl wrote The Jewish State, Palestine was not his priority. He had already examined the possibility of founding the new nation in other places, such as Argentina, Uganda, Cyprus, Kenya, Mozambique, the Sinai Peninsula or the Congo.
2 of 4 Cover of the brochure “The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl — Photo: Wikimedia Commons Cover of the brochure “The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl — Photo: Wikimedia Commons
In the end, he chose Palestine because it had a “powerful (religious) legend” in his favor, even though he and other Zionist leaders who supported him claimed to be atheists or “infidels.” From the beginning, the Zionist movement developed into a colonial project, recognized by its own leaders, with the aim of gradually acquiring territories through colonies and seeking support, first from the Ottoman Empire and then from the British, among whom there were sympathizers and important personalities, such as the banker Lionel Walter Rothschild.
On the other hand, in the context of the First World War, France and Britain needed the support of the Arabs to defeat the Ottomans and therefore used the desire for independence to their advantage in the context of the great Arab awakening that prevailed in the Middle East and Middle East.
However, the two powers’ promises in this regard were flawed from the start. At the same time that they were making proposals for independence to the Arabs, these two countries divided the territories of the overthrown empire into different areas.
The true plans had been drawn up over the years with the secret SykesPicot Accords of 1916 and were revealed by the Bolsheviks after the overthrow of the Tsar. The Englishman Sir Mark Sykes and the Frenchman George Picot divided the region into two zones under their influence in the form of “mandates”. As a result, “Greater Syria” would split, with France taking Syria and Lebanon and Britain taking Transjordan (modernday Jordan), Iraq and Palestine.
This situation was aggravated in the case of Palestine, as the British, as supporters of the Zionist movement, through the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in addition to initiating British colonization, officially committed themselves to establishing “a Jewish national home in Palestine”, which encouraged the Zionist Colonization of historic Palestine, which had already begun at the end of the 19th century.
Similarly, the nature of Zionism as a colonial movement was based on the model of “white colonization” and this still applies today. In other words, a model that replaces the indigenous population in all its forms with a population of emigrant settlers. This concept will be inextricably linked to the “resettlement” of the population, a euphemism for displacement, which will be included in all plans of the Zionist leadership presented in various international bodies and subsequently implemented by its armed forces.
The British Mandate and the Partition of Palestine
So the British took control of Palestine in 1917, although this was not officially announced until 1920. This resulted in the Palestinian population suffering several crises in protest against British colonialism and its support of aggressive and continuous Zionist migration.
Examples include the alBuraq rebellion of 1929, the riots of 1933, the great Arab uprising (alZawra alkubra) of 193639, and finally the destruction of most of historic Palestine in 1948.
As a result, between 1946 and 1947 the British decided to leave the Palestine problem to the United Nations. On the one hand, due to the Zionist demands supported by the USA at the time and the problem of growing Jewish terrorism in Palestine, which also began to affect them. On the other hand, due to the growing Arab pressure to demand their rights and the fulfillment of promises made.
3 of 4 maps showing the development of the Palestinian territory (in green) before 1948, 1947 according to the UN plan, 1967 and 2010 Photo: Philippe Rekacewicz, Régis Martineau Maps showing the development of the Palestinian territory (in green) , before 1948, 1947 according to the UN plan, 1967 and 2010 Photo: Philippe Rekacewicz, Régis Martineau
On November 29, 1947, the United Nations, founded in 1945, officially voted for the partition of Palestine through Resolution 181, which allowed the territory to be divided into two states one Jewish and one Arab.
In this way, the United Nations ignored the origins of the country’s population and transferred 55% of the territory to the Jewish state, although the population remained majority Arab (Muslims and Christians) and the Jewish population was less than 6%. from the country.
Both groups rejected the proposal. The Jews because they wanted more territory without the Arab population, and the Arabs because they refused to share the land with a settler community that wanted to uproot them.
The founding of Israel and the Nakba
Finally, the unilateral creation of the State of Israel in May 1948, the culmination of colonization, led to the violent transformation of the territory and the displacement of more than half of the Palestinian population. Most of them became refugees, which researchers increasingly see as ethnic cleansing.
Between 750,000 and 800,000 people of different religions Muslims and Christians and social statuses were expelled from their homes and lands, in what is called alNakba (the catastrophe, the disaster) in Arabic. Their personal and collective assets were expropriated or destroyed.
4 out of 4 Arabs were expelled from their villages in the Galilee during alNakba Photo: Government Press Office (Israel) Arabs were expelled from their villages in the Galilee during alNakba Photo: Government Press Office (Israel)
Likewise, the villages, towns and neighborhoods in which they lived were demolished or stripped of their owners and repopulated by incoming settlers, depending on interest.
From then on, Palestinian society would forever be divided into three distinct groups: those expelled to neighboring Arab countries or elsewhere; those who remained in the newly formed State of Israel (not considered refugees); and those who went to the remnants of historic Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem. To date, none of them have been allowed to return to their original homeland.
*Mar Gijón Mendigutía is a postdoctoral researcher at the Juan de la Cierva Incorporación, Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea and author of the book Historia del movimiento de mujeres en Palestine.
This article was originally published on The Conversation in Spanish.