Caitlin+Bitzer

Caitlin Bitzer Period 5 Arab-Israeli War of 1948

**A. Plan of Investigation** **Question:** To what extent did the immigration of Jews impact the Arab-Israeli War of 1948?

My investigation will be focused between the years 1939, when the White Papers were issued and 1948. However, it will only include Jewish immigration from only Europe, and it will not include the waves of immigration to Palestine before WWII. It will also not include previous Arab-Jewish conflicts. This investigation will be conducted by research into both the Jewish and Arab views of the situation in order to have the least bias in my research. All sources will be used in this historical investigation and will be a combination of online and book sources.**B. Summary of Evidence**For the summary of evidence I separated my information chronologically to make it easier for the reader to follow. -MacDonald White Paper (British Mandate) was issued May 17, 1939 [i] -.It stated that in ten years there would be a Palestine with the borders between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. [ii] -It also incorporated a 5 year plan for immigration. The quota for the Mandate was 75,000 Jews and after those five years immigration would be up to the Arabs. [iii] -Land Transfer Regulations Policy of 1940: This restricted sales of land to Jews in Palestine. [iv] -Jews thought they would be the minority in Palestine, which would result with them not having a Jewish state. -The Arabs weren’t satisfied, because the wanted an immediate Arab state and they wanted the review of Jews who immigrated after 1918. [v]
 * I. White Papers 1939 **

**II. Aliya Bet 1939-48** -Aliya translates to “ascending” in Hebrew; however, was what immigration to Israel was called by the Jews. [vi] -Even though there were quotas established by the White Papers, the majority of Jews to immigrate to Israel were illegal. The British even set a blockade up to stop the inflow of Jews to Israel. [vii] -Aliya Bet was the time in which organizations were created to allow Jews to emigrate from the anti-Semitic countries in Europe. [viii] -These organizations consist of Emissaries from yishuv, Jewish partisans and Zionist youth movement, which joined to form the Beriha (escape) organization. Beriha helped the emigration of 200,000 of Jews from Europe. [ix] Sub Category: Reasons for Emigration from Europe -There was still anti-Semitism after WWII: This made it dangerous for Jews to return to their previous households. -Many of their houses and businesses were destroyed or taken from them. -Most Jews were set up in overpopulated displaced person camps, homeless.

**III. Arab View** -Arabs viewed Jewish immigration as an invasion of their land. - May 1946: pan-Arab summit in Cairo denounced Zionism. [x] -Another summit vowed to use anti-American and anti-British sanctions if 100,000 Jews were to immigrate, like previously suggested. - Prominent Arab leaders vowed to protect, defend and fight for Palestine. This includes Hajj Amin al-Husseini who worked with Hitler during WWII, King Ibn Saud, and the secretary-general of the Arab League, Abd al-Rahman Azzam. [xi] -When Israel was created many Arabs felt as if Palestine no longer existed. [xii] - Half of the Palestinian Arabs became refugees. -Israel was declared a state on May 14, 1948 by David Ben-Gurion. [xiii] -As Britain began leaving Palestine, armies from surrounding Arab countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq) started marching in. [xiv] -The Israeli’s had an advantage, because the Jews had experience from WWII and were trained by British soldiers. [xv] -The Israeli’s had many reservists and active personnel. [xvi] - Due to conflicts between the Arab countries, many went in separately and with insufficient equipment. -Jews also had the will to fight for their land after what happened during WWII. [xvii]
 * IV. War of 1948 **

**C. Annotated Bibliography**

**Citation:** Mendelsson, David. “British Rule.” //Jewish Agency for Israel//. Jewish Agency, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. [[ [] ‌JewishAgency/‌English/‌Jewish+Education/‌Compelling+Content/‌Eye+on+Israel/‌British+Rule]]. Dr. David Mendelsson is head of Israeli studies at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. He also was a scholar-in-residence at Brandeis University, the Los Angeles campus of HUC-JIR, and at Michigan State University. He was born in England; however, moved to Israel in 1980 (Aliya). The purpose of this article is show the impact England had on Israel, such as the MacDonald White Papers of 1939.The value of this article is that it gives insight on how the British mandate made it difficult for Jewish immigrants to make it to Israel. It was issued on May 17, 1939. It was a ten year plan created to establish a Palestine State from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. The first five years of the mandate allowed the immigration of 75,000 Jews, after those five years Jewish immigration would have to have consent of the Arabs. The British also put a huge restriction on land sales in Palestine. In 1947 the White Papers terminated. There are many reasons that people believe England decided to back out of Palestine, such as their economic situation after WWII, the embarrassment of illegal immigration to Israel, or just a cumulative of the both. However, the article is from a Jewish point of view. It also only is about the British involvement in Jewish immigration, there is no information on the impact the Arabs had on Israel, or Jewish immigrants to be more specific.

**Citation:** © 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Aliya and Absorption.” //Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs//. © 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2002. Web. 4 Mar. 2012. < [] ‌MFA/‌History/‌Modern+History/‌Centenary+of+Zionism/‌Aliya+and+Absorption.htm>.There are no authors; however, the site ran by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs, which maintains diplomatic relationships with 160 countries. It is in charge of Israel’s Foreign Policy such as cultural and economic relationships with other countries. The purpose of this article was to document immigration of Jews to Israel between1897-1997. From this article I was able retrieve quantitative information about immigration of Jews to Israel and also some additional facts about certain aspects involving my project. The time of immigration between 1939-1948 is known as the Aliya Bet referring to the illegal immigrants who came over during that time. There was also a quota issued by the White Papers giving British Naval Authorities to send back illegal immigrants. “Emissaries from the yishuv, Jewish partisans and Zionist youth movements cooperated in establishing the Beriha (escape) organization, which helped nearly 200,000 Jews leave Europe.” Also, illegal immigration was basically the only means of entering Israel, because there was only allowed 18,000 immigrants into Israel a year. Between 1945-1948 80,000 illegal immigrants made it to Israel. During the whole entire mandate period 480,000 legal and illegal immigrants made it to Israel 90% being from Europe. Even though this article has a lot of value to and is very quantitative, there could possibly be some bias, because the website was created by the Israeli government.

**D. Analysis**

One conflict that is known by many is the dispute between the Israeli’s and the Arabs, but what is rarely known is the ignition that started this feud that has lasted for decades. This ignition is the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, which was centralized around anti-Semitism, fear, belonging, and the fight for a stable home. Both Arabs and Israeli’s felt that in a way their home and livelihood were being stolen from them. On the side of the Jews, they felt that after all they had been through, due to their religious tie to Israel and their loss of security in Europe, they deserved and needed a place where they could call home. The place where they found that refuge was Israel. The Arabs, on the other side felt that their home was being stolen from them. This can be shown when it was stated by Abd al-Rahman Azzam that, “For us there is only one test, the test of strength…We will try to rout you. I am not sure we will succeed, but we will try. We succeeded in expelling the Crusaders, but lost Spain and Persia, and may lose Palestine. But it is too late for a peaceable solution.” [xviii] Many Arabs also believed that the Jews were doing the same thing to the Arabs, as the German’s had done to them. Both had very reasonable arguments, which in result, escalated to fighting against one another. However, to start at the beginning, Jews began immigrating to Israel when anti-Semitism began to further grow around Europe in the late 30’s early 40’s. “During World War II, the aliya effort focused on rescuing Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe. Some olim entered the country on visas issued under the "White Paper" quota; the majority came as illegal immigrants. This immigration, called Aliya Bet, arrived by land and by sea, from Europe and the Middle East, in contravention of the Mandatory Government's order.” [xix] Even though illegal immigration started to become a problem, it didn’t increase until after the end of WWII. Once Jews were released from the concentration camps, many were unable to return back to where they had previously lived. Their homes were either destroyed, or they would have been putting themselves in danger by returning. The majority of Jews were homeless, or living in overpopulated displaced persons camps, which weren’t much of a change of scenery from the quality of living earlier imposed on them. During the time of 1939-1948 immigration to Israel was known as Aliya Bet. To allow more Jews to make their Aliya, “Emissaries from the yishuv, Jewish partisans and Zionist youth movements cooperated in establishing the Beriha (escape) organization, which helped nearly 200,000 Jews leave Europe”. [xx] As Israel’s population rapidly increased the discussion over whether or not to create a Jewish State constantly was being debated. Many Arabs were furious about the idea of the Jewish state. The majority of Arab leaders even threatened that they would fight at any cost, before they would ever agree to allow this to happen. “In May 1946, a pan-Arab summit in Cairo vowed to keep Palestine and integral part of the Arab world and denounced Zionism as ‘a danger not only to Palestine but Arab and Muslim peoples.” [xxi] Some leaders even related it to being invaded, like they were during the crusades. A prominent leader, Hajj Amin al-Husseini even worked with Hitler during WWII, which can account for some anti-Semitism in many surrounding Arab states during the time. [xxii] Tensions began to rise between the two sides, but it didn’t hit its peak until 1947. Ultimately Great Britain never really had any intentions of creating a Jewish state, but that was until they unexpectedly passed the issue over to the United Nations in 1947 and left Palestine. The UN made the final decision in allowing the creation of a Jewish state. [xxiii] To many, it was the uprooting of businesses and families and having to move somewhere else, and to others it was a sigh of relief and an end to their struggles, but the struggle wasn’t over for either of them. Conflicts began to surge and both sides were ready to fight for what they both thought was theirs. On the Arab side they had the man power of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the Saudi conjugant; however, the Israeli’s had the experience and the organization. [xxiv]

**Conclusion:**Even though the outcome of the war was in favor of the Israeli’s, the disagreement between the two still continues on today. It cannot be said that the immigration during and after WWII was the sole cause of the conflict, without recognizing the many other Aliya’s before WWII that took place, but it is highly suggested that the immigration during that period is what ultimately led to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.

**Works Cited:** Bickerton, Ian J., and Carla L. Klausner. //A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict//. 5th edition ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. Print.Karsh, Efraim. //The Arab-Israeli Conflict The Palistine War of 1948//. Ed. Sally Rawlings. Great Britain: Osprey Publishing, 2002. Print.Margolick, David. “Endless War.” //New York Times//. The New York Times Co., 4 May 2008. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. < [] ‌2008/‌05/‌04/‌books/‌review/‌Margolick-t.html?pagewanted=all>.Mendelsson, David. “British Rule.” //Jewish Agency for Israel//. Jewish Agency, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. < [] ‌JewishAgency/‌English/‌Jewish+Education/‌Compelling+Content/‌Eye+on+Israel/‌British+Rule>.© 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Aliya and Absorption.” //Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs//. © 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2002. Web. 4 Mar. 2012. < [] ‌MFA/‌History/‌Modern+History/‌Centenary+of+Zionism/‌Aliya+and+Absorption.htm>. Moris, Benny. //1948//. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Print.

[i] Mendelsson, David. "British Rule." Jewish Agency for Israel. Jewish Agency, n.d.Web. 6 Mar. 2012. < [] Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Eye+on+Israel/British+Rule>. [ii] Bickerton, Ian J., and Carla L. Klausner. //A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict//. 5th edition ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc., 2007. Print. [iii] ibid [iv] ibid [v] Karsh, Efraim. The Arab-Israeli Conflict The Palistine War of 1948. Ed. SallyRawlings. Great Britain: Osprey Publishing, 2002. Print. [vi] © 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Aliya and Absorption." IsraelMinistry of Foreign Affairs. © 2008 Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29Oct. 2002. Web. 4 Mar. 2012. < [] [vii] Karsh [viii] Aliya and Absorption [ix] ibid [x] Karsh [xi] ibid [xii] Margolick, David. "Endless War." New York Times. The New York Times Co., 4 May2008. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. < [] Margolick-t.html?pagewanted=all>. [xiii] Moris, Benny. //1948//. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008. Print. [xiv] ibid [xv] ibid [xvi] Karsh [xvii] ibid [xviii] ibid [xix] Aliya and Absorption [xx] ibid [