How Did the Jewish State of Israel Come to Be

Each time the Middle East begins to overheat you will likely hear people ask: "How did the Jewish state of Israel come to be in the first place?" It's not just a good question but a question the answer to which can help us in the 21st century to better understand the discord that persists in Israel between Jews and Palestinians. In trying to build peace in Israel and the surrounding region there is no better place to being than with better understanding of the history that created the present.

For the Jewish people the right to a Jewish state built around the city of Jerusalem stems from their Holy Scripture. For the Jewish faithful, clear title to such land is sanctioned by the covenant made between God and Abraham and his descendants. For Jewish people this "promised land" is seen in the existence of the Jewish state of Israel. The modern day Zionist movement is a primarily political movement aimed at first establishing and now maintaining such a Jewish homeland. Statistics shared by the authors of Judaism 101 indicate that one third of the entire world population of Jews actually live in Israel and by their presence support the concept of a Jewish homeland in Israel.

At the turn of the 20Th century in 1900 the land area that was called Palestine was inhabited predominantly by Arabs who were for the most part Muslims. The ratio of Arab Muslims to Jews at that time was about 6 to 1, Arabs to Jews. Given that population distribution it would have been highly unlikely that the Jewish minority would have attempted to somehow establish control of the land. The slice of land itself was in the hands of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire.

Two world wars intervened in the developing history of the land that would become Israel. At the end of World War I, the victors, including the British, divided up the spoils of war that included the Ottoman Empire and the land it held in Palestine. During the war the British had encouraged the Arabs to support them by dangling a promise of Arab independence in return if the British were victorious. At the same time the British were entertaining the idea of helping to establish a Jewish homeland in some of the same territory.

What actually occurred was affected to a great extent by the Balfour Declaration of 1917. According to this document it seemed it seemed that the promise made to the Arabs would be honored to a lesser degree in order for the British to assist the Jews in developing a homeland. The two interests seemed to be in direct opposition to one another and the omission of real specifics from the document opened the door to continuous argument about the real meaning of the declaration. Unresolved was the question of what should become of the land recently liberated from the Ottomans at least unresolved in the eyes of the Jews and the Arabs. Both felt betrayed and discontent. .

The long term result of international diplomacy left neither the Jews nor the Arabs holding the land of Palestine. Instead the British were given a mandate to control the area and to work to develop independent states within the mandated territory. Part of the territory was eventually to be designated as a Jewish homeland. Needless to say while the Jews seemed to have made progress in re-establishing themselves in the promised land, the Arabs were far from satisfied with what seemed to them more like a double cross on the part of Britain.

As a result of the anti-Semitism that preceded and was a part of World War II, the number of Jews who made their way to the mandated area increased raising the total Jewish population in Palestine and making the Jews a very visible and viable threat to the Arabs who still believed that Palestine belonged to them. After World War II, the newly establish United Nations determined to finally resolve the issue by partitioning Palestine between the Jew and the Arabs, a partition which the Jews accepted but the Arabs opposed. In May of 1948 the Jews declared the independent state of Israel and one by one, beginning with Russia, nations of the world recognized the new state of Israel.

So, back to the original question: how did the Jewish state of Israel come to be in the first place? Some would claim that there were plenty of good reasons for the Jewish state of Israel to come into being. According to the Jewish people such possession had been divinely ordained. According to the United Nations the partition of Israel and the resulting recognition of her declaration of independent statehood was accepted by the international organization. But according to millions of Arabs from as far back as World War I they had been shortchanged, tricked, and betrayed by western nations who backed the establishment of a Jewish state.

A reading of history could suggest truth on both sides, and that is the central problem which continues and costs human lives on a regular basis .

Resources: www.jewfaq.org
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