The Influence of Zionism, Religion, History, and Ethnicity on the Emergence of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

A conflict between two individuals will only result in the destruction of one of those people or both. Such a conflict rages on in the modern world as Israelis and Palestinians fight both physically and ideologically to create the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has haunted the region for more than half a century. This paper explores the Israeli perspective on the issues of the conflict by tracing the roots of the Jewish claim to the land of modern-day Israel, the ethnic differences that fuel the modern conflict, and the history of Zionism and Israel's establishment.

The roots of the clash between Israeli and Arab nationalism that resulted in the modern Arab Israeli conflict can be traced back to the history of the Jews and the people of Israel. First, religion heavily contributed to the emergence of the conflict. Jews, the followers of Judaism, find their beliefs in the Torah, the Jewish bible that explains the history of the Jews and their bond with God. For example, in the Torah the most important story is that of Moses, who was led by God and who guided the Jewish people to the Palestine, a region of modern-day Israel, which the Jews were destined to rule and establish their kingdom in. Jews have always believed that the land of Palestine was rightfully theirs for this very reason. Jews attribute the validity of their destiny and history to artifacts and remains of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, remains that most famously include the Wailing Wall, which was the western wall of the ancient temple of Solomon, a Jewish king (Carlson). In addition, Judaism played a major role in the emergence of Jewish nationalism, also known as Zionism. Since God guided them to a destined land, the Jews saw themselves as the "chosen people" (Carlson). Therefore, modern Zionists, or Jewish nationalists, believe that the Jewish people worldwide are entitled to the land of Palestine and were destined to rebuild the Kingdom of Israel after its destruction by the Romans in the 1^st century AD (Tessler 13). Jews and Zionists argue that the area of modern-day Israel was ruled and controlled by the Jews before the Arabs, who claim the land to be theirs, set foot on the land. This belief helped the creation of a conflict between two peoples who each believed that the land of Palestine was their rightful property.

Second, the roots of the conflict can be found in the history of the Jews, one that is filled with periods of oppression and persecution. In ancient times, the invasion of the Romans, who conquered the land of Palestine, proved to be a crucial factor in the planting of the seeds of nationalism in the Jewish people. After controlling the region from the 11^th century BC to approximately the 1^st century BC with short periods of foreign rule, the Jews of the Kingdom of Israel were defeated and stripped of their destined land (Abodaher 11). The Romans were interested in the conversion of the Jews and therefore barred the practice of Judaism and the presence of any Jew in the city of Jerusalem, the holiest site and core of Judaism. The Jews, who felt that their religion united them and was the heart of their power and pride, were now victims of this ancient oppression. As a result of harsh Roman laws and fear, large numbers of Jews decided to flee (Abodaher 13). However, some stayed and preserved the Jewish culture in the land that they still considered to be theirs. Both the Jews who stayed and the Jews who fled vowed to one day take back the land they controlled and rebuild the Kingdom of Israel. This vow was a partial driving force behind the motives of modern Zionists to establish a Jewish country in Palestine, the native and biblical homeland of the Jews. The fact that many Jews fled to Europe in ancient times to save themselves from the Romans set the stage for modern oppression and persecution. Jews became the center of modern hatred in the time of the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries, because they were a minority present in most countries, causing many people to assume that they were the cause of economic and political turbulence (Tessler 37). Those who claimed that the Jews caused the turbulence were determined to drive out this "foreign influence." Examples of modern persecution included the Russian pogroms in 1881. The pogroms, or organized massacres of Jews, were the result of radical views by those who wanted to preserve the Russian Slavic culture and those who viewed the Jews as inferior foreigners. Moreover, Jews were not allowed to seek higher education and were banned from colleges and universities (Tessler 39). The oppression and persecution of the Jews allowed them to unite in a common goal to save their culture and create an identity that many have longed for.

Finally, the roots of the conflict can be found in ethnic differences (Abodaher 19). The Jews who settled Palestine before the founding of Israel were not trusted by the Arabs since most Jews were of European descent, a people that have caused much trouble to the Arabs in their past history. An example included the Crusades, a time in which European Christian lords invaded Palestine to claim the Holy Land and annihilate any opposition to Christianity (Tessler 25). The foremost fear of the Arabs in their contact with the Jews was that the country of Israel would be a European power and influence in the region. In summation, religion, history, and the ethnicity of the Jews played a role both in the development of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the birth of Zionism, which directly caused the conflict as it collided with Arab nationalism (Tessler 27).

The emergence of Zionism was witnessed in the late 18^th century, as greater numbers of Jews began to realize that they could not escape oppression and hate nor integrate into a country's society or community (Tessler 37). Zionism formed in the minds of a large number of Jewish writers and thinkers, who forged the idea that the only way to unite the Jews of the world and put an end to persecution, hatred and misery was to establish a homeland for their people. As it spread, this belief came to be known as Zionism, and its followers the Zionists. As they came together, these groups of thinkers formed activist groups known as Hovevei Zion with the idea of returning to Zion, or the Promised Land, as their core objective (Tessler 37). For some time the Zionists were a minority, but the fate of Zionism took a sharp turn when Theodor Herzl, a Jewish Hungarian writer and influential thinker who found his place and faith in the Zionist cause (Tessler 45).

Herzl would prove to have a priceless impact on the beliefs of Zionism and the creation of a Jewish homeland. In his book, The Jewish State, Herzl reasoned that the only way to accomplish the goal of the unification of the world's Jews would be to create the homeland in Palestine, the biblical and only native land of the Jews. In 1897 Herzl and 200 other Zionists from around the world met in Basel, Switzerland, and formed the Zionist Organization, a powerful movement that aimed to create a home for the Jews in Palestine, a home that will be protected by laws (Tessler 47). As the Zionists searched for a powerful country to be their ally and offer support for their cause, the movement urged many Jews to settle in Palestine and assist in the construction of the Yishuv, or Jewish settlements, and the agricultural development of the land. These settlers, however, quickly found that the land was already settled by the Arabs, who had lived on their ancestors' land and were not willing to hand it over to immigrating foreigners (Tessler 47). This first contact with the Arabs would later prove to be the first step in the clash between Zionism and Arab nationalism. This is true since both views were similar in their mission to create a homeland in Palestine, but applied to two different peoples since the Arabs were striving to achieve the creation of their own country, too.

In response, Zionists in Europe began to separate in their viewpoints when they became aware of the presence of the Arabs in the land that they were aspiring to belong to. The Zionists, who were determined to settle Palestine and reasoned that it was their destiny and perhaps only chance for a true home away from oppression and hate, were not willing to let the Arabs halt the creation of a Jewish homeland. Forced to deal with a new obstacle, the Zionists divided into two central movements of thought: the integrative and separatist outlooks (Tessler 135).

One of the branches of thought that grew out of the Zionist tree was the integrative outlook. The supporters of this outlook knew that the creation of a homeland depended on cooperation with the Arabs who settled the land. They believed that Arabs and Jews must unite as one people to accomplish their goals and form one culture. Although Arabs were not opposed to the fostering of the Jews into their culture and communities, many Zionists did not favor this outlook. They reasoned that it would mean the loss of the Jewish culture, people, and language, something that would undermine the core of Zionism and cause the loss of the Jewish identity (Tessler 135).

Opposite of the integrative supporters were the separatists, a more radical branch of Zionism that believed in the preservation of Jewish culture. Separatists opposed the notion that Jews should blend into the Arab community and establish contacts, reasoning that if the Arabs were helped, they would only grow stronger. Also, separatists were angered by Arab claims that the land was theirs, reasoning that the Arabs did not have a history similar to the Jews' in the land. One such separatist was Israel Zangwell, an Anglo-Jewish writer who in one of his speeches claimed that the Jews "must be prepared to expel [the country's non-Jewish population] from the land by the sword, just as our forefathers did to the tribes that occupied it" (Tessler 137). The separatist ideals caused much uproar in the Arab community, since the Arabs were determined to gain independence and preserve their land and culture.

While different Zionist views formed, the Jews that lived in the Yishuv were concerned with the establishment of Jewish settlements and the development of their culture in a new land. However, as mentioned before, the Arabs reasoned that the Jews would incorporate themselves into Arab communities and culture, an idea that was a complete opposite of the Zionist cause. With Zionism's expansion, distrust grew between Arabs and Jews everywhere since the nationalism of the Jews and their mission to develop and expand their culture in Palestine was in direct conflict with Arab nationalism (Tessler 134). Since Arabs in Palestine aspired to unite and create their own culture and identity away from European influence, they were determined in keeping their land. Although they were willing to negotiate with the Zionists, mistrust was extremely strong, especially with the discrepancies between integrative and separatist Zionists. As time elapsed, the Jews were viewed with concern, since many Arabs worried that the relatively peaceful connections with the Yishuv Jews were an act and a step in the Zionist domination of Palestine (Tessler 139).

In addition to the rising tension between the two peoples, certain policies and acts contributed to the birth of the bloody conflict that can be seen today. The first action that began to form the conflict was the Balfour Declaration, a letter written by the British foreign secretary to the head of the Jewish community in Britain. The letter was a pledge to the Zionists that the government of Britain "viewed with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" (Carlson). The Zionists, who had finally found an ally to support their cause, praised this decision. This encouraged the Zionist Organization in 1919 to propose that the Jewish homeland in Palestine span from the Mediterranean Sea to the west of the Jordan River and from Beirut in the north to the Red Sea in the south (Tessler 162). However, these policies and demands outraged the Arabs, who now viewed that the creation of the Jewish country as a European and British colony, a footprint of European influence in the Middle East (Tessler 142).

Moreover, as two decades passed and the tensions intensified, a new policy by the British in 1939 caused outrage within the Zionist Organization and the Jews. The White Paper statement, as it came to be known, was a policy that placed very tight restrictions on the immigration of Jews into Palestine and ordered the creation of a country in Palestine with a joint Jewish and Arab government within ten years (Tessler 148). The statement outraged the Jews, who had come to see the British as an ally. The Jews were worried that their interests and settlements would be undermined if immigration ceased, halting expansion and growth. On the other hand, the Arabs were also angered because of the British call for the formation of a country that will be shared by Arabs and Jews, reasoning that the Arab people should not be held accountable for the problems of Europe's Jews. The Arabs refused to share the land and the same freedoms with foreigners (Tessler 150).

Finally, in 1947, the United Nations passed the partition plan in order to solve the Palestinian problem. The plan divided Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, each having an almost equal share of the land. After the creation of the states, the two were supposed to agree on an economic agreement that would tie them to each other. Jerusalem, the core of Judaism, was to be placed under international control (Tessler 258). The Jews who reasoned that this was the best bargain that they could find accepted the partition plan. The Arabs, however, immediately rejected the plan because of the land that was taken from them and was purchased by the Jews. The Arabs felt so threatened and oppressed by European powers that within days, war was declared on the state of Israel (Tessler 261). The UN plan was the breaking point at which the Arabs and Jews went to war and tried to divide the land by force. The Arab-Israeli conflict was created as soon as the two peoples fired shots at each other, but the Israelis emerged as the victors and claimed their land.

The Israeli perspective is deeply rooted in religion, history, and nationalism. However, the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict is not one-sided, and the Palestinian perspective on the issue and the other side's claims to the same land must be evaluated as well in order to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has defined Middle Eastern politics in modern times. Peace is a necessity, but the road to peace can only be reached through understanding.

Mark Tessler, "A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict."

Kris Carlson, "The Arab/Israeli Conflict: Untying the Gordian Knot." The Arab/Israeli Conflict.