that Jews constitute a nation (or a people) and that they deserve the right to return to what they consider to

be their ancestral home, land of Israel (or Palestine). Political Zionism, the belief that Jews should

establish a state for themselves in Palestine, was a revolutionary idea for the 19th Century.

During World War I, Jews supported countries that constituted the Central Powers because they

detested the tyranny of czarist Russia. Both the Allies and Central Powers needed Jewish support, but

Germany could not espouse Zionism due to its ties with the Ottoman Empire, which still controlled

Palestine. British Prime Minister Lloyd George & Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour, favored Zionism and

supported their cause in a letter that became known as the Balfour Declaration, ensuring that the British

government would control Palestine after the war with a commitment to build the Jewish national home

there, promising only to work for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine and not harm the civil and

religious rights of Palestine’s "existing non-Jewish communities".

appeasing the Zionists, but angering the Arabs.

cease erecting housing projects in disputed areas. But how politically viable is withholding foreign aid

issuing a report that justified the Arab position. The colonial secretary, Lord Passfield, placed blame on the

preferential treatment to Jews with a proviso for restricting Jewish immigration to conform with Palestine’s

measures. When Britain and France prepared to attack Egypt for nationalizing the Suez Canal, Israel

ambiguous, the parties read into the resolution, seeing different viewpoints, it is amazing that they agreed to

Some topics in this essay:
East Israel, White Paper, Defense Force, Security Council, Western Wall, Partition Plan, Balfour Declaration, Israel Arab, Third Army, River Jews, jewish immigration, white paper, west bank, national home, jewish national home, palestine british, israeli forces, arab nations, foreign aid, jewish national, british government, blockade gulf aqaba, withholding foreign aid, national home arabs, issued white paper,