A couple of days ago, Oren Gulasa babeled about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from which an interesting discussion followed suit. Although the question of who is right and wrong in that region will never be resolved, as both the Arab side has reason for its gripes as does the Jewish side. Both sides were promised the same thing: Israel. While I empathize with the Arab side for being deceived by the British and losing their ‘covetous’ Israel, the Jews were the ones to form an elite unit of armed forces and establish the State of Israel. If it weren’t for the efforts of the Haganah, more specifically the Palmach and the Irgun, then Israel would not be the Jewish State it is today.

The Balfour Declaration

Upon the restructuring of the defeated Ottoman Empire following WWI, the British Cabinet supported establishing a Jewish state within the Palestinian borders. This pro-Zionist sentiment was portrayed in a letter from the British Foreign Secretary, James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild, an active Zionist Briton.

His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Clearly there were politicians in Britain, who were fervent Zionists and believed that the Jewish people should have a home inside British-Palestine. However, the British government employed the Arabs during the 1st World War to revolt against the Ottoman Empire and in return the Arabs were promised to have an independent Arab state. Well, as per the Balfour Declaration, the Jews were to go to Palestine as long as there was no ‘prejudice’ done to the existing communities, the Arabs. But, what if violence was to occur regardless of good intentions? Unfortunately, Britain promised both entities the same thing and were unprepared to facilitate peace in that region.

Brief History on the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Arab-Israeli conflict is not a recent development; these two people have fought against each other over Palestine since 638 AD, when it was conquered by Caliph Umar. Judea was renamed Palestine when it was first conquered by the Romans in 61 B.C. and has changed hands between the the Jews, Christians, and Muslims since. More recently, in 1517, Palestine officially became a part of the Ottoman Empire, when the land was won from the Mamelukes of Egypt. Palestine was intermittently exchanged amongst the Arab world, between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, as well as surrounding Arab states. Palestine would remain under Muslim influence (through Egyptian and Syrian culture) until WWI, when it was broken up by the League of Nations and ultimately given to Great Britain to deal with. At this same time, a major Zionist movement took hold over diplomacy in Great Britain through the Balfour Declaration and the Western world wanted to provide a home for the Jews. Over the next 30 or so years, Britain lost more and more control over the area with Arab rioting and violence. Matters only worsened after WWII when the the United Nations created General Assembly Resolution 181 declaring Palestine be partitioned into Arab and Jewish states.

The Haganah

During the 1920s and 1930s there were numerous Arab riots occurring within Israel. Several cities in Israel were laid waste to, including Jerusalem and Jaffa. On April 4, 1920, the Palestinians rioted in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem destroying and burning anything in their path. A year later, on May 1, 1921, there was yet another riot, dubbed the “Jaffa riots”, where the Jews suffered 48 deaths and the Arabs lost 45. The British presence in this region was ineffective in facilitating some semblance of peace and the Jews had to protect themselves from this violence and destruction. The Haganah, a group of Jews that were regulated to protect their livelihood (farms) from these Arab gangs, was commissioned by Jewish leaders. From the 1920’s through the 1930’s, the Haganah took on a much larger role in defending the Jewish communities against the Arab threat; ultimately helping to establish Israel as a Jewish state.

The Palmach and Irgun

The Palmach was a branch of the Haganah that trained with British forces during WWII to protect Palestine from the Nazi threat. The goal was to train every soldier to be a field commander and thus the Palmach became the ’special forces’ for Israel’s first army, the Haganah. Their creation aided in preventing a Syria-Lebanon invasion and following the Allied victory over the Syrians in North Africa, the Palmach was to be quickly dismantled. However, the whole organization went underground and unofficially declared war on Britain.

Over the next few years (1943 - 1945), the Palmach destroyed the British infrastructure, such as railways, bridges, and places of government. Much like the Spartans were the elite soldier of the Greek army, the same is the case for the Palmach to the Haganah. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Palmach held off the Arab invasion for just a long enough time for the Haganah and Jewish population to mobilize for war. Following the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state in 1948, the Palmach was dissolved into the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), where they were crafted into two elite forces.

The Irgun was an offshoot radical group from the Haganah and took a much more ‘terroristic’ approach to defending and fighting for Israel. Just as the Palmach did, the Irgun launched guerrilla warfare on the British and Palestinians throughout Israel.

Defensiveness by way of offensiveness, in order to deprive the enemy the option of attacking, is called active defense.

With the notion that the best defense is the best offense, the Irgun quickly established themselves as the ‘radical’ Jews that would blow up café shops and kill Arabs to avenge Jewish deaths. They supported Hammurabi’s Code thusly extracting their “eye for an eye” vengeance. Nonetheless, the Palmach and the Irgun were instrumental in scaring the British away from this region.

The Arab-Israeli War

In 1948, Britain handed over Israeli mess to the United Nations. The United Nations decided in Resolution 181 that the former Mandate of Palestine be split with the Jews getting 56% of the land. Although the resolution was passed, it was not met with acceptance by the Arab countries and the violence only continued. On May 15, 1948, one day after the Declaration of Independence was signed, Syria and Egypt, along with other Arab countries, launched a major offensive (The Arab-Israeli War) against the newly appointed Jewish state. The Palmach and Irgun, as well the Haganah, fought and protected Israel in the Arab-Israeli War. The IDF, or the Israeli Armed Forces, won a Jewish state in Israel and has kept it that way for the past 60 years.

Conclusion

While I do empathize with Arab cause, I think that the Jewish people deserve to have Israel. I am not saying this because “I think that they were first ones to inhabit that region” or that they are religiously tied to it anymore than the Arabs or Christians, instead it is because they fought hard and won the land. Even when violence broke out and the British were powerless, the Palmach and Irgun were the groups that maintained some semblance of law and morality. Just as the Arabs helped Britain in WWI, the Jews helped Britain in WWII by disconnecting North Africa from the Axis of Evil. The Jews do not ideologically own Israel or Jerusalem anymore than the Arabs or the Christians, but the Jews have fought for their stake in Israel and continue to defend her borders today.

If nothing else, the Jews fought tooth and nail to have a sovereign state and succeeded in doing so.

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