The Birth of the Palestinian Tragedy

1894

A French army Captain Alfred Deyfrus, an Alsatian Jew origin, was accused of handing secret documents to the German military, was sentenced to prison for life for treason by a secret and closed trial. It was only in 1906 that his innocence was officially recognized through a decision without recourse by the Supreme Court. He was then rehabilitated and reinstated as a Major in the army.

1906
The implications of this Dreyfus Affair were numerous and affected all aspects of French public life. The affair engendered numerous antisemitic demonstrations, which in turn affected the emotions within the Jewish communities of Central and Western Europe. These led to an international movement of Zionism that supports the need for the Jews must find their own state.

1917

British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour issued a letter to a prominent British Jew, Lord Rothschild, promising Britain’s support for a Jewish home in Palestine in return for the Jewish support against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary and Ottoman Empires). 

Known as the Balfour Declaration, the letter calls for the "establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people . . . it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine...”

1920 - 1939

While Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1920’s caused little alarm, the situation escalated markedly with the rise of Nazi persecution in Europe. Large numbers of European Jews flocked to Palestine, inflaming nationalist passions among all Arabs, who feared the creation of a Jewish state in which they would be the losers. Palestinian resistance erupted into a full-scale revolt which lasted from 1936-39.

1945

The crisis of Palestine reached a boiling point in the years immediately after the war. With international sympathy firmly behind the Jews in the wake of the Holocaust, Zionist leaders pressured the British to admit thousands of displaced Jews.

1947

At the same time, underground Jewish groups initiated a campaign of terrorism against the British. Washing its hands of the whole imbroglio, Britain declared in February 1947 that its mandate over Palestine would end on May 14, 1948. The matter was then addressed by the United Nations, which, after rejecting various plans, voted for the partition of Palestine in November 1947. The plan called for the partition of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state, with al-Quds (Jerusalem) to be placed under UN trusteeship. More than half the territory, including the valuable coastal strip, had been allotted to the Jews, who only owned about 6% of the land. The Arabs were shocked, and conflict was inevitable.

1948

On May 14, the British terminated their mandate over Palestine, and the Jews immediately proclaimed the independence of the state of Israel. The tragedy of Palestine was born.