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NewsExplainedExplained HistoryHow the Jews first migrated to Palestine, and how Israel was born

How the Jews first migrated to Palestine, and how Israel was born

Much before the official creation of Israel in May 1948, Jewish migrants had been settling in Palestine. How did Palestine 'end up paying for Europe's crimes'? How did the Jews manage to carve out a state in a land where they were a small minority? ADVERTISEMENT

Gaza deathsRelatives mourn people killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

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In the latest chapter of bloodshed in the Israel-Palestine dispute, the Israeli military has ordered thousands of civilians to leave Gaza City as it prepares for a possible ground offensive.

While the modern contours of the Israel-Palestine conflict are well-known — Palestinians saying Israel was forcibly established on their homeland, Israel claiming it has every right to exist on its Biblical homeland — how did the Jewish migration to ‘Israel’ first begin? Before the official declaration in May 1948 of the creation of Israel, how was the stage set for it? What was the role played by the British and other Arab powers?

Anti-semitism and Zionism

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According to the Hebrew Bible, ‘Israel’ is the name God gave to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, who is considered the patriarch of all three ‘Abrahamic’ religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham's descendants settled in Canaan, roughly the area of ​​modern Israel.

Also explained | Why did Hamas attack now? What does this say about Israeli intelligence? Thousands of years later, at the end of the 19th century, the land of Canaan passed through several empires (Greek, Roman, Persian, Crusader, Islamic, etc.) before becoming part of the Ottoman Sultanate. Followers of Judaism, or Jews, lived in many countries. Although they often lived as a prosperous minority, they were vulnerable to persecution, especially in Europe.

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There was a massacre of Jews in the Russian Empire in the 1880s. In France, the Dreyfus Affair, in which a Jewish soldier was falsely convicted of passing sensitive information to Germany in 1894, highlighted widespread anti-Semitic prejudice. There began to be a growing feeling within the Jewish community that they would not be safe until they established their own country. This movement, which aimed to create a Jewish homeland, became known as Zionism.

In 1896, the Austro-Hungarian Theodor Herzl published a pamphlet titled Der Judenstaat outlining his vision for a Jewish state. This pamphlet became so popular that Herzl is considered the father of political Zionism. advertising

Initially, countries such as Uganda and Argentina were considered potential locations for this homeland. But soon opinions about Palestine took hold. It is the hometown of the Jews in the Bible and is where many Jewish sanctuaries still remain.

Before World War I

The Jewish migration (aliyah) to Palestine soon began. The first wave of arrivals, from 1881 to 1903, is known as the First Aliyah. Immigrants began purchasing large tracts of land and farming them. Soon these arrivals meant losses for the native Palestinian people, but it would be several more years before the conflict was framed in these terms.

Also explained | Why the Gaza Strip is known as the world's largest 'open-air prison'

At the time, Palestine was just one part of the vast and poorly governed Ottoman Empire. Residents did not necessarily consider themselves “Palestinians,” but rather identified themselves as Ottoman, Arab, Muslim, or subjects of clans and lineages. Absentee land ownership was common. Land was therefore sold to Jews by landowners who did not live in the area and by Ottoman officials willing to accept bribes. Local residents and actual farmers (who were rural, poor, and illiterate) had little say in the matter.

When new settlers arrived, it soon became clear that they were not here to assimilate. Unlike the Jews who had always lived in Palestine, these new residents spoke little Arabic and communicated only with each other. Arab workers were hired to work the farms, but this too became rare as more and more Jews arrived. Additionally, previously, even when land changed hands, tenants continued to work for the new owners. But when Jews purchased land, Arab tenants were often released, stripped of their homes and communities.

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Jews emphasized their different and “superior” status in many other ways. Agriculture was mechanized and electricity was installed. They did not follow local customs in their mission to create an ideal homeland. Their cities and settlements were in harmony with European sensibilities (Tel Aviv, founded in 1909, is a prime example) and distinguished themselves from the more rustic Arab regions. Israeli ventures were financed by wealthy Jews abroad, such as the Rothschild family.

Local unrest and dissatisfaction with the new arrivals grew. Ottoman authorities banned the sale of land to foreign Jews, but this order was not effectively enforced. After the Young Tur Revolution overthrew the Ottoman Sultan in 1908, efforts to emigrate Jews became more rational.

Jews from countries other than Palestine sought to gain international support for their claims. Balfour Declaration

It was the Balfour Declaration of 1917 that forever changed the face of Western Asia. A letter sent by a British official to a wealthy British Jew at the time sealed the fate of thousands of Palestinians. The British government needed Jewish support during World War I. To ensure this, Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour supported the Zionist movement.