The Palestine Paradox
Why Didn’t the Arab World Want An Independent Palestine State?
Highlights
Ancient Israel and Judah existed in a region known as Palestine.
The name of the region was given to it by the Romans.
Palestine, which sits between three continents, has been ruled by many kingdoms.
1914-1916 The British promise the Jews and the Arabs the same deal.
1916- Secret treaty carves up Ottoman Empire and creates the British and French mandates. Britain will govern Palestine and France Syria.
1919-1920 The Arab states reject any deal that includes France controlling Syria or a homeland for the Jews.
1920-1939 British administration facilitates massive immigration to Palestine. The Arabs see this as a repudiation of the deal made with them.
1939-1945 British administration restricts immigration to Palestine. The Jews see this as a repudiation of the deal made with them.
1940-1945 Many Arabs support the Axis during WWII. This further complicates peace in the Palestine region.
1947 The UN proposes a partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state.
1947 Political organization of Jews declares Israel is a state based on the borders recommended by the UN proposal.
1948 The 1948 War between Israel, Egypt, and Transjordan (Now Jordan). Israel secures its borders, expands a bit, and repels an Iraqi expeditionary force. Jordan and Egypt seize the partition that was to be the Palestine state.
1967 The Six-Day War; Israel wins resoundingly, extends its borders and seizes Gaza and the West Bank from Egypt and Jordan.
1964 The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) is created. The PLO is declared a terrorist organization in 1987.
1987 The Islamic organization in Gaza formed from the Egyptian Brotherhood renames itself Hamas. It is declared a terrorist organization after making a series of attacks against Israel once it is firmly established in Gaza.
1988 The PLO declares there is a Palestine state and creates a government in exile.
1993 The PLO becomes a legitimate political organization and forms Fatah. Israel agrees to allow limited self-rule in Gaza and the West Bank.
2005 Israel withdraws from Gaza. Cites security for not withdrawing from the West Bank.
2006 Hamas wins 74 of 132 seats on the Palestine Legislative Council. Israel, the U.S. and many others don’t believe the election was won legitimately. Fatah rejects forming a coalition government with Hamas.
2007 Hamas seizes control of Gaza. Fatah retains control of the West Bank
2007 Israel with the partnership of many other countries imposes sanctions and a blockade on Gaza in an attempt to curtail support and resources for Hamas.
2023 Hamas launches a surprise attack into Israel killing and wounding thousands of Israeli’s and taking over 200 hostages.
Current day there is still no independent Palestine Arab state.
Overview
The region known as Palestine sits between three continents. It was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agriculture, and civilization. Perhaps due to its unique location it has served as a crossroads for religion, culture, politics, and commerce.
This region is the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity. It is also the home of many holy places for both those religions and for Islam. During the Iron Age two Israelite kingdoms, Israel and Judah controlled most of the region known as Palestine with the Philistines occupying the southern coast.
Early records show that around 63 BCE the Roman Empire included the region as a vassal state and named it Palestine.
The region was controlled by many kingdoms and other polities from ancient until modern times. These included Ancient Egypt, Israel, and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, Muslim Caliphates and the Crusaders. In modern times it was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, and since 1948 it has been divided into Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Too Many Promises
The Palestine Paradox was created during WWI when the French and the British with consent from Russia and Italy divided most of the Ottoman Empire outside of the Arabian Peninsula into French and British controlled regions. The British controlled Palestine, Jordan, southern Iraq, southern Israel, and a small area that included the ports of Haifa and Acre. France controlled Turkey, the Kurdistan Region, Syria, and Lebanon.
During this time, it appears that the British may have promised the Arabs an independent Arabian state would be created in return for them rebelling against the Ottoman Empire. This promise was made in a series of letters exchanged between Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry McMahon, British high commissioner to Egypt and Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca. The correspondences were exchanged between July 1915 and March 1916.
This is the first suggestion that an independent Arabian state in the region corresponding to Palestine might be created or exist.
A Jewish movement known as Zionists formed during the mid to late 1800’s. One of their professed goals was to create an independent Jewish state in the Palestinian region. This dream was partially realized when Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour promised a national home for Jews in Palestine in a letter to Baron Rothschild, a prominent leader in the British Jewish Community, in 1917. Even before this Jewish people had been immigrating to the region beginning around 1881.
At the conclusion of WWI, the Arabian leaders refused to sign the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and a 1921 British proposal ratifying the mandate between the French and British to split up the region between them. They also considered the agreement made by the British to support an independent Arabian state(s) to be violated. They were opposed to France controlling Syria and the Jews being granted a portion of Palestine. The League of Nations Mandates granting these powers did not specify the borders of these mandates.
The British Palestine Mandate
Starting in 1920 the British and the French began implementing the mandates and established the borders between the Palestine Mandate and the Syrian Mandate. On July 26, 1928 the Permanent Executive Committee presented a series of formal complaints to the British. The committee was composed of Muslims and Christians. In the document they refer to the inhabitants as Palestine’s instead of Arabs.
Under the British, Jewish immigration to the region continued almost unrestricted until 1939 when the British began restricting immigration to Palestine as part of an effort to support an independent Palestinian Arab state that would also serve as a homeland for Jewish people. Arabs continued to refuse to accept any deal that included a homeland for the Jews.
In 1936 the Arabs in Palestine began a revolt against the British which was a formative event for Palestine nationalism. They targeted British, Jews, and Arabs they saw as collaborators. The British were very effective in destroying the Palestine leadership and suppressing the revolt. Tribal rivalry created additional chaos. The Zionists continued to organize and consolidate their gains in the region and formed deep ties with the British.
In 1937, the Peel Commission was tasked with investigating the causes of unrest in Palestine. It recommended that Palestine be partitioned into separate Arab and Jewish states. No one was happy with this recommendation. The Zionists did not reject it outright but were in favor of an undivided Palestine. The Arabs opposed the idea and condemned it unanimously. They were in favor of an independent state of Palestine “with protection of legitimate Jewish and other minority rights”.
Beginning with the rise of the Nazi’s some Arab leaders believed that the Germans would prevail, and they allied themselves with the Axis during WWII. This would result in further difficulties for the Palestine’s to form an independent state. The Jews sided with Britain.
With the end of WWII in 1945 the Zionists became more radical about forcing the British to depart Palestine and engaged in terrorist type attacks against British forces and officials. They saw the restriction of Jewish immigration as being pro-Arab and a breaking of the Balfour Declaration.
Early in 1947 the British announced they were no longer interested in governing or finding a solution to the Palestine paradox. They asked the United Nations to make recommendations and insisted that whatever was decided they would depart Palestine by May 15, 1948.
In November of 1947 the United Nations (UN) recommended that Palestine be partitioned into an independent Arab state alongside a Jewish State with a special international Regime for the city of Jerusalem. Zionist leaders accepted the plan. Palestine Arab leaders rejected the plan. Independent Muslin and Arab states who were members of the UN voted against the plan.
The Partition did not part
Almost immediately the region was engulfed in a civil war. The Jewish factions were more organized and prevailed against the Palestine Arab factions even though they were supported by Arab volunteers from outside of the region. The British had departed the region prior to May 15, 1948. On May 14, 1948 David Ben-Gurion, leader of the Jewish people, and the Jewish People’s Council declared the establishment of the State of Israel. The borders of this state were to be as determined by the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947.
Immediately Transjordan, now known as Jordan and Egypt seized the areas known as Gaza and the West Bank, areas which had been territory set aside for the Arabs. Syrian and Iraqi expeditionary forces attacked Israel and were repelled. On June 11, 1948 a truce was accepted by all parties. Israel had conquered the Galilee, Lydda, Ramle, and the Negev regions. It also managed to secure a route to Jerusalem. In an armistice agreed upon in 1949 Israel’s new borders were recognized. This was the 1948 Palestine War.
The 1949 Armistice Agreements left Jordan and Egypt controlling the Palestine portion of the partition that the Arabs had rejected, and that Israel had accepted. While the Egyptians created a Palestine government it was never truly in control of governing the Gaza Strip portion which Egypt controlled. Jordan never recognized any Palestine government and maintained that King Abdullah I of Jordan was “King of Arab Palestine”. During this time over 1,000,000 Arabs from the area claimed by Israel became refugees as they were forced out by war and fear of Jewish reprisals. Over 700,000 refugees from the British Mandate fled to Jordan and were declared to be citizens of Jordan when it annexed the West Bank.
In 1964 the Palestinian Liberation Organization was created by a coalition of Palestine Arabs. The goal of the organization was the total elimination of Israel and the creation of a Palestine state in the former area controlled by the British. The U.S. officially declared them a terrorist organization in 1987.
In June 1967 A coalition of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria bolstered by forces from Saudi Arabia and a number of other Arab countries went to war against Israel in what is known as the Six-Day War. Israel defeated this coalition resoundingly and captured the Sanai Peninsula, Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In a 1978 peace agreement the Israel’s returned the Sanai Peninsula to Egypt but retained control of about two thirds of the Golan Heights. They also retained control of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
In 1987 the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip renamed itself Hamas as it became more nationalist and activist. It was a political and terrorist rival of the PLO. Over the next several years the Israeli’s ignored Hamas in order to avoid being seen as anti-Islamic and because they were mainly preoccupied with attacking other Islamic groups including the PLO or Fatah the political party of the PLO.
In 1988 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) declared Palestine to exist, and Yasser Arafat was elected to be the Palestine president in exile. The legal basis for this claim was the 1947 UN resolution partitioning the British Mandate of Palestine into two states. Members of the UN recognized the declaration. As of 2019 138 members recognize Palestine as an Arab state and 165 members recognize Israel as a state.
In 1993 the Israeli Government agreed to allow limited Palestinian self-rule with the Palestinian Authority, the political branch of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which was a terrorist organization, to be the official government of the Palestine’s. This was agreed to in return for the PLO to cease all terrorist activities against Israel.
In 2005 Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip but continues to occupy the West Bank.
In 2006 Hamas won 74 out of 132 seats of the Palestinian Legislative Council while Fatah only won 45 seats. By this time Israel and most of the rest of the world recognized Hamas as a terrorist organization and did not believe they should be the legitimate government of the Palestine’s. In 2007 fighting broke out in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas. Hamas seized complete control of Gaza. This left Fatah the nominal government of the West Bank.
The issue is further complicated by Israel settlements that have been created in the West Bank over the years since the 1967 Six-Day War. There are 121 settlements with about 300,000 Israelis occupying the West Bank.
Conclusion
The Palestine paradox exists for a myriad of reasons, but it is amply clear that one of those major reasons is that the Arab nations rejected the formation of a Palestine Arab state. When it was apparent that one was going to be created anyway Egypt and Jordan seized the territory and refused to allow for independent Palestinian self-rule.
While I have said little about the Zionist movement it is apparent that the Zionist were terrorists in their early days and secretly spoke of annexing a large portion of the region held by the British in 1920. In fact, there is evidence they wanted to annex Jordan as well. The early leaders of the Zionists felt that the proposed partition of 1947 was too small for Israel to remain a viable state if it were surrounded by enemies. It is highly probable that Arab leaders speaking to the Zionists may have been aware that the Zionist were not bargaining in good faith on all matters.
When it was decided to partition Palestine into two states many people assumed the Jews in the Arab region would move to the Jewish region and that Arabs would move to the Palestine Arab region. Many were surprised at the rapid response of civil war and the complete collapse of Palestinian Arab unity.
Another very complicating factor is the high level of conflict and violence this issue has created. In the Islamic world you can be put to death for practicing Judaism. If you vocalize that Israel should exist, you can be imprisoned or put to death. The atrocities varied terrorist organizations have committed in the name of a free Palestine Arab state are many and abhorrent. Israel is not totally blameless. They have acted with a certain ruthlessness and an acceptance for collateral damage that many in the Western world do not understand.
Over time Egypt, Jordan, and many other Arab or Islamic countries have made separate peace treaties with Israel leaving the Palestine people increasingly more isolated.
And the final though I have is this. To date there is no truly independent Palestine Arab state that exists. And that is why I have called this the Palestine paradox. For over 108 years there have been calls for an independent Arab state of Palestine which have been rejected by Arabs, Islamic nations, and many others. In fact, the only group who seems to have agreed to an independent Palestine Arab state were the Zionists who created Israel.
As I understand it, Palestine's location is strategically important. So, most major powers have always had an incentive to have a controlling stake in the region. The fact that it's has very high religious significance to all Abrahamic religions makes things even more complicated.