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Background
In 1917 Chaim Weizmann, scientist, statesman, and Zionist, persuaded the
British government to issue a statement favoring the establishment of a
Jewish national home in Palestine. The statement which became known as the
Balfour Declaration, was, in part, payment to the Jews for their support
of the British against the Turks during World War I. After the war, the
League of Nations ratified the declaration and in 1922 appointed Britain
to rule in Palestine.
This course of events caused Jews to be optimistic about the eventual
establishment of a homeland. Their optimism inspired the immigration to
Palestine of Jews from many countries, particularly from Germany when Nazi
persecution of Jews began. The arrival of many Jewish immigrants in the
1930s awakened Arab fears that Palestine would become a national homeland
for Jews. By 1936 guerilla fighting had broken out between the Jews and
Arabs. Unable to maintain peace, Britain issued a white paper in 1939 that
restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. The Jews, feeling betrayed,
bitterly opposed the policy and looked to the United States for
support.
While President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared to be sympathetic to the
Jewish cause, his assurances to the Arabs that the United States would not
intervene without consulting both parties caused public uncertainty about
his position. When President Harry S. Truman took office, he made clear
that his sympathies were with the Jews and accepted the Balfour
Declaration, explaining that it was in keeping with former President
Woodrow Wilson's principle of "self determination." Truman initiated
several studies of the Palestine situation that supported his belief that,
as a result of the Holocaust, Jews were oppressed and also in need of a
homeland. Throughout the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the
Departments of War and State, recognizing the possibility of a Soviet-Arab
connection and the potential Arab restriction on Oil supplies to the
United States, advised against U.S. intervention on behalf of the Jews.
Britain and the United States, in a joint effort to examine the dilemma,
established the "Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry." In April 1946, the
committee submitted recommendations that Palestine not be dominated by
either Arabs or Jews. It concluded that attempts to establish nationhood
or independence would result in civil strife; that a trusteeship agreement
aimed at bringing Jews and Arabs together should be established by theUnited Nations; that full Jewish immigration be allowed into Palestine;
and that two autonomous states be established with a strong central
government to control Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the Negev, the
southernmost section of Palestine.
British, Arab, and Jewish reactions to the recommendations were not
favorable. Jewish terrorism in Palestine antagonized the British, and by
February 1947 Arab-Jewish communications had collapsed. Britain, anxious
to rid itself of the problem, set the United Nations in motion, formally
requesting on April 2, 1947, that the U.N. General Assembly set up the
Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). This committee recommended that
the British mandate over Palestine be ended and that the territory be
partitioned into two states. Jewish reaction was mixed -- some wanted
control of all of Palestine; others realized that partition spelled hope
for their dream of a homeland. The Arabs were not at all agreeable to the
UNSCOP plan. In October the Arab League Council directed the governments
of its member states to move troops to the Palestine border. Meanwhile,
President Truman instructed the State Department to support the U.N. plan,
and, reluctantly, it did so. On November 29, 1947, the partition plan was
passed in the U.N. General Assembly.
UN Resolution 181, defined the outline of a settlement in Palestine
creating both a Jewish and a Palestinian homeland. The 1947 UN Partition
divided the area into three entities: a Jewish state, an Arab state, and
an international zone around Jerusalem.
At midnight on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel
proclaimed the new State of Israel. On that same date the United States,
in the person of President Truman, recognized the provisional Jewish
government as de facto authority of the new Jewish state (de jure
recognition was extended on January 31). The U.S. delegates to the U.N.
and top ranking State Department officials were angered that Truman
released his recognition statement to the press without notifying them
first. On May 15, 1948, the Arab states issued their response statement
and Arab armies invaded Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war began. |
