The Beginnings of the Modern Arab-Israeli Conflict

     Over the last week or two we've begun to speak about Zionism and the modern state of Israel. This raises a plethora of issues related to the modern state of affairs, many of which we'll discuss in class. One issue that we discussed this week was how and when did the modern conflict begin. Many scholars suggest that it began with World War I. During this time period the British, eager to find allies in their fight against the Ottoman Empire, made promises to Jews and Arabs alike. In the Balfour Declaration, they expressed their support for a Jewish state in Palestine. In the McMahon letters they corresponded with the Arab leader Hussein bin Ali and promised Arab sovereignty in much of the Middle East. In my opinion a close reading of these two documents gives the impression that the British never outright lied to either side, but that doesn't mean the language they used didn't start sowing discord. Perhaps more damning is the Sykes-Picot Agreement the British signed with the French, in which the two European powers divided up the Middle East between themselves. Regardless, during and immediately afterward World War I it seems like there was still a chance for peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, as expressed in the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement between the Jewish and Arab leaderships. So how did we arrive at the situation? Was the clash inevitable due to competing interests? Did European greed compel the British to encourage Jews and Arabs to fight? Was it all one, big unhappy accident? Do the Jews and/or Arabs themselves deserve the blame? How did this whole thing start?