KOMPAS.com – When tension in Europe fell after the end of World War II, turmoil was heating up in the region Mandate Palestine.
The Zionist group launched continuous attacks on the British in the region.
They demanded the opening of an immigration tap for the Jews, who were still held up in Nazi Germany’s Holocaust camps.
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The ongoing acts of violence in the Palestinian Mandate led to the formation of the Committee Anglo-American Investigation in 1946.
This committee then approved the recommendations of the United States (US), regarding the immediate transfer of 100,000 Jewish refugees in Europe to Palestine, and recommended that there be no Arab or Jewish state in Palestine.
However, the implementation of this recommendation is not as easy as imagined.
The British Labor Party was outraged that US President Harry S Truman supported the immigration of 100,000 Jewish refugees, but rejected the findings of other committees.
These conditions led Britain to announce its intention to hand over the Palestinian Mandate to the UN.
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Division of territory
The UN then formed the Special Committee for Palestine (UNSCOP) on May 15, 1947. Consisting of 11 countries, this committee conducted meetings and visits to Palestine to carry out investigations.
On August 31, 1947, the UNSCOP report recommended to the UN General Assembly a two-year, transitional, partitioning scheme for Palestinian territories starting on 1 September 1947.
The division consists of the independent Arab state (11,000 square km), the Jewish state (15,000 square km). Meanwhile the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem will be under UN control.
This proposal did not satisfy both the Jewish and Arab groups.
The Jews were disappointed at the loss of Jerusalem. However, moderate Jewish groups accepted this offer and only radical Jewish groups refused.
Meanwhile, Arab groups fear that this division will interfere with the rights of the Arab majority in Palestine.
At meetings in Cairo, Egypt, in November and December 1947, the Arab League passed resolutions that approved a military solution to end this problem.
In reality, a number of Arab countries have their own agendas.
Jordan wants control of the West Bank, while Syria wants northern Palestine, including territory earmarked for Jews and Arabs.
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Then what about England? Despite accepting this division proposal, England was reluctant to implement it in the field because it was clear that the solution was not accepted by both parties.
However, Britain is also reluctant to rule Palestine with the United Nations in a transitional period.
In September 1947, the British announced their rule in the Mandate of Palestine would end on 14 May 1948 at midnight.
In response to this British statement, US President Harry Truman submitted a new proposal canceling plans for the division of Palestine.
In the proposal, the US proposed that the United Nations directly rule Palestine. The inevitable chaos resulted in casualties falling everywhere.
By the end of March 1948, at least 2,000 people had died and 4,000 people were injured as a result of various riots.
On May 14, 1948, or the day before the end of the British Mandate in Palestine, the Chairman of the Yishuv (Jewish Community in Palestine), David Ben Gurion, declared the establishment of the state of Israel in front of 250 invited people at the Tel Aviv Museum.
In that declaration, Ben Gurion made absolutely no mention of the boundaries of the newly established state of Israel.
A number of records say, the founders of Israel agreed not to mention the country’s borders, because Arab countries around Israel would definitely not agree to it.
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Arab-Israeli War (I)
Just a day after David Ben Gurion et al declared the establishment of the state of Israel, declarations of war came from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
This declaration of war was followed by the invasion of Jewish territory by Arab forces. On May 15, 1948, the first Arab-Israeli war broke out.
A total of 700 Lebanese, 1,876 Syrians, 4,000 Iraqis and 2,800 Egyptians invaded Palestine.
Meanwhile, about 4,500 Transjordan troops led by 38 British officers who withdrew from their units invaded Jerusalem.
Initially Arab forces with more troops and better armaments easily controlled the territories occupied by the Jews.
Syrian, Lebanese, Jordanian and Iraqi forces invaded Galilee, and Haifa. Meanwhile in the south the Egyptian forces advanced to reach Tel Aviv.
However, the coordination between the Arab forces was not very good. In the final moments, Lebanon withdrew its troops.
To deal with the invasion of this Arab coalition, Israel on May 26, 1948 formed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) whose members were a fusion of various militias such as Haganah, Palmach, Irgun, and Lehi.
In its development, the IDF actually succeeded in deploying more troops than the Arab coalition forces.
In early 1949, Israel had 115,000 troops while the Arab coalition had only about 55,000.
After fighting for nine months, finally in 1949, a truce was reached between Israel and Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
As a result of this war, Israel managed to control 78 percent of the Palestinian Mandate area. Meanwhile Egypt controls the Gaza Strip.
Jordan gained the West Bank and took control of East Jerusalem. While Israel ruled West Jerusalem.
In 1950, the West Bank officially became the territory of Jordan.
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As a result of the Arab-Israeli War I, hundreds of thousands of people Palestinian refugees scattered in various locations.
At least 750,000 Palestinians who fled from the territory that is part of Israel are not allowed to return to Israeli territory and to the territory of other Arab countries.
They are then referred to as Palestinian refugees.
After the 1948 war, Palestinian refugees lived in refugee camps in the West Bank (Jordan), the Gaza Strip (Egypt), and Syria.
If they try to re-enter Israel’s territory, if caught according to the mandate of international law they will be deported to their place of origin.
But in his letter to the United Nations on August 2, 1949, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion refused to return the Palestinian refugees to Israeli territory.
The Israeli government says the solution for Palestinian refugees is to resettle in another country, and not return them to Israel.
This refusal made the resistance of the Palestinians against Israel increase.
Egypt, which initially did not interfere, eventually became active in training and arming Palestinian volunteers from the Gaza Strip called Fedayeen.
This group then actively carried out various attacks on Israeli territory.
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In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was established. The goal of the PLO is to liberate Palestine by armed struggle.
The PLO’s goal was to establish a Palestinian state in accordance with the boundaries of the Palestinian Mandate before the 1948 war.
In addition, the PLO also aims at eliminating Zionism from Palestine and wants to determine the fate of that country for itself.
At the same time, Egypt continues to fund and train Palestinian volunteers. In addition, Egypt regularly increases its troop levels in the Sinai Desert near the border with Israel.
Not only Egypt, a number of Arab countries such as Jordan and Syria, have also shown threatening signs.
As a result, Israel decided to first invade Egypt on June 5, 1967. A six -day war broke out that would also change the face of Palestine. (Continued)
Source: Kompas.com (Author: Ervan Hardoko | Editor: Ervan Hardoko)
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