Before the war in 1948, did Jews and Arabs live peacefully in the Palestine region?

Question

It seems that the invasion of Palestine by the Jews from Europe after WW2 into Israel caused a lot of violence and hatred between neighbouring arabs and local jews that was, if not absent, at least kept under control before the 1948 war. Naturally, the Jews always wanted to get their state, lost to Egypt hundreds of years before, and had the weapons and manpower (plus US backing) to do it in 1948. But did they imagine the bloodshed it would cause until now? And what exactly did they think would happen to the displaced arabs (now known as the stateless "Palestinians") if violence were constantly used against them? Violence breeds violence, which is something the jews in Israel seem to have forgotten from the Holocaust.

Answer 1

You have some distorted history in answer to this question so far. This is the truth.
Until the end of WW1 Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish).
Turkey was an ally of Germany during WW1 and the British who controlled Egypt at the time to protect the Suez Canal were fighting the Turks from 1914 to 1918.
The war was very expensive and by 1916 the British government was in severe financial trouble and needed to raise loans on the world money market which was largely controlled by jews.
In the 19th century some European jews had formed a movement called Zionism which sought to establish a homeland for the jews in Palestine to escape from christian persecution in Europe. These people had some influential members in the British Government who they used to extract a promise from the British Foreign Secretary (Lord Balfour) that when Britain had won the war they would establish such a homeland for the jews, the condition being that it should not affect the religious of civil rights of the arabs. It was not to be a separate state.
This was known as the Balfour Declaration and was simply the promise of one man, did not have any legal status and has been a source of dissent ever since
When Britain beat the Turks in 1918 the Middle East was divided up into spheres of interest between Britain and France by the newly formed League of Nations.
Britain got the mandate to administer Palestine.
Jews were allowed in on a strict annual quota during the 1920s and 30s but their behaviour towards the arabs caused civil unrest and the British suppressed arab riots on several occasions.
The attitude of the British was, at this stage, more favourable to the jews than the arabs because there were usually some jews in the British government.
Hitlers persecution of the jews in the 1930s made the situation worse and increased pressure from the jews to get to Palestine. Many jews felt frustrated that the quotas were still applied and started to react violently towards the British.
The first terrorist attack was the assassination of Lord Moyne , the British Minister, in Cairo in 1940.
During WW2 the jews built up their military expertise and arms supplies by some of them joining the British Army against the Germans. The last thing they wanted was a German victory.
After WW2 they were determined to get their own state and formed terrorist gangs to carry out atrocities against the British and the christian and muslim Palestinians.
At this time the British were trying to keep out large numbers of illegal jewish immigrants from Europe who were trying to exceed the quotas. Some of these got through and joined the terrorists.
The most notorious terrorist outrage was the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1947 which claimed the lives of over 90 civilians.
Britain was financially and militarily exhausted after the war and wanted to get rid of this problem.
To stop the bloodshed the newly formed UN decided to partition Palestine into two parts, one for jews and one for arabs. The arabs were not consulted on this and did not agree.
In 1948 the British mandate came to an end and they pulled out their armed forces. Seven days before the end of the mandate the jews struck and seized as much arab land as they could, massacring any arabs who tried to stay. The arabs who fled have been in refugee camps ever since.
The jews declared the State of Israel over their newly aquired territory and have been there ever since despite attempts by neighbouring states to remove them . Their survival is mainly due to financial and military backing from the USA
Many of the terrorists became government ministers.

Answer 2

Well you missed one BIG point. When the ottoman empire fell a brand new country was created. The powers that were took over 75% of what had been Palestine, kicked the Jews out and named it Trans Jordan. To bad they didn't name it New Palestine and create Israel with what was left. As it is the Jews ended up getting about 13% of what was Palestine and most Arabs don't even want them to have that!

Answer 3

I hate to lay this off on the British, but that is where this conflict belongs. In the late 1800's, Jews in Russia was victims of pogroms, systematics beatings and killings which were encouraged by the government. Eastern Europe refused to take many, so there weren't many places for the Jews to go in any large numbers.

In the 1890's, Theodore Herzl came up with the idea for Jews to travel to the Holy Land. Baron de Rothschild financed the travel and purchasing of the land. The Jews were sold land by the Arabs. Also remember this, there was no country in that area as we know countries today. It was more like fiefdoms and warlords. The Jews bought land, usually swampland, and would set up a kibbutz - a type of collective farm. It usually took about three years to turn a swamp into a viable property. The Arabs enjoyed their Jewish neighbors, for the Jews brought hospitals with better health care, schools for Jews and Arabs, and small industry.

The British controlled most of the Middle East then, not so much as colonizers, but overlords. When World War I broke out in 1914, there were many Jews living in the area known as Palestine. The British were afraid the Arabs would join the Germans. So as a buffer, they asked the Jews to join with them to protect the Middle East. The Jews gave them their condition, to agree to give them a homeland in the Middle East. The Balfour declaration was agreed to between the Jews and the British.

When the war ended, the League of Nations was begun. Because the British controlled the Middle East, the League decided they should continue overseeing it until countries could be carved out of the region. The British knew that once everything was settled, they would have to leave. They didn't want to go. So they would have to foment trouble to make sure they had a reason to stay.

Now if you don't believe this part, here is some evidence. The British were in North America and were tossed out of all but Canada. The British were in India and caused trouble between India and Pakistan, which is still going on. They had trouble in South Africa during the Boer Wars. They had problems in Ireland. They had problems in Scotland. You get my drift?

So in the Middle East, where there was peace, they caused war. They told the Arabs that the Jews were "stealing" their land, by buying it way below market price. They told them to look at the little paradises the Jews were building.

So, up to World War I, there was peace in the Middle East between the Arabs and the Jews. As a matter of fact, most fighting in the Middle East prior to then was Arab versus Arab. Lawrence of Arabia was the one who started to bring the Arabs together.

Answer 4

Live Peacefully

Answer 5

Before that the Jewish population in Hebron was massacred and Jews across the middleast were accused of kidnapping Christian children and drinking there blood. So no. By the way the Jews never got there land back in Hebron.

Answer 6

It only seems that way to those who ignore history and view events through what they think things were like rather than bothering to do the research and finding out the truth.

The reality is that Jews were emigrating to what was to become the state of Israel long before WWII. Since the 19th century, to be exact.
And there was a lot of violence and hatred before WWII as well.

Basically everything else you have said has nothing to do with what actually happened so instead of bothering to point out all the flaws, I'll just ask you to read a history book.

Answer 7

Jews and Arabs have been fighting since before Jesus was born, Just look at the exploits of King Richard (the Lion Heart)

Answer 8

Start with the Hebron Massacre of 1929 ...
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_mandate_riots_1929.php

The Mufti of Jerusalem meets with Hitler:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa5YoWM1fHE