Balfour Declaration Created on November 2, 1917, it was a letter from Britains Foreign Secretary

Arthur James Balfour to Lord Baron Rothschild (a member of one of the most influential and wealthy
Jewish families in history) in which Balfour declared his support for the establishment of a Jewish national
home in the area of what is now known as Palestine. To the Jewish community, this declaration
cemented Great Britains support for a Jewish homeland. The declaration further stated that the
document itself was a sign of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations.
Haj Amin al-Husayni Was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader (Mufti) of Jerusalem under
the authority of the British Mandate in Palestine from 1921 to 1937. He strongly opposed Zionism and he
actively tried to secure the independence of Palestine as an Arab state. His main political agendas were:
an establishment of a pan-Arab state, opposition to further immigration of Jews to Palestine and Jewish
national aspirations in Palestine, and promotion of himself as a pan-Arab and Muslim religious leader. He
was exiled between 1937 and 1945 for the part he played in the Arab rebellion in 1936. During that
period, he sought an alliance with the Axis Powers, namely Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Axis
would support all of his goals stated above, and in return al-Husayni would broadcast pro-Axis, antiBritish and anti-Jewish propaganda via radio to the Arab world. This resulted in violence against Jews
and the British authorities in the Middle East. When the Nazi regime collapsed in 1945, al-Husayni was
taken into French custody but later escaped to Egypt in 1946. For the remainder of his life, he continued
to support Palestinian nationalism and disseminate anti-Zionist, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israeli propaganda
until his death in Beirut, Lebanon, in July 1974.
David Ben Gurion Dubbed Israelis Founding Father. Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel
and seen by many as the States main founder. Following the publication of the Balfour Declaration, he
enlisted as a member of the Jewish Legion, which was created as a unit in the British Army by Zionist
leader Vladimir Jabotinsky. In 1920, Ben-Gurion founded the Histadrut, a confederation of Jewish workers
in Palestine. Ten years later, in 1930, Ben-Gurion united the various labor factions and founded the
Mapai (Israeli Workers Party). In 1935, he was elected chairman of the Zionist Executive, the highest
directing body of world Zionism, and elected head of the Jewish Agency movements executive branch. In
1939, following Britains shift in Middle East policy (sympathy towards Arabs instead of Jews), he called
upon the Jewish community to rise against England. On May 14, 1948, he officially proclaimed the
establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
Ben-Gurion then led Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and united the various Jewish militias into the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Following the war, Ben-Gurion became Israelis first Prime Minister, and
during that time he helped develop the country by building state institutions and presiding over various
national projects. He also oversaw the immigration of vast numbers of Jews from around the world. The
centerpiece of his foreign policy was improving relationships with the West Germans, which led to the
Reparations Agreement that saw to it that West Germany compensated for the Holocaust with large sums
of money. Briefly in 1954, he served as Minister of Defense before returning to his position as Prime
Minister in 1955. Under his leadership, Israel responded aggressively to the various Arab guerrilla attacks
and in 1956, invaded Egypt along with British and French forces after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.
In 1963, he stepped down from political office.
King Abdullah King of Jordan. During WWI, he allied himself with Britain (even though he sat in the
Ottoman legislature from 1909 to 1914). Between 1916 and 1918, he worked closely with the British
guerrilla leader T. E. Lawrence, and he played a key role in architecting and planning the Great Arab
Revolt against the Ottomans. He ruled Transjordan, which later became Jordan, from 1921 to 1951. He
dreamed for a greater Syria, which comprised of borders with Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine
under a Hashemite dynasty. The leaders of other Arab countries distrusted him and saw him both as a
threat to the independence of their countries and also suspected him of being in cahoots with the enemy.
In 1937, Abdullah supported the Peel Commission, which proposed that Palestine be split up into a small
Jewish State (20% of the British Mandate for Palestine), and the remaining land would be annexed into
Transjordan. The Jews reluctantly accepted the Peel Commission while the Arabs did not, leading to it
not being adopted. In 1947, Abdullah was the sole Arab leader supporting the UN-supported partition plan
for Palestine, in which it would divide Palestine into one Jewish and one Arab state. At the start of the
1948 Arab-Israeli war, in an effort to restore his prestige in the Arab world, he joined the Palestinian
Arabs against the newly created State of Israel. He was especially motivated by the Arabs goal to

conquer Jerusalem, which he viewed as compensation for the loss of the guardianship of Mecca
(traditionally guarded by the Hashemites, it was seized by the Hejaz in 1925). Although there was mutual
distrust between King Abdullah and the other Arab leaders, he had a substantial role in the war. His
forces clashed with the Yishuv forces around Jerusalem, and according to one source it was his personal
intervention that made it possible for the Arab Legion to enter the Old City (Jerusalem). After conquering
the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), King Abdullah tried to suppress any trace of a Palestinian
Arab national identity. He annexed the conquered Palestinian territory, and granted the Palestinian Arab
residents in Jordan Jordanian citizenship. In 1949, he engaged in secret peace talks with Israel, which
provoked strong reactions from other Arab States upon this discovery. Abdullah agreed to discontinue the
peace talks in exchange for Arab acceptance of the West Banks annexation into Jordan. On July 20,
1951, while visiting a mosque in Jerusalem, Abdullah was shot dead by a Palestinian from the Husseini
clan.
Jewish Agency Founded in Jaffa in 1908 as the Palestine Office, it was initially the operational branch
of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) in Ottoman-controlled Palestine. Its main tasks were to represent
the Jews of Palestine in dealings with the Turkish sultan and other foreign dignitaries, to aid Jewish
immigration, and to buy land for Jews to settle. It was established under Theodore Herzls vision for a
solution to the issue of growing anti-Semitism around the world (the Jewish question). Following the
Balfour Declaration in 1917, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the British Zionist Federation, formed the
Zionist Commission in March 1918 to go to Palestine to advise the British government there. After
reaching Palestine, the Commission actively promoted Zionist objectives there. Article 4 of the Palestine
Mandate, which was approved by the League of Nations in 1922, recognized the Jewish Agency as a
public body. In 1929, the organization was officially inaugurated as The Jewish Agency for Palestine by
th
the 16 Zionist Congress. Between the years 1934-1948, The Jewish Agency facilitated immigration
beyond British quotas. Overall, in these years, The Agency along with other organizations helped over
150,000 people entire Palestine, organizing over a hundred voyages on a similar number of ships. This
entire operation helped unify the long-standing Jewish community in Palestine, as well as the new Jewish
refugees from Europe. In 1933, the Jewish Agency negotiated a Haavara (Transfer) Agreement with Nazi
Germany, in which approximately 50,000 German Jews were allowed to immigrate to Palestine and retain
some of their assets as German export goods. When WWII broke out, the Jewish Agency established a
committee to aid European Jewry by finding them entry permits to Palestine, sending them food, and
maintaining contact. They also helped recruit 40,000 members of the Palestinian Jewish community
(which was about 8% of the Jewish population of Palestine) to be trained in the British military and aid the
Allies against the Nazis. After WWII ended, the Agency continued to aid illegal immigration into Palestine.
In 1946, frustrated with the Britishs continued anti-Zionist stance, the Agency helped put together an
agreement signed by the Haganah, the Irgun, and the Lehi to form a United Resistance Movement
against the British, which led to a British raid of the Agencys headquarters (which was part of their effort
to quash Jewish resistance in Palestine). Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the
Agency focused its attention to facilitating economic development and absorbing immigrants. Between
1948 and 1952, the Jewish Agency helped about 700,000 immigrants settle into life in Israel. It
established schools to teach Hebrew and provided food, housing, and vocational training. In 1952, the
Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency for Israel Status Law was passed by the Knesset, stating that the
WZO and Jewish Agency would continue to supervise Aliyah, absorption, and settlement of Jews, while
the state would handle everything else (security, education, and employment).
Haganah Was a Jewish paramilitary organization from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The Haganah was formed following the 1920 Arab riots and 1921 Jaffa
riots, when the Jewish leadership in Palestine believed that the British had no desire to confront the local
Arab gangs that often attacked Palestinian Jews. In addition to guarding Jewish communities and
protecting Jewish farms, the Haganah was to warn the residents of and repel attacks by Palestinian
Arabs. From 1920-1929, the Haganah lacked a strong central authority or coordination, and units were
localized and poorly armed, as they consisted mainly of Jewish farmers who took turns as guards. It
wasnt until the 1929 Palestine riots that the Haganah got their shit together. It grew to encompass nearly
all the youth and adults in the Jewish settlements, as well as thousands of members from the cities. It
also acquired foreign arms and began to develop workshops to create hand grenades and simple military
equipment, transforming from an untrained militia to a capable underground army. In 1931, many

Haganah fighters became increasing intolerant of the restraint that the increasingly controlling Jewish
political leaders imposed on the militia. The Jewish leaders imposed a policy of solely defense, while
many of the Haganah believed that a best defense is a good offense. Therefore, in 1931, the more
militant elements of the Haganah split off to form the Irgun. During the 1936-1939 Arab revolt in Palestine,
the Haganah actively worked to protect British interests, even though the British administration did not
officially recognize the Haganah. After the British issued the 1939 White Paper, which severly restricted
Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Haganah helped organize illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine,
bring about 100,000 Jews into the city. In 1944, after the assassination of Lord Moyne, the Haganah
worked with the British to kidnap, interrogate, and in some cases deport Irgun members (The Saison
hunting season). Many of the Jewish youth in the Haganah felt discouraged by these actions against their
own people, and The Saison eventually ended due to their increased opposition to the policy. In 1945, the
Haganah, Irgun and the Lehi formed the Jewish Resistance Movement, all unified with the objective to
drive the British out of Palestine and to create a Jewish state. After WWII, the Haganah carried out antiBritish operations in Palestine, such as bombing the countrys railroad network and sabotaging radar
installations on the bases of British Palestine police, while continuing to organize illegal immigration. On
May 28, 1948, the provisional government of Israel created the IDF, which succeeded the Haganah. It
also outlawed the maintenance of any other armed force. Although the disbandment of the Haganah was
faced with several conflicts between Ben-Gurion and the Haganah leadership, it was done nonetheless.
Irgun Also called Etzel. The Irgun was a Zionist paramilitary group that broke off from the Haganah. It
was active in the years from 1931-1948. It comprised mostly of ordinary people, who held regular jobs,
and had only a few dozen full-time workers. The Irgun disagreed with the policy of the Yishuv and with
the WZO, both about strategy and basic ideology as well as PR and military tactics, such as the use of
armed forces to accomplish Zionist agendas, operations against the Arabs during the riots, and relations
with the British mandatory government. Because of these differences of opinion, the Irgun tended to
ignore decisions made by Zionist leadership and the Yishuvs institutions, which in turn caused the
elected bodies not to recognize the organization. In order to gain public support, the Irgun put out
numerous advertisements, and underground newspaper, and ran the first independent Hebrew radio
station. On April 19, 1936, the Great Arab Revolt broke out, with the aim of ending Jewish immigration to
Palestine. Arab rioters ambushed main roads and bombed roads and settlements as well as property and
agriculture vandalism. At this time, the Irgun tended to retaliate more often than the Haganah, and
sometimes Irgun members patrolled areas beyond their positions in order to encounter attackers ahead of
time. In 1937, the belief that the Peel Commission would recommend a partition of Mandatory Palestine
(the land west of the Jordan River), which would create a Jewish state on part of the land, was
strengthened and with it the view on the policy of restraint. Thus, there was no room for defense
institutions in the future of the Jewish state. The leadership committee of the Irgun supported a merger
with the Haganah, while David Raziel and Avraham Stern come out publically in support of the continues
existence of the Irgun. In April 1937, a referendum was held regarding its continued independent
existence, leading to its split. Approximately half of the Irguns membership, including the senior
command staff, regional committee members, along with most of the Irguns weapons, returned to the
Haganah (which was under the Jewish Agencys leadership). They claimed that they no longer saw
significant ideological differences between the movements. The ones who remained in the Irgun were
primarily young activists. While the Irgun members continued to defend settlements, they also started
attacking Arab villages, ending the policy of restraint. Their goal was to instill fear in the Arabs, violently
encouraging them to wish for peace and quiet. The first attacks began around April 1936, and by the end
of WWII, more than 250 Arabs had been killed. The Irgun faced a second split on July 17, 1940. As a
result, a new organization, the Lehi, was formed. The primary difference between these two groups was
the Lehis intention to fight the British in Palestine, regardless of their war against Germany. The Lehi also
supported a population exchange with local Arabs, while the Irgun did not. The Irgun only wished to expel
the British from the area, not totally ruling out the possibility of future diplomatic ties with Britain, while the
Lehi declared total war against imperialism and the British Empire. The Lehi were even more radical than
the Irgun, as they carried their weapons with them at all times and concentrated their attacks on people
and assassinating political leaders, military, and police. In the period after the split, the Irgun and the
Jewish Agency saw more cooperation, however after Ben-Gurion demanded that the Irgun accept the
Agencys command, any further cooperation was thwarted. In late 1943, after Menachem Begin accepted
the position as commander of the Irgun, the organizations actions became more prominent. The Irgun

began a militant operation against the symbols of government, in an attempt to harm the regimes
operation as well as its reputation. On February 1, 1944, the Irgun put up posters all around the country
proclaiming a revolt against the British mandatory government, called The Revolt. The first attack took
place on February 12, 1944 at the government immigration offices, as a symbol of protest of the
immigration laws. On February 27, 1944, they bombed income tax offices. On March 23, 1944, the Irgun
attacked and blew up part of the national headquarters building of the British police in the Russian
Compound in Jerusalem. These attacks were all condemned by the Yishuv and the Jewish Agency, who
saw them as dangerous provocations. After Lord Moynes assassination in November 1944, the Haganah
began hunting the Irgun, and their activities came to a halt for a short period of time. In May 1945, the
Irgun recuperated and renewed its cooperation with the Lehi. Towards the end of July 1945, when the
Labour party was elected to power in Britain, the British continued to set policies unfavorable to the
Jewish in Palestine. This led to the formation of the Jewish Resistance Movement, which consolidated the
efforts of the Haganah, Irgun, and Lehi. As these underground movements increased, so did tensions
with the British. In 1946, British relations with the Yishuv worsened. Once the documents tying the Jewish
Agency to the Jewish Resistance Movement were discovered, the Irgun was asked to speed up plans for
the King David Hotel bombing of July 22, in order to destroy the documents tying the two organizations.
The Sergeants affair in 1947, condemned both by Britain and by Jewish leaders in Palestine, was a major
influence on the British decision to terminate the Mandate and leave Palestine. During the 1948 ArabIsraeli conflict, the Irgun grew rapidly and they began openly recruiting members. One of their goals
during the war was to move the fighting from Jewish populated areas to Arab populated areas. The
Irguns last contribution before it integrated with the IDF was the conquest of Jaffa, which was part of the
proposed Arab State in accordance with the UN Partition Plan. The operation in Jaffa was also the
largest, and was one of the greatest victories for the Irgun.
Ayans Palestinian Arab Aayan (Notables) were a group of urban elites at the apex of the Palestinian
socio-economic pyramid where the combination of economic and political power dominated Palestinian
Arab politics throughout the British mandate period. The dominance of the Aayan had been encouraged
and utilized during the Ottoman period and later, by the British during the Mandate period, to act as
intermediaries between the authority and the people to administer the local affairs of Palestine. The
Aayans lack of identification with the Palestinian Arab population allowed them to rise as leaders but not
as representatives of the Palestinian Arab community. The views of the Aayan and their allies largely
shaped the divergent political stances of Palestinian Arabs at the time.
Arab Revolt 1936-39
1939 White Paper A policy paper issued by the British government under Neville Chamberlain in which
the idea of partitioning Palestine was abandoned. The paper also provided an alternative to partition,
stating the creation of an independent Palestine, which was to be governed by Palestinian Arabs and
Jews in proportion to their numbers in the population by 1939. Furthermore, it set a limit of 75,000 Jewish
immigrants for the 5-year period of 1940-1944. After 1944, further immigration of Jews to Palestine would
depend on permission of the Arab majority. The paper also restricted the rights of Jews to buy land from
Arabs. Some supporters of the UK National Government opposed this policy, saying that it contradicted
the Balfour Declaration. The provisions of the White Paper were also opposed by both the Jews and
Arabs in Palestine. The Zionists responded by organizing illegal migration, which the British countered by
blockading Palestine. The Arab Higher Committee argued that the independence of a future Palestine
Government was unrealistic, as the Jews could prevent its functioning by withholding participation. In any
case, the real authority would still be in the hands of British officials. Hajj Amin al-Husayni shocked the
other members of the Arab Higher Committee when he turned down the White Paper. According to one
source, he turned it down simply because it did not place him at the helm of the future Palestinian State.
However, in 1940, the leader of the Palestinian Arab delegates to the London Conference, Jamal alHusseini and Musa al-Alami, agreed to the terms of the White Paper and both signed a copy of it in the
presence of the Prime Minister of Iraq. On July 13, 1939, the authorities announced the suspension of all
Jewish immigration into Palestine until March 1940. At the end of WWII, the British Labour Party
conference voted to rescind the White Paper and establish a Jewish state in Palestine, however, the
Labour Foreign Minister persisted with the policy, thus it remained in effect until the British departed
Palestine in May 1948.

Biltmore Program It demanded that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth, which was
a fundamental departure from Zionist policy. The Biltmore Conference was held in NYC at the Biltmore
Hotel from May 6 to May 11, 1942 with 600 delegates and Zionist leaders from 18 countries.
SS Exodus Exodus 1947 was a ship that carried Jewish emigrants from France to British Mandatory
Palestine on July 11, 1947. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivors who had no legal immigration
certificates for Palestine. As a result, the British Royal Navy seized the ship and deported all its
passengers back to Europe.
UN General Assembly Resolution 181 Resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in 1947 that
called for the partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with the city of Jerusalem as a separate
entity to be governed by a special international regime. The resolution, which the Jewish community in
Palestine considered as a legal basis for the establishment of Israel, was rejected by the Arab
community. It was succeeded almost immediately by violence.
UN General Assembly Resolution 194 Was adopted on December 11, 1948 near the end of the 1948
Arab-Israeli War. The Resolution defined principles for reaching a final settlement and returning
Palestinian refugees to their homes. It also called for an establishment of a UN Conciliation Commission
to facilitate peace between Israel and Arab states. It also included the right of return of Palestinian
refugees (Article 11).
Plan D Also known as Plan Dalet, it was a plan worked out by the Haganah in Mandatory Palestine in
March 1948. The plan was a set of guidelines with the purpose of taking control of the territory of the
Jewish state and to defend its borders and people, in expectation of an invasion by Arab armies. Plan D
called for the conquest of Arab towns and villages inside and along the borders of the area allocated to
the proposed Jewish State (according to the UN Partition Plan). If the Arabs resisted, the population of
the conquered villages was to be expelled outside the borders of the Jewish state. If they did not resist,
the residents could stay put under military rule.
al Nakba (catastrophe) Also known as the 1948 Palestinian exodus, which was the relocation of
Palestinian Arabs during the 1947-1948 Civil War in Palestine and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During this
time, approximately 711,000 to 726,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes.
UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency; It is a relief and human development agency that
was created in December 1949 and originally intended to provide jobs on public works projects and direct
relief for 652,000 Arabs who fled or were expelled from Israel during the fighting that followed the end of
the British mandate over Palestine. UNRWA was established following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War by the
UN General Assembly under Resolution 302.
Deir Yassin massacre This took place on April 9, 1948 when around 120 fighters from the Irgun
attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, a Palestinian Arab village of roughly 600 people. The assault
occurred as a Jewish militia sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem by Palestinian forces during the
civil war that preceded the end of British rule in Palestine. The deaths of this massacre became a pivotal
event in the Arab-Israeli conflict. News of these killings sparked terror within the Palestinian community
and encouraged them to flee from their towns and villages in the face of Jewish advances. It also
strengthened the resolve of Arab governments to intervene.
Etzion Bloc massacre Protocols of the Elders of Zion This was an anti-Semitic hoax describing a Jewish plan for global
domination. It was published in Russia in 1903 and later distributed throughout the US in the 1920s.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis publicized the text as though it were valid, even though they knew it was a fake.
Hitler used the Protocols as his primary justification for initiating the Holocaust, saying it was his warrant
for genocide.
Gamal Abdel Nasser

Law of Return Is Israeli legislation, passed on July 5, 1950, that gave Jews the right to return and the
right to live in Israel to gain citizenship. The Law of Return was enacted by the Knesset, Israels
Parliament.
Bedouin The Bedouin are a predominantly desert-dwelling Arabian ethnic group. In 1954, all of the
Israeli Bedouin were granted Israeli citizenship. A great number of the Bedouin served in the IDF.
Mizrachim Refers to Jews descended from local Jewish communities of the Middle East, as opposed to
those from Europe, Africa, and other places. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, most Mizrahi Jews
were either expelled by their Arab rulers or chose to leave and immigrated to Israel.
Ashkenazim Jews that descended from Central and Eastern Europe. A majority of the Askenazi Jews
were killed in the Holocaust.
Druze Arabs
Mapai
Eilat
fedayeen Palestinian fedayeen were militants, or guerrillas, who made efforts to infiltrate territory in
Israel. They hit targets in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Members of the fedayeen largely
consisted of refugees living in the Gaza Strip, which was controlled by Egypt, and the West Bank, which
was controlled by Jordan. Members also included refugees from Lebanon and Syria. During the 1940s, a
group of civilians volunteered to fight the British control of the Egyptian land around the Suez Canal. The
British had placed military bases along the coast of the Suez Canal under the claim of protection, but the
Egyptians viewed it as an invasion against their sovereign power over their own country. While the
Egyptian government didnt refuse the action, groups of fedayeen were organized to kill British soldiers
everywhere in Egypt, including the military bases. The fedayeen were viewed with high regards by the
Egyptian population.
Moshe Dayan At the tender age of 14, Moshe Dayan joined the newly formed Haganah. In 1947, he
was appointed to the Haganah General Staff working on Arab affairs, recruiting agents to gain information
about irregular Arab forces in Palestine. During the Six Day War, he personally oversaw the capture of
East Jerusalem.
Vladimir Jabotinsky Jabotinsky was a Zionist leader, journalist, orator, and founder of the Zionist
Revisionist movement, which played an important role in the establishment of the State of Israel. By
1903, Jabotinsky began to argue for the restoration and creation of a Jewish national state in Palestine.
During WWI, he convinced the British government to allow Jewish refugees from the Ottoman Empire to
participate in the military, establishing the Jewish Legion. In 1920, he organized and led the Haganah
against the Arabs in Palestine.
1930 White Paper Also known as the Passfield White Paper, after colonial secretary Lord Passfield, it
was issued on October 22, 1930 as a formal statement of British policy in Palestine, which previously had
been set by the Churchill White Paper of 1922. This new statement limited official Jewish immigration to a
much greater degree. The papers tone was decidedly anti-Zionist since it criticized several Zionist
institutions, including the Histadrut and the Jewish Agency, both of which promoted Jewish employment
of only Jewish labor. The paper stated that this Zionist policy was damaging to the economic
development of the Arab population. Zionists claimed this white paper backtracked from the commitments
that Britain had previously stated in the Balfour Declaration. However, the White Paper does state that the
development of a Jewish National Home in Palestine in a consideration that would enjoy continued
support. The paper stated that the British intended to fulfill their mandate obligations to both Arabs and
Jews, and they would resolve any conflicts that might surface as a result of their respective needs. Zionist
organizations worldwide vigorously campaigned against the document.