On Israel's Independence Day, by guest author Brigitte B. Nussbächer
After the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expulsion of the Jews, the idea of returning to Israel and establishing their own independent state remained a dream for centuries. But the Jews did not give up hope. Two thousand years later, they witnessed the seed of that hope sprout at the most unlikely of times: after six million of them had been annihilated. Could this dream withstand the hostile reality?
From destruction to hope
August, 70 AD: The Jewish Temple, the center of ancient Judaism, is destroyed by the Romans. The ritual objects are taken to Rome in a triumphal procession. Jews are forbidden by law from approaching Jerusalem. They are expelled from their homeland. Two thousand years of foreign rule, two thousand years of exile, persecution, and pogroms follow—but also two thousand years of hope against all odds.
In 1897, amidst growing global anti-Semitism, one man dared to give form to this hope and dream. Theodor Herzl, a Jewish journalist, founded the World Zionist Organization in Basel. Its goal: Jewish settlement in the – then Ottoman – province of Palestine and the creation of their own state.
At the time, Herzl wrote in his diary: “In Basel I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say that aloud today, I would be met with universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will understand.” He was right!
Return to Zion
The seed of this idea begins to germinate. In the following years (1882–1927), several waves of immigration ("Alijot") to Israel follow. Most of the immigrants of this time come from Eastern Europe and are fleeing the pogroms in the Russian Empire and Poland.
The Zionists received support for their dream from Great Britain. In 1917, when the troops of the Empire conquered the territory of Palestine, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, promised the Jews "support in establishing a national home for the Jewish people" in what was then Palestine. The so-called "Balfour Declaration" was incorporated into the Allied peace treaty with Turkey in 1920 and into the League of Nations mandate for Palestine in 1922.
After the war, France and Great Britain divided the territory between themselves. The British became the new rulers of Palestine. They granted 78 percent of the territory to Arabs. The Emirate of Transjordan was established. Jews were only permitted to settle west of the Jordan River.
Nevertheless, Jewish immigration is increasing. The settlers work in agricultural and craft communities. They buy uncultivated land from the Arabs, paying high prices for it, and cultivate the barren, neglected terrain. Swamps are drained, hills are forested, and fields are planted and irrigated.
The British Peel Commission, which was later to assess the situation between Jews and Arabs, stated in its 1937 report to the Royal Palestine Commission: "Most of the land on which orange groves now stand consisted at the time of the land purchase of sand dunes, marshland or uncultivated soil."
The Holocaust
When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, many Jews fled. In the years that followed, neighboring countries were also occupied by the Nazis. The situation worsened. By 1939, only 250,000 immigrants from all over Europe had managed to reach Palestine.
Since 1922, Arab attacks on Jewish settlements had become increasingly frequent and severe. In response, the British began restricting immigration, thus reneging on their promise after less than five years. A massacre in Hebron resulted in the murder of 67 Jewish civilians. The surviving Jews were forced to leave the city. In 1936, the situation escalated completely. The largest Arab uprising to date against both Jews and British claimed approximately 3,000 lives on each side. Afterward, only a maximum of 20,000 Jews were permitted to enter the country each year.
Persecuted by the Nazis on the one hand, and unwanted and excluded from the world on the other, only a few Jews managed to escape the Holocaust. Between 1939 and 1945, six million were murdered. (See also the article: The Second Chance ).
Forbidden refuge
Even after the Holocaust, survivors find themselves unwelcome in most countries. Many hope to find a new home and a new beginning in Palestine. But the British are not relaxing their immigration restrictions.
On the contrary: they boarded the approaching ships, interned the arrivals in camps in Palestine and later also in Cyprus, and brought some of the Jews back to Europe, even to Germany. The British treatment of the Holocaust survivors provoked worldwide outrage, and the problem of Jewish displaced persons became a matter of international politics.
The division plan
From April 1947, the UN addressed the question of how to proceed with the British Mandate of Palestine. A commission recommended dividing the territory into a Jewish and an Arab state. This proposal was adopted on November 29, 1947, with 33 votes in favor.
The proposed plan entails some hardships for Israel:
- Israel will receive only 11 percent of the original mandate territory. 78 percent is occupied by the Arab state of Jordan, and another 11 percent is to belong to the new, second Arab state.
- Two-thirds of this area is the Negev Desert, which at the time was unusable for settlement construction and agriculture.
- The Jewish area is divided into three parts and connected only by corridors.
- 40 percent of the population in the designated area are Muslims (in comparison, no Jews are planned for the Arab areas).
- Jerusalem, the longed-for destination of the Jews, is to be placed under international supervision.
Nevertheless, the Jews recognized their historic opportunity and celebrated the decision. The Arabs, however, vehemently rejected the plan – a stance they maintain to this day. The Arab League called for joint military action against the future Israeli state.
A difficult decision
The Western powers distanced themselves from Israel. Following the UN resolution, Great Britain declared it would not provide troops to protect the partition, supplied weapons to Transjordan and Egypt, concluded a mutual assistance pact with Iraq, and deployed its military units to the Arab part of Palestine.
The US warns of a second Holocaust while simultaneously declaring it will not provide any assistance to Israel. On the eve of independence, US Secretary of State George Marshall sends Ben-Gurion an ultimatum demanding a postponement of the declaration of independence. Together with the Secretary of Defense, he also enforces a military embargo against Israel.
The generals of the Israeli underground organizations Haganah and Palmach are also against Ben-Gurion's plan to declare a state. All the fighters together number only a few thousand. They have almost no equipment; only half possess weapons. On the eve of independence, Israel, poorly equipped, disorganized, without tanks, air force, or battle plans, faces five professional armies. How are the Jews supposed to defend themselves?
Alone, threatened and isolated from the international community, with Arab armies on every border, the question is: now or maybe never.
The Rebirth of Israel
But hope prevailed. David Ben-Gurion overcame the incredible pressure and, on the very day the British Mandate ended, May 14, 1948, proclaimed the establishment of an independent Jewish state. Jubilation erupted in the streets of Tel Aviv. The 2,000-year-old dream had been achieved. It was the day that changed the course of history in the Middle East.
“We hereby proclaim, by virtue of our natural and historical right and by virtue of the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, the establishment of the State of Israel. It will be founded on freedom, justice, and peace in accordance with the visions of the prophets of Israel.
Excerpt from Ben Gurion's legendary speech on the founding of the State of Israel
We call upon the Jewish people in all countries of the Diaspora to assist us in the areas of immigration and development and to support us in our pursuit of the dream of Israel’s redemption.
Amidst the murderous attacks to which we have been subjected for months, we appeal to the Arabs living in Israel to maintain peace and to participate in its development on the basis of full civic equality and appropriate representation in all provisional and permanent bodies of the State.”
We extend a hand of peace and good neighborliness to all our neighboring states and their peoples and call for cooperation and mutual assistance.
The struggle for survival
As early as May 15, shortly after midnight, regular army units of the Arab alliance, formed by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, advanced into the former British Mandate territory from all sides and attacked Israel. Their goal was the elimination of the emerging Jewish state.
At that time, 650,000 Jews lived in Israel, while 160 million Arabs lived in the surrounding countries. The ratio was 1 to 246. While the Arab armed forces possessed tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers, aircraft, and warships, Israel's soldiers were equipped only with rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers, as they had previously lacked both a state and a regular army. Communication difficulties also arose because they did not speak a common language. From a human perspective, it was a hopeless situation.
But against all expectations and against all resistance, Israel manages to hold its ground. The fighters' motivation is unparalleled. They know that the alternative to victory is utter annihilation.
But the price is high: Israel loses a full one percent of its total population in this war. 6,000 soldiers fall. Around 2,000 of them are Holocaust survivors who came to Israel full of hope after the hell of the concentration camps – only to die here. Jerusalem falls, is captured by the Jordanians; the Jewish Quarter is looted and demolished. The same happens in Hebron, Gush Etzion, and other places. The Jews living there are expelled. During the fighting, many of the painstakingly built settlements, factories, infrastructure, and cultivated fields are also destroyed.
Nevertheless, by July 1949 Israel had succeeded in concluding armistice agreements with its Arab enemies. The agreed armistice lines increased Israeli territory by a third compared to the original UN partition plan.
The Palestinian “Nakba”
Thus, the Arabs' refusal to accept the partition plan ultimately caused them the most harm. 15,000 Arabs died in this war, and many lost their homes. They remember these events as the "Nakba" (Arabic for catastrophe).
In fact, around 30,000 wealthy Palestinians left the country even before the war began, triggering a domino effect. Many fled to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Some were expelled, but many were influenced by Arab fear-mongering propaganda and heeded the calls of Arab leaders to flee, believing they would soon return. Some left because they did not want to live among "infidels" as equals.
After the war, all neighboring Arab states, with the exception of Jordan, prevented the integration of the Palestinians. In contrast, the Israeli state accepted the Arabs who remained in Israel as citizens with equal legal and political rights.
Of the 600,000 to 700,000 Palestinian refugees who fled 75 years ago, only a few tens of thousands are still alive today. But all the children and grandchildren of those actually affected also "inherit" refugee status. This is unique in world history and means that the number of these "refugees" continues to grow steadily: it now exceeds five million people.
Had the Arabs accepted the UN Partition Plan in 1947, there would probably be an independent Arab-Palestinian state today and no refugees.
The Jewish Nakba
Largely unnoticed by the world, the expulsion of Jews from Arab countries took place after the Israeli-Palestinian War. There were pogroms, shootings, expropriations, and mistreatment. Ultimately, around 850,000 Jews had to leave their countries of origin. In addition, there were approximately 70,000 Jews from the West Bank and Jerusalem. Most arrived in the young Israeli state completely destitute, as their property had been confiscated. In some cases, Israel established spectacular airlifts: for example, in Operation "Flying Carpet" in 1949, tens of thousands of Jews were flown out of Yemen.
The original 650,000 Jews in Palestine took in 700,000 more within a very short time, some of whom were traumatized by the Holocaust, and many others, such as the Mizrahim (Jews from the Arab world), came from comparatively poorly educated and impoverished segments of the population. A unique feat of integration!
Thus, Israel's hope became reality. Roughly a year after the proclamation of the State of Israel, it proved its viability to the astonished world. A miracle and a fulfilled promise from the Bible: "The Lord has scattered his people to the four winds, but now he will gather them again." (Jeremiah 31:10)
But what happens next? Is Israel's peace now secure? Will the world give this nation, of which only a few survived, the chance to develop? How will Israel seize this opportunity? Read here : "Israel – Life in the Shadow of Wars".
