It wasn’t until Theodor Herzl wrote a book called “the Jewish State” in 1896 that the history of Israel saw the birth of the modern movement known as Zionism. Herzl was a journalist who covered a famous trial that came to be known as the Dreyfus Affair. A French Jewish army officer named Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of selling military secrets to Germany. Evidence implicating the real culprit was suppressed, and false evidence was manufactured to ensure his conviction. Herzl was so troubled by the implications to all Jews that he ultimately devoted his life to the creation of a Jewish homeland, becoming known as the “visionary of Zionism.”
In 1897, Herzl organized the World Zionist Organization, which held its first international conference in Switzerland. He stated after the conference: “At Basel I founded the Jewish state. If I were to say this today, I would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years, perhaps, and certainly in 50, everyone will see it.” Herzl, whose words came to pass almost 50 years to the day later, died at age 44 and was buried in Vienna. In 1949, after the establishment of Israel, his remains were moved from Vienna to Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
One of the biggest milestones in the history of Israel leading to the formation of the modern State of Israel is the famous Balfour Declaration of 1917. A letter written by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Walter Rothschild was intended to be transmitted to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The letter formalized the commitment of the British Cabinet reached on October 31, 1917 to support the creation of a nation of Israel. The letter read in part:
“His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
The letter further stated that the declaration is a sign of “sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations.”
Although this important document committed the British government to use its best efforts to bring about the establishment of a Jewish homeland, other events took precedence. The First World War was raging, and Britain’s main focus was winning the war in Europe. The Middle East was a lesser concern. However, just one month after the Balfour Declaration, British forces captured Jerusalem from the Turks.
Anticipating the downfall of the Ottoman Empire at the conclusion of the First World War, the British and French agreed on a plan to divide the Middle East after the war. The Sykes-Picot Agreement split the former lands of the Ottoman Turkish Empire into different zones of control and influence for England and France. As part of that agreement, the Holy Land was to be placed under British control.
The revelation of the secret treaty sparked a firestorm of protest in the Middle East. European diplomats and military officials had been making conflicting and contradictory promises to both Arabs and Jews. When the treaty was published, it unmasked the plans of the European powers to maintain control over the region rather than granting freedom to the peoples being liberated from Turkish control.
The British did take control of the Holy Land, ruling it as a Mandate, but their commitment to create a Jewish homeland was not well received by the Arabs of the region. To clarify their policy, the British government issued a series of White Papers, interpreting the Balfour Declaration and laying out plans to implement it. The 1922 White Paper set a quota for Jewish immigration and reduced the area of the Mandate by returning a large portion of it to Arab control. The 1930 White Paper went even further in restricting the number of Jews allowed to return. It contained a threat to terminate immigration entirely if the economic consequences of the influx of Jews could not be limited.
The final major White Paper, issued in 1939, rejected the idea of the area called “Palestine” as either a Jewish or Arab state and called for an independent state instead. It also imposed serious restrictions on land acquisition by Jews. The dream of a homeland was still alive, but it seemed no closer to becoming reality. In the 4,000-year history of Israel since God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants, they had only occupied it for 1,400 years. For the other 2,600 they wandered the earth as outcasts and sojourners, without a land to call their own. It appeared that would continue, but major events were about to change everything.
Read “History of Israel, Part 1: A Wandering Nation,” and “History of Israel, Part 3: The Holocaust and Rebirth of Israel.”
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