20th Century Jerusalem: Lecture 17.1 - March 8, 2011

             Lecture picked up at the end of last week’s lecture regarding Ottoman Jerusalem and we began a discussion of Zionism. Professor Cargill began by introducing Zionism as the idea that all Jews should go to Jerusalem. During the 19^th century, Europeanization took place, marking the beginning of Secular “Zionist” immigration. This resulted in shifting demographic among the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian populations. Secular Zionism, based on a book written by Theodore Herzl, did not have much to do with the sacredness of Jerusalem and rather there existed a Zionist state in Uganda. In 1899, the first Zionist conference took place in Basel, Switzerland which Herzl claimed to have had the presence of the “Messiah the son of David.” In the advent of European nationalism, anti-Semitism and immigration increased. In 1914-1917 the Ottomans aligned with Germany against France and Britain during World War I. Jerusalem served as the headquarters for VIII Turkish Corps and the British soon take Palestine from the Ottomans after the establishment of the Balfour Declaration (1917).  This assured the Jews a new National Homeland. This declaration was clarified in Winston Churchill’s “White Paper” considering there was confusion regarding whether Palestine would be a Jewish state and it was established that there would be a continuation of Jewish settlement in Palestine.

            Because of this takeover of Palestine, tensions arose among the Arab and Jewish communities. Such conflict was settled in the Peel Commission of 1937 through an early “two state” solution. This meant there would be a partitioning of Palestine into a northern section that would be given to the Jews and the south would be given to the Arabs. This led to Jerusalem’s attainment of the title of an “international city.” This Peel Commission was approved by the United Nations in 1947 and was accepted by Zionists while rejected by Arabs. Consequently fighting broke out, leading to the War of Independence in 1948. In May of that year, the British left and a year later in 1949 a truce was arranged by the UN leading to the signing of an armistice between Israel and Jordan on March 16. A green line was created between Israel and the Jordanian held West Bank. The Israelis took the west, Jordanians took the East, and the Palestinians got nothing. “Catastrophe” took place as a result of the establishment of the Israel state and the assertion of Jordanian control of the West Bank. King Hussein declared Jerusalem the second capital of the State of Jordan in 1953. Several years later in the Six-Day War, 1967, Syria gains alliances from Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt to plan a preemptive attack of Israel. This resulted in Moshe Daen, a Jewish general, to grant Muslims the power and authority of the Haram and Jerusalem was annexed. The UN rejects this Israeli annexation, but the Israelis don’t care and they still take over.