​Anti-Semitism

​Jews felt the need for protection because of the history of anti-Semitism in Europe (hatred of Jews), which dates at least back to the Middle Ages, and would periodically lead to massacres of Jewish populations and non-Jewish governments would be indifferent or openly hostile.

Anti-Semitism continued...

Jews have been treated badly by Europeans throughout history.

During the 11th and 12th Centuries Jews were slaughtered by the Crusaders traveling across Europe to the Holy Land. In the 14th century, Jews were accused of causing the Black Death and massacred.

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​Breaking Point

​Many Jews were tired of staying in Europe and felt that they were entitled to their Holy Land. During the 19th Century (1800s), a group of Eastern European Jews created “Lovers of Zion”, an organization that encouraged settlement in Palestine (Zion).

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​Zionist Movement

​Theodore Herzl was an Austrian Journalist who created a Zionist congress (early 1900s) and helped to promote a concentration of Jewish settlement in Palestine (Zion).

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​Return to Zion

​During the mandates that followed World War I, the British government allowed large numbers of Jews to migrate to Palestine. Many of these Jews were Zionists and believe that Jews need to have a homeland in Israel for religious reasons and to be protected from non-Jewish governments.

​Tensions Rise

​While the initial Jewish settlers were welcomed, as more Jews moved into Palestine, they faced increasing hostility from the Arab population, who feared that they would not get to create an Arab state in that region following the end of the mandate.

​British Proposal

​The British began limiting and eventually banning further Jewish immigration until the end of WWII. This led to militant Jewish Zionist groups staging an uprising against the British. After WWII, due to guilt over the Holocaust, the British allowed Jewish immigration to resume. Meanwhile, tired of being attacked by the Jews and the Arabs, the British proposed (asked) the United Nations to divide Palestine into an independent Jewish and Arab state.

​New State of Israel

​Following the United Nations agreeing to a division of land, Jewish groups declared an independent Nation of Israel in 1948. The Arabs immediately rejected the deal because they felt the division of land was unfair. This began a series of conflicts over control of the land that continues to the present.