Palestine

Historical Background World War I Negotiations and Agreements: Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916), the Arab Revolt, and the Balfour Declaration League of Nations & Mandate System

League of Nations and Mandate System “Certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish empire have reached a stage of development where their existence as independent states can be provisionally recognized subject to the rendering of assistance by a mandatory power until such time as they are able to stand alone, the wishes of the communities must be a principle consideration in the selection of the mandatory.” France got the mandate for the territory that now includes Syria and Lebanon while Britain got the mandate for the territory that now includes Israel, the occupied territories, Jordon and Iraq.

Palestine After 1948 The war for Palestine –called by Israelis the War of Independence and by Palestinians the nakba led to the creation of the State of Israel (1948). The 1967 War: Egyptian government ordered the entrance of the Red Sea closed to Israeli shipping. The Israelis regarded the Egyptian action as an act of war. On 5 June 1967, Israel launched attack against its neighbors. The 1967 lasted a mere six days and resulted in a resounding defeat for the Arab armies.

Mandates

Refugee Crisis During the 1948 War, at least 726,000 Palestinians fled the country during the war, leaving behind their homes, property and in many cases part of their extended family. Most Palestinian refugees ended up in the West Bank (280,000 people), the Gaza Strip (190,000 people), Lebanon (100,000 people), Syria (75,000 people), Transjordan (70,000 people), and Egypt (7,000 people). Initially, the refugees expected to return as soon as the war was over, but they could not. Most of these people ended up in camps.

Palestinian Migration Patterns To portray Palestinian migration solely in terms of refugee waves during and after the wars with Israel would do an injustice to the complexity of Palestinian migratory patterns. In the framework of Palestinian migration, we have to consider not only migration from Palestine, but also various movements of Palestinians from first countries of refugee to other countries

Jewish Minorities in the Arab Middle East After the foundation of the Israeli state, many of these people were persecuted. In 1948, for instance, discrimination against Jews became systematic in Iraq. There were anti-Jewish riots in Baghdad, probably encouraged by the Iraqi government, Jews were arrested, and Jews who worked for public concerns (ports, railroads, and the like) were dismissed from their jobs. Over 120,000 Iraqi Jews emigrated to Israel. They were joined by 31,000 Jews from Libya, by 40,000 from Yemen, 80,000 from Egypt, and 10,000 from Syria.