Historical Origins: Competing Claims to the Land

The Land Before Nationalism

For four centuries (1517-1917), the territory known variously as Palestine, the Holy Land, or Eretz Israel was part of the Ottoman Empire. The population was predominantly Arab — Muslim and Christian — with a small Jewish community (the 'Old Yishuv') concentrated in religiously significant cities like Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias.

Two developments in late 19th-century Europe transformed this landscape:

Zionism, founded by Theodor Herzl after the Dreyfus Affair in France (1894), argued that persistent European antisemitism meant Jews needed a sovereign state. The First Zionist Congress (Basel, 1897) declared the aim of establishing 'a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured by public law.' Jewish immigration to Palestine began in earnest.

Arab nationalism emerged in the same period, as Arab intellectuals sought self-determination from Ottoman and later European rule. Palestinian Arab identity — distinct from broader Arab identity — crystallized in the early 20th century, partly in response to growing Zionist immigration and land purchases.

The British Mandate: Contradictory Promises

Britain conquered Palestine from the Ottomans in 1917 and governed it as a League of Nations Mandate until 1948. Britain made conflicting commitments that haunt the region to this day:

• The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915-16) promised Arab leaders an independent Arab state in exchange for revolting against the Ottomans. Whether Palestine was included remains disputed.
• The Balfour Declaration (November 2, 1917) stated that the British government 'view[s] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,' while noting that 'nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.'
• The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) secretly carved up Ottoman territories between Britain and France.

These contradictory promises planted the seeds of conflict. Jewish immigration increased, particularly after the rise of Nazism in the 1930s. The Arab Revolt of 1936-39 was the first large-scale Palestinian uprising against British rule and Zionist immigration. Britain responded with the 1939 White Paper limiting Jewish immigration — just as European Jews were most desperate to flee.