[dude1394]

Originally Posted by orangedays

Israel is a special case - remember, that land was Muslim-occupied for almost a millenia, how would you feel if the U.S. Government moved you off your property (that had been in your family for generations) because some Native Americans had 'original claim' to it? And then, you were forced to live in a refugee camp where there were minimal sanitary facilities, no running water, your children had to go to school in make-shift tents AND every single day when you went to work, you were subjected to taunting and hate-mongering as you waited at gates which separated Israeli-occupied territory and your land (the best example I can think of is from "The Pianist", basically any scene where Jews were crossing into and out of the ghettos under the watch of Nazi soldiers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British...e_of_Palestine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_partition_plan

I'd have to look at it a little closer. Reviewing this from wikipedia it looks like much of the violence began as typical immigration assimilation issues after being conquered during WW1. Nothing particularly outrageous like the government coming in a moving folks off their lands. Just immigration that wasn't desired. However it is obviously a very prominant reminder of the fall of the Ottoman Empire which I think has more to do with it than anyone giving a crapola about the palestinian people in the arab community.

It appears that the violence started the economy to become seperate (obviously not good as very few islamic countries have been successful with modernity). The palestininians might have a gripe, but the rest of the islamic culture either couldn't abide a non-muslim country in their midst or just used it in general to incite their populace. I suspect it was as much a mechanism to avoid the embarressment of the downfall of the islamic empire and to keep the populace of the local tyrants agitated and mad about something besides their own lack of progress.

Palestinian Arab opposition to Jewish immigration
Kibbutz Degania Alef, during the 1930s
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Kibbutz Degania Alef, during the 1930s

During the 1920s, 100,000 Jewish immigrants entered Palestine, and 6,000 non-Jewish immigrants did so as well. Jewish immigration was controlled by the Histadrut, which selected between applicants on the grounds of their political creed. Land purchased by Jewish agencies was leased on the conditions that it be worked only by Jewish labour and that the lease should not be held by non-Jews.

Initially, Jewish immigration to Palestine met little opposition from the Palestinian Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish immigration (mostly from Europe) to Palestine began to increase markedly, creating much Arab resentment.

There was violent incitement from the Palestine Muslim leadership that led to violent attacks against the Jewish population. In some cases, land purchases by the Jewish agencies from absentee landlords led to the eviction of the Palestinian Arab tenants, who were replaced by the Jews of the kibbutzim. The Arabic speakers before World War I had the status of peasants (felaheen), and did not own their land although they might own the trees that grew on that land. When Jews, who grew up with European laws, purchased land they did not always realise that the villagers on that land owned the trees. This was often a source of misunderstanding and conflict. The olive tree is particularly important as it can remain productive for more than one thousand years.

The British government placed limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. These quotas were controversial, particularly in the latter years of British rule, and both Arabs and Jews disliked the policy, each side for its own reasons. In response to numerous Arab attacks on Jewish communities, the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary organization, was formed on June 15, 1920. Tensions led to widespread violent disturbances on several occasions, notably in 1921, 1929 (primarily violent attacks by Arabs on Jews — see Hebron) and 1936-1939. Beginning in 1936, several Jewish groups such as Etzel (Irgun) and Lehi (Stern Gang) conducted their own campaigns of violence against British and Arab targets. This prompted the British government to label them both as terrorist organizations.

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Great Uprising

Main article: Great Uprising

In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between Jewish and Arab areas that was rejected by both the Arabs and the Zionist Congress.

In 1936-1939 the mandate experienced an upsurge in militant Arab nationalism that became known as the Great Uprising and, "The Arab Revolt." The revolt was triggered by increased Jewish immigration, primarily Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany as well as rising anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. The revolt was led or co-opted by the Grand Mufti, Haj Amin Al-Husseini and his Husseini family. The Arabs felt they were being marginalized in their own country, but in addition to non-violent strikes, they resorted to violence. Husseini's men killed more Arabs than Jews, using the revolt as an excuse to settle accounts with rival clans. The Jewish organization Etzel replied with its own terrorist campaign, with marketplace bombings and other violent acts that also killed hundreds. Eventually, the uprising was put down by the British using severe measures. After he was implicated in killing the British district commissioner for the Galilee, Haj Amin El Husseini fled first to Lebanon, then to Iraq, and finally to Germany in late 1941.

The British placed restrictions on Jewish land purchases in the remaining land, directly contradicting the provision of the Mandate which said "the Administration of Palestine... shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not acquired for public purposes." A similar proposal to limit immigration in 1931 had been termed a violation of the mandate by the League of Nations, but by 1939 the League of Nations was defunct. According to the Israeli side, the British had by 1949 allotted over 8500 acres (34 km²) to Arabs, and about 4000 acres (16 km²) to Jews.