Arab States and the Palestine Problem (1936-1993)

Abstract

Palestine Problem is the most controversial and complex issue in modern times. The root of the Palestine problem lies in the fact that the two peoples -the Palestinian Arabs and the Jews (whether inside Palestine or outside) - claim the right of ownership of the same territory which is known as Palestine to the outsiders, Palestine to the Arabs and Eretz Israel (Biblical land of Palestine) to the Jews. Both the groups put their claims over the same land with historical and practical grounds. The Palestine question has been upsetting the political equilibrium in the world for the decades together in the twentieth century. The whole drama goes way back to the early twentieth century when plans and counter plans, pledges and counter - pledges had been going on at the conclusion of First World War to dismember the already decaying Ottoman Empire, and to solve the Middle Eastern Problems by the Europeans and for the Europeans, ignoring the interests of the people concerned, namely the Arabs. In its origin only the Palestinian Arabs and Jews were involved. But during the First World War, with the publication of Balfour Declaration, the British officially involved in this problem. The Balfour Declaration issued by Britain lies at the root of the plight of the millions of the Palestinians who were driven out of their land so that the wandering Jews could make their home there. The Balfour Declaration has been regarded as the main foundation stone which ushered the problem creating complicacy and enmity between the Palestinian Arabs and the Jews. Naturally triangle diplomacy and conflict took place in the development of the Palestine Problem and this continued till the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, when Britain's official involvement came to an end. The Jews intensified their claim through Zionism. Zionism was a socio-political movement that gradually developed among the European Jews in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Although the origin of Zionism was a religious one, it emerged as a national movement under the leadership of Theodor Herzl and in the Bastle programme its objective was defined as "the creation in Palestine of a home for the Jewish people secured by public law". On the other hand, after the First World War, the fall of the Ottoman Empire led to the emergence of a number of Arab states in the Middle East under the control of some European powers. On the basis of the demand of general masses, the Arab governments of the states like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq did not keep them aloof but from the prevailing situation came forward to handle the Palestine problem for its acceptable solution to the cause of Palestinian Arabs. In the course of the development of the Palestine question, the conference of the Arabs at Bludan in Syria (Sept. 1937) was a land mark in the increasing involvement of the Arab states in the issue. No event of the 1930s captured the attention of the Arab world as did the Arab Revolt in Palestine that took place in 1936. Its progress was eagerly followed in the daily press of Cairo, Baghdad, Damuscus, and the Capitals of North Africa. It was also carefully monitored by Arab leaders and regimes. On the one hand, the revolt aroused Arab nationalist sentiments in ways not witnessed in the region since the day of Faysal's Arab Kingdom; on the other, it alarmed Arab rulers who feared its repercussions on politics. The impact of the revolt on the Arab world differed from country to country. It specially aroused nationalist sentiment and idea in those Arab countries though with different grades. Thus a combination of political, socio-economic, and cultural factors had long been at work in leading Arab countries shaping popular opinion about Palestine. Afterwards in Oct. 1938, the 'World Parliamentary Congress of the Arab and Muslim Countries for the Defence of Palestine' took place in Cairo. The Arab revolt in Palestine (1936-39) which took place as a protest against the pro-Jewish policies pursued by the British and further development of the question of it brought about a radical change in the attitude of the decision - markers of the Arab states towards Palestine. Since then it became impossible on the part of the independent Arab states to ignore the issue of Palestine. So it became imperative and urgently necessary for them to try and influence events in Palestine. This was indeed a new phenomenon because of the fact that since then consultation between the British Government and the Arab Governments took place over the future status of Palestine.