MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

The Balfour Declaration of November 1917 was mainly political and was intended for various reasons by Britain. First, they supported Zionism. They therefore wanted to help in the creation of a Jewish State. Secondly, Britain needed the support of the US which would only be obtained showing interest in the creation of a Jewish State. Finally, Britain did not want to lose the support of the Arabs. Britain therefore made a declaration that could be interpreted in the favor of any of the two groups: Arabs and Jews (Ashcraft, 2014). To the Jews, this declaration made the basis for their return to Israel. They translated this as the support of the US and Britain who would help them in establishing a Jewish State.

Bevin (1946) feels that there no need to support the migration of Jews from where they lived to Israel. On the contrary, he is opposed to the creation of a Jewish state arguing that it is impossible to draw borders along racial lines. The facilitation of the transfer of over 100,000 individuals helped in the occupation of Israel by the Jews. Families that were separated by the transfer for example would later try to move to Israel as well.

The Balfour declaration and the recommendation of admitting Israel helped to fuel the conflict that exists between Jews and Arabs. The support of the Jewish State facilitated for the development of the conflict for offering a vague statement that would be translated differently by the various groups. The facilitation of the travelling of Jews into Israel also made the new entrants a sign that Britain did not support the Arabs as they had presumed. It therefore made the Jews enemies of the Arabs.

Bibliography

Bevin, Ernest. “The Problems of the Moment.” Vital Speeches Of The Day 12, no. 19 (July 15, 1946): 587. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 17, 2014).

Ashcraft, Katherine. “From Balfour to Oslo 2: Roots of the Modern Arab-Israeli Conflict.” The Luther Skald (2014): 60.