The roots of current conflict in Gaza are not found in October 7th, nor in the last decade, but go back to the 1800s (if not before).

I’m not a scholar, but I’ve gathered information from various sources, including Wikipedia, actual online archives from the League of Nations and the United Nations, including archives kept in Jerusalem in the Jewish Historical Archives, which has a deep historical archive. I’ve attempted to summarize the broad scope of this history to some specific events. Your criticism of this effort is welcome. Remember, It’s a top level outline, not a exhaustive history. I’ve got a limited wordcount here!

1800s – Creation of formal Zionist organization. The goal was to help repopulate old Judea, which was at the time managed by tribes and governments under the rulership of the Ottoman Empire. The ultimate goal was to recreate a Jewish nation, free from the rabid antisemitism of Europe. Zionist organizations begin lobbying efforts with various Western governments, primarily Britain. They help fund Jews wanting to return to the country and Jews begin buying land from Arabs who were willing to sell.  Some small Jewish population had been in the area for hundreds of years but a new wave of immigration was beginning to raise concerns.  First Kibbutz’ begin.  Response from Arabs living in the area were mixed. Leaders appear to be wary, but many landowners willingly sold land (usually worthless swamp or the likes) to Jews for much higher amounts than they could get on the local market. General Arab population appears indifferent.

1915: By the beginning of WWI, Arab concerns were heightened as Arab leaders in the areas of what became the Palestinian Mandate began issuing dictates to oppose the sale of land to the Jews. There was no actual ban, but they made clear it was not an acceptable practice. During WWI, as part of the work of Lawrence of Arabia on behalf of the British Government, the Brits promised the Sharif of Mecca that the greater parts of the Turkish empire would become independent if he supported Britain against Germany. This was construed as an overall promise to liberate all Ottoman lands, including what became the Palestinian Mandate.

1917: The British, in order to obtain the support of Eastern European Jews against Germany, issued the Balfour Declaration. The Declaration was controversial at the time. The Zionists petitioned Great Britain to help establish a Jewish state, that would be part of the British Empire. It was understood that, if the experiment of establishing a Jewish national home under British governance succeeded and a sufficient number of Jews went to the place they were calling Palestine, the National Home might develop in course of time into a Jewish State. This document does not appear to have been shared for comment with the Ottoman Empire nor the peoples of what became Palestine. Of course there was a war with them at the time, so it’s not likely they would have asked for permission.

1918-1919: With the end of WWI, Britain and it’s allies took over the vanquished Ottoman Empire. They began the process of carving up the areas into spheres of influence. Modern Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and other countries are formed around this time by these efforts. The British reserve an area they called the “Palestinian Mandate” as a small section of land to deal with the demands of  Arabs and  Jews and to ensure for Christians that Jerusalem became an international zone. Much of the language of the documents of this time were very specifically disparaging of the “Arabs” that lived on the land and touted the “benefits” that the Jews were bringing to the area in taxes and improvements to sanitation and the like. There was no love of the Arab population by the British who were now ruling them. Arab leaders began demanding that Britain make good on it’s promises to liberate all these areas and hand them over to local rulers.

1920s in the British run Palestinian Mandate: Zionists start migrating Jews in larger numbers into the Mandate. By 1928-29 rioting breaks out against Jews by Arabs living there. Groups of Jewish settlers begin the process of forming protection organizations that begin retaliatory attacks on Arab villages after riots against Jews. The riots and the retaliation are bloody. The stage for a long, bitter enmity was being set.

1930s. In England: Zionists in Britain lobby Britain to give the Jews land in the Palestinian Mandate to live at peace with the Arab neighbors. Britain refuses.

Palestine experiences draught and poor crop yields which impact the Arab farming population the most. Jews experience large numbers of Arabs willing to sell land to them, while their politicians continue to protest the influx of Jews. Tensions continue to rise. Sporadic rioting by Arabs continue. Sporadic retaliation by Jewish organizations continues.  

Mid 30s: Due to the rise of Nazism, large numbers of Jews move to the Palestinian Mandate with the help of Zionist organizations. Palestine goes into severe depression with high unemployment. Rioting breaks out along with a general “strike” or uprising against the Jews and the British by the Palestinians. Palestinian radicalism is on the rise.

1935: Leaders of the Palestinian community made three demands of the British High Commissioner 1)establishment of a democratic government in the country 2) immediate cessation of Jewish immigration 3) prohibition by law of the transfer of Arab land to Jews. The British turn them down.

Sporadic rioting and a rise in violent retaliation by Jewish organizations continues. 

1937 - The Peel Commission, created by the League of Nations, creates the Palestine Royal Commission and offers the Arab population a nation along with the Jewish nation. The Arabs refuses the offer.

The Peel Commission notes the following in it’s report:

“The association of the policy of the Balfour Declaration with the Mandate System implied the belief that Arab hostility to the former would presently be overcome, owing to the economic advantages which Jewish immigration was expected to bring to Palestine as a whole.” (all from the original documents of the Peel Commission).

“The Jewish National Home is no longer an experiment. There can be no question of fusion or assimilation between Jewish and Arab cultures… (it) cannot be half-national.”

“Many Arab landowners have benefited from the sale of land and the profitable investment of the purchase money. The fellaheen are better off on the whole than they were in 1920. This Arab progress has been partly due to the import of Jewish capital into Palestine and other factors associated with the growth of the (Jewish) National Home. In particular, the Arabs have benefited from social services which could not have been provided on the existing scale without the revenue obtained from the Jews.”

It’s not clear that the Arab population would agree with this assessment. It does not give them any credit for the improvements they have helped build over the previous decades.

And finally, this offer:

“…within as short a period as may be convenient, two sovereign independent States would be established--the one an Arab State consisting of Trans-Jordan united with that part of Palestine which lies to the east and south of a frontier ; the other a Jewish State consisting of that part of Palestine which lies to the north and west of that frontier.”

The Report marked the first time that partition, or the division of Palestine into two states had been proposed by an official British body. (Center for Israel Education 2012)

The Arab community in Palestine utterly rejected the notion of partition, as did neighboring Arab leaders and states: in September 1937, in Bludan, Syria, a non-governmental pan-Arab Congress of over 400 Arab delegates rejected the partition of Palestine, declaring instead its goal as “liberation of the country and establishment of an Arab government.”

 By this point the population of Jews in Palestine was over 400,000. 

1938 Arab riots against Jews. Jewish protection organizations retaliate.

1939: Britain calls the two sides to London to negotiate a way forward. Jewish immigration and land purchases are limited by British authorities at the behest of the Arab leadership. The negotiations were ongoing in Great Britain just prior to WWII erupting.

1940s: Some Arab leaders support Nazi Germany and had met with Hitler prior to the war. Photos also show a few Arab leaders of the Palestinians visiting a concentration camp.

Throughout the war, Jewish underground fighters, some led by future Prime Minister Menachem Begin, escalate attacks on British soldiers and retaliation raids against Arabs. Retaliation by British authorities are swift, executing many Jewish fighters. The tit for tat low level brutal guerilla warfare continues.

1945: Britain wins WWII, but is left essentially bankrupt. Pressure grows in Britain to leave the Mandate (along with other colonies). The Arab League is formed and recognizes the need for a Palestinian State. Guerilla warfare with multiple Jewish underground groups escalates against the British forces in an effort to get them to leave. Over the next two years growing terrorist attacks happen on both sides of the conflict. The Jewish leaders believe that they can forge a new country. The last act of the League of Nations is to recognize Jordan (called Trans-Jordan) as a nation.

1946: Jewish underground group Irgun blows up the King David Hotel, headquarters of the British in Palestine. British, Jews and Arabs killed in bombing. Guerrilla warfare escalating.

1947: The United Nations creates a special committee on Palestine to discuss the possibility of a two-state nation.

Zionists continue to bring in large ships full of Jewish survivors of WWII.  

The following year, Civil War breaks out as Britain leaves Palestine.

Photo of Arab riot in 1938 from Library of Congress.