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The wayup Blog

HOW DID THE SITUATION OF TODAY’S PALESTINE ARRIVE? (PART 1).

BLOG, Historia, Palestina

ZIONISM

Without delving into many details, but making the history of the situation in Palestine as enjoyable as possible, we must start from the late 19th century.

It was during this time, after centuries of discrimination, humiliation, massacres, looting, and expulsions from places where they had lived for centuries, that a Jewish journalist named Theodor Herzl understood that something needed to be done. Not to stop this, because history showed it was impossible, but to enable his entire community to minimize or end this historical reality that pursued them. To this end, he began raising awareness among different Jewish communities he interacted with and the governments of the countries he visited about the increasingly anti-Jewish situation throughout Europe. This gave rise to a movement among all Jews who joined this dream, called Zionism. The most significant solution they began to pursue, by pooling efforts, was to buy various parcels of land in one place, consolidate them, and then seek legal independence to establish a state where they could live without interference and have a chance to survive and thrive.

Of course, we are talking about an insignificant group within millions of Jews scattered across the planet, in a time when there was no internet or even telephones, making it challenging to coordinate with all Jewish groups. They considered several possible locations for this endeavor, including places that were of no interest or considered unsuitable, such as Patagonia or southern Africa. However, analyzing the administrative distribution of the planet, they also realized that the land where Israel had last been was not part of any country.

Why was this territory called Palestine not part of any country? Simply because the last empire in the region, the Ottomans, had recently lost that territory in World War I, and the British had taken charge of the entire area under a mandate (1919).

As the British also faced post-war crises, the Zionists saw the perfect opportunity to begin buying land from them in this region known as Palestine. Although they first had to convince the Jews who had always lived in the area, and many did not join them, they managed to start establishing families there who not only thought of themselves but also of the Zionist dream for as many people as possible. These settlements were called Kibbutzim, a kind of cooperative focused on development, living in peace, maintaining their customs, and educating their children with their own pedagogical methods and values.

Everything was progressing well, albeit slowly, towards advancing the Zionist dream. Until what Theodor had foreseen occurred: Anti-Jewish sentiment grew so much that it triggered the Holocaust throughout Europe, and more than six million Jews were murdered.

After the war ended and the concentration camps were discovered, Europe faced a major crisis: What to do and where to accommodate all these refugees in cities and homes that were now completely destroyed? This, coupled with the British withdrawal from the area a few years earlier, facilitated the Zionists taking advantage of the situation and developing the legal petition to create the State of Israel. This would provide refuge not only to Holocaust survivors but to anyone who wanted to come. In November 1947, the new State of Israel was approved by the UN.

Although not all Jews agreed with this new state, nor did some Arabs in the region, the birth of the state was celebrated.

To be continued…

Author: Liber Aguiar

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