Creation of Israel Source Analysis

Source 1: “Sunday, May 14, 1948 The Palestine Post: front page”

This source is a photocopy of the front page from the newspaper The Palestine Post Sunday 14 May, 1948, the day Israel declared independence. The reason the source was written was to inform the public of Palestine about the ‘birth’ of the state of Israel. The anticipated audience would have been the Palestinian public, whether Jewish or Arab. The reliability of the source is great, as it is Primary in existence and has not been altered. The content of the source revolves around the declaration of the State of Israel and the politics and some events of the day including a report on the Egyptian bombing of Tel Aviv. This source originated from Palestine, Jerusalem as it sates in the top right side in the box (where the newspaper is published and printed).

Source 2: Letter (page one) from Stern gang to NazisSource 2 is the cover page of the letter which the Stern gang sent to the Nazis in 1941 for the hope of creating an alliance with Germany in WWII to wage war against the British in Palestine. The motivation for the conduction of the letter is due to the factor that the Stern gang great had motivations to seek revenge on the British for the ‘illegal’ imperialism exhorted on Palestine and also the placing of immigration restrictions among the Jews. This source was received by German officials in Turkey before it was forwarded to a higher command in Berlin, where the anticipated audience for the letter would have been Hitler and his high generals. As this is a primary source it is extremely reliable, as it has not been distorted by anyone’s views or thoughts, unless it was forged. The source is the first page of a letter and outlines the sections of the letter into three paragraphs. There are also several

signatures which could determine who had sighted, forwarded and/or composed the letter. Several stamps and dates along the top provide important information as to when this was sighted and where it was sent.

Source 3: United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 273 (see attached)

Source three is the UNSC resolution 273 created on 11 May 1949. The cause of this source is to make Israel a legal soveriegn territory and enter it into the United Nations. This document would have been overseen and amended by the member nations of the UNSC at the the time of construction. This is a primary source which has not been altered, it is greatly reliable. The content of the source conducts why Israel should be made a member nation of the UN. This resolution affirms that the state of Israel of Israel has abided by the UN charter, though this statement is not true as Israel, as a nation, is hostile towards the Palestinian people and do not treat them with the human rights stated in the UN charter. The source also contains refernces to previous UN resolutions relevant to the state of Israel. The resolution says that the UNSC had declared Israel to be a peace loving nation and recommends that Israel joins the UN as a member nation. This is also untrue, as Israel does not treat the Arabs and Palestinians with peace and hence shows a bias aided by the US has showing their support for the Jewish people, with the US being one of the five permanent members of the UN. The source also specifies dates towards the other resolutions and also the day this resolution (UNGA 273) was created, on the ‘Two hundred and seventh plenary meeting, 11 May 1949’. The origin of the source is from the UNGA, the UNGA conducts its annual meetings in Geneva, Switzerland.

Source 4: Balfour Declaration, 2 November 1917

The Balfour declaration is a letter from England’s Foreign Secretary Balfour addressed to Lord Rothschild. It was written to express Britain’s support for the creation of a Jewish nation in the precinct of Palestine. The letter is addressed to Lord Rothschild, and at the bottom it says “I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.” Thus the declaration made by Britain would be made known to the Zionist Federation. The source is primary and hence reliability is very high, though the photo copy could be a forge of the original and then it would not be as reliable. The letter exhibits the views which Britain has on the creation of a National Jewish state in Israel. The large middle section in inverted commas consists of the statement which has been devised and amended by the British Government and approved by the Cabinet (senate). The origin of this source is Britain, as the author is the Foreign Secretary of Britain (Balfour).

Source 5: Jewish National fund donation cans

This source is a photograph of various Jewish National Fund (JNF) donation cans from the early 20th Century. The donation cans were created by JNF for the Jews collecting money donations from people in the US, Britain and other countries. All of the cans have a picture relevant to the Jewish Culture or the creation of a state in Palestine. The can in the middle has a map of the region around Palestine and has a message in Hebrew on the bottom of the map. The can in the front centre has a hand putting a coin into the box with the Star of David (a traditional Jewish symbol and on the modern Israeli flag) on it also has a message in Hebrew on the top this denotes that the can is a donation to the Jewish people. The three cans (front right and left and back right) all have the Star of David. The can on the back left has the writing ‘Junior Blue Box Club’ which could an organization headed under the JNF, it also has (on the side) a picture of Jews raising the Israeli flag above their heads on land with a large spot light bearing down on them. The can on the front right represents a book of some sort most likely the old testament of the Bible, which is the Jewish bible. The JNF donation jars originated from various places where the JNF sought their donation.

Source 6: Translation of Napoleon Bonaparte's Letter to the Jews, 20 April 1799

“General Headquarters, Jerusalem 1st Floreal, April 20th, 1799, in the year of 7 of the French Republic

BUONAPARTE, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMIES OF THE FRENCH REPUBLICIN AFRICA AND ASIA, TO THE RIGHTFUL HEIRS OF PALESTINE. Israelites, unique nation, whom, in thousands of years, lust of conquest and tyranny have been able to be deprived of their ancestral lands, but not of name and national existence!

Attentive and impartial observers of the destinies of nations, even though not endowed with the gifts of seers like Isaiah and Joel, have long since also felt what these, with beautiful and uplifting faith, have foretold when they saw the approaching destruction of their kingdom and fatherland: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35, 10)

Arise then, with gladness, ye exiled! A war unexampled In the annals of history, waged in self-defence by a nation whose hereditary lands were regarded by its enemies as plunder to be divided, arbitrarily and at their convenience, by a stroke of the pen of Cabinets, avenges its own shame and the shame of the remotest nations, long forgotten under the yoke of slavery, and also, the almost two-thousand-year-old ignominy put upon you; and, while time and circumstances would seem to be least favourable to a restatement of your claims or even to their expression ,and indeed to be compelling their complete abandonment, it offers to you at this very time, and contrary to all expectations, Israel's patrimony!

The young army with which Providence has sent me hither, let by justice and

accompanied by victory, has made Jerusalem my head-quarters and will, within a few days, transfer them to Damascus, a proximity which is no longer terrifying to David's city.

Rightful heirs of Palestine!

The great nation which does not trade in men and countries as did those which sold your ancestors unto all people (Joel,4, 6) herewith calls on you not indeed to conquer your patrimony ;nay, only to take over that which has been conquered and, with that nation's warranty and support, to remain master of it to maintain it against all comers.

Arise! Show that the former overwhelming might of your oppressors has but repressed the courage of the descendants of those heroes who alliance of brothers would have done honour even to Sparta and Rome (Maccabees 12, 15) but that the two thousand years of treatment as slaves have not succeeded in stifling it.

Hasten !, Now is the moment, which may not return for thousands of years, to claim the restoration of civic rights among the population of the universe which had been shamefully withheld from you for thousands of years, your political existence as a nation among the nations, and the unlimited natural right to worship Jehovah in accordance with your faith, publicly and most probably forever (JoeI 4,20).”Source six is a letter from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Jews occupying Jerusalem on 20 April 1799. The reason Napoleon composed this letter may be from several reasons. As the letter states it is the seventh year of the French Empire, Napoleon may wanted to have some Jewish auxiliary units for his army and also an alliance with the Jewish race. The letter may have been composed to show that the French want the Jews out of mainland Europe and be put into Palestine, so the Arabs would have to deal with them, the notion for this is the continuance of encouragement to conquer the land back from the Arabs who had stole the land from them . The receivers of the letter are the Jewish people occupying Jerusalem and Palestine at the time (20 April 1799), it is addressed to ‘General Headquarters’ in Jerusalem. The letter mentions the fact that the Jews have wanted to take their once owned land of Israel (Palestine) back, into a Jewish nation. It then goes into depth about how they (the Jews) have stood strong and have survived, even though there land has been conquered. This is accompanied by the encouragement Napoleon Bonaparte emphasises, especially in the statement “Rightful heirs of Palestine”. As this is a translation of a primary source, the reliability is up to debate and also as there is no photo copy of the original it would be hard to determine whether or not this letter existed. The origin of the letter is from the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Source 7: United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 181 (see attached)Source seven is the UNGA resolution 181. The resolution was constructed in order to divide Palestine into equal portions for the Arabs and Jews to occupy the land to end the disputes occurring within the area of Palestine. This document would have been seen, amended and voted on by all the United Nations member nations’ delegates (unless a country boycotted the UNGA meeting). It is also relevant to all law abiding nations to be accordance with international law, so it is aimed at all government people in the member nations of the UN. This source is a primary source and thus highly reliable, though it may be a forged copy and include words which were not in the original. The resolution outlines the reasons behind the decision to split the land of Palestine into equal factions, it also declares which international laws affect the area and also what UN committee is in charge of the operation, in this case the UNGA. It also states what the current inhabitants of Palestine at the time have to do in order for the split to take place. In the second part, the resolution states what the

boundaries are for the Arab and Jews sections of Palestine, this ends up with the Jews owning 54% of the land and the Arabs having the other 46%. This uneven spread of land is due to the massive power the US has in the UN, many of the rules and regulations made in the resolution lean towards the Jewish. This entails that the source is bias against the Arab inhabitants of the land of Palestine and displays the US support for the foundation of a Jewish national state. The origin of the source is Geneva, where the UNGA meet annually.

Source 8: brief account on the independence of IsraelThe Road to Independence

Britain's inability to reconcile the conflicting demands of the Jewish and Arab communities led the British government to request that the 'Question of Palestine' be placed on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly (April 1947). As a result, a special committee was constituted to draft proposals concerning the country's future. On 29 November 1947, the Assembly voted to adopt the committee's recommendation to partition the land into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. The Jewish community accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it.

Following the UN vote, local Arab militants, aided by random volunteers from Arab countries, launched violent attacks against the Jewish community in an effort to frustrate the partition resolution and prevent the establishment of a Jewish state. After a number of setbacks, the Jewish defense organizations routed most of the attacking forces, taking hold of the entire area which had been allocated for the Jewish state.

On 14 May 1948, when the British Mandate came to an end, the Jewish population in the Land numbered some 650,000, comprising an organized community with well-developed political, social and economic institutions - in fact, a nation in every sense and a state in everything but name.

Source 8 is a secondary source taken from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, history of Israel. The intention of the source is to inform the general public from all countries, with access to the internet, a brief outline about how Israel gained independence. The source contains many key events which lead to the declaration of Israel as a sovereign country. The first paragraph outlines the UNGAs decision to split the land into equal sections, one half for the Jews and the other for the Arabs. The second contains information that the Arabs revolted against the decision to divide the land and mentions how the Arabs resided to violence against the Jewish community. The final paragraph mentions the date of the declaration of the independent state of Israel (14 May 1948) and a broad overview of the situation the Jews were in at the time. The source also includes, on the left side, a quote made by an anonymous person, a photo of Jews celebrating in Tel Aviv and the Partition map from the UN resolution 181. The source is very brief and only outlines certain events, the events it does not mention include the Israeli treatment and forced Palestinian removal done by the Jewish armed forces. With this and the highlighting of the violent attacks made by the Arabs, we can conclude it is bias towards the Jewish cause as it mentions no sympathy towards the Palestinians and slightly distorts the reality of the IDF taking the allocated Jewish state, where they took everything except the Gaza Strip and West Bank, which are Palestinian territories. As this is only a brief account on Israel and has bias in it, we can only state it as an opinion, though the dates are correct. The source was composed by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and originated in Israel.

Source 9: Arab political cartoon

Source nine is a popular political cartoon used by the Arabs. The Arabs produced these anti-Jewish cartoons for propaganda in the Arab nations. Theses anti Jewish cartoons all included the Star of David with a dictation to death or something similar. These cartoons would have been displayed in Arab newspapers and been viewed by the readers of the Arab newspapers. This source displays an opinion and hence is only reliable for the opinion of the cartoonist or political reporter, though it does represent the political situation of the time. The cartoon context is a Star of David made by piles of skulls with a fat, sweaty Jewish person in the middle eating meat with a bone in his hand. The use of the skulls in the Star of David associates death with the Jewish race and may bring a through a though of tyranny, comparing them to the Nazi regime. This cartoon originated in the Arabic newspapers, most likely in Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Jordan.

Source 10: Information on the Bombing of the King David Hotel

The Bombing of the King David Hotel

The King David Hotel was the site of the British military command and the British Criminal Investigation Division. The Irgun chose it as a target after British troops invaded the Jewish Agency June 29, 1946, and confiscated large quantities of documents. At about the same time, more than 2,500 Jews from all over Palestine were placed under arrest. The information

about Jewish Agency operations, including intelligence activities in Arab countries, was taken to the King David Hotel.

A week later, news of a massacre of 40 Jews in a pogrom in Poland reminded the Jews of Palestine how Britain's restrictive immigration policy had condemned thousands to death.

Irgun leader Menachem Begin stressed his desire to avoid civilian casualties and said three telephone calls were placed, one to the hotel, another to the French Consulate, and a third to the Palestine Post, warning that explosives in the King David Hotel would soon be detonated.

On July 22, 1946, the calls were made. The call into the hotel was apparently received and ignored. Begin quotes one British official who supposedly refused to evacuate the building, saying: "We don't take orders from the Jews."1 As a result, when the bombs exploded, the casualty toll was high: a total of 91 killed and 45 injured. Among the casualties

were 15 Jews. Few people in the hotel proper were injured by the blast.2

In contrast to Arab attacks against Jews, which were widely hailed as heroic actions, the Jewish National Council denounced the bombing of the King David.3

For decades the British denied they had been warned. In 1979, however, a member of the British Parliament introduced evidence that the Irgun had indeed issued the warning. He offered the testimony of a British officer who heard other officers in the King David Hotel bar joking about a Zionist threat to the headquarters. The officer who overheard the conversation immediately left the hotel and survived.4

 

Notes

1. Menachem Begin, The Revolt, (NY: Nash Publishing, 1977), p. 224.

2. J. Bowyer Bell, Terror Out Of Zion, (NY: St. Martin's Press), p. 172.

3. Anne Sinai and I. Robert Sinai, Israel and the Arabs: Prelude to the Jewish State, (NY: Facts on File, 1972), p. 83.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu, ed., "International Terrorism: Challenge And Response," Proceedings of the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism, July 25, 1979, (Jerusalem: The Jonathan Institute, 1980), p. 45.

  Photo Credit: Israeli Government National Photo Collection

This source contains a brief overview of the bombing on the King David hotel on 22 July 1946. The source was created to inform the viewers of the website about the bombing of the King David hotel. This is a secondary source and hence the reliability is debatable, the dates and use of other sources provide validation and justification to the information presented in the source. The source contains a brief overview of the event. The first paragraph provides us with some helpful background knowledge associated to the reasoning of the bombing. The second paragraph states a catalyst for the event (‘news of a pogrom in Poland’) and provides a rough figure (‘40 dead Jews’). The third and fourth paragraphs provide us with information leading up to the bombing and the bombing itself. The fourth paragraph provides us with the figures of the casualties (91 dead and 45 injured). The last paragraph sums up the event with an account of a survivor. The source builds up on sympathy towards the Jews, with the ultimate being the quote “We don’t take orders from Jews.” This creates a justification towards the attack and has a bias towards the Jewish favour. This source is from a Jewish website and probably originated from Israel.

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