Transcript israeliwwii - James Island Charter High School

WWII Begins
• The 1939 White Paper
appeared just after the German
invasion of Czechoslovakia in
March and Italy’s conquest of
Albania in April.
• Germany invaded Poland on
Sept. 1, officially starting
WWII
• 1939 British White Paper put
the future of Palestine on ice
during WWII, land transfers to
Jews halted, immigration over 5
years to be held at 75,000
German Troops enter Poland
War in the Middle East
• British position tense at
beginning of war:
• Italians in Libya pose threat to
Egypt and Palestine
• British face air and sea attack
• Suez became main supply
depot for British in Egypt.
• Palestine served as training
area for troops.
• Haifa becomes major oil outlet
after pipeline linked to Iraq in
June 1940.
• The Suez Zone - Persian Gulf
connection across Palestine,
Transjordan, and Iraq crucial for
British.
British in Palestine
War in the Middle East
• In spring of 1941 Rommel
drives British forces back in N.
Africa.
• Iraqi prime minister Rashid Ali
al-Gaylani encircled British and
called for German aid.
• British able to secure Iraq,
P.M. and Mufti of Jerusalem flee
to Germany.
Erwin Rommel
Hajj Amin al-Husayni
Iraqi Troops in WWII
Lebanon and Syria
• After Germany took France in 1940, the
mandates of Syria and Lebanon were uncertain
• German agents flocked to the Mandates to
prepare them for German control, yet nationalists
had no interest - pushed for independence
• Riots ensued due to economic difficulty
• British, Free French and Arab Legion invaded
French mandates in June 1940, resistance strong,
but they eventually overcame the Nazis in the
region
• French wanted to maintain control but could not
• 1944 the Soviet union and U.S. gave full
diplomatic recognition to the two states, who
then declared war on Germany and became
charter members of U.N.
Independence of
Lebanon
British, French, Arabs, Jews
• To gain Arab support in Syria,
Anthony Eden declared the British
would support Arab unity,
including postwar independence for
Syria.
• This infuriated both the French
and the Zionists.
• As threat receded in the M.E.,
Zionists militarily cooperated with
British, while working to
undermine the 1939 White Paper.
• Ben Gurion stated: “For us the White
Anthony Eden
paper neither exists nor can exist. We must
behave as if we were the State of
Palestine…”
David Ben-Gurion
Jewish Immigration in WWII
• Before 1939 W.P. Zionist leaders
stepped up illegal immigration.
(11,156 out of 27,561)
• When war began efforts to
transfer refugees intensified - leads
to conflict with Britain.
• British place illegal immigrants in
internment camps, so Jews try to
flood country with refugees
• British then send refugees to
island of Mauritius, and encourage
countries such as Turkey to deny
them transit.
• Leads to “war within a war”
between Jews and British.
Jews Entering Palestine
Jewish Immigration in WWII
• In Nov. 1940 about 1,700 refugees were
intercepted by the British and placed on
the SS Patria in Port of Haifa for
deportation.
• The Haganah placed a bomb near the hull
in order to disable the ship, thus allowing
the Jews to stay.
• Instead, the blast sunk the ship, causing
over 200 casualties.
• Zionist propaganda blamed the British,
which led the British cabinet to allow the
refugees to stay
• Dec. 1941, the Struma with 769 Jews
stopped by Turks due to British pressure.
Negotiations lasted 2 months until the
Turks sent it back out to sea where it sank,
with one survivor.
• The Zionists blamed the British.
SS Patria
The Struma
The Jewish Division
• British encouraged both Arabs
and Jews of Palestine to act as
auxilaries in British units.
• Chaim Weizmann proposed to the
British that they allow the creation
of an independent Jewish Division,
with the Jewish Agency identified
with the mobilization.
• This was correctly perceived as a
political move towards
independence and to enhance
Jewish claims after the war.
• Churchill supported the idea, but
not approved by government until
1944.
Weizmann
The Jewish Division: Motives
• The Zionists wished to be prepared for
situation after war.
• Jewish division gave members of Haganah
opportunity to gain greater military experience
and to gain access to British arms.
• Haganah agents carried out numerous raids
to steal arms from depots in Palestine with the
help of Jewish soldiers.
• Jewish soldiers in Europe stole arms and
shipped them back to Haganah leaders in
Palestine.
• British aware, but could do little at the time.
• British raids brought open Jewish resistance.
• British believed that Zionist leadership was
claiming the right to arm in the face of British
authority in order to oppose it.
Haganah Troops
The Biltmore Conference
• Held at Biltmore Hotel in NYC, May 1942
• Conference aimed at uniting American
Jewish organizations for fund raising and
political activity on behalf of Zionist goals.
• The resolutions passed by the conference
called for:
• Opening Jewish immigration (foreseeing a
rush of refugees after war.)
• The Jewish Agency granted control of
immigration, and the authority to develop
Palestine.
• After the war Palestine should “be
established as a Jewish Commonwealth
integrated in the structure of the new
democratic world.”
• Conference very successful at gaining
support, especially after news of Holocaust
spread
Biltmore Conference
The Biltmore Conference
• After the Conference:
• Books and leaflets sent to members of
congress
• Calls for financial aid
• Christian organizations convinced to
back the call for a Jewish state in
Palestine - received Zionist subsidies
• Gained support for calling upon the U.S.
government to oppose the 1939 W.P.
• Failures of the Conference:
• U.S. government opposed the idea of
receiving Jewish immigrants en mass, nor
would they exert efforts to find havens for
them. - controversy regarding motives.
• Conference also led to rift between BenGurion and Weizmann.
Jewish Refugees Leaving Germany
The Holocaust
• Estimated that between 5-6 Million
Jews put to death
• Add other groups: Roma, Soviets,
POWs, ethnic Poles, Slavic peoples,
disabled, mentally impaired, gay men,
Jehovahs’ Witnesses, freemasons total dead: 11 Million
• Ideology
• “Night of Broken Glass”
• Jews encouraged to leave Germany
• Borders closed
• Ghettoes
• Concentration camps
• “Open air shootings”
A member of Einsatzgruppe D is
about to shoot a man sitting by a
mass grave
The White Paper: 1942-1945
• By 1942 Britain reconsidering
position on White Paper
• Must keep access to Port of Haifa,
Haifa-Baghdad road, Haifa-Kirkuk oil
pipeline, and military installations to
protect their interests.
• Wanted to control issue due to
success of Zionist propaganda in the
U.S. and potential rivalry concerning
oil after the war.
• Churchill wanted to push alternatives
to the White Paper, including a
partition plan.
• Anthony Eden and others were
opposed to changes.
Churchill During WWII
The White Paper: 1942-1945
• In September of 1943 final discussion began in
Britain regarding policy in Palestine.
• Good news for Weizmann, White Paper
unofficially suspended, and Britain had vetoed
U.S. push to place Palestine under U.N. control
after war.
• Before partition officially approved, LEHI
assassinated Lord Moyne, deputy minister of state
for Middle Eastern Affairs in Cairo.
• Moyne close friend of Churchill, so shelved
partition, stating: “if our dreams for Zionism are to
end in the smoke of assassin’s pistols and our labours
for its future to produce only a new set of gangsters
worthy of Nazi Germany, many like myself will have to
reconsider the position we have maintained so
consistently in the past.”
• Churchill never discussed the issue of Partition
again, but his warning to Zionists leadership
caused them to stop underground activities.
Lord Moyne
The Rise of Jewish Terrorism
• Upon the British declaration of the White
Paper, revisionist terrorist groups, such as
the Irgun, led by Jabotinsky, shifted their
focus from Arabs to the British.
• They began attacking British
administrative buildings, police, and
bombing popular gathering spots.
• When WWII began, Jabotisnky called on
revisionists to support the British war
effort against the Nazis.
• Most of the Irgun complied, but a small
faction led by Avraham Stern refused, and
continued its attacks on the British in
Palestine.
• This group emerged as “the Stern gang.”
Stern
The Rise of Jewish Terrorism
• Not only did the Stern Gang attack the British,
they continued attacks on Arabs, as well as
Jewish banks in order to gain needed funding
for their operations.
• Stern also contacted German and Italian
representatives in Lebanon and offered his
services against the British in Palestine for the
remainder of the war.
• He also attempted to get Jewish refugees sent
from Germany to Palestine.
• It is unclear which was his greater motive
• As a result, the Stern Gang was condemned by
both the Haganah and Irgun, who then gave the
British information leading them to Stern.
• Stern was killed in a British raid in Feb. 1942
Cover Letter for Stern’s
offer to the Nazis
The Rise of Jewish Terrorism
• There was little Jewish underground activity
from mid 1942 to the beginning of 1944.
• Leaders of Stern Gang dead or in prison
• Jabotinsky had been exiled by the British and
died in New York - thus Irgun lacked direction.
• Leadership of the Irgun passed to Menachem
Begin in April 1942, who saw himself as heir to
Jabotinsky’s revisionist ideals.
• The surviving members of the Stern Gang
reorganized under the name LEHI (Lohamei
Herut Israel) “Fighters for the freedom of
Israel.”
• Both organizations began preparing for new
round of attacks against the British due to issues
of refugee ships and a growing awareness of the
Holocaust.
• The two groups decided to join forces under
Begin, who was now joined by Nathan YellinMor and Yitzhak Shamir
Irgun Poster with Irgun Crest
LEHI
The Rise of Jewish Terrorism
• Both LEHI and Irgun demanded all original
Palestine, Transjordan and parts of southern
Lebanon and Syria
• LEHI resumed its assassinations of British
officials, civilian and military
• Begin directed the Irgun to bomb only civilian
installations
• November 1944 LEHI assassinated Lord Moyne,
the deputy minister of state for Middle Eastern
Affairs in Cairo, but failed an attempt in October
against Sir Harold MacMichael, high
commissioner in Palestine
• Pressure from the Haganah and the Jewish
Agency force Irgun and LEHI underground due to
British pressure after Lord Moyne’s assassination.
• The Haganah mainly went after the Irgun, but
Begin never retaliated, which gave it credibility
among the Jewish populace.
LEHI and Irgun
Assassination and bombing
Arab Leadership 1939-1945
• The Arab Higher Committee had collapsed in
1939 with many of its leaders in exile.
• The Mufti was banned from the country after
his escape to Lebanon. He then went to
Baghdad.
• The British sought his approval for the White
Paper, fearing his ability to arouse Arab
hostility.
• The Mufti rejected the proposal, and allied
himself with the anti-British Iraqi rebellion in
1941
• When the rebellion failed, he managed to
again escape to Iran, then to Italy, and finally
Germany.
The Mufti of Jerusalem in Germany
And with Hitler
Arab Leadership 1939-1945
November 2, 1943 Himmler's telegram to Mufti:
"To the Grand Mufti: The National Socialist
movement of Greater Germany has, since its
inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the
world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular
sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs,
especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In
the recognition of this enemy and of the common
struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the
natural alliance that exists between the National
Socialist Greater Germany and the freedom-loving
Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am
sending you on the anniversary of the infamous
Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes
for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the
final victory.
Signed: Reichsfuehrer S.S. Heinrich Himmler"
Arab Leadership 1939-1945
• Other members of the Higher Committee were
allowed back into Palestine with a promise not
to engage in overt political activity.
• Although the Mufti called for rebellion in
Palestine, and the Axis powers continually fed
propaganda into the region, Palestine remained
calm.
• Allied military personnel
• Disruption of Arab leadership
• Those Arab leaders still in Palestine began
to cooperate with the British and cautiously
with the White Paper.
• Time of Arab economic prosperity due
to demand of goods and services for
Allied military.
The Mufti of Jerusalem
Arab Leadership 1939-1945
• By the end of the war in Europe in 1945, two
Arab political power bases had emerged.
• There were significant differences between the
two, and neither were acceptable to the Zionists
• The Istiqlal - gained widespread respect for
combating Zionism during the war
• called for strict implementation of the White
Paper, including the existence of a Jewish
National Home composed of those Jews then in
Palestine
• Zionist still against them because they wanted
unlimited immigration and a Jewish state with
Jews as the majority
• The Palestine Arab Party - The most
powerful political voice in Palestine
• Called for dissolution of the Jewish National
Home and the creation of an Arab government
in charge of the entire country
• Rejected Jewish presence beyond that of 1917
• Analogous to the calls of LEHI and Irgun.
Fakhri Nashashibi of Istiqlal
Jamal al-Husseini of PAP
Arab Leadership 1939-1945
• The division between Palestinian
leadership meant that real leadership
and representation of the Palestinian
cause devolved once more to heads of
neighboring Arab regimes.
• Most Arab nations were in consensus
regarding Palestine and sought to
encourage a unified Palestinian front to
strengthen the Arab stance, but to no
avail.
• Such a unified stance would have
created the impression of a Palestinian
Arab polity with its own leadership
instead of a cause advocated by
surrogates from neighboring countries.
Abdullah
Forouk
Ibn Saud
The Alexandria Protocol
• Arab heads of state met in Alexandria
Egypt in Oct. 1944 and issued the
Alexandria Protocol.
• This called for the formation of a
league of Arab states that could
coordinate political and commercial
activities and goals.
• The League of Arab states was formed
in March of 1945, based on the
recommendations of The Protocol.
League of Arab States
The Alexandria Protocol
• Another central issue of The
Alexandria Protocol was Palestine.
• The Protocol stated:
“Palestine constitutes an important part of the Arab
world that the rights of the Palestinian cannot be
touched without prejudice to peace and stability in
the Arab world…
The Committee also declares that it is second to
none in regretting the woes that have been inflicted
upon the Jews of Europe by European dictatorial
states. But the question of these Jews should not be
confused with Zionism, for there can be no greater
injustice and aggression than solving the problem
of the Jews of Europe by another injustice, that is,
by inflicting injustice on the Palestinian Arabs of
various religions and denominations.”
The Alexandria Protocol
• The Arab league allowed a Palestinian
Arab representative even though it was
not a state.
• League used by Arab leaders as a way
of representing the Palestinian Arab
case before the Western world, and to
counter Zionist goals.
• Ibn Saud met with F.D.R. in 1945, at
which time Roosevelt promised him
that no steps would be taken in
Palestine without consultation with
Arab leaders.
• Promise meant little - F.D.R. died later
that year, and Truman had his own ideas
about Palestine.
Impact of WWII on Middle East
• League of Arab States (Arab League) formed in May
1945
• One of the chief consequences of WWII for the entire
M.E. was the exhaustion of the political, military, and
economic strength of Britain and France
• Both were eventually forced to withdraw from their
imperial control of most of the M.E.
• The two new superpowers, the U.S. and USSR, then
extended their political and military influence
throughout the ME region
• The preeminent economic and cultural role of the US
in the world gradually became clear to the peoples of
the ME
• Competition between the U.S. and USSR first
affected Turkey and Iran. The Cold war became the
chief external factor influencing the nationalists of the
Middle East in the years after the defeat of Germany,
Italy and Japan