Jewish Persecution and Israel's Formation

Assess the extent to which persecution of Jews in Europe led to the creation of the state of Israel. Indicative content During the 19th century, Jews in Eastern Europe faced growing persecution. An independent Jewish national movement first began to emerge in the Russian Empire. In 1896 Theodor Herzl asserted that establishing a Jewish state was the solution to growing antisemitism in Europe. In 1897, the Zionist Organisation was founded with the aim ‘to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine’. However, Zionism was regarded with suspicion by the Ottoman rulers and was unable to make major progress. Between 1904 and 1914, around 40 000 Jews settled in the area now known as Israel. Persecution had resulted in many Jews fleeing to Palestine and the Zionist movement spent many years building the political and economic infrastructure for an eventual Jewish state. However, the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust meant that many Jews in the diaspora who had previously been opposed to Zionism were convinced of the need for Jewish statehood. This led many diaspora Jews, especially those in the United States, to become vocal advocates of the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. American Jews also provided much-needed money and arms to Jews in Palestine to help them develop and defend such a state. The mass mobilisation of American Jewry in support of Jewish statehood after World War II undoubtedly played a role in persuading the US government to support the partition of Palestine in the UN vote in November 1947, and then to immediately recognise the State of Israel after it was declared. President Truman was concerned about winning the influential Jewish vote in the presidential election of November 1948, and he was subjected to intense lobbying by American Jewish Zionists. American public opinion was deeply affected by the Holocaust, and consequently the United States became more supportive of Jewish statehood in its aftermath. President Truman showed genuine sympathy for Jewish suffering in the Holocaust and for the plight of Jewish Holocaust survivors. However, US foreign policy was driven by the need to resettle up to 250 000 Jewish refugees and displaced persons in Europe and by a desire to avoid a war in Palestine that might destabilise the Middle East and be exploited by the USSR. Some American policymakers also expected a Jewish state to be democratic and pro-Western. In the context of the emerging Cold War US strategic interests shaped American foreign policy more than humanitarian concerns for Holocaust survivors. The British opposed Jewish statehood: they wished to maintain good relations with Arab states whose plentiful oil supplies they needed. Palestine had been under the control of the British since 1917 and formally became a British mandate of the League of Nations in 1923. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 had stated that Britain favoured a national home for the Jewish people but did not want to prejudice the rights of non-Jewish communities. In 1945 the British confirmed that there would be no increase in immigration and no separate Jewish state. The Zionists, however, were convinced that they had international public opinion on their side and decided on a policy of active opposition to British rule in Palestine. After the war they made use of propaganda and lobbied members of the US government and Congress. The British government, unable to reach an agreement, referred the problem to the United Nations in 1947 and announced it would withdraw from Palestine on 18 May 1948. It was this decision to withdraw and relinquish control that enabled the UN decision on partition.