WWII

ALLIES                                            AXIS

Britain (1939)                                   Germany

France (occupied 1940)                   Japan

USSR  (June 1941)                         Austria

US  (Dec 1941)                                Romania

China (1930s)

Middle East:

Turkey: neutral

Egypt: base for Britain

Iran: occupied 1941, Britain, USSR; 1942 US

Lebanon: occupied, Britain 1941, Free French (deGaulle) control

Syria: occupied, Britain, 1941, Free French control

Iraq: occupied, Britain, 1941

Palestine: Jewish volunteers for Allied side, continuing British control

Transjordan: continuing British control

Bosphorus Straights

US involvement: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine

Founding of Israel

Yishuv

Haganah

Revisionists

Irgun, Stern

Iz al-Din al-Qassam

Uprising 1936-1939

1940-44 Yishuv policy toward British: support and attack

1945 Jewish refugee issue

1944-1947 Yishuv vs. Britain

Partition Plans

United Nations

Arab League 1944

1946 Independence of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan

November 1947 to May 1948  Yishuv vs. Palestinians

Plan D

May 14 1948 Britain withdrew, Israel declares independence

May 15: Arab attack. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia plus volunteers vs. Israel

May 1948 to January 1949: Arabs vs. Israel.  Gaza under Egyptian control; West Bank and old city Jerusalem under Jordanian control.

Palestinian Refugee issue:  about 700,000 refugees (many in Gaza, West Bank) Jordan, Lebanon, fewer in Syria, Egypt, Iraq.  Beginnings of Arab labor migration to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

David Ben Gurion

A state for Jews, vs. a Jewish state (religious and secular visions of the state of Israel)

1949 armistice: Palestinians can return.  1948 UN resolution 194: refugees can return.

1950 Israeli decisions on refugees: who is a citizen of Israel?

1952 Middle Eastern Jews start to immigrate

Ashkenazi, Sephardic/ Mizrahi; new internal issues for Israel