On Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and injured 5,431 more. In retaliation, the Israeli government killed 47,450 Palestinians and injured 111,618 more. The attack on October 7 brought the Israel-Palestine conflict back into the world spotlight, and for many, it was their first time hearing about the issue. Though the history of the conflict began over 100 years ago, I have found that many make overhasty decisions when it comes to picking a side. People base these decisions on how the current conflict is depicted on our screens and in the news, without taking the time to research how and why the conflict became what it is today. 

A few months ago, I was scrolling through TikTok when a video popped up on my “For You” page. In the video, Palestinian protesters at Columbia University were asked to define Zionism, and they often did not know how to answer. In all fairness, neither did I. So, I did what any self-respecting history major would do and googled the definition. Though I did not know it at the time, that Google search would lead me down the biggest historical rabbit hole I had ever fallen in. I was Alice; JSTOR and YouTube were my wonderland. 

Though the history of the Israel-Palestine issue is extensive, and while there are many aspects worth considering, what shocked me most was how interlaced the escalation in conflict was with the British Empire. In the early 20th century, the British Empire decided — without consulting the Palestinian people — to involve itself in Palestine for its own personal gain. For 40 years, the British manipulated, lied and employed violence against the people in the region, eventually abandoning them entirely when the faulty systems and solutions they set up inevitably began to fail. It was the British who used violence as their solution, teaching the people of Palestine and Israel to do the same. To better understand what led the British to Palestine, we must begin our journey with the creation of Zionism. 

Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, playwright, writer and political activist, was the creator of Zionism: “a movement to recreate the Jewish presence in Israel.” Herzl acknowledged that Jewish people wanted a land of their own where they could be free from persecution and enjoy a shared culture with other Jews. In his 1896 work, “Der Judenstaat,” Herzl argued that the Jewish homeland should be in Palestine; after all, Israel is considered the holy land for the Jewish people. 

In August 1897, the first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland. During this Congress, no explanation was given for what a “home” in Palestine would look like for either Jewish immigrants or the Palestinian people who already lived there. Less than one month after the Basel Congress, Herzl wrote in his diary: “If I were to sum up the Basel Congress in a single phrase – which I would not dare make public – I would say: in Basel I created the Jewish State.” 

At the time, Palestine was still under the control of the Ottoman Empire, and Herzl knew this. Herzl went to Sultan Abdulhamid II and tried to bribe him. He proposed the idea that Jews should be allowed to colonize Palestine in exchange for a Jewish syndicate consolidating the tremendous amount of Ottoman debt that was destroying the economy of Turkey. Though the offer was tempting, the Sultan rejected it, saying, “I cannot sell even a foot of land, for it does not belong to me, but to my people. We must have no illusions about Zionism. Although the speakers at the Congress dwelled upon vague generalities, the Zionists aimed at the formation of a great Jewish state in Palestine.” Many years later, the Sultan’s words came true. 

In 1917, the Ottoman Empire fell, placing Palestine under British control. British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote to Baron Rothschild, a wealthy Jewish and British banker. The letters exchanged between the two state that “his Majesty” was in favor of establishing a home for the Zionists in Palestine. 

You may be wondering why the British cared about Zionism. After all, Britain in the 20th century is not exactly known for its kindness or advancement of human rights. So, why would the British Foreign Secretary promise the support of the British to the Zionist cause? 

In 1917, WWI was raging, and the Allied Powers desperately needed money to continue their fight. In agreeing to support the Zionist goal, they received heavy financial aid from the Rothschilds, the wealthiest banking family at the time in Great Britain. The British did not care about the Zionist cause. All they cared about was who could fund their war. 

However, there were two big issues with the Balfour Declaration. The British were able to overthrow the Ottoman Empire only with the help of Arab leader Sharif Hussein’s forces. In return, Hussein was promised that Palestine would be an Arab state. Meanwhile, Britain also promised the French that Britain and France would share Palestine to maintain equal proximity to the Suez Canal. In essence, the British used Palestine as political, economical and military leverage without any regard for the people living there, or with any intent of keeping all of their contradictory promises.

Before the Balfour Declaration, Jewish people made up only 8% of the Palestinian population. By 1931, they made up 17%. Fleeing persecution during the pogroms in Russia and Ukraine, many Jewish people sought refuge in Palestine. By 1936, they comprised 28% of the population. Tensions rose, and Palestinian-Arab nationalism began to swell. The Great Revolt of 1936–1939 erupted, but Britain crushed it by declaring Martial Law in 1937 and sending 100,000 troops, in the typical way of violent, disinterested colonizers. 

Britain eventually tired of the escalating conflict, after all, they only wanted to aid the Zionists because the Rothschild’s finances were the difference between losing and winning WWI. The British drafted the White Paper of 1939, proposing a Jewish homeland while also recognizing Arab Palestinians as the dominant group in Palestine. The Paper also restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine, which greatly angered Zionists. 

In response to the White Paper, three Zionist militias formed a resistance movement against the British and aided illegal Jewish immigration. In 1946, the Irgun militia bombed the King David Hotel in Tel Aviv, which served as the British headquarters during the mandate, killing 91 people. Their target: documents seized by the British during Operation Agatha, which detailed how dangerous Jewish resistance groups were. This was the straw that broke the disinterested British camel’s back.

In 1947, Britain handed Palestine over to the United Nations (U.N.). The U.N. proposed splitting Palestine into two states, with an international zone around Jerusalem. Zionists accepted it, Arabs resisted it, but the UN passed it anyway. 

Jewish people, who made up about 30% of Palestine’s population at the time, were given 54% of the land. In response to the Resolution, Palestinian militias attacked what was designated as the Jewish State. Israel, aided by British military training and weapons, held their ground and then pushed back. 

During the Arab Israeli War, 700,000 Palestinian Arabs either fled or were expelled from their homes. This displacement became known as the Nakba, which is Arabic for “catastrophe.” 

By 1949, Israel controlled 60% of what had been allocated to the Arab state. By 1950, 250,000 Jewish people had immigrated to Palestine. Fighting continued through the Six-Day War in 1967, where Israel gained control of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, as well as parts of Egypt and Syria. The war left Israel with 700 casualties and Arab states with 20,000. Failed peace attempts, the Oslo Accords, ceasefires and multiple rounds of infighting followed this, continuing into the present day.

The root of the Israel-Palestine conflict was not religious hatred, nor innate hostility between Jewish and Muslim people, the root was colonial interference. 

Under the Ottoman Empire, Jewish people lived side by side with their Muslim neighbors. They were taxed higher, but they enjoyed many of the same rights as Muslim citizens. It sounds unbelievable now, but once upon a time in Palestine, Jewish and Muslim people coexisted peacefully. All the violence perpetrated by Zionists or Palestinian Muslims can be traced back to the mishandling of the land and people living there under the British Mandate. 

The British had no real interest in the well-being of Palestinians, they cared only for their own interests and the acquisition of power. They only supported Zionism when it benefited British financial and military interests. They stood by Palestinians until pressure from Zionist made them back off. When they got tired of the anger on both sides, they passed off the problem to the equally disinterested U.N. 

It was the carelessness of the British Empire that amplified tensions between Jewish and Arab groups in Palestine. Negligence and disinterest on the part of the British Empire were the flame that started the wildfire of violence that continues to burn the people in Palestine today.