31 January 2011, British Empire and the Zionist, Palestinian Conflict

 

Dr James Renton

Dr Renton said that in 1917 when the British were appointed Trustees of Palestine under the League of Nations after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, they inherited a difficult situation.
From Balfour to Bevin 1917 – 1948 the history of Palestine is viewed very differently by historians of the opposing groups. Zionists who were in the minority in 1917 felt betrayed by the British who in the Balfour Declaration pledged to facilitate a national home, aid Jewish immigration and land settlement, and blame Bevin for his anti semitic attitude in 1948 when the British supported the Arabs at the beginning of the Cold War. Palestinians on the other hand felt there was Anglo-Zionist colonial collusion (Europeans versus Arabs) in encouraging Jewish settlement in Palestine and the civil and religious rights of non Jewish people were not protected.
The Zionist -Palestinian conflict was firmly established when the state of Israel was formed in 1948.