Question

analyze the role of the Balfour declaration on Israeli rebirth in 1948 and it's effectiveness in helping Jewish people in their quest to reclaim their ancient homeland

Answer 1

Israel became a nation around 1300 BCE, 2000 years before the rise of Islam. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for 1000 years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3300years (Science.co.il, 2019). About 2000 years ago, the Romans conquered Jerusalem, and the Jews were expelled and dispersed to Diaspora, and the land of Israel was under the rule of Rome, Christian, and Islamic crusaders, by British and Ottoman Empires. Over the centuries, the Jews prayed to return from Diaspora to Israel, and it was in the first half of the 20th century there were significant waves of migration of the Jews from the Arab countries and Europe to Israel (Science.co.il, 2019). Over the years in Israel's history, there have been tensions between the Jews and Arab Muslims. Currently, the conflict revolves around the occupation of Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, and West Bank. With the Jews return, a war broke in 1948, and with the intervention of the UN, Israel has declared an independent state, an event that also marked the beginning of more violence with the Arabs (Duiker, 2015).

The Jews re-established their sovereignty over their ancient homeland with the establishment of the modern state of Israel. The Balfour declaration of 1917 expressed support by the British government for a Jewish homeland in Palestine (Duiker, 2015). It was then that the British began to facilitate the migration of the European Jews to Palestine. Later after the WW2, Britain was unable to find a practical solution and referred the problem to the UN and in November 1947 voted to partition Palestine (History.com, 2019) As a result, by 1948, the Jews had secured full control of their UN allocated share of Palestine and some Arab territory.