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[[File: Hachshara.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Jewish settlers in Palestine in the 1920s]]
==Balfour Declaration and the state of Israel==
Zionists during the Ottoman period had begun to emigrate to Palestine, in what is known as the Aliyah or the return. In general, the Jewish emigrants had co-existed with their neighbors. The two communities tended to live separate existences with little interactions between them and even less understanding. This changed with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in 1918<ref> Ben-Ami, Shlomo. Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p 201</ref>. The British under the mandate from the League of Nations established the political entity of Palestine that corresponds to the modern state of Israel. This aroused Arab fears. The British established a political and bureaucratic system in the region and it became part of their Empire. In general, the British officials were sympathetic to the Jews and were biased in their favor. The Balfour Declaration meant that the British administration in Palestine had to support the Jewish community and any Jewish emigrants who wanted to settle in the area. Because of the Balfour Declaration , any Jew who wished could come from any area of the globe and settle in Palestine. As a result, many Muslim areas such as Haifa came to have a predominantly Jewish population <ref> Goren, Tamir (2004). The Judaization of Haifa at the Time of the Arab Revolt. Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 40, Issue 4 July, pp. 135–152 </ref>. The British made several concessions to the Jews. Hebrew was accorded equal status with Arabic in the government. The British government tended to employ more Jews than Muslims. The Balfour Declaration encouraged many Jews to settle in Palestine as they believed that the declaration of a Jewish state was imminent. Many Jews fleeing the Russian Civil War settled in Palestine<ref>Ben-Ami, p. 213</ref>. These joined the existing Jewish community and together to established settlements, farms , and Kibbutz, these are communal farms. Soon there was a thriving Jewish community and by 1939 the Jews were one -third of the population of the region. The numbers of Jews though small grew rapidly and the developed prosperous and resilient Jewish communities. These were very important in the foundation of the Jewish state. The settlers who came to Palestine, in the Second Aliyah formed the nucleus of the state of modern Israel. If the Balfour Declaration had not encouraged and facilitated Jewish emigration, then there may not have been any state of Israel<ref>Gelvin, p.123</ref>. [[File: Balfour One.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Arab demonstrators being arrested during the Arab Revolt]]
==Jewish-Arab conflict==
The Balfour Declaration raised tensions in Palestine and many local Christians and Muslims resented the Jews. Almost immediately there was a series of outbreaks of sectarian violence. There were anti-Jewish riots in several Palestinian towns and cities. This did not stop the Jews from settlings in Palestine and the British under the terms of the Balfour Declaration were committed to the creation of a Jewish homeland. This meant that the London government ordered that the military and the colonial authorities do everything in their power to protect the Jews from Arab attacks. The Balfour Declaration meant that the British army were the de-facto protectors of the Jewish settlement and without this support the survival of the emigrants would have been doubtful. This inflamed the Palestinians even more and after riots in Jerusalem in the mid-1930s, there erupted a full-scale Arab Revolt (1936-1939). The Balfour Declaration meant that the Arabs came to see the Jews as a favored group who were stealing their lands with the assistance of the British. This led to a complete breakdown in the relationship between the Jews and the Palestinians. The Balfour Declaration was in many ways to result in a rupture between Palestinians and Hebrews which has not been healed to this day. It could be argued that the Declaration of 1917 was to lead to a century of Jewish-Arab conflict that has destabilized not only the Middle East but the world<ref>Ben-Ami, p. 134</ref>.
