The origins of Arab-Jewish hostility

When the settlement of Jews in Palestine came to the agenda with the end of the First World War, far from there being opposition from the Arab world, many Arab notables had welcomed this development with enthusiasm.

Arabs generally placed Jews in a different category from Western peoples.

Like the peoples of the Middle East, Jews had also suffered greatly from Western fascism and had been subjected to humiliation for many years.

Arabs simply considered Jews as “partners in fate.” Sharif Hussein, the leader of the Hashemite clan who spearheaded the Arab Revolt, and his son Faisal, considering this common ground, thought that they would form a Semitic alliance with the Jews against the Western world.

In addition to this, the Hashemites estimated that Jewish capital would also flow into Palestine along with Jewish immigration.

Palestine, like the rest of the Middle East, had been neglected for years, and the infrastructure of this region, which had been thoroughly worn down by the war, was in a deplorable state. However, with immense financial resources, the region could be made truly livable, and unlike the British, who viewed the Middle East simply as a colony, the wealthy Jews who came to settle in the region permanently would undoubtedly bring significant investments with them. The Zionist leaders' promises of economic cooperation were consistent with this.

With the agreement he signed with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann on January 4, 1919, Faisal would approve the Balfour Declaration, which was announced in 1917 and recognized a certain region of Palestine as a “Jewish national home.”

In return for Arab approval, Zionist leaders would promise a series of economic benefits, such as financial support for Arab farmers in Palestine and the construction of a joint Arab-Jewish port in the Gulf of Aqaba.

However, despite Faisal's demands, the Zionists remained hesitant about acting together against the Western world, and contrary to what the Hashemites had hoped, the agreement signed on January 4 did not turn into a Jewish-Arab alliance.

Although he did not receive any promises from the Zionists, Faisal had asked for support from the Zionists against France for an independent Arab kingdom in Syria during the peace talks that began in Paris on January 18, 1919. At first, the Zionists maintained their hesitant stance, but upon Faisal's endless demands, Weizmann suggested that Faisal accept the French mandate in Syria.

Weizmann's answer had made one thing clear. The Jews coming from the West were by no means the Arabs' partners in fate, and they preferred to alienate the Arabs rather than alienate the Western world.

Faisal would completely end his negotiations with the Zionists in the autumn of 1919. After this date, he would call the idea of an independent Jewish state in Palestine “inappropriate” and would consider the Jewish colony as a district of the Syrian Kingdom he dreamed of.

Before ending the negotiations, he had also demanded that Weizmann view the Jewish region as part of the Greater Syrian Kingdom.

With 1920, the tension between the parties would turn into acts of violence.

In February, Palestinian Arabs would attack the Jewish colonies in Metula, and in March, those in Tel Hai. The relations, which had been severed in the autumn of 1919, had reached an irreversible point with the blood spilled in these conflicts.

The period of friendship between Arabs and Jews had lasted only two years, and the period of hostility that would continue to the present day had begun.