When Barack Obama became president of the USA in 2009, he knew that one of his foreign missions was to attempt to establish a middle east settlement between the Arab Palestinians and Israelis. The issue at stake is the division of land. This same issue was the cause of conflict even prior to the declaration of the state of Israel. On 15 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of a new nation. He called that new nation ‘Israel’ and it was to exist within the land known as Palestine.
Having been part of the Ottoman empire until the end of the First World War, this land — with a mixed population of Jews and Arabs — was made a British mandated territory by the League of Nations. The two indigenous groups became increasingly violent towards one another. The British were unable to deal with the escalating conflict and so announced their intention to withdraw their troops. A partition of the territory was suggested but the Arabs regarded this as unacceptable. The final withdrawal of British troops was due on Friday, 15 May 1948. Preempting any potential Arab coup on the following day, which was the Jewish Sabbath, the Jewish population declared the establishment of their own state that afternoon. Israel existed as a homeland for the Jews but no solution had been found for the Arab population.
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