Quest for Self-Determination

The dominant theme of the book is the quest for self-determination and autonomy, first by the Jews and then by the Palestinians. For hundreds of years, the Jews are a people without a homeland. There is a great deal of persecution of Jews in the various countries, as seen in the pogroms and the Nazi treatment of the Jews in World War II. The Arabs are under Ottoman rule for several centuries. They come under French and British administration after World War I. Both groups begin to experience nationalist movements in the early 1900s. The British, who control Palestine, issue the Balfour Declaration in 1917 which agrees to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. This becomes a mandate of first the League of Nations in 1920 and then the United Nations. Partition finally occurs with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. The Jewish people...