Question 2

To what extent were the actions of the Zionist movement the main cause of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948?

• You must deal adequately with the given factor even if you wish to argue that other factors were as or more significant
• In relation to the Zionist movement:
  • examine the origins of the modern desire for a Palestinian homeland for the Jews (e.g. Herzl and the World Zionist Organisation)
  • the encouragement of Jewish immigration to Palestine during the British Mandate
  • developing Arab-Zionist tensions
  • the actions of the Irgun and Stern Gang, Ben Gurion and the Jewish Agency
  • fighting with the Arab League
• Such discussion must be balanced against other factors such as the attitudes and policies of Britain and the USA, the impact of the Second World War and the holocaust
• Argue that although the Zionists did much to press for the creation of a Jewish Homeland, their more extremist elements and their attitudes towards Arabs and their terrorist actions made the creation of a Jewish state more difficult and also alienated opinion