The Riots of 1936 and the Revolt that lasted from 1937-39 demonstrated to the British that they could not afford further uprisings in Palestine if war broke out. So to placate the Arab population, the White Paper of 1939 limited Jewish immigration. And this caused the Jews to start making trouble.

The Great Depression of the 1930's deepened Arab discontent, and violence broke out again in 1936. The Peel Commission investigated the riots, and proposed that Palestine should be partitioned into separate Jewish and Arab states. This proposal only led to further violence.

Jewish immigration to Palestine dropped off during the 1920's. This was due to divisions within Zionist leadership about the type of Jews they wanted in the Jewish state, and also to prosperity and success that Jews enjoyed outside Palestine. Then the violence of the Riot in 1929 made many Jews afraid to come.

Violence broke out between Arabs and Jews in 1920. The Arab mobs were incited by Haj Amin Husseini, who would continue to incite violence for many years. An armed band of Jews, led by Vladimir Jabotinsky, tried to stop the violence but were stopped by British troops. This was only the beginning of violence in Palestine.

In the first days of the British Mandate for Palestine, British troops set out repairing damages made to city institutions during Turkish rule. They also tried to maintain peaceful relations between Arabs and Jews, but this would not last long.

At the end of World War I, the nations of the world gave Great Britain responsibility for creating a Jewish state in Palestine. It's amazing to think of the timing of Herzl's idea, coming just before the world attempted to right ancient wrongs.

A British Expeditionary force entered Jerusalem in December 1917. This was the first time that Jerusalem was controlled by Europeans since the days of the Crusaders. The difference was that the Crusaders killed while the British in 1917 tried to uphold the rights of the inhabitants.

Now that Great Britain had agreed to assist the Jews in establishing a Jewish state, the next challenge facing the Zionists was the people who were already living in Palestine. Much of the controversy surrounding the Arab-Israeli conflict concerns the perceptions that people have of both people.

During World War I, Chaim Weizmann persuaded key figures in the British government to help establish the Jewish state. The result was the Balfour Declaration in November 1917. At the same time, Britain also promised to create an independent Arab state, and "Lawrence of Arabia" helped the Arabs revolt against the Turks.

The horrific events of World War I changed the world as people grew more cynical and less optimistic about the future. The war also changed the Middle East as the Ottoman Turks lost control of the region. The fortunes of the Zionists turned as the British- who were sympathetic to establishing a Jewish state- took control.

One of the obstacles to establishing the Jewish state was Jewish prosperity. Why bother with an independent state when Jews were making profound changes to the entire world? Examples of Jewish success are the Hollywood movie moguls and Marx, Freud and Einstein- three Jews who made the 20th Century.

One of the obstacles to establishing the Jewish state was Jewish prosperity. Why bother with an independent state when Jews were making profound changes to the entire world? Examples of Jewish success are the Hollywood movie moguls and Marx, Freud and Einstein- three Jews who made the 20th Century.

Theodor Herzl abandoned assimilation- the idea that Christian society would accept Jews who quit being Jewish- when he saw angry crowds at the Dreyfuss court-martial who wanted to kill the Jews. Herzl wrote Der Judenstaat, "The Jewish State," and started the Zionist organization that established Israel.

Before Herzl were a handful of Zionists, people who had a vision for Jews living in Israel long before others even thought about it, people who did not get to see the fulfillment of their dreams.