How Important Was the Holocaust in the Establishment of an Independent State of Israel?

The purpose of this essay is to show how important or insignificant the holocaust was in the establishment of the independent state of Israel. The independent state of Israel was founded on the 14th of May 1948. There were many reasons for this but the key catalyst in the founding was the holocaust. Although the holocaust was a terrible time for the Jewish people and it shall for ever remain in their history it was probably one of the main reasons for the founding of the independent state of Israel.

The Jewish people had been searching for a homeland ever since biblical times. The history of the Jewish people has not been a good one. Throughout history they have forever been a religion that has been wandering around Asia and Europe being badly treated and abused. The Jewish people originate from Palestine, they lived alongside the Arabs in a land which was called ‘the land of the Israelites’ Jews had a different religious perspective to others in the area and when the Romans conquered that area they were treated badly because of their beliefs and not sticking to the roman religious views. Ever since that time the Jews have been a wandering nation trying to find a home to settle in. Some settled in Europe others tried to stay in Palestine.

Some many years later once the American colonies had been founded a movement commonly known as Zionism was recognised amongst Jews as an ideal for finding ‘their homeland’. This ideal was founded in the 19th century. Once world war one had finished the battle for Palestine was won over by the British with the help of Jews in that area. In 1917 the Balfour declaration was signed showing that the British supported Zionism. As a result of World War 1 Palestine became a British mandatory area of land. As a result of the British supporting Zionism many Jews immigrated to Palestine.

...

This is a preview of the whole essay

At the beginning of World War 2 the Jewish people knew that they were going to go through tough times because of their treatment pre-war. Not a lot of people knew what was going on in Germany and occupied areas during the war but once the war was over the Nazis were exposed for their cruel treatment of the Jews and this lead to world wide sympathy for the Jewish people. By the end of the Nuremberg trials the sorrow for the Jews was immense, it was quite clear that Zionism was no longer just a belief. It had to go beyond that to resolve the problems of the holocaust.

So, after the Nuremberg trials as Palestine was the ‘unofficial’ homeland of the Jews it was decided by the League of Nations, of which was non-consistent of Arabs, that Palestine would be the land of Zion for the Jews. At last the Jewish people had finally got what they wanted a homeland but nevertheless there were disagreements over this land and they are still going on today. The Arabs didn’t want the Jewish people settling there despite what had just gone on. Even in the late 1960’s Egypt was prepared to launch an attack on Palestine due to rich Nazis, who were there under the Odessa project, controlling munitions factories.

So in short the holocaust was the key factor in the establishment of the independent state of Israel. The Jews history was of course also a key factor but the holocaust speeded the process up. War was of course a catalyst as well because the holocaust would not have happened without the war. The Jewish people have remained discontented throughout history and although they have their own homeland nobody can forget the atrocities that went on during the holocaust.