What were Zionist-Palestinian relations like by 1914?

British Empire – The British Mandate for Palestine, 1914-48

In this course, Professor Peter Bergamin (University of Oxford) explores the British Mandate in Palestine and its impact on the current state of the region. In the first module, we examine Zionist and Palestinian nationalism. In the second module, we explore Britain’s motivations for the Mandate, focusing on the Balfour Declaration (1917) and early administrative policies. In the third module, we study British relations with the Arab and Jewish communities, including responses to the 1936-1939 Arab revolt and the management of growing tensions. In the fourth module, we analyse the end of the British Mandate and the creation of Israel in 1948, discussing the final days of British rule, and the legacy of the Mandate in shaping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its ongoing influence on Middle Eastern geopolitics.

What were Zionist-Palestinian relations like by 1914?

In this module, we think about the historical context and development of nationalisms in Palestine from 1914 to 1948, focusing on: (i) the influence of the French Revolution and 19th-century European revolutions on civic and ethnic nationalisms; (ii) the origins of Zionism, including Theodor Herzl’s role, Jewish immigration waves, and the ideological foundations of Jewish nationalism; (iii) early Palestinian responses to Ottoman rule, the impact of Arab nationalism, and the development of a distinct Palestinian identity; (iv) how the First World War and the Balfour Declaration shifted British policy and influenced the Zionist movement; (v) The effects of British Mandate governance on Zionist and Palestinian nationalist aspirations leading up to 1948.