Archive of "Moral Politics" alternatefocus series - a Seattle public access TV show. Hazem Jamjoum can be found at @fightapartheid

History of Palestine Zionism arrived in Palestine in the late 19th century as a colonialist movement motivated by national impulses. With the backing of Britain, the colonization project expanded and became a solid presence on the land after the war and with the establishment of the British mandate in Palestine (which lasted between 1918 and 1948). This climaxed in a revolt in 1936 against both London and the expanding Zionist colonization project. The revolt, which lasted for three years, failed to sway the British mandate from a policy it had already decided upon in 1917. The British foreign secretary, Lord Balfour, had promised the Zionist leaders that Britain would help the movement to build a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. During the 1930s, the Jews were just a quarter of the population, possessing 4 percent of the land. From its early inception and up to the 1930s, Zionist thinkers propagated the need to cleanse the indigenous population of Palestine, if the dream of a Jewish state were to come true. The fact that Israel was let off easily in 1948, and not condemned for the ethnic cleansing it committed, encouraged it to ethnically cleanse a further 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza strip. The June 1967 war allowed Israel to take the remaining 20 percent of Palestine.

As always, edited by Ian Anderson (@starsalwayslost), with special thanks / credit to Sina Rahmani + The East is a Podcast. Robin Brickner is our social media coordinator. Our Twitter presence is @AntiImpArchive, and if you would like to reach out directly we have an email address at: [email protected]