What did World War I have to do with Israel?

Answer 1

There are three main connections between World War 1 and Israel:

The Sinai and Palestine Campaign: Contrary to what is taught in many schools, there was more to World War 1 than the Western European front which tore up large areas of northeastern France. One of the four other major theatres of conflict was in the Middle East. The British had a strong military position along the Egyptian-Ottoman border in the Sinai Peninsula (this is roughly equivalent to the modern Egyptian-Israeli border). In 1916 and 1917, British generals attempted to enter Ottoman Palestine on four separate occasions. On the last thrust, British General Allenby was able to advance and take the Ottomans by surprise at Beersheba. He continued a successful advance all the way to northern Israel by 1918 (including the Battle of Megiddo).

The Regional Militias: During World War 1, numerous Jewish Settlers in Ottoman Palestine and numerous Arab inhabitants of the area wished to rise up against Ottoman rule in order to assert their own independence. The British chose to arm and train groups of Jews and Arabs to fight alongside the main British army and help defeat the Ottoman Turks. The Jewish Militias would eventually become the Haganah and Palmach in the Post-War climate. The Arab Militias would eventually become the Holy War Army and the Arab Liberation Army. These sets of militias would fight each other nearly continuously over the course of the British Mandate for Palestine and would finally begin a full-scale war in September of 1947. This conflict eventually escalated in May of 1948 to an international war after Israel declared independence.

The Mandate for Palestine: In order to gain financial support of wealthy British Zionists for the war effort and to gain recruits for the Jewish Militias in Ottoman Palestine, the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration. Subsequently, the League of Nations issued the British an agreement outlining the purpose of the British Mandate for Palestine, namely to assist Jewish organizations in the creation of a Jewish National Homeland. It was as a result of the Ottoman defeat in World War 1 that Ottoman Palestine became British Palestine and subject to this new trajectory, a trajectory that would eventually lead to the Establishment of the State of Israel.