What was the initial reason for the conflict between Palestinians and Israeli Jews?

Answer 1

The conflict between the Zionist Project and the Arab People began in the mid-1920s and 1930s. In the early days of Zionism, a few Jews immigrated to what was then the Ottoman Empire, bought territory from the Turks and began to cultivate it along with the indigenous Palestinian Fellahin (farmers). They introduced new agricultural techniques (from Europe) and built infrastructure in the region. The Arabs saw little issue with a few Jews fulfilling some pipe-dream because of the investment they brought to the region. The Arabs were under the impression that the Jews would never arrive in sufficient numbers to actually realize the Zionist Dream.

In the 1920s and the beginning of the British Mandate Period, Zionists began arriving more frequently and in greater numbers. They began assembling Jewish militias to protect their interests and began attacking British outposts. It became clear to the Arabs that Zionism was no longer a pipe-dream but was actually something that the Jews were going to actualize. The Arabs were deeply offended by the notion that they should have to give up any land to accommodate the Jewish vision. They began to form their own militias and attack Jewish settlements and pleaded with the British government to limit Jewish Immigration. The British complied and kept Jewish immigrant numbers low through the late 30's and 40's which meant that when a Jewish State would have been most useful, Jews were forbidden from going there.

When the British announced after World War II that they were withdrawing from the Mandate of Palestine, Jews and Arabs separately but contemporaneously began trying to establish their own infrastructures to build states. When the Jewish State was declared, Arab armies from the surrounding nations invaded and Arab civilians fled the Mandate in the wake of the fighting for numerous reasons. Many of the Arab armies made it clear that the they would not stop until every Jew was dead and many Arab civilians saw some of the atrocities committed by Jewish soldiers in Arab villages as evidence that the Jews were reciprocating this tendency, even though Israeli Prime Minister Ben Gurion strongly encouraged Arabs not to leave.

Answer 2

In 1948, the conflict between the Jews and Palestinians, allied with other Arab nations, was generated by the UN's vote to establish Israel in the former British Mandate area called Palestine. The Palestinians and other Arabs believed that the UN was wrong in its actions and wanted to use force to end the State of Israel. It takes two to make an armed conflict and the Jews wished to keep Israel as their homeland and country.