Israel–Palestine Conflict Explained: Zionism, Balfour Declaration & Nakba (Part 1/3)

Introduction

The Israel-Palestine conflict is among the most consequential and most misunderstood geopolitical disputes of the modern era. For UPSC aspirants, it is not merely a geography question — it is a living case study in how colonialism redraws the world, how unresolved historical injustices produce enduring fault lines, and how decisions made a century ago shape today's headlines. To understand what is happening in Gaza in 2026, one must go back to the beginning: late 19th century Europe, where a political movement was born that would fundamentally transform a land at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean.

What Is Zionism?

In the late 19th century, Jews in Europe faced systematic persecution — organised massacres (pogroms) in Tsarist Russia, deep-rooted antisemitism in France and Austria, and a pervasive sense of insecurity across the continent. It was in this climate that Theodor Herzl, an Austrian journalist, became the intellectual architect of modern Zionism — the political movement for a Jewish state.

Herzl was galvanised by the Dreyfus Affair of 1894, in which French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, was falsely convicted of treason in a trial driven by antisemitism. Herzl concluded that Jewish safety in Europe was impossible, and that a sovereign Jewish state was the only solution. In 1897, he convened the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, formally establishing the World Zionist Organisation. After debate over several potential locations — including Uganda and Argentina — the consensus settled on Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire, populated predominantly by Arab Muslims and Christians.

Critical distinction for UPSC: Zionism is a political and nationalist movement — not a religious doctrine. The conflation of Zionism with Judaism is analytically incorrect.

The Balfour Declaration (1917): One Land, Two Promises

World War I gave the Zionist movement its decisive political opening. As the Ottoman Empire began to collapse, Britain sought allies worldwide. On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a brief but historic letter to Lord Walter Rothschild — a leader of British Jewry — stating that Britain viewed “with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” Though framed as a private letter, it was quickly made public and became an official statement of British policy.

The letter contained a crucial caveat: that nothing should be done to “prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” At the time, Arabs constituted over 90% of Palestine’s population and were not consulted. The caveat was almost immediately disregarded in practice.

The Balfour Declaration promised a homeland to the Jews in a land where Arabs constituted over 90 per cent of the population — without consulting the Arab inhabitants at all.

What makes this even more significant is that Britain had just two years earlier appeared to make the opposite promise. The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915-16) was a series of letters between British High Commissioner Henry McMahon and Sharif Hussein of Mecca, in which Britain appeared to pledge Arab independence across much of the Arab world — including, Arab leaders argued, Palestine — in exchange for an Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. Britain's simultaneous and contradictory promises to both sides planted the seeds of a century of distrust.

The British Mandate (1920–1947): Immigration, Land, Resistance

After World War I, Britain was granted the League of Nations Mandate over Palestine (1920), making it the colonial administrator of the territory. Over the following decades, the demographic landscape changed dramatically. Jewish immigration surged — particularly after Hitler's rise in Germany in 1933. By 1947, Jews constituted approximately 33% of Palestine's population, up from under 10% in 1917.

This immigration was accompanied by large-scale land acquisition, the displacement of Arab tenant farmers, and the growth of parallel Jewish institutions. Arab resistance was fierce. The Arab Revolt of 1936-39 was a mass Palestinian uprising against British rule and Jewish immigration — it was suppressed violently, leaving the Palestinian national movement weakened at exactly the moment decisions about Palestine's future were being made.

UN Resolution 181 (1947): The Partition Plan

Exhausted by World War II and unable to manage competing demands, Britain announced it would withdraw from Palestine and hand the matter to the newly created United Nations. In November 1947, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 181 — the Partition Plan — proposing the division of Palestine: approximately 56% of the land to a Jewish state and 44% to an Arab state, with Jerusalem under international administration. This proposal effectively laid the foundation of what later came to be known as the two-state solution — the idea of two sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, coexisting within the same territory.

The plan was accepted by Jewish leadership but rejected by Arab states and Palestinian leaders. Their objection: Jews constituted one-third of the population but were allocated more than half the land, including the more fertile coastal regions. India, under Jawaharlal Nehru, voted against the plan — one of very few non-Arab countries to do so — rooted in its anti-colonial principles. The failure of this initial two-state framework, followed by the 1948 war, ensured that the question of Palestinian statehood remained unresolved — a central issue that continues to shape the conflict today.

May 14, 1948: Birth of Israel and the Nakba

On May 14, 1948, as the last British forces withdrew, David Ben-Gurion (first Prime Minister of Israel) proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. The United States recognised the new state within eleven minutes — against the advice of the State Department. The Arab states — Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon — declared war.

For Palestinians, 1948 was not a birth but a catastrophe. Al-Nakba ('the disaster' in Arabic) refers to the expulsion and flight of approximately 750,000 Palestinians during and after the 1948 war. By the war's end, Israel controlled approximately 75% of historic Palestine — far beyond the UN Partition Plan boundaries. Over 400 Palestinian villages were depopulated, many physically destroyed. The vast majority of those who fled or were expelled have never been permitted to return.

UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (December 1948) affirmed the right of Palestinian refugees wishing to return to their homes to do so, and the right of others to receive compensation. Israel has consistently refused to implement it. Today, Palestinian refugees and their descendants registered with United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) number approximately 5.9 million — among the world's longest-standing refugee populations.

The Palestinian refugee crisis did not begin with Hamas, or in 1967, or with any act of Palestinian violence. It began in 1948 — and it has never been resolved.

KEY FACTS: 1948 AND THE NAKBA

• November 1947 — UN Resolution 181 (Partition Plan): 56% of Palestine to Jews (33% of population); 44% to Arabs
• India voted AGAINST Resolution 181 — one of very few non-Arab nations to do so
• May 14, 1948 — Israel declares independence; USA recognises it within 11 minutes
• ~750,000 Palestinians displaced in 1948; Israel controls ~75% of historic Palestine
• UN Resolution 194 (1948) affirms right of return for refugees — never implemented
• UNRWA established 1949 to provide relief to Palestinian refugees
• Palestinian refugee descendants registered with UNRWA today: ~5.9 million people

This topic is relevant to GS Paper I (World History: post-WWII realignment) and GS Paper II (India's foreign policy; international institutions). Also useful for Essay and Interview.

Test Your MCQ Preparation:

Question 1:

The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence (1915-16) is historically significant because:

(A) It formally established the British Mandate over Palestine under the League of Nations

(B)  Britain promised Arab independence, including Palestine, in return for revolt against the Ottomans.

(C)  It was the first international document to formally propose the partition of Palestine into two states

(D)  It granted the Zionist movement official recognition as a national liberation movement

Question 2:

Arrange the following events in chronological order:

1. Arab Revolt against British rule in Palestine
2. Hussein-McMahon Correspondence
3. League of Nations Mandate granted to Britain over Palestine
4. Balfour Declaration

(A) 2 → 4 → 3 → 1

(B) 4 → 2 → 1 → 3

(C) 2 → 4 → 1 → 3

(D) 1 → 2 → 4 → 3

Question 3:

Which one of the following is correct?

Assertion (A): Zionism is a political and nationalist movement, not a religious doctrine.

Reason (R): Theodor Herzl, the intellectual architect of modern Zionism, was an Austrian journalist who founded the movement in response to antisemitism in Europe — not as a theological project.

(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A

(C) A is true but R is false

(D) A is false but R is true

Sample GS Mains questions:

GS Paper I — World History

"The Balfour Declaration of 1917 reflected inherent contradictions in British policy in West Asia. Examine the dual commitments made by Britain in Palestine between 1915 and 1920 and their long-term consequences."

GS Paper II — International Relations

"Discuss India’s stance on the two-state solution in the Israel–Palestine conflict. What challenges does India face in maintaining a balanced approach?”

"What is UNRWA? Examine the significance of the Palestinian refugee question in the context of a sustainable two-state solution."

GS Paper II — International Organisations

"Critically examine why UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (1948) has remained unimplemented despite repeated affirmation by the international community."