| You are welcome. It is hard to keep track of some of all of this, unless one has a special interest. For example, there was always a Jewish presence in Palestine, mainly communities of scholars and those who came as a final pilgrimage to die. Many of the Palestinian Arabs migrated to Palestine in the late 19th and early 20th century, and are no more indigenous than the core Jewish population. Around the turn of the century,the Turkish census showed approximate equality in the two populations. After that, it was mainly a matter of immigration policy, which favored Jews after the British were given the mandate to administer Palestine by the League of Nations after WWI (the Turks had allied with the Germans). With the Balfour Declaration, the British government committed itself to a pro- Zionist policy in Palestine, although its Arab interests modified that commitment. The crucial period was the Thirties, as many European Jews fled to Palestine, especially from Germany, and the Arabs began a backlash. The British restricted Jewish emigration to Palestine, and the Zionists, in increasing desperation, evaded British authorities, and, in some instances, engaged in armed conflict with them. In the end, the Jews formed a majority in the territory ceded them in the United Nations partition, and with the Arab flight during the War of Independence, gained further demographic dominance. The flight was encouraged by the Arab states who invaded Israel, although some of the more violent Zionist factions may have taken advantage of the situation to drive some Arabs out. At this point, Israeli citizens of Arab descent are about 15% of the population. |
