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In describing one of the dilemmas the US and English armies faced in WWII, Eisenhower had this to say:

"One complication in the Arab tangle was the age old antagonism existing between the Arab and the Jew. Since the former outnumbered the latter by some forty to one in North Africa, it had become local policy to placate the Arab at the expense of the Jew; repressive laws in the past became even more so and the Arab population regarded any suggestion for amelioration of such laws as the beginning of an effort to establish a Jewish government. Remembering that for years the uneducated population had been subjected to intensive Nazi propoganda calculated to fan these prejudices, it is easy to understand that the situation called for more caution and evolution than it did for precipitate action and possible revolution." Dwight D. Eisenhower, "CRUSADE IN EUROPE", Doubleday, pg 128 (1949)

No wonder why 700,000 Jews left Arab countries for Israel. Unfortunately, so did an equal number of Arabs who later began calling themselves "Palestinians".

No wonder why 700,000 Jews left Arab countries for Israel. Incidentally, I wonder why is it tha these Jews do not demand a separate state, why have they been absorbed by Israel, for which it was a huge burden given its tiny size. In contrast, the same number of "Palestinians" have not been absorbed into the vast see of the Arab world; today they demand a separate country. Perhaps, it is not about self-determination at all: in 1979s, Arafat tried to take over Jordan. He failed, so now he found another potential victim --- Israel.

He acts like a regular mugger: if one subject puts up resistence, he goes to another, until he finds someone who hand over the wallet. First Jordan, then Lebanon, now Israel. The mugging continues. Chicago, San Fransisco and London soon to come.

One thing that is not talked about is the in-migration of Arabs into the British mandate as the country prospered under the local version of the British Raj, due largely to Jewish money and energy. The Colonial office, I gather, was anti-Jewish, but they were talented administrators, and their rule facilitated the development of the area. So the Arabs drifted in.