We can see the violence in Israel and Gaza as aftershocks of a decision made nearly 70 years ago: to split the British Mandate of Palestine in two--one part Jewish, one part Arab. This week, two experts take us back to the years leading up to the late 1940s, when arguments flew back and forth about why and how to create a homeland for the Jewish people on that particular parcel of land. We begin with the Jewish perspective, and the desire to find a safe haven after the Holocaust.
Pictured: David Ben-Gurion announcing the new State of Israel on May 14th, 1948. He stands beneath a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism.
Michael Brenner, director of the Center for Israel Studies at American University 
