How Did We Get Here? Israel and the Palestinians: 6: From Israel’s Early Years to the Six Day War
Feb 9, 2026
Jeremy Bowen, BBC International Editor, offers eyewitness-style historical context. Mark Tessler, University of Michigan political scientist, provides academic analysis of 1949–1967. They cover Israel’s fragile early statehood and immigration, Palestinian displacement and the rise of national identity, the 1956 Suez campaign, the emergence of Fatah, cross-border raids and the lead-up to the 1967 war.
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Triumph And Disaster In 1949
- By 1949 Israelis had an independent state but Palestinians faced dispossession and diaspora that reshaped their identity.
- Mark Tessler highlights that 700,000 Palestinians were scattered, forming the basis for later Palestinian nationalism.
New State, Established Institutions
- Israel was a new but institutionally prepared state with health care and other systems already in place.
- Mark Tessler stresses Israel was poor in the early 1950s yet had important pre-existing institutions.
Palestinian Identity Grows In Exile
- The Palestinian national movement grew partly in exile and within remaining communities under Jordanian rule.
- Jeremy Bowen notes regional turmoil in the 1950s meant the Palestinian issue wasn't the Arab states' top priority.
