In the 1880s, the Zionist movement was initiated in Europe. This movement held that the Jewish people had a right to a state of their own; most Zionists specifically held that the state should be in a part of their historic homeland, the area then known as Palestine. At that time Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire. Under Ottoman rule, Palestine had substantial regional independence, and the area was inhabited predominantly by Palestinian Arabs (about 95%, mostly Muslims, some Christians), and Jews (about 5%).
In 1917 the British army took control of Palestine and Transjordan from the Ottomans. In that year, its government issued the Balfour Declaration. In the same period, the British were giving contradictory assurances to the Palestinian Arabs. The Zionists interpreted that as a promise from the British that they would help them build a state in Palestine, in part because of divided opinions in British government, with some endorsing that view and some not.
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