Jewish settlers did not start the conflict. Technically, the Brits did since they were shipping off their refugee crises to the middle east.
Jewish refugees from europe were transferred to the British Mandate of Palestine with a fixed quota each month. Eventually, the people living in the Palestine/Israel area (including the muslim Arabs and the Jews) were getting pissed off at the overcrowding of immigrants in the area. The Arabs then initiated a persecution campaign against the jewish immigrants multiple times and eventually, the jewish immigrants decided to retaliate.