Mandate Palestine

Mandate for Palestine الانتداب البريطاني على فلسطين המנדט הבריטי על פלשתינה א"י
Mandate of the United Kingdom
← 1920–1948 →   →   →   →
Flag Public Seal
The borders of the British Mandate
Capital	Jerusalem
Language(s)	English, Arabic, Hebrew
Political structure	League of Nations Mandate
High Commissioners
- 1920–1925	Sir Herbert Louis Samuel
- 1945–1948	Sir Alan G. Cunningham
Historical era	Interwar Period
- Mandate assigned	25 April 1920
- Britain officially assumes control	29 September 1923
- Transjordanian independence	25 May 1946
- Founding of Israel	14 May 1948
Currency	Palestinian pound

This article deals with the history of the territorial entity known as Mandate Palestine. For issues relating to the Mandate itself, see British Mandate for Palestine.

Mandate Palestine (alternatively called British Palestine or just Palestine) existed while the British Mandate for Palestine, which formally began in September 1923 and terminated in May 1948, was in effect. It consisted of the part of the Mandate territory to the west of a line which, in the north, followed the Jordan River.

In 1917, during the First World War, Britain defeated the Ottoman Turkish forces and occupied and set up a military administration in Palestine and Syria. The land remained under British military administration for the remainder of the war, and beyond. The British sought to set up legitimacy for their continued control of the region and this was achieved by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in June 1922. The mandate formalised British rule in Palestine which continued until 1948. With the League of Nations' consent, Britain divided the Mandate territory into two administrative areas, Palestine, under direct British rule, and autonomous Transjordan, under the rule of the Hashemite family from Hijaz.^[1]

The objective of British administration was to give effect to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which was also set out in the preamble of the mandate, as follows:

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.^[2]

Background

Zones of French and British influence and control proposed in the Sykes-Picot Agreement

Strategy against the Ottoman Empire

When the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers in the First World War in April 1915, it threatened Britain's communications with India via the Suez Canal, besides other strategic interests of the allies.

In response to French initiatives, the United Kingdom established the De Bunsen Committee in 1915 to consider the nature of British objectives in Turkey and in Asia in the event of a successful conclusion of the war. The committee considered various scenarios and provided guidelines for negotiations with France, Italy, and Russia regarding the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Committee recommended in favour of the creation of a decentralised and federal Ottoman state in Asia.^[3]

At the same time, the British and French also opened overseas fronts with the Gallipoli (1915) and Mesopotamian campaigns. In Gallipoli, the Turks successfully repelled the British, French and Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs).

In 1916, Britain and France concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence, with "Palestine" as an international enclave. (Pappé 1994, p. 3)

The British made two potentially conflicting promises regarding the territory it was expecting to acquire.^[4] Britain had promised Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca, through T. E. Lawrence, independence for an Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East in exchange for his support, while also promising to create and foster a Jewish national home in Palestine in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in return for Jewish support.

World War I in the Middle East

General Allenby's final attacks of the Palestine Campaign gave Britain control of the area

From 1915, Zionist leader and anglophile Ze'ev Jabotinsky was pressing the British to agree to the formation of a Zionist volunteer corps that would serve under the aegis of the British army. The British eventually agreed to set up the Zion Mule Corps, which assisted in the failed invasion of Gallipoli.

After Lloyd George was made prime minister during the war, the British waged the Sinai and Palestine Campaign under General Allenby. This time the British agreed to a "Jewish Legion", which participated in the invasion. Russian Jews regarded the German army as a liberator and the creation of the Legion was designed to encourage them to participate in the war on Britain's side.

At the same time, British intelligence officer T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") was encouraging an Arab Revolt led by the Sharif of Mecca.

The British defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land remained under British military administration for the remainder of the war, and beyond.

After the War

Allied Enemy Occupied Territories, 1918 Syria

The Ottoman Empire capitulated on 30 October 1918, and on 23 November 1918, a military edict was issued dividing Ottoman territories into "occupied enemy territories" (OET). The Middle East was divided into three OETs. Occupied Enemy Territory South extended from the Egyptian border of Sinai into Palestine and Lebanon as far north as Acre and Nablus and as far east as the River Jordan. A temporary British military governor (General Moony) would administer this sector. (Biger 2004, pp. 55, 164)^[5][6] At that time, General Allenby assured Amir Faisal "that the Allies were in honour bound to endeavour to reach a settlement in accordance with the wishes of the peoples concerned and urged him to place his trust whole-heartedly in their good faith."^[7]

In a meeting at Deauville in 1919, David Lloyd George of the UK and Georges Clemenceau of France finalised the Anglo-French Settlement of 1–4 December 1918. The new agreement allocated Palestine and the Vilayet of Mosul to the British in exchange for British support of French influence in Syria and Lebanon.^[8][9]

In October 1919, British forces in Syria and the last British soldiers stationed east of the Jordan were withdrawn and the region came under exclusive control of Faisal bin Hussein from Damascus. (Biger 2004, p. 173)

At the Paris Peace Conference, Prime Minister Lloyd George told Georges Clemenceau and the other allies that the McMahon-Hussein Notes were a treaty obligation. He explained that the agreement with Hussein had actually been the basis for the Sykes-Picot Agreement, and that the French could not use the proposed League Of Nations Mandate system to break the terms of the agreement. He pointed out that the French had agreed not to occupy the area of the independent Arab state, or confederation of states, with their military forces, including the areas of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. Arthur Balfour (later Lord Balfour, British Foreign Secretary at the time) and President Woodrow Wilson were present at the meeting.^[10]

The open negotiations began at the Paris Peace Conference, continued at the Conference of London and took definite shape only after the San Remo conference in April 1920. There the Allied Supreme Council granted the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia to Britain, (Biger 2004, p. 173) and those for Syria and Lebanon to France. In August 1920, this was officially acknowledged in the Treaty of Sèvres. Both Zionist and Arab representatives attended the conference, where they met and signed an agreement^[11] to cooperate. The agreement was never implemented.

From military to civil administration

The arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel. From left to right: Col. T. E. Lawrence, Emir Abdullah, Air Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond, Sir Herbert Samuel and Sir Wyndham Deedes and others

Following its occupation by British troops in 1917–1918, Palestine was governed by the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. In July 1920, the military administration was replaced by a civilian administration headed by a High Commissioner.^[12] The first High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920, to take up his appointment from 1 July. Samuel continued in office when the mandate commenced in 1923.

The Zionist Commission was formed in March 1918 and was active in promoting Zionist objectives in Palestine. On 19 April 1920, elections were held for the Assembly of Representatives of the Palestinian Jewish community.^[13] The Zionist Commission received official recognition in 1922 as representative of the Palestinian Jewish community.^[14]

Samuel tried to establish self-governing institutions in Palestine, as required by the mandate, but was frustrated by the refusal of the Arab leadership to co-operate with any institution which included Jewish participation.^[15]

When Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Kamil al-Husayni died in March 1921, High Commissioner Samuel appointed his half-brother Mohammad Amin al-Husayni to the position. Amin al-Husayni, a member of the al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem, was an Arab nationalist and Muslim leader. As Grand Mufti, as well as the other influential positions that he held during this period, al-Husayni played a key role in violent opposition to Zionism. In 1922, al-Husayni was elected President of the Supreme Muslim Council which had been created by Samuel in December 1921.^[16][17] The Council controlled the Waqf funds, worth annually tens of thousands of pounds^[18] and the orphan funds, worth annually about £50,000, as compared to the £600,000 in the Jewish Agency's annual budget.^[19] In addition, he controlled the Islamic courts in Palestine. Among other functions, these courts were entrusted with the power to appoint teachers and preachers.

In 1929, the Jewish Agency for Palestine took over from the Zionist Commission its representative functions and administration of the Jewish community. During the Mandate period, the Jewish Agency was a quasi-governmental organisation that served the administrative needs of the Jewish community. Its leadership was elected by Jews from all over the world by proportional representation.^[20] The Jewish Agency was charged with facilitating Jewish immigration to Palestine, land purchase and planning the general policies of the Zionist leadership. It ran schools and hospitals, and formed the Haganah. The British authorities offered to create a similar Arab Agency but this offer was rejected by Arab leaders.^[21]

In October 1923, Britain provided the League of Nations with a report on the administration of Palestine for the period 1920–1922, which covered the period before the mandate.^[22]

Name of the Mandate

Rachel's Tomb on a 1927 British Mandate stamp. "Palestine" is shown in English, Arabic (فلسطين), and Hebrew; the latter includes the acronym א״י for Eretz Yisrael

Mandate Palestine coin

The name given to the Mandate's territory was "Palestine", in accordance with European traditions. The Mandate charter stipulated that it would have three official languages, namely English, Arabic and Hebrew. (Art 22) The British authorities decided to use the traditional Arabic and Hebrew equivalents to the English name, i.e. filasţīn (فلسطين) and palestína (פּלשׂתינה) respectively. The Jewish leadership proposed that the proper Hebrew name should be Eretz Yisra′el (ארץ ישׂראל=Land of Israel). The final compromise was to add the initials of the Hebrew proposed name, Alef-Yud, within parenthesis (א″י), whenever the Mandate's name was mentioned in Hebrew in official documents. The Arab leadership saw this compromise as a violation of the mandate terms. Some Arab politicians demanded that the Arabs be allowed to choose the Mandate's name in Arabic, and suggested the name "Southern Syria" (سوريا الجنوبية). The British authorities rejected this proposal.^[23]

Conflicting objectives

The Jewish national home

In 1919 the General Secretary (and future President) of the Zionist Organization, Nahum Sokolow, published a History of Zionism (1600–1918). He also represented the Zionist Organization at the Paris Peace Conference.

“	The object of Zionism is to establish for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law." ... ...It has been said and is still being obstinately repeated by anti-Zionists again and again, that Zionism aims at the creation of an independent "Jewish State" But this is wholly fallacious. The "Jewish State" was never part of the Zionist programme. The Jewish State was the title of Herzl's first pamphlet, which had the supreme merit of forcing people to think. This pamphlet was followed by the first Zionist Congress, which accepted the Basle programme – the only programme in existence.	”
—Nahum Sokolow, History of Zionism[24]

The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine said the Jewish National Home, which derived from the formulation of Zionist aspirations in the 1897 Basle program has provoked many discussions concerning its meaning, scope and legal character, especially since it had no known legal connotation and there are no precedents in international law for its interpretation. It was used in the Balfour Declaration and in the Mandate, both of which promised the establishment of a "Jewish National Home" without, however, defining its meaning. A statement on "British Policy in Palestine," issued on 3 June 1922 by the Colonial Office, placed a restrictive construction upon the Balfour Declaration. The statement excluded "the disappearance or subordination of the Arabic population, language or customs in Palestine" or "the imposition of Jewish nationality upon the inhabitants of Palestine as a whole", and made it clear that in the eyes of the mandatory Power, the Jewish National Home was to be founded in Palestine and not that Palestine as a whole was to be converted into a Jewish National Home. The Committee noted that the construction, which restricted considerably the scope of the National Home, was made prior to the confirmation of the Mandate by the Council of the League of Nations and was formally accepted at the time by the Executive of the Zionist Organization.^[25]

In 1937 a British Royal Commission headed by Lord Peel proposed solving the Arab-Jewish conflict by partitioning Palestine into two states. The Jewish leadership rejected the plan and developed an alternate proposal.^[26] The US Consul General at Jerusalem told the State Department that the Mufti had refused the principle of partition and declined to consider it. The Consul said that the Emir Abdullah urged acceptance on the ground that realities must be faced, but wanted modification of the proposed boundaries and Arab administrations in the neutral enclave. The Consul also noted that Nashashibi side-stepped the principle, but was willing to negotiate for favourable modifications.^[27]

A collection of private correspondence published by David Ben Gurion contained a letter written in 1937 which explained that he was in favour of partition because he didn't envision a partial Jewish state as the end of the process. Ben Gurion wrote "What we want is not that the country be united and whole, but that the united and whole country be Jewish." He explained that a first-class Jewish army would permit Zionists to settle in the rest of the country with or without the consent of the Arabs.^[28] Benny Morris said that both Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion saw partition as a stepping stone to further expansion and the eventual takeover of the whole of Palestine.^[29] Former Israeli Foreign Minister and historian Schlomo Ben Ami writes that 1937 was the same year that the "Field Battalions" under Yitzhak Sadeh wrote the "Avner Plan", which anticipated and laid the groundwork for what would become in 1948, Plan D. It envisioned going far beyond any boundaries contained in the existing partition proposals and planned the conquest of the Galilee, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.^[30]

In 1942 the Biltmore Program was adopted as the platform of the World Zionist Organization. It demanded "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth." In 1946 an Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, also known as the Grady-Morrison Committee, noted that the demand for a Jewish State went beyond the obligations of either the Balfour Declaration or the Mandate and had been expressly disowned by the Chairman of the Jewish Agency as recently as 1932.^[31] The Jewish Agency subsequently refused to accept the Grady Morrison Plan as the basis for discussion. A spokesman for the agency, Eliahu Epstein, told the US State Department that the Agency could not attend the London conference if the Grady-Morrison proposal was on the agenda. He stated that the Agency was unwilling to be placed in a position where it might have to compromise between the Grady-Morrison proposals on the one hand and its own partition plan on the other. He stated that the Agency had accepted partition as the solution for Palestine which it favoured.^[32]

Arab political rights

The proviso to the objective of the mandate was that "nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine".

According to historian Rashid Khalidi, the mandate ignored the political rights of the Arabs.^[33] The Arab leadership repeatedly pressed the British to grant them national and political rights, such as representative government, over Jewish national and political rights in the remaining 23% of the Mandate of Palestine which the British had set aside for a Jewish homeland. The Arabs reminded the British of President Wilson's Fourteen Points and British promises during the First World War. The British however made acceptance of the terms of the mandate a precondition for any change in the constitutional position of the Arabs. A legislative council was proposed in The Palestine Order in Council, of 1922 which implemented the terms of the mandate. It stated that: "No Ordinance shall be passed which shall be in any way repugnant to or inconsistent with the provisions of the Mandate." For the Arabs, this was unacceptable, as they felt that this would be "self murder".^[34] During the whole interwar period, the British, appealing to the terms of the mandate, which they had designed themselves, rejected the principle of majority rule or any other measure that would give an Arab majority control over the government of Palestine.^[35]

The terms of the mandate required the establishment of self-governing institutions in both Palestine and Transjordan. In 1947 Foreign Secretary Bevin admitted that during the previous twenty-five years the British had done, their best to further the legitimate aspirations of the Jewish communities without prejudicing the interests of the Arabs, but had failed to "secure the development of self-governing institutions" in accordance with the terms of the Mandate.^[36]

Communal relations

Britain continued the Millet system of the Ottoman Empire whereby all matters of a religious nature and personal status were within the jurisdiction of Muslim courts and the courts of other recognised religions, called confessional communities. The High Commissioner established the Orthodox Rabbinate and retained a modified Millet system which only recognised eleven religious communities: Muslims, Jews and nine Christian denominations (none of which were Christian Protestant churches). All those who were not members of these recognised communities were excluded from the Millet arrangement. As a result, there was no possibility, for example, of marriages between confessional communities, and there were no civil marriages. Personal contacts between communities were nominal.

The Jewish Yishuv

Main article: History of Zionism

See also: History of the State of Israel

Supreme Military Tribunal of the British Mandate, Kiryat Shmuel, Jerusalem

During the Mandate, the Yishuv or Jewish community in Palestine, grew from one-sixth to almost one-third of the population. According to official records, 367,845 Jews and 33,304 non-Jews immigrated legally between 1920 and 1945.^[37] It was estimated that another 50–60,000 Jews and a small number of non-Jews immigrated illegally during this period.^[38] Immigration accounts for most of the increase of Jewish population, while the non-Jewish population increase was largely natural.^[39]

Initially, Jewish immigration to Palestine met little opposition from the Palestinian Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish immigration (mostly from Europe) to Palestine began to increase markedly, creating much Arab resentment. The British government placed limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. These quotas were controversial, particularly in the latter years of British rule, and both Arabs and Jews disliked the policy, each for its own reasons. In response to numerous Arab attacks on Jewish communities, the Haganah, a Jewish paramilitary organisation, was formed on 15 June 1920 to defend Jewish residents. Tensions led to widespread violent disturbances on several occasions, notably in 1921 (see Jaffa riots), 1929 (primarily violent attacks by Arabs on Jews—see 1929 Hebron massacre) and 1936–1939. Beginning in 1936, Jewish groups such as Etzel (Irgun) and Lehi (Stern Gang) conducted campaigns of violence against British military and Arab targets.

Infrastructure and development

YMCA in Jerusalem, built during the British Mandate

"Bevingrad" in Jerusalem, Russian Compound behind barbed wire

Between 1922 and 1947, the annual growth rate of the Jewish sector of the economy was 13.2%, mainly due to immigration and foreign capital, while that of the Arab was 6.5%. Per capita, these figures were 4.8% and 3.6% respectively. By 1936, the Jewish sector had eclipsed the Arab one, and Jewish individuals earned 2.6 times as much as Arabs.(Khalidi 2006, pp. 13–14) Compared to other Arab countries, the Palestinian Arab individuals earned slightly more.(Khalidi 2006, p. 27) In terms of human capital, there was a huge difference. For instance, the literacy rates in 1932 were 86% for the Jews against 22% for the Palestinian Arabs, but Arab literacy was steadily increasing. In this respect, the Palestinian Arabs compared favourably to Egypt and Turkey, but unfavourably to Lebanon.(Khalidi 2006, pp. 14, 24) On the scale of the UN Human Development Index determined for around 1939, of 36 countries, Palestinian Jews were placed 15th, Palestinian Arabs 30th, Egypt 33rd and Turkey 35th.(Khalidi 2006, p. 16) The Jews in Palestine were mainly urban, 76.2% in 1942, while the Arabs were mainly rural, 68.3% in 1942.(Khalidi 2006, p. 17) Overall, Khalidi concludes that Palestinian Arab society, while overmatched by the Yishuv, was as advanced as any other Arab society in the region and considerably more than several.(Khalidi 2006, pp. 29–30)

Under the British Mandate, the country developed economically and culturally. In 1919 the Jewish community founded a centralised Hebrew school system, and the following year established the Assembly of Representatives, the Jewish National Council and the Histadrut labour federation. The Technion university was founded in 1924, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925.^[40]

Palestinian Arab leadership

Under the British Mandate, the office of “Mufti of Jerusalem”, traditionally limited in authority and geographical scope, was refashioned into that of “Grand Mufti of Palestine”. Furthermore, a Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) was established and given various duties, such as the administration of religious endowments and the appointment of religious judges and local muftis. In Ottoman times, these duties had been fulfilled by the bureaucracy in Istanbul.(Khalidi 2006, p. 63) In dealings with the Palestinian Arabs, the British negotiated with the elite rather than the middle or lower classes.(Khalidi 2006, p. 52) They chose Hajj Amin al-Husayni to become Grand Mufti, although he was young and had received the fewest votes from Jerusalem’s Islamic leaders.(Khalidi 2006, pp. 56–57) One of the mufti's rivals, Raghib Bey al-Nashashibi, had already been appointed mayor of Jerusalem in 1920, replacing Musa Kazim, whom the British removed after the Nabi Musa riots of 1920,(Khalidi 2006, pp. 63, 69).(Segev 2000, pp. 127–144)</ref> during which he exhorted the crowd to give their blood for Palestine.(Morris 2001, p. 112) During the entire Mandate period, but especially during the latter half, the rivalry between the mufti and al-Nashashibi dominated Palestinian politics. Khalidi ascribes the failure of the Palestinian leaders to enroll mass support, because of their experiences during the Ottoman Empire period, as they were then part of the ruling elite and accustomed to their commands being obeyed. The idea of mobilising the masses was thoroughly alien to them.(Khalidi 2006, p. 81)

There had already been rioting and attacks on and massacres of Jews in 1921 and 1929. During the 1930s, Palestinian Arab popular discontent with Jewish immigration grew. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, several factions of Palestinian society, especially from the younger generation, became impatient with the internecine divisions and ineffectiveness of the Palestinian elite and engaged in grass-roots anti-British and anti-Zionist activism, organised by groups such as the Young Men's Muslim Association. There was also support for the radical nationalist Independence Party (Hizb al-Istiqlal), which called for a boycott of the British in the manner of the Indian Congress Party. Some took to the hills to fight the British and the Zionists. Most of these initiatives were contained and defeated by notables in the pay of the Mandatory Administration, particularly the mufti and his cousin Jamal al-Husayni. A six-month general strike in 1936 marked the start of the great Palestinian Revolt.(Khalidi 2006, pp. 87–90)

The Arab revolt (1936–1939)

Main article: 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine

Arab resistance against the British

In 1930 Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam organised and established the Black Hand, an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organisation. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. The cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to kill Zionist settlers in the area, as well as engaging in a campaign of vandalism of the settlers-planted trees and British constructed rail-lines.^[41] In November 1935, two of his men engaged in a firefight with a Palestine police patrol hunting fruit thieves and a policeman was killed. Following the incident, British police launched a manhunt and surrounded al-Qassam in a cave near Ya'bad. In the ensuing battle, al-Qassam was killed.^[41]

The death of the al-Qassam generated widespread outrage in the Arab community. Huge crowds accompanied Qassam's body to his grave in Haifa. A few months later, in April 1936, a spontaneous Arab national general strike broke out. The strike lasted until October 1936. During the summer of that year, thousands of Jewish-farmed acres and orchards were destroyed, Jewish civilians were attacked and killed, and some Jewish communities, such as those in Beisan and Acre, fled to safer areas. (Gilbert 1998, p. 80) The violence abated for about a year while the British sent the Peel Commission to investigate. (Khalidi 2006, pp. 87–90)

In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population would have to be transferred, and an Arab state to be attached to Jordan. The proposal was rejected by the Arabs and by the Zionist Congress (by 300 votes to 158), but accepted by the latter as a basis for negotiations between the Zionist Executive and the British government.^[42][43]

Following the rejection of the Peel Commission recommendation, the revolt resumed in autumn 1937. Over the next 18 months, the British lost control of Nablus and Hebron. British forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police,^[44] suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force. The British officer Charles Orde Wingate (who supported a Zionist revival for religious reasons^{[citation needed]}) organised Special Night Squads composed of British soldiers and Jewish volunteers such as Yigal Alon, which “scored significant successes against the Arab rebels in the lower Galilee and in the Jezreel valley”(Black 1991, p. 14) by conducting raids on Arab villages. (Shapira 1992, pp. 247, 249, 350) The Jewish militia Irgun used violence also against civilians, attacking marketplaces and buses.

The Revolt resulted in the deaths of 5,000 Palestinians and the wounding of 10,000. In total, 10% of the adult male population was killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled.(Khalidi 2001, p. 26) By the time it concluded in March 1939, more than 5,000 Arabs, 400 Jews, and 200 Britons had been killed and at least 15,000 Arabs were wounded.^[45] From 1936 to 1945, whilst establishing collaborative security arrangements with the Jewish Agency, the British confiscated 13,200 firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews.(Khalidi 1987, p. 845)

The attacks on the Jewish population by Arabs had three lasting effects: First, they led to the formation and development of Jewish underground militias, primarily the Haganah, which were to prove decisive in 1948. Secondly, it became clear that the two communities could not be reconciled, and the idea of partition was born. Thirdly, the British responded to Arab opposition with the White Paper of 1939, which severely restricted Jewish land purchase and immigration. However, with the advent of World War II, even this reduced immigration quota was not reached. The White Paper policy also radicalised segments of the Jewish population, who after the war would no longer cooperate with the British.

The revolt had a negative effect on Palestinian national leadership, social cohesion, and military capabilities and contributed to the outcome of the 1948 War because “when the Palestinians faced their most fateful challenge in 1947–49, they were still suffering from the British repression of 1936–39, and were in effect without a unified leadership. Indeed, it might be argued that they were virtually without any leadership at all”.(Khalidi 2001, p. 28)

World War II

Allied and Axis activity

File:Himmler to Mufti telegram 1943.png

Himmler's telegram to Mufti

As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the combatants in World War II. A number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Even though Arabs were not highly regarded by Nazi racial theory, the Nazis encouraged Arab support as a counter to British hegemony.^[46] SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler was keen to exploit this, going so far as to enlist the aid of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, sending him the following telegram on 2 November 1943:

"'To the Grand Mufti: The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In the recognition of this enemy and of the common struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the natural alliance that exists between the National Socialist Greater Germany and the freedom-loving Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am sending you on the anniversary of the infamous Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the final victory – Reichsfuehrer S.S. Heinrich Himmler"

The Mufti would spend the rest of the war in Nazi Germany and the occupied areas, in particular encouraging Muslim Bosniaks to join the Waffen SS in German-conquered Bosnia. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs and 30,000 Palestinian Jews joined the British forces.

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air, bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa.^[47]

In 1942, there was a period of anxiety for the Yishuv, when the forces of German General Erwin Rommel advanced east in North Africa towards the Suez Canal and there was fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the two hundred days of anxiety. This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach^[48] – a highly-trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (which was mostly made up of reserve troops).

Jewish Brigade headquarters under both Union Flag and Jewish flag

On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers.

On 20 September 1944, an official communique by the War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. From Palestine Regiment, two brigades, one Jewish, under the command of Brigadier Ernest Benjamin, and another Arab were sent to join allied forces on the Italian Front, having taken part of final offensive there. As well as on a Papal audience for representatives of the liberating Allied units. The Jewish brigade then was stationed in Tarvisio, near the border triangle of Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria, where it played a key role in the Berihah's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine, a role many of its members would continue after the brigade disbanded. Among its projects was the education and care of the Selvino children. Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade became key participants of the new State of Israel's Israel Defense Force.

The Holocaust and immigration quotas

A 1927 stamp from Palestine under the British Mandate with picture of Rachel's Tomb. The name 'Palestine' appears in English, Arabic and Hebrew, but the acronym א״י (Aleph-Yud, standing for Eretz Yisrael) is appended in brackets after the Hebrew version.

In 1939, as a consequence of the MacDonald White Paper, the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine. World War II and the Holocaust started shortly thereafter and once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were placed in detention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius.^[49]

Starting in 1939, a clandestine immigration effort known as Aliya Bet was spearheaded by an organisation known as Mossad Le'aliyah Bet. Tens of thousands of European Jews were rescued from the Nazis by shipping them to Palestine in rickety boats. Many of these boats were intercepted. The last immigrant boat to try to enter Palestine during the war was the Struma, torpedoed in the Black Sea by a Soviet submarine in February 1942. The boat sank with the loss of nearly 800 lives. Illegal immigration resumed after World War II.

Following the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of US President Harry S. Truman and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that 100,000 Jews be immediately granted entry to Palestine, the British maintained the ban on immigration.

Jewish revolt and political assassinations

The Jewish Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) and Irgun (National Military Organization) movements initiated violent uprisings against the British Mandate in 1940 and 1944 respectively. On 6 November 1944, Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet Zuri (members of Lehi) assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo. Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East and the assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the Zionist cause. The ban on Jewish immigration continued. After the assassination of Lord Moyne, the Haganah kidnapped, interrogated, and turned over to the British many members of the Irgun (the "The Hunting Season").^[50] Irgun ordered its members not to resist or retaliate with violence, so as to prevent a civil war. The three main Jewish underground forces later united to form the Jewish Resistance Movement and carry out several terrorist attacks and bombings against the British administration. In 1946, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people. Following the bombing, the British Government began interning illegal Jewish immigrants in Cyprus.

The negative publicity resulting from the situation in Palestine caused the mandate to become widely unpopular in Britain, and caused the United States Congress to delay granting the British vital loans for reconstruction.^{[citation needed]} The British Labour party had promised before its election to allow mass Jewish migration into Palestine but reneged on this promise once in office. Anti-British Jewish terrorism increased and the situation required maintenance of over 100,000 British troops in the country. Following the Acre Prison break and hanging of British Sergeants by the Irgun, the British announced their desire to terminate the mandate and withdraw by May 1948.^[51]

United Nations partition plan

Main articles: 1947 UN Partition Plan and 1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine

The UN Partition Plan

The British Peel Commission had proposed a Palestine divided between a Jewish state and an Arab state. But in the 1939 White Paper Britain changed its position and sought to limit Jewish immigration from Europe. This was seen by Zionists and their sympathisers as betrayal of the terms of the mandate, especially in light of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe. In response, Zionists organised Aliyah Bet, a program of illegal immigration into Palestine. Lehi, a small group of extreme Zionists, staged armed attacks on British authorities in Palestine. However, the Jewish Agency, which represented the mainstream Zionist leadership, still hoped to persuade Britain to allow resumed Jewish immigration, and cooperated with Britain in World War II.

The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in 1946 was a joint attempt by Britain and the United States to agree on a policy regarding the admission of Jews to Palestine. In April, the Committee reported that its members had arrived at a unanimous decision. The Committee approved the American recommendation of the immediate acceptance of 100,000 Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. It also recommended that there be no Arab, and no Jewish State. The Committee stated that "in order to dispose, once and for all, of the exclusive claims of Jews and Arabs to Palestine, we regard it as essential that a clear statement of principle should be made that Jew shall not dominate Arab and Arab shall not dominate Jew in Palestine." U.S. President Harry S. Truman angered the British Labour Party by issuing a statement supporting the 100,000 refugees but refusing to acknowledge the rest of the committee's findings. Britain had asked for U.S assistance in implementing the recommendations. The U.S. War Department had said earlier that to assist Britain in maintaining order against an Arab revolt, an open-ended U.S. commitment of 300,000 troops would be necessary. The immediate admission of 100,000 new Jewish immigrants would almost certainly have provoked an Arab uprising.^[52]

These events were the decisive factors that forced Britain to announce their desire to terminate the Palestine Mandate and place the Question of Palestine before the United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations. The UN created UNSCOP (the UN Special Committee on Palestine) on 15 May 1947, with representatives from 11 countries. UNSCOP conducted hearings and made a general survey of the situation in Palestine, and issued its report on 31 August. Seven members (Canada, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, and Uruguay) recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration. Three members (India, Iran, and Yugoslavia) supported the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. Australia abstained. On 29 November, the UN General Assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, in favour of the Partition Plan, while making some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal. It is important to note that the UN General Assembly is only granted the power to make recommendations, therefore, UNGAR 181 was not legally binding.^[53] Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union supported the resolution. Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines changed their votes at the last moment after concerted pressure from the U.S. and from Zionist organisations.^[54][55][56] The five members of the Arab League who were voting members at the time voted against the Plan.

The Jewish Agency, which was the Jewish state-in-formation, accepted the plan, and nearly all the Jews in Palestine rejoiced at the news. Israeli history books mention 29 November as the most important date in the creation of Israel.^{[citation needed]}

The partition plan was rejected out of hand by Palestinian Arab leaders and by most of the Arab population. Meeting in Cairo in November and December 1947, the Arab League then adopted a series of resolutions aimed at a military solution to the conflict.

Britain refused to implement the plan, arguing it was not acceptable to both sides. Britain also refused to share the administration of Palestine with the UN Palestine Commission during the transitional period, and decided to terminate the Mandate at midnight on 14 May 1948.^[57][58][59]

Some Jewish organisations also opposed the proposal. Irgun leader Menachem Begin announced: "The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognised. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The Land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever."^{[citation needed]} These views were publicly rejected by the majority of the nascent Jewish state.^{[citation needed]}

Termination of the Mandate

Rockefeller Museum, built in Jerusalem during the British Mandate

The Yalta Conference mentioned that mandates should be placed under United Nations trusteeship. The Jewish Agency knew the United Nations Charter would say something on those subjects. The Agency wrote a memo to the San Francisco Conference requesting a safeguarding clause that said no trusteeship agreement could alter the Jewish right to nationhood secured by the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate. The conference implicitly rejected that suggestion by stipulating in article 80 of the Charter that a trusteeship agreement could in fact alter a mandate.^[60] The negotiating history of Article 80 of the UN Charter recorded in the Foreign Relations of the United States, indicates that it was developed as a "status quo" agreement with respect to the Palestine mandate. It was included at the insistence of the Arab League, who were afraid the 1939 White Paper policy would be relaxed.^[61]

When the UK announced plans for Transjordanian independence, the final Assembly of the League of Nations and the General Assembly both adopted resolutions which indicated support for the proposal. However, the Jewish Agency and many legal scholars raised objections. Duncan Hall said that each mandate was in the nature of a treaty, and that being treaties, the mandates could not be amended unilaterally.^[62] John Marlowe noted that despite Transjordan's theoretical independence as conferred by the 1946 Treaty, the Arab Legion continued to be used, under nominal Transjordanian but actual British command, for police duties and for frontier control in Palestine.^[63] The Jewish Agency spokesmen said that Transjordan was an integral part of Palestine, and that according to Article 80 of the UN Charter, the Jewish people had a secured interest in its territory.^[64]

The Anglo-American treaty, also known as the Palestine Mandate Convention, permitted the US to delay any unilateral British action to terminate the mandate. The earlier proclamation of the independence of Syria and Lebanon had said "the independence and sovereignty of Syria and Lebanon will not affect the juridical situation as it results from the Mandate Act. Indeed, this situation could be changed only with the agreement of the Council of the League of Nations, with the consent of the Government of the United States, a signatory of the Franco-American Convention of 4 April 1924".^[65]

The U.S. adopted the policy that formal termination of the mandate with respect to Transjordan would follow the earlier precedent established by the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. That meant termination would generally be recognised upon the admission of Transjordan into the United Nations as a fully independent country.^[66] Members of the U.S. Congress introduced resolutions demanding that the U.S. Representative to the United Nations be instructed to seek postponement of any international determination of the status of Transjordan until the future status of Palestine as a whole was determined. The U.S. State Department also received a long detailed legal argument from Rabbis Wise and Silver objecting to the independence of Transjordan.^[67] At the 1947 Pentagon Conference, the USA advised the UK it was withholding recognition of Transjordan pending a decision on the Palestine question by the United Nations.^[68]

The British had notified the U.N. of their intent to terminate the mandate not later than 1 August 1948,^[69]

During the General Assembly deliberations on Palestine, there were suggestions that it would be desirable to incorporate part of Transjordans' territory into the proposed Jewish state. A few days before the 29 November 1947 decision on partition, U.S. Secretary of State Marshall noted frequent references had been made by the Ad Hoc Committee regarding the desirability of the Jewish State having both the Negev and an "outlet to the Red Sea and the Port of Aqaba."^[70]

The Jewish Leadership led by future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared independence on 14 May. The State of Israel declared itself as an independent nation, and was quickly recognised by the Soviet Union, the United States, and many other countries, but not by the surrounding Arab states. Over the next few days, approximately 1,000 Lebanese, 5,000 Syrian, 5,000 Iraqi, 10,000 Egyptian troops invaded Palestine. Over 4,000 Transjordanian troops, commanded by 38 British officers who had resigned their commissions in the British army only weeks earlier (commanded by General Glubb), invaded the Corpus separatum region encompassing Jerusalem and its environs, as well as areas designated as part of the Arab state by the UN partition plan. On the date of British withdrawal, the Jewish provisional government declared the formation of the State of Israel. The partition plan required that the proposed states grant full civil rights to all people within their borders, regardless of race, religion or gender. Although Israel acknowledged that obligation, legal scholars, including Prof. James Crawford and Prof. William Thomas Mallison, have noted that Israel did not comply with the prescribed conditions for protection of minorities.^[71][72]

Population

In 1920, the majority of the approximately 750,000 people in this multi-ethnic region were Arabic-speaking Muslims, including a Bedouin population (estimated at 103,331 at the time of the 1922 census^[73] and concentrated in the Beersheba area and the region south and east of it), as well as Jews (who comprised some 11% of the total) and smaller groups of Druze, Syrians, Sudanese, Circassians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Hejazi Arabs.

• 1922, First British census of Palestine shows population of 757,182, with 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish and 9.6% Christian.
• 1931, Second British census of Palestine shows total population of 1,035,154 with 73.4% Muslim, 16.9% Jewish and 8.6% Christian.

A discrepancy between the two censuses and records of births, deaths and immigration, led the authors of the second census to postulate the illegal immigration of about 9,000 Jews and 4,000 Arabs during the intervening years.^[74]

There were no further censuses but statistics were maintained by counting births, deaths and migration. Some components such as illegal immigration could only be estimated approximately. The White Paper of 1939, which placed immigration restrictions on Jews, stated that the Jewish population "has risen to some 450,000" and was "approaching a third of the entire population of the country". In 1945, a demographic study showed that the population had grown to 1,764,520, comprising 1,061,270 Muslims, 553,600 Jews, 135,550 Christians and 14,100 people of other groups.

Year	Total	Muslim	Jewish	Christian	Other
1922	752,048	589,177 (78%)	83,790 (11%)	71,464 (10%)	7,617 (1%)
1931	1,036,339	761,922 (74%)	175,138 (17%)	89,134 (9%)	10,145 (1%)
1945	1,764,520	1,061,270 (60%)	553,600 (31%)	135,550 (8%)	14,100 (1%)
Average compounded population growth rate per annum, 1922–45	3.8%	2.6%	8.6%	2.8%	2.7%

By district

The following table gives the demographics of each of the 16 districts of the Mandate.

Demographics of Palestine by district as of 1945
District	Muslim	Percentage	Jewish	Percentage	Christian	Percentage	Total
Acre	51,130	69%	3,030	4%	11,800	16%	73,600
Beersheba	6,270	90%	510	7%	210	3%	7,000
Beisan	16,660	67%	7,590	30%	680	3%	24,950
Gaza	145,700	97%	3,540	2%	1,300	1%	150,540
Haifa	95,970	38%	119,020	47%	33,710	13%	253,450
Hebron	92,640	99%	300	<1%	170	<1%	93,120
Jaffa	95,980	24%	295,160	72%	17,790	4%	409,290
Jenin	60,000	98%	Negligible	<1%	1,210	2%	61,210
Jerusalem	104,460	41%	102,520	40%	46,130	18%	253,270
Nablus	92,810	98%	Negligible	<1%	1,560	2%	94,600
Nazareth	30,160	60%	7,980	16%	11,770	24%	49,910
Ramallah	40,520	83%	Negligible	<1%	8,410	17%	48,930
Ramle	95,590	71%	31,590	24%	5,840	4%	134,030
Safad	47,310	83%	7,170	13%	1,630	3%	56,970
Tiberias	23,940	58%	13,640	33%	2,470	6%	41,470
Tulkarm	76,460	82%	16,180	17%	380	1%	93,220
Total	1,076,780	58%	608,230	33%	145,060	9%	1,845,560
Data from the Survey of Palestine[75]

Land ownership

As of 1931, the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine was 26,625,600 dunams (26,625.6 km²), of which 8,252,900 dunams (8,252.9 km²) or 33% were arable.^[76] Official statistics show that Jews privately and collectively owned 1,393,531 dunams (1,393.53 km²) of land in 1945.^[77][78] Estimates of the total volume of land that Jews had purchased by 15 May 1948 are complicated by illegal and unregistered land transfers, as well as by the lack of data on land concessions from the Palestine administration after 31 March 1936. According to Avneri, Jews held 1,850,000 dunams (1,850 km²) of land in 1947.^[79] Stein gives the estimate of 2,000,000 dunams (2,000 km²) as of May 1948.^[80]

Land ownership by district

The following table shows the land ownership of Palestine by district:

Land ownership of Palestine by district as of 1945
District	Arab owned	Jewish owned	Public and other
Acre	87%	3%	10%
Beersheba	15%	<1%	85%
Beisan	44%	34%	22%
Gaza	75%	4%	21%
Haifa	42%	35%	23%
Hebron	96%	<1%	4%
Jaffa	47%	39%	14%
Jenin	84%	<1%	16%
Jerusalem	84%	2%	14%
Nablus	87%	<1%	13%
Nazareth	52%	28%	20%
Ramallah	99%	<1%	1%
Ramle	77%	14%	9%
Safad	68%	18%	14%
Tiberias	51%	38%	11%
Tulkarm	78%	17%	5%
Data from the Land Ownership of Palestine[81]

Land ownership by type

The land owned privately and collectively by Jews, Arabs and other non-Jews can be classified as urban, rural built-on, cultivable (farmed), and uncultivable. The following chart shows the ownership by Jews, Arabs and other non-Jews in each of the categories.

Land ownership of Palestine (in square kilometres), as of 1 April 1943
Category of land	Arab and other non-Jewish ownership	Jewish ownership	Total Land
Urban	76.66	70.11	146.77
Rural built-on	36.85	42.33	79.18
Cereal (taxable)	5,503.18	814.10	6,317.29
Cereal (not taxable)	900.29	51.05	951.34
Plantation	1,079.79	95.51	1,175.30
Citrus	145.57	141.19	286.76
Banana	2.30	1.43	3.73
Uncultivable	16,925.81	298.52	17,224.33
Total	24,670.46	1,514.25	26,184.70
Data is from Survey of Palestine (Vol II, p566).[82] By the end of 1946, Jewish ownership had increased to 1624 km2.[83]

Mandatory Land laws

• Land Transfer Ordinance of 1920
• 1926 Correction of Land Registers Ordinance
• Land Settlement Ordinance of 1928
• Land Transfer Regulations of 1940

See also

• High Commissioners of Palestine
• Minority Treaties
• 1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate
• Tegart's wall
• Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II
• Israeli Declaration of Independence
• The Sergeants affair
• Museum of Underground Prisoners
• Russian Compound
• Ernest Bevin
• Herbert Dowbiggin
• Palestine pound
• Postal history of Palestine

References

1. ^ Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1, US State Department (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) pp 650–652
2. ^ The Palestine Mandate, The Avalon Project
3. ^ The Middle East and North Africa in World Politics: A Documentary Record, by J. C. Hurewitz, 1979, Yale University Press; 2nd edition, ISBN 0-300-02203-4, page 26, BRITISH WAR AIMS IN OTTOMAN ASIA: REPORT OF THE DE BUNSEN COMMITTEE 30 June 1915
4. ^ See the detailed discussions set out in Balfour Declaration of 1917 and Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, as well as that in the Churchill White Paper. It is difficult to determine how much of the conflict was due to British duplicity or to the exigencies of raison d'etat, and how much simply to infelicitous language used by McMahon in his correspondence of 24 October 1915, particularly in the meaning of his rather unfortunate phrase "portions of Syria lying to the west of...". In any event, without trying to assess the good faith of the British government, it is clear (as it was to the observers and participants, both within and outside of the government, at the time) that serious misunderstandings had been engendered by the statements of the British government, whatever may have been their underlying intent.
5. ^ The others included Occupied Enemy Territories North (Lebanon) under the command of French Colonel De Piape and Occupied Enemy Territory East (Syria and Transjordan) under the command of Faisal's chief of staff, General Ali Riza el-Riqqabi.
6. ^ See also "The Armistice in the Middle East," in
7. ^ Report of a Committee Set up to Consider Certain Correspondence Between Sir Henry McMahon and the Sharif of Mecca in 1915 and 1916, UNISPAL, Annex H.
8. ^ Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917–1919, Matthew Hughes, Taylor & Francis, 1999, ISBN 0-7146-4473-0, page 122
9. ^ Pappé 1994, pp. 3–5. Pappé suggests that the French concessions were made to guarantee British support for French aims at the post-war peace conference concerning Germany and Europe.
10. ^ see pages 1–10 of the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Four starting here: [1]
11. ^ http://www.mideastweb.org/feisweiz.htm
12. ^ Official Records of the Second Session of the General Assembly, Supplement No. 11, United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, Report to the General Assembly, Volume 1. Lake Success, NY, 1947. A/364, 3 September 1947, Chapter II.C.68., at [2]
13. ^ Palestine Through History: A Chronology (I) The Palestine Chronicle
14. ^ Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
15. ^ Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917 – 1925, by Caplan, Neil. London and Totowa, NJ: F. Cass, 1978. ISBN 0-7146-3110-8. pp. 148–161.
16. ^ Mattar, Philip (2003). "al-Husayni, Amin". In Mattar, Philip. Encyclopedia of the Palestinians (Revised Edition ed.). New York: Facts On File. ISBN 978-0816057641. 
17. ^ ‘It was not scholarly religious credentials that made Hajj Amin an attractive candidate for president of the SMC in the eyes of colonial officials. Rather, it was the combination of his being an effective nationalist activist and a member of one of Jerusalem’s most respected notable families that made it advantageous to align his interests with those of the British administration and thereby keep him on a short tether.' Weldon C. Matthews, Confronting an Empire, Constructing a Nation: Arab Nationalists and Popular Politics in Mandate Palestine, I.B.Tauris, 2006 pp. 31–32
18. ^ For details see Yitzhak Reiter, Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem under British Mandate, Frank Cass, London Portland, Oregan, 1996
19. ^ Excluding funds for land purchases. Sahar Huneidi, A Broken Trust: Herbert Samuel, Zionism and the Palestinians 1920–1925, I.B. Tauris, London and New York, 2001 p. 38. The 'Jewish Agency', mentioned in article 4 of the Mandate only became the official term in 1928. At the time the organisation was called the Palestine Zionist Executive.
20. ^ Jewish Agency History
21. ^ Palestine Jewry and the Arab Question, 1917 – 1925, by Caplan, Neil. London and Totowa, NJ: F. Cass, 1978. ISBN 0-7146-3110-8. pp. 161–165.
22. ^ League of Nations, Official Journal, October 1923, p 1217.
23. ^ League of Nations, Permanent Mandate Commission, Minutes of the Ninth Session (Arab Grievances), Held at Geneva from 8 to 25 June 1926
24. ^ See History of Zionism (1600–1918), Volume I, Nahum Sokolow, 1919 Longmans, Green, and Company, London, pages xxiv–xxv
25. ^ See the report of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, UN Document A/364, 3 September 1947
26. ^ See Partner to Partition: The Jewish Agency's Partition Plan in the Mandate Era, by Yossi Katz, Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-7146-4846-9
27. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, 1937, The British Commonwealth, Europe, Near East and Africa Volume II, page 894 [3]
28. ^ See "Letters to Paula and the Children", David Ben Gurion, translated by Aubry Hodes, University of Pittsburg Press, 1971 page 153-157
29. ^ See "Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881–1999", by Benny Morris, Knopf, 1999, ISBN 0-679-42120-3, page 138
30. ^ See Scars of war, wounds of peace: the Israeli-Arab tragedy, By Shlomo Ben-Ami, Oxford University Press, USA, 2006, ISBN 0-19-518158-1, page 17
31. ^ See Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry – Chapter V , the Jewish Attitude, [4]
32. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States, 1946, The Near East and Africa Volume VII, page 692-693
33. ^ (Khalidi 2006, pp. 32–33)
34. ^ (Khalidi 2006, pp. 33–34)
35. ^ (Khalidi 2006, pp. 32, 36)
36. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. The Near East and Africa Volume V, page 1033
37. ^ A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. 1. Palestine: Govt. printer. 1946. p. 185. 
38. ^ Ibid., pp. 210: "Arab illegal immigration is mainly ... casual, temporary and seasonal". pp. 212: "The conclusion is that Arab illegal immigration for the purpose of permanent settlement is insignificant".
39. ^ J. McCarthy (1995). The population of Palestine: population history and statistics of the late Ottoman period and the Mandate. Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press. 
40. ^ The Jewish Community under the Mandate
41. ^ ^{a b} Segev, Tom (1999). One Palestine, Complete. Metropolitan Books. pp. 360–362. ISBN 0805048480. 
42. ^ 'Zionists Ready To Negotiate British Plan As Basis', The Times Thursday, 12 August 1937; pg. 10; Issue 47761; col B.
43. ^ Eran, Oded. "Arab-Israel Peacemaking." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002, page 122.
44. ^ Gilbert 1998, p. 85: The Jewish Settlement Police were created and equipped with trucks and armored cars by the British working with the Jewish Agency.
45. ^ Aljazeera: The history of Palestinian revolts
46. ^ Secret World War II documents released by the UK in July 2001, include documents on an Operation Atlas (See References: KV 2/400–402. A German task force led by Kurt Wieland parachuted into Palestine in September 1944. This was one of the last German efforts in the region to attack the Jewish community in Palestine and undermine British rule by supplying local Arabs with cash, arms and sabotage equipment. The team was captured shortly after landing.
47. ^ Why Italian Planes Bombed Tel-Aviv?
48. ^ How the Palmach was formed (History Central)
49. ^ Karl Lenk, The Mauritius Affair, The Boat People of 1940/41, London 1991
50. ^ The "Hunting Season" (1945) by Yehuda Lapidot (Jewish Virtual Library)
51. ^ UN Doc A/364 Add. 1 of 3 September 1947 See Annex 10 Letter; dated 17 June 1947 from relatives of the men sentenced to death by the Jerusalem Military Court on 16 Juno 1947
52. ^ American Jewish History, Jeffrey S. Gurock, American Jewish Historical Society, page 243
53. ^ Article 11 of the United Nations Charter
54. ^ Roosevelt, Kermit (1948) "The Partition of Palestine: A lesson in pressure politics", Middle East Journal .Vol 2, pp1–16.
55. ^ Snetsinger, John (1974) Truman, the Jewish vote, and the creation of Israel (Hoover Institution) pp 66–67.
56. ^ Sarsar, Saliba (2004). "The question of Palestine and United States behavior at the United Nations", International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Vol. 17, pp457–470.
57. ^ "Palestine". Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2006. 15 May 2006.
58. ^ Stefan Brooks (2008). "Palestine, British Mandate for". In Spencer C. Tucker. The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. 3. Santa Barbara, California: ABC- CLIO. pp. 770. ISBN 978-1-85109-842-2. 
59. ^ A. J. Sherman (2001). Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918–1948. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801866200. 
60. ^ See Jacob Robinson, Palestine and the United Nations: Prelude to a Solution, Greenwood Press, 1971 Reprint (1947), page 2-3
61. ^ See the discussion on pages 859–860 under the heading "Palestine" in Foreign relations of the United States: diplomatic papers, 1945. General: the United Nations Volume I [5]
62. ^ See Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship, by H. Duncan Hall, Carnegie Endowment, 1948, 91–112'
63. ^ See John Marlowe, "The Seat of Pilate; an Account of the Palestine Mandate (London: Cresset Press, 1959) page 222
64. ^ See National Archive, Tel Aviv University, Palestine Post, "The Mandate is Indivisble", 9 April 1946 Edition, page 3 [6]
65. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, 1941. The British Commonwealth; the Near East and Africa Volume III (1941), pages 809–810; and Statement of General de Gaulle of 29 November 1941, concerning the Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) 680–681
66. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States, 1946. The Near East and Africa Volume VII (1946), page 798 [7]
67. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States, 1946. General, the United Nations Volume I, (1946), 411 [8]
68. ^ Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. The Near East and Africa, Volume V, Page 603 [9]
69. ^ U.N. Resolution 181 (II). Future Government of Palestine, Part 1-A, Termination of Mandate, Partition and Independence.
70. ^ See Foreign relations of the United States, 1947. The Near East and Africa Volume V, page 1255 [10]
71. ^ See Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, and Stefan Talmon, eds., The Reality of International Law: Essays in Honour of Ian Brownlie (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999) page 108
72. ^ See Mallison's testimony during the Senate hearings on "The Colonization Of The West Bank Territories By Israel", page 50 [11]
73. ^ "Hope Simpson report," October 1930, Chapter III, at [12]
74. ^ Mills, E. Census of Palestine, 1931" (UK government, 1932), Vol I, pp61-65.
75. ^ prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. (1991). A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. 1. Institute for Palestine Studies. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-88728-211-3. 
76. ^ Stein 1984, p. 4
77. ^ "Land Ownership in Palestine," CZA, KKL5/1878. The statistics were prepared by the Palestine Lands Department for the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, 1945, ISA, Box 3874/file 1. See (Khalaf 1991, p. 27)
78. ^ Stein 1984, p. 226
79. ^ Avneri 1984, p. 224
80. ^ Stein 1984, pp. 3–4, 247
81. ^ Land Ownership of Palestine – Map prepared by the Government of Palestine on the instructions of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question.
82. ^ Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Jewish Problems in Palestine and Europe, J. V. W. Shaw, General Assembly, Special Committee on Palestine, United Nations (1991). A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. 1. Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-211-3. 
83. ^ ibid, Supplement p30.

Bibliography

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• Khalidi, Rashid (2006). The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-0308-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=xp3MQavDxjIC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Khalidi, Rashid (2007) [1st ed. 2001]. "The Palestinians and 1948: the underlying causes of failure". In Eugene L. Rogan & Avi Shlaim. The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948 (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521699341. http://books.google.com/books?id=h3EOJGiBBpQC&pg=PR5&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1#PPA12,M1. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Khalidi, Walid (1987) [Original in 1971]. From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948. Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0887281559. http://books.google.com/books?id=qSpIAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Morris, Benny (2001) [Original in 1999]. Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–1999. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-679-74475-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZawVAQAACAAJ. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Aruri, Naseer Hasan (1972). Jordan: A Study in Political Development 1923–1965. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 9789024712175. http://books.google.com/books?id=GVaG4WGKj9MC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Biger, Gideon (2004). The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840–1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780714656540. http://books.google.com/books?id=jC9MbKNh8GUC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Louis, Wm. Roger (1969). The United Kingdom and the Beginning of the Mandates System, 1919–1922. International Organization, 23(1), pp. 73–96.
• Segev, Tom (2001) [Original in 2000]. "Nebi Musa, 1920". One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate. Trans. Haim Watzman. London: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805065879. http://books.google.com/books?id=XvT8CWv2DakC&pg=PA127. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Stein, Kenneth W. (1987) [Original in 1984]. The Land Question in Palestine, 1917–1939. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807841785. http://books.google.com/books?id=hpvnNILnO3kC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Gilbert, Martin (1998). Israel: a history. Doubleday. ISBN 9780385404013. http://books.google.com/books?id=Wn6gAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Shapira, Anita (1992). Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881–1948. trans. William Templer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506104-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=h4K06WBjCrAC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Black, Ian (1991). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Morris, Benny. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1159-9. 
• Avneri, Aryeh L. (1984). The claim of dispossession: Jewish land-settlement and the Arabs, 1878–1948. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 9780878559640. http://books.google.com/books?id=8Teb4dKHQcoC. Retrieved 2 May 2009. 
• Khalaf, Issa (1991). Politics in Palestine: Arab factionalism and social disintegration, 1939–1948. State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791407080. http://books.google.com/books?id=nrc3EUh9cyUC. Retrieved 6 May 2009. 

Further reading

• Bethell, Nicholas The Palestine Triangle: the Struggle Between the British, the Jews and the Arabs, 1935–48, London: Deutsch, 1979 ISBN 0-233-97069-X.
• El-Eini, Roza I.M. (2006). Mandated landscape: British imperial rule in Palestine, 1929–1948. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780714654263. http://books.google.com/books?id=ekQOAAAAQAAJ. Retrieved 5 May 2009. 
• Paris, Timothy J. (2003). Britain, the Hashemites and Arab Rule, 1920–1925: The Sherifian Solution. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5451-5
• Sherman, A J (1998).Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918–1948, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-8018-6620-0

External links

• Resources > Modern Period > 20th Cent. > History of Israel > Building a State > British Mandate (1917–1948) The Jewish History Resource Center, Project of the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Coins and Banknotes of Palestine under the British Mandate
• Stamps of Palestine under the British Mandate
• A history of Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict
• An Introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Norman Finkelstein
• Map of Population Distribution by Ethnicity 1946
• Population of Palestine before 1948
• Map of Land Ownership in Palestine 1945
• British Servicemen and Police who died 1945–1948 – Database
• The Jewish Community under the Mandate at Jewish Virtual Library.org
• "Mandate Unscrambled.". Time Magazine. 9 July 1937. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882742,00.html. Retrieved 14 October 2009. 
• British Mandate of Palestine Coins

Primary sources

• Yale Law School, Avalon Project, archive copy of the Palestine Mandate
• Map of 1947 UN division