- All-Palestine Government
Infobox Former Country
native_name = _ar. حكومة عموم فلسطين
"Hukumat 'umum Filastin"
conventional_long_name = All-Palestine Government
common_name = Palestine|
continent = Asia
region = Arab World
era = Cold War
status = Unrecognized
status_text = Recognised only by some Arab statesgovernment_type = Republic|
year_start = 1948
year_end = 1959|
event_start =
date_start =22 September ,1948
event_end =
date_end =
event1 = 1949 Armistice
date_event1 = 1949
event_post = Six Day War
date_post = 1967|
p1 = British Mandate of Palestine
flag_p1 = Palestine-Mandate-Ensign-1927-1948.svg
p2 =
flag_p2 =
s1 = Israel
flag_s1 = Flag of Israel.svg
s2 = United Arab Republic
flag_s2 = Flag of United Arab Republic.svg|
|
capital =Jerusalem (official)Gaza City (in practice)
common_languages = Arabic
religion =
currency = |
leader1 = Ahmed Hilmi Abd al-Baqi
title_leader = Prime Minister
today =The Whole-Palestine Government (Arabic: حكومة عموم فلسطين "Hukumat 'umum Filastin") was established in
Gaza by theArab League on22 September ,1948 , during the1948 Arab-Israeli War . It arose in response to the failure of the Arab armies to prevent the incorporation of Palestinian land into the newly declaredState of Israel , and the clear intentions of King Abdullah I ofTransjordan toannex theWest Bank . As such, it was the first attempt to establish a Palestinian state.On
October 1 1948 , an independent Palestinian state in all ofPalestine was declared, withJerusalem as its capital. ThePrime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Abd al-Baqi and the Foreign Minister wasJamal al-Husayni . The All-Palestine Government formally adopted theFlag of Palestine that had been used by Palestinian nationalists since 1917. The state was recognized byEgypt ,Syria ,Lebanon ,Iraq ,Saudi Arabia , andYemen , but not byTransjordan or any non-Arab country.Despite its lofty goals, the All-Palestine Government proved to be deeply ineffectual. The Palestinians, and the
Arab World in general, were shocked by the speed and extent of the Israeli victories, and the ill-preparedness of the Arab armies, who were poorly equipped. This, combined with the expansionist designs of King Abdullah, cast the Palestinian leadership into disarray. As such,Egypt underKing Farouk I exerted strong control of the government, which had little influence or funding.Avi Shlaim writes:
The decision to form the Government of All-Palestine in Gaza, and the feeble attempt to create armed forces under its control, furnished the members of the Arab League with the means of divesting themselves of direct responsibility for the prosecution of the war and of withdrawing their armies from Palestine with some protection against popular outcry. Whatever the long-term future of the Arab government of Palestine, its immediate purpose, as conceived by its Egyptian sponsors, was to provide a focal point of opposition to Abdullah and serve as an instrument for frustrating his ambition to federate the Arab regions with Transjordan. (Shlaim, 2001, p. 97)
After the
1949 Armistice Agreements which ended the war, theGaza Strip was the only area of Palestine under the sovereignty of the All-Palestine Government (78% of theBritish Mandate of Palestine had been seized by Israel, and theWest Bank was soon to be annexed by Transjordan). In effect, the territory was under direct Egyptian administration, though Egypt never laid any claim to or annexed any Palestinian territory. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports.After the
Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and the rise to power ofGamal Abdel Nasser , Egyptian support for Palestinian resistance and liberation efforts increased. TheSuez War of 1956, whenIsrael invaded the Gaza Strip and the EgyptianSinai Peninsula , was partially an attempt by Israel to definitively crush the Palestinian "fedayeen " of Gaza. Israel was later forced to withdraw from the territory it has invaded, and the All-Palestine Government continued to have official sovereignty in Gaza. The legal fiction of this situation was finally ended after the 1958 unification of Egypt andSyria in theUnited Arab Republic (UAR). The UAR President,Gamal Abdel Nasser , reasoned that the All-Palestine Government had failed to successfully advance the Palestinian cause, and officially annulled the All-Palestine government by decree in 1959. From then until Israel's capture of the Gaza Strip in theSix Day War of 1967, the territory would be directly governed by the UAR (Egypt retained the official name of the republic even after the end of the union with Syria in 1961).References
*Shlaim, Avi (1990). The rise and fall of the All-Palestine Government in Gaza. "Journal of Palestine Studies". 20: 37-53.
* Shlaim, Avi (2001). Israel and the Arab Coalition. In Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.). "The War for Palestine" (pp. 79-103). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79476-5
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