British Mandate of Palestine 63922 225667912 2008-07-14T20:33:21Z Harlan wilkerson 1000746 /* Transjordan */ {{Infobox Former Country |native_name = |conventional_long_name = Mandate for Palestine |common_name = Palestine | |continent = Asia |region = Middle East |country = Palestine |era = Interwar Period |status = League of Nations Mandate |status_text= Mandate of the [[United Kingdom]] |empire = United Kingdom |event_start = Mandate assigned |year_start = 1920 |date_start = 25 April |event_end = Founding of Israel |year_end = 1948 |date_end = 14 May | |event1 = Britain officially assumes control |date_event1 = [[29 September]] [[1923]] |event2 = Transjordanian independence |date_event2 = [[25 May]] [[1946]] |event3 = |date_event3 = | |<!--- Flag navigation: Preceding and succeeding entities p1 to p5 and s1 to s5 ---> |p1 = Ottoman Empire |flag_p1 = Ottoman Flag.svg |image_p1 = |s1 = Jordan |flag_s1 = Flag of Jordan.svg |image_s1 = |s2 = Israel |flag_s2 = Flag of Israel.svg | |flag = |image_flag = Palestine-Mandate-Ensign-1927-1948.svg |symbol = <!--- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}} ---> |symbol_type = <!--- Default: Coat of arms ---> |image_coat = <!--- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}}.svg ---> |image_map = BritishMandatePalestine1920.png |image_map_caption = The approximate borders of the British Mandate circa 1922. In September 1922 Britain organized the territory east of the Jordan river, "[[Transjordan]]," as an autonomous state.| |national_motto = |national_anthem = |capital = Jerusalem |common_languages = [[Arabic]], [[English language|English]], [[Hebrew]] |religion = |currency = Palestinian pound | |<!--- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies ---> |leader1 = <!--- Name of king or president ---> |leader2 = |leader3 = |leader4 = |year_leader1 = <!--- Years served ---> |year_leader2 = |year_leader3 = |year_leader4 = |title_leader = <!--- Default: "King" for monarchy, otherwise "President"---> |deputy1 = Sir [[Herbert Samuel|Herbert Louis Samuel]] |deputy2 = Sir [[Alan G. Cunningham]] |deputy3 = |deputy4 = |year_deputy1 = 1920 — 1925 |year_deputy2 = 1945 — 1948 |year_deputy3 = |year_deputy4 = |title_deputy = High Commissioner | |<!--- Area and population of a given year ---> |stat_year1 = <!--- year of the statistic, specify either area, population or both ---> |stat_area1 = <!--- area in square kílometres (w/o commas or spaces), area in square miles is calculated ---> |stat_pop1 = <!--- population (w/o commas or spaces), population density is calculated if area is also given ---> |stat_year2 = |stat_area2 = |stat_pop2 = |stat_year3 = |stat_area3 = |stat_pop3 = |stat_year4 = |stat_area4 = |stat_pop4 = |stat_year5 = |stat_area5 = |stat_pop5 = |footnotes = <!--- Accepts wikilinks ---> }} '''The Palestine Mandate''',<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm The Palestine Mandate, The Avalon Project]</ref> was a set of protocols or articles that formed a multilateral legal and administrative agreement. They were part of the Laws of Nations, and thus were not a mere geographical territory or area. The territorial jurisdiction of the mandate was subject to change by treaty, capitulation, grant, usage, sufferance or other lawful means. The mandate is sometimes referred to as the '''The Mandate for Palestine'''<ref>[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/The+Mandate+for+Palestine.htm The Mandate for Palestine, Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs]</ref>, the '''British Mandate for Palestine''', or the '''British Mandate of Palestine''', and etc. It was a [[League of Nations Mandate]] that had been created by the Principle Allied and Associated Powers after the [[First World War]]. The [[Ottoman Empire]] was split up by the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]. That treaty never officially entered into force. The terms of the original settlements were significantly remodeled by the subsequent [[Treaty of Lausanne]], after the [[Chanak Crisis]]. The provisions regarding Palestine remained unchanged, but many other the provisions regarding [[Wilsonian Armenia]] and the proposed autonomous region of [[Kurdistan]] were eliminated. The objective of the [[League of Nations Mandate]] system was to administer parts of the recently defunct [[Ottoman Empire]], which had been in control of the [[Middle East]] since the 16th century, "until such time as they are able to stand alone."<ref> "Mandate for Palestine," Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 11, p. 862, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1972</ref> ==Early History== ===Ancient to modern history=== [[Image:Palestine N.JPG|400px|thumb|right|Palestine map created by the British War Office in 1924. The original map is in the National Library Of Scotland in Edinburgh.]] {{main|History of Palestine|History of ancient Israel and Judah}} This territory was inhabited by the [[Canaanites]], then the [[Israelites]], and then it became part of the [[Babylonian Empire|Babylonian]], [[Persian Empire|Persian]], [[Hellenistic Greece|Greek]] and [[Roman Empire|Roman]] Empires with periods of independence or [[autonomy]] for the Jews. When the Roman Empire split, the region was ruled by the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], also called the [[Byzantine Empire]]. After that, it was a specific region demarcated by its people, and it was ruled by the [[Sassanian Empire|Sassanians]], [[Omayyads]], [[Crusaders]] and [[Mamelukes]], and then by the [[Ottoman Empire]] from 1517 to 1922. The Ottomans gained control of the Middle East under [[Selim I]] (1465–1520), and incorporated the region into an [[Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire|administrative unit]], the ''[[eyalet]]'' of Syria. The name "Palestine" disappeared as the official name of an administrative unit, and much of the region became part of the'' [[vilayet]]'' ([[Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire|province]]) of Damascus-Syria until 1660. Then it became part of the ''vilayet'' of [[Sidon|Saida]] (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7 March 1799–July 1799 [[Napoleon#Egyptian expedition of 1798.E2.80.9399|French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea]]. On [[10 May]] [[1832]] it became one of the Turkish provinces which was annexed by [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]]. His was a briefly imperialistic Egyptian empire which was still nominally Ottoman. In November 1840 direct Ottoman rule was restored. ===World War I=== As Great Britain moved toward war, the need to secure the Suez Canal while safeguarding the people and territories of the empire became evident. The canal was a vital means of transport. The Turkish Caliph of Islam was expected to call for a military jihad. If left unchecked, the Moslem subjects of India and the Far East might join the war on the side of the Central Powers. [[Image:Palestine-WW1-3.jpg|thumb|right|200px|General Allenby's final attacks of the Palestine Campaign gave Britain control of the area by driving out the Ottomans.]] During [[World War I]], the British waged the [[Sinai and Palestine Campaign]] under [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|General Allenby]]. At the same time, the intelligence officer [[T. E. Lawrence]] ("Lawrence of Arabia") was stirring up the [[Arab Revolt]] in the region. The British defeated Ottoman Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land was under British military administration for the remainder of the war. The British military administration ended starvation with the aid of food supplies from Egypt, successfully fought [[typhus]] and [[cholera]] [[epidemic]]s and significantly improved the water supply to [[Jerusalem]]. They reduced corruption by paying the Arab and Jewish judges higher salaries. Communications were improved by new railway and telegraph lines. In the [[Sykes-Picot]] agreement of 1916, Britain and France had proposed to divide the Middle East between them into spheres of influence, with "Palestine" as an international enclave.<ref>Pappe, Ilan. ''The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–1951'', I. B. Tauris; New Ed edition (August 15, 1994), p. 3.</ref> After Sykes-Picot, the British had made two promises regarding the territory in the Middle East it was expecting to acquire. Britain had promised the local [[Arab]]s, through Lawrence, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their support of the British; and in the [[Balfour Declaration of 1917]] had promised to create and foster a [[Jewish]] national home in [[Palestine]]. The British had, in the [[Hussein-McMahon Correspondence]], previously promised the [[Hashemite]] family lordship over most land in the region in return for their support. 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.<ref>Biger, 2005, p. 173.</ref> On [[November 23]] [[1918]], a military edict was issued dividing Ottoman territories into occupied enemy territories (OET). The Middle East would be divided into three OETs, and OET-South extended from the Egyptian border of Sinai into Palestine and Lebanon as far north as [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] and [[Nablus]] and as far east as the River Jordan. A temporary British military governor (General Moony) would administer this sector.<ref>Biger, 2005, p. 55, p. 164.</ref><ref>The others included Occupied Enemy Territories North (Lebanon) under the command of French Colonel De Piape and Occupied Enemy Territories East (Syria and Transjordan) under the command of Faisal's chief of staff General Ali Riza el-Riqqabi.</ref><ref>See also "The Armistice in the Middle East," in [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-142205397.html]</ref> 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."<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/3d14c9e5cdaa296d85256cbf005aa3eb/4c4f7515dc39195185256cf7006f878c!OpenDocument 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.</ref> ==Establishment of the Mandate== ===Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire=== [[Image:Sykes-Picot-1916.gif|thumb|right|200px|Zones of French and British influence and control proposed in the Sykes-Picot Agreement]] As early as 1915, France, Italy and Great Britain secretly began the [[partitioning of the Ottoman Empire]]. In 1916 the British and the French reached an agreement on their spheres of influence in the Middle East after the downfall of the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[Sykes-Picot Agreement]]. In a meeting at [[Deauville]] in 1919, [[David Lloyd George]] and [[Georges Clemenceau]] revised it, with Palestine and the [[Mosul Province, Ottoman Empire|Vilayet of Mosul]] falling into the British sphere in exchange for British support of French influence in [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]].<ref>Pappe, p. 3–5. Pappe suggests the French concessions were made to guarantee British support for French aims at the post-war peace conference concerning Germany and Europe.</ref> The open negotiations began at the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]], continued at the [[Conference of London (February 1920)|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<ref>Biger, 2005, p. 173</ref>, and those for Syria and Lebanon to France. In August 1920 this was officially acknowledged in the [[Treaty of Sèvres]]. ===Legal Basis of the Mandate=== The protocols or articles of the Mandate were a legal and administrative agreement. The Official League of Nations Journal cited a speech delivered by Lord Balfour which explained the origin and purpose of the mandates<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/2ee9468747556b2d85256cf60060d2a6/b08168048e277b5a052565f70058cef3!OpenDocument Excerpts from League of Nations Official Journal dated June 1922, pp. 546-549]</ref>: <blockquote>'Mandates were not the creation of the League, and they could not in substance be altered by the League. The League's duties were confined to seeing that the specific and detailed terms of the mandates were in accordance with the decisions taken by the Allied and Associated Powers, and that in carrying out these mandates the Mandatory Powers should be under the supervision--not under the control--of the League. The League possessed the necessary organisation for obtaining the fullest information as to the method in which each Mandatory Power was carrying out its duties.'</blockquote> He also stated<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/2ee9468747556b2d85256cf60060d2a6/b08168048e277b5a052565f70058cef3!OpenDocument Excerpts from League of Nations Official Journal dated June 1922, pp. 546-549]</ref>:<blockquote>'A mandate was a self-imposed limitation by the conquerors on the sovereignty which they exercised over the conquered territory. In the general interests of mankind, the Allied and Associated Powers had imposed this limitation upon themselves, and had asked the League to assist them in seeing that this general policy was carried out, but the League was not the author of it; the duty of the League, which was a most responsible and difficult one, was first to see that the terms of the mandates were in conformity with the principles of the Covenant and, secondly, that these terms would, in fact, regulate the policy of the Mandatory Powers in the mandated territories.'</blockquote> 'Each of the Principle Allied Powers had a hand in drafting the proposed mandate<ref>Palestine Papers , 1917-1922, Doreen Ingrams, 1973, George Brazziller Edition, Chapter 9, Drafting the Mandate</ref> - although some, including the United States, had not declared war on the Ottoman Empire and did not become members of the League of Nations. Balfour once again explained<ref>[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/2ee9468747556b2d85256cf60060d2a6/b08168048e277b5a052565f70058cef3!OpenDocument Excerpts from League of Nations Official Journal dated June 1922, pp. 546-549]</ref>:<blockquote>It had always been contemplated that America, which had signed the Treaties of Peace, would also ratify them, and would become, in that sense, a full party to the responsibilities and work of the Allied and Associated Powers. This consummation had not been reached, but America naturally maintained that the fact that she had not ratified the Treaty of Versailles did not interfere with her rights and duties as one of the Allied and Associated Powers in connection with the territories which the victory of those Powers had placed in their hands. America had, therefore, recently claimed a voice in the mandates question, the sort of voice which she would have had if she had been a Member of the League. This had necessitated a fresh series of discussions on the mandate problem. The British Government and the American Government had discussed the terms of the Palestine mandate, and the American Government had accepted the whole principle of that mandate.'</blockquote> At the 1920 [[San Remo conference]] of the [[Allied Supreme Council]], the Mandates were assigned. The precise boundaries of all territories, including that of the British Mandate of [[Palestine]], were left unspecified, to "be determined by the Principal Allied Powers"<ref>See:[http://www.therightroadtopeace.com/infocenter/Heb/SamRemoRes.html San Remo Resolution]</ref> and were not completely finalized until four years later. During that time, His Majesty's government had power and jurisdiction within Palestine either by capitulation, grant, usage, sufferance or other lawful means.<ref>[http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/c7aae196f41aa055052565f50054e656!OpenDocument memorialized in the preamble of The Palestine Order in Council, 10 August 1922]</ref> To many observers it seemed as though the boundary of Britain's Mandate for Palestine was to extend eastward to the western boundary of its [[British Mandate of Mesopotamia|mandate for Mesopotamia]].<ref name=CNEPR>{{cite book|title=''Israel's Legitimacy in Law and History''|author=Douglas J. Feith et al.|year=1994|publisher=Center for Near East Policy|isbn=0964014505|pages=p. 5-6 & 102|quote=There was never any question that Britain's two mandates—for Palestine and Mesopotamia—were to be geographically contiguous. Great Britain had not decided by 1920 where in the desert east of the Jordan River the boundary line between eastern Palestine and Mesopotamia should be drawn.}}</ref> However, the area east of a line from Damascus, Homs, Hamma, and Alleppo - including most of Transjordan - had been pledged in 1915 as part of an undertaking between Great Britain and the [[McMahon-Hussein Correspondence | Sharif Hussein]] of Mecca. The area east of the Jordan river 'was included in the areas as to which Great Britain pledged itself that they should be Arab and independent in the future'. This situation called for separate boundaries and administrative regimes in the sub-districts of historical Cisjordan (Western Palestine) and Transjordan (Eastern Palestine). The Palestine Order in Council provided that:<blockquote>'The High Commissioner may, with the approval of a Secretary of State, by Proclamation divide Palestine into administrative divisions or districts in such manner and with such subdivisions as may be convenient for purposes of administration describing the boundaries thereof and assigning names thereto.'<ref>[http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/361eea1cc08301c485256cf600606959/c7aae196f41aa055052565f50054e656!OpenDocument The Palestine Order in Council, 10 August 1922, article 11.]</ref></blockquote> ===Transjordan=== The land east of the Jordan, the future TransJordan, had been part of the Syrian administrative unit under the Ottomans. At the San Remo conference it was assigned to the British, on the grounds that it had been part of historical Palestine."<ref>Aruri, Naseer Hasan. ''Jordan: A Study in Political Development 1923–1965''. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1972. p. 17.</ref><ref>"In a telegram to the Foreign Office summarizing the conclusions of the [San Remo] conference, the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, stated: 'The boundaries will not be defined in Peace Treaty but are to be determined at a later date by principal Allied Powers.' When Samuel set up the civil mandatory government in mid-1920 he was explicitly instructed by Curzon that his jurisdiction did not include Transjordan. Following the French occupation in Damascus in July 1920, the French, acting in accordance with their wartime agreements with Britain refrained from extending their rule south into Transjordan. That autumn Emir Faisal's brother, Abdullah, led a band of armed men north from the Hedjaz into Transjordan and threatened to attack Syria and vindicate the Hashemites' right to overlordship there. Samuel seized the opportunity to press the case for British control. He succeeded. In March 1921 the Colonial Secretary, Winston Churchill, visited the Middle East and endorsed an arrangement whereby Transjordan would be added to the Palestine mandate, with Abdullah as the emir under the authority of the High Commissioner, and with the condition that the Jewish National Home provisions of the Palestine mandate would not apply there. Palestine, therefore, was not partitioned in 1921-1922. Transjordan was not excised but, on the contrary, added to the mandatory area. Zionism was barred from seeking to expand there - but the Balfour Declaration had never previously applied to the area east of the Jordan. Why is this important? Because the myth of Palestine's 'first partition' has become part of the concept of 'Greater Israel' and of the ideology of Jabotinsky's Revisionist movement." Wasserstein, Bernard (2004). ''Israel and Palestine: Why They Fight and Can They Stop?'', pp. 105-106.</ref> At the [[Battle of Maysalun]] on 23 July 1920 the French removed the newly-proclaimed nationalist government of [[Hashim al-Atassi]] and expelled [[Faisal I of Iraq|King Faisal]] from Syria. British Foreign Secretary [[Earl Curzon]] wrote to the High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel, in August 1920, stating, "I suggest that you should let it be known forthwith that in the area south of the [[Sykes-Picot]] line, we will not admit French authority and that our policy for this area to be independent but in closest relations with Palestine."<ref>Telegram from Earl Curzon to Sir Herbert Samuel, dated August 6, 1920, in Rohan Butler et al., Documents of British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939, first series volume XIII London:Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1963, p. 331, cited in Aruri, p. 17</ref> Samuel replied to Curzon, "After the fall of Damascus a fortnight ago...Sheiks and tribes east of Jordan utterly dissatisfied with Shareefian Government most unlikely would accept revival"<ref>Telegram [[August 7]] [[1920]], in Rohan Butler et al., Documents of British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939, first series volume XIII London:Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1963, p. 334, in Aruri, p. 18.</ref> and subsequently announced that Transjordan was under British Mandate.<ref>Aruri p. 18.</ref> Without authority from London, Samuel then visited Transjordan and at a meeting with 600 leaders in Salt announced the independence of the area from Damascus and its absorption into the mandate, quadrupling the area under his control by tacit capitulation. Samuel assured his audience that Transjordan would not be merged with Palestine.<ref>Aruri, 1972, p.18.</ref> The foreign secretary, [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon]], repudiated Samuel's action.<ref name="wasserstein"/> The Cairo Conference was convened by Winston Churchill, then Britain's Colonial Secretary, to resolve the problem. With the mandates of Palestine and Iraq awarded to Britain, Churchill wished to consult with Middle East experts. At his request, Gertrude Bell, Sir Percy Cox, T. E. Lawrence, Sir Kinahan Cornwallis, Sir Arnold T. Wilson, Iraqi minister of war Jaʿfar alAskari, Iraqi minister of finance Sasun Effendi (Sasson Heskayl), and others gathered in Cairo, Egypt, in March 1921. The outstanding question was the policy to be adopted in Transjordan to prevent anti-French military actions from being launched within the allied British zone of influence. The Hashemites were Associated Powers during the war, and a peaceful solution was urgently needed. The two most significant decisions of the conference were to offer the throne of Iraq to Emir Faisal ibn Hussein (who became [[Faisal I of Iraq]]) and an emirate of Transjordan (now Jordan) to his brother Abdullah ibn Hussein (who became [[Abdullah I of Jordan]]. Transjordan was to be constituted as an Arab province of Palestine. The conference provided the political blueprint for British administration in both Iraq and Transjordan, and in offering these two regions to the sons of Sharif Husssein ibn Ali of the Hedjaz, Churchill believed that the spirit, if not the letter, of Britain's wartime promises to the Arabs might be fulfilled. After further discussions between Churchill and Abdullah in Jerusalem, it was mutually agreed that Transjordan was accepted into the mandatory area with the proviso that it would be, initially for six months, under the nominal rule of the Emir Abdullah and would not form part of the Jewish national home to be established west of the River Jordan.<ref>Palestine Papers, 1917-1922, Doreen Ingrams, George Braziller 1973 Edition, pages 116-117</ref> <ref name=Lustick>{{cite book|title=''For the Land and the Lord: Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel''|author=Ian Lustick|year=1988|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|page=37|isbn=0876090366}}</ref> That agreement was formalized before the mandate officially went into effect. In September 1922, the British government presented a memorandum to the League of Nations stating that Transjordan would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement, and this memorandum was approved on 23 September. A clause was added to the charter governing the Mandate for Palestine which allowed Great Britain to postpone or permanently withhold all of the provisions which related to the 'Jewish National Home' on lands which lay to the east of the Jordan River.<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm#art25 Article 25 of the Mandate for Palestine]</ref><ref name=Pappe>{{cite book|title=''A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples''|author=[[Ilan Pappe]]|year=2004|page=84|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=0521556325}}</ref> From that point onwards, Britain administered the part west of the Jordan, 23% of the entire territory, as "Palestine", and the part east of the Jordan, 77% of the entire territory, as "Transjordan." Technically they remained one mandate but most official documents referred to them as if they were two separate mandates. Transfer of authority to an Arab government took place gradually in Transjordan, starting with the recognition of a local administration in 1923 and transfer of most administrative functions in 1928. Britain retained mandatory authority over the region until it became fully independent as the [[Jordan|Hashemite Kingdom of Trans-Jordan]] in 1946. ===Borders=== The precise geographical boundaries of the Mandate have historically been disputed, with conflicting and shifting British promises to Jewish and Arab interests made in the [[Balfour Declaration of 1917]], the [[Sykes-Picot]] Agreement, the [[Hussein-McMahon Correspondence]], and the [[Churchill White Paper]] of 1922. The [[San Remo conference]] did not precisely define the boundaries of the mandated territories.<ref>Biger, 2005, p. 173.</ref><ref>[[Chaim Weizmann]], subsequently reported to his colleagues in London: "There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris." See: 'Zionist Aspirations: Dr Weizmann on the Future of Palestine', ''The Times'', Saturday, [[8 May]], 1920; p. 15.</ref> The boundary between the [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[France|French]] mandates was defined in broad terms by the [[Franco-British Boundary Agreement]] of December 1920 <ref name="treaty1920">Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia, signed Dec. 23, 1920. Text available in ''American Journal of International Law'', Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122–126.</ref>. That agreement placed the bulk of the Golan Heights in the French sphere. The treaty also established a joint commission to settle the precise border and mark it on the ground.<ref name="treaty1920"/> The commission submitted its final report on 3 February 1922, and it was approved with some caveats by the British and French governments on 7 March 1923, several months before Britain and France assumed their Mandatory responsibilities on 29 September 1923.<ref>Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13 (1923), Cmd. 1910. Also Louis, 1969, p. 90.</ref><ref name = "FSU Law">[http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/LimitsinSeas/IBS075.pdf FSU Law].</ref> In accordance with the same process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site of [[Tel Dan|Dan]] was transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924. The Golan Heights thus became part of the [[French Mandate of Syria]]. [[United States|American]] President [[Woodrow Wilson]] protested British concessions in a cable to the British Cabinet.<ref>"The Zionist cause depends on rational northern and eastern boundaries for a self-maintaining, economic development of the country. This means, on the north, Palestine must include the Litani River and the watersheds of the Hermon, and on the east it must include the plains of the Jaulon and the Hauran. Narrower than this is a mutilation… I need not remind you that neither in this country nor in Paris has there been any opposition to the Zionist program, and to its realization the boundaries I have named are indispensable". Abelson, Meir, [http://www.acpr.org.il/ENGLISH-NATIV/issue1/Abelson-1.htm Palestine: The Original Sin].</ref> When the French Mandate of Syria ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria. ===League of Nations ratification=== The San Remo Resolution adopted on 25 April 1920 incorporated the [[Balfour Declaration, 1917|Balfour Declaration]] of 1917, and Article 22 of the Covenant of the [[League of Nations]]. It was the basic document upon which the Mandate for Palestine was constructed. In June 1922, the [[League of Nations]] approved the [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm Palestine Mandate], to come into effect when a dispute between France and Italy over the [[French Mandate of Syria|Syria Mandate]] was settled. That occurred in September 1923. The [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm Palestine Mandate] was an explicit document regarding Britain's responsibilities and powers of administration in Palestine. It included the [[Balfour Declaration]]: <blockquote> 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 favor 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 </blockquote> Many articles of the document specified actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status. Although [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/leagcov.htm#art22 Article 22] of the Covenant of the [[League of Nations]], which referred to the rights of the indigenous population, was mentioned in the preamble, the [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm document] further ignored the political rights of the Arabs.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 32,33</ref> ==Interwar period== ===Administration=== [[Image:Palestine-Mandate-Ensign-1927-1948.svg|thumb|200px|right|The Palestine Ensign, flown by ships registered in the Mandate territory, 1927–1948]] [[Image:Samuelarrival.jpg|thumb|left|The new era in Palestine. The arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel.]] Following its occupation by British troops in 1917–1918, Palestine had been controlled by the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration of the United Kingdom Government. Anticipating the establishment of the Mandate, in July 1920, the military administration was replaced by a civilian one, headed by a High Commissioner.<ref>''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 [http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/07175de9fa2de563852568d3006e10f3!OpenDocument]</ref><ref>"in April 1920 the Allies decided that so far as the Arabic-speaking world was concerned they would implement the provisions of such a treaty [with Turkey] as they envisaged. Such action was of course, highly illegal...this irregular conduct was more public spirited than otherwise. It was the only sensible thing to do..." Christopher Sykes, ''Crossroads to Israel''</ref> The first High Commissioner, [[Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel|Herbert Samuel]] arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920, and complied with a demand from the head of the military administration, General Sir [[Louis Bols]], that he sign a receipt for ‘one Palestine, complete’: Samuel famously added the common commercial escape clause, ‘[[E&OE]]’ (errors and omissions excepted).<ref name="wasserstein">Bernard Wasserstein, ‘Samuel, Herbert Louis, first Viscount Samuel (1870–1963)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35928, accessed 21 April 2007].</ref> In October 1923, Britain provided the League with two reports on the administration of Palestine and Iraq for the period 1920–1922. The Secretary General's statement accepting the reports says: "The mandate for Palestine only came into force on 29 September 1923. The two reports cover periods previous to the application of the mandates."<ref>League of Nations, Official Journal, Oct 1923, p1217.</ref> ===The Arab political status in the Mandate=== 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]], the [http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/leagcov.htm#art22 Covenant of the League of Nations], and British promises during World War I. The British however made acceptance of the terms of the Mandate a precondition for any change in the constitutional position of the Arabs. For the Arabs this was unacceptable, as they felt that this would be "self murder".<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 33,34</ref> 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.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 32,36</ref> ===The Yishuv=== {{main|History of Zionism}} {{See also|History of the State of Israel}} During the Mandate the Yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine, grew from one-sixth to almost one-third of the population. === Immigration === <!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Kibbutz Degania Alef.jpg|left|thumb|[[Kibbutz]] ''[[Degania]] Alef'', during the 1930s]] --> According to official records, 367,845 Jews and 33,304 non-Jews immigrated legally between 1920 and 1945.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Survey of Palestine: Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry |volume=1|pages=pp. 185|publisher=Govt. printer|location=Palestine|year=1946}}</ref> It was estimated that another 50–60,000 Jews and a small number of non-Jews immigrated illegally during this period.<ref>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".</ref> Immigration accounts for most of the increase of Jewish population, while the non-Jewish population increase was largely natural. These figures have been supported by later studies<ref>{{cite book|author=J. McCarthy|title=The population of Palestine: population history and statistics of the late Ottoman period and the Mandate|publisher=Darwin Press|year=1995|location=Princeton, N.J.}}</ref>, though estimates of Arab immigration have been disputed.<ref>Gottheil, Fred M. {{cite web|url=http://www.meforum.org/article/522|title="The Smoking Gun: Arab Immigration into Palestine, 1922–1931."|accessdate=2007-05-15}} ''Middle East Quarterly'', Winter 2003, Volume X, Number 1, at [http://www.meforum.org/article/522#_ftnref17]</ref> Initially, Jewish immigration to Palestine met little opposition from the [[Palestinian Arab]]s. 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 [[United Kingdom|British]] government placed limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. These quotas were controversial, particularly in the latter years of British rule, and both [[Arab]]s and [[Jew]]s disliked the policy, each side for its own reasons. In response to numerous Arab attacks on Jewish communities, the [[Haganah]], a Jewish paramilitary organization, was formed on [[June 15]], [[1920]] to defend Jewish residents. Tensions led to widespread violent disturbances on several occasions, notably in 1921, 1929 (primarily violent attacks by Arabs on Jews&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;see [[1929 Hebron massacre]]) and 1936–1939. Beginning in 1936, several Jewish groups such as [[Irgun|Etzel (Irgun)]] and [[Stern Gang|Lehi (Stern Gang)]] conducted their own campaigns of violence against British military and Arab targets. This prompted the British government to label them both as [[terrorism|terrorist]] organizations. ===Infrastructure and development=== [[Image:Palestine stamp.jpg|thumb|left|110px|A 1927 stamp from Palestine under the British Mandate. The Hebrew acronym א״י (''Aleph-Yud'') stands for [[Eretz Yisrael]].]] Rashid Khalidi made a comparison between the Yishuv, the Jewish community in Palestine, and the Palestinain Arabs on the one hand, and between the Palestinian Arabs and other Arabs on the other hand. 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.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 13,14</ref> Compared to other Arab countries the Palestinian Arab individuials earned slightly better.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 27</ref> 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 favorably to Egypt and Turkey, but unfavorably to Lebanon.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 14,24</ref> On the scale of the UN Human Development Index determined for around 1939, of 36 countries, Palestinian Jews were placed 15<sup>th</sup>, Palestinian Arabs 30<sup>th</sup>, Egypt 33<sup>rd</sup> and Turkey 35<sup>th</sup>.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 16</ref> The Jews in Palestine were mainly urban, 76.2% in 1942, while the Arabs were mainly rural, 68,3% in 1942.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 17</ref> Overall Khalidi concludes that the Palestinian Arab society, while being overmatched by the Yishuv, was as advanced as any other Arab society in the region and considerably more as several.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 29,30</ref> From the 1920s to the start of the Second World War, the Mandate territory underwent enormous economic and cultural development. The institutions founded in this period included an elected assembly, the ''Asefat Hanivharim'', the National Council for welfare, education, and religious service ''Vaad Leumi'' in 1920, a centralized Hebrew school system in 1919, the [[Histadrut]] labor federation in 1920, the [[Technion]] university in 1924, and the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] in 1925.<ref>See: [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jews_mandate.html The Jewish Community under the Mandate]</ref> ===Palestinian Arab leadership=== The British granted the Palestinian Arabs a religious leadership, but they always kept it dependent.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 63</ref> 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 like the administration of [[waqf|religious endowments]] and the appointment of [[qadi|religious judges]] and local muftis. In Ottoman times these duties had been fulfilled by the bureaucracy in Istanbul.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 63</ref> In ruling the Palestinian Arabs the British preferred to deal with elites, rather than with political formations rooted in the middle or lower classes.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 52</ref> For instance they ignored the Palestine Arab Congress. The British also tried to create divisions among these elites. For instance 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.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 56,57</ref> Hajj Amin was a distant cousin of Musa Kazim al-Husainy, the leader of the Palestine Arab Congress. According to Khalidi, by appointing a younger relative, the British hoped to undermine the position of Musa Kazim.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 59</ref> Indeed they stayed rivals until the death of Musa Kazim in 1934. Another of the mufti's rivals, [[Raghib al-Nashashibi|Raghib Bey al-Nashashibi]], had already been appointed mayor of Jerusalem in 1920, replacing Musa Kazim whom the British removed after the [[1920 Palestine riots|Nabi Musa riots of 1920]],<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 63,69</ref><ref>[[Tom Segev]], ''One Palestine, Complete'', 2000, ch. ''Nebi Musa''.</ref> during which he exhorted the crowd to give their blood for Palestine.<ref>B. Morris, 1999, 'Righteous Victims, a history of the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-2001', p. 112</ref> During the entire Mandate period, but especially during the latter half the rivalry between the mufti and al-Nashashibi dominated Palestinian politics. Many notables were dependent on the British for their income. In return for their support of the notables the British required them to appease the population. According to Khalidi this worked admirably well until the mid-1930s, when the mufti was pushed into serious opposition by a popular explosion.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 63,64,72-73, 85</ref> After that the mufti became the deadly foe of the British and the Zionists. According to Khalidid before the mid-1930s the notables from both the al-Husayni and the al-Nashashibi factions acted as though by simply continuing to negotiate with the British they could convince them to grant the Palestinians their political rights.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 78</ref> The Arab population considered both factions as ineffective in their national struggle, and linked to and dependent on the British administration. Khalidi ascribes the failure of the Palestinian leaders to enroll mass support to their experience during the Ottoman period, when they were part of the ruling elite and were accustomed to command. The idea of mobilising the masses was thoroughly alien to them.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 81</ref> There had already been rioting and attacks on and massacres of Jews in [[Jaffa riots|1921]] and [[1929 Palestine riots|1929]]. During the 1930s Palestinian Arab popular discontent with Jewish immigration and increasing Arab landlessness 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 organized by groups such as the [[Young Men's Muslim Association]]. There was also support for the growth in influence of the radical nationalist [[Independence Party (Palestine)|Independence Party]] (''Hizb al-Istiqlal''), which called for a boycott of the British in the manner of the [[Indian Independence Movement#Dandi March and the civil disobedience movement|Indian Congress Party]]. Some even took to the hills to [[Black Hand (Palestine)|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]]. The younger generation also formed the backbone of the organisation of the six-month general strike of 1936, which marked the start of the great Palestinian Revolt.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 87,90</ref> According to Khalidi this was a grass-roots uprising, which was eventually adopted by the old Palestinian leadership, whose 'inept leadership helped to doom these movements as well'. ===The Great Arab Revolt (1936–1939)=== The death of the [[Sheikh|Shaykh]] [[Izz ad-Din al-Qassam]] at the hands of the British police near [[Jenin]] in November 1935 generated widespread outrage and 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. This lasted until October 1936. During the summer of that year thousands of Jewish-farmed acres and orchards were destroyed, Jews were attacked and killed and some Jewish communities, such as those in [[Beisan]] and [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], fled to safer areas.<ref>Gilbert, 1998, p. 80.</ref> After the strike, one of the longest ever anticolonial strikes, the violence abated for about a year while the British sent the [[Peel Commission]] to investigate.<ref>R. Khalidi, 2006, 'The Iron Cage', ISBN 0-8070-0308-5, p. 87,90</ref> In 1937, the [[Peel Commission]] proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population had 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 Executive and the British Government.<ref>'Zionists Ready To Negotiate British Plan As Basis', ''The Times'' Thursday, [[August 12]], 1937; pg. 10; Issue 47761; col B.</ref><ref>Eran, Oded. "Arab-Israel Peacemaking." ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. Ed. [[Avraham Sela]]. New York: Continuum, 2002, page 122.</ref> In the wake of the [[Peel Commission]] recommendation an armed uprising spread through the country. Over the next 18 months the British lost control of Jerusalem, [[Nablus]], and Hebron. British forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police,<ref>Gilbert, 1998, p. 85. The [[Jewish Settlement Police]] were set up and equipped with trucks and armored cars by the British working with the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]].</ref> suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force. The British officer [[Orde Charles Wingate|Charles Orde Wingate]] (who supported a Zionist revival for religious reasons<ref>van Creveld, 2004, p. 45.</ref>) organized [[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"<ref>Black, 1992, p. 14.</ref> by conducting raids on Arab villages. The squads used excessive and indiscriminate force<ref>Shapira, 1992, pp. 247, 249, 350.</ref> The Jewish militias the [[Stern Gang]] and [[Irgun]] used violence also against civilians, [[List of Irgun attacks during the 1930s|attacking marketplaces and buses]]. The Revolt resulted in the deaths of 5,000 Palestinians and the wounding of 10,000. In total 10 percent of the adult male population was killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled <ref>(see Khalidi, 2001)</ref>. The Jewish population had 400 killed; the British 200. Significantly, from 1936 to 1945, whilst establishing collaborative security arrangements with the [[Jewish Agency for Israel|Jewish Agency]], the British confiscated 13,200 firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews.<ref>Khalidi, 1987, p. 845 (cited in Khalidi, 2001).</ref> 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]] ("The Defense"), 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 radicalized 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".<ref>R. Khalidi, 2001, p. 29.</ref> ==World War II and post-war end of Mandate== ===Allied and Axis activity=== 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]]. Palestinians, by this point, were tired of outside forces controlling their destiny. Most preferred to be neutral in what they perceived as 'other people's conflict'. However, most youth signed up for the British army, primarily because Britain was the 'mother country', but a few saw an [[Axis powers|Axis]] victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Al-Husseini spent the rest of the war serving with the [[Waffen SS]] in the German-conquered [[Bosnia (region)|Bosnia]]. Even though Arabs were not highly regarded by [[Nazism and race|Nazi racial theory]], the Nazis encouraged Arab support as much as possible as a counter to British hegemony throughout the Arab world.<ref>Secret World War II documents released by the UK in July, 2001, include documents on an [[Operation Atlas]] (See [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/july2001.pdf References: KV 2/400–402]. A German task force, lead 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 Palestinians would have nothing to do with the Germans and their philosophy, and, thus, the team was captured and picked up shortly after landing.</ref> Arabs who opposed the persecution of the Jews at the hand of the Nazis included [[Habib Bourguiba]] in [[Tunisia]] and [[Egypt]]ian intellectuals such as [[Tawfiq al-Hakim]] and [[Abbas Mahmoud al-Arkad]]. (Source: [[Yad Vashem]]). The mandate recruited soldiers in Palestine. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs and 26,000 Palestinian Jews joined the British forces. This Army Division acted in the [[Mediterranean theatre of World War II|Mediterranean theatre]]. On [[10 June]] [[1940]], during early stages of [[World War II]], [[Italy]] declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, the Italians [[Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II|attacked Palestine from the air]]. Many attacks continued from the air and on the ground. 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]]<ref>[http://www.historycentral.com/Israel/1941PalmachFormed.html How the Palmach was formed] (History Central)</ref> — a highly-trained regular unit belonging to [[Haganah]] (which was mostly made up of reserve troops). 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. The brigade fought in Europe. ===The Holocaust and the Jewish Revolt=== [[Image:Tel Aviv British mailboxes by David Shankbone.jpg|thumb|British postboxes in [[White City (Tel Aviv)|old Tel Aviv]] are a remnant of the Mandate.]] [[The Holocaust]] had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. During the war, the British forbade entry into Palestine of European Jews escaping Nazi persecution, placing them in detention camps or deporting them to places such as [[Mauritius]].<ref> Karl Lenk, ''The Mauritius Affair, The Boat People of 1940/41'', London 1991 </ref> Starting in 1939, the Zionists organized an illegal immigration effort, known as [[Aliya Beth]], conducted by "[[Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet]]", that rescued tens of thousands of European Jews 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 (ship)|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 WW II. [[Eliyahu Hakim]] and [[Eliyahu Bet Zuri]], members of the Jewish Lehi underground, assassinated [[Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]] in [[Cairo]] on [[6 November]] [[1944]]. Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East. The assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] against the Zionist cause. The ban on illegal immigration continued. As a result of the assassination of [[Lord Moyne]], the [[Haganah]] kidnapped, interrogated, tortured and turned over to the British many members of the Irgun and Lehi. This period is known as the '[[Hunting Season]]'. Irgun ordered its members not to resist or retaliate with violence, so as to prevent a civil war. 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. The Jewish underground forces then united and carried out several terrorist attacks and bombings against the British. In 1946, the Irgun [[King David Hotel bombing|blew up the King David Hotel]] in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people. Following the bombing, the British Government began imprisoning [[Jews in British camps on Cyprus|illegal Jewish immigrants in Cyprus]]. Those imprisoned were held without trial and included women and children. Most were [[holocaust survivors]]. The negative publicity resulting from the situation in Palestine meant the mandate was widely unpopular in Britain and caused US Congress to delay granting the British vital loans for reconstruction. At the same time, many European Jews were finding their way to the United States. An increasing growing influence in American politics, many Zionist backers won over sympathizers in the American and other Western governments. The Labour party had promised before its election to allow mass Jewish migration into Palestine. Additionally the situation required maintenance of 100,000 British troops in the country. In response to these pressures the British announced their desire to terminate the mandate and withdraw by May 1948. ===United Nations Partition Plan=== {{main|1947 UN Partition Plan|1947-1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine}} [[Image:UN Partition Plan For Palestine 1947.png|200px|thumb|right|The UN Partition Plan.]] The British [[Peel Commission]] proposed a Palestine divided between a Jewish and an Arab State, but in time [[1939 White Paper|changed their position]] and sought to limit Jewish immigration from Europe to a minimum. This was seen by Zionists and their sympathisers as betrayal of the terms of the mandate, especially in light of the [[Kristallnacht|increasing persecution in Europe]] and was met with a popular uprising and guerrilla war from Jewish terrorist groups, often viewed as one of several factors that led the British to hand the problem over to the [[United Nations]]. The UN, the successor to the [[League of Nations]], attempted to solve the dispute, creating the [[UNSCOP]] (UN Special Committee on Palestine) on [[May 15]] [[1947]]. After spending three months conducting hearings and general survey of the situation in Palestine, UNSCOP officially released its report on [[August 31]]. A majority of nations ([[Canada]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Guatemala]], [[Netherlands]], [[Peru]], [[Sweden]], [[Uruguay]]) recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem to be placed under [[Corpus separatum|international administration]]. A minority ([[India]], [[Iran]], [[Yugoslavia]]) supported the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. [[Australia]] abstained. On [[November 29]], 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. Both the [[United States]] and [[Soviet Union]] agreed on the resolution. In addition, pressure was exerted on some small countries by [[Zionism|Zionist]] sympathizers in the United States.<ref name = "Britannica">[http://school.eb.com/eb/article-45071 "Palestine"]. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2006. 15 May 2006.</ref> The five members of the [[Arab League]] who were voting members at the time voted against the Plan, as did the United Kingdom. The partition plan was rejected out of hand by the leadership of the Palestinian Arabs and by most of the Arab population. Most of the Jews accepted the proposal, in particular the [[Jewish Agency]], which was the Jewish state-in-formation. Numerous records indicate the joy of Palestine's Jewish inhabitants as they attended the U.N. session voting for the division proposal. Up to this day, Israeli history books mention [[29 November]], the date of this session, as the most important date leading to the creation of the Israeli state. 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. The [[United Kingdom]] refused to implement the plan arguing it was not acceptable to both sides. It also refused to share with the UN Palestine Commission the administration of Palestine during the transitional period, and decided to terminate the Mandate on May 15th, 1948.<ref name = "Britannica" /><ref name = "Britannica">[http://school.eb.com/eb/article-45071 "Palestine"]. Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition, 2006. 15 May 2006.</ref> Several Jewish organizations also opposed the proposal. [[Menachem Begin]], Irgun's leader, announced: "The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. 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". His views were publicly rejected by the majority of the nascent Jewish state. ===Expiration of the Mandate and 1948 War=== {{main|1948 Arab-Israeli War}} [[Image:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg|thumb|right|250px|[[David Ben Gurion]] pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. [[Tel Aviv]], [[Israel]], beneath a large portrait of [[Theodore Herzl]], founder of modern political [[Zionism]].]] The British mandate over Palestine was due to expire on [[15 May]] [[1948]], but Jewish Leadership led by future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, declared independence on [[14 May]]. The [[State of Israel]] [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|declared itself as an independent nation]], and was quickly recognized 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 [[1948 Arab-Israeli War|invaded Israel]]. Four thousand 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. They were aided by corps of volunteers from Saudi Arabia, [[Libya]] and Yemen. The [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel]], [[May 14]] [[1948]] stated: <blockquote> ''We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.'' </blockquote> In an official [[:s:Cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to the Secretary-General of the United Nations|cablegram from the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States]] to the UN Secretary-General on [[15 May]] [[1948]], the Arab states publicly proclaimed their aim of creating a "United State of Palestine" in place of the Jewish and Arab, two-state, UN Plan. They stated the UN plan was invalid, as it was opposed by Palestine's Arab majority, and maintained that the absence of legal authority made it necessary to intervene to protect Arab lives and property.<ref>[http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/d442111e70e417e3802564740045a309?OpenDocument 'The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem: 1917–1988. Part II, 1947–1977].</ref> On the date of British withdrawal the Jewish provisional government declared the formation of the State of Israel, and the provisional government said that it would grant full civil rights to all within its borders, whether Arab, Jew, Bedouin or Druze. ===Mandatory borders and 1949 Armistice=== {{main|1949 Armistice Agreements}} [[Image:1947-UN-Partition-Plan-1949-Armistice-Comparison.png|right|150px|thumb|British Mandate: Proposed 1947 partition borders and 1949 armistice lines; main differences are in light red and magenta.]]Following the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]], the State of Israel retained nearly all the territory that would have been assigned to it in the 1947 UN Partition Plan, as well as conquered half of the land intended to become the Arab state of Palestine and a portion of the territory intended for international administration around Jerusalem. The remaining half of the land that had been intended to become Palestine along the [[West Bank]] of the [[Jordan River]] was annexed by Jordan, as was most of the Jerusalem enclave; the [[Gaza Strip]] along the Mediterranean coast, also included in the Arab state territory, was captured by Egypt. == Population == ===Demographics, 1920=== 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<ref>"[[Hope Simpson Royal Commission|Hope Simpson report]]," October 1930, Chapter III, at [http://www.zionism-israel.com/Palestine_Hope_Simpson_Report.htm]</ref> 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 [[Hejaz|Hejazi Arabs]]. In 1922, the British undertook the first census of the mandate. The population was 752,048, comprising 589,177 Muslims, 83,790 Jews, 71,464 Christians and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. After a second census in 1931, the population had grown to 1,036,339 in total, comprising 761,922 Muslims, 175,138 Jews, 89,134 Christians and 10,145 people belonging to other groups. 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. {| class="sortable wikitable" ! 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%) |} ===By district=== The following table gives the demographics of each of the 16 districts of the Mandate. {| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 10px 0 10px 25px; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #AAA solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; float: center;" |- style="background: #E9E9E9" |colspan ="8" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 110%" align="center" |'''Demographics of Palestine by district as of 1945 ''' |- |width="80"|'''District''' |'''Muslim''' |'''Percentage''' |'''Jewish''' |'''Percentage''' |'''Christian''' |'''Percentage''' |'''Total''' |- | rowspan="1" | [[District of Acre|Acre]] |51,130 |69% |3,030 |4% |11,800 |16% |73,600 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Beersheba]] |6,270 |90% |510 |7% |210 |3% |7,000 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Beisan]] |16,660 |67% | 7,590 |30% |680 |3% |24,950 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Gaza]] |145,700 |97% |3,540 |2% |1,300 |1% |150,540 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Haifa]] |95,970 |38% |119,020 |47% |33,710 |13% |253,450 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Hebron]] |92,640 |99% |300 |<1% |170 |<1% |93,120 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jaffa]] |95,980 |24% |295,160 |72% |17,790 |4% |409,290 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jenin]] |60,000 |98% |Negligible |<1% |1,210 |2% |61,210 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jerusalem]] |104,460 |42% |102,520 |40% |46,130 |18% |253,270 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Nablus]] |92,810 |98% |Negligible |<1% |1,560 |2% |94,600 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Nazareth]] |30,160 |60% |7,980 |16% |11,770 |24% |49,910 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Ramallah]] |40,520 |83% |Negligible |<1% |8,410 |17% |48,930 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Ramle]] |95,590 |71% |31,590 |24% |5,840 |4% |134,030 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Safad]] |47,310 |83% |7,170 |13% |1,630 |3% |56,970 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Tiberias]] |23,940 |58% |13,640 |33% |2,470 |6% |41,470 |- | rowspan="1" | [[Tulkarm]] |76,460 |82% |16,180 |17% |380 |1% |93,220 |- | rowspan="1" | Total |1,076,780 |58% |608,230 |33% |145,060 |9% |1,845,560 |- |colspan ="8" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 90%" | Data from the Survey of Palestine<ref>{{cite book|title=A Survey of Palestine : Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry |page= 12–13|volume=1|publisher= Institute for Palestine Studies| year=1991|id = ISBN 0-88728-211-3}}</ref> |} == Land ownership of the British Mandate of Palestine == As of 1931, the territory of the British Mandate of Palestine was 26,625,600 [[dunam|dunum]]s, of which 8,252,900 dunums or 33% were cultivable.<ref>Stein, p. 4</ref>Official statistics show that Jews privately and collectively owned 1,393,531 dunums of land in 1945.<ref>"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), pp. 26–27, Stein p. 226</ref> Estimates of the total volume of land that Jews had acquired by [[May 15]], [[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 [[March 31]], [[1936]].<ref>Stein, pp. 246–247</ref> According to Avneri, Jews held 1,850,000 dunums of land in 1947.<ref>Avneri p. 224</ref> Stein gives the estimate of 2,000,000 dunums as of May 1948.<ref>Stein, pp. 3–4, 247</ref> ===Land Ownership by district=== The following table shows the land ownership of Palestine by district: {| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 10px 0 10px 25px; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #AAA solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; float: center;" |- style="background: #E9E9E9" |colspan ="7" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 110%" align="center" | '''Land ownership of Palestine by district as of 1945 ''' |- |width="80"|'''District''' |'''Arab owned ''' |'''Jewish owned''' |'''Public and other''' |- | rowspan="1" | [[Acre, Israel|Acre]] |87% |3% |10% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Beersheba]] |15% |<1% |85% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Beisan]] |44% |34% |22% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Gaza]] |75% |4% |21% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Haifa]] |42% |35% |23% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Hebron]] |96% |<1% |4% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jaffa]] |47% |39% |14% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jenin]] |84% |<1% |16% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Jerusalem]] |84% |2% |14% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Nablus]] |87% |<1% |13% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Nazareth]] |52% |28% |20% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Ramallah]] |99% |<1% |1% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Ramle]] |77% |14% |9% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Safad]] |68% |18% |14% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Tiberias]] |51% |38% |11% |- | rowspan="1" | [[Tulkarm]] |78% |17% |5% |- |colspan ="7" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 90%" | Data from the Land Ownership of Palestine<ref>[http://domino.un.org/maps/m0094.jpg Land Ownership of Palestine] — Map prepared by the Government of Palestine on the instructions of the UN Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question.</ref> |} ===Land ownership by type=== The land owned privately and collectively by Arabs and Jews can be classified as urban, rural built-on, cultivable (farmed), and uncultivable. The following chart shows the ownership by Arabs and Jews in each of the categories. {| border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 10px 0 10px 25px; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #AAA solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%; float: center;" |- style="background: #E9E9E9" |colspan ="7" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 110%" | '''Land ownership of Palestine (in dunums) as of April 1st, 1943 ''' |- |'''Category of land''' |'''Arab and other non-Jewish ownership''' |'''Jewish ownership''' |'''Total Land''' |- | rowspan="1" | Urban |76,662 |70,111 |146,773 |- | rowspan="1" | Rural built-on |36,851 |42,330 |79,181 |- | rowspan="1" | Cereal (taxable) |5,503,183 |814,102 |6,317,285 |- | rowspan="1" | Cereal (not taxable) |900,294 |51,049 |951,343 |- | rowspan="1" | Plantation |1,079,788 |95,514 |1,175,302 |- | rowspan="1" | Citrus |145,572 |141,188 |286,760 |- | rowspan="1" | Banana |2,300 |1,430 |3,730 |- | rowspan="1" | Uncultivable |16,925,805 |298,523 |17,224,328 |- | rowspan="1" | '''Total''' |24,670,455 |1,514,247 |26,184,702 |- |colspan ="7" style="background: #E9E9E9; font-size: 90%" | Data is from Survey of Palestine.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Survey of Palestine : Prepared in December, 1945 and January, 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry |volume=1|publisher= Institute for Palestine Studies| year=1991|id = ISBN 0-88728-211-3}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=February 2007}} |} ===Land Laws of Palestine=== *[[Ottoman Land Code of 1858]] *[[Land Transfer Ordinance of 1920]] *[[1926 Correction of Land Registers Ordinance]] *[[Land Settlement Ordinance of 1928]] *[[Land Transfer Regulations of 1940]] ==British Chief Administrators of Palestine== {| class="wikitable" ! Name ! Term |- | [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby]] || 1917&ndash;1918 |- | Sir [[Arthur Wigram Money]] || 1918&ndash;1919 |- | Sir [[Louis Bols|Louis Jean Bols]] || 1919&ndash;1920 |} ==British High Commissioners for Palestine== {| class="wikitable" ! Name ! Term |- | Sir [[Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel|Herbert Louis Samuel]] || 1920&ndash;1925 |- | Sir [[Gilbert Falkingham Clayton]] || May&ndash;December 1925 (acting) |- | [[Herbert Onslow Plumer]] || 1925&ndash;1928 |- | Sir [[Harry Charles Luke]] (acting) || 1928 |- | Sir [[John Chancellor (British administrator)|John Chancellor]] || 1928&ndash;1931 |- | Sir [[Mark Aitchison Young]] || 1931&ndash;1932 (acting) |- | Sir [[Arthur Grenfell Wauchope]] || 1932&ndash;1937 |- | [[William Denis Battershill]] || 1937&ndash;1938 (acting) |- | Sir [[Harold MacMichael]] || 1938&ndash;1944 |- | [[John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort]] | 1944&ndash;1945 |- | Sir [[Alan Cunningham]] || 1945&ndash;1948 |} ==See also== *[[Mohammad Amin al-Husayni]], the [[Grand Mufti of Jerusalem]] *[[Ottoman Empire]] *[[Balfour Declaration 1917]] *[[s:Palestine Mandate|1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate]] *[[Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II]] *[[1947 UN Partition Plan]] *[[Napoleon and the Jews#Napoleon and a Jewish state in Palestine|Napoleon and a Jewish state in Palestine]] *[[Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948]] *[[1948 Arab-Israeli War]] *[[Palestinian]] *[[Jewish Brigade]] *[[Haganah]] *[[Irgun]] *[[Lehi (group)]] *[[The Sergeants affair]] *[[Museum of Underground Prisoners]] *[[Russian Compound]] *[[Ernest Bevin]] *[[Elon Peace Plan]] *[[Herbert Dowbiggin]] *[[Palestinian pound]] *[[Postal history of Palestine]] *[[:Category:Political parties in the British Mandate of Palestine]] ==Notes== {{reflist|2}} ==References== *[[Nicholas Bethell|Bethell, Nicholas]] ''The Palestine Triangle : the Struggle Between the British, the Jews and the Arabs, 1935–48'', London : Deutsch, 1979 ISBN 023397069X. *Eini, Roza El- (2006). ''Mandated Landscape: British Imperial Rule in Palestine 1929–1948''. London: Routledge. ISBN 0714654264 *Biger, Gideon (2005). ''The Boundaries of Modern Palestine'', 1840–1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0714656542 *Louis, Wm. Roger (1969). The United Kingdom and the Beginning of the Mandates System, 1919–1922. ''International Organization'', 23(1), pp. 73–96. *{{cite journal | author=Asher Maoz | title=Application of Israeli law to the Golan Heights is annexation | journal=Brooklyn journal of international law | year=1994 | volume=20, afl. 2 | pages=355–96}} *{{cite journal | author=Tayseer Maar'i & Usama Halabi | title=Life under occupation in the Golan Heights | journal=Journal of Palestine Studies | year=1992 | volume=22 | pages=78–93 | doi=10.1525/jps.1992.22.1.00p0166n}} * Morris, Benny (2001) ''Righteous Victims'' New York, Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-74475-7. *{{cite journal | author=Eyal Zisser | title=June 1967: Israel's capture of the Golan Heights | journal=Israel Studies | year=2002 | volume=7,1 | pages=168–194}} *Paris, Timothy J. (2003). ''Britain, the Hashemites and Arab Rule, 1920–1925: The Sherifian Solution''. London: Routledge. ISBN 0714654515 *[[Tom Segev|Segev, Tom]] (2000). ''One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate'', Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 0-8050-6587-3 *Sherman, A J (1998).''Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918–1948'', Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-8018-6620-0 *Stein, Kenneth W. ''The Land Question in Palestine, 1917–1939''. University of North Carolina, 1984. ISBN 0-8078-1579-9 ==External links== {{Wikisourcepar|Palestine Mandate}} *[http://www.dinur.org/resources/resourceCategoryDisplay.aspx?categoryid=777&rsid=478 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 *[http://www.drberlin.com/palestine/ Coins and Banknotes of Palestine under the British Mandate] *[http://www.zobbel.de/stamp/pal_poste.htm Stamps of Palestine under the British Mandate] *[http://www.globalpolitician.com/articles.asp?ID=132 Legal Status of West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem] *[http://www.mideastweb.org/briefhistory.htm A history of Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict] *[http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/article.php?pg=4&ar=10 An Introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict] by [[Norman Finkelstein]] *[http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/deftoc.html Jewish Defense Organizations] *[http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/qpal/ United Nations] *[http://www.passia.org/images/pal_facts_MAPS/dist_of_pop_jews_and_palestinians_1946.gif Map of Population Distribution by Ethnicity 1946] *[http://www.mideastweb.org/palpop.htm Population of Palestine before 1948] *[http://domino.un.org/maps/m0094.jpg Map of Land Ownership in Palestine 1945] *[http://www.palestinefacts.org/ Facts about Palestine] from the American Zionist Organisation *[http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Databases/Palestine/index.html British Servicemen and Police who died 1945–1948 — Database] *[http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jews_mandate.html The Jewish Community under the Mandate] at Jewish Virtual Library .org * [http://www.exodus1947.com Exodus1947.com] PBS Documentary Film focusing on the secret American involvement in "illegal" immigration to Palestine during the Mandate, narrated by Morley Safer ==Primary sources== *[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm Yale Law School, Avalon Project, archive copy of the Palestine Mandate] *[http://domino.un.org/maps/m0103_1b.gif Map of 1947 UN division] {{Territories of the British Empire}} [[Category:British Mandate of Palestine| ]] [[Category:Palestinian history]] [[Category:Arab-Israeli conflict]] [[Category:British Empire]] [[Category:History of Israel]] [[Category:League of Nations mandates|Palestine]] [[Category:Former British protectorates|Palestine]] [[Category:United Nations]] [[Category:1920 establishments]] [[Category:1948 disestablishments]] [[Category:Palestinians and the United Nations]] <!-- League of Nations is a direct predecessor of the UN --> [[ar:الانتداب البريطاني على فلسطين]] [[bg:Британски мандат в Палестина]] [[ca:Mandat Britànic de Palestina]] [[cs:Britský mandát Palestina]] [[da:Mandatområdet i Palæstina]] [[de:Völkerbundsmandat für Palästina]] [[es:Mandato Británico de Palestina]] [[fa:قیومیت بریتانیا بر فلسطین]] [[fr:Palestine mandataire]] [[id:Mandat Britania atas Palestina]] [[it:Mandato britannico della Palestina]] [[he:המנדט הבריטי]] [[nl:Mandaatgebied Palestina]] [[no:Palestinamandatet]] [[nn:Palestinamandatet]] [[pl:Palestyna (mandat)]] [[pt:Mandato Britânico da Palestina]] [[ru:Британский мандат в Палестине]] [[fi:Palestiinan brittiläinen mandaatti]] [[sv:Palestinamandatet]] [[th:ดินแดนปาเลสไตน์ในอาณัตของอังกฤษ]] [[yi:דאס בריטישע מאנדאט]]