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THE BRITISH MANDATE IN PALESTINE In the 1920s, when the Jewish National Fund purchased large By the early years of the 20th century, Palestine was becoming a tracts of land from absentee Arab landowners, the Arabs living in trouble spot of competing territorial claims and political interests. these areas were evicted. These displacements led to increasing The Ottoman Empire was weakening, and European powers were tensions and violent confrontations between Jewish settlers and entrenching their grip on areas in the eastern Mediterranean, Arab peasant tenants. including Palestine. In 1928, Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem began to clash over During 1915-16, as World War I was underway, the British High their respective communal religious rights at the Wailing Wall (al- Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, secretly correspond- Buraq in the Muslim tradition). The Wailing Wall, the sole rem- ed with Husayn ibn 'Ali, the patriarch of the Hashemite family and _ nant of the second Jewish Temple, is one of the holiest sites for the Ottoman Governor of Mecca and Medina. McMahon convinced Jewish people. But this site is also holy to Muslims, since the Husayn to lead an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, which Wailing Wall is adjacent to the Temple Mount (the Noble was aligned with Germany against Britain and France in the war. Sanctuary in the Muslim tradition). On the mount is the site of the McMahon promised that if the Arabs supported Britain in the war, al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, believed to mark the the British government would support the establishment of an inde- spot from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven on a pendent Arab state under Hashemite rule in the Arab provinces of winged horse. the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine. The Arab revolt, led by On August 15, 1929, members of the Betar youth movement (a T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Husayn's son Faysal, pre-state organisation of the Revisionist Zionists) demonstrated and was successful in defeating the Ottomans, and Britain took control _ raised a Zionist flag over the Wailing Wall. Fearing that the Noble over much of this area during Worl Sanctuary was in danger, Arabs respond- War I. ed by attacking Jews throughout the But Britain made other promises dur- country. During the clashes, 64 Jews ing the war, which conflicted with the In the 1920s, when the Jewish were killed in Hebron. Their Muslim Husayn-McMahon understandings. In | National Fund purchased large neighbours saved others. The Jewish 1917, the British Foreign Minister, Lor community of Hebron ceased to exist Arthur Balfour, issued a declaration (the tracts of land from absentee when its surviving members left for Balfour Declaration) announcing his Arab landowners the Arabs Jerusalem. During a week of commu- government's support for the establish- ee . D nal violence, 133 Jews and 115 Arabs ment of "a Jewish national home in living in these areas were killed and many wounded. Palestine". 1 European Jewish immigration to A third promise, in the form of a wwe evicted. Palestine increased dramatically after secret agreement, was a deal that Britain Hitler's rise to power in 1933, leading and France struck between themselves to new land purchases and Jewish set- to carve up the Arab provinces of the tlements. Palestinian resistance to Ottoman Empire and divide control of the region. British control and Zionist settlement climaxed with the Arab revolt After the war, Britain and France convinced the new League of of 1936-39, which Britain suppressed with the help of Zionist mili- Nations (precursor to the United Nations), in which they were the tias and the complicity of neighbouring Arab regimes. dominant powers, to grant them quasi-colonial authority over for- After crushing the Arab revolt, the British reconsidered their mer Ottoman territories. The British and French regimes were governing policies in an effort to maintain order in an increasingly nown as "mandates". tense environment. They issued a White Paper, a statement of France obtained a mandate over Syria, carving out Lebanon asa __ political policy, limiting future Jewish immigration and land separate state with a (slight) Christian majority. purchases. Britain obtained a mandate over the areas which now comprise The Zionists regarded this as a betrayal of the Balfour Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Jordan. In 1921, the Declaration and a particularly egregious act in light of the desperate British divided this region in two: east of the Jordan River became situation of the Jews in Europe, who were facing extermination. the Emirate of Transjordan, to be ruled by Faysal's brother The 1939 White Paper marked the end of the British-Zionist Abdullah, and west of the Jordan River became the Palestine alliance. Mandate. This was the first time in modern history that Palestine At the same time, the defeat of the Arab revolt and the exile of ecame a unified political entity. Throughout the region, Arabs the Palestinian political leadership meant that the Palestinian Arabs were angered by Britain's failure to fulfill its promise to create an were politically disorganised during the crucial decade in which the independent Arab state, and many opposed British and French future of Palestine was decided. control as a violation of their right to self-determination. In Palestine, the situation was more complicated because of the THE UNITED NATIONS PARTITION PLAN British promise to support the creation of a Jewish national home. Following World War II, escalating hostilities between Arabs The rising tide of European Jewish immigration, land purchases and Jews over the fate of Palestine and between the Zionist militias and settlement in Palestine generated increasing resistance by and the British Army compelled Britain to relinquish its mandate Palestinian Arab peasants, journalists and political figures. They over Palestine. The British government requested that the recently feared that this would lead eventually to the establishment of a established United Nations determine the future of Palestine, but its Jewish state in Palestine. Palestinian Arabs opposed the British hope was that the UN would be unable to arrive at a workable solu- Mandate because it thwarted their aspirations for self-rule, and they tion and would turn Palestine back to them as a UN trusteeship. opposed massive Jewish immigration because it threatened their A UN-appointed committee of representatives from various position in the country. In 1920 and 1921, clashes broke out —_ countries went to Palestine to investigate the situation. Although between Arabs and Jews, in which roughly equal numbers of both members of this committee disagreed on the form that a political groups were killed. resolution should take, there was general agreement that the living in these areas were evicted. THE UNITED NATIONS PARTITION PLAN Following World War II, escalating hostilities between Arabs and Jews over the fate of Palestine and between the Zionist militias and the British Army compelled Britain to relinquish its mandate over Palestine. The British government requested that the recently established United Nations determine the future of Palestine, but its hope was that the UN would be unable to arrive at a workable solu- tion and would turn Palestine back to them as a UN trusteeship. A UN-appointed committee of representatives from various countries went to Palestine to investigate the situation. Although members of this committee disagreed on the form that a political resolution should take, there was general agreement that the JUNE - JULY 2002 NEXUS ¢ 21 THE BRITISH MANDATE IN PALESTINE www.nexusmagazine.com