Documents and Sources

1914-1915 Hussein-McMahon Correspondence CIE+ members only

The Sharif of Mecca and Sir Henry McMahon, a British official in Cairo speaking for the Foreign Office, exchange letters about the current war effort against the Turks and the future political status of specific Arab lands in the Ottoman Empire. McMahon says, as he repeats in 1937, that the area of Palestine is excluded from any area to be provided to an Arab leader after World War I. The British instead allow the area of Palestine to develop as a “national home for the Jewish people.”

Documents and Sources|October 24, 1915|Spanish

Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916 CIE+ members only

Britain and France secretly divide the Arab provinces of the reeling Ottoman Empire to meet their own geopolitical interests. They offer no concern for the political aspirations of indigenous populations.

Documents and Sources|May 15-16, 1916

Balfour Declaration

The British Foreign Ministry promises to work toward a Jewish national home in Palestine with no harm to non-Jewish populations or to Jews living elsewhere who might want to support a Jewish home.

Faisal-Weizmann Correspondence, Agreement, 1919 CIE+ members only

Emir Faisal, on behalf of the Sharif of Mecca, and Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, exchange recognition of cordiality and kinship between a future Arab state and Palestine, where Zionists seek to establish their national home. They offer each other mutual assistance.

Documents and Sources|January-March 1919

Zionist Organization Statement to Paris Peace Conference, 1919 CIE+ members only

A Zionist delegation to the Paris Peace Conference makes an effective, largely successful case for the League of Nations to incorporate a future Jewish national home into the British Mandate for Palestine.

Documents and Sources|February 3, 1919

Herbert Samuel’s Review of Present and Future Zionist-Arab Interactions in Palestine, 1920 CIE+ members only

Herbert Samuel, soon to serve as Britain’s first high commissioner for Palestine and the only Jew to hold the role, notes reasons for Arab political infighting, the origins of Arab dislike of Zionism, how land sales to Jews generate Arab jealousies, Jewish educational focus and the potential of the region of Palestine to support 4 million people.

Documents and Sources|April 2, 1920

San Remo Conference Agreement, 1920: Borders Set for Postwar Middle Eastern Mandates CIE+ members only

The post-WWI San Remo Conference allocates former Ottoman territories to Britain and France and recognizes Jewish self-determination in Palestine by adopting the language of the Balfour Declaration, decisions the League of Nations confirms two years later.

Documents and Sources|April 25, 1920|Hebrew

Mixed Muslim and Arab Views and Actions Toward Jews, Zionism and Israel, 1920s-Present CIE+ members only

For more than a century, Arab and Muslim leaders have expressed hatred for Jews, Zionism and Israel, although some have pointed internally for the failures of the Palestinian Arab national movement.

Documents and Sources|1920s-Present|Spanish

Haycraft Commission Reports on May 1921 Palestine Disturbances CIE+ members only

In early May 1921, communal riots unfolded in the city of Jaffa and at Jewish settlements along the coast, with considerable loss of life and property for both communities. The British decide that both Arabs and Jews had real as well as exaggerated fears of the other.

Documents and Sources|October 1921

League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, 1922

International legitimacy is granted to establish a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Rules for its establishment clearly give Jews in Palestine distinct advantages over the local Arab population.

Documents and Sources|July 24, 1922|Hebrew

American Officials on Zionism, Israel, the U.S.-Israeli Relationship and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1922-2026 CIE+ members only

Using published archives, press conferences, speeches and numerous interviews, this compilation of quotations traces how official American views on Zionism and Israel have evolved over a century.

Documents and Sources, Ken's Blog|1922-2022

League of Nations — Annual Mandate Reports, 1922-1939 CIE+ members only

Annual reports to the League of Nations address the status and progress of the British Mandate for Palestine,

Documents and Sources|1922-1939

Vladimir Jabotinsky, “The Iron Wall,” 1923

Ze’ev Jabotinsky argues that peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Palestine is impossible until Zionists demonstrate through strength that they are an irreversible presence in the Land of Israel.

Documents and Sources|April 11, 1923|Hebrew

Composite Statements in KKL/JNF Discussions About Lands to Purchase, 1926-1948 CIE+ members only

JNF meeting minutes and other statements show the strategic approach to Jewish land purchases throughout the British Mandate period.

Documents and Sources|1926-1948

Palestine High Commissioner Sir John Chancellor Seeks to Stop Jewish National Home in Dispatch to Colonial Secretary, 1930 CIE+ members only

Palestine’s High Commissioner Chancellor seeks to halt the Jewish National Home in favor of the Arabs. He fails to overcome the Zionist drive and Arab unwillingness to cooperate with his intentions.

Documents and Sources|January 17, 1930

Jewish Agency’s Margalith Identifies Arab Peasant Displacement From Arab Landlord Sales to Jewish Buyers, 1930 CIE+ members only

Two letters detail how Arab peasants are sometimes swindled out of their lands by Arab land brokers and effendis, noting economic harm to them, and how they learn to avoid landlords and sell directly to Jewish buyers. Intra-Arab communal tension rises.

Documents and Sources|February 5, 1930

Government of Palestine, C.F. Strickland, “A Report on the Possibility of Introducing a System of Agricultural Cooperation in Palestine” CIE+ members only

Correctly observing that the vast majority of Palestinian Arab peasants were trapped in debt with interest rates between 30% and 70%, this British civil servant suggested establishing agricultural cooperatives. But neither Arab leaders nor British bureaucrats wanted to provide the funding. For the duration of the Mandate, the Palestinian peasant remained hard-working, sullen and impoverished.

Documents and Sources|July 3, 1930

1931-1949: Arab Land Sales to Jews — Palestine Arab Press, British Reports and Zionist Accounts CIE+ members only

Palestinian Arabs’ own words, backed by the observations of British and Zionist officials, show that their awareness that their own people were helping the Zionist causes through land sales, often displacing Arab peasants.

Documents and Sources|1931-1949

Palestinian Arab Grievances Against the British for Supporting the Jewish National Home, 1936 CIE+ members only

Five Arab political parties sent a memorandum of protest to the British asking for a halt to Jewish immigration, a stoppage in Arab land sales to Jews,and a measure of self-determination. The British did not change their policies in these three areas. In 1939, they did severely limit Jewish land purchases and severely curtailed Jewish immigration.

Documents and Sources|January 10, 1936

David Ben-Gurion’s Secret Remarks on “Arab Perceptions of Zionism,” 1937 CIE+ members only

Ben-Gurion recognized that Arab opposition to Zionism is a national feeling and that Palestinian Arab leadership had done little to help the majority impoverished peasant population.

Documents and Sources|January 7, 1937

Political Statements on a Two-State Solution to Resolve the Arab (Palestinian)-Israeli Conflict, 1937–Present CIE+ members only

Speculation again abounds whether a two state solution might be a seriously considered outcome to Palestinian-Israeli differences. A long history of its mention but not its implementation persists. Advocacy by external voices persists, but no one seems ready to make the critical political trade-offs required.

Documents and Sources, Ken's Blog|1937-Present

Secret Intelligence on Arab Leaders Meeting in Damascus, 1938

This document was secured at the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. Less than a year before Hitler invaded Poland, Arab leaders with an interest in Palestine are starkly disappointed that the the German government did not go to war against the Zionists in Palestine. The same leaders give the Zionist national builders high marks for their perseverance against terrorist bands in the Palestinian countryside. They worry that unless Arab states come to the Palestinians’ assistance, Palestine will be lost to the Zionists. A remarkable assessment for Palestinian Arab leaders and their supporters.

Documents and Sources|September 30, 1938

British Government: Policy Statement/Advice Against Partition, 1938 CIE+ members only

Pressure from Arab leaders in states surrounding Palestine, growing instability in the eastern Mediterranean, and a firm opposition voiced by the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Miles Lampson, caused the British to withdraw the idea of resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict with a two-state solution. Instead, heavy restrictions were imposed in 1939 on the growth of the Jewish National home. Coincidently this policy statement is issued, two days after Nazi Germany attacks Jewish, homes, businesses and synagogues, in what came to be known as Kristallnacht.

Documents and Sources|November 11, 1938|Spanish|Hebrew

Mufti Rejects Majority-Arab Palestinian State, 1939 CIE+ members only

Mufti opposes Arab majority state in ten years contrary to wishes of a dozen key other Palestinian leaders. Mufti wants no Jewish political presence in Palestine whatsoever.

Documents and Sources|March 1939|Spanish|Italian

Arab-Israeli Negotiations