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.
Emerging from World War I, the League of Nations was created in April 1920 at the end of the deliberations of the Paris Peace Conference. Its objectives were to avoid the tragedy of war, to promote international peace, and to secure cooperation among nations. In addition, the League of Nations, of which Britain and France were the two most powerful voices, established a Mandatory system, the guiding principle of which was the well-being and development of inhabitants of certain ex-enemy colonies and territories. It was to be guided by a mandatory power on behalf of the League. Until they achieved independence as states or became parts of states, the mandated areas included parts of Africa and the Middle East: Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Tanganyika, South West Africa, Nauru, New Guinea and several other geographic areas.
The Key Curated Essentials for the League of Nations
League of Nations — Annual Mandate Reports, 1922-1939CIE+
Annual reports to the League of Nations address the status and progress of the British Mandate for Palestine,
Map of the Levant’s Political Boundaries After World War ICIE+
The British and French zones of influence, or mandates, in the eastern Mediterranean region were ratified by the San Remo Agreement in 1920 and approved by the League of Nations in 1922.
1922 White Paper on PalestineCIE+
With intentioned ambiguity, Britain asserts that its goal in Palestine is not to make it wholly Jewish or subordinate the Arab population. Self-determination is not promised. Britain wants to remain an umpire between the communities. Naively, it thinks it can control communal expectations and keep the peace.
Peel Commission Report, Excerpts From the Findings and Recommendations of the Royal Commission, 1937
After outbreak of communal violence, the British investigatory committee suggests partition of Palestine, seeking to create two states for two peoples.
HMG White Paper: Statement of Policy, 1939CIE+
Zionist leaders—David Ben-Gurion, Chaim Weizmann and Eliezer Kaplan—learning of the British intent to limit severely the Jewish national home’s growth. Increasingly, they are also aware of the German government’s hostilities towards European Jewry.
Mufti Rejects Majority-Arab Palestinian State, 1939CIE+
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.
Abdul Rahman ‘Azzam Pasha Rejects Any Compromise With Zionists, 1947CIE+
The head of Arab League says Palestine may be lost in a confrontation with the Zionists, but emphatically states that war is the Arab’s only option.
UNGA (Palestine Partition) Resolution 181, 1947
The UN recommended establishing Arab and Jewish states in Palestine, with an international regime for Jerusalem. Zionists were jubilant; Arab states and the Palestinians were indignant and rejected two state solution. No Arab state is established, Israel is in 1948
Israel’s Declaration of Independence, 1948
The Declaration recounts the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, the birth of Zionism and U.N. recognition of a Jewish state’s legitimacy. It also promises that the state will be a democracy for all its citizens.
More Curated Essentials for the League of Nations
1914-1915 Hussein-McMahon CorrespondenceCIE+
October 24, 1915
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."
Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916CIE+
May 15-16, 1916
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.
Balfour Declaration, 1917
November 2, 1917
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.
Map of San Remo Agreement, 1920CIE+
April 26, 1920
The European agreement that identified the states of the Middle East, 1920.
Map of Palestine and Transjordan, 1922CIE+
1922
When Britain controlled Palestine, she lopped off 80% of it and assigned it to the Hashemite family leader, Emir Abdullah. It became today’s Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Palestine High Commissioner Sir John Chancellor Seeks to Stop Jewish National Home in Dispatch to Colonial Secretary, 1930CIE+
January 17, 1930
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.
Report of the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, 1947CIE+
August 31, 1947
Earlier in 1947, Great Britain turned the future of the Palestine Mandate over to the newly established United Nations. Then in August 1947, the UN suggested that establishing an Arab and Jewish state with a federal union would be the best solution for the communal unrest there.
Map of U.N. Partition Plan, 1947CIE+
November 29, 1947
The United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 181 on Nov. 29, 1947, to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state along the lines in this map, with an...
Great Britain — Palestine: Termination of the Mandate, 1948CIE+
May 15, 1948
This 10-page report, written by the British Colonial and Foreign Office, along with the 1937 Peel (Royal) Commission Report, is one of the two best summaries of the British presence in Palestine. Both are substantial in terms of content, detail and analyses; both were written from Britain’s perspective. Read these along with 1931 Census for Palestine to have a fuller grasp of the politics and the populations that shaped Britain’s Palestine’s administration from 1918-1948.
Bibliography — Yishuv, Ottoman Palestine and British MandateCIE+
November 26, 2024
Scholarly articles published from the 1880s through 1991.
How Did the Zionists Create the State of Israel?
June 27, 2024
Delve into the roots of Jewish peoplehood and the pivotal moments in Jewish history that led to the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Explore how precarious Diaspora life and outbursts of violent antisemitism catalyzed Jewish self-determination. Examine how Jewish leaders employed compromise, perseverance and adaptation in interactions with the Ottomans, British, and Arabs to overcome challenges, and so much more.
