The Balfour Declaration radically changed the status of the Zionist movement. The document declared the British government's "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations," viewed with favor "the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish People," and announced an intent to facilitate the achievement of this objective. Zionism was transformed by the British pledge from a quixotic dream into a legitimate and achievable undertaking. The Balfour Declaration was definitely one of Britain’s more significant and crucial policies towards Palestine in the creation of Israel. It was a policy that slowly paved the way for the establishment of a Jewish state for the Jews. The Zionist movement finally got what it had initially wanted. The Balfour declaration promised support from a major world power and gave the Zionists international recognition. The Declaration also united the ranks of the Zionist-Jewish world by setting a common challenge to all Jews worldwide to implement the dream of a Jewish national home.
The next step that would unfold in favor of a Jewish state occurred between January 1919 and January 1920, were the Allied Powers met in Paris to negotiate peace treaties with the Central Powers. At the conference, Amir Faysal, representing the Arabs, and Weizmann, representing the Zionists. The conferees faced the nearly impossible task of finding a compromise between the generally accepted idea of self- determination, wartime promises, and plans for a division of the territory. They ultimately decided upon a mandate system whose details were laid out at the San Remo Conference of April 1920. The terms of the British Mandate were approved by the League of Nations Council on July 24, 1922. Additional support came from the United States. These post-War developments seemed to be a major step toward a secure, internationally recognized homeland for the Jewish people. The Mandate's terms recognized the "historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," called upon the mandatory power to "secure establishment of the Jewish National Home," and recognized "an appropriate Jewish agency" for advice and cooperation to that end. The WZO, which was specifically recognized as the appropriate vehicle, formally established the Jewish Agency in which it was to facilitate Jewish immigration. To the WZO, which by 1921 had a worldwide membership of about 770,000, the recognition in the Mandate was seen as a welcome first step.
Sir Herbert Samuels, the first high commissioner of Palestine, was responsible for keeping some form of order between the two communities, under the mandate. In pursuit of this goal, Sir Herbert Samuels, a Jew, was guided by Zionist aspirations. He called for open Jewish immigration and land acquisition, which enabled thousands of highly committed Zionist Jews to enter Palestine between 1919 and 1923.
In March 1921, Britain subdivided the Palestine Mandate along the Jordan River. The eastern portion--called --was to have a separate Arab administration operating under the general supervision of the commissioner for Palestine. Transjordan was off limits to Jews as it was an Arab only zone. This was a major geographical changing event that would support, the establishment of a Jewish state.
British Mandate administration, in the eyes of the Zionist movement was quite successful. Factors that led to this success included, in-migration and demographic transformation, geographical transformations (the establishment of Transjordan), land acquisition, separate social and political institutions and creating Jewish Labor. The main event that occurred during Britain’s occupation (policy), and was a sign of how significant British policy was towards the creation of a Jewish homeland, was the creation of a Jewish “state” within a state . The British had authorized the establishment of the Jewish Agency to represent, lead, and negotiate on behalf of the Jewish settler community in Palestine on all aspects of British policy. In turn, the Jewish Agency established various social (Hebrew university), economic and political agencies (National Council), institutions, and organizations—including military and intelligence. These organizations were the nucleus of an emerging autonomous Jewish political authority within the Palestine Mandate government, and show that Britain’s Mandate policy was quite significant in the creation of Israel, as it lay down the structural foundation for a Jewish state, i.e. the Jewish Agency was like a small provisional government.
The next few polices Britain was to draw up, collectively caused the beginning of world sympathy towards the Jews and strengthening the ideology of a Jewish homeland in Zion. As historians, Ahron Bregman and Jihan el-Tahri note in there book, The Fifty Year War : Israel and the Arabs, “to fair-minded observers, Britain seemed to be adding to the horrors that the Jews in Europe had suffered. The view that the Jews had a right to a state of their own in their ancient homeland gained ground.” One of the fist policies to start off sympathy for the Jews was the Peel Report. The Peel Report concluded that the only solution to the growing problem, in Palestine was to partition Palestine into a small Jewish state and a larger Arab state, ”half a loaf is better than no bread” was used by the commission in describing the situation. To quell the unrest, the Arab population in the Jewish state would be transported to the Arab state and vice versa. It also made the suggestion that further Jewish immigration should be restricted to 12,000 per year. The Peel Report marked a significant departure in British policy. , issued on May 17, 1939, rejected, in essence, the partition plan on the grounds that it was not feasible. The document stated that Palestine would be neither a Jewish state nor an Arab one, but an independent state with a clear Arab majority, to be established within ten years. Jewish immigration to Palestine was limited to 75,000 for the first five years, subject to the country's "economic absorptive capacity", and would later be contingent on Arab consent. Between 1939 and 1948 as part of the White paper, Britain strongly opposed the entry of unofficial or illegal Jewish to Palestine by sea or land. During the war, more than 26,000 illegal immigrants were arrested and sent to detention camps in Cyprus. After the war, Britain’s immigration policy on Palestine badly affected its international image. This was shown in mid-July 1947, when it refused to permit 4,500 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust to land from the Exodus, a battered renamed American Ferry. In full gaze of the world media, Jewish immigrants were transferred to three prison ships and forced to return to camps back in Europe. This was a policy that created huge amounts of world sympathy and thus, contributed to the establishment of a Jewish state. Many countries were feeling guilty for the cruel treatment that Jews throughout history have experienced and it was time to put an end to it. The newly established United Nations Committee on Palestine came to the conclusion that the British mandate on Palestine had to end. On the 18th of February 1947, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, declared : “His Majesty’s government have of themselves no power to award the country (Palestine) either to the Arabs or to the Jews, or even to partition it between them. We have therefore, reached the conclusion that the only course open to us is to submit the problem to the judgment of the United Nations.” The British government now had probably taken the most significant step towards, the Zionists achieving their aims, of a Jewish state in Palestine. Britain was to hand over the mandate, to a world sympathetic to Jews and there cause. This was the final step in making a Jewish state legal.
To say that British policy played the most significant role in the creation of Israel, one must look at the other significant factors, that also contributed to the establishment of a Jewish home, to make a conclusive judgment.
Firstly, without the emergence of Zionism as a movement, none of the above would’ve happened. Zionists living in Britain, chief among them Chaim Weizmann, lobbied the British government for a statement in support of a Jewish National Home. In reward for Jewish support and as a result of Chaim Weizmann's influence and diplomacy, the Balfour Declaration supported the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine as British policy. This lobbying by Jews is a significant step forward in the aspirations to create a Jewish state. The Declaration was solely formed by the Zionist movement, alone pushing a government for Zionist support. The Zionist movement and lobbying was a contributing factor in the creation of a Jewish state.
The Zionist movement also used ”political terror, as the calculated utilization of violence to elicit psychological intimidation in an effort to accomplish strategic and political goals.” During this period, Zionist underground subversive organizations, such as the Haganah, headed by David Ben Gurion, the Irgun, headed by Menachem Begin, and the Stern Gang, co-headed by Yitzhak Shamir, engaged in a form of 'ethnic cleansing' in order to effect an exodus of Palestine's Arab population. The plan was code named Plan Dalet. It was a carefully planned strategic operation, which stated that in order to strengthen the ownership of the territory granted to the Jews under the partition plan, Arab inhabitants would be driven out of these areas by force. Furthermore the areas promised to the Arabs would be seized and its inhabitants also driven out. The most well known of these atrocities was the one perpetrated on April 9-10, 1948, by the Irgun against the village of Deir Yassin. The village was captured by the Irgun following a brief battle with its defenders, resulting in the killing of all inhabitants. The Jews also unleashed a campaign of violence that targeted the British. The most notorious of these was the July 22, 1946 bomb attack on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Masterminded by Begin himself, the attack resulted in the death of about 90 British, Arab, and Jewish men and women and more than 200 others were injured. These kinds of violent acts spread panic among the Arab inhabitants of Palestine accelerating their exodus from their own homeland and hence, the establishment of a Jewish state was one step closer. The violent Jewish resistance also eventually forced the British out of Palestine. As historians Ahron Bregman and Jihan el-Tahri note in there book, The Fifty Year War: Israel and the Arabs, “Sir Alan Cunningham, the top British official in Palestine complained, of the inability of the army to protect even themselves. The British were still the rulers, but in fear” The aim of such Jewish resistance was to help accelerate the establishment of a Jewish state and drive out the Arabs and British.
The next most significant event that occurred, to help create the Jewish state was the Holocaust caused by the Germans. World wide horror and revulsion towards the Holocaust created international sympathy for Zionist plans for a Jewish state in Palestine. Many governments felt a Jewish state might prevent further outbreaks of anti-semitism in Europe. This was a major event that lead to the creation of Israel, because in the eyes of world politics, the Jews needed a state of their own.
The Zionist movement had also gained to influence key figures at that time in history. Zionist influence over US President Harry Truman increased in 1945 and created it spread sympathy for the Jewish cause among other key American politicians. This lead to America pressuring and pushing for a Jewish state. Finally, the Zionist movement was to receive there greatest win, in securing the votes of the UN. The Jewish delegation used some very unorthodox methods in convincing the undecided nations to vote in favor of partition . They succeeded in making the Jewish state legal and recognized by the world, as an independent state.
In conclusion, the British played a significant/fundamental role towards Palestine in the creation of Israel, but was not the only player in the establishment of a Jewish state. Other factors and events played crucial roles in creating a Jewish homeland. British policy was part of a catalyst of events, situations and people that lead to the creation of Israel.
