Assess the success and failures of the British mandates in Palestine

by julianagallob (student)

JULIANA GALLO

Assess the success and failures of the British mandates in Palestine.

Britain was a huge empire, one of the biggest in deed. It started approximately in the early 16th century (British Empire, 2012), up until after the Second World War, when they granted independence to most of their colonies all around the world. The mandates imposed in Palestine weren’t an exception to this, but Palestine was a peculiar case. The mandates started the in early1916, and ended the 14th of May 1948. Within this period of time there were many significant events for both the people in the Middle East, and the British Empire. There where some successes and some failures from the British Empire’s side.

British power in Palestine was granted when Sharif Hussein accepted the deal in early 1916. The British High Commissioner in Cairo, Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, proposed this deal through letters all along mid 1915 up until mid 1916. In this letters he proposed that if they allied to the triple entente, France, Britain and Russia, during the First World War. They promised to grant them their independence from the Ottoman Empire, which had allied previously with the triple alliance, Germany, Italy and Austria – Hungary.

When Hussein agreed to this, he thought that the land, which was being promised to them, was what later became Syria and Lebanon. What he didn’t know was that there was a controversial exclusion of territory, which obviously included Palestine. The British claimed that neither Palestine nor Jerusalem where mentioned in any legal document at any point. The British Empire wanted to keep that piece of land for strategic means. The Suez Canal was located just beside Palestine. This was a key point for the British, because it was a speed up access from the east to the west, without having to go all around Africa.

The triple entente won the war and left Britain in control of Palestine, just as they had planed. They did not control Palestine or other Middle East territory as colonies but as mandates. When using mandates they could justify that they where giving this territories some independence. They justified their acts of control by augmenting that these territories weren’t ready to be left completely in independence because they had been under the control of the Ottoman Empire since 1517.

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All along the First World War, British government had started to look at the possibility of making Zionists their allies as well. Zionists aim was the establishment of a Jewish independent state within Palestine. For British luck, they had people like the Russian Dr Chaim Weizmann, and other Jewish members within the British government. Zionists participants had contacted various Liberal and Conservative politicians within the British government. One of them was Arthur Balfour, which was the former Prime Minister. Balfour cam into contact with the Minister of Munitions David Lloyd George, which after words became the Foreigner Secretary, By 1917 both Lloyd George and Balfour where looking for something that would help the war effort, they were so desperate that they found useful the alliance with the Zionists, and the 2nd of November, 1917 the Balfour declaration was made public. This declaration stated the British support to the Zionists. A month after this, the British army entered Jerusalem and the mandates started developing.

There where three types of mandates: a) ex Ottoman Empires that where about to let independent. b) Former German colonies, which where guided out of terrible customs, like slavery and exploitation. Finally c) some territories which where thought to be under developed and not ready to be independent yet so they where staying under British supervision. This mandate method supported the self-determination of colonies, but it also supported the French and Britain control over the Middle East. In 1922 they where approved by the League of Nations.

Right from the start of the mandates, British had deceived their word, when having the misunderstanding with Hussein. There were a lot of inconvenient because as British had promised Hussein some land, it had also made an agreement, Sykes – Picot, with France promising Arab land as well. And now with the Balfour declaration it was completely confusing for the Arab Palestinian on which side they where. This caused some violent disturbance within 1920 and 1921. So Britain decided to take action and write a White Paper, created by Winston Churchill, who as the Secretary of State for the Colonies, tried to clear out any doubts caused by the controversy between the Balfour Declaration, their promises to Hussein and their agreement with France.

Churchill wrote the White Paper on the 3rd of July 1922, in which he stated that British supported the Jewish having an established piece of land in Palestine, like they had said in the Balfour declaration and then supported in the San Remo conference in April of 1920, and in the Treaty of Sevres. But this didn’t mean that all the Palestinian land was promised to the Zionists, which was how the Jewish had interpreted it. Within this White Paper it was also made clear that in the McMahon – Hussein correspondence there was never a promise of an independent state within Palestine. The White Paper said that neither party was ever going to be satisfied with what the British Empire was offering them, but that they where both getting what they wanted the most: an independent and secure state.

After July 1922, the British government found a partition the best option, so that there wouldn’t be violent conflicts between Arabic Palestinian and now Jewish Palestinians. They divided the territory within Palestine, the east of section of the Jordan river, was given to Jewish and was renamed Transjordan. And the 24th of July this was ratified by the League of Nations.

Things did not work out as the British had hoped, later in 1929, there were terrible riots between the Arabs and the Jews, like for example the Walling wall riots the 23rd of August 1929. Both Jewish and Arabs where getting killed in vast amounts, so the British government decided to take action again, this time they wrote a green paper called the Peel Commission Report with the purpose of making constructive changes to the British mandates in Palestine.

After sending a commission the11th of November 1936 to check the situation in Palestine. They came back to Britain the 18th of January of 1937. Finally the 7th of July 1937 the Peel Commission report was published. This report stated that the best possible solution was the one state solution. In this report there was also a restriction imposed for the Jewish immigration, only 700,000 Jews a year could come into Palestine in a range of five years. If five years where over no Jews could come into Palestine unless the Arab Palestinians aloud it.

Later on the British government realized that the Peel Report hadn’t worked either. There was still violence used to attack and to try to take territory from each other. Britain realized that there was nothing they could do about it. The breaking point was the attack to the King-David Hotel in July 22nd 1946, committed by Irgun, which was internationally recognized as a Jewish terrorist group. In this date they not only killed a lot of Arabs but also various British were either injured or even killed.

The 14th of May 1948, the British finally gave up on the mandates and resigned the to the UNSCOP, United Nations Special Commission on Palestine.

In conclusion the British mandates in Palestine where more a failure than a success. Although the British intentions were good the positive outcomes of the mandates were outweighed by the negative outcomes. There were other factors apart form British intentions that played a part in the mandates result. Britain as an empire had many self-interests, many of the things they did in Palestine, such as getting involved with Arab territory in the first place, was for self-interest and self-benefit. They offered their help to the Arabs because it was beneficial for them. If a non–biased organization had dealt with this territory, many of the clashes that occurred and still today, 50 years later, occur between these two communities wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Britain is not to be blamed for the consequences that these communities are still dealing with today. When the mandates where passed on to the United Nations, they resigned after a while as well, because there was too much tension and resentment between them, and this is the exact reason why Britain is not to be blamed for its failure, because no matter what or who dealt with these territories, there would have still been a big issue between them. They wanted the exact same piece of territory, so there was nothing to do. You can see the effects still today, almost 50 years after the initial clashes there is still problematic between this two countries.

Bibliography:

The Arab – Israeli Conflict. Mr. Barnes handout.
War and change in the Middle East, 1914 – 49. Mr. Barnes handout.
The Origins of Arab – Israeli Conflict.
British Empire. (2012, September 26). (I. Wikimedia Foundation, Producer) Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire

Assess the success and failures of the British mandates in Palestine

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