Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine.

Map of the territory administered as Palestine after September 1922.

The Palestine Ensign, flown by ships registered in the Mandate territory, 1927-1948

The British Mandate of Palestine was a territory in the Middle East including the modern territories of Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, formerly belonging to the Ottoman Empire, which the League of Nations entrusted to the United Kingdom to administer in the aftermath of World War I as a Mandate Territory. Download high resolution version (672x633, 58 KB)Map of the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan File links The following pages link to this file: British Mandate of Palestine ... Download high resolution version (672x633, 58 KB)Map of the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan File links The following pages link to this file: British Mandate of Palestine ... Download high resolution version (379x864, 70 KB)Map of the British Mandate of Palestine File links The following pages link to this file: British Mandate of Palestine ... Download high resolution version (379x864, 70 KB)Map of the British Mandate of Palestine File links The following pages link to this file: British Mandate of Palestine ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (912x456, 5 KB)The British Palestine Mandate Ensign, flown by ships registered in the Mandate territory from 1927-1948. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (912x456, 5 KB)The British Palestine Mandate Ensign, flown by ships registered in the Mandate territory from 1927-1948. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (Constantinople) (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40... The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. ... Woodrow Wilson and the American peace commissioners during the negotiations on the Treaty of Versailles. ... League of Nations mandates were territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919. ...

Establishment of British League of Nations mandate

British interest in Zionism dates to the rise in importance of the British Empire's South Asian enterprises in the early 19th century, concurrent with the Great Game and planning for the Suez Canal. As early as 1840, Viscount Palmerston (later to become Prime Minister) wrote to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire: For other meanings, please see Zionism (disambiguation) Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s: Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian) 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Central Asia, circa 1848 The Great Game is a term, usually attributed to Arthur Connolly, used to describe the rivalry and strategic conflict between the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. ... 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163 km maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said (BÅ«r SaÄ«d) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Viscount Palmerston was a title in the Peerage of Ireland created on March 12, 1723. ...

"There exists at the present time among the Jews dispersed over Europe a strong notion that the time is approaching when their nation is to return to Palestine. It would be of manifest importance to the Sultan to encourage the Jews to return and settle in Palestine because the wealth that they would bring with them would increase the resources of the Sultan's dominions, and the Jewish people if returning under the sanction and protection at the invitation of the Sultan would be a check upon any future evil designs of Egypt or its neighbours. I wish to instruct your Excellency strongly to recommend to the Turkish government to hold out every just encouragement to the Jews of Europe to return to Palestine."[1] Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ...

Before the end of World War I, Palestine was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The British, under General Allenby, defeated the Turkish forces in 1917 and occupied Palestine and Syria. The land was administered by the British for the remainder of the war. The British military administration ended starvation with the aid of food supplies from Egypt, successfully fought typhus and cholera epidemics and significantly improved the water supply to Jerusalem. They reduced corruption by paying the Arab and Jewish judges higher salaries. Communications were improved by new railway and telegraph lines. World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machine guns, and poison gas. ... Map of the British Mandate of Palestine. ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (Constantinople) (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40... Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (April 23, 1861 - May 14, 1936) was a British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during World War I, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917... This is about the disease Typhus. ... Cholera (also called Asiatic cholera) is an infectious disease, caused by bacteria that are typically ingested by drinking water that is contaminated by improper sanitation, or by eating improperly cooked fish, especially shellfish. ... In epidemiology, an epidemic (from Greek epi- upon + demos people) is a disease that appears as new cases in a given human population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is expected, based on recent experience (the number of new cases in the population during a...

The United Kingdom was granted control of Palestine by the Versailles Peace Conference which established the League of Nations in 1919 and appointed Herbert Samuel, a former Postmaster General in the British cabinet, who was instrumental in drafting the Balfour Declaration, as its first High Commissioner in Palestine. During World War I the British had made two promises regarding territory in the Middle East. Britain had promised the local Arabs, through Lawrence of Arabia, independence for a united Arab country covering most of the Arab Middle East, in exchange for their supporting the British and Britain had promised to create and foster a Jewish national home as laid out in the Balfour Declaration, 1917. The Paris Peace Conference was an international conference, organized by the victors of the World War I for negotiating the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and their former enemies. ... The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... In the United Kingdom, the Postmaster General is a now defunct ministerial position. ... In the Politics of the United Kingdom, the Cabinet is a formal body comprised of government officials chosen by the kp. ... The name Balfour Declaration is applied to two key British government policy statements associated with Conservative statesman Arthur Balfour. ... A High Commissioner is a person serving in a special executive capacity. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are a large ethnic group widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ... Thomas Edward Lawrence (August 16, 1888 – May 19, 1935), also known as Lawrence of Arabia, and (apparently, among his Arab allies) Aurens or El Aurens, became famous for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916–1918. ...

The British had, in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence, previously promised the Hashemite family lordship over most land in the region in return for their support in the Great Arab Revolt during World War I. In 1920 at the Conference of San Remo, Italy, the League of Nations mandate over Palestine was assigned to Britain. This territory at this time included all of what would later become the State of Israel, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, a part of the Golan Heights, and the Kingdom of Jordan. The majority of the approximately 750,000 people in this multi-ethnic region were Arabic-speaking Muslims, including a Bedouin population (estimated at 103,331 at the time of the 1922 census [2] and concentrated in the Beersheba area and the region south and east of it), as well as Jews (who comprised some 11% of the total and were mostly Yiddish-speaking European immigrants or their descendants) and smaller groups of Druze, Syrians, Sudanese, Circassians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Hejazi Arabs. The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence during World War I was a 1915-1916 exchange of letters between the Hejazi (the Hejaz later became part of Saudi Arabia) leader Hussein ibn Ali, Sharif of Mecca, and Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, concerning the future political status of the Arab... Hashemite (Arabic هاشمي) traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or clan of Hashem, a clan within the larger Quraish tribe. ... The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by Sherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Yemen. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... The San Remo conference (19-26 April 1920, San Remo, Italy) of the post-World War I Allied Supreme Council determined the allocation of Class A League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East by the victorious powers. ... League of Nations mandates were territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919. ... Sites on the Golan in blue are Israeli settlement communities. ... Soroka Hospital, Beersheba Beersheba or Beer-sheva (Hebrew: בְּאֶר שֶׁבַע â–¶(?), Standard Hebrew Bəʼer ŠévaÊ», Tiberian Hebrew Bəʼer ŠéḇaÊ» or בְּאֶר שָׁבַע Bəʼer ŠāḇaÊ»; Arabic بِئْرْ اَلْسَبْعْ Biʼr as-SabÊ» â–¶(?)) is a city in Israel. ... Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... This article appears to contradict itself. ... The term Circassians is a Western term derived from the Turkic Cherkess, and is not the self-designation of any people. ... Hejaz (also Hijaz, Hedjaz; Arabic: al-Ḥiǧāz) is a region in the northwest of present-day Saudi Arabia; its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better-known for the holy city of Mecca. ...

In June 1922 the League of Nations passed the Palestine Mandate. The Palestine Mandate was an explicit document regarding Britain's responsibilities and powers of administration in Palestine including "secur[ing] the establishment of the Jewish national home", and "safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine". June is the sixth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with a length of 30 days The month is named after the Roman goddess Juno, wife of Jupiter and equivalent to the Greek goddess Hera. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... On June 24, 1922 the League of Nations agreed upon a document called the Palestine Mandate. ...

The document defining Britain's obligations as Mandate power copied the text of the Balfour Declaration concerning the establishment of a Jewish homeland:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Many articles of the document specified actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status. However, it was also stated that in the large, mostly arid, territory to the east of the Jordan River, then called Transjordan, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' application of the provisions dealing with the 'Jewish National Home'. At the Cairo Conference of 1921 a government under the Hashimite Emir Abdullah who had just been displaced from ruling the Hejaz was established in 'Transjordan'. In September 1922, the British government presented a memorandum to the League of Nations stating that Transjordan would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement, and this memorandum was approved on 11 September. From that point onwards, Britain administered the part west of the Jordan as Palestine, and the part east of the Jordan as Transjordan. Technically they remained one mandate but most official documents referred to them as if they were two separate mandates. Transjordan remained under British control until 1946. Northern part of the Great Rift Valley as seen from space (NASA) The Jordan River today The Jordan River (Hebrew: נהר הירדן nehar hayarden, Arabic: nahr al-urdun) is a river in Southwest Asia flowing through the Great Rift Valley into the Dead Sea. ... Map of the territory of Transjordan The Emirate of Transjordan was an autonomous political division of the British Mandate of Palestine, created as an administrative entity in April 1921 before the Mandate came into effect. ... King Abdullah I of Jordan (1882 - July 20, 1951), known as Abdullah bin Husayn, was, successively, Emir of Trans-Jordan (1921-1946) under a British Mandate, then King of Transjordan (May 25, 1946 - 1949), and finally King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (1949-1951). ... September is the ninth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of four Gregorian months with 30 days. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

In 1923 Britain transferred a part of the Golan Heights to the French Mandate of Syria, in exchange for the Metula region. 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sites on the Golan in blue are Israeli settlement communities. ... The French Mandate of Syria was a League of Nations Mandate created after the First World War when the Ottoman Empire was split by the Treaty of Versailles. ... Metula is a local municipality in the North District of Israel. ...

Palestinian Arab opposition to Jewish immigration

Kibbutz Degania Alef, during the 1930s

During the 1920s, 100,000 Jewish immigrants entered Palestine, and 6,000 non-Jewish immigrants did so as well. Jewish immigration was controlled by the Histadrut, which selected between applicants on the grounds of their political creed. Land purchased by Jewish agencies was leased on the conditions that it be worked only by Jewish labour and that the lease should not be held by non-Jews. Public photo of Kibbutz Deganya Alef in the 1930s, File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Public photo of Kibbutz Deganya Alef in the 1930s, File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Kibbutz Dan, near Qiryat Shemona, in the Upper Galilee, 1990s A kibbutz (Hebrew: קיבוץ; plural: kibbutzim: קיבוצים, gathering or together) is an Israeli collective community. ... Degania, the mother of kvutzot (small kibbutzim) in the 1930s. ... Sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or primarily in North America and in Australia as the Roaring Twenties . In Europe it is sometimes refered to as the Golden Twenties. ... // The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways, but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ... The Histadrut (Federation [of labor]) or HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim BEretz Yisrael (ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל) (Hebrew: General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel) is the Israeli trade union congress. ...

Initially, Jewish immigration to Palestine met little opposition from the Palestinian Arabs. However, as anti-Semitism grew in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish immigration (mostly from Europe) to Palestine began to increase markedly, creating much Arab resentment. The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, covering around 10,790,000 km² (4,170,000 sq mi) or 2. ...

There was violent incitement from the Palestine Muslim leadership that led to violent attacks against the Jewish population. In some cases, land purchases by the Jewish agencies from absentee landlords led to the eviction of the Palestinian Arab tenants, who were replaced by the Jews of the kibbutzim. The Arabic speakers before World War I had the status of peasants (felaheen), and did not own their land although they might own the trees that grew on that land. When Jews, who grew up with European laws, purchased land they did not always realise that the villagers on that land owned the trees. This was often a source of misunderstanding and conflict. The olive tree is particularly important as it can remain productive for more than one thousand years. Kibbutz Dan, near Qiryat Shemona, in the Upper Galilee, 1990s A kibbutz (Hebrew: קיבוץ; plural: kibbutzim: קיבוצים, gathering or together) is an Israeli collective community. ... Binomial name Olea europaea L. The Olive (Olea europaea) is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Syria and the maritime parts of Asia Minor to pathchy areas Northern Iran/Southern Caspian (Manjil and Roodbar) . Its use as...

The British government placed limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine. These quotas were controversial, particularly in the latter years of British rule, and both Arabs and Jews disliked the policy, each side for its own reasons. In response to numerous Arab attacks on Jewish communities, the Haganah was formed on June 15, 1920. Tensions led to widespread violent disturbances on several occasions, notably in 1921, 1929 (primarily violent attacks by Arabs on Jews — see Hebron) and 1936-1939. Beginning in 1936, several Jewish groups such as Etzel (Irgun) and Lehi (Stern Gang) conducted their own campaigns of violence against British and Arab targets. The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are a large ethnic group widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ... Haganah Logo (1940s) The Haganah (Hebrew: The Defense, ×”×”×’× ×”) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine during the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. ... June 15 is the 166th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (167th in leap years), with 199 days remaining. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hebron (Arabic â–¶(?) al-ḪalÄ«l; Hebrew â–¶(?), Standard Hebrew Ḥevron, Tiberian Hebrew Ḥeḇrôn: derived from the word friend) is a town in the southern West Bank of around 130,000 Palestinians and 500 Israeli settlers. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... // Events January-March January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. ... Irgun poster showing their view of the Land of Israel Irgun (ארגון), shorthand for Irgun Tsvai Leumi (ארגון צבאי לאומי, also spelled Irgun Zvai Leumi), Hebrew for National Military Organization, was a militant Zionist group that operated in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1931 to 1948. ... Avraham Stern Lehi (Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) was a radical underground Jewish paramilitary group, a terrorist group according to both its own description and that of its opponents. ...

Great Uprising

Main article: Great Uprising The Great Uprising, Great Revolt, or Great Arab Revolt was a violent rebellion by Arabs in the British Mandate of Palestine which lasted from 1936 to 1939. ...

In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between Jewish and Arab areas that was rejected by both the Arabs and the Zionist Congress. 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Peel Commission of 1936, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry set out to propose changes to the British Mandate of Palestine following the outbreak of the Great Uprising. ...

In 1936-1939 the mandate experienced an upsurge in militant Arab nationalism that became known as the Great Uprising and, "The Arab Revolt." The revolt was triggered by increased Jewish immigration, primarily Jews fleeing Nazi persecution in Germany as well as rising anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe. The revolt was led or co-opted by the Grand Mufti, Haj Amin Al-Husseini and his Husseini family. The Arabs felt they were being marginalized in their own country, but in addition to non-violent strikes, they resorted to terrorism, leaving hundreds of Jews dead. Husseini's men killed more Arabs than Jews, using the revolt as an excuse to settle accounts with rival clans. The Jewish organization Etzel replied with its own terrorist campaign, with marketplace bombings and other violent acts that also killed hundreds. Eventually, the uprising was put down by the British using draconian measures. After he was implicated in killing the British district commissioner for the Galilee, Haj Amin El Husseini fled first to Lebanon, then to Iraq, and finally to Germany in late 1941. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... // Events January-March January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. ... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ... Terrorism is the unconventional use of violence for political gain. ... Irgun poster showing their view of the Land of Israel Irgun (ארגון), shorthand for Irgun Tsvai Leumi (ארגון צבאי לאומי, also spelled Irgun Zvai Leumi), Hebrew for National Military Organization, was a militant Zionist group that operated in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1931 to 1948. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The British placed restrictions on Jewish land purchases in the remaining land, directly contradicting the provision of the Mandate which said "the Administration of Palestine... shall encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency... close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not acquired for public purposes." A similar proposal to limit immigration in 1931 had been termed a violation of the mandate by the League of Nations, but by 1939 the League of Nations was defunct. According to the Israeli side, the British had by 1949 allotted over 8500 acres (34 km²) to Arabs, and about 4000 acres (16 km²) to Jews. The Jewish Agency for Israel also known as The Jewish Agency (or sochnut in Hebrew), was previously called the Jewish Agency for Palestine (during the British Mandate of Palestine) is an Israeli organisation that advocates for Israel and is composed mainly, but not entirely, of Jewish people. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

World War II and the Holocaust

As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the combatants in WWII. Many signed up for the British army, but others saw an Axis victory as their best hope of wresting Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Some of the leadership went further, especially the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini (who had by then escaped to Iraq), who on November 25, 1941, formally declared jihad against the Allied Powers and spent much time thereafter in what was then Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia, recruiting Bosnia's Muslims and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians into Nazi SS-run volunteer units. About 20,000 Bosnian Muslims served in the 13th Armed SS Mountain Division "Handzhar" and several thousand in the 23rd Armed SS Mountain Division "Kama". [3]. In post-war testimony, Husseini was named as a friend of Adolf Eichmann and an architect of the "Final Solution" by Otto Wisliceny. Husseini was imprisoned after the war and was to have been tried as a war criminal at the Nuremburg trials, but he escaped with the help of French collaborators. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jihad (Arabic: jihād) is an Islamic term, from the Arabic root jhd (to exert utmost effort, to strive, struggle), which connotes a wide range of meanings: anything from an inward spiritual struggle to attain perfect faith to a political or military struggle to further the Islamic cause. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages, in Cyrillic Југославија) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ... Bosnia and Herzegovina (officially Bosna i Hercegovina, shortened to BiH, also in English variously written Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bosnia-Hercegovina) is a mountainous country in the western Balkans. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Kosovo (Serbian: Косово и Метохија / Kosovo i Metohija , Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova) , in English most often called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia. ... The infamous double-sig rune SS insignia. ... Adolf Eichmann, Germany 1940 Photo from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Photo Archives. ... In a February 26, 1942 letter to Martin Luther (diplomat), Reinhard Heydrich follows up on the Wannsee Conference by asking Luther for administrative assistance in the implementation of the Endlösung der Judenfrage (Final Solution of the Jewish Question). ... The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ...

Even though Arabs were only marginally higher than Jews in Nazi racial theory, the Nazis naturally encouraged Arab support as much as possible as a counter to British hegemony throughout the Arab world.^[4]

Arabs who opposed the persecution of the Jews at the hand of the Nazis included Habib Bourguiba in Tunisia and Egyptian intellectuals such as Tawfiq al-Hakim and Abbas Mahmoud al-Arkad. (Source: Yad Vashem). The mandate recruited soldiers in Palestine. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs joined the British forces and about 26,000 Jews, a very significant disparity given the larger Arab population. Habib Bourguiba (حبيب بورقيبة) (born August 3, 1903 in Monastir, Tunisia – died April 6, 2000) was a Tunisian statesman and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. ... Yad Vashem memorial sculpture Yad Vashem (יד ושם) is Israels official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust established in 1953 through the Memorial Law passed by the Knesset, Israels parliament. ...

In World War II, Italy, which in 1940 declared war on the United Kingdom on Germany's side, attacked Palestine from the air. In 1942 there was a period of anxiety for the Yishuv, when the German forces of general Erwin Rommel advanced east in North Africa towards the Suez canal and there was fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the two hundred days of anxiety. The Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II started in July 1940. ... This article is about the year. ... Yishuv is a Hebrew word meaning settlement. ... Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel ( ▶) (November 15, 1891 – October 14, 1944) was one of the most distinguished German Field Marshals and commander of the Deutsches Afrika Korps in World War II. He is also known by his nickname The Desert Fox (Wüstenfuchs, ▶), for the skillful military campaigns he waged on... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163 km maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said (Būr Saīd) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. ...

The Holocaust—the killing of approximately six million European Jews by the Nazis—had a major effect on the situation in Palestine. During the war, the British forbade entry into Palestine of European Jews escaping Nazi persecution, placing them in detention camps or deporting them to places such as Mauritius. Avraham Stern, the leader of the Jewish Lehi terrorist gang and other Zionists tried without success to convince the Nazis that immigration to Palestine could be a "solution" for their "Jewish problem". Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann visited Palestine briefly in 1939 and concluded, possibly from conversations with Haj Amin El-Husseini, that it would not serve Nazi policy to allow Jewish immigration to Palestine. Child survivors of the Holocaust before their liberation The Holocaust is the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany and collaborators. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Avraham Stern Abraham Stern (Hebrew: אברהם שטרן Avraham Shtern), alias Yair (Hebrew: יאיר) (December 23, 1907 - February 12, 1942) was the founder and leader of the Zionist underground organization later known as Lehi and also known as the Stern Gang. Stern was born in Suwalki, Poland, immigrated to Israel in 1925, and studied... Avraham Stern Lehi (Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) was a radical self-described terrorist group that had as its goal the eviction of the British from Palestine to allow unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. ...

Starting in 1939, the Zionists organized an illegal immigration effort, known as Aliya Beth, conducted by "Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet", that rescued tens of thousands of European Jews from the Nazis by shipping them to Palestine in rickety boats. Many of these boats were intercepted and some were sunk with great loss of life (e.g., the Patria disaster). The last immigrant boat to try to enter Palestine during the war was the Struma, torpedoed in the Black Sea by a Soviet submarine in February 1942 as part of Soviet - British collaboration. The boat sank with the loss of nearly 800 lives. Illegal immigration resumed after WW II. // Events January-March January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. ... Aliya Beth was a term used for illegal immigration to British Mandate of Palestine. ... the Patria sinking The Patria was a ship which sank in Haifa harbor on November 25, 1940, with the loss of approximately 267 lives (over 200 Jews and 50 crew and British soldiers). ... Struma was a Greek ship chartered to carry Jewish refugees from Romania to British-controlled Palestine. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... Soviet redirects here. ...

Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet Zuri, members of the Jewish Lehi underground, assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo on 6 November 1944. Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East, responsible for implementing the ban on Jewish immigration to Palestine. The assassination is said to have turned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the Zionist cause. Fighting Jewish terrorists on one hand and the Germans in North Africa on the other did not endear the British to the Jews in Palestine at this critical stage of the war. Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne (29 March 1880 - 6 November 1944) was a British politician. ... Although technically in Giza, The Great Pyramids have become a symbol of Cairo internationally Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة; transliterated: al-Qāhirah) is the capital city of Egypt (and previously the United Arab Republic) and has a metropolitan area population of approximately 15. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ...

The British considered it more important to get Arab backing, because of their important interests in Egypt and other Arab lands, and especially to guarantee the friendship of oil-rich Saudi Arabia, and therefore continued the ban on immigration.

During the war, the moderate Haganah underground helped the British to ferret out Irgun and Lehi members whom they felt were hurting the war effort against the Nazis.

Following the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of US President Harry S. Truman and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, the British refused to lift the ban on immigration and admit 100,000 displaced persons to Palestine. The Jewish underground forces then united and carried out several attacks against the British. In 1946, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people. Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-fourth Vice President (1945) and the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–53), succeeding to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... The King David Hotel, built in Jerusalem with locally quarried pink sandstone, was opened in 1931. ...

Seeing that the situation was quickly spiraling out of hand, the British announced their desire to terminate their mandate and to withdraw by May 1948. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Division of Palestine by United Nations

Main article: 1947 UN Partition Plan On 29 November 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, a plan to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine, was approved by the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN World Headquarters in New York. ...

The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations, attempted to solve the dispute between the Palestinian Jews and Arabs. The UN appointed a committee, the UNSCOP, composed of representatives from several states. None of the Great Powers were represented, in order to make the committee more neutral. UNSCOP considered two main proposals. The first called for the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states in Palestine, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration. The second called for the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. A majority of UNSCOP favoured the first option, although several members supported the second option instead and one member (Australia) said it was unable to decide between them. As a result the first option was adopted and the UN General Assembly largely accepted UNSCOP's proposals, though they made some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal. The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. ... UNSCOP stands for the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. ...

The partition plan was rejected out of hand by the leadership of the Palestinian Arabs and by most of the Arab population. Most of the Jews accepted the proposal, in particular the Jewish Agency, which was the Jewish state-in-formation. Numerous records indicate the joy of Palestine's Jewish inhabitants as they attended the U.N. session voting for the division proposal. Up to this day, Israeli history books mention 29 November, the date of this session, as the most important date in Israel's acquisition of independence. November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Several Jews, however, declined the proposal. Menachem Begin, Irgun's leader, announced: "The partition of the homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will for ever be our capital. The Land of Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever". His views were publicly rejected by the majority of the nascent Jewish state. Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, claim that this publicly expressed acceptance was mainly propaganda for the consumption of Western nations, and that Begin's statement more accurately reflected the real intentions of the founders of the State of Israel. Menachem Begin on the front cover of TIME 1982. ...

On the date of British withdrawal the Jewish provisional government declared the formation of the State of Israel, and the provisional government said that it would grant full civil rights to all within its borders, whether Arab, Jew, Bedouin or Druze. The declaration stated:

We appeal ... to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions.

Thus, upon creating the state - any inhabitants inside the newly formed State of Israel, whether Palestinian Jews or Palestinian Arabs, became Israeli.

Palestinians consider a far more accurate statement of the intention of the founders of Israel to be that of Chaim Weizmann, who reportedly said: Chaim Weizmann and Harry S. Truman, May 25, 1948 Chaim Azriel Weizmann (חיים ויצמן) (also: Chaijim W., Haim W.) (November 27, 1874 – November 9, 1952) chemist, statesman, President of the World Zionist Organization, first President of Israel (elected May 16, 1948, served 1949 - 1952) and founder of a research institute in Israel...

[Our intention is to] finally establish such a society in Palestine that Palestine shall be as Jewish as England is English, or America is American.

According to an October 17, 1947 testimony before the United Nations by Moshe Shertok of the Jewish Agency, "the Jews have, so far, managed to acquire less than seven percent of the land area of Palestine."[5] According to British statistics, of the land that became Israel (approximately 78% of Mandate Palestine, by area), Jews owned almost 9%, Palestinians who became citizens of Israel (and retained ownership of their land) owned another 3%, about 18% belonged to Arabs who had left the area, and the mandatory government owned over 70%.[6] Moshe Sharett (born Moshe Shertok, October 15, 1894 - July 7, 1965) was the second Prime Minister of Israel (1953-1955), serving for a little under two years between David Ben-Gurions two terms. ...

Population of the British Mandate of Palestine

In 1922 the British undertook the first census of the mandate. The population was 752,048, comprising 589,177 Muslims, 83,790 Jews, 71,464 Christians and 7,617 persons belonging to other groups. The 1922 figures may refer to both banks of the Jordan river, at least for the non-Jews. After a second census in 1931, the population had grown to 1,036,339 in total, comprising 761,922 Muslims, 175,138 Jews, 89,134 Christians and 10,145 people belonging to other groups. There were no further censuses but statistics were maintained by counting births, deaths and migration. Some components such as illegal immigration could only be estimated approximately. In 1945 a demographic study showed that the population had grown to 1,764,520, comprising 1,061,270 Muslims, 553,600 Jews, 135,550 Christians and 14,100 people of other groups.

British High Commissioners for Palestine

A High Commissioner is a person serving in a special executive capacity. ... Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel (1870-1963) was a British politician and diplomat. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Herbert Onslow Plumer (1857-1932) was a British colonial official and soldier. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir Harry Charles Luke (1884-1969) was a British colonial official. ... Sir John Robert Chancellor (1870–1952) was a British soldier and colonial official. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope (1874-1947) was a British soldier and colonial administrator. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael (1882-1969) was a British colonial administrator. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort (VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & 2 Bars, MVO, MC) (July 10, 1886 - March 1946) was a British soldier who served in both World War I and II, rising to the rank of Field Marshal and receiving the Victoria Cross. ... The Viscountcy of Gort has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Ireland and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Alan Cunningham, British Army Officer Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham (1st May 1887 _ 30th January 1983) was a British Army officer noted for victories over Italian forces in the East African Campaign during World War II. He was the younger brother of the renowned Admiral Andrew Cunningham. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

See also

• Ottoman Empire
• Balfour Declaration 1917
• 1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate
• Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II
• 1947 UN Partition Plan
• Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948
• 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• Palestinian
• Haganah
• Irgun
• Lehi (group)
• Middle East conflict
• Elon Peace Plan

Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (Constantinople) (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40... The Balfour Declaration was a letter of November 2, 1917 from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, to Lord Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation. ... The Palestine Mandate: The Council of the League of Nations: July 24, 1922. ... The Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II started in July 1940. ... On 29 November 1947 the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, a plan to resolve the Arab-Jewish conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine, was approved by the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN World Headquarters in New York. ... The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948 David Ben Gurion (First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. ... The 1948 Arab-Israeli War is referred to as the War of Independence (Hebrew: מלחמת העצמאות) or as the War of Liberation (Hebrew: מלחמת השחרור) by Israelis. ... The term Palestinian has other usages, for which see definitions of Palestinian. ... Haganah Logo (1940s) The Haganah (Hebrew: The Defense, ההגנה) was a Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine during the British mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948. ... Irgun poster showing their view of the Land of Israel Irgun (ארגון), shorthand for Irgun Tsvai Leumi (ארגון צבאי לאומי, also spelled Irgun Zvai Leumi), Hebrew for National Military Organization, was a militant Zionist group that operated in the British Mandate of Palestine from 1931 to 1948. ... Avraham Stern Lehi (Hebrew acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) was a radical self-described terrorist group that had as its goal the eviction of the British from Palestine to allow unrestricted immigration of Jews and the formation of a Jewish state. ... In the last 60 years, there have been a number of conflicts in the Middle East. ... The Elon Peace Plan is a solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict proposed in 2002 by Rabbi Binyamin Elon, who was the Israeli tourism minister at the time he put forward his proposal. ...

For further reading

• AJ Sherman, Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918-1948, Thames & Hudson, 1998, ISBN 0801866200
• Tom Segev, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, Henry Holt and Co. 2000, ISBN 0805065873

Tom Segev is a public intellectual, journalist, and Israeli historian. ...

Notes

1. ^  Secret World War II documents released by the UK in July, 2001, include documents on a Operation Atlas (See References: KV 2/400-402. A joint German/Arab team, lead by Kurt Wieland, parachuted into Palestine in September 1944. This was one of the last German efforts in the region to attack the Jewish community in Palestine and undermine British rule by supplying local Arabs with cash, arms and sabotage equipment. The team was picked up shortly after landing.

External links

• Legal Status of West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem
• A history of Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict
• A history of Zionism and the creation of Israel
• An Introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict by Norman Finkelstein
• Map of 1947 UN division
• Jewish Defense Organizations
• United Nations
• Map of Population Distribution by Ethnicity 1946
• Population of Palestine before 1948
• Facts about Palestine