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. It was headed by Lord Peel. Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... The Great Uprising, Great Revolt, or Great Arab Revolt was an uprising by Palestinian Arabs in the British Mandate of Palestine which lasted from 1936 to 1939. ...

Lord Peel arrives at the British Mandate of Palestine

On 11 November, 1936, the commission arrived to Palestine to investigate the reasons behind the uprising. It returned to Britain on 18 January 1937. On 7 July, 1937, it published its report. Lord Peel arrives to the British Mandate of Palestine: for Peel Commission entry. ... Lord Peel arrives to the British Mandate of Palestine: for Peel Commission entry. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. ...

History

The Commission was established at a time of increased violence; serious clashes between Arabs and Jews broke out in 1936 and were to last three years. The Commission was charged with determining the cause of the riots, and judging the merit of grievances on both sides. Chaim Weizmann made a speech on behalf of the Jews. The Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini, refused to testify in front of the Commission. Instead, he demanded full cessation of Jewish immigration. Although the Arabs continued to boycott the Commission officially, there was a sense of urgency to respond to Weizmann's appeal to restore calm. The former Mayor of Jerusalem Ragheb Bey al-Nashashibi - who was the Mufti's rival in the internal palestinian arena, was thus sent to explain the Arab perspective through unofficial channels. [1] Chaim Weizmann and Harry S. Truman, May 25, 1948 Chaim Azriel Weizmann (Hebrew: 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... Mohammad Amin al-Husayni Mohammad Amin al-Husayni (ca. ... Raghib al-Nashashibi (1881-1951) Raghib al-Nashashibi (1881-1951) was a distinguished public figure and wealthy landowner under the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate and the Jordanian administration. ...

Recommendations

The report recommended that the Mandate be eventually abolished — except in a "corridor" surrounding Jerusalem, stretching to the Mediterranean Coast just south of Jaffa — and the land under its authority (and accordingly, the transfer of both Arab and Jewish populations) be apportioned between an Arab and Jewish states. The Jewish side was to receive a territorially smaller portion in the mid-west and north, from Mount Carmel to south of Be'er Tuvia, as well as the Jezreel Valley and the Galilee, while the Arab state was to receive territory in the south and mid-east which included Judea, Samaria and the sizable, though economically undeveloped and infertile, Negev desert. Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds, Greek Ιεροσόλυμα), is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Jaffa (Hebrew יָפוֹ, Standard Hebrew Yafo, Tiberian Hebrew Yāp̄ô; Arabic يَافَا Yāfā; also Japho, Joppa), is an ancient city located in Israel. ... Mount Carmel is the name of several places in the world: Mount Carmel, Israel Mount Carmel, Newfoundland, Canada Mount Carmel, Illinois, United States of America Mount Carmel, Tennessee, United States of America (See also Carmel. ... The Jezreel Valley arabic (Sahel Zirin)سهل زرعين or Marj Ibn Amer(the meadow of the son of Amer) مرج بن عامر (Hebrew: עמק יזרעאל;Emek Yizrael, also known as the Plain of Esdraelon) is a large plain and inland valley in the north of Israel. ... Galilee (Arabic al-jaleel الجليل, Hebrew hagalil הגליל), meaning circuit, is a large area overlapping with much of the North District of Israel. ... Desert hills in southern Judea, looking east from the town of Arad Judea or Judaea (יהודה Praise, Standard Hebrew , Tiberian Hebrew ) (Greek: Ιουδαία) is a term used for the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel (Hebrew: ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael), an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank, and... Samaria, or Shomron (Hebrew שֹׁמְרוֹן, Standard Hebrew Å omÉ™ron, Tiberian Hebrew ŠōmÉ™rôn, Arabic سامريّون SāmariyyÅ«n (but commonly called in Arabic جبال نابلس Jibal Nablus), (in the New Testament Greek Σαμαρεία, in Russian Самария ) is a term used for the mountainous northern part of the area on the west bank of the Jordan... Ruins in the Negev desert The Negev (Hebrew נֶגֶב;, Tiberian Hebrew Néḡeḇ; Arabic النقب an-Naqab) is the desert region of southern Israel. ...

Exchange of land and population transfer

The report recommended that "[s]ooner or later there should be a transfer of land and, as far as possible, an exchange of population": Population transfer is a term referring to a policy by which a state, or international authority, forces the movement of a large group of people out of a region, most frequently on the basis of their ethnicity or religion. ...

"A precedent is afforded by the exchange effected between the Greek and Turkish populations on the morrow of the Greco-Turkish War of 1922. A convention was signed by the Greek and Turkish Governments, providing that, under the supervision of the League of Nations, Greek nationals of the Orthodox religion living in Turkey should be compulsorily removed to Greece, and Turkish nationals of the Moslem religion living in Greece to Turkey. The numbers involved were high--no less than some 1,300,000 Greeks and some 400,000 Turks. But so vigorously and effectively was the task accomplished that within about eighteen months from the spring of 1923 the whole exchange was completed. The courage of the Greek and Turkish statesmen concerned has been justified by the result. Before the operation the Greek and Turkish minorities had been a constant irritant. Now Greco-Turkish relations are friendlier than they have ever been before."[2] The name Greco-Turkish War is given to two armed conflicts between Greece and Turkey or its predecessor the Ottoman Empire: The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 (also called the Thirty Days War) The Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922 (also called the War in Asia Minor, and in Turkey...

The population exchange, if carried out, would have involved the transfer of approximately 225,000 Arabs and 1,250 Jews. [3]

Reactions

The Arab leadership rejected the plan, while the Jewish opinion remained heatedly divided. The Twentieth Zionist Congress in Zurich (3-16 August) announced that the partition plan proposed by the Peel Commission is not to be accepted, [but wished] to carry on negotiations in order to clarify the exact substance of the British government's proposal for the foundation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Location within Switzerland   Zürich[?] (German pronunciation IPA: ; usually spelled Zurich in English) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and capital of the canton of Zürich. ...

The non-public reaction of the Jewish leaders was mixed, but the majority decision was to support the transfer provision. Ben-Gurion wrote: Israeli postal stamp commemorating Ben-Gurion (help· info) (October 16, 1886 – December 1, 1973; Hebrew: דָּוִד בֶּן גּוּרִיּוֹן) was the first Prime Minister of Israel. ...

The compulsory transfer of the Arabs from the valleys of the proposed Jewish state could give us something which we have never had, even when we stood on our own during the days of the First and Second Temples: [a Galilee almost free of non-Jews]. ... We are being given an opportunity which we never dared to dream of in our wildest imagination. This is more than a state, government and sovereignty---this is a national consolidation in a free homeland. ... if because of our weakness, neglect or negligence, the thing is not done, then we will have lost a chance which we never had before, and may never have again. (S. Teveth, Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985; pp 180-182)

Following this, in 1938 the Woodhead Commission was set up to examine the details of the Peel Commission plan, and make recommendations for the implementation of it. This article is in need of attention. ...

External link

• Summary section of the Report of the Palestine Royal Commission (from the United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine - UNISPAL)

Further reading

• Palestine Royal Commission Report Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament by Command of His Majesty, July 1937. His Majesty’s Stationary Office., London, 1937. 404 pages + maps.
• Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World (Funk and Wagnalls, New York, 1970) pp. 207-210

See also

• Arab-Israeli conflict
• 1922 Text: League of Nations Palestine Mandate
• White Paper of 1939
• Shaw Report