Mandatory Palestine

Mandatory Palestine was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 under the authority of the British Mandate for Palestine, granted by the League of Nations.

Its name, Mandatory Palestine is  unfortunate because it is often misunderstood by casual observers who fail to learn the history and terms of the Mandate, under which Great Britain administered the territory after it was liberated from the previous conquers, the Ottoman Turks. They were Turkish tribes from Asia Minor who conquered much of the Mediterranean  world from the 13th to 16th centuries. Known by the honorific title ghāzī (Arabic: “raider”), they fought against the shrinking Christian States and inhabitants of the Middle East.

Background

• Origins: After World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations divided former Ottoman territories. Britain was assigned the Mandate for Palestine in 1920 (formally confirmed in 1922), based on the terms of the San Remo Conference and later the League of Nations Covenant.

• Purpose: The Mandate charged Britain with administering the territory and preparing it for eventual self-governance. It incorporated the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which supported the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, while also stipulating that the rights of the existing non-Jewish communities be safeguarded. The name Palestine came from the name given to the land by the Romans, one of the many nations that conquered ancient Israel.

Geography

Mandatory Palestine covered the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, plus territory east of the Jordan initially included but soon separated to form Transjordan (modern Jordan) under a parallel British mandate. The remaining area west of the Jordan River became the primary territory of “Palestine” as understood under the Mandate.

Administration

• Britain held full administrative authority: creating institutions, issuing laws, and overseeing immigration.

• The territory saw increasing Jewish immigration, Arab opposition, and rising tensions between Jewish and Arab communities, as well as resistance against British rule.

• Britain tried to balance competing national movements, issuing White Papers (policy statements) that alternately limited or expanded Jewish immigration, especially during and after the Holocaust.

Termination

• After decades of unrest, Britain referred the question of Palestine to the newly created United Nations in 1947.

• The UN proposed partition into separate Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international administration. This was accepted by Jewish leaders but rejected by Arab leaders.

• Britain withdrew in May 1948, and the State of Israel was declared. The Arab–Israeli War of 1948 followed, leading to the division of the territory between Israel, Jordan (which annexed the West Bank), and Egypt (which controlled Gaza).