The Palestine-Israeli Conflict by Dan Cohn-Sherbok

Author:Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2014-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

9

Palestinians, Jews and the British

By the end of the First World War the Arabs in general and the Palestinians specifically were shocked by the realization that there was to be no independence or Arab Kingdom. On the contrary the whole area was to be divided between the Great Powers, the victors. The greatest blow to the Arab world was the removal of Palestine from the international negotiations because of its special nature. The much-quoted Balfour Declaration was not as significant at the time it was issued as it was later to become, since the British government was giving promises to any power that might offer help in winning the war, and, in fact, did not have sovereignty over the area to allow it to give it away. What made the Balfour Declaration an important element in the creation of the State of Israel was its subsequent incorporation in the British Mandate. The great irony is that in the ‘new order’, the mandatory powers were supposed to be trustees with regard to the countries for which they took responsibility. They were not to be occupying powers. As far as Palestine was concerned, when the British Mandate was confirmed by the League of Nations, the Preamble to the text of the mandate stated,1

The Council of the League of Nations

Whereas the principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory, selected by the said Powers, the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and whereas the principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on 2nd November, 1917 by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might 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.2

It was at this point that the Balfour declaration became a legal document recognized by the international community.

Early Palestinian reaction

The first Palestinian conference, including delegates from many Arab villages and major towns representing Muslim and Christian communities, was convened in early 1919 in Jerusalem. The primary focus of the conference was the question of Zionism and the political future of Palestine. The conference expressed the wish to see a unified and fully independent Palestine as South Syria. At the same time Dr Howard Bliss, President of the American University in Beirut, wrote to President Wilson that the people of Syria were relying on his principles of self-determination, and wanted a fair opportunity to express their political aspirations. Bliss suggested an American commission should be sent to the area to carry out a fact-finding mission.

President Wilson put forward this proposal to the Supreme Council of the League of Nations on 20 March 1919.

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