Britain's unfulfilled mandate for Palestine
By: Nick Reynold
Publisher: Lexington Books
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Lanham
Language: eng
Number of pages: 269
ISBN-13: 9780739187005; 9780739187012
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Politics and government; 89.79 international conflicts: other; History; Diplomatic relations; Mandates; Foreign relations; Mandatsgebiet
Description: This book provides an in-depth survey of Britain's Mandate in Palestine, an issue crucial to understanding the continuing atmosphere of mistrust and violence in the region that continues to the present. At the conclusion of the First World War (1914-18), the League of Nations awarded a Mandate to Great Britain, which entailed governing a part of the defunct Ottoman Empire, a part which became known as Palestine. The Mandate, empowering Britain to govern this area for an unspecified period, had as one of its main objectives the understanding that Britain would assist the Zionist Movement in the creation of a Homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. During the thirty years that Britain ruled Palestine, it made no serious effort to carry out this commitment. The author discusses a variety of reasons for this failure, but the greatest obstacle preventing it from fulfilling its Mandate was that Britain completely miscalculated the reaction of the large Arab majority in the country. In fear of repercussions from the growing Arab nationalism various British Governments over the years decided that their best interests would be served by appeasing the Palestine Arabs and reneging on the British promise to Zionism. As the author shows, Britain's failure to fulfil its Mandate obligations was a major contribution to the problems that have persisted in the Middle East for decades.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-264) and index.
Table of contents: title: Chapter One: From Whence the Mandate Came; Chapter Two: Getting Off to a Bad Start in Palestine; Chapter Three: The New Samuel Broom Sweeps Clean!; Chapter Four: The Palestinian Arabs Set Out to Torpedo the Mandate; Chapter Five: Herbert Samuel-Part Two; Chapter Six: Seeking a Jewish-Arab Entente 1924-1929; Chapter Seven: The Second and Third British High Commissioners for Palestine; Chapter Eight: Whither Britain's Commitment to Zionism? Chapter Nine: The Battle between the Palestine Administration and the Jewish Agency (over Immigration, Land, and Jobs)II: The Mandate Unfulfilled; Chapter Ten: The Tables Begin to Turn; Chapter Eleven: Appeasement Rules the Waves; Chapter Twelve: Would There Be Life after the 1939 White Paper?; Conclusion.