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BRITISH OCCUPATION (MANDATE PALESTINE)
1917-1947 AD
(All photo's thanks to wikimedia commons)
1917
1920
1929
1936
1940
1945
1947
1939
A MANDATE FROM 'THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS'.
During the First World War (1914–1918), an Arab uprising against Ottoman rule and the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Edmund Allenby drove the Turks out of the Levant during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. In may 1916, the UK and France divided up the area under the Sykes–Picot Agreement. In this Agreement the area of Palestine would remain under International control. Up to this day this move is seen as an act of betrayal in the eyes of the Arabs. A year later the British point of view changed in favour of a Jewish state. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 declares: "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 countries." At the war's end the British and French set up a joint "Occupied Enemy Territory Administration" in what had been Ottoman Syria.
The foundations for a true state for the Jews in accordance with the Balfour declaration was laid down at the Paris peace conference (1919-1920). The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities that resulted in the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states. The conference decided that the German and Ottoman overseas possessions would become temporary 'Mandates' and the boundaries of new states were drawn. The February 1919 statement included the following main points: recognition of Jewish "title" over the land, a declaration of the borders, and League of Nations sovereignty under British mandate. At the San Remo (1920) conference the borders were defined leading to the creation of the Mandate for Palestine, which was to come into force in 1923. The formal objective of the League of Nations mandate system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, which had been in control of most of the Middle East since the 16th century, "until such time as they are able to stand alone". It is important to note that Transjordan was originally part of the British Mandate for Palestine created at the San Remo Conference.
The mandate had recognised the Balfour Declaration, which envisioned that a Jewish national home would be created in all of Palestine. Combined with the Paris Peace conference and the San Remo conference the Jewish 'title' and right of the land that is now Israel and the Westbank (and Gaza) has been cemented in International Law. Later developments like the development of the United Nations and all of the UN resolutions do not alter this right and 'title' of the Jews and the Jewish state that became Israel.
The United Kingdom had agreed in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence (started in 1915) that it would honour Arab independence in the Middle East if they revolted against the Ottomans. Palestine was not clearly mentioned, and the Arabs regarded Palestine as an area that would be part of 'the proposed frontiers by the Sarif of Mecca'. The British however clarified in 1939 in a special committee that Palestine would be part of the area West of Damascus that would not become part of the Arab state. Although west of Damascus could be explained as the area now called Lebanon the British replied also that Palestine is also not 'only inhabited by Arabs' just like the area west of Damascus, Homs and Aleppo.
Later, the Peel Commission, appointed by the British Government to investigate the cause of the 1936 Arab riots, wrote that at the time of the Balfour Declaration it was understood that the Jewish National Home was to be established in the whole of historic Palestine, including Transjordan.
Dedication ceremony for the Diskin Orphanage, showing rabbis and students, 1927
Apart from the British Mandate of Palestine, other mandate territories like Syria and Iraq also existed. What sets the Mandate of Palestine apart is its dual significance, as it was equally a Jewish and Arab mandate. This region held cultural significance for both communities, evident in various aspects, such as coins from the era, newspapers like the Palestine Post (now the Jerusalem Post), the Palestinian orchestra (now the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra), and the Mandatory Palestine National Football Team, comprised exclusively of Jewish members.
During the mandate period, distinct social systems developed for the Jewish and Arab populations. Each society had its own welfare, educational, and cultural institutions, all under the banner of Palestine. Nationalist movements emerged in both communities, eventually culminating in the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and the 1944–1948 Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. Following the rejection of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine by the Arab population, the 1947–1949 Palestine war concluded with the division of Mandatory Palestine among the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (which annexed the West Bank), and the Kingdom of Egypt (establishing the "All-Palestine Protectorate" in the Gaza Strip).
Hebron 1929 after the massacre
RISING TENSIONS, VIOLENCE & REVIVAL
During the British Mandate, tensions escalated due to frequent Arab uprisings against the growing Jewish communities. These were not mere protests but violent attacks on Jews and their settlements. The initial outbreak occurred in the Battle of Tel Hai when Arab militias targeted the Golan village. Jewish villages in the area faced aggression from Syrian Arabs rebelling against the French Mandate Occupation, despite their neutrality. Eventually, the Jews had to abandon Tel Hai, which was later set ablaze by the Arab assailants.
This violence was followed by the Nebi Musa riots in 1920 in Jerusalem, where Arabs assaulted Jews in the old city, resulting in the deaths of seven Jews, numerous injuries, and incidents of sexual assault against women. The British police were criticized for their limited intervention and even permitted the eviction of 300 Jews from their homes in what is now known as the Muslim Quarter.
In the 1921 Jaffa Riots, triggered by Arab groups, 47 Jews lost their lives, with over a hundred injured before British forces intervened, resulting in 48 Arab insurgents' deaths. It's noteworthy that amid the chaos, some Jews received aid from Arabs, while paradoxically, certain Arab policemen took part in the attacks. These tragic events foreshadowed the brutal Hebron Massacre of 1929. Hebron, a place of religious significance with a continuous Jewish presence for over 3000 years, suffered violence on August 23, 1929. Muslim Arabs targeted not only Hebron but also multiple other Jewish communities in the British Mandate area and in Safed 20 Jews were killed in 1929. The Hebron attack was exceptionally brutal, resembling a true 'pogrom,' While some Muslim neighbours in Hebron assisted Jewish residents in hiding, many actively participated in the two-day-long massacre. Jewish witnesses sought help from a British commander on horseback while being pursued and attacked by Muslim neighbors but received no assistance. After a week of violence, 133 Jews were killed (67 in Hebron). There were 110 Arab casualties, mainly due to clashes with British security forces. The Jewish community in Hebron was decimated, forcing survivors to leave as British protection faltered. Some returned in 1931, only to face evacuation once again during the 1936-39 Arab revolt.
Influence of Migration in rising tensions:
Before and during the first world war immigration to Israel was limited or prohibited by the British Occupiers. Nevertheless in the mid-1920's Jewish immigration increased because the loosing of restrictions by the British and driven by harsh anti-Jewish legislation in Poland. Shimon Perez the foreign minister of Israel who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 was one of them. He and his parents fled the persecution in Vishneva in Poland (now Belarus) in 1934. In 1935 a record number of immigrants reached Israel because of the Nazi's in Germany.
Family of Shimon Perez (third from right on last row)
Bet Shalom synagogue - 1925 Afula. Photo: Deror Avi
While most Jews in the 19th and early 20th century preferred to migrate to the US this changed in 1924 when the United States Congress passed the Johnson-Reed Act, revising American immigration laws. The act set quotas, a specific number of visas available each year for each country. This Law remained in use until the end of World War II (and even until 1965!). The quotas limited immigrants entirely based on racial grounds and limited or barred many people born in Asia, Africa but also southern and eastern European Jews. The effects were dramatic: Poland, with a pre war Jewish population of 3.5 million, had a quota of 6,524, and Romania, with a Jewish population of nearly a million, had a quota of 377! These American immigration laws were neither revised nor adjusted between 1933 and 1941. Even when western countries became clearly aware of the extreme racist policies of the Nazi's and they debated on whether or not to boycott the 1936 Olympic Games. Newspapers and media also described the prosecution oF Jews and the need to save Jews became very urgent. In July 1938, delegates from 32 countries met in Evian, France for a conference on the refugee crisis. The delegates expressed sympathy for the Jews who were seeking to flee Nazi persecution. But sadly, even than most countries refused to admit more refugees. Positive exceptions were the Dominican Republic and the Philippines who accepted Jewish refugees from Germany.
Also Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel especially in the 1930's (see link). The Ukrainian Jews had experienced the most cruel pogroms that happened after the Russian revolution until 1921. Approximately 100.000 Jews died (!) in these years of this forgotten genocide.
Few people know that during (and after) the First World War there was a rapid rise in immigration from Arab people. For example, during the first world war more than 50.000 Arab migrants arrived (mainly from Syria and Trans Jordan). The Hope Simpson commission in 1930 also the Peel commission in 1937 concluded that Jewish migration was not the cause of shortfall of land in Israel. According to the Peel commission it was the Arab immigration that mainly caused these problems.
Daphna Sharfman e.a. described in her important book 'Secrets of Coexistence' (2007) that the population in Haifa grew from 6230 Jews in 1922 to 66.000 Jews in 1944 while the Arab population grew from 18240 Arabs in 19922 to 62800 Arabs in 1944. So yes, Jews population in Haifa was growing faster, but simultaneously the Arab population grew strong!
Yeshurun Central synagogue - 1936 Jerusalem Photo: NI4wik
ARMENIAN CERAMICS IN JERUSALEM
In 1918 David Ohannessian, an Armenian who was one of the foremost pioneers of the ceramic styles, reestablished his ceramics studio in Jerusalem. David Ohannessian was born in 1884 in Turkey where he became a master in the iconic Kütahya style of Ottoman ceramics. He worked on important architectural projects of the Ottoman government but he and his family were deported during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. He managed to survive but was deeply affected by the horrors of the Armenian Genocide/ When he continued his craft in hus studio in Jerusalem his aim was "to teach the children a trade so that by the time they reached the age of 16, they could be self-sufficient". He was involved in the restoration of the Dome of the Rock and beautiful decorations in the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem.
Hand painted tiles by David Ohannessian. Photo: Lantuszka
REVIVAL BEFORE WORLD WAR II
The population residing in the British Mandate of Palestine was incredibly diverse. While the majority lived in scattered small villages, a significant influx of migrants fueled urbanization. Arabs, predominantly Muslims, remained the largest group, followed by Jews. Alongside them were the Druze, various Christian communities, and Bedouins, creating a vibrant tapestry of cultures.
Within the Jewish community, diversity was also prominent. The early waves of Jewish immigrants included secular individuals who contributed to the workforce in various Kibbutzim, particularly in the Galilee and coastal area. In contrast, Jews from Morocco, Persia and Yemen hailed from traditional and religious backgrounds just like 'the Old Yishuv', This cultural variation is evident in historical photographs and research that highlights the traditional attire of Maghrebi women. Fascinatingly, this research revealed a dual experience for Maghrebi women in the four holy cities (Safed, Tiberias, Hebron, and Jerusalem). On one hand, they preserved the socioeconomic lifestyle of the 'old Yishuv.' On the other hand, the transition from the old world to the new during the British Mandate compelled them to integrate into the emerging socioeconomic landscape. In Jerusalem, as the metropolis and the British High Commissioner's seat, women had access to more job opportunities and improved economic well-being.
Even within the rising tensions in the mid 1920's, during the terrible Hebron Massacre and during the Arab revolt in the late 1930's the Jewish Community and the economy in the Mandate was growing and this is reflected in the buildings of Israel. Students that had studied at the famous Bauhaus school of architecture in Weimar, Germany, fled the Nazi's in the 1930's. The development of 'European Modernism' influenced the cities of Jerusalem, Haifa and the new 'white city' of Tel Aviv.
Synagogue of Mazkeret Batya (1928), Photo : Yefet Cohen
Tel Aviv beach. Photo: Esther Kluge
Tel Aviv was founded during the Ottoman empire in 1909 and started as a small village. In 1934 during the Fifth Aliyah, the city was again transformed when a massive wave of immigration arrived of Jews fleeing persecution in Europe. The population grew from 42,000 people t0 130,000 by 1936 and Tel Aviv was declared a city with Meir Dizengoff as its first mayor.
In the 1930's many new synagogues where being constructed and Yeshiva's were started in Jerusalem and in other parts of Israel. Churches were (re)build like the famous churches rebuild by Antonio Barluzzi.
Natural disasters also kept returning when Tiberias was hit in 1934 by a massive flood after heavy rains. Many were killed, wounded or in shock and the city was ravaged.
START OF DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS
The Yishuv, the Jewish community in the British Mandate created different political and administrative institutions. The Assembly of Representatives met once a year to approve the budget of and elect the members of the Jewish National Council. This council was responsible education, local government, welfare, security and defence. Both were established in 1920 and they and functioned until 13 February 1949, the day before the first elected Knesset, was sworn in. After elections in 1920 and 1925 the Assembly was recognised by the British authorities in 1928. It was both the start of democratic institutions, the precursor of the Knesset and democracy in Israel but also of some political factions in Israel.
Meeting hall of Elected Assembly of Jerusalem. Photo: Zoltan Kluger
THE ARAB REVOLT (1936-1939)
Jewish community and the British Mandate authority. This tragic event resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and, according to scholars like Oren Kessler and others, significantly altered the course of the Middle East conflict. In his book "Palestine 1936" (2023), Kessler describes how the Arabs faced a severe military response from British forces, failing to halt the progression of Zionism and weakening their own military capabilities.
During these three years of conflict, a stronger sense of Arab identity began to coalesce, uniting previously rivaling groups and families among the Arab population. Simultaneously, the Jewish community emerged from the conflict with enhanced resilience, as thousands gained valuable training and experience. However, the Arab uprising led the British to close their doors to Jewish immigration from Europe. This decision had devastating consequences, as millions of Jews fell victim to the Nazis, potentially sparing many lives if the British had permitted the admission of refugees into the Mandate. This period also reinforced the Jewish conviction that passive defense equated to self-destruction.
The goal of a combined Arabs and Jewish state with in the Mandate boundaries seemed more and more impossible from both sides and the words "partition" and "a Jewish State" appeared on the international diplomatic agenda. The growing hatred and violence during the Arab revolt was not just a local phenomenon. The rising Nazi's in Germany established early contacts with Arab organisations in the region. After the visist in 1937 by Baldur von Shirach, the head of the 'Hitlerjugend', the Nazi youth organisation in Germany, Nazi propaganda started. After his visit the Arab national Youth Organisation started a boycott of Jewish products in the Middle-East.
Funeral of Jews from Givat Ada that were killed in 1936.
Great Synagogue of Hadera by Architect Judith Stolzer Segall. (Photo Dglick5)
WOMEN DURING THE MANDATE
During the British Mandate the influence of women was growing as can be seen in many different ways. Women contributed in architecture to the growing Jewish community since migration brought many architects to Israel and some were women. Four of the most influential female architects of that time were Lotte Cohen, Elsa Gidoni-Mandelstamm, Genia (Eugenie) Averbuch, and Judith Stolzer-Segall. Judith Stolzer Segall was the first women to design a Synagogue, the Great Synagogue of Hadera. Women were active in art like Shlomit Haber Chaim who was born in Tel Aviv in 1926 and studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts.
In 1920 the Elected assembly and Jewish National Council started as the first democratic institutions in Israel and important tp know is that women participated. During the first election fourteen women were elected to the National Assembly. In 1923, the Mizrahi party in trying to prevent Woman Suffrage they demanded a referendum. The Union of Hebrew Women successfully mobilised to cancel the referendum. In 1925 during the second election 25 women were elected. The Assembly decreed full equal rights for women in all areas of civil, economic, and political life. (see article on Women suffrage)
JEWISH HEROINS
A famous woman was Ruth Aliav-Klüger the only woman in the early days of the Mosad Aliyah Bet branch of Haganah. She believed that the lives of Europe’s Jews were in imminent danger and she and Mosad Aliyah Bet smuggled many Jews out of Europe and into Palestine during World War II. She was praised for her creativeness. She succeeded in helping the ship 'Tiger Hill' to bring 1400 immigrants from Constanta to Tel Aviv. And she gathered information in Egypt during the War to use against the Germans and for finding new options in rescuing other Jews.
Hannah Szenes was born in Hungary but when she was 18 years old she migrated to the British Mandate Palestine. In 1939 she joined the Girls' Agricultural School at Nahalal and after two years she joined Kibbutz Sdot Yam. In 1943 she became part of the British army, was recruited for special Operations and learned to use a parachute after training in Egypt. She was one of 37 Jewish recruits from the Mandate that joined the British Army to fight Nazi Germany. They were parachuted into Yugoslavia to but their mission failed and they were caught after crossing into Hungary. The Nazi's tortured Hannah but she refused to reveal information of their mission. In jail she wrote a letter that survived when sadly she was executed in 1944.
Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand Mufti of Jerusalem with Adolf Hitler meeting in 1941.
WORLD WAR II IN ISRAEL
The Second World War was perhaps the most cold and brutal period in the history of humanity with the mass extermination of the Jews. The Holocaust or Shoah was deliberately planned on industrial scale to reach Hitlers 'Final solution' and kill all of the estimated 11 million Jews that lived in Europe. The Shoah is 'the most horrible combination of pure evil in mankind & large-scale and highly organised execution of this evil'. This happened after centuries of expulsions, massacres, pogroms against the Jews in Europe. The Shoah brutally highlighted the hard truth that the Jews for to many centuries had to rely on unreliable governments and that they were surrounded by to much antisemitism. While in Israel the Jews were also prosecuted, killed and even the subject of genocide (by Assyrians, Babylonians, Seleucids and Romans) the European Jews experienced again and on unprecedented scale the horrors of prosecution and death. No League of Nations (or the later United Nations) were able to keep the Jews safe or prevent these Genocides and many Jews learned that survival would mean self-reliance.
Also in Israel the antisemitism and hatred of Jewish people by Arab leaders within the mandate of Palestine became even more clear when Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand Mufti of Jerusalem met with Adolf Hitler (see picture) in 1941. It seems clear that the 'Fuhrer' made clear to the Mufti that he would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire (the British and Russians) in Europe. And as soon the Battle in Caucasia with the Russians was won the Fuhrer would give the Arabs the assurance that their hour of liberation had arrived. Germany’s objective was solely the destruction of the Jewish elements residing in the Arab sphere that was (at that moment) under the protection of British Empire (see article). What exactly has been said is maybe less important as to what Al-Husseini, a notorious anti-Semite, did. He openly encouraged Muslims and recruited 20.000 Muslims to join Nazi units that would be later implicated in genocide and crimes against humanity. One, the infamous Hanjar (or Handschar) 13th Waffen SS division, was involved in the Massacre of Koritska Jama in Bosnia in 1941. The Grand Mufti was to become the uncle of the later Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
It wasn't just local Arab leaders or politicians who opposed the idea of a Jewish State in the Middle East. On March 22, 1945, the Arab League was established, and only six months later, this new organization formally initiated an Arab boycott of Jewish Palestinian goods. The Arabs frequently used the terms "Palestinians", "Jews" and "Zionists" interchangeably. This Arab boycott underscores the deep-seated aversion to the concept of "a Jewish state" well before the modern state of Israel came into existence. The subsequent conflicts between Arab countries and Israel were not solely about border disputes or territorial conflicts; they were fundamentally driven by a profound hostility toward the very notion of "A Jewish Homeland."
Some authors posit that the rejection of a Jewish state stemmed from the Muslim denial of collective minority rights, exemplified by the inequality imposed on Jews and Christians through their Dhimmi status.. Albert Memmi, the distinguished Tunisian-Jewish writer stated: “The Arabs in the past merely tolerated the existence of Jewish minorities, no more. They have not yet recovered from the shock of seeing their former underlings raise up their heads, attempting even to gain their national independence! (see article). However, the Abraham Accords have illuminated a shift in perception, with Israel no longer viewed as a threat by many Arab nations. Increasingly, Arabs are recognizing that Jews have been an integral part of the Middle East for millennia, fostering a growing acceptance of coexistence, even alongside an independent Jewish state. Additionally, religious scholars have noted that Islam does not prohibit Muslims from residing in a country governed by non-Muslims, provided that religious freedom is safeguarded.
During World War II, many Jews joined the British forces in a concerted effort to thwart the German conquest of the Middle East. Yitzhak Rabin, born in 1922 in Jerusalem, was among those who took part in this struggle. In 1994, he, along with Yasser Arafat, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (before the tragic assassination of Rabin in 1995). However, European Jews during the war faced severe restrictions on emigrating to Israel. Although some managed to reach Israel illegally, the majority found themselves stranded in various other European countries. Shockingly, British authorities detained over 50,000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in concentration camps in Cyprus (see article). The forgotten pogrom in 1946 in Poland was another harrowing episode. Holocaust survivors returning to their hometown were tragically killed in the Kielce Pogrom, resulting in the loss of 42 lives. This serves as a stark reminder of the deep-seated antisemitism and aggression prevalent during that time, where migration often represented the only safe option. Migration was not limited to European Jews; it also extended to Jews from areas formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish Jews, who had peacefully coexisted in Turkey for centuries, were compelled to flee when heavy taxes were imposed on them during World War II. These Jewish communities faced the grim choice of death or exile due to their inability to meet these financial demands (see also: article).
The Holocaust, an immensely significant and tragic chapter in Jewish history, cannot be fully encapsulated on this website. Those seeking comprehensive information on the Holocaust are encouraged to visit the Yad Vashem website, which serves as an invaluable resource.
Rabin Memorial - Wellington, New Zealand for Nobel prize of Yitzhak Rabin, born 1922 -Jerusalem. Photo: William Stadtwald Demchick
Knesset. Photo: Dr. Avishai Teicher
START OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL
With the end of British Mandate and colonialism in Israel, a new modern era began, spanning 75 years or three generations. This period, including the War of Independence, is not covered in this website. A significant change occurred. For centuries, foreign empires had ruled the region, except for the brief independent Crusader Kingdom. With the advent of democracy, unique in this tumultuous region, control shifted to the diverse population living in Israel, representing various faiths. While 'Political Zionism' aimed at creating a state has ended, 'Religious Zionism' remains rooted in the Jewish connection to Eretz Yisrael, regardless of who governs the land. Nationalism, like in many other countries worldwide, is still a political aspect. The establishment of the Jewish homeland aimed to prevent future massacres, pogroms, or genocides targeting the Jewish people. Although Israel has faced challenges in maintaining continuous peace in the region since 1948, the numerous periods of peace have fostered rapid technological advancement. Furthermore, strong ties have developed between Israel and Christians, fostering modern pilgrimages. Relationships between Jews, Arab Christians, and Muslims are also strengthening. Recent peace agreements between Israel and Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations (the Abraham Accords) offer hope for a more peaceful and secure future. Regardless of the political landscape, the goal should be to ensure peace, safety, and democracy for all.