30 Facts About British Palestine

1.

The British Palestine achieved legitimacy by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in June 1922.

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2.

The Mandate charter stipulated that Mandatory British Palestine would have three official languages, namely English, Arabic and Hebrew.

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3.

The British Palestine authorities rejected this proposal; according to the Minutes of the Ninth Session of the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission:.

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4.

Samuel tried to establish self-governing institutions in British Palestine, as required by the mandate, but the Arab leadership refused to co-operate with any institution which included Jewish participation.

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5.

British Palestine recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men.

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6.

British Palestine forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police, suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force.

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7.

From 1936 to 1945, while establishing collaborative security arrangements with the Jewish Agency, the British Palestine confiscated 13,200 firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews.

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8.

Thirdly, the British Palestine responded to Arab opposition with the White Paper of 1939, which severely restricted Jewish land purchase and immigration.

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9.

On 3 July 1944, the British Palestine government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade, with hand-picked Jewish and non-Jewish senior officers.

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10.

Besides Jews and Arabs from Palestine, in total by mid-1944 the British had assembled a multiethnic force consisting of volunteer European Jewish refugees, Yemenite Jews and Abyssinian Jews.

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11.

In 1939, as a consequence of the White Paper of 1939, the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine.

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12.

In September 1947, the British government announced that the Mandate for Palestine would end at midnight on 14 May 1948.

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13.

The British Palestine maintained strong presences in Jerusalem and Haifa, even as Jerusalem came under siege by Arab forces and became the scene of fierce fighting, though the British Palestine occasionally intervened in the fighting, largely to secure their evacuation routes, including by proclaiming martial law and enforcing truces.

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14.

British Palestine had notified the UN of their intent to terminate the mandate not later than 1 August 1948.

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15.

The British Parliament passed the necessary legislation to terminate the Mandate with the Palestine Bill, which received Royal assent on 29 April 1948.

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16.

The British Palestine flag was lowered from the administrative building of the Port of Haifa and the Israeli flag was raised in its place, and the Haifa port area was formally handed over to the Israeli authorities in a ceremony.

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17.

The British Palestine however made acceptance of the terms of the mandate a precondition for any change in the constitutional position of the Arabs.

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18.

In 1947, Foreign Secretary Bevin admitted that during the previous twenty-five years the British Palestine had done their best to further the legitimate aspirations of the Jewish communities without prejudicing the interests of the Arabs, but had failed to "secure the development of self-governing institutions" in accordance with the terms of the Mandate.

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19.

In dealings with the Palestinian Arabs, the British Palestine negotiated with the elite rather than the middle or lower classes.

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20.

One of the mufti's rivals, Raghib Bey al-Nashashibi, had already been appointed mayor of Jerusalem in 1920, replacing Musa Kazim, whom the British removed after the Nabi Musa riots of 1920, during which he exhorted the crowd to give their blood for Palestine.

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21.

In 1929, the Jewish Agency for British Palestine took over from the Zionist Commission its representative functions and administration of the Jewish community.

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22.

The British Palestine authorities offered to create a similar Arab Agency but this offer was rejected by Arab leaders.

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23.

The British government placed limitations on Jewish immigration to Palestine.

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24.

The Administration of British Palestine shall be responsible for enacting a nationality law.

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25.

British Palestine represented the Zionist Organisation at the Paris Peace Conference.

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26.

One of the objectives of British Palestine administration was to give effect to the Balfour Declaration, which was set out in the preamble of the mandate, as follows:.

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27.

British Palestine stated that the Agency was unwilling to be placed in a position where it might have to compromise between the Grady-Morrison proposals on the one hand and its own partition plan on the other.

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28.

British Palestine stated that the Agency had accepted partition as the solution for Palestine which it favoured.

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29.

Apart from the Religious Courts, the judicial system was modelled on the British Palestine one, having a High Court with appellate jurisdiction and the power of review over the Central Court and the Central Criminal Court.

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30.

British Palestine Airways was founded in 1934, Angel Bakeries in 1927, and the Tnuva dairy in 1926.

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