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ME 1.3 - The British Mandate to 1945 - Coggle Diagram
ME 1.3 - The British Mandate to 1945
The Mandate
In 1923, the League of Nations gave Britain the Mandate to rule over Palestine.
Palestinian Arabs were furious: they wanted immediate independance, they had not been asked about the use of Palestine for a Jewish homeland, and it appeared they had swapped the Ottomans for the British.
The Mandate enabled Zionism and a place free from persecution for Jews.
There were only 84,000 Jews settled in Palestine but they were oragnised in attracting new settlers.
The Jewish Agency was set up to encourage immigration, help new arrivals buy land and organise schools.
They had to protect the right of Palestinian Arabs, set up a homeland for Jews and prepare them for independance.
The Haganah, a defense force, was formed to protect new settlements.
By 1931 Jewish numbers had more than doubled to 175,000 (17% population).
From 1933 - 1935 another 135,000 arrived, mainly German Jews fleeing Nazism and Hitler's anti-Semitic policies. By 1936 more than 25% of Palestine's population was Jewish.
Clashes between Jews and Palestinians
The Arabs felt Britain was favouring the Jews, and they were worried about the scale of immigration.
As the Jewish pop grew so did tension and then violence between them and the Arabs.
Clashes between two Jewish political parties on May Day in 1921, led to rumours that Jews were attacking Arabs.
This angered Palestinian Arabs in Jaffa, resulting in an attack on local Jews leaving 47 dead and 48 Arabs dead.
These grew into 4 days of bloody riots and mob violence, 133 Jews died and 116 Arabs died.
Some Jews were angry Britain had not provided enough protection.
Irgun a terrorist group was formed to form a Jewish state by violence if necessary.
The Arab Strike - 1936
7 years later an Arab protest began, demanding an end to Jewish immigration, end to land sales and a government of their own.
Until those conditions were me they refused to work or pat taxes and boycotted all trade with the British.
At the same time railway lines, roads, oil tanks and British troops were attacked.
Britain reacted harshly and for 6 months 20,000 troops struggled to handle the situation.
In October 1936, at Britain's request, neighbouring Arab states called for calm and the Palestinian Arabs agreed to end the strike.
The Peel Commission
The levels of Arab discontent worried the British and they set up a commision led by William Peel to investigate the situation of unrest for 6 months.
Over 100 witnesses were questioned and in July 1937 Lord Peel published his 400 page report.
He declared the mandate would never succeed. There were too many differences between the Jews and Arabs and they couldn't agree o Palestine's future.
His only solution was to end the mandate and partition the country between the two communities. Only a small part would remain under British control.
He recommended Jewish immigration to what would be the Arab side to be stopped in the mean time.
Reactions to Peel's proposal:
The Jews dislike the details of the plan but agreed with the partition. It was better than nothing in the eyes of David Ben - Gurion.
The Palestinian Arabs were entirely against it. They thought it was unjust to give the Jews any land.
300,000 Arabs would have to live in the Jewish stae of move to the proposed Arab state. The Jews would also be given most the fertile land including 90% of the orange groves.
The Arab Revolt 1937-39
Palestinian Arabs reacted badly to the Peel commission and their revolt involved increased violence towards the British and Jews.
15,000 Haganah troops and 50,000 British troops used harsh tactics: rebel houses were destroyed, curfews were used, and thousands of Arabs were arrested without trial.
Many Arabs were beaten or tortured, villages suspected of hiding rebels were occupied and their inhabitants were expelled. Weapons were confiscated, Arabs were tied to the bonnets of British vehicles to prevent sniper attacks.
By 1939 when the revolt ended about 250 British and 300 troops were killed whilst 5,000 Arabs were killed and 15,000 wounded.
The Palestinian Arabs were left in a weak position with weapons confiscated and over 10% of adult males killed, wounded, exiled or imprisoned.
Palestine and the Second World War
The threat of war with Germany in 1939 forced Britain to change plans.
They would need oil from the Arabs for the war and so needed their cooperation. The Peel Plan was shelved, suppression stopped and they reduced the amount of Jewish immigrants to 10,000 a year for five years.
This was the worst possible timing for European Jews trying to flee Nazism. Palestinian Jews protested but agreed when war did break out that a truce was needed with Britain.
25,000 Arabs, 27,000 Haganah troops and Irgun fought with Britain during the war.
But a few from Irgun disagreed with the policy and set up the extremist group Lehi to fight against Britain in Palestine.
The Holocaust
On 15th April 1945 WW2 was drawing to a close and British soldiers liberated Bergen Belsen, a Nazi concentration camp.
They found 60,000 prisoners inside the camp, seriosuly ill from typhoid and chronic malnutrition. 13,000 dead bodies lay around.
As Allied troops liberated more camps the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed: 6 million Jewish men, women and children were murdered.
Survivors spoke of the horrors they witnessed and were subjected to. Most had lost their entire families and their homes.
Many needed a new beginning either in the USA or in Palestine, there was a lot of international sympathy for them due to the Holocaust.