Arab and Jewish responce to Balfour Dec

Question 1

What did a few Arabs thought possibly for Jews to do?

Answer 1

to create their own community within Palestine, just as variety of religious comm had existed under the Ottomans.

Question 2

What did Emir Feisal, Arab King of Syria, do to solve the situation?

Answer 2

seeked British support for his rule and wrote letter in this effect March 1919, stating that Arabs and Jews could live together in Syria.

Question 3

Why did the peace/situation of living together change?

Answer 3

• Britain’s failure to honour promise to create Palestinian state
• rapid acceleration in the rate of Jewish migration

Question 4

What occurred in 1920?

Answer 4

San Remo Conference, where the League of Nations gave Britain a MANDATE over Palestine and Iraq, and gave France mandate over Syria and Lebanon.

Question 5

What was included as part of agreement of British mandate?

Answer 5

Balfour declaration
and the mandate allowed Jewish agency, organisation to help in matters affecting the Jewish national home.
While Palestinian rights were recognised and Transjordan excluded from provisions for Jewish settlement, no specific mention of a Palestinian state.

Question 6

What did Winston Churchill, British Colonial Secretary, announce in June 1922?

Answer 6

announced Balfour Dec should not been as implying disappearance of ‘the Arab population, language or culture in Palestine’.

Question 7

What was the reason, main point and result of the Churchill White Paper 1922?

Answer 7

reason - response to 1921 riots
main points- recommended limits on Jewish immigration
results - Zionist council approved paper, fearful of antagonising the British. Arab rejected any mention of notion of Jewish national home in Palestine

Question 8

When did British’s mandate come into effect?

Answer 8

in September 1923.

Question 9

What did the British mandate not guarantee?

Answer 9

a Jewish or Arabic state so for both, community size of population and ownership of land became crucial.

At time, Jews formed only 5% of population, so immigration became crucial to them, but Arabs so it as threat to Palestinian state.

Question 10

Who was the first governor of Palestine (From Britain)?

Answer 10

Sir Herbert Samuel, a Jew and Zionist supporter

Question 11

What were British officials in Palestine and in England like?

Answer 11

British officials in Palestine more pro-Arab in their sympathies
Officials in England more pro-Jewish.

Question 12

What happened in 1929?

Answer 12

a major conflict over Jewish access to the Western Wall.

Question 13

What was the Western Wall?

Answer 13

the wall joined Al Aqsa Masque, one of the most sacred Islamic sites.

Question 14

What happened at the riot of 1929 over the Western Wall?

Answer 14

over 130 Jews killed in struggle to gain access to wall and 116 Arabs killed, almost all by British soldiers trying to stop violence.

Question 15

What was the British admin’s response to the 1929 riot?

Answer 15

blamed Arabs for starting riots but considered they were provoked by way in which Jews acquired Arab land and evicted the Arabs working on it.

British admin in Palestine planned to restrict jewish immigration but British gov overthrew this.

Question 16

What was the reason, main point and result of the Passfield White Paper, 1931?

Answer 16

reason: response to 1929 riots
main points: went against Balfour Declaration, urging tighter controls on Jewish immigration and limit on land sales to jews
Result: after protest by Zionist supporters in England, paper rejected

Question 17

What effect did Hitler have?

Answer 17

When Hitler came into power in Germany, 1933, and Nazi persecution of Jews began, migration of jews to Israel increased. At same time, Western countries began to place limits on Jewish immigration.

Question 18

What were the Arabs concerned about due to Hitler? Response?

Answer 18

increase rate of immigration and fact the Jewish firms were being encourage to employ only Jewish labour, Palestinians Arabs proclaimed General Strike in April 1936 -> became violent, 200 Arabs and 80 Jews killed.

Question 19

What was the Peel Commission?

Answer 19

Inquiry into the 1936 General Strike conflict made in 1937.

Question 20

Peel Commission: reason, main point and result?

Answer 20

reason: Response to 1936 general strike

main point: Impossible for Arab and Jews to live together in unified Palestine. Proposed partition into a Jewish state and Arab state, with Jerusalem and strip of land joining it to Mediterranean Sea remained in British control.

Result: Jews accept, Arabs reject. Only led to increased violence by Arabs in turn to Jewish retaliation. Thousands killed between 1936-1939 (Partitioned abandoned in 1939)

Question 21

What did the Jewish ppl do to protect themselves?

Answer 21

Jewish settlers created own defence force -Hagnah. Jewish militant organisation called Irgun also formed at time.

Question 22

What did Britain do in worry of Nazi germany threat?

Answer 22

Moved closer towards Palestinian Arabs for support in Middle East. = leading to formation of White Paper 1939.

Question 23

What was the White Paper 1939?

Answer 23

British gov policy statement, Arabs promised form of independence within 10 years and Jewish immigration was to be restricted for 5 years and then cease.

Question 24

What was response to White Paper 1939?

Answer 24

Jewish furious at betrayal of Balfour Declaration. Their leader, Ben-Gurion, expressed Jewish policy in phrase, “We shall fight the war as if there is not White Paper, and we shall fight the White Paper as if there was no war”.