Palestine Flashcards
Why did the British want control in the Middle East? (3)
Main overland route to India/the Asian Empire
Close to Suez Canal
Oil (esp. in Iraq)
Sykes-Picot Agreement
1915
Secret agreement between the French and British to divide the Middle East between them
McMahon Letter
Also known as McMahon-Hussein Correspondence
October 1915
Promised Arabs a united Arab country, covering most of the Middle East if they helped Britain defeat the Ottoman Empire
Who wrote the McMahon letter?
Written by Sir Henry McMahon, High Commissioner of Egypt
Who received the McMahon letter?
Hussein bin Ali, the Sheriff of Mecca
De facto political leader in Palestine
Balfour Declaration
1917
Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour declared his support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine
Growing percentage of Jews in Palestine
1918 - 6.8% of Palestine
1931 - 18%
Civil government set up under High Commissioner Herbert Samuel
1920
Attempted to bring Arabs and Jews into elected bodies who could influence government policy but they were unable to cooperate
Violent clashes between Arabs and Jews began
April 1919
Haganah formed
1920
Jewish underground militia
Enquiries recommended that Jewish land acquisition should be curbed
1929 and 1931
Jewish National Fund
Helped many Jews buy land in Palestine which caused poor Arab farmers to lose their land
Arab uprising
August 1929
Provoked violent Jewish retaliation
Passfield White Paper
1930
Restricted Jewish administration and the sale of Palestinian land to Jews
Appeared to repudiate the Balfour Declaration in an attempt to placate the Arabs
Hitler became German Chancellor
March 1933
Increasing Jewish emigration to Palestine
Massive Arab Revolt
1936
British sent 20,000 troops to Palestine to deal with it
Burned villages and detained thousands of suspects
Peel report
1937
Recommended that Palestine should be partitioned
British policy of repression
1937-39
Over 100 Arab terrorists were executed
British attempt to end the violence before WWII
1939
Called for a Palestinian state in which Jews would have the right to a national homeland
Palestine would be declared independent in 10 years
Jewish immigration was restricted to 15,000 people per year for the next 5 years
Stern Gang
Militant Zionist terrorist organisation formed in 1940
