Should the British Government be blamed for its handling of the Mandate in Palestine?

Yes, the British government should be blamed

2. The Mandate was flawed 

Under the terms of the Mandate the British were required, not only to assist in the creation of the Jewish National Home, but also to prepare the people of Palestine for self-government by establishing a democratically-elected legislative assembly. Such a body with genuine representation and powers to determine events was not established during British rule in Palestine. The British feared that such a body might hinder the development of the Jewish National Home; thus ceding priority to the aims of Zionism. 

The British had found themselves legally committed to this Palestine policy because they had allowed leading Zionists such as Chaim Weizmann to participate in the drafting of the Mandate text. Once this document was ratified by the League of Nations its terms became Britain's international obligation. 

Under the British therefore, Palestine was less democratic than it had been under Ottoman rule. 

Comment by John Martin, Assistant Under-Secretary at Colonial Office from personal correspondence with Sir Henry Gurney, Chief Secretary in Jerusalem, January 1947 

‘On the strength of our word the Jews have come to Palestine and established their national home there: it would surely be one of the greatest betrayals in history to abandon them now to their fate as a minority in an independent Arab state. Nor is it to be expected that the Jews, whose strength is already one third in population and predominant in wealth, will ever agree to subordinate their progressive modern “European” community to the domination of a relatively backward Arab majority whom (in some respects justly) they despise.’  

The national Archives CO967/102 

 Extract from The Alexandria Protocol; October 7, 1944 

'Special Resolution Concerning Palestine 

The Committee is of the opinion that Palestine constitutes an important part of the Arab World and that the rights of the Arabs in Palestine cannot be touched without prejudice to peace and stability in the Arab World. 

The Committee also is of the opinion that the pledges binding the British Government and providing for the cessation of Jewish immigration, the preservation of Arab lands, and the achievement of independence for Palestine are permanent Arab rights whose prompt implementation would constitute a step toward the desired goal and toward the stabilization of peace and security. 

The Committee declares its support of the cause of the Arabs of Palestine and its willingness to work for the achievement of their legitimate aims and the safeguarding of their Just rights. 

The Committee also declares that it is second to none in regretting the woes which have been inflicted upon the Jews of Europe by European dictatorial states. But the question of these Jews should not be confused with Zionism, for there can be no greater injustice and aggression than solving the problem of the Jews of Europe by another injustice, i.e., by inflicting injustice on the Arabs of Palestine of various religions and denominations.' 

Notes: 

The Alexandria Protocol is an agreement signed by delegates from Eygpt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq in 1944 that proposes the formation of a League of Arab States, which was formed in the following year. 

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/alex.asp#1

Extracts from the Mandate for Palestine 

'The Council of the League of Nations: 

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have agreed, for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, to entrust to a Mandatory selected by the said Powers the administration of the territory of Palestine, which formerly belonged to the Turkish Empire, within such boundaries as may be fixed by them; and 

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might 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 country; and 

Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country; and 

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have selected His Britannic Majesty as the Mandatory for Palestine; and 

Whereas the mandate in respect of Palestine has been formulated in the following terms and submitted to the Council of the League for approval; and 

Whereas His Britannic Majesty has accepted the mandate in respect of Palestine and undertaken to exercise it on behalf of the League of Nations in conformity with the following provisions; and 

Whereas by the afore-mentioned Article 22 (paragraph 8), it is provided that the degree of authority, control or administration to be exercised by the Mandatory, not having been previously agreed upon by the Members of the League, shall be explicitly defined by the Council of the League Of Nations;....' 

'ART. 2. 

The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion....' 

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/palmanda.asp 

Extracts from Winston Churchill's evidence to the Peel Commission, from Serfdom or Ethnic Cleansing?: A British Discussion on Palestine - Churchill's Evidence to the Peel Commission (1937) Pamphlet – Athol Books 2003. Introduction by Angela Clifford. 

Churchill: In my opinion, all questions of self-government in Palestine are subordinate to the discharge of the Balfour Declaration – the idea of creating a National Home for the Jews and facing all the consequences which may ultimately in the slow passage of time result from that. That is the prime and dominating pledge upon which Britain must act. .. 

[Churchill quotes article 2 of the Mandate regarding the securing of the Jewish national Home and the development of self-governing institutions.] 

Peel: I am not bothering so much about the last few words as about the development of self -governing institutions. Do you consider these as two parallel duties? They would place it under such conditions and also be responsible for the development of self-governing institutions, because the argument of the Arabs is that they are prevented from having these because the Mandatory power says, 'No, if you have them, you will use them in order to diminish the obligation, as it were, and perhaps put the Jews out of the country'. A curious thing happens. I presume if the Jews get a majority , as soon as they have a majority you might establish self-governing institutions, because then it would not conflict with the establishment of a Jewish National Home. The Arabs say, 'That is a very odd self-government: it is only when the Jews are in the majority that we can have it?'... 

Churchill: Self government must yield to the obligations of the Mandate. You must not abandon the prime obligation of the Mandate for the sake of self-government... 

Notes: 

Winston Churchill was Secretary of State for the Colonies from February 1921 to October 1922. In March 1921 Churchill created the kingdom of Trans-Jordan out of territory to the east of the Jordan River adjacent to Palestine and placed Abdullah, son of Sherif Hussein, upon the throne under supervision of the Palestine Mandate. Churchill also made Abdullah's brother Feisal, King of Iraq, also under a British Mandate. 

In July 1922 Winston Churchill issued a White Paper that sought to calm the fears of the Arabs of Palestine over Britain's intentions in the country. In it he stated that Britain did not contemplate, ‘the disappearance or the subordination of the Arabic population, language or culture in Palestine.’ He declared that the Jews were in Palestine ‘as of right and not on sufferance’, and that Jewish immigration would be regulated by the number of jobs available in the country. 

The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Peel, appointed in 1936 to investigate the causes of unrest in Palestine. The Commission's report, published in July 1937, declared that the Mandate was unworkable and the country should be partitioned between Arabs and Jews. The British appointed the Woodhead Commission in 1938 to examine the Peel proposals, following the publication of their report the same year Britain abandoned the idea of partition as impracticable. 

Gendarmerie –. 

Peel – William Robert Wellesley Peel, Chairman of the Peel Commission 

Rumbold – Sir Horace George Montague Rumbold, Deputy Chairman to the Peel Commission

Elections in Palestine for the Ottoman parliament 1912 

‘"What do you promise us?' I am sure you, dear voter, are thinking of this: 'What do you promise us the people of Palestine and the residents of the province of Jerusalem?'"....Let me inform you, O brother, that your homeland Palestine is part of great lands claimed by the Ottoman Empire, and as long as the existence of this empire is preserved, if you send me as a deputy on your behalf its stability and its prestige and the preservation of its possessions will be the first order of importance for me….I will entreat the rest of my colleagues in the parliament in the name of religion, honor and patriotism to be as one mass uniting this Ottoman Empire either – God forbid – to disappear all together or – God willing – to perpetuate its existence forever and ever.’ 

Extract from the election leaflet of Sa’id Abu Khadra’, from Gaza, standing for election to the Ottoman parliament, 1912. Quoted in 'Ottoman Brothers. Muslims, Christians and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine,' by Michelle U. Campos, Stanford University Press, 2011. P.239 

Extract from 'The Palestine Mandate' article by Sir John Hope Simpson, published in The Fortnightly' magazine December 1944. 

'It is difficult-indeed impossible-to reconcile the provisions of this Mandate with those contained in the Covenant of the League of Nations, under which it purported to be issued, which laid down that the well-being and development of the inhabitants of Palestine at the time of its occupation form a sacred trust for civilization, and that they could be provisionally recognized as an independent nation, subject to the tendering of advice and assistance by the Mandatory. It is on these grounds, among others, that the Arab population has, from the earliest days of the Mandate, claimed that the Mandate is devoid of authority. They feel that Great Britain is exercising a Mandate, not on behalf of the population of Palestine, but on behalf of a foreign power-the Zionist organization of the world. They have seen that power pouring Jewish immigrants into Palestine by the tens of thousands, purchasing very large areas of land hitherto held by Arabs, holding it under conditions which preclude pre-sale, and leasing it only to Jews, and even to them on condition that none but a Jew may be employed on a land so leased. It is no matter for wonder that the Arab community of Palestine lives in a state of constant fear of the possible conditions of an unknown future.' 

'In view of the latest statement of policy by His Majesty's Government (the 1939 White Paper), the position and authority of the Jewish Agency in Palestine will not be required in the interest of the national home, now securely established. The existence of that authority has emphasized the apartness of the Jewish section of the Palestinian population in the past, and has also led to a suspicion on the part of the Arab population that the interests of the Jews were more forcefully represented than those of the Arabs for the consideration of the Palestine Government. The Royal Commission recorded its opinion that among the factors causing the outbreaks of violence on the part of the Arabs was the Arab belief that the Jews can always get their way by means denied to the Arabs....Based in general on the status of the Jewish Agency both in Jerusalem and in London, this belief was greatly strengthened by the publication of Mr. MacDonald's letter to Dr. Weizmann in 1931....(Cmd. of 1937.) 

Notes: 

Sir John Hope Simpson was a former Liberal MP and served the British Government and the League of Nations in various roles with a particular focus on humanitarian causes such as refugees. Following the 1929 riots in Palestine he was appointed by the British to lead a commission of inquiry to address the issues of immigration, land settlement and development that were identified as sources of conflict by the Shaw Commission. The Hope-Simpson Report of 1930 recommended limitations on Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine. 

LEAGUE OF NATIONS PERMANENT MANDATES COMMISSION 

MINUTES OF THE SEVENTEENTH (Extraordinary) SESSION held at Geneva from June 3rd to 21st, 1930. 

including the REPORT OF THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL and Comments by the Mandatory Power. 

M. RAPPARD (member of the Commission) called attention to the fact that the accredited representative (Dr Drummond Shiels, the representative for Britain as the Mandatory power), had on two occasions referred to a mandate received from the League of Nations. He would point out, however, that the League of Nations had, in fact, received the mandate from the mandatory Power. The League of Nations could not be held responsible for the terms of the mandate, which had been drafted by the mandatory Power and conveyed to the League... 

M. RAPPARD - Self-government by the Arabs must necessarily be based on a recognition by them of the obligation to establish the Jewish National Home. Until the Arabs recognised that obligation, Palestine must necessarily remain under the direct administration of the British Government... 

Dr. Drummond SHIELS agreed. The wishes of the Arabs as at present expressed could not be carried out within the terms of the mandate, and, unless the Arabs were prepared to agree to a modus vivendi which took the obligations of the British Government under the mandate into account, negotiations with a view of self-governing institutions must necessarily be futile... 

1000. RAPPARD - It was the duty of the mandatory Power to establish the National Jewish Home and to develop self-governing institutions so far as was compatible with such establishment. If the Arabs refused to consider the establishment of the National Home for the Jews, they definitely rejected the first provision of the mandate, and the Mandatory could not be censured for failing to apply the second part. The two parts could only be applied so far as they were compatible....
      
      The CHAIRMAN observed that, in considering the two parts of the mandate to which M. Rappard had referred, it was necessary to bear in mind the fundamental principle of all the mandates. The purpose of the mandates as described in Article 22 of the Covenant was the development and welfare of the inhabitants of the mandated territory. It was said that in this case the Mandatory must establish a National Home for the Jews, and set up self-governing institutions. Which of these obligations came first? In his view it was necessary to insist that the establishment of the National Home for the Jews must be made compatible with the introduction of autonomous institutions. That was the Arab view and it was consistent with the fundamental purpose of the mandate. 

M. RAPPARD insisted that it was necessary to find an interpretation of the two parts of the mandate which were mutually consistent and could be read as a logical whole. The Mandatory must set up self-governing institutions in so far as their establishment was compatible with the establishment of the National Home for the Jews. The Chairman had reversed this proposition. Such a reversal, however, was unjustified, because the Arabs, if they were accorded complete self-government, would obviously ignore the obligation to establish a National Home for the Jews....' 

https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/5F21F8A1CA578A57052566120067F658 

Notes: 

The Permanent Mandates Commission (PMC) was the commission of the League of Nations responsible for oversight of mandated territories. The commission was established on 1 December 1920 under Article 22 of the Covenant and was based at Geneva. The PMC  was staffed mainly by European experts in colonial administration under the leadership of the director, Swiss-American international lawyer William Rappard. 

The PMC worked hard to establish the principle of the mandates system, that although the territories were administered by a European power, their government had to conform to the terms of the mandate documents, and the mandatory powers had to give an account of their activities to the PMC.   

Extracts from the Report of the Shaw Commission 1930. 

'Although it does not fall within our province to offer an opinion as to the form of any future constitution for Palestine it is necessary for us to consider how far disappointment and resentment among the Arab population consequent upon their failure to obtain a measure of self-government may have been a cause which contributed to the outbreak in August last or is likely to be a cause of disturbance in the future. Recent constitutional developments in Iraq and Trans-Jordan have shown that, when their obligations permit the adoption of such a course, His Majesty's Government are willing to grant a wide measure of self-government to Arab peoples with whose welfare they have been charged. Those who wish for similar developments in Palestine have therefore grounds for the opinion that, were it not for the obligations cast upon His Majesty's Government by the policy contained in the Balfour Declaration, their hopes and expectations might to some extent have been realised.... 

The second line of argument is that, at a time when the self determination of small nations was a guiding principle in world politics, His Majesty's Government embarked in Palestine upon a policy which had the effect of taking away from the people of that country the right, acquired under the Ottoman Constitution of 1908, of being represented in the Government which controlled their destinies....Under  [the Ottoman Constitution] the people of the territory which is now Palestine elected six representatives to the Chamber of Deputies at Constantinople. There was also in existence in Palestine under the Ottoman regime a complicated system of local self-government.... founded throughout on an elective principle. The many organs of local government possessed such powers that [they]...were in a large measure autonomous;...even the peasant, provided that he paid so small a sum as ten shillings per annum in direct taxation, could feel that, through the exercise of his voting powers, he had a voice in the control of his village, and indirectly through the system of secondary elections, in the control of the affairs of the larger administrative units up to the Ottoman Empire itself. This position is contrasted with that obtaining to-day when self-government in Palestine is limited to municipal areas and even there is exercised under strict supervision.... 

To recapitulate, the Arab people of Palestine are to-day united in their demand for representative government. This unity of purpose may weaken but it is liable to be revived in full force by any large issues which involves racial interests. It is our belief that a feeling of resentment among the Arab people of Palestine consequent upon their disappointment at the continued failure to obtain any measure of self-government is greatly aggravating the difficulties of the local Administration, was a contributory cause to the recent outbreak and is a factor which cannot be ignored m the consideration of the steps to be taken to avoid such outbreaks in the future. ... 

https://buconflict.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/shaw-commission.pdf 

Notes: 

The Shaw Commission, led by Sir Walter Shaw, was  a British Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the 1929 Palestine riots and their origins. The Commission report was published in 1930. 

The Problem with the Mandate 

‘….the history of the Administration is the history of a failure to reconcile the conflicting obligations of the Mandate.’ Sydney Moody, former Deputy Chief Secretary to the Palestine administration, 1951. (Private collection.) 

‘No representative bodies that may be established will be permitted to interfere with measures (e.g. immigration etc) designed to give effect to the principle of a National Home or to challenge this principle.’ Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill to High Commissioner Herbert Samuel, 21 June 1921. Parliamentary Archives, L/PS/10/911. 

‘What we ask is that this elected body should be truly representative of the people’s wishes on all subjects connected to the country.’ Haj Tawfiq El Hammad, Palestinian Delegation to Winston Churchill, Colonial Secretary, London 22 August 1921 (Akram Zu’aiter Private Papers, IPS) 

'The setting up of a Legislative Council in Palestine under present numerical conditions, cannot but react detrimentally upon the evolution of the Jewish National Home.' Memorandum on the proposed establishment of a Legislative Council in Palestine submitted by The Executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, October 1934. PHM WG/PAL/29-51