December 8-9 1917 British Rule of Palestine Begins

British rule in Palestine formally began on the night of December 8, Turkish troops and officials, including the Governor, Izzet Bey, evacuated the city. At dawn on December 9, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Hussein Effendi al-Husseini, set out on foot to surrender the city, accompanied by a crowd of spectators and two gendarmes carrying white flags hastily manufactured out of sheets from an American mission hospital.