Roger Makin, advisor to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden: “I would view with dismay the possibility that Egypt, Iraq, turkey and Persia would work against us which they will do if we continue to allow Jewish immigration into Palestine on the present scale. The alienation of the Muslim countries might be total.” Source: Sir Martin Gilbert: […]
“The announcement contained in the Royal (Peel) Commission July last that His Majesty’s Government proposed to limit Jewish immigration in all categories to a total of 8,000 persons for an eight months’ period ― August 1937 to March 1938 ― was the subject of considerable discussion at the session of the Permanent Mandates Commission held […]
Sir George Rendal advisor to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden “We must reassure the Arabs that whey will no longer be in danger of becoming a minority in their own country or of finding practically its only fertile portions taken over from them and handed over in full sovereignty to alien immigrants.” Source: Sir Martin Gilbert: […]
The Peel Commission “In so far as immigration has been the major factor in bringing the Jewish national home to its present stage of development, THE MANDATORY HAS FULLY IMPLEMENTED HIS OBLIGATION TO FACILITATE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN PALESTINE, as is evidence by the existence of a Jewish […]
The Royal (Peel) Commission here characterize the Palestine government’s policy as having “from first to last been conciliatory (e.g. To the Arabs),” and that: “If one thing stands out clear from the record of the Mandatory administration, it is the leniency with which Arab political agitation, even when carried to the point of violence and […]
“There could be no doubt as to what the Cabinet then had in their minds. It was not their idea that a Jewish state should be set up immediately by the peace treaty without reference to the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants. On the other hand, it was contemplated that when the time […]
“Jewish Heads Join in Palestine Plea Protest on Bars to Entry is laid before Wauchope by delegation of all groups. Settlers’ decree urged. High commissioner in Reply Says Conditions Now Make Restrictions Necessary. The deputation protested to Sir Arthur Wauchope on the alleged severity of measures taken against Jewish settlers who were in the country […]
January 30, 2016 India, Islam, and Oil The Partition of Ireland and the Middle East This anecdote sums up much of what was already wrong about the Middle East at the time. It was about to become worse, however, as a result of Britain’s machinations in 1916. In the infamous Sykes-Picot agreement, Britain carved up […]
“The eventual result was the Iraq establishment of the Hashemite kingdom of Iraq with three very different constituencies, divided by language, ethnic origins, and religion. In effect, the British stitched together three sections of the Ottoman Empire, the only commonality among them being the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The southern provinces, largely consisting of Shi’a […]
Secretary of State for the Colonies, Winston Churchill to British Prime Minister David Lloyd George “We consider it necessary immediately to occupy militarily Transjordania… as we cannot contemplate hostilities with Abdullah in any circumstances, there is no alternative to this policy. We must therefore proceed in co-operation and accord with him… Abdullah with best will […]