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Thursday, September 17, 2020

When the British Empire Won the 30 Year of Rule Mandate Over Palestine

Nadene Goldfoot                                             
Britain's Royal Family:  1920
King George V
At the height of Empirical power 


When the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed in 1707 by the union of the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, the latter country's colonial possessions passed to the new state. Similarly, when Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland in 1801 to form the United Kingdom, control over its colonial possessions passed to the latter state. Collectively, these territories are referred to as the British Empire. Upon much of Ireland gaining independence in 1922 as the Irish Free State, the other territories of the Empire remained under the control of the United Kingdom.                   
  The 13 original colonies in America were under the British Empire.  They received their independence on July 4, 1776 after a bloody battle to gain it.  The last major battle of the American Revolutionary War was fought in 1781.  The British government recognized independence in 1783.
                                                   

                  Britain held the mandate over Palestine
           The map above is so small it really doesn't show Palestine.

At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered 35,500,000 km2 (13,700,000 sq mi), 24% of the Earth's total land area.  1920 - A flu epidemic raged around the world killing more than 20 million people.

After the San Remo Conference in Italy, April 1920,  Britain appointed Sir Herbert Samuel as their high commissioner, maybe because he was Jewish.  He bent over backwards to be fair and just to the Arab population .  The irony of this fact is that he appointed Haj Amin al-Husayni  as the mufti of Jerusalem. He became the fledgling state's worst enemy.  He undid everything that Emir Feisal tried to do for the Jews.  With all his fighting against the Jews, Feisal turned against them as well in the end.  Haj Amin was a big fish in a little pond and didn't want to lose what power he held over Jerusalem at that time.  
                                                   
Hitler and the Grand Mufti, Haj Amin
    
 Haj Amin claimed descent from the Prophet, was educated in Azhar, and fought on the Turkish/German losing side during the war.  As mufti, he was in charge of the religious endowments, which added up to about $300,000 a year in 1920.  The British put a price on his head during World War II when he broadcast anti-Ally and anti-Zionist speeches from Berlin. 
The British army captured Jerusalem from the Turks in December 1917 and continued their Palestine campaign for another year until the capture of Damascus. Meanwhile, the Jewish Legion, consisting of Jewish volunteers, sat in Cairo chafing at the bit to join the fight in Palestine. They finally joined Allenby's forces in June 1918 and fought against the Turks in the Jordan River Valley.                                                                          
Jewish soldiers of the British army celebrating Passover in Jerusalem in 1919. (Harvard Library/Central Zionist Archives) The photo is signed by Ya'akov Ben-Dov who moved to Palestine in 1907 from Kiev. He was drafted into the Ottoman army during World War I and served as a photographer in Jerusalem. Ben-Dov filmed Allenby's entry into Jerusalem in 1917

During World War I, Jewish volunteers from Eretz Yisrael joined the British Army and a Jewish Brigade Group fought against the Germans in Europe.  As the war drew to a close, it became evident that British policy continued to oppose the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine and the large-scale immigration of Jewish refugees.  The Jewish battalions of the Jewish Legion were manned by volunteers from Palestine, Europe, the United States and Canada. Soldiers stirred by the call to action by Zionist leaders Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor. Colonel John Henry Patterson, the unit's first commanding officer, described the Legion:"The Jewish Legion was the name for five battalions of Jewish volunteers established as the British Army's 38th through 42nd (Service) Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers. The initial unit, known as the Zion Mule Corps, was formed in 1914-1915 during World War I, when Britain was at war against the Ottoman Turks, as Zionists around the world saw an opportunity to promote the idea of a Jewish National Homeland."

It seems to me that England was a country that disliked Jews more than any other group, as they kept Jews out of England from 1290 to 1655,  a total of 365 years .  Jews had been expulsed.  Then the Brits were awarded the mandate to handle Palestine. Really; they knew nothing about Jews or their history except what they read in their Episcopalian bibles.    Jewish numbers had never exceeded 5,000 at that after they were allowed in their country.  
                                             
Some men of Hagana
    
The Jewish community entered into a direct struggle against the British power.  There were 2 principal objectives to that struggle to force the British to abandon the Mandate, and to enable Jewish refugees to reach  Eretz Yisrael.  The principal resistance organization was the Hagana, which followed the instructions of the official bodies of the Yishuv.  2 other underground bodies, IZI, and Lehi, acted independently.  By 1947, Britain decided to turn the problem over to the United Nations.  My 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot,  was a member of Lohame Herut Yisrael (Lehi) Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, before it became a state in May 1948. He was their chief of Intelligence. He had graduated high school in South Africa, then made aliyah to Palestine.  I met him in 1980-81 in Jerusalem at the King David Hotel for our first get-together.    

The United Nations decision was accepted by the Jews;  but rejected by the Arab Governments and by Palestinian Arab leaders.  The 6 months until the termination of the British Mandate were marked by Arab violence against the Jewish communities.  The Arabs interrupted communications between Jewish towns and villages and above all, worked to isolate and conquer Jerusalem. 

 Before the entry of the regular Arab armies of Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Iraq, a Saudi -Arabian contingent and Egypt  into Eretz Yisrael in May 1948,not a single Jewish town or village was captured.  The British authorities aided the Arabs by handing them over to them military bases and equipment.  Throughout the last years, they had allowed Arabs to enter the land but kept Jews out, and these were years around 1939 when Germany was becoming violent towards their Jews.  What could have been a refuge was kept from them.  
                                         
Hagana fighters 
 
British officers led the Transjordan Arab Legion.  The main effort of the Hagana was to maintain a corridor to Jerusalem and beat back the Arab assaults on the new western city.  In these conditions, Britain withdrew its last forces from Palestine on 15 May 1948.  This ended the spell of more than 1800 years during which Eretz Yisrael (Judah and Israel) had been governed by aliens.  

Other countries listed under the British Empire are listed as Colonies, Protectorates and Mandated land.  With Palestine, they held the mandate for 30 years. Independence was declared after the League of Nations mandate ended, and reaffirmed by a UN resolution to divide Mandatory Palestine to a Jewish and an Arab states.  Israel declared themselves a state on May 14, 1948, right after the Brits pulled out.  

 This was presented to both the Jews and the Arabs.  Though it was not what was promised, the Jews felt they had little choice but to accept the offer.  The Arabs turned it down and did so continually for all these years.  They have been holding out to be given the whole of Palestine minus Jordan.  This was decided as late at after the 1967 War which was started by the Arabs, but finished by Israel who won against all odds. 
                                                    

The Arabs again reaffirmed their decision at the Kartoum Conference in Africa after the war with their 3 famous NOs.   The Jews had no other choices but to win the 1967 War.  .  They had nowhere to go but to the Sea which the Arabs wanted and threatened.  They have sworn never to be in such a position as the Holocaust had put them again.  They've turned into Warriors that Moses would be proud of.   When the British Mandate's time was up, Israel declared themselves as the state of Israel. 

True Egyptian independence only came in 1952; during the 1922–1952 period, the Egyptian rulers were forced by the UK to defer to British "advisers" in Cairo and the UK truly controlled Egypt's foreign policy and defense and at will;   stationed British troops on Egyptian territory.  
 Belize/British Honduras is another example.  Australia, Canada, and Ireland are still under the British Empire.  Newfoundland, South Africa, and New Zealand are under one category.  The countries that have been under the British Empire are just too numerous to list here.  India, Iraq, Ireland and Israel are those starting with the letter . 
                                                                               
British Empire: 1801 to Present
The British Empire expanded to include most of India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world.  A total of 65 countries have claimed their independence from the British Empire.  Palestine was one, and so was India.  These are the ones most well known.  Most formerly ruled or administered by the United Kingdom or part of the British Empire didn't gain their independence on a single date, so the latest day of their independence is known the best. 

 For a little 3 island nation, this amounts to a lot of land under their thumb at one time or another.  Being they are surrounded by water navigation came in handy to take other nations.  Northern Ireland, Scotland and Hong Kong are listed as countries. 

 In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. It was never put forward to the people of the territory to decide in the form of a referendum, and neither was it ever agreed by an elected legislature. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997.

In the 1973 Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum, voters in Northern Ireland were asked to decide if they wanted to remain in the United Kingdom or to leave and join with the Republic of Ireland. They voted in favour of the United Kingdom by 98.9% to 1.1%, although Irish Nationalists boycotted the vote.

Quebec, which is the French part of Canada, voted against independence from Canada in two referendums in 1980 and 1995.
                                                       
Queen Elizabeth II b: April 21, 1926
Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.
 ie:  Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Christopher and Nevis, and Tuvalu.  

  •  Countries remaining under British rule are:   14 global territories which remain under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom.  Many of the former territories of the British Empire are members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Fifteen of these (known, with the United Kingdom, as the 16 Commonwealth realms) retain the British monarch (currently Queen Elizabeth II) as Head of State. The British monarch is also Head of the Commonwealth, but this is a purely symbolic and personal title; members of the Commonwealth (including the Commonwealth realms) are fully sovereign states.  Queen Elizabeth II became Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. Since then, she has toured the Commonwealth of Nations widely. She has visited all member states except Cameroon and Rwanda.[1][2][3] Her first foreign tour was before her accession when she accompanied her parents to the countries of Southern Africa in 1947.
                            smallest group listed of visits by Queen
DateCountryHost
28 June – 6 July 2010[4] CanadaGovernor General Jean
19–29 October 2011[4] Australia (for 22nd CHOGM[4]Governor-General Bryce
26–28 November 2015[9] Malta (for 24th CHOGM)President Coleiro Preca

                                                                          
 I would say that they had more clout of being caretakers of land than any other country in the world or any other empire.  
                                                                           

Timing. Independence Day is designated to be on the 5th day of Iyar (ה' באייר) in the Hebrew calendar, the anniversary of the day on which Israeli independence was proclaimed, when David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of Independence. The corresponding Gregorian date was 14 May 1948.



Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_gained_independence_from_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#:~:text=At%20its%20height%2C%20it%20was,the%20Earth's%20total%20land%20area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_British_Empire
Facts About Israel: Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Commonwealth_visits_made_by_Elizabeth_II
https://www.royal.uk/commonwealth-and-overseas

1 comment:

  1. Victor Sharpe just wrote a comment and it disappeared on him. He pressed publish and what happened to it? I'm testing.

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