ABSTRACT

The British Mandate over Palestine began just 100 years ago, in July 1920, when Sir Herbert Samuel, the first British High Commissioner to Palestine, took his seat at Government House, Jerusalem. The chapters here analyse a wide cross-section of the conflicting issues --social, political and strategical--that attended British colonial rule over the country, from 1920 to 1948.  

This anthology contains contributions by several of the most respected Israeli scholars in the field – Arab, Druze and Jewish. It is divided into three sections, covering the differing perspectives of the main ‘actors’ in the ‘Palestine Triangle’: the British, the Arabs and the Zionists. The concluding chapter identifies a pattern of seven counterproductive negotiating behaviours that explain the repeated failure of the parties to agree upon any of the proposals for an Arab-Zionist peace in Mandated Palestine. 

The volume is a modern review of the British Mandate in Palestine from different perspectives, which makes it a valuable addition to the field. It is a key resource for students and scholars interested in international relations, history of the Middle East, Palestine and Israel.

chapter |10 pages

Editor’s introduction

part I|51 pages

British perspectives

chapter 1|16 pages

Colonial intrigue in the Middle East

The Faysal – [Lawrence] – Weizmann Agreement, January 1919*

chapter 3|17 pages

Churchill and Bevin

Thesis and anti-thesis?

part II|92 pages

Arab perspectives

chapter 7|17 pages

Difference, not fragmentation

Christians and Druze in Mandatory Palestine

chapter 8|19 pages

A troubled bond

The Palestinian-Arab national movement and the Arab states

part III|112 pages

Zionist perspectives

chapter 9|15 pages

Zionism as a blessing to the Arabs

History of an argument

chapter 10|17 pages

Jewish immigration

The base of the Palestine triangle

chapter 11|16 pages

Zionist land acquisition

A core element in establishing Israel

chapter 13|14 pages

Is Zionism colonialism?

chapter 14|17 pages

Chaim Weizmann

From the Balfour Declaration to the establishment of the state of Israel.

part IV|18 pages

Conclusion

chapter 16|16 pages

Arab-Zionist negotiations during the Mandate

An unbridgeable divide