ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transition moment between the Ottoman and British regimes as complex, ambivalent, and full of internal contradictions. The transition of the Jews from a status of a religious community, millet, in Ottoman times, into a status of a potential national community in Palestine, was for the Arab population an inconceivable transition and had long lasting effects. The British government and military officials were aware of the symbolic nature of Jerusalem and its religious importance and sensitivity. They were also aware of the sensitive nature which a British, Christian occupation of Muslim territory holds. The British advance to Jerusalem began on the night of December 7, 1917, after 40 days of heavy fighting over Beer-Sheva, Gaza and Jaffa. The proclamation that General Edmond Allenby read when he entered Jerusalem announced both the martial law under which Jerusalem was ruled and the keeping of the status quo of the Ottoman rule.
