ABSTRACT
Initially, the Italians and Germans followed different policies in the Middle East and North Africa. Mussolini used the Italian colony in Libya and Italian ex-pat organizations, schools, and youth movements to foster support for Italy, and supported Arab nationalists against the British, and the Mufti of Jerusalem against the Zionists in Palestine. Despite recommendations to support Arab nationalism from diplomats and agents who had served German interests during World War I, Hitler had little interest in the Middle East and was reluctant to alienate Britain. By the mid-1930s, however, there were Nazi Party cells throughout the region, including Palestine, and the leader of Hitler Youth paid a propaganda visit to the Middle East. The Arab Revolt in Palestine, which began in 1936, ended by 1939 with the issuance of the British White Paper that severely limited Jewish immigration to Palestine.
