Mandate The Palestine Crucible, 1919-1939

by Turnberg, Leslie

• ISBN13: 9781912676675
• ISBN10: 1912676672
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2021-05-12
• Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell

Summary

The twenty years between the World Wars saw remarkable changes in the Middle East. In Palestine, Britain struggled to maintain its Mandatory Authority as Arabs and Jews fought not only each other but the British Government too. Failing to satisfy either side Britain was stuck in the middle, and separating the warring parties was a distraction they hardly needed. Here Turnberg explores why the British Government maintained its responsibilities under the Mandate at a time when they were suffering severe economic and social problems at home, and the threat of war with Germany. How was it possible for the Zionists’ dream of a homeland in Palestine to survive when they were faced by a Government regretting its commitments, exasperated by both Jewish demands and placating the Palestinian Arabs. The Jews were outnumbered ten to one by the Arabs, but they persisted and, as described here, survived. Events in the first twenty years of the Mandate turned out to be as important to the survival of the Jewish homeland as both the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the international revulsion at the horrors of the holocaust for the creation of the State of Israel.

Author Biography

Lord Turnberg, after a career in medicine in which he was successively Professor of Medicine in Manchester, a Dean of its Medical School, President of the Royal College of Physicians and now a member of the House of Lords, turned his attentions to the history of Israel and the Middle East. His first book, on the 100 years quest for Israeli-Palestinian peace, was published in 2017. This is his second, more detailed, analysis of the Mandate years. He lives in London with his wife Edna.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 
List of Illustrations 
Maps 
Introduction 
PART ONE
1. Three Conflicting Legacies 
2. Peace Conference, Paris, 1919 
3. The Zionists’ Case 
4. Faisal in Paris: The Arab Case 
5. Two Conflicting Commissions 
6. San Remo and Geneva: Mandate Established, 1922 
7. Riots and Other Disasters, 1920-1925 
8. Palestinian and Parliamentary Opposition, 1922
9. Herbert Samuel Takes Over, 1920-1925
10. Churchill’s Lines in the Sand: The Cairo Conference, 1921 
11. Rutenberg Electrifies Palestine 
12. Husseini and Jabotinsky: Deadly Enemies and Extreme Driving Forces 
13. Gathering Clouds: 1925-1929 
14. Commissions of Inquiry 
15. A ‘White’ Paper and a ‘Black’ Letter 
PART TWO
16. The Difficult Thirties 
17. Peace Movements and Frustrating Minority Sports 
18. Growing Instability 
19. Peel and Partition 
20. Woodhead Report, London Conference and a ‘White Paper’
21. Coda
Bibliography
Index