By 1920 the British Military Occupation gave way to civil rule by the British. The League of Nations had just created Mandatory Palestine as a homeland for the Jews & the Jews alone. The British were assigned by the League to serve as Trustees of the territory on its path to sovereign statehood. Certainly Jews in Jerusalem were confident that they would finally be able to worship as they saw fit. Though the Jews of HaYishuv, pre-Statehood Israel, had no way of knowing but the British were trying to swindle both them & the League of Nations itself.
While ajudicating the Ottoman Empire's Middle Eastern holdings the League of Nations created 3 Class A Territories. By the League's own definition a Class A Territory was an ethnic homeland on the verge of sovereign indepedence. The other 2 Class A Territories- Mandatory Syria (including Lebanon), and Mandatory Mesopotamia were to serve as Arab Homelands. As noted, the third, Mandatory Palestine, was designed to serve as a Jewish Homeland. The Jews of Syria & Mesopotamia would be Transferred to Mandatory Palestine. The Arabs in Mandatory Palestine would be split between Syria & Mesopotamia in a second Transfer.
The League of Nations felt that to ensure each nascent state's best chances for sucess, a sovereign state should serve as a mentor within the franework of a Trusteeship. France was made Trustee of Mandatory Syria. Inexplicably Great Britain was made Trustee of the other 2 Class A Territories, Mandatory Mesopotamia & Mandatory Palestine. The British almost immediately began sabotaging both of its Trusteeships, and far worse, illegaly connived to undo the League's directives.
During WWI Great Britain desperately wantef to win Arab support for a rear quarter action within the Arabian Peninsula. A series of correspondance took place between the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) HQ in Cairo, & the Shariff of al Hijaz in Mecca. This correspondance is generally referred to as the "McMahon Hussein Correspondence." An exchange of letters between July of 1915 & March of 1916 resulted in the Shariff agreeing to launch a rear guard action against the Ottoman & German Militaries.
The title "Shariff" (Noble) was a position created by the Ottomans to try and rule al Hijaz through a well-compliant proxy. There were in fact analogous positions dating back centuries before the rise of the Ottomans in the early-16th Century CE. The Ottoman Shariff was always a member of the Banu Hashim Clan, a subset of the Qureish Tribe, the tribe of Muhammad. The clan is known as the "Hashemites" in English.The Shariff when WWI broke out was Hussein bin 'Ali Pasha al Hashimi. The British had promised him almost the entire Middle East in exchange for his sponsorship of the aforementioned rear guard action.
Having chosen the winning side the Shariff expected the British to keep their end of the deal. The British rarely if ever did so. They had promised parts of the Middle East to France, the Jews as well as to various Arab parties other than the Shariff. In the end the British opted to go with the Shariff, albeit without the entire promised territory, They circumvented the League of Nations in creating the "Kingdom of Hejaz," [sic], installing the Shariff as its King. They then abrogated their Trusteeship with Mandatory Mesopotamia. The Shariff's son Faisal had been made King of Syria by pan Syrian supporters. Never mind that Faisal was not Syrian and had no connections to the Levant. That he was from a noble family, a descendent of Muhammad was enough for most Arabs in what had been Ottoman Syria. Faisal's "reigm" was short lived. The French would not play ball and so Faisal was soon convinced by the British to abdicate. In return he was made King of Irak" [sic] and so Mandatory Mesopotamia was abrogated.
The British were far from finished. Faisal, now King Faisal I of Irak [sic], had a brother named 'Abdullah. He too became a pawn in Great Britain's nefariious plot to corner the world petrol market. The British quasi-legally severed 77% of Mandatory Palestine, all land east of the Jordan River. They called it the "Emirate of Jordan" and installed King Faisal I's aforementioned brother 'Abdullah (now known as 'Abdullah I). Initially his title was "Emir of Jordan" (later becoming King).
The British now had a contigious territory that stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east, all the way west to the Jordan River. The envisioned Population Exchange of Jews & Arabs was now thoroughly sabotaged. Moreover, the British continued trying to abrogate its Trusteeship of Mandatory Palestine until 1946. It would continue trying to wrest territory from the State of Israel into the early-1960s. Iromically it was the Soviets who changed Britain's mind on the wisdom of its territorial designs in the Middle East. Britain desired most of the Negev, a region comprising 60% of Israel within the Greenline. Great Britain on a parallel footing aimed to create a British-controlled corridor stretching from Jerusalem to Hafia, with uts deep water harbor on the coast. This would then give them territory frpm the Iranian border in the east, all the way to Egypt in the west. Put a bit diffirently, they would control the Middle East from sea to sea.
The rationale driving Great Britain? As noted earlier, it was a stab at controlling the lionsshare of the region's vast deposits of petrol. In the Mandatory Era Britain had built a pipeline from the Persian Gulf across to the Mediterrenaean Sea. Israeli indepedence prevented continued access by Britain.
In 1920 as Britain's Military Occupation ended, and with it OETA-East, the "Occupied Enemy Territorial Administration - East" became Mandatory Palestine, Jews naturallt imagined that they would fare better under Europeans, that finally they would be allowed to worship freely. The Trusteeship's bias in favor of Arabs was soon apparent.
The British were far from finished. Faisal, now King Faisal I of Irak [sic], had a brother named 'Abdullah. He too became a pawn in Great Britain's nefariious plot to corner the world petrol market. The British quasi-legally severed 77% of Mandatory Palestine, all land east of the Jordan River. They called it the "Emirate of Jordan" and installed King Faisal I's aforementioned brother 'Abdullah (now known as 'Abdullah I). Initially his title was "Emir of Jordan" (later becoming King).
The British now had a contigious territory that stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east, all the way west to the Jordan River. The envisioned Population Exchange of Jews & Arabs was now thoroughly sabotaged. Moreover, the British continued trying to abrogate its Trusteeship of Mandatory Palestine until 1946. It would continue trying to wrest territory from the State of Israel into the early-1960s. Iromically it was the Soviets who changed Britain's mind on the wisdom of its territorial designs in the Middle East. Britain desired most of the Negev, a region comprising 60% of Israel within the Greenline. Great Britain on a parallel footing aimed to create a British-controlled corridor stretching from Jerusalem to Hafia, with uts deep water harbor on the coast. This would then give them territory frpm the Iranian border in the east, all the way to Egypt in the west. Put a bit diffirently, they would control the Middle East from sea to sea.
The rationale driving Great Britain? As noted earlier, it was a stab at controlling the lionsshare of the region's vast deposits of petrol. In the Mandatory Era Britain had built a pipeline from the Persian Gulf across to the Mediterrenaean Sea. Israeli indepedence prevented continued access by Britain.
In 1920 as Britain's Military Occupation ended, and with it OETA-East, the "Occupied Enemy Territorial Administration - East" became Mandatory Palestine, Jews naturallt imagined that they would fare better under Europeans, that finally they would be allowed to worship freely. The Trusteeship's bias in favor of Arabs was soon apparent.
