In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration for military and strategic reasons. This book analyses why and how the British took on the Palestine Mandate. It explores how their interests and policies changed during its course and why they evacuated the country in 1948. During the first decade of the Mandate the British enjoyed an influx of Jewish capital mobilized by the Zionists which enabled them not only to fund the administration of Palestine, but also her own regional imperial projects. But in the mid-1930s, as the clouds of World War Two gathered, Britain’s commitment to Zionism was superseded by the need to secure her strategic assets in the Middle East. In consequence she switched to a policy of appeasing the Arabs. In 1947, Britain abandoned her attempts to impose a settlement in Palestine that would be acceptable to the Arab States and referred Palestine to the United Nations, without recommendations, leaving the antagonists to settle their conflict on the battlefield. Based on archival sources, and the most up-to-date scholarly research, this comprehensive history offers new insights into Arab, British and Zionist policies. It is a must-read for anyone with an interest in Palestine, Israel, British Colonialism and the Middle East in general.

In 1917, the British issued the Balfour Declaration for military and strategic reasons. This book analyses why and how the British took on the Palestine Mandate. It explores how their interests and policies changed during its course and why they evacuated the country in 1948. During the first decade of the Mandate the British enjoyed an influx of Jewish capital mobilized by the Zionists which enabled them not only to fund the administration of Palestine, but also her own regional imperial projects. But in the mid-1930s, as the clouds of World War Two gathered, Britain’s commitment to Zionism was superseded by the need to secure her strategic assets in the Middle East. In consequence she switched to a policy of appeasing the Arabs. In 1947, Britain abandoned her attempts to impose a settlement in Palestine that would be acceptable to the Arab States and referred Palestine to the United Nations, without recommendations, leaving the antagonists to settle their conflict on the battlefield. Based on archival sources, and the most up-to-date scholarly research, this comprehensive history offers new insights into Arab, British and Zionist policies. It is a must-read for anyone with an interest in Palestine, Israel, British Colonialism and the Middle East in general.

"This book provides a comprehensive analysis of British policies in Palestine during the 28 years for which it held the League of Nations Mandate. It examines how and why they conquered Palestine, their relations with Arabs and Jews and why they left in a hurry in 1948"--Provided by publisher.

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process. Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.

A new account of support for and opposition to Zionist aspirations in Palestine in the United States and Europe from 1945 to 1949.

From the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to the Suez Crisis of 1956, Britain's strategic interests in Palestine and in the Middle East underwent radical changes. A leading authority on the British Mandate in Palestine and the rise of the state of Israel, Professor Michael J. Cohen focuses on these changing interests in this anthology of some of his seminal works. This book includes previously unpublished material and an introductory chapter surveying the changing views and interpretations of the Declaration over the past 100 years. Britain's imperial interests are the key to understanding these changes, why she supported the Zionist cause until the mid-1930s, and why her priorities changed thereafter. After the Second World War her priorities changed once again and Allied strategic planners drew up contingency plans to meet the threat of a potential Third World War against the Soviet bloc. This anthology closes with an analysis of the botched Suez War. This caused not only the failure of the military operation, but a grave crisis with the Americans, Eden's fall from power, and the denouement of Britain's Middle East hegemony. Professor Cohen's essays are essential reading for anyone wanting a clear understanding of the Middle Eastern context of the Palestine Mandate, and the rise of the State of Israel during this period. *** "This is a fine book of historical essays. Of special significance are Cohen's assessments -- and in part, re-assessments -- of the Balfour Declaration, Churchill's and Truman's attitude toward the Jews and Zionism, and Palestinian leader Haj Amin al-Husseini's evasion of punishment as a Nazi war criminal in 1945-1947. Historians and students of the Arab-Zionist conflict can both derive benefit from Cohen's insights." --Professor Benny Morris, Ben-Gurion University *** "This important book of essays will provide further food for thought for readers who wish to look at the self-interest, both personal and national, behind the decision of the decision makers." --Colin Shindler, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London [Subject: British History, Israeli History, Middle East Studies]

In the middle of the First World War, the British War Cabinet approved and issued a statement in the form of a letter that encouraged the settlement of the Jewish people in Palestine. Signed by the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the Balfour Declaration remains one of the most important documents of the last hundred years. Jonathan Schneer explores the story behind the declaration and its unforeseen consequences that have shaped the modern world, placing it in context paying attention to the fascinating characters who conceived, opposed and plotted around it - among them Lloyd George, Lord Rothschild, T.E. Lawrence, Prince Faisal and Aubrey Herbert (the man who was 'Greenmantle'). The Balfour Declaration brings vividly to life the origins of one of the world's longest lasting and most damaging conflicts.