This book provides an important shift in the analysis of Britain's policy towards the illegal postwar Jewish immigration into Palestine. It charts the development of Britain's response to Zionist immigration, from the initial sympathy, as embodied in the Balfour Declaration, through attempts at blockade, refoulement and finally disengagement. The book exposes differences in policy pursued by the great departments of state like the Foreign, Colonial and War Offices and their legal advisors, and those implemented by the Admiralty. The book argues that the eventual failure of Britain's immigration policy was inevitable in view of the hostility shown by many European nations, and America, towards Britain's ambition to retain her position in the Middle East.

Israel's Moment is a major new account of how a Jewish state came to be forged in the shadow of World War Two and the Holocaust and the onset of the Cold War. Drawing on new research in government, public and private archives, Jeffrey Herf exposes the political realities that underpinned support for and opposition to Zionist aspirations in Palestine. In an unprecedented international account, he explores the role of the United States, the Arab States, the Palestine Arabs, the Zionists, and key European governments from Britain and France to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Poland. His findings reveal a spectrum of support and opposition that stood in sharp contrast to the political coordinates that emerged during the Cold War, shedding new light on how and why the state of Israel was established in 1948 and challenging conventional associations of left and right, imperialism and anti-imperialism, and racism and anti-racism.

This balanced and comprehensive text explores Israeli government and politics from both institutional and behavioral perspectives. After briefly discussing Israel’s history and the early development of the state, Gregory Mahler then examines the social, religious, economic, cultural, and military contexts within which Israeli politics takes place. He makes special note of Israel’s geopolitical situation of sharing borders with, and being proximate to, several hostile Arab nations. The book explains the operation of political institutions and behavior in Israeli domestic politics, including the constitutional system and ideology, parliamentary government, the prime minister and the Knesset, political parties and interest groups, the electoral process and voting behavior, and the machinery of government. Mahler also considers Israel’s foreign policy setting and apparatus, the Palestinians and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the particularly sensitive questions of Jerusalem and the Israeli settlement movement, and the Middle East peace process overall. This clear and concise text provides an invaluable starting point for all readers needing a cogent introduction to Israel today.

This book explores the nature of the severe conflict over immigration in Palestine during the British Mandate (1922-1948). It considers the perspectives of the British authorities, the Palestinian Jewish community, and the Palestinian Arabs in their permanent opposition to Jewish immigration, expressed through strikes, demonstrations, and revolt towards the Jewish community in Palestine, as well as the British authorities. It serves to contribute to a debate in the history of Palestine, whilst seeping into other disciplines such as economics, sociology, law, and maritime history.

The Palestinian National Movement and its Palestine Authority aim to rewrite the history of the Land of Israel. They have developed several agendas about the history of the country. One agenda claims that they are the ancient population of the country they call Falstin (Palestine). The other claims said they settled in the country in 640; they have a history of 1,381 years. The Jews, they say, have no historical claim on that country; but another agenda claims that Jews did populate the country, but the Romans conquers never exiled the Jews two thousand years ago. The Jews converted to Islam during the Arab-Muslim occupation of the country (640–1099) and that the Palestinians are the descendants of these Jews and, therefore, the rightful heirs of the country. But the historical facts tell a different story. This book is the second volume of When and How the Arabs and Muslims Immigrated to the Land of Israel. The first volume deals with 640–1914 and brings evidence that most Palestinians are descendants of immigrants who came to the country from Arab and Muslim countries in small numbers during a slow process over hundreds of years; and between the end of the nineteenth century and First World War, their number grew by immigrant workers. This volume brings evidence that under the British Mandate rule (1918–1948), waves of Arab/Muslim immigrant workers entered the country illegally because of the British policy to ignore illegal immigration. The British mandate government actually ordered the Transjordan army responsible for controlling the borders to ignore illegal immigration. Also, the British Army brought Arab workers from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon to build and work in their camps. The economic and employment opportunities created by the Zionist Movement, Jewish investors and immigrants, Christian organizations, and the British Mandate in the Land of Israel drew an increasing number of Arab immigrant workers. These opportunities were much better than those they had in their home countries.

This book presents a multidimensional case study of international human rights in the immediate post-Second World War period, and the way in which complex refugee problems created by the war were often in direct competition with strategic interests and national sovereignty. The case study is the clandestine immigration of Jewish refugees from Italy to Palestine in 1945–1948, which was part of a British–Zionist conflict over Palestine, involving strategic and humanitarian attitudes. The result was a clear subjection of human rights considerations to strategic and political interests.

This book provides an important shift in the analysis of Britain's policy towards the illegal postwar Jewish immigration into Palestine. It charts the development of Britain's response to Zionist immigration, from the initial sympathy, as embodied in the Balfour Declaration, through attempts at blockade, refoulement and finally disengagement. The book exposes differences in policy pursued by the great departments of state like the Foreign, Colonial and War Offices and their legal advisors, and those implemented by the Admiralty. The book argues that the eventual failure of Britain's immigration policy was inevitable in view of the hostility shown by many European nations, and America, towards Britain's ambition to retain her position in the Middle East.