JEWISH WORLD WAR I RESULTS

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What did the Jews get as a result of World War I?

As World War I ended, Britain and France moved to consolidate their control over Palestine, and the surrounding territories. Both the Jewish Zionists and Arab nationalists were expecting progress based on wartime agreements: the Husayn-McMahon correspondence and related for the Arabs and the Balfour Declaration for the Jews.

The mandate system, whose details were laid out at the San Remo Conference of April 1920, and the resulting British Mandate approved by the League of Nations Council on July 24, 1922 (although not official until September 29, 1923), did recognize the "historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine." The Mandate's terms called upon Britain, as the mandatory power, to "secure establishment of the Jewish National Home," and recognized "an appropriate Jewish agency" for advice and cooperation to that end. Jewish immigration was to be facilitated, while ensuring that the "rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced." English, Arabic, and Hebrew were all to be official languages. Additional support came from the United States. Although the United States was not a member of the League of Nations a joint resolution of the United States Congress on June 30, 1922 endorsed the concept of the Jewish national home. These post-War developments seemed to be a major step toward a secure, internationally recognized homeland for the Jewish people, even though it stopped short of calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.

To the World Zionist Organization, which by 1921 had a worldwide membership of about 770,000, the recognition in the Mandate was seen as a welcome first step. Unfortunately, later events showed that the British were not going to honor the promises made and, after Britain imposed conditions on immigration that trapped many thousands of Jews trying to escape from Nazi actions in Europe among other pro-Arab policies, there was a complete break between the Zionists and the British.

The Arabs of Palestine, even at the beginning of the Mandate period, believing that participation in Mandate-sanctioned institutions would signify their acquiescence to the Mandate and thus to the Balfour Declaration, refused to participate. As a result, proposals for a legislative council, an advisory council, and an Arab agency envisioned as similar to the Jewish Agency, were all rejected by the Arabs. After the collapse of the bid for representative institutions, any possibility of joint consultation between the two communities ended. Soon Arab discomfort with Jewish immigration would lead to violence.

In summary, as a result of World War I the Arabs eventually got direct or indirect control of every country in the Middle East and the southern rim of the Mediterranean except for Israel, by far the smallest territory. The Jews got a promise for the future, one they ultimately had to redeem themselves.

Sources and additional reading on this topic:

• Foundations of the State of Israel
• Israel Country Study: World War I: Diplomacy and Intrigue