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McMahon-Hussein Agreement
Between Britain and Arabs, they agreed to help Britain defeat the Ottomans in return for support for Arab Independence. Although Britain being Britain had the Arabs believe that they were going to have independence but instead had intended to stay in Jerusalem and that the British Government had signed 2 other agreements -
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Between Britain and France, France was anxious about their access to oil supplies in the Middle East and their control over the Suez Canal, both Britain and France had arranged an agreement to divide the Ottoman Empire between themselves after the War, ignoring the Arabs strive for Independence. -
Balfour Declaration
The Balfour Declaration was written by Lord Arthur Balfour, The Balfour Declaration said that the British Government would be more favorable towards Zionist plans to establish a home for Jew in Palestine as long as there was no harm to Arab Rights. -
The Haganah
The Haganah was the Jewish Defense Force -
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Clashes Between Jews and Palestine's
As Tension between Jews and Arabs grew, tension turned into violence and Clashes between Jews and Arabs had started to happen all around Palestine. Rumors had spread to cities of Jaffa and Arabs had started attacking local Jews and Jewish Parties. In August 1929 Clashes started on holy sites, These grew into 4 days of bloody riots. -
The British Mandate
In 1923, the league of Nations had given Britain the Mandate to rule over Palestine. Its terms were that; Britain had to protect the rights of Palestinian Arabs and establish a homeland for the Jews and prepare the country of independence. Arabs were shocked and angered by the mandate and for Jews this enabled the Zionist Dream to come true -
The Irgun
The Irgun was a Jewish Terrorist group set up due to the Clashes between Arabs and Jews due to Britain not providing enough protecting. Irgun was dedicated to forming a Jewish State even by violence if necessary -
The Arab Strike
7 Years after the Arab-Jew Clashes a full blown Arab Strike began. Mainly due to the fact that Syrian and Iraqi Arabs had won political rights. The Palestinian Arabs had demanded an end to Jewish Immigration and a national government of their own. Until those conditions were met they refused to work, pay taxes and boycotted all trades with Britain. The British reacted harshly to this arresting Palestinian Leaders and on Oct 1936 request help from neighboring Arab States -
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The Peel Commision
The level of Arab revolts had worried the British leading them to conduct an investigation for the causes of the unrest and to propose a solution. Led by William Peel, The investigation had lasted 6 months; Peel suggested that there was no common ground between Arab and Jewish communities and the Mandate would never work, Peel stated the only solution was to end the mandate and partition the country between the two communities. The Jews had accepted the proposal but the Arabs did not -
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The Arab Revolt
Arabs had reacted angrily to Peels recommendations and their revolt became more aggressive. Men from Haganah and British troops used harsh tactics against the Arabs. Rebel Houses were destroyed, curfews were put in place and thousands of Arabs were arrested and held without trial. By 1939 when the revolt ended over 10% of the Arab Male population had been killed. The Revolt left Palestine in a weak postition -
Massacre at Al-Bassa
A particularly brutal massacre during the Arab Revolt was the Massacre at Al-Bassa. On September 6th 1938, 4 British Soldiers were killed by running their car over a mine. In retaliation, British troops sprayed the village with machine gun fire and burned it down. The remaining Arabs were rounded up, some tried to run but were shot; the remainder were put on a bus which was driven over a land mine laid by the soldiers killing everyone on the bus.