POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN PALESTINE DURING THE BRITISH MANDATE AND BACKGROUND OF THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2017-9-15-23
The paper deals with the history of Palestine over the period of the British mandate from 1922 till 1948, analysis of the relationship between Palestinian Arabs and Zionists, description of the socio-political and economic situation in the country, revelation of the role of the mandate-holder (Britain), contributed to a great extent to the partition of Palestine and the formation of Israel as a separate state. The object of research is Palestine during the creation of the post-colonial system of international relations after the First World War; the subject is the political and economic situation in Palestine in the period of the British mandate. The theoretical significance of the research is that it reveals the origins of the continuing Arab-Jewish conflict which has a destabilizing effect on the situation in the region and touches the geopolitical interests of leading political players. The analysis of the political and economic situation allows to identify the following causes contributing to the still ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict: (1) the dual character of the policies of the mandate-holder who is not interested in the creation of an independent Arab state in Palestine; (2) the growing economic dependence and impoverishment of Palestinian Arabs against the background of unlimited buying up the agricultural lands by the Zionist funds; (3) political disorganization and disunity of the Arab population, the absence of formed political forces able to defend the interests of the Arab people of Palestine; (4) the increasing influence of Zionists and of their organizations in Palestine; (5) a growing number of Jewish immigrants and the intensive erection of Jewish settlements in the territories belonging to the Palestinian Arabs.
Keywords: British mandate, Palestine, Israel, Zionism, Arab-Israeli conflict
References:
1. Aleksandrov B. A. Kolonial’nye mandaty [The colonial mandates]. Moscow, Sotsekgiz Publ., 1934. 176 p. (in Russian).
2. Pre-State Israel: The Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916). URL: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sykes_pico.html (accessed 5 December 2016).
3. Pre-State Israel: The Balfour Declaration (November 1917). URL: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/baltoc.html (accessed 5 December 2016).
4. Samarskaya L. M. Deklaratsiya Bal’fura v kontekste anglo-sionistskoy diplomatii v period Pervoy mirovoy voyny [The Balfour Declaration in the context of the Anglo-Zionist diplomacy during the First World War]. ed. by I. D. Zvyagel’skaya. Moscow, Institute of Oriental studies RAS Publ., 2016. 84 p. (in Russian).
5. Shapovalov M. S. Palestinskiy aspekt blizhnevostochnoy politiki Velikobritanii v 1914–1931 gg. Avtoref. dis. kand. ist. nauk [The Palestinian dimension of the Middle East British policy in 1914–1931. Abstract of thesis cand. of hist. sci.]. Tomsk, 2008. 27 p. (in Russian).
6. Karrash Kh. Prinyatiye Ligoy Natsiy mandata na Palestinu i ego vliyaniye na vozniknoveniye palestinskoy problemy v 30–40-е gody ХХ v. [The Adoption of mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations, and its infl uence on the emergence of the Palestinian problem in 1930s–40s of the 20th century]. Uchenye zapiski Tavricheskogo Natsional’nogo universiteta imeni V. I. Vernadskogo – Scientifi c Notes of Taurida National University named after V. I. Vernadskiy, 2006, vol. 20 (59), no. 2, pp. 281–288 (in Russian).
7. Shandra A. V. Deyatel’nost’ britanskikh organov upravleniya Palestinoy v 1917–1939 gg. Avtoref. dis. kand. ist. nauk [The activity of the British authorities in Palestine 1917–1939 Abstract of thesis cand. of hist. sci.]. Rostov-on-Don, 2010. 24 p. (in Russian).
8. Tsvetyanskiy A. V. Blizhniy Vostok v politike Velikobritanii v 1914–1923 gg. Avtoref. dis. kand. ist. nauk [The Middle East in British Politics from 1914 till 1923. Abstract of thesis cand. of hist. sci.]. Nizhny Novgorod, 2007. 26 p. (in Russian).
9. British Palestine Mandate: Text of the Mandate (July 24, 1922). URL: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Palestine_Mandate.html (accessed 5 December 2016).
10. Landa R. G., Usova V. N. Palestina i Transiordaniya: slozhnosti politicheskikh sudeb [Palestine and Transjordan: the complexity of the political destinies]. Istoriya Vostoka. V 6 t. T. 5. Vostok v noveysheye vremya (1914–1945) [History of the East in 6 volumes. Vol. 5. East in Modern Times (1914–1945)]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental studies RAS Publ., 2006. Pp. 159–174 (in Russian).
11. League of Nations. Permanent Mandates Commission. Minutes of the Twentieth Session. Held of Geneva from June 9th to June 24th, 1931, including the report of the Commission to the Council. URL: http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6BB46BF1877EEB1405256616005E1FF2 (accessed 5 December 2016).
12. Pappé I. A history of modern Palestine: one land, two peoples. 2nd ed. Cambridge, CUP, 2006. 378 p.
13. Ranchinskiy V. P. Reforma pozemel’nykh otnosheniy v podmandatnoy Sirii [The Reform of Land Relations in Mandatory Syria]. Vestnik Bryanskogo GU – Bryansk State University Bulletin, 2012, no. 2, pp. 172–178 (in Russian).
14. Sternhell Z. The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the Jewish State. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999. 464 p.
15. Bard M. Mify i fakty, Putevoditel’ po arabo-izrail’skomu konfl iktu [Myths and facts. A guide to the Arab-Israeli confl ict]. Moscow, Evreyskoye slovo Publ., 2007. 480 p. (in Russian).
16. Epstein A. D., Kozheurov S. A., Fadeyev I. A. Posledneye gosudarstvo krestonostsev: britanskoye mandatnoye pravleniye v Palestine v zerkale zarubezhnoy istoriografi i [The last Crusaders’ state: the British mandate rule in Palestine in the mirror of foreign historiography]. Ural’skoye vostokovedeniye – The Ural Oriental Studies, 2011, vol. 4, pp. 162–180 (in Russian).
17. Shaw W., Sir. Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929. London, H. M. Stationery Off., 1930. Pp. 150–157.
18. Palestine. Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development. By Sir John Hope Simpson, C.I.E. (October 1930). URL: http://archive.li/3cekZ (accessed 5 December 2016).
19. British Palestine Mandate: Text of the Peel Commission Report (July 1937). URL: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/peel1.html (accessed 5 December 2016).
( 547.44 kB ) 
( 540.46 kB )
Issue: 9, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 9
Rubric: WORLD HISTORY
Pages: 15 — 23
Downloads: 1843