LULL
In general, we may think things have settled down somewhat in the Holy Land. During these pre-holiday weeks we are, understandable, occupied with other concerns. The years between 1917 and 1921 were deceptively quiet as well.
It was a confusing time in the Holy Land and part of the reason why that seems to be so is that the area was controlled by the Ottoman Turks during much of this period and many Jews actually left the Holy Land area..
British public opinion had put the Balfour project on the back burner for a time until a Jewish politician by the name of Herbert Samuel, formerly a liberal cabinet member minister, was named as High Commissioner.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Britain had been mandated to govern what is now Israel, the Occupied Territories and Jordon. The Balfour declaration, you will recall, required Britain to implement civil power which would “facilitate Jewish immigration” under conditions which would encourage them to settle in the land.
The Jewish population of the area had actually shrunk to about 60-thousand during the final years of Turkish rule. The post war years had seen increased immigration from Europe and America in 1919 through 1923, and it became a cause of alarm to the Arabic nations indicating to them that the Zionist Movement had grown a set of teeth. In 1920 an armed Jewish protective league or militia was formed called the Haganah.
1922 saw some changes in the British attitude. A so called White Paper on Palestine, was issued which divided the area into two administrative districts. The larger, Eastern portion of the mandated territory was called Transjordan, which I recall seeing on maps of the area for the next decade. This sector was given a measure of self-rule under its new Hashermite emir, Abdullah, who had been expelled from Saudi Arabia. The reasons for this expulsion are, only now, becoming obvious. Zionists were very upset with this specification since the British dictated that Jews were not to settle therein. They were to settle only west of the Jordon valley rift And, this restriction is held to be be valid today. Now, jump to 1929 when the Great Depression got off to with a dramatic crash on Wall Street in New York. Jewish immigration rose quickly in the Holy Land and Arabic authorities become concerned. Rioting resulted and more than one hundred and thirty Jews were killed. These riots came to a peak in 1936 having become more bloody all during the Depression era. It was in 1936 that Arab and Jewish paramilitary groups clashed for the first time. The Jewish armed forces were aided to victory by a fanatical Christian named Orde Wingate, who was a Zionist officer. Then, in the midst of a general Palestinian uprising, the British set forth another document known as the Peel Commission Report which suggested that the Holy Land be divided into two parts - one to be Jewish and the other to be solely Arabic.
At that time, in 1938, Kristalnacht, Germany, took place. This pogram of the Jews in Germany changed the world-wide Jewish homeland movement markedly in the war and post-war years.
It remains fresh in memories which determine daily events today in the Middle East. But our concerns have veered heavily toward the Iraq problem the Al Qaeda and the Terrorist threats. It would prove to be very poor judgment for us to to think that the Middle East cauldron has cooled.
A.L.M. December 11, 2002 [c570wds]
