Scan barcode
A review by anjalasagne
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
A brutal yet powerful account of British colonial reign over Palestine over the last century.
The author, Rashid Khalidi, nephew of Dr. Husayn al-Khalidi, former mayor of Jerusalem and representative to the Arab Higher Committee (AHC), talks about various Palestinian revolts against British colonial powers following the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government during the First World War, announcing its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine (whose Jewish population at the time was approximately 6%). Among the British government’s motives at the time of issuing the Balfour Declaration was a philo-Semitic desire to “return” the Hebrews to the land of the Bible, and an anti-Semitic objective to reduced Jewish immigration to Britain “…linked to the conviction that World Jewry had the power to keep newly revolutionary Russia fighting in the war and bring the United States into it…”. Beyond these motives, Britain ultimately desired control over Palestine for geopolitical strategic reasons that antedated World War I which was reinforced by wartime events. Prior to the Balfour Declaration, commitments were made in 1915 promising independence to the Arabs led by Sharif Husayn of Mecca (enshrined in the Husayn-McMahon correspondence) and a 1916 secret deal with France - the Sykes-Picot Agreement- in which the two powers agreed to a colonial partition of the eastern Arab countries. Before World War I, Palestinians began to regard the Zionist movement as a threat, though the British Empires’ endorsement of the Zionist movement promised sovereignty and complete control of Palestine.
The author, Rashid Khalidi, nephew of Dr. Husayn al-Khalidi, former mayor of Jerusalem and representative to the Arab Higher Committee (AHC), talks about various Palestinian revolts against British colonial powers following the Balfour Declaration in 1917. The Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government during the First World War, announcing its support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine (whose Jewish population at the time was approximately 6%). Among the British government’s motives at the time of issuing the Balfour Declaration was a philo-Semitic desire to “return” the Hebrews to the land of the Bible, and an anti-Semitic objective to reduced Jewish immigration to Britain “…linked to the conviction that World Jewry had the power to keep newly revolutionary Russia fighting in the war and bring the United States into it…”. Beyond these motives, Britain ultimately desired control over Palestine for geopolitical strategic reasons that antedated World War I which was reinforced by wartime events. Prior to the Balfour Declaration, commitments were made in 1915 promising independence to the Arabs led by Sharif Husayn of Mecca (enshrined in the Husayn-McMahon correspondence) and a 1916 secret deal with France - the Sykes-Picot Agreement- in which the two powers agreed to a colonial partition of the eastern Arab countries. Before World War I, Palestinians began to regard the Zionist movement as a threat, though the British Empires’ endorsement of the Zionist movement promised sovereignty and complete control of Palestine.
Through various local newspapers shutting down during the war, government censorship, tight Allied naval blockades of Ottoman ports and British troops occupying Jerusalem in 1917 banning the publication of the promulgation, Palestinians did not learn about the Balfour Declaration for almost two years. By that time some forty thousand Jewish immigrants had arrived and eighteen new colonies (of a total of fifty-two) had been created by the Zionist movement on land it had purchased from absentee landlords.
From 1917 onwards, Palestinians have suffered increasing loss of land and rebels and opponents of the Zionist movement, such as the AHC, were executed or exiled, including Dr. Husayn al-Khalidi. In 1937 an armed revolt swept the country which achieve remarkable temporary success, though it was brought under control some two years later by the redeployment of British troops to Palenstine after the Munich Agreement in 1938 and the British arms sales to the Zionist movement to suppress the revolt. Between 1917-1939, it is believed 10% of the adult male Arab population were exiled, killed or imprisoned.
Deep differences appeared among the Palestinians. Some aligned with the Peel Commission’s recommendation of a partition as it would ensure Palestinians would retain some of its land, however most strongly opposed to all aspects of the recommendations. As the 1937/8 revolt reached its peak conflict between the Palestinians who favoured no compromise and those in favour of the partition weakened the might of the Palestinians. The outset of the revolt was directed at he English and the Jews, but by the end transformed into a civil war.
Palestine became a bargaining chip in an inter-imperialist rivalry between the West and the Middle East. As support for the Zionist movement endures for most of world, Palestine continues to be annexed at an alarming rate with virtually no consequences. This is ethnic cleansing.