British Middle East Policy in the Late 1930's
Middle East was seen as the central junction for the communication of the British global empire. The British were clearly the dominant powerhouse of the late 30's throughout much of Europe and the Middle East. The shortest sea connection between Britain and India was through the Suez Canal, while the air and land routes connected Africa and Egypt to Palestine and the Middle East. This area was also a major source of oil. Oil was to become one of the most useful chemicals needed by the economy of a country both in peace and most importantly for war. The British commitment to a Jewish National Home in Palestine, agreed upon in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, created a series of conflicts for the British-Arab policy. This pledge to the Zionists created a great uprising by the Arabs both in Palestine and the neighboring countries. It was apparent that the British were losing control over this area. The Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1935-1936 and the take over of Rhine land by Hitler in 1936 added to the apparent breakdown of British prestige and power. The Arabs fully aware of the British loss of superiority in the world and specially Asia, added to their restlessness with British policy on Jewish immigration made them think again about their relations with the British. The Arabs started to lose faith in Great Britain as their protector and their friend. They were forced to look the other way for protection, to a country, which also sees Jews as a major problem, and is willing to cooperate with the Arabs both economically and politically. This country was Germany. The British were on the verge of losing all control in the Middle East. By the late 1930's, the British in an attempt ...
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...of the allies in World War II.
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Bibliography:
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Imperialism, Colonialism, and war had a huge impact on the Middle East, and it can also be thought of as the source of conflict. According to the map in Document A, it shows that the size of the Ottoman Empire grew smaller after the first world war, along with this change came new boundaries. These borders were created by the victorious European countries that won World War I, and made different ethnic and religious groups separated and grouped together with others. Great Britain's took over Palestine mandate and developed the Balfour Declaration that promised Jews support in making a home in Palestine. Most of the Palestine land was populated with Arabs.
In August 1936 the Non-Intervention Agreement was signed by 27 countries. This agreement, initiated by Britain and France, sought to prohibit the delivery of war materials to Spain. Germany and Italy deliberately violated the treaty and continued to provide aid to the Nationalist army. Hence, Non-Intervention solely subjected the Spanish Republic to international isolation. At face value, British and French adherence to this agreement seems surprising and illogical. This paper will discuss the reasons why Britain and France adopted a policy of Non-Intervention.
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Most people think Israel always belonged to the Jews but it wasn’t always a safe, holy place where Jews could roam freely. Along with Palestine, it was actually forcefully taken from the Arabs who originated there. The main purpose of this novel is to inform an audience about the conflicts that Arabs and Jews faced. Tolan’s sources are mainly from interviews, documentations and observations. He uses all this information to get his point across, and all the quotes he uses is relevant to his points. The author uses both sides to create a non-biased look at the facts at hand. The novel starts in the year 1967 when Bashir Al-Khairi and his cousins venture to their childhood home in Ramallah. After being forced out of their homes by Jewish Zionists and sent to refuge for twenty years. Bashir arrives at his home to find a Jewish woman named Dalia Eshkenazi. She invites them into her home and later the...
This marked the beginning of the Palestine armed conflict, one of its kinds to be witnessed in centuries since the fall of the Ottoman Empire and World War 1. Characterized by a chronology of endless confrontations, this conflict has since affected not only the Middle East relations, but also the gl...
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“There is no such thing as a Palestinian.” Stated former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir after three fourths of one million Palestinians had been made refugees, over five hundred towns and cities had been obliterated, and a new regional map was drawn. Every vestige of the Palestinian culture was to be erased. Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 by the United Nations declared the end of British rule over Palestine (the region between the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) and it divided the area into two parts; a state for the Jewish and one for the Arab people, Palestine. While Israel was given statehood, Palestine was not. Since 1947, one of the most controversial issues in the Middle East, and of course the world, is the question of a Palestinian state. Because of what seems a simple question, there have been regional wars among Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq, terrorist attacks that happen, sometimes daily, displacement of families from their homes, and growing numbers of people living in poverty. Granting Palestinian statehood would significantly reduce, or alleviate, tensions in the Middle East by defining, once and for all, the area that should be Palestine and eliminating the bloodshed and battles that has been going on for many years over this land.
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Prior to and after WWI the world saw a rise in nationalistic sentiments. The Middle East was not immune to this new ideology. Although Arab Nationalism had a start in the Ottoman Empire, its rise among the masses did not begin until after WWI. While a total rise in Arab Nationalism became apparent on the Arabian Peninsula, a separate nationalist movement began in Palestine as a way to combat a unique and repressive situation. In Palestine the British mandate, along with British support, and the world's support for Zionist immigration into Palestine, caused a number of European Zionists to move into the country. These factors created an agitated atmosphere among Palestinians. Although there was more than one factor in creating a Palestinian-centered Arab Nationalism, the mounting Zionist immigration was among the most prevalent of forces.
Documents 27.4 and 27.5 show the planning Britain and France were doing behind closed doors to divide up land after World War I. Document 27.4 is a map that shows the agreed on French and British controlled lands and the French and British influence areas if the Ottomans were to lose the war. This agreement went against earlier promises of rights and independence to already established Arab leaders. The Jewish population was also promised a ‘national home’ in Palestine for their support in the war (27.5). Al...
...on by revolting against British authority and Jewish immigrants. The subsequent White Papers of 1937 and 1939 that the British released were to pacify both sides but sufficiently proved to both the Arabs and the Zionists that the British were unwilling to support just one side and their policies, including the Balfour Declaration, proved to be conflicting ideas. Furthermore the British could not balance the two opposing national movements forever as both were growing with the increase of Jewish immigration and land sales. Eventually the Arabs and Zionists rebelled against the British who in never supporting one side wholeheartedly lost its hold over the entire of Palestine. In the years to come many British leaders “soon reached the conclusion that the Balfour Declaration had been a colossal blunder, unfair to the Arabs and detrimental to the empire’s interests”
Cheshin, Amir S. Separate and Unequal, the Inside Story of Israel Rule in East Jerusalem. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999.
On 3rd September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. Just two days earlier on 1st of that same month, Germany had invaded Poland, having been explicitly warned not to do so. Was this the only factor leading up to WWII? Or was there a string of events, occurring in cannon, waiting to be sparked by this final act? – Was it just the last straw? In this essay I will be explaining the four main causes of the war before analysing them and identifying their order of importance to answer these intriguing questions.