Mandatory Palestine Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Termination of the mandate=== {{See also|End of the British Mandate for Palestine}} [[File:BritsLvHaifa3061948.jpg|thumb|British troops leaving [[Haifa]] in 1948]] When the United Kingdom announced the independence of the [[Emirate of Transjordan]] as the [[Jordan|Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan]] in 1946, the final Assembly of the League of Nations and the General Assembly both adopted resolutions welcoming the news.<ref>See ''Mandates, Dependencies and Trusteeship'', by H. Duncan Hall, Carnegie Endowment, 1948, pp. 266β267.</ref> The Jewish Agency objected, claiming that Transjordan was an integral part of Palestine, and that according to Article 80 of the [[UN Charter]], the Jewish people had a secured interest in its territory.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Mandate is Indivisble |website=Historical Jewish Press, Tel Aviv University, Palestine Post |date=9 April 1946 |page=3 |url=http://www.jpress.org.il/publications/PPost-en.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929150945/http://www.jpress.org.il/publications/PPost-en.asp |archive-date=29 September 2010 }}</ref> During the General Assembly deliberations on Palestine, there were suggestions that it would be desirable to incorporate part of Transjordan's territory into the proposed Jewish state. A few days before the adoption of [[Resolution 181]] (II) on 29 November 1947, US Secretary of State Marshall noted frequent references had been made by the Ad Hoc Committee regarding the desirability of the Jewish State having both the [[Negev]] and an "outlet to the Red Sea and the Port of Aqaba".<ref>{{cite web |website=Foreign relations of the United States |year=1947 |title=The Near East and Africa |volume=V |page=1255 |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1947v05&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=1255}}</ref> According to John Snetsinger, Chaim Weizmann visited President Truman on 19 November 1947 and said it was imperative that the Negev and Port of Aqaba be within the Jewish state.<ref>{{cite book |last=Snetsinger |first=John |title=Truman, the Jewish vote, and the creation of Israel |publisher=Hoover Press |year=1974 |isbn=978-0-8179-3391-3 |pages=60β61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JAW2aHnkL4UC&pg=PA60}}</ref> Truman telephoned the US delegation to the UN and told them he supported Weizmann's position.<ref>{{cite web |website=United States Department of State, Foreign relations of the United States |title=The Near East and Africa, Volume V (1947) |page=1271 |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/FRUS/FRUS-idx?type=goto&id=FRUS.FRUS1947v05&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=1271}}</ref> However, the [[Trans-Jordan memorandum]] excluded territories of the Emirate of Transjordan from any Jewish settlement.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PA348 ''The British Empire in the Middle East, 1945β1951''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128023422/https://books.google.com/books?id=ATQQ0FMS1FQC&pg=PA348 |date=28 November 2022 }}, p. 348. William Roger Louis, Clarendon Press, 1984</ref> Immediately after the UN resolution, [[1947-1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine|civil war]] broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities, and British authority began to break down. On 16 December 1947, the [[Palestine Police Force]] withdrew from the [[Tel Aviv]] area, home to more than half the Jewish population, and turned over responsibility for the maintenance of law and order to Jewish police.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1947/12/16/archive/violence-ebbs-british-police-withdrawn-from-tel-aviv-and-its-environs|title=Violence Ebbs; British Police Withdrawn from Tel Aviv and Its Environs β Jewish Telegraphic Agency|website=www.jta.org|date=16 December 1947}}</ref> As the civil war raged on, British military forces gradually withdrew from Palestine, although they occasionally intervened in favour of either side. Many of these areas became war zones. The British maintained strong presences in [[Jerusalem]] and [[Haifa]], even as Jerusalem came under siege by Arab forces and became the scene of fierce fighting, though the British occasionally intervened in the fighting, largely to secure their evacuation routes, including by proclaiming martial law and enforcing truces. The [[Palestine Police Force]] was largely inoperative, and government services such as social welfare, water supplies, and postal services were withdrawn. In March 1948, all British judges in Palestine were sent back to Britain.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael J Cohen|title=Britain's Moment in Palestine: Retrospect and Perspectives, 1917β1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLPpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA481|date=24 February 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-91364-1|pages=481β}}</ref> In April 1948, the British withdrew from most of Haifa but retained an enclave in the port area to be used in the evacuation of British forces, and retained [[Ramat David Airbase|RAF Ramat David]], an airbase close to Haifa, to cover their retreat, leaving behind a volunteer police force to maintain order. The city was quickly captured by the [[Haganah]] in the [[Battle of Haifa (1948)|Battle of Haifa]]. After the victory, British forces in Jerusalem announced that they had no intention of overseeing any local administration but also that they would not permit actions that would hamper the safe and orderly withdrawal of their forces; military courts would try anybody who interfered.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1948/04/23/archive/british-forces-in-jerusalem-alerter-following-haifa-victory-fear-haganah-raid-on-city|title=British Forces in Jerusalem Alerter Following Haifa Victory; Fear Haganah Raid on City β Jewish Telegraphic Agency|website=www.jta.org|date=23 April 1948}}</ref><ref name=hansard>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1948/mar/10/palestine-bill|date=10 March 1948|title=PALESTINE BILL|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}</ref><ref>Herzog, Chaim and Gazit, Shlomo: ''The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the 1948 War of Independence to the Present'', p. 46</ref> Although by this time British authority in most of Palestine had broken down, with most of the country in the hands of Jews or Arabs, the British air and sea blockade of Palestine remained in place. Although Arab volunteers were able to cross the borders between Palestine and the surrounding Arab states to join the fighting, the British did not allow the regular armies of the surrounding Arab states to cross into Palestine. The British had notified the UN of their intent to terminate the mandate not later than 1 August 1948.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/561c6ee353d740fb8525607d00581829/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253%21OpenDocument |title='U.N. Resolution 181 (II). Future Government of Palestine, Part 1-A, Termination of Mandate, Partition and Independence |access-date=20 May 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207194949/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/561c6ee353d740fb8525607d00581829/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253%21OpenDocument |archive-date=7 February 2009 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm U.N. Resolution 181 (II). Future Government of Palestine, Part 1-A, Termination of Mandate, Partition and Independence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061029150108/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm |date=29 October 2006 }}.</ref> However, early in 1948, the United Kingdom announced its firm intention to end its mandate in Palestine on 15 May. In response, President [[Harry S. Truman]] made a [[Truman trusteeship proposal|statement on 25 March proposing UN trusteeship rather than partition]], stating that "unfortunately, it has become clear that the partition plan cannot be carried out at this time by peaceful means... unless emergency action is taken, there will be no public authority in Palestine on that date capable of preserving law and order. Violence and bloodshed will descend upon the Holy Land. Large-scale fighting among the people of that country will be the inevitable result".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mideastweb.org/trusteeship.htm|title=President Truman's Trusteeship Statement β 1948|website=www.mideastweb.org}}</ref> The [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] passed the necessary legislation to terminate the Mandate with the Palestine Bill, which received [[Royal assent]] on 29 April 1948.<ref name=Northey>{{cite book |author= Northey, Ruth (project ed.) |publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing |title= Whitaker's Britain |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4729-0305-1 |page=127 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CXGuAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT127}}</ref> [[File:Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Hoisting of the national flag during a special ceremony of elementary school children.jpg|thumb|200px|Hoisting of the Yishuv flag in Tel Aviv, 1 January 1948]] By 14 May 1948, the only British forces remaining in Palestine were in the Haifa area and in Jerusalem. On that same day, the British garrison in Jerusalem withdrew, and the last High Commissioner, [[General (United Kingdom)|General]] [[Alan Cunningham|Sir Alan Cunningham]], left the city for Haifa, where he was to leave the country by sea. The Jewish leadership, led by the future Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, [[Declaration of Independence (Israel)|declared the establishment]] of a Jewish State in [[Land of Israel|Eretz-Israel]], to be known as the [[State of Israel]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm |title=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs: ''Declaration of Establishment of State of Israel: 14 May 1948'': Retrieved 10 April 2012 |access-date=9 April 2012 |archive-date=16 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116103234/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> on the afternoon of 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708 in the [[Hebrew calendar]]), to come into effect at the moment of termination of the Mandate at midnight.<ref>Bier, Aharon, & Slae, Bracha, ''For the sake of Jerusalem'', Mazo Publishers, 2006, p. 49</ref><ref>[[s:Declaration of Independence (Israel)|''Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel'']], 14 May 1948.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=J. Sussmann |title=Law and Judicial Practice in Israel |journal=Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law |volume=32 |year=1950|pages=29β31}}</ref> Also on the 14th, the Provisional Government of Israel asked the US Government for recognition, on the frontiers specified in the UN Plan for Partition.<ref name=Epstein>{{cite web|title=Copy of telegram from Epstein to Shertok|url=https://www.archives.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/BD240CA5-379D-4FAE-81A8-069902AD1E7F/0/Truman3.pdf|publisher=Government of Israel|access-date=3 May 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113183514/http://www.archives.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/BD240CA5-379D-4FAE-81A8-069902AD1E7F/0/Truman3.pdf|archive-date=13 November 2013}}</ref> The United States immediately replied, recognizing "the provisional government as the de facto authority".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=83|title=Our Documents β Press Release Announcing U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948)|website=www.ourdocuments.gov|date=9 April 2021 }}</ref> At midnight on 14/15 May 1948, the Mandate for Palestine expired, and the State of Israel came into being. The Palestine Government formally ceased to exist, the status of British forces still in the process of withdrawal from Haifa changed to occupiers of foreign territory, the [[Palestine Police Force]] formally stood down and was disbanded, with the remaining personnel evacuated alongside British military forces, the British blockade of Palestine was lifted, and all those who had been [[Palestinian Citizenship Order, 1925|Palestinian citizens]] ceased to be [[British protected person]]s, with [[Mandatory Palestine passport]]s no longer giving British protection.<ref name=hansard/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1948/03/26/archive/palestine-passports-cease-to-give-british-protection-after-may-govt-announces|title=Palestine Passports Cease to Give British Protection After May Govt. Announces β Jewish Telegraphic Agency|website=www.jta.org|date=26 March 1948}}</ref> The [[1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight]] took place both before and after the end of the Mandate.<ref>[[Nur-eldeen Masalha|Masalha, Nur]] (1992). "Expulsion of the Palestinians." Institute for Palestine Studies, this edition 2001, p. 175.</ref><ref name=Khalidi>Rashid (1997). p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=bL9dfjYK2eMC&pg=PA21 21] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128023459/https://books.google.com/books?id=bL9dfjYK2eMC&pg=PA21 |date=28 November 2022 }} "In 1948 half of Palestine's 1.4 million Arabs were uprooted from their homes and became refugees".</ref> Over the next few days, approximately 700 Lebanese, 1,876 Syrian, 4,000 Iraqi, and 2,800 Egyptian troops crossed over the borders into Palestine, starting the [[1948 ArabβIsraeli War]].<ref>Appendix IX-B, 'The Arab Expeditionary Forces to Palestine, 15/5/48, Khalidi, 1971, p. 867.</ref> Around 4,500 Transjordanian troops, commanded partly by 38 British officers who had resigned their commissions in the British Army only weeks earlier, including overall commander, General [[John Bagot Glubb]], entered the [[Corpus separatum (Jerusalem)|Corpus separatum region encompassing Jerusalem and its environs]] (in response to the Haganah's [[Operation Kilshon]])<ref>Bayliss, 1999, p. 84.</ref> and moved into areas designated as part of the Arab state by the UN partition plan. The war, which was to last until 1949, would see Israel expand to encompass about 78% of the territory of the former British Mandate, with Transjordan seizing and subsequently annexing the [[West Bank]] and the [[Kingdom of Egypt]] seizing the [[Gaza Strip]]. With the end of the Mandate, the remaining British troops in Israel were concentrated in an enclave in the Haifa port area, through which they were being withdrawn, and at RAF Ramat David, which was maintained to cover the withdrawal. The British handed over RAF Ramat David to the Israelis on 26 May and on 30 June, the last British troops were evacuated from Haifa. The British flag was lowered from the administrative building of the Port of Haifa and the Israeli flag was raised in its place, and the Haifa port area was formally handed over to the Israeli authorities in a ceremony.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohen-Hattab|first=Kobi|title=Zionism's Maritime Revolution: The Yishuv's Hold on the Land of Israel's Sea and Shores, 1917β1948|isbn=978-3-11-063352-8|date=8 July 2019|publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pz_EDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA255}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page