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! ===Second World War=== ====Allied and Axis activity==== [[File:060 1942 - Tom Beazley's mates (l to r) George Dobner, Norm Grainger ^ Reg Shephard at Tel-Aviv, Pales.jpg|thumb|Australian soldiers in [[Tel Aviv]] in 1942]] On 10 June 1940, during the [[Second World War]], the [[Kingdom of Italy]] declared war on the [[British Empire]] and sided with [[Nazi Germany]]. Within a month, the Italians [[Italian bombings on Palestine in World War II|attacked Palestine from the air]], bombing [[Tel Aviv]] and [[Haifa]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.isracast.com/article.aspx?ID=470&t=Why-Italian-Planes-Bombed-Tel-Aviv?|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921004629/http://www.isracast.com/article.aspx?ID=470&t=Why-Italian-Planes-Bombed-Tel-Aviv%3F|url-status=dead|title=Why Italian Planes Bombed Tel-Aviv?|archivedate=21 September 2011}}</ref> inflicting multiple casualties. In 1942, there was a period of great concern for the ''[[Yishuv]]'', when the German forces of General [[Erwin Rommel]] advanced east across [[North Africa]] towards the [[Suez Canal]], raising a fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the "[[200 days of dread]]". This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the ''[[Palmach]]''<ref>[http://www.historycentral.com/Israel/1941PalmachFormed.html How the Palmach was formed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212162717/https://www.historycentral.com/Israel/1941PalmachFormed.html |date=12 December 2019 }} (History Central)</ref> – a highly trained regular unit belonging to [[Haganah]] (a paramilitary group composed mostly of reserves). As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the belligerents in the Second World War. A number of leaders and public figures saw an [[Axis powers|Axis]] victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Even though Arabs were not highly regarded by [[Nazism and race|Nazi racial theory]], the [[Nazis]] encouraged Arab support as a counter to British hegemony.<ref>Secret World War II documents released by the UK in July 2001, include documents on [[Operation ATLAS]] (See [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/july2001.pdf References: KV 2/400–402] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402042324/http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/july2001.pdf|date=2 April 2014}}. A German task force led by [[Kurt Wieland]] parachuted into Palestine in September 1944. This was one of the last German efforts in the region to attack the Jewish community in Palestine and undermine British rule by supplying local Arabs with cash, arms and sabotage equipment. The team was captured shortly after landing.</ref> On the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 1943, ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]] and Foreign Minister [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] sent telegrams of support for the [[Grand Mufti of Jerusalem]], [[Mohammad Amin al-Husseini]], to read out for a radio broadcast to a rally of supporters in [[Berlin]].{{efn|From Himmler: {{blockquote|The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In the recognition of this enemy and of the common struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the natural alliance that exists between the National Socialist Greater Germany and the freedom-loving Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am sending you on the anniversary of the infamous Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the final victory.}} From Ribbentrop: {{blockquote|I am sending my greetings to your eminence and to the participants of the meeting held today in the Reich capital under your chairmanship. Germany is linked to the Arab nation by old ties of friendship, and today we are united more than ever before. The elimination of the socalled Jewish national home and the liberation of all Arab countries from the oppression and exploitation of the Western powers is an unchangeable part of the Great German Reich policy. Let the hour not be far off when the Arab nation will be able to build its future and find unity in full independence.}}}}<ref>{{cite book|author =Moshe Pearlman|author-link=Moshe Pearlman|title=Mufti of Jerusalem; the story of Haj Amin el Husseini|date=1947|publisher=V. Gollancz|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rolf Steininger|title=Germany and the Middle East: From Kaiser Wilhelm II to Angela Merkel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm58DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|date=17 December 2018|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78920-039-3|pages=55–}}</ref> On the other hand, as many as 12,000 Palestinian Arabs, with the endorsement of many prominent figures such as the mayors of [[Nablus]] and [[Gaza City|Gaza]] and media such as "Radio Palestine"{{efn|For example, Radio Palestine broadcast the comments of an Egyptian writer who said, "The war is between the lofty and humane values represented by England and the forces of darkness represented by the Nazis."<ref name="Aderet"/>}} and the prominent [[Jaffa]]-based ''[[Falastin]]'' newspaper{{efn|A British recruiting poster in Arabic, published in the ''[[Falastin]]'' newspaper in January 1942, read: "She couldn't stop thinking about contribution and sacrifice, she felt ongoing pride and exaltation of spirit – when she did what she saw as her sacred duty for her nation and its sons. When your country is crying out to you and asking for your service, when your country makes it plain that our Arab men need your love and support, and when your country reminds you of how cruel the enemy is – when your country is calling you, can you stand by and do nothing?"<ref name="Aderet"/>}}, volunteered to join and fight for the British, with many serving in units that also included Jews from Palestine. 120 Palestinian women also served as part of the "Auxiliary Territorial Service". However, this history has been less studied, as Israeli sources put more focus in studying the role played by Jewish soldiers, and Palestinian sources "were not eager to glorify the names of those who cooperated with Britain not so many years after the British put down the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, and thereby indirectly helped the Jews establish a state."<ref name="Aderet">Aderet, Ofer. "12,000 Palestinians Fought for U.K. in WWII alongside Jewish Volunteers, Historian Finds." Haaretz.com. Haaretz, May 31, 2019. [https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-historian-12-000-palestinians-fought-for-u-k-in-wwii-alongside-jewish-volunteers-1.7309369 Link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327131018/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-historian-12-000-palestinians-fought-for-u-k-in-wwii-alongside-jewish-volunteers-1.7309369 |date=27 March 2022 }}.</ref> ====Mobilisation==== [[File:JB HQ.jpg|thumb|[[Jewish Brigade]] headquarters under the [[Union Flag]] and [[Flag of Israel|Jewish flag]]]] On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a [[Jewish Brigade]] within the [[British Army]], with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. On 20 September 1944, an official communiqué by the [[War Office]] announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Jewish Brigade then was stationed in [[Tarvisio]], near the border triangle of Italy, [[Yugoslavia]], and Austria, where it played a key role in the [[Berihah]]'s efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine, a role many of its members would continue after the brigade was disbanded. Among its projects was the education and care of the [[Selvino children]]. Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade were to play a major role in the foundation of the [[Israel Defense Forces]] (IDF). From the Palestine Regiment, two platoons, one Jewish, under the command of [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]] [[Ernest Benjamin]], and another Arab, were sent to join Allied forces on the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian Front]], having taken part in the [[Spring 1945 offensive in Italy|final offensive]] there. Besides Jews and Arabs from Palestine, in total by mid-1944 the British had assembled a multiethnic force consisting of volunteer European Jewish refugees (from German-occupied countries), [[Yemenite Jews]] and [[Beta Israel|Abyssinian Jews]].<ref>Corrigan, Gordon. ''The Second World War'' Thomas Dunne Books, 2011 {{ISBN|978-0-312-57709-4}} p. 523, last paragraph</ref> ====The Holocaust and immigration quotas==== [[File:Hagana Ship - Jewish State at Haifa Port (1947).jpg|thumb|''Jewish State'' ship, one of several Haganah ships that carried Jewish immigrants from Europe, mostly illegal, at the [[Port of Haifa|Haifa Port]], Mandatory Palestine, 1947<ref name="JIJI"/>]] In 1939, as a consequence of the [[White Paper of 1939]], the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine. The [[Second World War]] and the [[Holocaust]] started shortly thereafter and once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing [[Nazi]] persecution were interned in detention camps or deported to places such as [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenk |first=RS |title=The Mauritius Affair, The Boat People of 1940–41 |location=London |publisher=R Lenk |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-9518805-2-4}}</ref> Starting in 1939, a clandestine immigration effort called ''[[Aliya Bet]]'' was spearheaded by an organisation called [[Mossad LeAliyah Bet]]. Tens of thousands of European Jews escaped the Nazis in boats and small ships headed for Palestine. The British [[Royal Navy]] intercepted many of the vessels; others were unseaworthy and were wrecked; a [[Haganah]] bomb sunk the {{SS|Patria|1913|6}}, killing 267 people; two other ships were sunk by [[Shchuka-class submarine|Soviet submarines]]: the motor [[schooner]] {{MV|Struma||2}} was [[Struma disaster|torpedoed and sunk]] in the [[Black Sea]] by a Soviet submarine in February 1942 with the loss of nearly 800 lives.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/0140_Struma.html#P9 |last=Aroni |first=Samuel |title=Who Perished on the Struma And How Many? |year=2002–2007 |publisher=JewishGen.org}}</ref> The last refugee boats to try to reach Palestine during the war were the ''Bulbul'', {{MV|Mefküre||2}} and ''Morina'' in August 1944. A Soviet submarine sank the motor schooner ''Mefküre'' by torpedo and shellfire and machine-gunned survivors in the water,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://flot.sevastopol.info/ship/podlodki/shya215.htm |script-title=ru:Подводная лодка "Щ-215" |website=Черноморский Флот информационный ресурс |language=ru |date=2000–2013 |access-date=27 March 2013}}</ref> killing between 300 and 400 refugees.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wertheimer.info/family/GRAMPS/Haapalah/plc/2/7/bea98dbf1dc6d1a1772.html |title=מפקורה SS Mefküre Mafkura Mefkura |website=Haapalah Aliyah Bet Database|date=27 September 2011 |access-date=26 March 2013}}</ref> Illegal immigration resumed after the end of the Second World War, especially by the Haganah, who carried mostly illegal Jewish immigrants in the period 1945-47.<ref name="JIJI">{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4467083|title=United States: British Collaboration on Illegal Immigration to Palestine, 1945-1947|journal=Miriam Joyce Haron|accessdate=6 December 2023|year=1980|publisher=JSTOR|jstor=4467083 }}</ref> After the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of the [[U.S. President]], [[Harry S. Truman]], and the recommendations of the [[Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry]] that 100,000 Jews be immediately granted entry to Palestine, the British maintained the ban on immigration. ====Beginning of Zionist insurgency==== [[File:VE day Jerusalem 1945.jpg|thumb|Jerusalem on [[VE Day]], 8 May 1945]] The Jewish [[Lehi (group)|Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel)]] and [[Irgun|Irgun (National Military Organisation)]] movements initiated [[Jewish insurgency in Palestine|violent uprisings]] against the British Mandate in the 1940s. On 6 November 1944, [[Eliyahu Hakim]] and [[Eliyahu Bet Zuri]] (members of Lehi) assassinated [[Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne|Lord Moyne]] in [[Cairo]]. Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East and the assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] against the Zionist cause. After the assassination of Lord Moyne, the [[Haganah]] kidnapped, interrogated, and turned over to the British many members of the Irgun ("[[The Hunting Season]]"), and the Jewish Agency Executive decided on a series of measures against "terrorist organisations" in Palestine.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/season.html The "Hunting Season" (1945)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527054031/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/season.html |date=27 May 2016 }} by Yehuda Lapidot ([[Jewish Virtual Library]])</ref> Irgun ordered its members not to resist or retaliate with violence, so as to prevent a civil war. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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