Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer
British Army general and High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine (1857-1932) (–)
About
In April 1920, Allied powers met at the San Remo Conference in Italy. They resolved to assign the administration of Palestine to Britain under a League of Nations mandate. The League of Nations formalized the Mandate in 1922. Britain was tasked with administering Palestine and establishing a 'national home for the Jewish people'. The Mandate incorporated the 1917 Balfour Declaration, a British statement of support for a 'national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine. This policy intensified tensions with the Arab population. British High Commissioners like Herbert Plumer, a decorated WWI general, governed from Jerusalem. They faced rising Arab opposition to Jewish immigration. In 1936, tensions erupted into the Arab Revolt. This three-year uprising against British rule and Jewish immigration was suppressed by a large-scale British military campaign. After WWII, Britain was exhausted. Facing violent resistance from both Jewish paramilitaries and Arab forces, they handed the problem to the United Nations. In 1947, the UN voted to partition Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states. Britain announced it would terminate the Mandate and withdraw completely. On May 14, 1948, Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones declared the Mandate over. Hours later, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel. The British Mandate, which lasted nearly three decades (1920-1948), created a lasting political framework. It facilitated the establishment of a Jewish state while failing to reconcile this goal with the nationalist aspirations of the Arab population. (Optional for social media post) Image credits: All images sourced from Wikimedia Commons under public domain or open licenses. See provided links for details. 🔔 Subscribe for more forgotten stories from history: [Your Channel Link] 💬 Do you think the British Mandate for Palestine was destined to fail from the start, or could it have succeeded under different leadership? #history