Western Imperialism

In 1919, following WWI and the break up of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations established a system of mandates that allowed certain Western governments to administer former colonies and territories in Africa and Asia as “trusteeships.” This mandatory system was predicated on the idea that developed Europeans nations should assist less- developed African and Asian communities in governing their populations and in advancing toward national independence.

The mandatory system was built into the League of Nations from its inception and features in its 1919 covenant. !Article 22 of the covenant defines the national status of all former colonial territories in Asia and Africa and organizes territories according to three hierarchical categories:

(1) Class A Mandate—those closest to achieving national independence (i.e., “certain communities formerly belonging to the Turkish Empire”);

(2) Class B Mandate—those requiring near-complete administration from a mandatory power (i.e., territories in Central Africa); and (3) Class C Mandate—those to be permanently administered by a mandatory power (i.e., Southwest Africa and certain of the South Pacific Islands). The mandatory system was unprecedented in the history of international relations. It was a new form of colonialism that had the appearance of international legitimacy.

The League of Nations established mandates for three former Ottoman provinces in the Middle East: Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. On July 24, 1922, Britain was handed formal control over Palestine as a Class A Mandate. This meant that Palestine was deemed close to achieving independence and that all attempts should be made to “encourage local autonomy” in the territory. The mandate also included a clear commitment to Zionist goals in Palestine as its preamble reproduced passages of the Balfour Declaration.

In a memorandum submitted by Emir Feisal to the Conference of Allied Powers at the House of Commons, March 10, 1921, he expressed deep concern over decisions by the European powers to carve up the region into separate states irrespective of their cultural homogeneity and economic interdependence. He explained that Arabs joined the war on the side of the Allies out of the promise from Britain of independence in return for their support. After fighting alongside the Allies, tutelage under European powers was not what Arabs had in mind.

The territory along the eastern and western banks of the Jordan River had been part of the historic land of Palestine for two millennia of recorded history. The distinct nature of Palestine as a cohesive political entity was a function of its historically recognized territorial and population characteristics. The Turkish Ottoman Empire administered this region for four centuries as an integral, yet distinct unit of their territorial holdings. From 1517 to 1917, the lands of the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt formed part of the Ottoman Empire. Arab territories such as the Sanjak of Jerusalem and the Vilayet of Beirut were ruled as separate administrative districts from the Ottoman seat of power in Constantinople. Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the land was divided into four districts, attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. Thus, while it is correct to say that Palestine was not a sovereign state under the Turkish Ottoman Empire, it is nonetheless true that distinct territories of that far-flung empire maintained their own territorial, demographic, and administrative characteristics, as was true, for example, for Egypt. The Ottoman Empire ruled these territories as separate units, permitting them some local autonomy, though denying them the ability to exercise national sovereignty.

It is for this reason of autonomy that the League of Nations Mandate designated Palestine as a provisionally independent territory, categorized as a Class A Mandate.

The 1922 correspondence conducted by the British Colonial Office and the two main representative bodies in Palestine—the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organisation—before the implementation of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine is revealing. Letters from the Palestine Arab Delegation emphasize the need for a representative government in Palestine and are a meticulous line-by-line criticism of Britain’s Palestine Order in Council, which stated that territories west of the Jordan River were excluded from Sir Henry McMahon’s pledge of Arab in dependence. Palestinian delegation letters also complain that promises to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine and the influx of “alien Jews” to the territory were threatening the prosperity of Palestinian national life. In contrast, the Zionist Organisation, under Chaim Weizmann, expressed satisfaction with Britain’s reiteration of the commitment to establish a Jewish homeland.

In 1936, Saudi Arabia was made out of the Hejaz and other tribal areas in the Arabian Peninsula, but did not include the entire peninsula. In the process, Britain sacrificed Sharif Hussein, the ruler of the Hejaz, in favor of Abdul Aziz ibn el-Seoud, who founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The territories not incorporated by King el-Seoud into Saudi Arabia became Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain, a series of sheikhdoms based on the tribes that inhabited them. Britain carved Kuwait out of a small territory that could have easily been claimed by Iraq or Saudi Arabia. Only because the British favored the leader of the small fishing tribe who controlled a small seaport on the Persian Gulf was it separately apportioned. Only Yemen remained geographically within the region as it had been for centuries.

C.