The Implementation of the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate in Palestine: problems of con- quest and colonisation at the nadir of British Imperi- alism (1917–1936) Regan, Bernard (2016) The Implementation of the Balfour Dec- laration and the British Mandate in Palestine: problems of con- quest and colonisation at the nadir of British Imperialism (1917– 1936) University of Surrey Version: PhD thesis Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individ- ual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open- Research Archive’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult http:// research.stmarys.ac.uk/policies.html http://research.stmarys.ac.uk/ The Implementation of the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate in Palestine: problems of conquest and colonisation at the nadir of British Imperialism (1917–1936) Thesis submitted by Bernard Regan For the award of Doctor of Philosophy School of Arts and Humanities University of Surrey January 2016 ©Bernard Regan 2016 1 Summary The objective of this thesis is to analyse the British Mandate in Palestine with a view to developing a new understanding of the interconnections and dissonances between the principal agencies. Through a critical examination of British government papers the thesis argues that the moment of the British Mandate in Palestine signalled a new phase in the development of British imperialism constituting a rupture with the colonialist past and the advent of a new type of imperialist relationship. The encounter between this new-imperialism which developed from the end of the nineteenth century and a Palestinian society which was in the process of transformation between a predominantly pre-capitalist agricultural society into a commodity producing capitalist one engendered a conflictual environment dislocating the economic, social and political structures that existed. The Balfour Declaration constituted an agreement between British imperialism and organised Zionism which was the establishment of a symbiotic relationship emerging from the coalescence of two interdependent political goals. The British, intent on preserving their position as an imperial hegemon perceived the occupation of Palestine as a critical component of their strategy and a vital adjunct of their objective of remaining the dominant force in the region of the Near East. The combined aspects of this strategy cannot be reduced to but may be expressed as: a desire to retain untrammelled communications through the Suez Canal with the Empire at large; a pre- occupation with seeking to establish a dominant position in respect of the exploitation and marketisation of oil and the implantation of a colonising surrogate to act as the agency through which its objectives might be mediated. The Zionist objective, to create a National Home for the Jews, constituted a nationalist endeavour premised on the acquisition of an imperialist sponsor. The British course of action through the implementation of the Mandate constituted an intervention which distorted and gravely damaged the evolution of the economic, social and political life of the indigenous Palestinians. The thesis in analysing these events in a new way argues for a fresh appreciation of the origin and character of the British Mandate in Palestine. 2 3 Acknowledgements Page I express my gratitude to Professor Nur Masalha and to Doctor Claire Norton for their support, advice and guidance throughout the process of writing this thesis. I am profoundly grateful to them for all the assistance they have given me. My thanks are also due to Doctor Mark Donnelly for his comments on the thesis. In addition I want to express my gratitude to numerous friends who have given advice, support and encouragement over the years. Brian Grogan, Doreen Weppler, Jane Shallice, Leila Younes, Maha Younes and Monica Brady. My thanks also to my sisters Margaret Regan and Shelagh Regan for their continued interest in the progress of the work over the years. My special thanks to Carole Regan for her advice, encouragement, support, tolerance and much more throughout this process. 4 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 6 CHAPTER ONE: Imperialism, Colonialism and Settlers: The Problem Reconsidered 26 CHAPTER TWO: War, Empire and Palestine 71 CHAPTER THREE: The Balfour Declaration, Self-Determination and Arab Opposition 111 CHAPTER FOUR: The Mandate and Palestinian Politics 145 CHAPTER FIVE: Towards the Palestinian Revolt 209 CHAPTER SIX: Conclusions 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY 258 5 INTRODUCTION This thesis offers an innovative explanation and evaluation of the nature of the British occupation and Mandate in Palestine from 1917 to 1936. Examining the process by which British imperialism was implemented in Palestine through a policy of settler- colonialism I argue that this form of colonial intervention constituted a new phase in the development of British imperialism. The war for plunder and the looting of goods characteristic of earlier forms of imperialism was, from the end of the nineteenth century, increasingly augmented, and to some degree supplanted, by competition for raw materials and control over markets. This led to a continuous predatory activity by imperial powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and others, seeking to acquire lands and their raw materials coupled with the subjugation of rivals and the brutal repression of the rights of peoples of the lands conquered.1 The thesis makes the case that the British occupation of Palestine and the implementation of the Mandate constituted a break in the nature and practice of British imperialism with that of the nineteenth century. I argue that the method of colonisation employed by the British in respect of the Zionist project differed from that of the preceding period. Furthermore the thesis contends that the Balfour Declaration which was innately contradictory was an expression of the coalescence of the strategic objectives of British imperialism with the aspirations of the Zionist movement. Lastly, I argue that the British implementation of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate in Palestine had a fundamentally disruptive impact on the ability of Palestinian society to achieve sovereignty. By utilising the methodological approach outlined in Chapter One I demonstrate how the attempts by the indigenous Palestinian people to respond politically to the intervention of British imperialism and Zionist colonisation were continuously thwarted, disrupting what might otherwise have been a relatively untrammelled progress towards self-determination. Whilst addressing the contradictions, dissonances and convergences produced by the interplay of global and local factors the chapters of the thesis seek to remain within an overall chronological framework. 1 See for example Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost (Oxford: MacMillan, 1999), for a graphic description of the role of Belgium imperialism in the Congo region. 6 The originality of the thesis lies in the approach which has been adopted which emphasises the importance of analysing the global, regional and local context within which British imperialism implemented the Mandate. Palestinian society which had already experienced challenges as a result of longer-term developments within the Ottoman Empire was confronted by the seismic disruption caused by the First World War and the British occupation of the country to which were added the challenges created by Zionist settlement. The characteristics of Palestinian society were compromised, adversely affecting the development of the endeavour for self- determination. From a methodological perspective therefore the thesis will examine how the asymmetrical pressures exerted on Palestinian society by changes in the character of the Ottoman Empire coupled with the immediacy of the British occupation and the imposition of the Zionist project affected the growth and development of Palestinian society and its political response. The thesis interrogates the specificities of the new-imperialism emerging in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century, which was defined by four key features: the move towards control over sources of raw materials; the emergence of finance capital producing a new unity of industrial and commercial enterprises; the desire to hegemonise global markets and the abandonment of more traditional colonialist practice to be replaced by the development of a neo-colonialist strategy. The British occupation of Palestine constituted the first major encounter of this new-imperialism with a country and a people it sought to dominate. I argue that re-examining British imperialism from within a framework that foregrounds these four elements provides an original insight into the operations of the Mandate and the policies adopted by the British. British disdain for the aspirations of the indigenous peoples of lands they colonised was a constant. The history of colonisation was one which cannot be written without due recognition of the consequences of occupation, military subjugation, displacement and genocide of indigenous peoples. A superiority, at times articulated in quite explicitly racial terms placed all those whom the British 7 ruled into subordinate categories of human beings.2 From the outset the project of the creation of a homeland for the Jews was based on the denial of the rights of the indigenous peoples. Unlike past scholarship on this subject which has tended to concentrate on a chronological account of the period this thesis presents a multi-faceted interpretive