Will Howard

NES 338 Midterm

Section I

1. The Mandate Charter of 1922

The Mandate Charter was issued in 1922 by the League of

Nations, with the intentions of creating a “national home” for the

Jewish people in Palestine and replacing the colonial system to meet

President Wilson’s call for an end to imperialism and for national

self determination. In the 1916 Balfour Declaration, the British

promised more than they were comfortable giving up, so at the

post-war League councils, the British hoped to fulfill the terms of

their promise to Rothschild the Jews “in depreciated currency”1

without losing control in Palestine, with its crucial access to the

Suez Canal. To this end, the Charter document set up Palestine

under a British mandatory government that was functionally similar

to the previous colonial system, with British officials overseeing the

Palestinian administrators and working through the privileged

notable class. The Charter added League of Nations oversight that

could theoretically be invoked by those the Mandate governed, and

attempted to ensure that interfaith holy lands would be fairly

managed. The Charter appointed a “Jewish agency”2 to advise the

British mandatory government, without establishing such a

1
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”Winston Churchill: The Churchill White
Paper (June 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 25
2
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 30
3
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 31
 Palestinian body, with the caveat that no “prejudice”3 be made

against the rights of non-Jewish communities, sowing seeds of later

strife.

2. Theodor Herzl

Herzl was one of the first figures behind the inception of modern

Zionism. He was an assimilated, Austrian-born French Jew before

the Dreyfuss affair prompted him to abandon assimilationism and

begin to publically criticize European anti-Semitism. He was

convinced that the best solution for the Jewish predicament was the

creation of a Jewish national home. Though most Zionists preferred

the idea of having this home in Palestine, in 1903 he controversially

suggested Uganda as an easier alternative. He called the First

Zionist Congress in 1897, bringing together an international body of

Zionist thinkers that produced a cohesive Zionist program and

founded the Zionist Organization. He also helped establish the

Jewish Colonial Trust in 1899, which served as the first Zionist bank

and helped fund the organization. Herzl was a “Diplomatic Zionist”

who believed firmly that the Jewish homeland could only be created

with the endorsement of a major international power. He devoted

most of his efforts to securing funding for the organization and to

negotiating for international support. His agenda of diplomacy

eventually culminated in the Balfour Declaration, which granted the

1
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”Winston Churchill: The Churchill White
Paper (June 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 25
2
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 30
3
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 31
 Zionist movement the British government’s blessing to create their

national home in Palestine in 1916, twelve years after Herzl’s death.

1
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”Winston Churchill: The Churchill White
Paper (June 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 25
2
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 30
3
Lacqueur, Walter and Barry Rubin, editors; ”League of Nations: The British Mandate
(July 24, 1922)”; The Arab-Israeli Reader, p. 31