s of the Ottoman Empire. Palestine being a former subject territory of this area, fell under the terms of Article 22. The purpose of the mandates was to prepare the people of the mandated territories for independence. Britain was granted the Mandate over Palestine by the San Remo Conference of April, 1920. The Mandate was ratified by the League of Nations on July 24, 1922. It was proclaimed by the British Empire on September 11, 1923 and went into effect on September 29, 1923. Before the Covenant and Article 22 could be implemented there had first to be signed a peace treaty with Turkey, the former sovereign of Palestine and other territories lost to the British and French in the war. The first treaty with Turkey, the Treaty of Sevres, proved abortive. It was replaced by the binding Treaty of Lausaane. De facto, both the British Empire and the Zionists acted to implement the Mandate over Palestine on the ground before either the peace traty with Turkey was signed or the Mandate actually became official. There was a further problem. The Mandate system provided for both Class A and Class B Mandates, the former for people capable of immediate independence, the latter requiring a longer system of tutelage. The Arabs of Palestine conceived themselves in the former category; the British and the Zionists rejected the argument as inconsistent with the eventual creation of a Jewish state. 

When the First World War ended, Palestine was under the control of the British military, the Occupant of Enemy Territory Administration (the O.E.T.A.) The military administration was thoroughly hostile to the Zionists. The Arabs had been the allies of the British army during the war against the Turks and had shed, and taken, much blood. The World Zionist Organization, representing the Zionists under their leader, Chaim Weizmann, had sent an organization known as the Zionist Commission to Palestine to, in effect, dictate to the British as the real rulers of Palestine. It is necessary to recall at this point that the Balfour Declaration, the declaration of His Majesty's Government,sponsoring a Jewish 'national home' in Palestine, had been incorporated into the language of the Mandate granted to the British Empire at San Remo in April, 1920. This was the basis for the existence of the Zionist Commission. It may be well to here quote the actual language of the Mandate For Palestine contained in Article Four:

 

'An appropriate Jewish Agency shall be recognized as a public body for the purpose of advising and co-operating with the Administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish National Home and the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine, and, subject always to the control of the Administration, to assist and take part in the development of the country.

 

The Zionist Organization, so long as its organization and constitution are in the opinion of the Mandatory appropriate, shall be recognized as such agency. It shall take steps in consultation with His Brittanic Majesty's Government to secure the co-operation of all Jews who are willing to assist in the establishment of the Jewish National Home.'

 

When the British Military Adminstration passed out of existence in July, 1920, so did the Zionist Commission. The Mandate over Palestine de facto came into existence under the first British High Commissioner For Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel. The defuct Zionist Commission was replaced by a new creation of the World Zionist Organization, the Palestine Zionist Executive. The PZE served as the liason and conduit for Zionist input into the British Mandatory Administration until 1929 when the Jewish Agency for Palestine was formally inaugurated. The Jewish Agency then became the 'consulting' organ referenced in Article Four of the Mandate-and so continued until the establishment of the state of Israel in May, 1948. The relation of the Jewish Agency to the World Zionist Organization was very close. The Agency had offices in both Palestine, London and Geneva. Its offices in Switzerland were in the same building as that of the World Zionist Organization. Eventually its personnel became co-extensive with that of the WZO as well.

 

The British, as the Mandatory power, reported to the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations. That Commission was responsible for enforcing and upholding the terms of the Mandate as carried out by the Mandatory power, Great Britain. That, in brief, was the British, Jewish and international framework within which the Palestine Mandate operated.

Source: ZioPedia.org

www.ziopedia.org/articles/israel%10palestine/the_structure_of_british_and_zionist_politics_in_palestine/