BRITAIN IN PALESTINE
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Palestine had been run by a military administration since the end of the War in the Middle East, and the British government now switched to a civil government run by the Colonial Office in London. The ruler would be a High Commissioner, appointed by Britain, and he would have the task of running a country trying to recover after years of war.
In spite of attempts to conceal or deny the Balfour Declaration’s promises to Jews, Palestinian Arabs began to suspect that Britain would not be evenhanded between the small population of Jews and the Arab majority. Their suspicions were confirmed when Britain appointed as its first High Commissioner for Palestine a leading British Jew.
Zionism Gains a Foothold
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When Britain was given the Mandate, a peace Agreement with Turkey had still not been signed, so a military administration was put in place. The military government, called OETA – Occupied Enemy Territory Administration – was generally a benign administration as far as the Arabs were concerned, trying to be fair to all sections of the population.
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