Churchill White Paper facts for kids
The Churchill White Paper of June 3, 1922, was an important document about the future of Mandatory Palestine. It was written because Winston Churchill, who was then in charge of the British Colonies, wanted to respond to problems like the 1921 Jaffa Riots. The paper's full name was Palestine: Correspondence with the Palestine Arab Delegation and the Zionist Organisation.
This document confirmed Britain's promise from the Balfour Declaration to support a Jewish national home in Palestine. However, it also made it clear that this home would not force a Jewish identity on the Arab people already living there. To help calm tensions between Arabs and Jews, the paper said that Jewish immigration would be limited. New Jewish people could only move to Palestine if the country's economy could support them. Many Zionists saw this limit as a setback. But the paper did agree that Jewish people should be able to grow their numbers through immigration, not just by staying put.
Contents
Why the Paper Was Needed
Early Resistance to British Plans
After World War I, in October 1918, Britain took control of parts of the former Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. An Arab government was set up in Damascus, aiming for independence.
In Palestine, Arab groups called Muslim-Christian Associations formed to oppose Zionism. They later created the Palestine Arab Congress. In November 1918, on the first anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, there were peaceful protests. People sent messages to British officials, showing they were against Zionist policies.
In early 1919, the first Palestinian Arab Congress said no to political Zionism. They saw Palestine as part of an independent Syria led by Faisal bin Hussein. They even sent people to a meeting in Damascus to say Palestine should be called Southern Syria and join Northern Syria.
The Arab Kingdom of Syria was a short-lived state in 1920, led by Faisal. It claimed a larger area but controlled little. Britain and France did not support it.
After the Jerusalem riots in April 1920, the San Remo conference gave Britain control over Palestine. The British then stopped a second Palestinian Arab Congress from meeting.
The Balfour Declaration was not published in Palestine for two years. This was because the military leaders feared what might happen. It was only in May 1920 that the Balfour Declaration was read out in Nablus. Some believed it would have been better to publish it right away to avoid confusion.
Meetings in Cairo and Jerusalem
The leaders of the third Palestine Arab Congress, led by Musa Kazim al-Husseini, met with the new British High Commissioner, Herbert Samuel. Samuel refused to officially recognize them unless they accepted Britain's plan for a Jewish national home.
The Arab leaders then met with Winston Churchill in Jerusalem in March 1921. They complained about the situation. Churchill told them that Britain would keep its promises in the Balfour Declaration. He said that Jewish immigration was part of this policy and Arabs would have to accept it.
In Cairo, Churchill also spoke with Emir Abdullah. Abdullah wanted control over all of Palestine or a union with Iraq. Churchill said no to both ideas. Churchill also told Abdullah that "hundreds and thousands of Jews" would not suddenly flood into Palestine. He said Jewish immigration would be slow. He promised that the rights of the non-Jewish people would be protected. Herbert Samuel added that there would be no Jewish government and no Arab land or Muslim religion would be taken away.
Discussions in London
The fourth Arab Congress in June 1921 decided to send a group of six men to London. They left Palestine in July 1921. After a stop in Cairo, they went to Rome and met Pope Benedict XV, who showed support for their cause.
The group, known as the Palestinian Arab Delegation, arrived in London in August. Some members also went to Geneva to speak to the League of Nations and protest the plan for Palestine.
The delegation's president was Musa Kazim al-Husseini. They met Churchill three times in August. They also talked with other British officials and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann. However, these talks did not achieve much. The Arab delegation wanted the British policy to be completely changed. Britain was only willing to make small adjustments.
Finally, in February, the British sent the Arab delegation a draft of the proposed Palestine constitution. The delegation's reply to this draft became the first document in the White Paper.
The Jaffa Riots
The riots in and around Jaffa in May 1921 were very important. A report published in October 1921 said the main reason for the riots was Arab unhappiness. They were upset about Jewish immigration and felt the British were favoring the Jews. The Churchill White Paper was created to deal with these problems.
What the Policy Said
On June 3, 1921, Herbert Samuel gave a speech that tried to explain the Balfour Declaration. Many people, even British officials, were unsure what the British policy on Zionism truly meant. Churchill himself defended the policy in Parliament. He said it was important for Britain to keep its promises. He also believed that if immigration was managed well, it would help the economy.
Herbert Samuel insisted on a clear explanation of the Balfour Declaration. While he supported the idea of a national home, the policy limited it. It said the Jewish national home would not include the land east of the Jordan River. Politically, it meant developing the existing community. And for numbers, future immigration would be limited to what the country's economy could handle.
The "British Policy in Palestine" part of the White Paper was accepted by the Zionist Organization. However, the Palestinian Arabs rejected it. Soon after, the British House of Lords voted against a Palestine Mandate that included the Balfour Declaration. But this vote was overturned by the House of Commons.
The White Paper became official in August as a Palestine Order in Council. It confirmed Britain's promise for a national home. But it also promised that Palestine would not become a Jewish State. It also said that Arabs would not be put under Jewish rule. The paper clarified that the Balfour Declaration did not mean all of Palestine would become a Jewish national home. Instead, a home would be "founded in Palestine." It confirmed the right to Jewish immigration, but only if the country could economically support it.
Some experts, like Evyatar Friesel, said the White Paper and the Mandate had "clearly contradictory" terms. Britain had a "double obligation" to both Jews and non-Jews. The idea of Palestine as a whole becoming a Jewish home was rejected. But it also said that Jews were in Palestine "as of right and not on sufferance."
The Mandate recognized the historical connection of the Jewish people to Palestine. It also said Britain had to help create a "Jewish national home." But Britain also had to develop self-governing groups for all people in Palestine, not just Jews. It also had to protect the civil and religious rights of everyone. The problem was that neither the declaration nor the Mandate clearly defined the "national home." They also did not explain how the rights of the "non-Jewish" population would be protected. This lack of clear terms made it hard to govern the country.
The Palestinian Arab delegation also raised concerns about the McMahon-Hussein correspondence. This was a set of letters from World War I that Arabs believed promised them independence, including Palestine. The British response in the White Paper did not fully answer this claim.
What Happened Next
In February 1923, a British official named Cavendish wrote a long memo for the government. He said that the Zionist policy was unpopular. People in Parliament and the press were attacking it. They said it broke promises to Arabs, was unfair to the majority of Arabs, and cost British taxpayers too much money.
Cavendish asked the government to decide if its promises to Arabs conflicted with the Balfour Declaration. If not, should they continue the policy from the 1922 White Paper? If not, what new policy should they adopt?
In June 1923, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin set up a committee. This committee was to look at the Palestine policy again. They would advise if Britain should stay in Palestine and if the pro-Zionist policy should continue.
The government approved this committee's report in July 1923. The report showed that Britain's support for Zionism was not just about what was best for Palestine. It was also about other reasons. It was very hard for the government to change its policy without losing face.
The ideas from the White Paper were then included in the British Mandate for Palestine. This was a legal document that created Mandatory Palestine. Its clear goal was to put the Balfour Declaration into action. It became official in September 1923. Unlike the declaration itself, the Mandate was legally binding on the British government.
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