Britain’s “mandate” over Palestine from 1920-48 left an apparatus of repression which Israel inherited and still uses today in its ferocious war on Palestinians.
Israel’s present use of collective punishment against Palestinians owes much of its origins to British rule in Palestine.
So too do the aerial bombardments, military raids, use of Palestinian civilians as human shields and the infrastructure of military law deployed against an occupied, overwhelmingly civilian population.
Britain ruled Palestine during its “mandate” between 1920-48, and its repressive infrastructure came into full force during the 1936-39 Great Arab Revolt.
In 1936, Palestine erupted into a national uprising following two decades of peaceful resistance against British rule and several failed uprisings over the 1920s, as the political and economic situation became dire for the Arab majority.
The uprising called for an end to British support for Zionist colonization and a guarantee of Palestinian self-determination. Britain, however, saw it as a threat to its rule and responded with brutal repression.
By the end of the revolt, 10 percent of the adult male Arab population were either killed, wounded, imprisoned or exiled by the British.
This brought the revolt to an end but also devastated Palestinian society and left it defenseless against Zionist militia groups during the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe). Then, over two-thirds of the Palestinian people were ethnically cleansed from their country to establish the State of Israel.
Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi has argued that the armed suppression of Arab resistance during the revolt was among the most valuable services Britain provided to the Zionist movement. (more...)
Israel’s Brutality Against Palestinians Draws on British Rule
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