The End of the Palestine Mandate

The termination of the British Mandate in Palestine was a momentous turning point in Middle Eastern history, marked by the failure of the British to bring about a workable political composition between the Arab and Jewish communities, the subsequent referral of the problem to the United Nations and the emergence of the state of Israel, in part through effective diplomacy, but more particularly by force of arms. The underlying problems caused by the Mandate persist to this day, as intractable as ever, with serious consequences both for local security and international relations. This book provides a detailed overview of the dispute's historical origins, setting forth, one by one, the perspectives, motivations and objectives of the principal actors in the termination of the Mandate: Great Britain, as the mandatory power; the United States, as the pivot of the Zionist movement; the Soviet Union, preoccupied with the liquidation of the Western empires; the Zionists and the Arabs, both the Palestinians and the sovereign Arab states. Featuring a new Introduction by Wm. Roger Louis, this classic work provides important insights into this crucial episode in the history of the Middle East.