Palestine (1920-1948)

Mandatory Palestine in the year 1946

This article pertains to Palestine as a League of Nations Mandate (from 1920-1948), the second period in the history of British occupation of the region. For Palestine under the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration, the period of initial British occupation, see; Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in Palestine.

This article is in regards the country of Palestine as a League of Nations Mandate established in the year 1920 of which the British government was given the responsibility of sponsoring as a new nation that was to join the League of Nations. In practice it continued to act as a British overseas holding, with executive power remaining with the British High Commissioner in Palestine rather than an official of the governing council. Palestine during this era of it's history is also known as Mandatory Palestine. The term Mandatory refers to it's legal status rather than the definition of compulsory or necessary.

Today it's territory is disputed between the State of Palestine (دولة فلسطين ; Dawlat Filasṭīn) and the State of Isreal.

Etymology

The nation formally adopted the name Palestine, in accordance with native Palestinian history, tradition and culture. The nation's charter stipulated that Palestine would have three official languages: Arabic, English and Hebrew.

British officials used both the historic Arabic equivalent to the English name, and its Hebrew transcription i.e. Filasţīn (فلسطين) and Pālēśtīnā (פּלשׂתינה) respectively from 1920 until 1924. The Jewish members of the governing council did not like that the Hebrew name was Pālēśtīnā and desired that the Hebrew name should be changed to ʾĒrēts Yiśrāʾel (ארץ ישׂראל, "Land of Israel"). The Jewish community sought to influence British officials by offering bribes [citation requested] to ensure that the Hebrew initials Alef-Yod (א״י) were appended in parentheses after Pālēśtīnā whenever the nation's name appeared in Hebrew in official documents. However, this compromise was a violation of the nation's terms and the Arab members of the governing council opposed the change. A number suggested an alternative compromise of "Southern Syria" as the official name in both languages but British officials rejected this out of concern that it would one day lead to Palestine unifying with Syria. As such from 1924 to 1948 the state, under the legal status of a League of Nations Mandate, was officially known as Pālēśtīnā Alef-Yod in the Hebrew translation which was understandably a subject of contention within the state as the initials of Alef-Yod stand for 'Land of Isreal'. Essentially in Hebrew the name was 'Palestine, the Land of Isreal'. The Arabic translation of the state's official name remained unchanged; remaining simply Palestine (Filasṭīn).

As a result the state was officially known as both 'Palestine' and 'Palestine, the Land of Isreal' depending on which language was in use. In practice as both translations included Palestine such was the common way of referencing the state. Today the use of the term 'Mandatory Palestine' allows one to avoid controversy associated with this as the official Hebrew translation has been used as justification for the State of Isreal as a successor to the Mandate. The use of the term also helps to distinguish Palestine as a Mandate from the modern state.