The Arab and Western Role in the Occupation of Palestine(1917-1948)

Abstract

The study aims to examine the role of Arab and Western powers in enabling the Jews to establish themselves in Palestine, focusing on the period preceding the Nakba and the declaration of the Israeli state. The research analyzes the main actors and the impact of their policies on the developments in the region, highlighting the Arab shift toward the West and the overt Western ambitions regarding Palestine. The study relies on the historical descriptive and analytical approach to examine official documents, correspondence, and personal memoirs of political leaders, in addition to a comparative method to identify similarities and differences between Western and Arab positions. The results indicate that the Arab and Western roles, represented by Arab kings and princes and Western governments, were jointly influential in shaping the course of events, with some Arab monarchs and princes involved in undermining Palestinian revolutionary movements, reflecting a conflict of interests with popular aspirations, especially during the 1936 Palestinian revolt and the 1948 war. The study confirms that failure was not due to a lack of popular will but to conflicting political agendas. It concludes that there is a need to reconsider the selection of political leadership and understand the reasons behind enabling the occupation to strengthen national and collective unity in facing ongoing threats.