British Influence in Palestine

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Palestine was part

of the Arabic

Empire up to the 16th century.

Eventually, Palestine became a part of the Ottoman Empire (1500s – 1918).

British Promises• Great Britain needed to protect its connection

to India.• The British promised the Arabs their own

state, stretching from Syria to the Arabian peninsula, if they helped defeat the Ottomans.

British Promises• At the same time, Great Britain was making

promises to the Jewish people.• In the Balfour Declaration (1917), the British

promised their support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

In 1918, after WWI, the Ottoman Empire collapsed. The Arab sections of the empire were taken over by Britain and France. The Arab soldiers who had helped the British fight in WWI felt betrayed.

Under British occupation, the number of Jewish settlers increased greatly.

The Jewish population increased from being less than 1/10 of the population of the Arabs in 1919 to being almost 1/2 of the population by 1947.