Just finished reading this.
On November 2, 1917, the British government, represented by Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour, declared that they were in favor of 'the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.' This short note would be one of the most controversial documents of its time. A hundred...
www.versobooks.com
Its mercifully short at just over 200 pages but packs a lot of detail in.
For the beginning of the context of this conflict Id say its invaluable.
Its putting the context of the Balfour declaration / Mandate in the larger history of Inter Imperial rivalry/ demise of the Ottoman Empire and development of capitalism/ modernisation of economy.
Regan puts forward that British interest in Palestine was driven by needs of Empire. Suez canal was crucial to Empire as link to India and trade route. Also oil was becoming more important ( naval ships converted to oil from coal) and Palestine had access to sea.
Imperialism had changed from occupying land to have influence over it. Zionist settlers would provide an outpost of Europeans sympathetic to Empires needs.
THe Ottoman Empire had started some modernisation. Land ownership had been changed. However there were existing elites of notables whose position was not questioned until collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The fall of Ottoman Empire led those elites to believe they would post WW1 get self determination. This didn't happen. Worse the Mandates agreed between French And British arbitrarily carved up the middle east.
Palestine had been envisaged as part of Greater Syria - Palestine/ Lebanon/ Syria. This didn't happen. Reading the appalling way it was carved up and self determination squashed cant help but think some of the issues in Middle East today can be traced back to the bungling way French and British Imperialism behaved.
Knowledge of the Balfour Declaration was known to Arabs early on. Even before Mandate was finally agreed they were sending delegations to Europe to oppose the wording of the Mandate- which favoured Zionism. Brits seemed to think Arabs didn't follow political developments like this.
So Palestine found itself part of Empire. Development came but was skewed in favour of Zionists. Palestinian elites floundered. Finding themselves unable to work with British. Normally in British Empire local elites would be coopted. Local capitalism as well. Instead they found themselves second to Zionists.
Occasional trouble led to numerous reports. Which were ignored by British Cabinets. As per usual with British Empire the reports would say correctly that Palestinian grievances were valid but nothing was done to rectify them. For example small farmers who were broke would end up unemployed in towns as the growing Zionist business sector would not employ non Jews.
A (small) Palestinian working class was developing as well as middle class. Newspapers were developing.
The old notables of the Ottoman period were not getting anywhere. A more radical opposition grew with the new social layers joining. Leading to the Arab Revolt. An armed uprising. Based around local committees. A form of organising seen in recent Intifada. Some of those involved were Pan Arabists from other parts of Middle East. As they saw Palestine as part of larger area.
And this revolt was aimed at the British not the Zionists.
Religion does not feature that much in this. Not that this was completely secular society. He goes into the growing political presence of Palestinian woman during Mandate. The main issues were land / self determination / development of economy/ immigration of Jews. Land being a major issue. The poverty of peasantry and loss of land was ongoing grievance. Which the British did not address.
He's arguing in his book that under the Mandate Palestine went through dramatic changes in a short period of time. Social/ Economic and political.
The other major change was growth in Zionist /Jewish business. Inward investment brought in through Zionism. On Zionist side the skills and knowledge from European migrants brought development. But Palestinians were excluded from it.
There is one point in book where a Palestinian delegation meet Churchill to voice concerns about Mandate and Balfour declaration. He told them not to concern themselves as the British would be their for years. Self government would not be in place in his lifetime. This was typical attitude of the the time. Britains civilizing mission in later Empire always was that at some point when ready people would have self government. But it always was years ahead.