Introduction
In a letter dated November 2nd, 1917, towards the end of the Great War, Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour assured prominent banker Lord Rothschild that the British Government would do what it could to carve out a homeland for Jewish people in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire. The promise was kept, and this is how the Colonial Office List for 1946 summarised the formation of British Mandatory Palestine, the forerunner of the State of Israel.
UNDER Turkish rule part of Palestine was in the Vilayet (province) of Beirut and part in the Sanjak (district) of Jerusalem.* After its conquest in 1917-1918 by the British forces, the country remained under British military administration until July, 1920, when Sir Herbert Samuel was appointed High Commissioner, and a civil administration set up.
By the treaty of peace, signed at Lausanne on 24th July, 1923, Turkey renounced all rights over Palestine.* The Principal Allied Powers had selected His Britannic Majesty as mandatory at the conference at San Remo on 25th April, 1920. The terms of the mandate were approved by the Council of the League of Nations on 24th July, 1922, and the mandate came into force on 29th September, 1923.
Ottoman Syria was a very large region, encompassing modern-day Syria in the north down to what is now Israel, and Baghdad in today’s Iraq.
Sir Herbert Samuel (1870-1963), 1st Viscount Samuel, had been Home Secretary in the cabinet of Prime Minister Asquith. He served as the first High Commissioner of British Mandatory Palestine, from 1920 to 1925. He was Home Secretary again in 1931-32, and was created Viscount Samuel in 1937, leading the Liberal Party in the House of Lords.
The British Mandate for Palestine was much larger than what is sometimes called ‘Palestine’ today: about 80% of the Mandate’s region lay east of the Jordan River, and was called the Transjordan by the British (in 1946 it became the Arab Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan). Israel and the Palestinian Authority within it equates to only about 20% of the Mandate. See the Times of Israel for more information. Transjordan became the fully-independent Arab Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1946. The French Mandate in Syria ended in 1945, and the country became a Republic. The State of Israel was officially recognised by the United Nations in 1948.
Précis
In 1946, the British Colonial Office gave a short rehearsal of the events leading up to the formation of British Mandatory Palestine, recalling that after the Great War, two regions of Ottoman Syria had been brought together under the authority of the League of Nations, and placed under British management, with effect from September 29th, 1923. (56 / 60 words)
In 1946, the British Colonial Office gave a short rehearsal of the events leading up to the formation of British Mandatory Palestine, recalling that after the Great War, two regions of Ottoman Syria had been brought together under the authority of the League of Nations, and placed under British management, with effect from September 29th, 1923.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, besides, despite, ought, since, unless, whether, who.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Colonel Lawrence feel betrayed by the Sykes-Picot leak?
Suggestion
It broke his promises of Arab self-government. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Russian communists leaked the Sykes-Picot agreement. The British were embarrassed. Their allies were angry.