1918 BRITISH MANDATE OVER PALESTINE

Nov. 2, 1917 Great Britain issues the Balfour Declaration in support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Arthur J. Balfour1917 Britain gained control of Palestine after World War I and endorsed Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour's idea of a "national home" for the Jews. The British also promised to respect the rights of non-Jews in the area, and to allow Arab leaders to have their own independent states. There was a critical misunderstanding, however: The Arabs thought Palestine was to be an independent Arab state, which was not what the British intended.

Sept. 18, 1918 British forces under Gen. Edmund Allenby enter Jerusalem.

The Middle East and the West, A Troubled

How Palestine became Israel From antiquity until the 20th century the name Palestine more often described a region than a place with precise boundaries. It is derived from what the Greeks and Romans called the "Land of the Philistines," referring to an ancient people who were contemporaries of the biblical Israelites as early as the 12th century B.C.In 1920, Palestine gained political borders for the first time in nearly 2,000 years under the British Mandate that followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Follow the evolution of the region from 1920 to modern Israel.

1920 Mandate Border

Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 until World War I. Its border with what is now Israel was established in 1920 by France and Great Britain as part of the postwar division of Ottoman Syria. If Israel were to retain control of land west of the 1920 border, it would control the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee and key water resources.

Armed conflict 1920 The British began governing Palestine in 1920. They announced a Jewish homeland would be created in the region, but that it would exist within Palestine and not encompass the entire country. The first Arab riots against Zionism took place that same year, and in 1929 a dispute at the Wailing Wall ignited an Arab riot and a call for an Islamic jihad. Consequently, Jews began arming themselves, and both sides waged terrorist attacks.