British policy towards self-governing institutions in mandatory Palestine : the question of the Legislative Council, 1932-1936 -

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the manner in which the British authorities approached the obligation to develop a Legislative Council in Mandatory Palestine between 1932 and 1936, as stipulated by the terms of the Passfield White Paper of October 1930. It makes extensive use of British government sources to discover how the obligation was interpreted by the British Palestine policy making community during this period. In doing so, this thesis aims to fill a gap in the existing literature relating to the political history of Mandatory Palestine. It is argued that, in the eyes of senior policy makers, the Legislative Council, which was originally interpreted as a disruptive measure destined to further aggravate already tense relations between the country’s Arab and Jewish populations, was eventually reformulated in the context of growing Arab anti-Mandatory agitation as a potential political asset, capable of restoring Arab faith in the Mandate system and warding off the prospect of all out rebellion. However, HMG was ultimately denied freedom of action to proceed with the desired constitutional reform by the rapid mobilization of opposition sympathetic to the Zionist cause within the British Parliament which prompted them to temporarily suspend the advancement of the scheme in the period immediately preceding the outbreak of the Arab Revolt.