1918 - 1935 From the British Occupation to the Great Palestine
Abu Ghosh, about fourteen kilometers from Jerusalem, on the road to Jaffa. "Before their Diaspora"

1918

Palestine occupied by Allied forces under British General Allenby.
End of World War I.

1919

Paris Peace Conference decides conquered Arab provinces will not be restored to Ottoman rule.
First Palestinian National Congress in Jerusalem sends two memoranda to Peace Conference rejecting Balfour Declaration and demanding independence.
Peace Conference decides to send international commission of inquiry to ascertain aspirations of Near East peoples, led by Americans Henry C. King and Charles R. Crane as England and France decline to participate.
Commission recommends that "the project of making Palestine distinctly a Jewish commonwealth should be given up".

1920

Disturbances in Palestine: 5 Jews killed and 200 wounded.
British appoints Palin Commission of Inquiry; Commission report attributes troubles to non-fulfillment of promises of Arab independence and fear of political and economic consequences of Zionism.
General Syrian Congress proclaims independence of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Transjordan with Prince Faisal as King.
Supreme Council of San Remo Peace Conference assigns Palestine Mandate to Britain without consent of Palestinians.
British prevent Second Palestinian National Congress from convening.
British civilian administration inaugurated; Sir Herbert Samuel (an Anglo-Jewish politician) appointed first high commissioner.
Third Palestinian National Congress elects Executive Committee, which remains in control of Palestinian political movement from 1920 to 1935.

1921

Founding of the Haganah, the Zionist's illegal underground military organization.
Outbreak of disturbances in Jaffa protesting large-scale Zionist immigration; 46 Jews killed and 146 wounded.
British Haycraft Commission of Inquiry attributes disturbances to fears of Zionist mass immigration.
Haj Amin al-Husseini appointed Mufti of Jerusalem.
Fourth Palestinian National Congress decides to send a Palestinian delegation to London to explain the Palestinian case against the Balfour Declaration.

1922

Second Palestinian delegation to London announces rejection of Balfour Declaration to British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill and demands national independence. Churchill issues White Paper excluding Transjordan from scope of Balfour declaration. Ignoring political criteria, White Paper authorizes Jewish immigration according to "economic absorptive capacity" of the country.
League of Nations Council approves Mandate for Palestine.
Fifth Palestinian National Congress agrees to economic boycott of Zionists.
First British census of Palestine shows population of 757,182, with 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish and 9.6% Christian.

1923

Resigning from Zionist Executive, Polish Zionist leader Vladimir Jabotinsky calls for forcible colonization of Palestine and Transjordan.
British Mandate for Palestine comes officially into being.

1924 - 1928

Fourth wave of 67,000 Zionist immigrants, over 50% from Poland, increases Jewish population of Palestine to 16% of total. Registered Jewish land ownership (1928) totals 4.2% of area of country.

1925

Jabotinsky forms Revisionist Party with aim of "revising" Mandate to include colonization of Transjordan.
Palestinian general strike protests private visit by Lord Balfour to Jerusalem.

1928

First attempt by some Jewish religious leaders to change "status quo" at Wailing Wall.
Islamic Conference, meeting in Jerusalem, demands protection of Muslim property rights at Wailing Wall, itself a Muslim holy site.

1929

Palestinians riot in several towns in reaction to militant demonstrations at Wailing Wall. In resulting clashes, 133 Jews killed and 339 wounded; 116 Palestinians killed and 232 wounded, mostly at hands of British military.
General conference convenes in Jerusalem to formulate Palestinian position on Wailing Wall controversy.

1930

League of Nations Council appoints international commission to investigate legal status of Palestinians and Jews at Wailing Wall.
British Shaw Palestinian Commission of Inquiry attributes 1929 disturbances to Palestinian fears of Jewish immigration "not only as a menace to their livelihood but as a possible overlord of the future".
Fourth Palestinian Delegation to London.
British Hope-Simpson report on land settlement, immigration and development in Palestine concludes that there is not sufficient agricultural land for substantially increased number of Jewish settlers.
British Colonial Secretary Lord Passfield issues White Paper of 1930 on Palestine, which takes note of views expressed by Hope-Simpson and Shaw commissions of inquiry.
International Wailing Wall Commission recommends restoration of status quo ante and confirms Muslim property rights at Wailing Wall.

1931

Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization), Irgun or IZL for short, founded by Revisionist groups and dissidents from Haganah, advocates a more militant policy against Palestinians. Vladimir Jabotinsky is commander-in-chief.
In a letter to Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald virtually retracts Lord Passfield's White Paper of 1930.
Second British census of Palestine shows total population of 1,035,154 with 73.4% Muslim, 16.9% Jewish and 8.6% Christian.
Lewis French, British Director of Development for Palestine, publishes report on "Landless Arabs", caused by Zionist colonization.

1932

Formation of Istiqlal (Independence) Party as first regularly constituted Palestinian political party.

1933

Arab Executive Committee declares Zionist mass immigration "has terrified the country".
British Secretary of State issues statement on resettlement of Palestinian farmers displaced from land acquired by Zionists.
Committee calls for general strike to protest British pro-Zionist policies, especially sponsorship of Zionist mass immigration; disturbances break out in main towns.

1934

Special commission of inquiry under Sir William Murison reports on causes of 1933 disturbances.
Defense Party founded.

1935

Palestine Arab Party founded.
Reform Party founded.
Revisionists quit World Zionist Organization (WZO) to form New Zionist Organization with aim of "liberating" Palestine and Transjordan.
Large quantity of arms smuggled from Belgium by Zionist groups, discovered at Jaffa port.
Sheikh 'Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Muslim cleric from Haifa, leader of first Palestinian guerrilla group fighting British policy in Palestine, killed in action against British security force.
High commissioner proposes establishment of 28-member Legislative Council with Palestinians holding only 14 seats; Palestinians accept proposal in principle.

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