Palestine in the Second World War: Strategic Plans and Political Dilemmas -- The Emergence of a New Middle East

by Daphna Sharfman

While the conflicts and national aspirations in British mandatory Palestine in particular and the Middle East in general were evident before the outbreak of the Second World War, the war itself accelerated and enhanced national expectations and presented continuing tactical and strategic dilemmas to British, Arab and Jewish leaders. British strategic policy during the war failed to provide answers to the political issues of the growing national demands in Palestine, and led to severe distrust of British policy among Arabs and Jews, as the two communities were framing mostly opposing reactions to wartime developments, and to conflicting expectations and policies towards post-war solutions for Palestine. The aim of this work is to analyse the continual development of strategic plans and political dilemmas that arose during the war period, which led to the subsequent post-war circumstance where American and Soviet involvement impacted on the strategic thinking of all involved
parties, notwithstanding t

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

Reviews

[Jonathan]

British Mandatory Palestine was both an area of prime strategic importance and a fearful imperial headache for the British in the Second World War. As both an outpost and base for the Empire forces fighting in the Mediterranean and North Africa, it played a critical role, but with its mixed and hostile population of Arabs and Jews, both expecting something like sole ownership after the war, and with only the Zionist Yishuv actively helping the Allied cause during the war, the British political and military leaderships were justifiably worried about what they could expect in Palestine once the war would stop; then the local fighting would begin. The Jews in Palestine were naturally concerned about what to do to help their fellow Jews suffering horribly under the Nazi regime, while the British were fixated on maintaining a very low number of refugees allowed into the country so as not to upset the Arabs. Early in the war, the country was under threat of Axis invasion, and the British had to develop plans to counter that possibility. There was also some cooperation between the British and the Yishuv on military matters. Professor Sharfman covers this complicated ground in a workmanlike fashion. An interesting survey of a not-often-studied era of the history of the Land of Israel.