A Forgivable Genocide -- Part 2 - Jordan ... by Bob Nelson
Part 2 - Jordan
After the creation of the Emirate of Transjordan in the early 1920s as a British satellite alongside the "Palestine Mandate", things were fairly quiet all the way to the Second World War. The British slowly granted more and more authority to Emir Abdullah's administration, ultimately keeping only foreign and military affairs.
A steady influx of Jewish immigrants into Palestine (they were forbidden entry to Transjordan) led to rising Arab resentment, and ultimately to a revolt 1936-1939, with thousands dead. To calm Arab anger, the British put relatively tight limits on Jewish immigration to Palestine.
On the diplomatic front, it was clear that Transjordan would be excluded from any new Jewish state to be created in Palestine, east of the Jordan. It was not at all clear, however, what the relationship would be between the Emirate and the Muslim portion of Palestine. There were several possibilities: - The Emirate might be expanded to include Muslim portions of Palestine. - A new Muslim state might englobe Muslim portions of Palestine and the Emirate. - There might be two separate states: an unchanged Transjordan and a new Muslim Palestinian state. - All Muslim Palestinians might be moved to Transjordan, leaving all land west of the Jordan for the Jews.
There were partisans for each of these solutions, and each was possible, even the last one, which seems outlandish today. The breakup of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Great War created a number of small, ethnically (almost) homogeneous countries. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced in (failed) efforts to make those new counties completely homogeneous.
Diplomats tried to improve the chances of their preferred solution, but none really dominated. In general, the British avoided getting sucked into any actual realization of a Jewish state. Why? Perhaps from loyalty to their Arab allies. Perhaps they feared that a Jewish state would bring conflict and that they would get caught in the crossfire. Perhaps from anti-Semitism. Perhaps from a bit of all of those...
The Emirate of Transjordan became the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in May 1946.
World War Two... and the Holocaust... had changed everything. The creation of a Jewish state became inevitable and urgent.
The British made a quick effort at finding a universally acceptable solution, saw that there was none... and threw in the towel. They asked to be relieved of the mandate, and announced that they would pull out.
The UN looked at several solutions, and in 1947 decided that partition was the least bad. The UN plan was a compromise. Like all compromises it can be seen as good or bad for each stakeholder, depending on the criteria applied.
The UN plan was accepted by the Jews and refused by surrounding Arab nations. The opinion of the local Arabs is unknown, because no one asked them. Violence broke out even before Britain's mandate ended. Israel declared its independence, on the basis of the UN partition. War ensued.
Israel was very nearly overwhelmed in the initial Arab assault, but turned the tide. The Arabs lost. ...
But not all the Arabs... King Abdullah's British-trained Arab Legion occupied what was to become known as the West Bank. Abdullah's domain was renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the West Bank was annexed.
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See also:
A Forgivable Genocide -- Part 1 - Historical background
A Forgivable Genocide -- Part 3 - Black September
A Forgivable Genocide -- Part 4 - Quandary
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Second of a series.
It has already been posted here.
...
There are some here who have very short attention spans and allow opinions to overcome facts, so IMO it should be necessary to post this series annually to remind them of the truth.
Why not just bump the article that is already here?