White Paper of 1939

Uncommon card · No. 150919

The White Paper of 1939 was a policy paper issued by the British government, led by Neville Chamberlain, in response to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine. After its formal approval in the House of Commons on 23 May 1939, it acted as the governing policy for Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to the 1948 British departure. After the war, the Mandate was referred to the United Nations. The policy, first drafted in March 1939, was prepared by the British government unilaterally as a result of the failure of the Arab–Zionist London Conference. Rejecting the Peel Commission's idea of partitioning Palestine, the paper called for the establishment of an independent Palestine State within 10 years that would share power between Jews and Arabs. It asserted that this would satisfy Britain's obligation to establish a Jewish National Home. The paper also limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 for five years and ruled that further immigration would then be determined by the Arab majority (section II)...

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