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81-651: The Cameri Theatre was founded with the purpose of promoting local theatre, in contrast to Habima Theatre , which had roots in Russian theatre. The Cameri presented works about the daily life of persons in the fledgling state of Israel. The Cameri is the theatre where the Israeli nationalist play He Walked Through the Fields premiered just two weeks after the state of Israel was formally established in May 1948. He Walked Through

162-944: A civil war. The three main Jewish underground forces later united to form the Jewish Resistance Movement and carry out several attacks and bombings against the British administration. In 1946, the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the southern wing of which was the headquarters of the British administration, killing 92 people. Following the bombing, the British Government began interning illegal Jewish immigrants in Cyprus . In 1948,

243-540: A clandestine immigration effort called Aliya Bet was spearheaded by an organisation called Mossad LeAliyah Bet . Tens of thousands of European Jews escaped the Nazis in boats and small ships headed for Palestine. The British Royal Navy intercepted many of the vessels; others were unseaworthy and were wrecked; a Haganah bomb sunk the SS ; Patria , killing 267 people; two other ships were sunk by Soviet submarines :

324-630: A counter to British hegemony. On the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration in 1943, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sent telegrams of support for the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem , Mohammad Amin al-Husseini , to read out for a radio broadcast to a rally of supporters in Berlin . On the other hand, as many as 12,000 Palestinian Arabs, with the endorsement of many prominent figures such as

405-605: A firefight with a Palestine Police patrol hunting fruit thieves and a policeman was killed. Following the incident, British colonial police launched a search and surrounded al-Qassam in a cave near Ya'bad . In the ensuing battle, al-Qassam was killed. The death of al-Qassam on 20 November 1935 generated widespread outrage in the Arab community. Huge crowds accompanied Qassam's body to his grave in Haifa . A few months later, in April 1936,

486-697: A meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in June 1938, as well as by Chaim Weizmann. Following the London Conference in February and March 1939, the British Government published a White Paper which proposed a limit to Jewish immigration from Europe, restrictions on Jewish land purchases, and a programme for creating an independent state to replace the Mandate within ten years. This was seen by

567-516: A policy regarding the admission of Jews to Palestine. In April, the Committee reported that its members had arrived at a unanimous decision. The Committee approved the American recommendation of the immediate acceptance of 100,000 Jewish refugees from Europe into Palestine. It also recommended that there be no Arab or Jewish state. The Committee stated that "in order to dispose, once and for all, of

648-531: A unified leadership. Indeed, it might be argued that they were virtually without any leadership at all." In 1937, the Peel Commission proposed a partition between a small Jewish state, whose Arab population would have to be transferred, and an Arab state to be attached to the Emirate of Transjordan , this emirate also being part of the wider Mandate for Palestine . The proposal was rejected outright by

729-620: A year while the British sent the Peel Commission to investigate. During the first stages of the Arab Revolt, due to rivalry between the clans of al-Husseini and Nashashibi among the Palestinian Arabs, Raghib Nashashibi was forced to flee to Egypt after several assassination attempts ordered by Amin al-Husseini. After the Arab rejection of the Peel Commission recommendation, the revolt resumed in autumn 1937. Over

810-710: Is only granted the power to make recommendations; therefore, UNGAR 181 was not legally binding. Both the US and the Soviet Union supported the resolution. Haiti, Liberia, and the Philippines changed their votes at the last moment after concerted pressure from the US and from Zionist organisations. The five members of the Arab League , who were voting members at the time, voted against the Plan. The Jewish Agency, which

891-532: Is wood panelled and seats 170. 32°04′22″N 34°46′44″E  /  32.0728°N 34.779°E  / 32.0728; 34.779 Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the region of Palestine under the terms of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine . After an Arab uprising against the Ottoman Empire during

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972-638: The Yishuv as betrayal of the mandatory terms, especially in light of the increasing persecution of Jews in Europe. In response, Zionists organised Aliyah Bet , a programme of illegal immigration into Palestine. Lehi , a small group of extremist Zionists, staged armed attacks on British authorities in Palestine. However, the Jewish Agency , which represented the mainstream Zionist leadership and most of

1053-701: The Augusta Victoria Hospital complex on Mount Scopus on what was then the northeastern edge of Jerusalem, a building that had been constructed for the Germans circa 1910. Damaged by an earthquake in 1927, this building served as the headquarters and official residence of the British High Commissioners until 1933. In that year, a new, purpose-built headquarters and official residence for the High Commissioner

1134-772: The First World War in 1916, British forces drove Ottoman forces out of the Levant . The United Kingdom had agreed in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence that it would honour Arab independence in case of a revolt but, in the end, the United Kingdom and France divided what had been Ottoman Syria under the Sykes–Picot Agreement —an act of betrayal in the eyes of the Arabs. Another issue

1215-648: The Haganah , which were to prove decisive in 1948. Secondly, it became clear that the two communities could not be reconciled, and the idea of partition was born. Thirdly, the British responded to Arab opposition with the White Paper of 1939 , which severely restricted Jewish land purchase and immigration. However, with the advent of the Second World War , even this reduced immigration quota was not reached. The White Paper policy itself radicalised segments of

1296-698: The Palestine Police Force withdrew from the Tel Aviv area, home to more than half the Jewish population, and turned over responsibility for the maintenance of law and order to Jewish police. As the civil war raged on, British military forces gradually withdrew from Palestine, although they occasionally intervened in favour of either side. Many of these areas became war zones. The British maintained strong presences in Jerusalem and Haifa , even as Jerusalem came under siege by Arab forces and became

1377-812: The Selvino children . Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade were to play a major role in the foundation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). From the Palestine Regiment, two platoons, one Jewish, under the command of Brigadier Ernest Benjamin , and another Arab, were sent to join Allied forces on the Italian Front , having taken part in the final offensive there. Besides Jews and Arabs from Palestine, in total by mid-1944

1458-751: The State of Israel , the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , which annexed territory on the West Bank of the Jordan River , and the Kingdom of Egypt , which established the " All-Palestine Protectorate " in the Gaza Strip . Mandatory Palestine was designated as a Class A Mandate , based on its social, political, and economic development. This classification was reserved for post-war mandates with

1539-724: The War Office announced the formation of the Jewish Brigade Group of the British Army. The Jewish Brigade then was stationed in Tarvisio , near the border triangle of Italy, Yugoslavia , and Austria, where it played a key role in the Berihah 's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine, a role many of its members would continue after the brigade was disbanded. Among its projects was the education and care of

1620-490: The 17th-century Spanish dramatist Calderón . In 1930 the company traveled to Berlin, Germany, where it produced Shakespeare's Twelfth Night , directed by Michael Chekhov , and Karl Gutzkow 's Uriel Acosta , under the direction of Alexander Granovski . The company finally settled in Palestine in 1931. In 1945, it built a theatre in Tel Aviv, which it occupied before completion. Habima has been officially considered

1701-549: The Arab national general strike broke out. The strike lasted until October 1936, instigated by the Arab Higher Committee, headed by Amin al-Husseini. During the summer of that year, thousands of Jewish-farmed acres and orchards were destroyed. Jewish civilians were attacked and killed, and some Jewish communities, such as those in Beisan ( Beit She'an ) and Acre , fled to safer areas. The violence abated for about

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1782-518: The Arab rebels in the lower Galilee and in the Jezreel valley" by conducting raids on Arab villages. Irgun , a Jewish militia group, used violence also against Arab civilians as "retaliatory acts", attacking marketplaces and buses . By the time the revolt concluded in March 1939, more than 5,000 Arabs, 400 Jews, and 200 British had been killed and at least 15,000 Arabs were wounded. In total, 10% of

1863-577: The Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the belligerents in the Second World War. A number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Even though Arabs were not highly regarded by Nazi racial theory , the Nazis encouraged Arab support as

1944-595: The Arabs. The two main Jewish leaders, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion , had convinced the Zionist Congress to equivocally approve the Peel recommendations as a basis for more negotiation. In a letter to his son in October 1937 , Ben-Gurion explained that partition would be a first step to "possession of the land as a whole". The same sentiment was recorded by Ben-Gurion on other occasions, such as at

2025-569: The British authorities formally decided to use the traditional Arabic equivalent to the English name, and its Hebrew transcription i.e. Filasţīn (فلسطين) and Pālēśtīnā (פּלשׂתינה) respectively. The Jewish leadership proposed that the proper Hebrew name should be ʾĒrēts Yiśrāʾel (ארץ ישׂראל, Land of Israel ). The final compromise was to append the initials of the Hebrew proposed name, Alef - Yod , within parenthesis (א״י) after Pālēśtīnā whenever

2106-597: The British had assembled a multiethnic force consisting of volunteer European Jewish refugees (from German-occupied countries), Yemenite Jews and Abyssinian Jews . In 1939, as a consequence of the White Paper of 1939 , the British reduced the number of immigrants allowed into Palestine. The Second World War and the Holocaust started shortly thereafter and once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were interned in detention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius . Starting in 1939,

2187-638: The British intended to favour Zionism. The British administration claimed that electrification would enhance the economic development of the country as a whole, while at the same time securing their commitment to facilitate a Jewish National Home through economic – rather than political – means. In May 1921, following a disturbance between rival Jewish left-wing protestors and then attacks by Arabs on Jews, almost 100 died in rioting in Jaffa . High Commissioner Samuel tried to establish self-governing institutions in Palestine, as required by

2268-707: The British maintained the ban on immigration. The Jewish Lehi (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel) and Irgun (National Military Organisation) movements initiated violent uprisings against the British Mandate in the 1940s. On 6 November 1944, Eliyahu Hakim and Eliyahu Bet Zuri (members of Lehi) assassinated Lord Moyne in Cairo . Moyne was the British Minister of State for the Middle East and

2349-580: The British withdrew from most of Haifa but retained an enclave in the port area to be used in the evacuation of British forces, and retained RAF Ramat David , an airbase close to Haifa, to cover their retreat, leaving behind a volunteer police force to maintain order. The city was quickly captured by the Haganah in the Battle of Haifa . After the victory, British forces in Jerusalem announced that they had no intention of overseeing any local administration but also that they would not permit actions that would hamper

2430-561: The Fields , written by Moshe Shamir , was later adapted to film starring Moshe Dayan 's youngest son Assi Dayan . The Cameri, Tel Aviv's municipal theatre, stages up to ten new productions a year, in addition to its repertoire from previous years. The theatre has 34,000 subscribers and attracts 900,000 spectators annually. In 2003, the Cameri moved into the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center complex, adjacent to

2511-621: The French-ruled Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , and organised and established the Black Hand , an anti-Zionist and anti-British militant organisation. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 he had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. They used bombs and firearms against Zionist settlers and vandalised settlers' orchards and British-built railway lines. In November 1935, two of his men engaged in

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2592-439: The Homeland is illegal. It will never be recognised. The signature by institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel will be restored to the people of Israel. All of it. And for ever." When the United Kingdom announced the independence of the Emirate of Transjordan as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946,

2673-417: The Jewish and Arab communities. Competing interests of the two populations led to the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine and the 1944–1948 Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine . The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine to divide the territory into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, was passed in November 1947. The 1948 Palestine war ended with the territory of Mandatory Palestine divided among

2754-436: The Jewish population, still hoped to persuade Britain to allow resumed Jewish immigration and cooperated with Britain during the Second World War . On 10 June 1940, during the Second World War , the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the British Empire and sided with Nazi Germany . Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air , bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa , inflicting multiple casualties. In 1942, there

2835-421: The Jewish population, who after the war would no longer cooperate with the British. The revolt had also a negative effect on Palestinian Arab leadership, social cohesion, and military capabilities, and it contributed to the outcome of the 1948 War because "when the Palestinians faced their most fateful challenge in 1947–49, they were still suffering from the British repression of 1936–39, and were in effect without

2916-593: The Lehi assassinated Count Bernadotte , the UN mediator, in Jerusalem. Yitzak Shamir , a future Prime Minister of Israel , was one of the conspirators. The negative publicity resulting from the situation in Palestine caused the Mandate to become widely unpopular in Britain itself and caused the United States Congress to delay granting the British vital loans for reconstruction. The British Labour Party had promised before its election in 1945 to allow mass Jewish migration into Palestine but reneged on this promise once in office. Anti-British Jewish militancy increased, and

2997-424: The Mandate's name was mentioned in Hebrew in official documents. The Arab leadership saw this compromise as a violation of the mandate terms. Some Arab politicians suggested " Southern Syria " (سوريا الجنوبية) as the Arabic name instead. The British authorities rejected this proposal; according to the Minutes of the Ninth Session of the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission : Colonel Symes explained that

3078-513: The New Israeli Opera, the Municipal Library and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art . The new theatre has five auditoriums: Cameri 1, the largest auditorium, has 930 seats; Cameri 2 has 430 seats, the Black Box seats 250, and the Rehearsal Hall seats 160. The Cameri's social action programs include the Peace Foundation, which brings together young Israelis and Palestinians to watch theatre performances, and Theatre in Education, which brings high school students, university students and special needs audiences to

3159-470: The Palestine Mandate and place the Question of Palestine before the United Nations , the successor to the League of Nations . The UN created UNSCOP (the UN Special Committee on Palestine) on 15 May 1947, with representatives from 11 countries. UNSCOP conducted hearings and made a general survey of the situation in Palestine and issued its report on 31 August. Seven members (Canada, Czechoslovakia , Guatemala, Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, and Uruguay) recommended

3240-407: The State of Israel. 32°04′37″N 34°47′06″E  /  32.0769°N 34.7849°E  / 32.0769; 34.7849 Habima Theatre The Habima Theatre ( Hebrew : תיאטרון הבימה Te'atron HaBima , lit. "The Stage Theatre") is the national theatre of Israel and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. It is located in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv . Habima

3321-437: The actors choosing to stay in the U.S. The theatre staff visited the city of Lodz, and the pre-war photographer and artist Mendel Grossman , photographed the actors and actresses from the wings of the stage. His life was changed as a result of the visit of the theatre. Other members of the theatre took the company to Mandate Palestine in 1928. In the 1928–29 season there, the Habima Players presented two plays, both under

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3402-435: The adoption and implementation of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union as Resolution 181 (II), while making some adjustments to the boundaries between the two states proposed by it. The division was to take effect on the date of British withdrawal. The partition plan required that the proposed states grant full civil rights to all people within their borders, regardless of race, religion or gender. The UN General Assembly

3483-420: The adult Arab male population was killed, wounded, imprisoned, or exiled. From 1936 to 1945, while establishing collaborative security arrangements with the Jewish Agency, the British confiscated 13,200 firearms from Arabs and 521 weapons from Jews. The attacks on the Jewish population by Arabs had three lasting effects: firstly, they led to the formation and development of Jewish underground militias, primarily

3564-476: The assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the Zionist cause. After the assassination of Lord Moyne, the Haganah kidnapped, interrogated, and turned over to the British many members of the Irgun (" The Hunting Season "), and the Jewish Agency Executive decided on a series of measures against "terrorist organisations" in Palestine. Irgun ordered its members not to resist or retaliate with violence, so as to prevent

3645-439: The country should be called "Southern Syria" in order to emphasise its close relation with another Arab State. The adjective " mandatory " indicates that the entity's legal status derived from a League of Nations mandate ; it is not related to the word's more commonplace usage as a synonym for "compulsory" or "necessary". Following the arrival of the British, Arab inhabitants established Muslim-Christian Associations in all of

3726-420: The country was described as "Palestine" by Europeans and as "Falestin" by the Arabs. The Hebrew name for the country was the designation "Land of Israel", and the Government, to meet Jewish wishes, had agreed that the word "Palestine" in Hebrew characters should be followed in all official documents by the initials which stood for that designation. As a set-off to this, certain of the Arab politicians suggested that

3807-408: The creation of independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem to be placed under international administration . Three members (India, Iran, and Yugoslavia ) supported the creation of a single federal state containing both Jewish and Arab constituent states. Australia abstained. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly, voting 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions, adopted a resolution recommending

3888-420: The direction of Aleksei Dikiy , from the Moscow Art Theatre. The first production, Ha-otsar (The Treasure), a translation of Sholem Aleichem 's Yiddish play Der Oytser , premiered on December 29, 1928. The second production, which premiered on May 23, 1929, in Tel Aviv, was Keter David (David's Crown), an adaptation by Hebrew writer Isaac Lamdan of The Hair of Absalom ( Los cabellos de Absalón ), by

3969-428: The distribution of the seats, arguing that as they constituted 88% of the population, having only 43% of the seats was unfair. Elections took place in February and March 1923, but due to an Arab boycott , the results were annulled and a 12-member Advisory Council was established. At the First World Congress of Jewish Women which was held in Vienna , Austria, 1923, it was decided that: "It appears, therefore, to be

4050-475: The duty of all Jews to co-operate in the social-economic reconstruction of Palestine and to assist in the settlement of Jews in that country." In October 1923, Britain provided the League of Nations with a report on the administration of Palestine for the period 1920–1922, which covered the period before the mandate. In August 1929, there were riots in which 250 people died. In 1930, Sheikh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam arrived in Palestine from Syria, then part of

4131-475: The end of the Second World War, especially by the Haganah, who carried mostly illegal Jewish immigrants in the period 1945-47. After the war, 250,000 Jewish refugees were stranded in displaced persons (DP) camps in Europe. Despite the pressure of world opinion, in particular the repeated requests of the U.S. President , Harry S. Truman , and the recommendations of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry that 100,000 Jews be immediately granted entry to Palestine,

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4212-448: The exclusive claims of Jews and Arabs to Palestine, we regard it as essential that a clear statement of principle should be made that Jew shall not dominate Arab and Arab shall not dominate Jew in Palestine". U.S. President Harry S. Truman angered the British Government by issuing a statement supporting the 100,000 refugees but refusing to acknowledge the rest of the committee's findings. Britain had asked for U.S. assistance in implementing

4293-477: The final Assembly of the League of Nations and the General Assembly both adopted resolutions welcoming the news. The Jewish Agency objected, claiming that Transjordan was an integral part of Palestine, and that according to Article 80 of the UN Charter , the Jewish people had a secured interest in its territory. During the General Assembly deliberations on Palestine, there were suggestions that it would be desirable to incorporate part of Transjordan's territory into

4374-415: The highest capacity for self-governance. All Class A mandates other than mandatory Palestine had gained independence by 1946. The name given to the Mandate's territory was "Palestine", in accordance with local Palestinian Arab and Ottoman usage and with European tradition. The Mandate charter stipulated that Mandatory Palestine would have three official languages: English, Arabic and Hebrew. In 1926,

4455-424: The historic building. More than NIS 100 million was invested in the makeover, which has added 500 square meters of floor space and three new rehearsal rooms. The building's four auditoriums were completely rebuilt. Each is a different size and color: Rovina is blue and seats 930 people; Meskin is lavender and seats 320; Bertonov (also known as Bamartef) is green and seats 220; and Habima 4 (formerly known as Heineken)

4536-451: The major towns. In 1919 they joined to hold the first Palestine Arab Congress in Jerusalem. It was aimed primarily at representative government and opposition to the Balfour Declaration . Concurrently, the Zionist Commission formed in March 1918 and actively promoted Zionist objectives in Palestine. On 19 April 1920, elections took place for the Assembly of Representatives of the Palestinian Jewish community . In March 1920, there

4617-434: The mandate, but the Arab leadership refused to co-operate with any institution which included Jewish participation. When Kamil al-Husayni , the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem , died in March 1921, High Commissioner Samuel appointed his half-brother, Mohammad Amin al-Husseini , to the position. Amin al-Husseini, a member of the al-Husayni clan of Jerusalem, was an Arab nationalist and Muslim leader. As Grand Mufti, as well as in

4698-414: The mayors of Nablus and Gaza and media such as "Radio Palestine" and the prominent Jaffa -based Falastin newspaper, volunteered to join and fight for the British, with many serving in units that also included Jews from Palestine. 120 Palestinian women also served as part of the Auxiliary Territorial Service . However, this history has been less studied, as Israeli sources put more focus in studying

4779-469: The motor schooner Struma was torpedoed and sunk in the Black Sea by a Soviet submarine in February 1942 with the loss of nearly 800 lives. The last refugee boats to try to reach Palestine during the war were the Bulbul , Mefküre and Morina in August 1944. A Soviet submarine sank the motor schooner Mefküre by torpedo and shellfire and machine-gunned survivors in the water, killing between 300 and 400 refugees. Illegal immigration resumed after

4860-415: The national theatre of Israel since 1958, the year in which it received the Israel Prize for theatre. This was the first year in which the Prize was awarded to an organization. In the 21st century, Habima employs 80 actors, and another 120 staff members work at the complex. In January 2012, the theatre reopened after four and a half years of renovations. Architect Ram Karmi was commissioned to redesign

4941-422: The next 18 months, the British lost Nablus and Hebron. British forces, supported by 6,000 armed Jewish auxiliary police, suppressed the widespread riots with overwhelming force. The British officer Charles Orde Wingate (who supported a Zionist revival for religious reasons ) organised Special Night Squads of British soldiers and Jewish volunteers such as Yigal Alon ; these "scored significant successes against

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5022-415: The other influential positions that he held during this period, al-Husseini played a key role in violent opposition to Zionism . In 1922, al-Husseini was elected President of the Supreme Muslim Council which had been established by Samuel in December 1921. The Council controlled the Waqf funds, worth annually tens of thousands of pounds, and the orphan funds, worth annually about £50,000, as compared to

5103-455: The partition plan, but refused to enforce it, arguing it was not accepted by the Arabs. Britain also refused to share the administration of Palestine with the UN Palestine Commission during the transitional period. In September 1947, the British government announced that the Mandate for Palestine would end at midnight on 14 May 1948. Some Jewish organisations also opposed the proposal. Irgun leader Menachem Begin announced, "The partition of

5184-426: The proposed Jewish state. A few days before the adoption of Resolution 181 (II) on 29 November 1947, US Secretary of State Marshall noted frequent references had been made by the Ad Hoc Committee regarding the desirability of the Jewish State having both the Negev and an "outlet to the Red Sea and the Port of Aqaba". According to John Snetsinger, Chaim Weizmann visited President Truman on 19 November 1947 and said it

5265-407: The recommendations. The US War Department had said earlier that to assist Britain in maintaining order against an Arab revolt, an open-ended US commitment of 300,000 troops would be necessary. The immediate admission of 100,000 new Jewish immigrants would almost certainly have provoked an Arab uprising. These events were the decisive factors that forced Britain to announce their desire to terminate

5346-505: The role played by Jewish soldiers. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources "were not eager to glorify the names of those who cooperated with Britain not so many years after the British put down the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939, and thereby indirectly helped the Jews establish a state." On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade within the British Army , with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. On 20 September 1944, an official communiqué by

5427-414: The safe and orderly withdrawal of their forces; military courts would try anybody who interfered. Although by this time British authority in most of Palestine had broken down, with most of the country in the hands of Jews or Arabs, the British air and sea blockade of Palestine remained in place. Although Arab volunteers were able to cross the borders between Palestine and the surrounding Arab states to join

5508-435: The scene of fierce fighting, though the British occasionally intervened in the fighting, largely to secure their evacuation routes, including by proclaiming martial law and enforcing truces. The Palestine Police Force was largely inoperative, and government services such as social welfare, water supplies, and postal services were withdrawn. In March 1948, all British judges in Palestine were sent back to Britain. In April 1948,

5589-418: The situation required the presence of over 100,000 British troops in the country. Following the Acre Prison Break and the retaliatory hanging of British sergeants by the Irgun, the British announced their desire to terminate the mandate and to withdraw by no later than the beginning of August 1948. The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in 1946 was a joint attempt by Britain and the United States to agree on

5670-482: The theatre troupe was forced to become a travelling one. Beginning in 1918, the theatre operated under the auspices of the Moscow Art Theatre , which some consider its actual beginning. It encountered difficulties under the Soviet government as well, after the Russian Revolution . Konstantin Stanislavsky arranged for the mainly Jewish Polish actors to be trained by Yevgeny Vakhtangov . The People's Commissar for Nationalities Affairs, Joseph Stalin , also authorized

5751-420: The theatre's creation. However, the Yevsektsiya attempted to use its influence to cut off state funds to Habima, branding it counter-revolutionary. In 1926, the theatre left the Soviet Union to tour abroad, in countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. Their productions met with great success. In 1927, the company split up, with Zemach and some of

5832-583: The theatre. The Cameri also offers ticket subsidies for senior citizens and simultaneous translation of its productions into English, Russian and Arabic. The director general of the Cameri, Noam Semel, founded the Institute of Israeli Drama, which promotes Israeli theatre in Israel and abroad. In 2005, the Cameri won the Israel Prize , for its lifetime achievements and special contribution to society and

5913-593: The £600,000 in the Jewish Agency 's annual budget. In addition, he controlled the Islamic courts in Palestine. Among other functions, these courts had the power to appoint teachers and preachers. The 1922 Palestine Order in Council established a Legislative Council, which was to consist of 23 members: 12 elected, 10 appointed, and the High Commissioner. Of the 12 elected members, eight were to be Muslim Arabs, two Christian Arabs, and two Jews. Arabs protested against

5994-700: Was a period of great concern for the Yishuv , when the German forces of General Erwin Rommel advanced east across North Africa towards the Suez Canal , raising a fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the " 200 days of dread ". This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach – a highly trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (a paramilitary group composed mostly of reserves). As in most of

6075-500: Was an attack by Arabs on the Jewish village of Tel Hai . In April, there was another attack on Jews, this time in Jerusalem. In July 1920, a British civilian administration headed by a High Commissioner replaced the military administration. The first High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel , a Zionist and a recent British cabinet minister, arrived in Palestine on 20 June 1920 to take up his appointment from 1 July. Samuel established his headquarters and official residence in part of

6156-417: Was completed on what was then the southeastern edge of Jerusalem. Referred to as Armon HaNetziv by the Jewish population, this building, located on the 'Hill of Evil Counsel' on the ridge of Jabel Mukaber , remained in use as the headquarters and official residence of the British High Commissioners until the end of British rule in 1948. One of the first actions of the newly installed civil administration

6237-571: Was founded as an amateur troup by Nahum Lazarevich Tsemakh (Hebrew: Naḥum Tsemaḥ; 1887–1939) in Białystok (then in Grodno Governorate , Russian Empire ) in 1912. Menahem Gnessin was one of its cofounders and early actors. Because its performances were in Hebrew , invoked the Jewish folk tradition, and dealt with issues of the Jewish people, soon it was banned by Russian authorities, and

6318-671: Was imperative that the Negev and Port of Aqaba be within the Jewish state. Truman telephoned the US delegation to the UN and told them he supported Weizmann's position. However, the Trans-Jordan memorandum excluded territories of the Emirate of Transjordan from any Jewish settlement. Immediately after the UN resolution, civil war broke out between the Arab and Jewish communities, and British authority began to break down. On 16 December 1947,

6399-476: Was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised its support for the establishment of a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. Mandatory Palestine was then established in 1920, and the British obtained a Mandate for Palestine from the League of Nations in 1922. During the Mandate, the area saw successive waves of Jewish immigration and the rise of nationalist movements in both

6480-588: Was the Jewish state-in-formation, accepted the plan, and nearly all the Jews in Palestine rejoiced at the news. The partition plan was rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership and by most of the Arab population. Meeting in Cairo on November and December 1947, the Arab League then adopted a series of resolutions endorsing a military solution to the conflict. Britain announced that it would accept

6561-458: Was to begin granting concessions from the Mandatory government over key economic assets. In 1921 the government granted Pinhas Rutenberg – a Jewish entrepreneur – concessions for the production and distribution of electrical power. Rutenberg soon established an electric company whose shareholders were Zionist organisations, investors, and philanthropists. Palestinian-Arabs saw it as proof that

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