All-Palestine Protectorate
All-Palestine Protectorate محمية عموم فلسطين | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948–1959 | |||||||||
Government Republic | | ||||||||
| President | |||||||||
• 1948 | Amin al-Husseini | ||||||||
Ahmed Hilmi Abd al-Baqi | |||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Established | 22 September 1948 | ||||||||
| 1949 | |||||||||
• Arab League places Gaza Strip under official aegis of Egypt[1] | 1952 | ||||||||
• Government dissolved (except Prime Minister's post)[2] | 1953 | ||||||||
| 1956 | |||||||||
• Disestablished | 1959 | ||||||||
| Currency | Egyptian pound | ||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | PS | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Gaza Strip | ||||||||
The All-Palestine Protectorate, also known as All-Palestine, the Gaza Protectorate or the Gaza Strip, was a short-lived
There are differences of opinion as to whether the All-Palestine Protectorate was a puppet or façade of the Egyptian occupation, with negligible independent funding or influence, or whether it was a genuine attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state. Though the All-Palestine Government claimed jurisdiction over the entire territories of the former British Mandatory Palestine, at no time did its effective jurisdiction extend beyond the Gaza Strip, with the West Bank annexed by Transjordan and Israel holding the rest. The All-Palestine Protectorate relied entirely on the Egyptian government for funding and on UNRWA to relieve the plight of the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. During most of its existence, the All-Palestine Protectorate was under de facto Egyptian administration, though Egypt never made any claim to or annexed any Palestinian territory. Egypt did not offer the Gazan Palestinians citizenship. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports, and those living in the Gaza Strip were not permitted to move freely into Egypt. However, these passports were only recognized by six Arab countries.
Name
According to Israeli academic Zvi Elpeleg, the term All-Palestine was coined to forestall any possible criticism by King Abdullah I of Jordan that the establishment of a Palestinian government meant acceptance of the partition plan.[4]
History
| History of Palestine |
|---|
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Prelude
Egypt supervised the government of Palestine in Gaza as a trustee on behalf of the Arab League.[5] An Egyptian Ministerial order dated 1 June 1948 declared that all laws in force during the Mandate would continue to be in force in the Gaza Strip. Another order issued on 8 August 1948 vested an Egyptian Administrator-General with the powers of the High Commissioner.
Formation
The protectorate was established in the Gaza enclave area captured by the
The Arab–Israeli War came to an end with the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, which fixed the boundaries of the Gaza Strip.[6] The All-Palestine Government was not a party to the Agreement nor involved in its negotiation.
1948–1952
The All-Palestine Government was entirely relocated to Cairo in late October 1948 and became a government-in-exile, gradually losing any importance. Having a part in the All-Palestine Government, President al-Husseini also remained in exile at Heliopolis in Egypt throughout much of the 1950s.
Decline and dissolution
With further resolution of the Arab League to put the Gaza Strip under the official protectorate of Egypt in 1952, the All-Palestine Government was gradually stripped of authority. In 1953, the government was nominally dissolved, though the Palestinian Prime Minister Hilmi continued to attend Arab League meetings on its behalf.
Legal status
Ernest A. Gross, a senior U.S. State Department legal adviser, authored a memorandum for the United States government titled Recognition of New States and Governments in Palestine, dated 11 May 1948. He expressed the view that "The Arab and Jewish communities will be legally entitled on May 15, 1948 (the date of expiry of the British Mandate) to proclaim states and organize governments in the areas of Palestine occupied by the respective communities." Gross also said "the law of nations recognizes an inherent right of people lacking the agencies and institutions of social and political control to organize a state and operate a government."[7]
Though this is a generally accepted principle of international law, Gross' opinion was only internal US government advice. In any event, the British Mandate did expire on 15 May 1948. Other than the Arab Higher Committee, which was re-established in 1945 by the Arab League, the Palestinian Arab community had no government, and no administrative or unified military structure. It relied on the objective declared by the Arab League on 12 April 1948, and the expectation that the Arab armies would prevail over the Palestinian Jewish community. As the war progressed, however, the ineffectiveness of the Committee became obvious.
When it appeared that the Arab forces would not defeat the Israeli forces (and with King Abdullah I of Transjordan taking steps to annex the West Bank), fresh political measures were taken in the form of resurrecting the All-Palestine Government. By the end of the war, however, the Arab Higher Committee had become politically irrelevant.
There are differences of opinion as to whether the All-Palestine Protectorate was a mere puppet or façade of the Egyptian occupation, with negligible independent funding or influence, or whether it was a genuine attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state. Though the
Foreign relations
Recognition
Egypt, which manipulated its formation, recognized All-Palestine on 12 October, followed by Syria and Lebanon on 13 October, Saudi Arabia the 14th and
Shortly thereafter, the
Passports
During most of its existence, the All-Palestine Protectorate was under de facto Egyptian administration, though Egypt never made any claim to or annexed any Palestinian territory. Egypt did not offer the Gazan Palestinians citizenship. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports, and were not permitted to move freely into Egypt. However, these passports were only recognized by six Arab countries. The passports ceased to be issued when the All-Palestine Government was dissolved, though some countries continued to recognize them for some time.
Government and politics
Government
The
The new government had no administration, no civil service, no money, and no real army of its own. It formally adopted the
National Council
The
Military
The All-Palestine Government revived the
Geography
The Gaza Strip was the only area of the former British Mandate territory that was under the nominal control of the All-Palestine Government. The rest of the British Mandate territory became either part of Israel or the West Bank, annexed by Transjordan (a move that was not recognized internationally, except by UK).
Dissolution and aftermath
In 1959, the protectorate was de jure merged into the
In 1957, the Basic Law of Gaza established a
See also
References
- ^ Kumaraswamy, P.R. The A to Z of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. 2009. p. 15.
- ^ a b c d Oron, Yitzhak (September 7, 1960). "Middle East Record Volume 1, 1960". The Moshe Dayan Center – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c Spencer C. Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts. The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History: A Political, Social, and Military History p. 464
- ^ Elpeleg, Zvi (1 April 1989). "Why Was 'Independent Palestine' Never Created in 1948?". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on 2013-06-06. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ISBN 0-7864-1191-0, p. 11.
- ^ Egypt Israel Armistice Agreement Archived May 25, 2014, at the Wayback Machine UN Doc S/1264/Corr.1 23 February 1949
- ^ The memo is contained in the Foreign Relations of the United States 1948, volume 5, part 2, p 964 and is cited by Stefan Talmon, in Recognition of Governments in International Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), p 36
- ^ Laurens 2007, pp. 167–169.
- ^ See Jericho Declaration, Palestine Post, December 14, 1948, Front page [permanent dead link]
- ^ Gelber, Y. Palestine, 1948. Pp. 177–78
- ^ a b Elpeleg, Z. Why Was 'Independent Palestine' Never Created in 1948?. MFA. 01 April 1989.
- ISBN 90-411-0341-4, p 294
- ^ "From Occupation to Interim Accords", Raja Shehadeh, Kluwer Law International, 1997, pages 77–78; and Historical Overview, A. F. & R. Shehadeh Law Firm [1] Archived 2009-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
Sources
- ISBN 978-2-213-63358-9.
Further reading
- Shlaim, Avi (1990). "The rise and fall of the All-Palestine Government in Gaza." Journal of Palestine Studies. 20: 37–53.[2]
- Shlaim, Avi (2001). "Israel and the Arab Coalition." In ISBN 0-521-79476-5