Norman Bentwich
Norman Bentwich Attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine | |
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Norman de Mattos Bentwich
Biography
Early life
Norman Bentwich was the oldest son of British Zionist
Bentwich was a delegate at the annual
He was commissioned in the
Mandatory Palestine administration
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/1931_Colonial_Office_memorandum_regarding_Norman_Bentwich.jpg/220px-1931_Colonial_Office_memorandum_regarding_Norman_Bentwich.jpg)
During the British military administration of Palestine, Bentwich served as Senior Judicial Officer, which continued in the civil administration after 1920 as Legal Secretary.
Bentwich played a major role in the development of Palestinian law.[6][7] According to Likhovski, he "concentrated his efforts on providing Palestine with a set of modern commercial laws that he believed would facilitate economic development and thus attract more Jewish immigration."[7] Bentwich's perceived Zionist bias made him increasingly unpopular with Palestinian Arabs, who conducted demonstrations and other protests against his presence in the administration.[2] Some British officials, including the Colonial Office and the Chief Justice of Palestine Michael McDonnell, saw him as a liability and agitated for his dismissal.[2][7] In 1929 he was barred from representing the government at the Shaw Commission into the August riots.[2] In late 1930 he went on leave to England, where he unsuccessfully sought to gain support for his continued role in Palestine.[2] He was offered senior judicial positions in Mauritius and Cyprus, but turned them down.[8] In August 1931 his appointment as Attorney-General was terminated by the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, who cited "the peculiar racial and political conditions of Palestine, and the difficulties with which the Administration has in consequence to bear."[2][8]
In November 1929, Bentwich was shot in the thigh by a 17-year-old Arab employee of the
Hebrew University
From 1932 to 1951 Bentwich occupied the Chair of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[11] His first lecture, on "Jerusalem, City of Peace", was disrupted by Jewish students who considered him too conciliatory towards the Arabs.[12] Several of the ringleaders, one of them Avraham Stern, were suspended.[12] Bentwich was a disciple of Zionist thinker Ahad Ha'am,[13] and wrote a book, Ahad Ha'am and His Philosophy, in 1927. He was one of the Jewish members of Palestine Administration who in 1929 joined Brit Shalom, a society founded to find rapprochement between Jews and Arabs in Palestine.[14]
Later
He was later President of the Jewish Historical Society of England.[citation needed]
In his book, Mandate Memories, he stated that "the Balfour Declaration was not an impetuous or sentimental act of the British government, as has been sometimes represented, or a calculated measure of political warfare. It was a deliberate decision of British policy and idealist politics, weighed and reweighed, and adopted only after full consultation with the United States and with other Allied Nations."[15]
During the
Bentwich lived the last twenty years of his life in London, where his wife, Helen Bentwich, had a political career as a member of London County Council.[19] Among his other roles, he served as President of the North Western Reform Synagogue in Alyth Gardens, Temple Fortune, from 1958 until his death.
Academic and legal career
- Called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn), 1908
- Ministry of Justice, Cairo, 1912–1915
- Major, Camel Transport, 1916–1918
- Legal secretary to military administration, Palestine, 1918–22
- First attorney-general in mandatory government of Palestine, 1922–30
- Recalled to Colonial Office, 1930–31
- Professor of International Relations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1932[20] and 1945–1951
- Director of League of Nations High Commission for Refugees from Germany, 1933–1935
- British Ministry of Information and Air Ministry, 1939–45
- Co-editor of the Jewish Review, 1910–1913 and 1932–1934
- Lecturer at Hague Academy of International Law, 1929, 1934 and 1955
- Vice-President, Jewish Committee for Relief Abroad
- Chairman, National Peace Council, 1944–1946
- Chairman, United Restitution Organization, 1948–1971
- Foreign Office Committee on Restitution in British Zone of Germany, 1951
- President, Jewish Historical Society, 1960–1962
- Chairman, Friends of Hebrew University
- President of North Western Reform Synagogue, Alyth Gardens, London 1958–71
Published works
Bentwich published a large number of books and articles. Some of his books are listed here.
- Philo-Judaeus of Alexandria, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1910.
- The Declaration of London, with an introduction and notes and appendices, E. Wilson, London, 1911.
- Students leading cases and statutes on international law, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1913.
- Josephus, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1914.
- Palestine of the Jews: past, present and future, London, 1919.
- Hellenism, The Jewish publication society of America, Philadelphia, 1919.
- Ahad Ha'am and his philosophy, Keren Hayesod (Palestine Foundation Fund) and the Keren Kayemeth Le-Israel, Jerusalem, 1927.
- The Mandates System, Longmans, London, 1930.
- England in Palestine, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., London, 1932.
- A Wanderer in the Promised Land, The Soncino Press, 1932
- Palestine, Benn, London, 1934.
- Fulfilment in the Promised land, 1917–1937, Soncino Press, London, 1938.
- Solomon Schechter: A Biography, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1938
- Wanderer Between Two Worlds – An Autobiography, Kegan Paul Trench Trubner, London, 1941.
- Judaea lives again, V. Gollancz, London, 1943.
- A Wanderer in War, V. Gollancz, London, 1946
- Israel, Ernest Bend, 1952.
- For Zion's Sake. A Biography of Judah L. Magnes. First Chancellor and First President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jewish Publication Society, 1954.
- Israel And Her Neighbours: A Short Historical Geography, Rider And Company, London, 1955.
- The Jews in our Times, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1960.
- Israel Resurgent, Ernest Benn, London, 1960.
- My 77 years : an account of my life and times, 1883–1960, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1961.
- Mandate Memories (with Helen Bentwich), The Hogarth Press, London, 1965.
- Israel : two fateful years, 1967–69, Elec, London, 1970.
- Jewish Youth Comes Home: The Story of the Youth Aliyah, 1933-1943, Hyperion Press, 1976.
References
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30811. Retrieved 11 October 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bernard Wasserstein (1978). The British in Palestine. London: Royal Historical Society. pp. 209–215.
- ^ McIlwraith, Malcolm (1918). "Domicile in Egypt". Law Quarterly Review. 34: 199.
- ^ a b Norman Bentwich (1962). My Seventy Seven Years. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 21–23.
- ^ "No. 31371". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 May 1919. p. 6923.
- ^ Martin Bunton (2007). Colonial Land Policies in Palestine 1917–1936. Oxford University Press. pp. passim.
- ^ a b c Assaf Likhovski (2006). Law and Identity in Mandate Palestine. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 57–58.
- ^ a b Norman and Helen Bentwich (1965). Mandate Memories. London: The Hogarth Press. pp. 146–147.
- ^ a b Norman and Helen Bentwich (1965). Mandate Memories. London: The Hogarth Press. pp. 136–139.
- ^ J. M. Levy (28 February 1930). "Arab gets 15 years for Palestine attack". New York Times. p. 9.
- ^ Bentwich, Norman. The Jews in Our Time. Harmonds, Middlesworth: Penguin Books, 1960.
- ^ a b Norman Bentwich (1962). My Seventy Seven Years. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 98–100.
- ^ Halpern, Ben The Disciple, Chaim Weizmann in Jacques Kornberg (1983) At the Crossroads: Essays on Ahad Ha'am SUNY Press. p.164
- ^ Berit Shalom jewishvirtuallibrary.org
- Jerusalem Post
- London Gazette, 23 February 1943, p. 934
- ^ Norman Bentwich, Wanderer in War, 1939-45 (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1946), pp. 88–98
- ^ “A War Wanderer. Wanderer in War By Norman Bentwich. (Gollancz. 8s. 6d.)”, in The Spectator, 31 May 1946, p. 20
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61364. Retrieved 11 October 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ Norman Bentwich going back to Palestine as Professor at Hebrew University
External links
- Works by Norman Bentwich at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Norman Bentwich at Internet Archive
- Bentwich, Norman (1907). The Law of Private Property in War, with a Chapter on Conquest (PDF). London: Sweet & Maxwell, Limited. – his Yorke prize essay from 1906.