White Paper of 1922

BRITISH MANDATE

	PALESTINE FACTS
	BRITISH MANDATE 1922 WHITE PAPER

What was the White Paper of 1922?

The 1922 White Paper (also called the Churchill White Paper, after Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill) was the first official manifesto from the British Government interpreting the Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate. It was issued on June 3, 1922, after investigation of the Arab riots of 1920-1921. Although Churchill's name is associated with the paper, it was largely influenced by the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel.

The White Paper stated that Britain stood by the Balfour Declaration, and that the Declaration, "re-affirmed by the Conference of the Principle Allied Powers at San Remo and again in the Treaty of Sevres, is not susceptible of change". The document reiterated the considerable progress that the Zionists had made in building a community with "'national' characteristics", but made clear that the British did not support a separate nation as a Jewish National Home, only a continuation of the community within the Palestine region. Notwithstanding these assurances, in July 1922 the British partitioned the area of the Palestine Mandate by excluding the area east of the Jordan River from Jewish settlement. That land, 76% of the original Palestine Mandate land, was renamed Transjordan and was given to the Emir Abdullah to rule.

The White Paper also denied that the British had promised the Arabs "that an independent national government should be at once established in Palestine" after World War I, referring to the Arab misinterpretation of the Husayn-McMahon Correspondence. The key section reads:

But this promise was given subject to a reservation made in the same letter, which excluded from its scope, among other territories, the portions of Syria lying to the west of the District of Damascus. This reservation has always been regarded by His Majesty's Government as covering the vilayet of Beirut and the independent Sanjak of Jerusalem. The whole of Palestine west of the Jordan was thus excluded from Sir. Henry McMahon's pledge.

In one well known paragraph, the Paper denied that "the purpose in view is to create a wholly Jewish Palestine" and included the statement that the British Government did not wish to see Palestine become "as Jewish as England is English". But the Paper does say that the Jewish community:

... should know that it is in Palestine as of right and not on the sufferance. That is the reason why it is necessary that the existence of a Jewish National Home in Palestine should be internationally guaranteed, and that it should be formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.

This White Paper also established a new principle as a factor for determining an immigration quota of Jews to Palestine. The White Paper confirmed the right of Jewish immigration but stipulated that this should not exceed the economic absorptive capacity of the country, an arbitrary standard that gave the British wide latitude to limit the influx of Jews.

Among other matters, the policy document also recommended the establishment of a Legislative Council with twelve elected and ten official members, one of a number of steps "to foster the establishment of a full measure of self government in Palestine."

What was the White Paper of 1922?

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