CJPME on British policy on Jewish immigration to Palestine from 1919 to 1948

What was the British policy on Jewish immigration? 

British policy regarding Jewish immigration into Palestine evolved during the mandate period, as did the Jewish European response to it. 

A policy favouring it from 1919 to 1930: The British were in favour of the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.  The first Zionists, under the Ottoman Empire, had been able to establish themselves in the country under the protection of foreign consulates, notably British ones.  Nonetheless, in the wake of the increase in immigration during the 20th century’s first decades, Arab Palestinians began pressuring Great Britain, which found itself in the political crossfire.  From the 1930s on, the British authority began providing fewer immigration certificates than there was a demand for.  But the real change in policy took place in 1939. 

Restrictions and criminalisation of Jewish immigration to Palestine from 1939 on: In an attempt to mollify the Arab Palestinian population, Great Britain emitted in 1939 a “white paper” restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine to 75,000 people over five years and limiting the purchase of land by Jews.  The creation of an independent Arab state within 10 years was also intended.  However, the policy did not really slow Jewish immigration, because it opened the door to illegal immigration at a moment when the persecution of Jews in Europe was only intensifying. Until WWII began, and even after, tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine.  Despite the interception of some ships by the British, many immigrants were able to establish themselves in Palestine. 

The immigrants also found out how to establish themselves in Palestine thanks to gaps in the British system of regulation.  For example, given that students were not obliged to have an immigration certificate to study in Palestine, many people enrolled at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem then remained in the country. Some young women entered the country declaring fictitious marriages to Palestinians.  Still others arrived as tourists and never left.  In the end, between 1939 and 1948, 118,228 Jews reached Palestine, despite the British restrictions. 

After the war, Great Britain jailed thousands of the illegal immigrants in detention camps in Cyprus.  This attempt to staunch immigration failed, and Britain was reproached for it in the post-Holocaust context.

~ Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, "Jewish Immigration to Historical Palestine," CJPME Factsheet 181, November, 2013