The Sykes–Picot Agreement was a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. France and British representative signed the agreement a year after the Hussein-McMahon […]
Ottoman Empire signed the Armistice of Mudros with the Allies on October 30, 1918, which ended its hostilities in the war. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was a gradual process, but the armistice marked the Empire’s official exit from World War I and set the stage for its eventual dissolution in the following years. […]
The partition of the Ottoman Empire (30 October 1918 – 1 November 1922) was a geopolitical event that occurred after World War I and the occupation of Istanbul by British, French, and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several agreements made by the Allied Powers early in the course of World […]
The Paris Peace Conference was a set of formal and informal diplomatic meetings in 1919 and 1920 after the end of World War I, in which the victorious Allies set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, the talks resulted in five […]
The League of Nations officially came into existence on 10 January 1920. On 15 November 1920, 41 members states gathered in Geneva for the opening of the first session of the Assembly. This represented a large portion of existing states and corresponded to more than 70% of the world’s population. The League of Nations was the […]
On April 21 1936, Arab workers and local committees organized a strike of all Arabs engaged in labour, transport and shopkeeping in Palestine. This was a spontaneous popular resistance. Religious leaders, influential families and political leaders became involved to help with co-ordination, leading to the formation on 25 April 1936 of the Arab Higher Committee, […]
The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was established in 1937 to investigate the causes of the Arab unrest and general strike of 1936. Their official finding, issued on July 7, 1937, was that the League of Nations Mandate had become unworkable, and recommended partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. […]
Click to Read from 1937 – Peel Commission Recommends Partition
In February of 1947, Britain announced it would end it’s mandate in Palestine the following year. Arabs and Zionists had failed to reach an agreement about Palestine, and 53,500 illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine were being held in camps in Cyprus. On November 29 1947, the UN proposed partitioning Palestine into 3 sections: a Palestinian […]
Britain announces it will end the Palestinian mandate and leave Palestine. There are no plans about what will happen next. A joint Jewish-Arab conference in London in September 1946 ended in deadlock. The Palestinian position had not changed since the revolt. The Jewish Agency refused to participate with its staff in detention camps. Tens of […]
Click to Read from 1947- Britain Announces End of Palestinian Mandate
On April 9, 1948, the village of Deir Yassin witnessed a horrific massacre by Jewish militias, Irgun and Stern Gang. In a brutal onslaught, they slaughtered at least 107 to 250 Palestinian villagers, including women and children. This heinous act, documented by British and UN reports, involved unspeakable atrocities like rape, dismemberment, and execution-style killings. The assault on Deir Yassin, which had a non-aggression pact with the Hagana, was part of a calculated ethnic cleansing strategy, heightening terror among Palestinians and triggering the Nakba.
The massacre’s aftermath was equally chilling. Surviving men paraded through Jerusalem’s streets before being cold-bloodedly executed. The British, still in control of Palestine, chose not to intervene, paving the way for further violence. This event not only instilled fear across Palestinian communities, prompting mass exodus, but also catalyzed Arab governments’ intervention in the conflict. The Deir Yassin massacre stands as a stark reminder of the brutalities of war and the indelible scars it leaves on history. […]
Click to Read from 1948 – Deir Yassin Massacre