| All-Palestine Government حكومة عموم فلسطين Hukumat 'umum Filastin |
||||
| Recognised only by some Arab states | ||||
|
||||
| Capital | Jerusalem (official) Gaza City (in practice) |
|||
| Language(s) | Arabic, Hebrew | |||
| Government | Republic | |||
| Prime Minister | Ahmed Hilmi Abd al-Baqi | |||
| Historical era | Cold War | |||
| - Established | 22 September 1948 1948 | |||
| - 1949 Armistice | 1949 | |||
| - Disestablished | 1959 | |||
The All-Palestine Government (Arabic: حكومة عموم فلسطين Hukumat 'umum Filastin) was established by the Arab League on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Shortly thereafter, an Arab-Palestinian Congress named King Abdullah I of Transjordan, "King of Arab Palestine".[1] The Congress called for the union of Arab Palestine and Transjordan and Abdullah announced his intention to annex the West Bank. The other Arab League member states opposed Abdullah's plan. The All-Palestine Government is regarded by some as the first attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state, whilst most just saw it as an Egyptian puppet, only to be annulled a few years after its creation by no less than President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Though jurisdiction of the Government was declared to cover the whole of the former British Mandate of Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the Gaza Strip.
Contents |
At the end of the First World War Britain was in occupation of Palestine, the boundaries of which were undefined. Britain and France, the main Allied Powers with a long-term interest in the area, made several agreements which set up spheres of interest between them in the area. They sought to legitimize their occupation by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations. Britain obtained a Mandate of Palestine. In the mandate territory Britain set up two separate administrations: Palestine and Transjordan;[2][3] with the stated objective that they would in the course of time become fully independent.
There was opposition from the Arab population of Palestine to the objectives set out in the mandate, and civil unrest persisted throughout the term of the mandate. Various attempts were made to reconcile the Arab community with the growing Jewish population, without success. In an effort to resolve the conflicting objectives in the Mandate objective, several partition plans were proposed. The United Nations proposed the Partition Plan of 1947. Besides other things, the plan proposed that the Gaza area would become part of a new Arab state. The Arab states rejected the United Nations plan, which heralded the start of the 1947-1948 Civil War in Palestine.
Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary, said that after twenty five years, the British had failed to establish the self-governing institutions in Palestine that had been required under the Mandate.[4] Transjordan had been recognized as an independent government throughout most of the mandatory period, but it was officially recognized as an independent state by the United Kingdom in the Treaty of London (1946),[5] though some countries continued to dispute its independent status.
With the announcement by Britain that it will unilaterally withdraw from the British Mandate on 15 May 1948, the players in the region commenced maneuvers to secure their positions and objectives in the power vacuum brought on by the departing British.
The objective of the surrounding Arab countries in the take-over of the whole of the British Mandate was set out on April 12, 1948, when the Arab League announced:
The Arab armies shall enter Palestine to rescue it. His Majesty (King Farouk, representing the League) would like to make it clearly understood that such measures should be looked upon as temporary and devoid of any character of the occupation or partition of Palestine, and that after completion of its liberation, that country would be handed over to its owners to rule in the way they like.[6]
Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948, on the day before the expiration of the Mandate (because the 15th was Jewish Sabbath). On 15 May 1948, the Egyptian army invaded the territory of the former British Mandate from the south, heralding the start of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.[7]
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. On 8 July 1948, the Arab League decided to set up a temporary civil administration in Palestine, to be directly responsible to the Arab League. This plan was strongly opposed by King Abdullah I of Transjordan, and received only half-hearted support from the Arab Higher Committee, which had itself been set up in 1945 by the Arab League. The new administration was never properly established. Another order issued on 8 August 1948 vested an Egyptian Administrator-General with the powers of the High Commissioner.[8]
The Egyptian government, suspicious of King Abdullah's intentions and growing power in Palestine, put a proposal to the Arab League meeting that opened in Alexandria on 6 September 1948. The plan would turn the temporary civil administration, which had been agreed to in July, into an Arab government with a seat in Gaza for the whole of Palestine. The formal announcement of the Arab League's decision to form the Government of All-Palestine was issued on 20 September.
The All-Palestine Government was under the nominal leadership of Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem. Ahmed Hilmi Abd al-Baqi was named Prime Minister. Hilmi's cabinet consisted largely of relatives and followers of Amin al-Husayni, but also included representatives of other factions of the Palestinian ruling class. Jamal al-Husayni became foreign minister, Raja al-Husayni became defense minister, Michael Abcarius was finance minister, and Anwar Nusseibeh was secretary of the cabinet. Twelve ministers in all, living in different Arab countries, headed for Gaza to take up their new positions. The decision to set up the All-Palestine Government made the Arab Higher Committee irrelevant, but Amin al-Husayni continued to exercise an influence in Palestinian affairs.
A Palestinian National Council was convened in Gaza on 30 September 1948, under the chairmanship of Amin al-Husayni. The council passed a series of resolutions culminating on 1 October 1948 with a declaration of independence over the whole of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital.[8] Although the new government claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Palestine, it had no administration, no civil service, no money, and no real army of its own. It formally adopted the Flag of the Arab Revolt that had been used by Arab nationalists since 1917, and revived the Holy War Army, with the declared aim of liberating Palestine.
Abdullah regarded the attempt to revive al-Husayni's Holy War Army as a challenge to his authority and on 3 October his minister of defense ordered all armed bodies operating in the areas controlled by the Arab Legion to be disbanded. Glubb Pasha carried out the order ruthlessly and efficiently.[9] The sum effect was that:
'The leadership of al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Arab Higher Committee, which had dominated the Palestinian political scene since the 1920s, was devastated by the disaster of 1948 and discredited by its failure to prevent it.'[10]
After Israel went on the offensive against Egypt on 15 October 1948, the All-Palestine Government was quickly recognized by six of the then seven members of the Arab League: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Transjordan.[11] It was not recognised by any other country.
Despite its lofty goals, the All-Palestine Government proved to be generally ineffectual. The Palestinians, and the Arab World in general, were shocked by the speed and extent of the Israeli victories, and the ill-preparedness of the Arab armies, who were poorly equipped. This, combined with the expansionist designs of King Abdullah, cast the Palestinian leadership into disarray.
Avi Shlaim writes:
'The decision to form the Government of All-Palestine in Gaza, and the feeble attempt to create armed forces under its control, furnished the members of the Arab League with the means of divesting themselves of direct responsibility for the prosecution of the war and of withdrawing their armies from Palestine with some protection against popular outcry. Whatever the long-term future of the Arab government of Palestine, its immediate purpose, as conceived by its Egyptian sponsors, was to provide a focal point of opposition to Abdullah and serve as an instrument for frustrating his ambition to federate the Arab regions with Transjordan'.[12]
The 1948 Arab-Israeli War came to an end with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. The Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949[13] fixed the boundaries of the Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip was the only area of the former British Mandate territory that was under the nominal control of the All-Palestine Government, with 17% of the Mandate territory becoming part of Israel, and the West Bank soon to be annexed by Transjordan, a move that was not recognized internationally. In reality, the Gaza Strip was under Egyptian administration, though Egypt never made any claim to or annexed any Palestinian territory. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Egypt were issued with All-Palestine passports, and were not permitted to move freely into Egypt.
After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and the rise to power of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian support for Pan-Arabism and the Palestinian cause increased.
During the Suez War of 1956, Israel invaded the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Israel eventually withdrew from the territories it had invaded, and the All-Palestine Government continued to have official sovereignty in Gaza. In 1957, the Basic Law of Gaza established a Legislative Council that could pass laws which were given to the High Administrator-General for approval.[14]
The situation changed again after the 1958 unification of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic. In 1959, Gamal Abdel Nasser officially annulled the All-Palestine Government by decree, reasoning that the All-Palestine Government had failed to successfully advance the Palestinian cause. At that time, Amin al-Husayni moved from Egypt to Lebanon. The Gaza Strip was directly administered by Egypt. In March 1962, a Constitution for the Gaza Strip was issued confirming the role of the Legislative Council.[14] Egyptian administration came to an end in June 1967 when the Gaza Strip was captured by Israel in the Six Day War.
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."[15]
Though the principle is a generally accepted principle of international law, the opinion was an internal US government advice. In any event, the Jewish community in Palestine declared its independence on 14 May 1948. Other than the Arab Higher Committee, which was set up in 1945 by the Arab League, the Arab community had no government, and no administrative or unified military structure. The Arab community relied on the objective declared by the Arab League on 12 April 1948, and the expectation that the Arab armies would prevail over the Jewish community. As the war progressed, however, the ineffectiveness of the Committee became obvious.
When it appeared that the Arab forces would not be able to defeat the Israeli forces, and with King Abdullah I of Transjordan taking steps to annex Palestine, fresh political measures were taken, in the form of the All-Palestine Government. By the end of the war, the Arab Higher Committee became politically irrelevant.
There are differences of opinion as to whether the All-Palestine Government 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 jurisdiction of the Government was declared to cover the whole of the former British Mandate of Palestine, at no time did its effective jurisdiction extend beyond the Gaza Strip, with Israel being able to survive and the West Bank being annexed by Transjordan. The Government relied entirely on the Egyptian government for funding, and on UNRWA to relieve the plight of the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. It soon moved to Cairo where it gradually fell apart because of its impotence, ending up four years later as a department of the Arab League. It was finally dissolved in 1959, by decree of Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt.