All-Palestine Protectorate

According to Zvi Elpeleg, the term All-Palestine was coined to forestall any possible criticism by Jordanian King Abdallah that the establishment of a Palestinian government meant acceptance of the partition plan.[4]

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."[6]

Though this is a generally accepted principle of international law, Gross' opinion was only internal US government advice. In any event, the British Mandate did expire on 15 May 1948. Other than the Arab Higher Committee, which was re-established in 1945 by the Arab League, the Palestinian Arab community had no government, and no administrative or unified military structure. It relied on the objective declared by the Arab League on 12 April 1948, and the expectation that the Arab armies would prevail over the Palestinian Jewish community. As the war progressed, however, the ineffectiveness of the Committee became obvious.

When it appeared that the Arab forces would not defeat the Israeli forces (and with King Abdullah I of Transjordan taking steps to annex the West Bank), fresh political measures were taken in the form of resurrecting the All-Palestine Government. By the end of the war, however, the Arab Higher Committee had become politically irrelevant.

There are differences of opinion as to whether the All-Palestine Protectorate 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 the All-Palestine Government claimed jurisdiction over the whole former British Mandate of Palestine at no time did its effective jurisdiction extend beyond the Gaza Strip, with the West Bank annexed by Jordan and Israel holding the rest. The All-Palestine Protectorate relied entirely on the Egyptian government for funding and on UNRWA to relieve the plight of the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. The All-Palestine Government relocated to Cairo in late 1948, where it became a government in exile and gradually fell apart because of its impotence, four years later becoming a department of the Arab League. The protectorate finally dissolved in 1959 by decree of Nasser.

Egypt, which manipulated its formation, recognized All-Palestine on 12 October, followed by Syria and Lebanon on 13 October, Saudi Arabia the 14th and Yemen on the 16th. Iraq's decision to the same was made formally on the 12th, but was not made public. Both Great Britain and the US backed Jordan, the US saying that the mufti's role in World War II could be neither forgotten nor pardoned.[7]

Shortly thereafter, the Jericho Conference named King Abdullah I of Transjordan, "King of Arab Palestine".[8] 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 1948 Arab-Israeli War came to an end with the Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, which fixed the boundaries of the Gaza Strip.[9] The All-Palestine Government was not a party to the Agreement nor involved in its negotiation.

1948 – Palestinian Passport number 1 – All Palestine Government

In reality, during most of its existence the All-Palestine Protectorate was under de facto Egyptian administration, though Egypt never made any claim to or annexed any Palestinian territory. Egypt did not offer the Gazan Palestinians citizenship. Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and Egypt were issued All-Palestine passports, and were not permitted to move freely into Egypt. However, these passports were only recognized by six Arab countries. The passports ceased to be issued when the All-Palestine Government was dissolved, though some countries continued to recognize them for some time.

The All-Palestine Government revived the Holy War Army with the declared aim of "liberating Palestine". The Army, however, never actually recovered from the defeat of the 1947–1949 Palestine war and was in fact a collection of Palestinian fedayeen militias.

The Gaza Strip was the only area of the former British Mandate territory that was under the nominal control of the All-Palestine Government. The rest of the British Mandate territory became either part of Israel or the West Bank, annexed by Transjordan (a move that was not recognized internationally, except by UK).

In 1959, the protectorate was de jure merged into the United Arab Republic, while de facto turning Gaza into military occupation area of Egypt.

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.[13] In 1962, elections were held in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza and 22 Palestinian members were elected into the council.

• Jordanian annexation of the West Bank

• Laurens, Henry (2007). Une mission sacrée de civilisation. La Question de Palestine (in French). Vol. 3. Paris: Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-63358-9.

• Shlaim, Avi (1990). "The rise and fall of the All-Palestine Government in Gaza." Journal of Palestine Studies. 20: 37–53.
• Shlaim, Avi (2001). "Israel and the Arab Coalition." In Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim (eds.). The War for Palestine (pp. 79–103). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79476-5