Did the Palestine Mandate Expire With League of Nations Demise?

I have a newspaper clipping in this 2012 post of mine on the legality of Britaisn creating Jordan in 1946. In essence, the claim was that as TransJordan had been part of the original Palestine Mandate whose whole purpose was to reconstitute the historic Jewish national home - until that was done, no territory could be fully separated from the Mandate nor could any political entity be established without also creating a Jewish state.

It is not quite that legible and so here is the full text from the JTA report I now have found:

The British Government believes that the Palestine Mandate expired with the demise of the League of Nations, its delegate to the Security Council’s Membership Committee said today.

The statement came in connection with debate on the application for membership in the U.N. by Transjordan, which was part of the Palestine Mandate. The British representative, Paul Falla, defended Britain’s unilateral proclamation of TransJordan’s independence by declaring that with the death of the League of Nations it devolved upon the British Government to either declare Transjordan independent or seek a trusteeship. It decided on the former course, he said, after consultation with the U.N. General Assembly. Falla made no reference to Palestine proper. Falla spoke after a statement by Soviet delegate Alexei N. Krasilnikov, who said that the Palestine Mandate had never been terminated, and consequently TransJordan’s status as an independent state was invalid. The Soviet spokesman said the regular procedures laid down for termination of a mandate had been violated by Britain’s declaration of Transjordan’s independence. The General Assembly resolution last year welcoming Transjordan’s independence was not sufficient to legalize violation of the Mandate, he added.He also challenged the validity of the Transjordan treaty with Britain, which allows the latter to maintain troops on Transjordan territory. Krasilnikov added that his opposition did not indicate any change in the friendly Soviet feelings towards the people of Transjordan and the Soviet desire to see them truly independent.

The US State Department also disagreed.

More here.

Jordan's UN membership was held up two years until Israel was established.

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When A Congressman Compared the Jordan River to the Mississippi

When the US Congress had no problem supporting Zionism, criticizing pro-Arab diplomacy and...comparing the Jordan River to the Mississippi River:-

Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives joined today in condemning on the floor of their respective Houses the granting of independence to Transjordan. One Congressman suggested that the matter to placed before the Security Council of the UNO by the U.S. delegation.

Senator Claude Pepper, Democrat of Florida, sharply attacked British policy in Transjordan and Palestine, in a general statement in the Senate on foreign policy with particular reference to the Iranian situation. The British Mandate over Palestine “should have been repealed a long time ago,” he said.

Rep. Gordon McDonough, California Republican, urged the State Department to consult with the British Foreign Office “to assure the British that the heroic and creative Hebrew people, who have already worked such marvels in transformation in the insert of Palestine, can, by their friendship and trust, be infinitely better guarantors of western principals of peace and freedom in the Near East than can illiterate, comedic Bedonine,” McDonough asked that the American delegates to the UNO be instructed to investigate this matter in the Security Council.

Rep. Angnatua Bennett, New York Republican, compared the separation of Palestine and Transjordan to a situation that might develop should the U.S. be divided at the Mississippi. He recalled the treaty of 1924, in which Great Britain promised not change the status of Transjordan under the Mandate without the approval of the U.S. Government. “To my knowledge,” he said, “that approval has not been granted.

Senator Owen Browster, Republican of Maine, told the Senate that the State Department should “investigate the sudden creation of this new independent state of Transjordan.”

JTA, April 4, 1946.

Background.

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Chaim Weizmann and TransJordan

Ze'ev Jabotinsky demanded Palestine. All of Palestine. Including TransJordan.

That's what the 1923 Zionist Congress decided:

Trans- and Cis-Jordan are "one historical, geographic and economic unit" and "in accordance with the legitimate demands of the Jewish people", the Congress expects that an expression of such will be achieved in Transjordan and eventually it will be carried out.

He declared 

that the opening of Transjordania to Jewish settlement is an essential condition no longer opposed by the Transjordanian Arabs but by the mandatory administration.

“A Transjordania which would have the same population density as Palestine has room for one and a half million immigrants, while a Palestine on both sides of the Jordan would harbor five or six millions,” Jabotinsky asserted. “A political regime which would promote settlement instead of hindering it would in a few decades solve the tragic problem of the Jews without harming their non-Jewish neighbors.”

Jabotinsky's 1935 list of the obligations a friendly mandatory power to the Jews and of the Jews to themselves should included

1. A land reserve for agricultural colonization following a geological survey of uncultivated land in Palestine and a loan for reclaiming land.
2. A similar survey in Transjordania.

If not granted land, then Jews should be able to purchase them.

Unlike Chaim Weizmann, his rival, you may have thought.

Really?

He held, for a while at least, similar views.

Here - 

"Transjordania must be opened to Jewish endeavours"

Earlier, there was a scandal when the Mizrachi representative Yehoshua Farbstein revealed negotiations for purchase of lands on the east side of the Jordan River in which he was quite involved.

And here:

(For Weizmann background, see here.)

How much was Weizmann pro-Transjordan?

Well, he said in May 1926

I openly and explicitly stated here as well as in London that we see in Transjordania the eastern part of Eretz Israel. However, we will build the bridge across the Jordan not with soldiers, we will make our way there by Jewish work, with the plough and not with the sword, only through the good will of the two nations, the Jews and the Arabs, will we cross the Jordan.

He pressed the first High Commissioner Herbert Samuel on the matter and latter replied in a December 20, 1936 item:

Sir Herbert Samuel, first British High Commissioner for Palestine, explained last night why Transjordan was not included with the Holy Land under the Balfour Declaration. He told the Anglo-Palestine Club that a pledge had been given to king Hussein that Transjordan was, like Iraq and Hedjaz, to be included in the Arab domains.

The explanation was indirectly a reply to Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, who recently raised the question in Jerusalem before the Royal Commission now conducting hearings there. Sir Herbert said the Arabs claimed that Palestine was also included in the Arab domains, but the British would not admit this.

And, as this book relates, he valiantly attempted to complete purchases but the British viewed that effort with displeasure and he never asserted the Jewish claim after that, as Herbert Samuel had declared in October 1934:

“The rumors that Transjordania will be annexed to Palestine are unfounded. Transjordania is a part of the British mandatory area and negotiations are now under way between the Government of Great Britain and Emir Abdullah, ruler of Transjordania, as to the conditions and form of administration of the country”

Weizmann eventually wilted.

The story:

History aside, Jordan is Transjordan is part of historic Palestine.

P.S.

Abba Hillel Silver, in January 1935, published a piece entitled "Land Hunger" which include this:

This calls for the opening up of Transjordania at the earliest possible moment for Jewish settlement. On this pivotal issue of Transjordania all the energies of the Zionist movement should now be concentrated. 

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Background to 1921 Churchill Partition

Winston Churchill created Transjordan out of the territory that was to be included in the Mandate for Palestine. I blogged about that here, here, and here and also here.

What needs to be added is Churchill's frame of mind at that time and shortly thereafter.

And here on page 65 that is described so:

Churchill almost lost for us the Mandate.

And was nasty:

But there was this:

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Zionists, Zionism and Ostjordanland

On August 6, 1923, the Thirteenth Zionist Congress, convened in Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia, and discussed details of the Palestine Mandate.  One of these details was Article 25 of the League of Nations decision in 1922 which read:

In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.

In its decisions. specifically D5, the Congress rejected that 'postponement' or 'withholding of application'.  Here it is:

In the typed minutes:

Trans- and Cis-Jordan are "one historical, geographic and economic unit" and "in accordance with the legitimate demands of the Jewish people", the Congress expects that an expression of such will be achieved in Transjordan and eventually it will be carried out.

And you know that Jews pressed for Jewish residency therein?

But now that I am thinking about it, this is one proof that the Zionist Movement, at the time, displayed disagreement with the British policy, declared its fundamental disagreement and never ceased to attempt to assert Jewish rights on the eastern portion of Eretz-Yisrael.

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Temple Mount Under TransJordanian Guns - and a Synagogue

As informed by my good friend Lenny Ben-David of Picture-a-Day, British Pathe newsreels are up.

In this one, you can see TransJordian troops and irregulars invading Mandate Palestine.

What caught my interest was the stationing of troops on the northern side of the Temple Mount:

the courtyard:

and the Dome of the Rock

and then I noticed off to the south-west, in the Jewish Quarter above, the "Tiferet Yisrael (Nissan Bek) Synagogue" complete

In other words, as the Synagogue was blown up on May 21, 1948, we can presume the film was shot sometime between then and the day of the invasion, May 17

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The Other, Fourth Partition (and The Temple Mount in 1916)

I, along with others, usually note that the Jews suffered through what were, for all intents and purposes, acts of territorial compromises multiple times but did not achieve through them any peace.  Moreover, not only were they basically rejected by the Arab side, but those acts of geographical diminution only spurred the Arabs to increase their violence, their terror, their pressuring of governments supportive of Zionism and so forth.

I counted three, basically.

The first was the truncation of the Jewish National Home as a territory on both banks of the Jordan River, as originally agreed upon during the Versailles Peace Conference in January 1919 although the Zionist claim to extend the northern border to the Litani was not finalized.

That resulted in the postponement of the terms of the Mandate in the territories east of the Jordan River which became permanent illegally and facilitated the establishment of an Arab state in Palestine: the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan:

ART. 25.
In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.

The second, the Partition Proposal of the Peel Commission, was never quite adopted although two years later, the proposal became the 1939 White Paper which reversed the underpinnings of the League of Nations decision to grant Great Britain the mandate ("the establishment of self supporting independent Arab and Jewish States within Palestine has been found to be impracticable. It has therefore been necessary for His Majesty's Government to devise an alternative policy...His Majesty's Government believe that the framers of the Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country") based on this 1922 truth, that

...recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country

as written in the preamble.

The third was the 1947 UN Partition Recommendation.  That attempted to fix that

Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem, set forth in Part III of this Plan, shall come into existence in Palestine two months after the evacuation of the armed forces of the mandatory Power has been completed...the boundaries as described in Part II of this Plan are to be modified in such a way that village areas as a rule will not be divided by state boundaries unless pressing reasons make that necessary.

I have now read an article by Uri Heitner in Kivvunim Chadashim [New Firections], No. 28, June 2013, pgs. 251-257.  In it he quotes Levy Eshkol, when, serving as Israel's Prime Minister in the post-1967 period, in a meeting with Gunnar Jarring on December 15, 1967 and in a unfinished and unsent communication with Amos Keinan of August 18, 1968, who considered there was yet an earlier partition of Israel's territory: when the Sykes-Picot Agreement was done in 1915-16.

That agreement stemmed, in part, from the British pro-Zionist desire:

At a Cabinet meeting David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, "referred to the ultimate destiny of Palestine."^...In a discussion after the meeting with fellow Zionist Herbert Samuel, who had a seat in the Cabinet as President of the Local Government Board, Lloyd George assured him that "he was very keen to see a Jewish state established in Palestine."

Later,

Prior to the departure of Sykes to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov in Petrograd on 27 February 1916, Sykes was approached with a plan by Samuel. The plan put forward by Samuel was in the form of a memorandum...Of the boundaries marked on a map attached to the memorandum he wrote:

"By excluding Hebron and the East of the Jordan there is less to discuss with the Moslems, as the Mosque of Omar then becomes the only matter of vital importance to discuss with them and further does away with any contact with the bedouins, who never cross the river except on business. I imagine that the principal object of Zionism is the realization of the ideal of an existing center of nationality rather than boundaries or extent of territory...

In other words, Eshkol, a Labour/Socialist Zionist, was quite well aware that the British had reduced the area of the Jewish National Home already in 1915.

And, as I emphasized in bold above, the Temple Mount was even then a recognized issue.

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Two Banks Has The Jordan River

No, not the Jabotinsky song.

But this:

Jordan's Prince Hassan bin Talal...in the speech, recorded and posted on the Jordandays.tv website,... stressed that the West Bank is part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which includes "both banks of the [Jordan] River." He added that he "did not personally oppose the two-state solution," but that this solution is irrelevant at the current stage.

Well, that confirms the geo-political truth:

to solve the Israel-Arab conflict, territorial compromise cannot be considered unless Jordan is brought into the equation or the Medad Fraction Principle.

Of course, the Prince has opened up Israel's legitimate right to assert its claims to the East Bank.

The 'West Bank', illegally occupied by Jordan in 1948 and then annexed to the Kingdom in April 1950, was part of the original Palestine Mandate territory but Jewish settlement there was banned in 1922 after the British decided in March 1921 to award the territory to Emir Abdallah:

ART. 25.

In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.

If Jordan wants to open up the land that was withheld from the Zionist enterprise, a land the current ruling family came to only in November 1920, whereas it was part of the Jewish National home, from Biblical times to the current era,

 I have no problem with that approach.


^

Hail Trans-Jordania That Was!

Ever heard of a country named Trans-Jordania?

No.

Well, if you believe "Palestine" existed, do believe then that "Trans-Jordania" existed.

From the Report by Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief. 30th July, 1921: officially entitled

AN INTERIM REPORT ON THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE, during the period 1st JULY, 1920--30th JUNE, 1921.

Included in the area of the Palestine Mandate is the territory of Trans-Jordania. It is bounded on the north by the frontier of Syria, placed under the mandate of France; on the south by the kingdom of the Hejaz; and on the west by the line of the Jordan and the Dead Sea; while on the east it stretches into the desert and ends--the boundary is not yet defined--where Mesopotamia begins. Trans-Jordania has a population of probably 350,000 people. It contains a few small towns and large areas of fertile land, producing excellent wheat and barley. The people are partly settled townsmen and agriculturists, partly wandering Bedouin; the latter, however, cultivate areas, more or less fixed, during certain seasons of the year.

When Palestine west of the Jordan was occupied by the British Army and placed under a British military administration, over Trans-Jordania and a large part of Syria there was established an Arab administration, with its capital at Damascus. The ruler was His Highness the Emir Feisal, the third son of H.M. King Hussein, the King of the Hejaz. When Damascus was occupied by French troops in July, 1920, and the Emir Feisal withdrew, it was necessary to adopt fresh measures in Trans-Jordania. I proceeded to the central town of Salt on August 20th, and, at an assembly of notables and sheikhs of the district, announced that His Majesty's Government favoured the establishment of a system of local self- government, assisted by a small number of British officers as advisers.

...Five British officers were appointed to assist the councils and their officials and to aid in organising a gendarmerie. No British troops were stationed in the district. It cannot be claimed that the system of administration so set up was satisfactory. The authority of the councils was flouted by large sections of the population; taxes were collected with difficulty...

Some progress was beginning, however, to be made when, in the month of November, H.H. the Emir Abdallah, the second son of King Hussein, arrived from the Hejaz at Ma'an, to the south of Trans-Jordania. His purpose was declared to be to restore a Shereefian government in Damascus. His arrival caused much disturbance in the minds of the people of Trans- Jordania and further impaired the authority, already slight, of the local authorities. From Ma'an the Emir proceeded on March 2nd to Amman, a town on the Hejaz Railway to the east of Salt, and there established his headquarters.

The Secretary of State for the Colonies being in Palestine in the month of March, a Conference was held with the Emir, who came to Jerusalem for the purpose. An arrangement was reached by which the Emir undertook to carry on the administration of Trans-Jordania, under the general direction of the High Commissioner of Palestine, as representing the Mandatory Power, and with the assistance of a small number of British officers, for a period of six months pending a definite settlement. Order and public security were to be maintained and there were to be no attacks against Syria. Since that time a close connection has continued between Palestine and Trans-Jordania. British representatives remain in the principal centres.

I paid a visit to Amman on April 18th as the guest of the Emir...The Emir came to Palestine again in the month of May. The political and technical officers of the Palestine Administration have made frequent visits to Trans-Jordania and have assisted the local officials with their advice...The political and economic connection between Palestine and Trans-Jordania is very close...

Well, how about that.

A Saudi Arabian tried to assist his brother in Damscus (who was shifted to Iraq and you can see the two of them here in a 1923 newsclip - Abdallah is the short guy in white), threatened the French, bothered the British who then installed him across the Jordan River and in doing so, got the League of Nations to suspend the Mandate Provisions to reconstitute the Jewish national home from Trans-Jordania, making it a "country" which eventually became an "independent" Emirate in 1928 and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  That Kingdon in April 1950 illegally annexed Judea and Samaria putting an end to any Arab state in the former Mandate for Palestine territory.

In 1933, TIME Magazine was aware of Trans-Jordania:

Smooth olive skin, enormous brown eyes, a close black beard and hennaed locks carefully plaited distinguish Emir Abdullah of Transjordania. Annoyed by torrid questions put to him by one of the few U. S. women he has ever received, His Highness answered coldly:

"To the desert Arab, the American or European woman is utterly devoid of charm. There is no mystery about her. She shows not only her thoughts but her bones..."

How the country looked in 1930-

and earlier.  Another.  A notation of a 1923 clip:

RULER OF 60 MILLION MOSLEMS The Caliph of Transjordania ( Jordan ) - King Hussein - seen inspecting his soldiers [that's Abdallah's father].

And before Abdallah came, here's how it was described in The 1911 Classic Encyclopedia update:-

>"TRANSJORDANIA, EMIRATE OF, sometimes called Kerak, a dominion extending some 200 m. S. from the Yarmuk and from the Jordan eastwards to the desert. It comprises Gilead, Amman, Moab and part of Edom of the Old Testament, and El Belga, the southern portion of the former Turkish vilayet of Damascus. After forming the independent kingdom of Ghassan under a succession of Arab dynasties from A.D. 165 onwards it was conquered by the Moslems [not, Arabs weren't originally Muslims] during the joint reigns of Amr IV. and Jabala V. and VI. in 637, and under the name of Kerak became one of the six kingdoms into which Syria was divided under the khalifs of Bagdad and the Seljuk Turks. As the Emirate of Kerak it was a separate State during the Middle Ages and again became an independent principality in 1920 with its capital at Amman (pop. 2,300). The other principal towns are Kerak (pop. 2,500), Madeba (pop. 2,000), Es Salt (pop. 8,000), Ma'an (pop.3,000), Jerash (pop. 1,500). Its inhabitants possibly number 180,000, varying according to the season and the movements of the nomads; they are partly settled Arabs - many of whom are Christians - with some colonies of Circassian Moslems and a number of nomads. It contains many interesting classical and mediaeval ruins. The physical features, flora and fauna are similar to those of southern Syria.

In 1929, we learn that

Captain Playfair, commander of the Royal Air Force at Amman. Testifying Monday Captain Playfair declared...that while...arrangements were being carried out disquieting reports were received from Amman, stating that the sheiks of Transjordania had decided to march on Palestine, being eventually restrained by Emir Abdullah, ruler of Transjordania. Upon the heels of these disquieting reports, Playfair asserted, came the Arab attack upon the police of Nablus and the raiding of Talpioth. The news of the massacre at Hebron reached him an hour after its occurrence. Nevertheless an armed tender was immediately ordered to proceed to Hebron. Enroute it encountered armed bands heading for Jerusalem. As a result the tender did not arrive in Hebron until the afternoon of the massacre. His main object, Playfair stated, was to prevent the incursion of Moslems from Transjordania, Egypt and Syria.

(k/t=LBD)

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Reunify Palestinian Arabs in Their Already Existing State

Received from the PRPAJ- the Party for the Implementation of a Marshall Plan for the Reunification of the Palestinian Arabs in their Existing State in Trans-Jordan

TWO STATES FOR TWO PEOPLES

ON TWO BANKS OF THE JORDAN RIVER

The Land of Israel belongs to the Jews

Those who call themselves “Palestinians” belong in Jordan

The “Jordanians” and the “Palestinians” are by their own claims, one and the same people, with the same language, religion and origins. They are therefore entitled to one state only.

This Palestinian Arab State already exists, since 1920, in Trans-Jordan.

Implement a Marshall Plan for the Reunification of the

Palestinian Arabs in their Existing State in Trans-Jordan

In 1919, in the wake of the dismantlement of the Ottoman Empire, the League of Nations mandated the British Government to establish the Jewish National Home in Palestine, which comprised the territories on both banks of the Jordan River. Instead, in contravention of international law and basic human decency, the perfidious British despoiled the Jewish People, and literally stole from them 77% of the area of Palestine, known from Time Immemorial, as the Land of Israel. They handed over Trans-Jordan to the Hashemites, a Bedouin tribe that had been ousted from Saudi Arabia. However, by so doing, they in fact established an exclusive Arab Palestinian State, from which the Jews were banished and barred.

The Hashemite Minority Rule to this day denies the Palestinian majority their legitimate rights. It has been the root cause of the “Palestinian Calamity”. During “Black” September 1970, the Hashemites slaughtered some 20,000 Palestinians’ and expelled hundreds of thousands more. These Palestinian terrorist gangs, led by Arafat, set up a “state within a state” in Lebanon and organized the worldwide terrorist networks.

Hashemite minority rule is the real cause of the “dispossession” of the Palestinians. Not Israel. For the past forty years, the Arabs have turned this lie into the pretext and battle cry of Islamonazi imperialism and terrorism throughout the world. However, it is the USA and Europe that they plan to exploit and plunder, after destroying Israel. And they have been given a very good head start by the Chamberlains and traitors amongst us.

Don’t say you didn’t know !!!

In order to end, once and for all, the hoax of Palestinian “homelessness”, and to give back to the Palestinians their rights to self-determination, in their existing state,

it is incumbent upon the International Community to

END THE HASHEMITE MINORITY REGIME IN JORDAN and

RECOGNIZE DE JURE, THE DE FACTO

ARAB PALESTINIAN STATE in TRANS-JORDAN

* Moreover, the Arabs have 22 vast states, from which the Jews were banished and barred

* The Jews do not wish to rule over a single Arab

* The Jews are entitled to, and must have, one tiny state all of their own, without Arabs

The Jordan River is the only just, viable, logical and defensible border

between the Jewish State of Israel and the Arab Palestinian State of Jordan.

Demand the Implementation of a Marshall Plan for the Reunification of

the Palestinian Arabs in their Existing State in Trans-Jordan NOW!!!

Join the Revolution to Save the State of Israel. Be pro-active. Send this message as a petition to your elected representatives, your local organizations, the media, your synagogues, churches, and friends.
Post it on your blogs, social networks and twitters.

For more information E:mecodems@netvision.net.il

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Transjordan?

Jewish settlement in Transjordan?

Dr. Stephen S. Wise of New York, addressing today's session of the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress, launched a sharp attack on Dr. Chaim Weizmann, former president of the World Zionist Organization, and on the policies of the Zionist Laborite party. Shouts and exclamations from the Laborite section frequently interrupted Dr. Wise as he appealed to the congress to elect only such leaders to the organization's administration as do not oppose the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine and support the demand for a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River...Rabbi Wise declared himself bewildered by Dr. Weizmann's criticism of constructive negotiations for the opening of Transjordania to Jewish settlement, especially as voiced by Dr. Weizmann in his speeches at the American Zionist convention in Chicago in July. The negotiations have been conducted by members of the Palestine Executive of the Jewish Agency with friendly Transjordan Arab leaders...Dr. Wise freely praised Emanuel Neumann, American member of the executive, and the late Dr. Chaim Arlosoroff, for their conduct of negotiations leading to the opening of the spacious Transjordan area to Jewish effort.

That was from August 29, 1933. And Wise was a Reform Rabbi.

And this:

...in May 1937, Ben-Gurion had a meeting with some colleagues amongst whom was included Pinhas Rutenberg. Rutenberg was a Russo-Jewish electrical engineer and founder and director of the Palestine Electric Company, who had set up a hydro-electric power station in Transjordan to harness the waters of the upper Jordan and the Yarmuk rivers...At this meeting on 5 May, it was concluded that “We see need...to pressure the British Government” on the possibility of Jewish settlement in Transjordan...

...At that time [July 1937], there were already a number of Jewish settlements on the eastern side of the River Jordan. These were situated between the Sea of Galilee and the junction between the Jordan and Yarmuk Rivers. Geographically, these settlements were in Transjordan, but in fact this small area of land was outside the boundaries of Transjordan as they had been fixed in 1922. According to the Peel Commission's recommendations the area of these settlements was to become part of the Arab State and its Jewish inhabitants transferred to the Jewish State. The Zionists made an immediate appeal for this small area to be incorporated within the boundaries of the Jewish State.(87) However, as Ben-Gurion noted in his diary, “In the event of the compulsory transfer being rejected by the Government, we will remain in Transjordan - even if the border suggested by the Commission, north of the Yarmuk-Jordan junction is not rectified.”(88)

And from this book, Nazism, the Jews, and American Zionism, 1933-1948 By Aaron Berman,

And from the book, King Abdullah, Britain and the Making of Jordan By Mary Christina Wilson:

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Exactly What is "Occupied"?

What is going around the blogosphere is this:

Professor - Associate - Gil Anidjar teaches a class* at Columbia University at its Middle East Institute called "Theories of Culture in the Middle East".

In one of his recent lectures, he was reputed to have said (or maybe he didn't but the point still needs to be dealt with):

"The so-called Occupied Territories...I say so-called because the other areas are also occupied but they are just not called that..."

I can only presume that he - and his students - thought what was being referred to was the region of Judea and Samaria in the first instance ("occupied Territories"), and the rest of Israel, between the Green Line to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, in the second instance ("the other areas").

However, there is another interpretation:

Jordan, as we all know (we do, do we not?), is occupied by the Hashemite family who hail from Saudi Arabia.  Abdullah I, the current king's great grandfather, entered the territory and proceeded in a northernly direction in November 1920.  Here's one summary:

In November 1920 Abdullah, Faysal's brother, arrived in Ma'an (at that time claimed as part of Hejaz, based on the old Ottoman Vilayet of Hejaz) with 2,000 armed supporters intent on gathering together tribes to attack the French, who had forced Faysal to relinquish his newly founded kingdom in Syria. To defuse the situation - and with a bit of 'horsetrading' -, the British decided that Abdullah would take over as ruler of what was to become known as Transjordan

and here's a more official Jordanian version:

In November 1920, Emir (later King) Abdullah led forces from the Hijaz to restore his brother’s throne in the Kingdom of Syria. However, the French mandate over Syria was already well planted, and Abdullah was obliged to delay his pan-Arab goals and focus on forming a government in Amman. Since the end of the war, the British had divided the land of Transjordan into three local administrative districts, with a British “advisor” appointed to each. The northern region of ‘Ajloun had its administrative center in Irbid, the central region of Balqa was based in Salt, and the southern region was run by the “Moabite Arab Government,” based in Karak. The regions of Ma’an and Tabuk were incorporated into the Kingdom of the Hijaz, ancestral home of the Hashemites. Faced with the determination of Emir Abdullah to unify Arab lands under the Hashemite banner, the British proclaimed Abdullah ruler of the three districts, known collectively as Transjordan.

Once Abdullah made his aggressive move, parts of the country there were supposed to be part of the Jewish national home territory were transferred to TransJordan and Britain arranged the 'postponement' of the article in the Mandate decision concerning the right of 'close settlement' by Jews therein:

Article 6  -  The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights and position of other sections of the population are not prejudiced, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and shall encourage, in co-operation with the Jewish agency referred to in Article 4, close settlement by Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes.

Notice that the term "Arabs" does not appear.  The land that was to become a country and eventually a state was slated to be Jewish whereas the rest of the population was defined as "other sections" with no identity and that is because it didn't make a difference if they were Arabs for they had no claims.  They were "others": Arabs, Muslims, Christains, Europeans, and whatnot.  To the Jews, by a decision of international legality, and Jews only, belonged the political primacy.

Jordan, today, occupies parts of the historical Jewish national home.  Between 1948 and 1967, it occupied Judea and Samaria.  In April 1950, it illegally annexed those regions, an act recognized by England only.

Only at Columbia, I guess, could such a weird ideology be promoted and thought of as  academic truth rather than what it is - not quite an historical fact.
P.S.  Of course, if Anidjar denies expressing such sentiments, and I sent this post to him, I will retract.


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* maybe this one: Middle East W3000, Theory-Culture: Middle East/South Asia, Section 001, Call Number: 87097, Instructor: Gil Anidjar, Points: 4, Day/Time: TR 2:10pm-4:00pm, Location: 313 Fayerweather.

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UPDATE

After reading myself here, I realize there are a few spelling errors and syntax I needed to correct.

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Moshe Sharett's "Surrender" of Trans-Jordan

Found in Tom Segev's review of a colloection of letters composed by Moshe Sharett, "Yerahim Be'emek Ayalon" - "Behind Barbed Wire in the Ayalon Valley":-

Sharett was arrested as part of a comprehensive plan of action that was designed to break the resistance to British rule; the day it was carried out became known in Hebrew as "Black Shabbat." At the time Sharett was serving as head of the Jewish Agency's political department, and was the most prominent Zionist leader in the country; Ben-Gurion was staying in Paris.

...Sharett's time in detention at Latrun was part of a particularly dramatic period in the history of the state-in-the-making, which included the bombing of the King David Hotel by the Irgun pre-state underground, in which more than 90 people were killed. When Sharett heard about this he was shaken to the depths of his soul; he termed the terror attack "a holocaust."

Decision time was nearing on the future of Palestine: Sharett sent Eliyahu Sasson to Egypt to persuade that country's prime minister, Ismail Sidqi, to agree to partition. Sharett offered to give up any Jewish claim to territories east of the Jordan -in other words, to establish the Jewish state on all of the land west of the Jordan, including the West Bank. He described the arrangement as an Israeli concession of "half of the whole loaf of bread." He also promised the country's Arabs full equality but stated that whatever the Arabs had already lost to Jewish settlement - they would not get back.

Sharett was considered one of the more moderate and cautious statesmen, but his letter to Sidqi was worded in cold political language, with an occasional threatening tone. By all signs it was not meant for Arab eyes alone, but rather was also meant to withstand all political criticism should the letter become public. The establishment of a Jewish state would cause the Arabs "minuscule damage," and they would do well to accept reality, lest the Jews demand more, he wrote.

Sharett, remember, was a 'moderate'.

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Zionist Land Purchases...in Transjordan

From this books:

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The Beginning of the Loss of Eretz-Yisrael

On April 17, 1921, High Commissioner for the Palestine Mandate proclaimed Abdallah as Emir over TransJordan, the first concrete step of separating that territory from the Jewish National Home, a decision taken at the Cairo Conference and confirmed in Jerusalem.

A photograph of the event:

More background:

His Britannic Majesty is the Mandatory for Transjordan to which the terms of the mandate for Palestine, with the exception of the provisions dealing with the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people, are applicable. The declaration of His Majesty's Government with regard to its Mandatory obligations in Transjordan, made to the Council of League of Nations in September, 1922, (Cmd. 1785) was in the following terms:--

"In the application of the Mandate to Transjordan, the action which in Palestine is taken by the Administration of the latter country, will be taken by the Administration of Transjordan under the general supervision of the Mandatory.

"His Majesty's Government accept full responsibility as Mandatory for Transjordan, and undertake that such provision as may be made for the administration of that country in accordance with Article 25 of the Mandate shall be in no way inconsistent with those provisions of the Mandate which are not by this resolution declared inapplicable."

The Mandatory is represented in Transjordan by the Chief British Representative, assisted by two British officers and a small clerical staff. The Chief British Representative acts under the instructions of the High Commissioner for Palestine.

On the 25th April, 1923, at Amman, the High Commissioner announced that, subject to the approval of the League of Nations, His Majesty's Government would recognise the existence of an independent Government in Transjordan under the rule of His Highness the Amir Abdulla, provided that such Government was constitutional and placed His Britannic Majesty's Government in a position to fulfil its international obligations in respect of the territory by means of an agreement to be concluded between the two Governments.

The agreement has not yet been concluded.

3. The Amir Abdulla arrived in Transjordan in February, 1921, and the territory, at that time divided into three separately administered districts, Ajlun, the Balqa and Kerak, was brought by him under a central government. A Council of Ministers was formed, a Governor appointed to each district, and each district subdivided into a number of sub-governorates. Most of the officials appointed were men who had occupied similar positions in Syria under the regime of King Feisal.

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Let's Recall The Other "Palestinian" State

In the book "The Handbook of Palestine and Trans-Jordan", edited by Harry Luke and Edward Keith-Roach, MMacmillan and Co., Ltd, London, 1934 (3rd Edition), the history of the establishment of Trans-Jordan is recounted.

The highlights (with my comments):

Trans-Jordan was occupied simultaneously by the British and Arab troops in October 1918.

British troops evacuated it in December 1919 - although it technically being Occupied Enemy Territory (East) and later entrusted to Britain in April 1920 at San Remo Conference - it was considered part of Syria then ruled by King Faisal.

When French troops reoccupied Syria, troops of the Britain's Royal Air Force retook it.

In August 1920, High Commissioner for Palestine travelled to Salt and announced plans for local self-government. This administration of local councils and gendarmerie proved unsuccessful.

In November 1920, Abdallah arrived from Hejaz at Ma'an. In March 1921, he proceeded to Amman.

In March 1921, in Jerusalem, Secretary for Colonies Winston Churchill arranged that Abdallah assume the administration of Trans-Jordan under the general direction of the HC for Palestine representing the Mandatory Power.

In September 1922, a Memorandum from HMG, declaring by virtue of Article 25 of the Palestine Mandate that the articles relative to the establsihment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine would be inapplicable as regards Trans-Jordan, was approved by the Council of the League of Nations.

On 25 April 1923, the HC for Palestine declared that HMG will recognize, subject to League of Nations approval, the existence of an independent Government in Trans-Jordan under the rule of Amir Abdallah. The agrrement was finally reached on 20 February 1928.

September 1923, the League of Nations finally approved the awarding of a Mandate over Palestine to Great Britain.

Prior to 12 August 1927, the HC for Palestine included in their juridiction the entire Mandatory area without separate mention of Trans-Jordan. After that date, the HCs received separate Commissions from HM as HC for Trans-Jordan.