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The Zionists explained this increase as the result of Hitler coming to power in 1933. 36 Hence, it seemed to the Palestinians that Hitler was being used as a pretext. Jewish immigration seemed to them less a humanitarian cause than a Zionist exploitation of Nazism to establish a Jewish state at Palestinian expense. ”37 Notable, too, was that the British, while favoring Jewish immigration to Palestine, permitted fewer than 3,000 Jews to enter their larger and richer country in the same 1932–1935 period.

Sykes, Crossroads, 5. 24. Hannah Arendt, 1944, 1950, cited by Corey Robin, “Dragon-Slayers,” London Review of Books, 4 January 2007. 25. France invaded Syria in 1920, destroyed Damascus, unseated King Faisal and suppressed rebellions in 1925–1926 and 1945. Britain suppressed independence movements in Iraq until 1958. 26. Some Arab leaders were willing to acquiesce to a United States, though not British, mandate authority. 34 Chapter Two 27. ” All parties knew better. 28. J. C. Hurewitz, The Struggle for Palestine (New York: Schocken Books, 1976), 21.

In addition, Jewish terrorist organizations (the Irgun led by Begin and the LEHI led by Shamir) have been estimated at 2,000–5,000 and 300–1,000 men, respectively. The local Palestinians had limited capacity to fight the Jews. ”73 The Palestinian leadership was exiled, imprisoned, or killed—the titular leader of the Palestinians, the Mufti of Jerusalem, despised in the Arab world for his political extremism and unpopular with Palestinians, was exiled. 3 million to fight against partition. ”75 There were, however, some additional forces on the Palestinian side, some 2,000 Muslim Brotherhood volunteers from Egypt were posted in the south of Palestine.