James Pfister: From the Palestine mandate to the Truman decision

The land occupied by Israel today has been a crossroads in history over the millennia. Evidence of early man has been found there. Those who have studied the Bible will recognize part of this history. My purpose is to pick up this history at the end of World War I under the League of Nations, Article 22, on the Mandate system (Jan. 10, 1920).

The Mandate system marked the beginning of the end of colonialism, where European states had taken sovereignty over areas in Africa and Asia in the nineteenth century. When the state of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948, by David Ben-Gurion, decolonization was well underway: Great Britain’s Mandate over Palestine expired, President Harry S Truman (herein Truman) recognized the new state of Israel, and the name “Israel” was chosen all on this date. On the next day, the 15th, war by the Arabs was underway.

The question is whether Truman should have preempted the United Nations in his de facto recognition of this new state. Would we have been closer to the goal of a two-state solution if the process had remained at the U.N. level for a partition and perhaps trusteeship?

The drafters of the League of Nations, involving our President Woodrow Wilson in the lead, foresaw decolonization to prevent old-style European sovereignty takeovers. The Mandate system provided for advanced states to provide “tutelage” over territories not ready to govern themselves. Such was the area of Palestine, taken from the Ottoman Empire during World War I. These areas would be a “sacred trust of civilization.”

The Palestine Mandate was given to Great Britain under said Article 22 on July 24, 1922. The Mandate provided for putting into effect the Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, which looked forward to a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but “nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” (The Palestine Mandate). Obviously, this was not going to happen easily. Much strife occurred. The majority of the population was Arab; the British rejected majority rule in domestic matters because that would have given the Arabs control in a democratic system. (Wikipedia).

A major Jewish leader, Dr. Chaim Weizmann (herein Weizmann), was particularly close to Truman. Although the American elections of 1948 gave democrats an incentive to court the Jewish vote in New York, for Truman humanitarian concerns mattered most. (David McCullough, “Truman,” Touchstone, 1992). Jewish leaders pressured Truman for a Jewish state. Truman’s old business partner and friend, Eddie Jacobson, was Jewish. His influence was going to be critical. The powerful George C. Marshall (herein Marshall) was Secretary of State. The State Department favored working through the U.N. for a long-term solution until the conflict between the Jews and Arabs could be resolved. (McCullough). Marshall was against unilaterally recognizing a Jewish state, but eventually said he would not publicly object. This gave Truman a green light. Marshall sent Dean Rusk to the U.N. to mollify the delegation there so they would not resign if Truman recognized the Jewish state.

Truman had a love of ancient history, including Biblical history, with all its complications, but he was so fed up with Jewish pressure that he refused to see any Zionist spokesmen, including Weizmann. Jacobson intervened. Jacobson talked Truman into meeting with Weizmann, “the greatest Jew who ever lived,” according to Jacobson. Truman finally said: “Your win, you baldheaded ...” Weizmann and Truman met in private. Truman decided to de facto recognize the new Jewish state as soon as it was declared.

The State Department approach under the leadership of Marshall may have been better. Working through partition in the U.N. Trustee format would probably have given the Palestinians more power to negotiate what they would consider to be an equitable solution, although the prescient George Kennan considered the Palestine situation “insoluble for the time being.” (McCullough).

Truman, given his intellectual and religious background, believed he had done the right thing. When Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog visited Truman, he said: “God put you in your mother’s womb so you would be an instrument to bring the rebirth of Israel after 2,000 years.” Tears were running down Truman’s face. (McCullough).

— James W. Pfister, J.D. University of Toledo, Ph.D. University of Michigan (political science), retired after 46 years in the Political Science Department at Eastern Michigan University. He lives at Devils Lake and can be reached at jpfister@emich.edu.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: James Pfister: From the Palestine mandate to the Truman decision