The American Vision of the Palestinian Question in the Foreign Relations Documents of the United States of America, 1941–1945

Abstract

This study aims to document the Palestinian question through the published Foreign Relations of the United States documents for the period 1941–1945, during the Second World War. It seeks to clarify the course of historical events affecting the Palestinian question as a result of the American vision toward the issue on the one hand, and the views of the relevant parties toward it on the other, as well as the means proposed for addressing it amid difficult internal circumstances and a turbulent regional environment. These conditions were represented by the Second World War and its accompanying developments, particularly Jewish immigration to Palestine, which cast its shadow over international relations as a whole. The study also examines the extent to which the Palestinian question witnessed continuity or change in its historical trajectory during the period under investigation, between 1941 and 1945. It further highlights the regional and international factors that influenced the course of events through continuous intervention, especially the American and British positions in support of the Zionists, albeit with differing motives. Particular attention is given to the position of the United States of America, as an influential global power affecting the development of events throughout the period of the study. The research relies primarily on published American documents as its main material for examining and discussing events, while also drawing on various sources that either support or challenge what was published in those American documents. These documents demonstrate that the American position was politically supportive of the Zionists and adopted Jewish ambitions in the land of Palestine. After tracing the historical course of events, the study concludes that the Palestinian question during the period under consideration assumed many dimensions, most notably the increase in Jewish immigration to Palestine and the demand for the establishment of a new entity in the form of a Jewish state after the displacement of Palestinians from their land. The usurped land was thus turned into a new model of settler colonialism, supported primarily by the United States. As for the Arabs, they adopted an oppositional and rejecting stance toward all measures taken by the Zionists in pursuit of establishing their new state. The Arabs did not leave any platform, whether governmental or popular, without raising their voices in rejection. However, the military weakness of the Arab states, together with the fact that most Arab countries were already under British or French colonial domination, weakened their position in the face of the American stance supporting the Zionists.