Gaza under British rule (1917-1948): Contradictory Promises and the Colonial Legacy in Palestine

Authors

  • Pedro FERREIRA Portuguese Military Academy Research Centre
  • Mariana RODRIGUES University of Lisbon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53477/2284-9378-25-21

Keywords:

Gaza, British Mandate, Palestine, Balfour Declaration, Arab nationalism, Zionism, self-determination.

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of British rule in Gaza between 1917 and 1948, highlighting the way in which the commitments made by Britain during the First World War influenced the political configuration of Palestine, specifically the territory of Gaza. The importance of this topic lies in the need to understand the historical origins of geopolitical tensions in the region, and is justified by the significant role of the British administration in articulating contradictory commitments to the Arabs and Jews, which triggered longlasting conflicts. The main objective is to evaluate the effects of these promises on Gaza and its population, particularly in the context of the British administration. The methodology adopted is historical-analytical, based on bibliographical research and the analysis of books and scientific articles. It concludes that British action has profoundly molded the socio-political reality of Gaza, contributing to territorial fragmentation, the political exclusion of Palestinian Arabs, and the aggravation of identity tensions. This analysis contributes to a critical understanding of the British legacy in Palestine.

Author Biographies

Pedro FERREIRA, Portuguese Military Academy Research Centre

Lieutenant Colonel Pedro Nuno Antunes Ferreira, joined the Portuguese Military Academy in February 2018, part of the Military University Institute of Portugal, where he is Professor of General Theory of Strategy, Theory of International Relations and Geopolitics.He is Scientific Coordinator of the Military Science Study Cycles in the branches of Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry. He is a member of the Scientific and Pedagogical Committees of the Military Academy and of the Scientific Council of the Military University Institute.

Pedro is Director of the 2nd Year Military Science Course and Coordinator of the Irregular Warfare Module of the Erasmus Programme at the Military Academy. He has also advised a select number of M.A. student theses in this Academy.

He holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Military Science from the Military Academy. He holds a master's and doctorate in Political Science and International Relations, specialising in Security and Defence, from the Portuguese Catholic University.

During the period in which he developed his doctoral thesis, Pedro was a visiting student at Oxford University, Lincoln College, with a scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, where he developed his research, and was awarded the ‘D. Henrique, o Navegador’ prize by the Portuguese Catholic University, Institute of Political Studies.

His publications include his book ‘O Novo Terrorismo’ (The New Terrorism), published in 2006, and he was coordinator and author of a chapter of the book ‘Entender a Guerra Hoje - Estratégia, Guerra, Política’ (Understanding War Today - Strategy, War, Politics), published in 2024.

For more informations, see:

Pedro Antunes Ferreira (0000-0003-1038-6165) - ORCID

PEDRO NUNO ANTUNES FERREIRA (4F1C-EE08-D89A) | CIÊNCIAVITAE

 

Mariana RODRIGUES, University of Lisbon

Mariana Mealha Rodrigues is a bachelor finalist in International Relations at the Superior Institute of Social and Political Sciences (ISCSP) at the University of Lisbon. She was also an Erasmus+ student at the Faculty of International and Political Sciences at the University of Lodz, in Poland. She is an intern at the Military Academy, where she is consolidating her knowledge in Security, Strategy and Defense.

References

Ağaoğlu, Sami. 2017. “Birinci Dünya Savaşı’nda Gazze Muharebeleri / The Battles of Gaza in World War I.” Journal of History, Culture and Art Research 6 (2): 307: 307-335.

Alghezi, Ali. 2023. “Gaza: A History of Resistance and Freedom.”

Balfour, Arthur James. 1917. “Balfour Declaration 1917.” The Avalon Project. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/balfour.asp.

Cooper, Hana, and Alpha Eta Omicron. 2021. “The Voices Left Out: Women and the King-Crane.”

Feldman, Ilana. 2008. Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule, 1917–1967. Durham: Duke University Press.

Gelber, Yoav. 2009. “Israel Studies: An Anthology-The Israeli-Arab War of 1948.”

Haidar, Muayad Tawfiq Akel, et al. 2024. “The Impact of the Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate on the Loss of Palestine (1917-1948).” In Studies in Computational Intelligence, 377-387.

Halevy, Dotan. 2015. “The Rear Side of the Front: Gaza and Its People in World War I.”

Inci, Fatima. n.d.“Dynamics of May 1948 Arab-Israeli War.”

Martinelli, Martín Alejandro. 2022. “Palestina (e Israel), entre intifadas, revoluciones yresistencia.” Luján: Editorial Universidad Nacional de Luján.

McDonald, Will. 2025.“keffiyeh”. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/kaffiyeh.

Rigby, Andrew. 2015. “The First Palestinian Intifada Revisited.”

Sabel, Robbie. 2022. International Law and the Arab-Israeli Confict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Salihu, Jacob Tsunda. 2024. “Historical Foundation of the Israel-Palestine Conflict”.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2025. “Balfour declaration.” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Balfour-Declaration.

United Nations. n.d. About the Nakba. https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-nakba/(accessed: 11 June 2025).

Weintraub, Roy, and Lindsay Gibson. 2024. “The Nakba in Israeli History Education: Ethical Judgments in an Ongoing Conflict.” Theory & Research in Social Education:90–121.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-30

How to Cite

FERREIRA, P. ., & RODRIGUES, M. . (2025). Gaza under British rule (1917-1948): Contradictory Promises and the Colonial Legacy in Palestine. BULLETIN OF "CAROL I" NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY, 14(2), 154–166. https://doi.org/10.53477/2284-9378-25-21

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Articles

License

The published articles are subject to copyright law. All rights are reserved to the “Carol I” National Defense University, regardless of whether all or part of the material are considered, especially the rights to translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, quotations, broadcasting through the media, reproduction on microfilms or any other way and storage in data banks. Any replicas without the associated fees are authorized provided the source is acknowledged.