In my articles on the Sea of Galilee, I have written about the Prehistory, Hellenistic, Roman, New Testament, Late Roman, Byzantine, Early Muslim, Crusader, Ottoman, and Zionist Beginnings periods. Now, I will examine Mandatory Palestine that was created under the British Mandate.

In 1917, during the Mesopatomia Campaign of World War One, Baghdad fell on March 11, 1917. Resultant to this outcome, a decisive British victory, England took control of Palestine. They also gained Jordan, Modern Day Palestine, and Southern Iraq.

Meanwhile, France took control of Syria. A problem arose where the border between Mandatory Palestine (basically the Land of Israel under the League of Nations) and the French Mandate of Syria, Lebanon, Alexandretta (on Turkey's Mediterranean coast), and parts of Southeastern Turkey, needed to be created.

This determination was established by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916 (Russia and Italy concurred). In addition, the Sazonov-Paleologue Agreement of April 26, 1916, gave Western Armenia (the eastern parts of Turkey, Constantinople, and the Turkish Straits) to Russia.

The April 19, 1917 Agreement of St. Jean-de-Maurienne gave Asia Minor ( Anatolia) to Italy. The Palestine region of Israel, the West Bank of the Sea of Galilee, the Gaza Strip, and portions of Western Jordan were to be under the control of an "international administration."

The September 30, 1918 Anglo-French Modus Vivendi Agreement regarded the creation of the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration in Syria, Jordan, israel, Lebanon, and Palestine. England would later gain Palestine and Mosul (in Souhtern Iraq) from the French.

The boundary between Mandatory Palestine and the Mandate of Syria was defined in broad terms by the December 1923 Paulet-Newcombe Agreement. Mandatory Palestine would be located from the Mediterranean Sea to Al-Hamma, Tiberias. The Mandate for Syria would place the country between the Mediterranean Sea and Jeziret-ibn-Amar in the Sirnak Province of the Southeastern Anatolia region of Turkey.

The Paulet-Newcombe Agreement drew this boundary through the middle of the Sea of Galilee. Later, the Zionist movement pressured France and England to redraw the boundary so as many water sources as possible would be in Mandatory Palestine.

This led to the Sea of Galilee, in its entirity, being included in Palestine, along with the Jordan River, Lake Hula (in the Syrian-African Rift Valley between Europe, Asia, and Africa), Dan Spring (the largest source of the Jordan River), and part of the Yarmouk River (the largest tributary of the Jordan River), all becoming parts of the Land of Israel. For the first time in several centuries the Land of Israel's borders were defined.

Transjordan was created under the Mandate for Palestine on April 25, 1920, at the San Remo Conference. They also created the Mandates for Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Mandate for Palestine was based on Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations on June 28, 1919, and the San Remo Resolution. The objective of these Mandates was to "provide administrative advice and assistance by a Mandatory until such time as they are able to stand alone."

England controlled Palestine through almost thirty years of riots, protests, and revolts by the Jewish and Palestinian Arabs. These included the 1936-1939 Arab Revolt to demand the end of open-ended Jewish immigration to Palestine in support of establishing a Jewish national home. About 320,000 Jews had migrated there by 1935.

The Jewish Insurgency of 1944-1948 in Mandatory Palestine, a paramilitary Jewish conflict fronted by underground Zionist groups (especially the Daganah, the largest underground Jewish militia) against England's rule in Mandatory Palestine, was another.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine formed seperate Jewish and Arab states operating under an economic union. Jerusalem was transfered to a UN trusteeship status.

The Mandate for Palestine ended on May ,15, 1948 and Israel declared its independence. The 1947-1949 Palestine War ended with Mandatory Palestine divided among Israel, Jordan's annexation of the West Bank, and the Egyptian All-Palestinian Protectorate in the Gaza Strip.

Woodrow Wilson's idea of self-determination, which was set forth in his Fourteen Points speech of January 8, 1918, and Europe's desire of gains for their empires, contributed to the creation of the Mandate for Palestine. The two governing principles of non-annexation of territory, and the development of territory to benefit its native people, also contributed to the Mandate for Palestine.

On May 14, 1922, the US announced an agreement with England about the Mandate for Palestine. That announcement was, "Consent of the United States shall be obtained before any alteration is made in the text of the Mandate."

The September 21, 1922 Lodge-Fish Resolution endorsed the Balfour Declaration of establishing Palestine as the national home of the Jewsish people.

Next Time: Sea Of Galilee #17: Canaan