Part I When Syrian Arabs Came Into "Palestine" Before 1948

                                  

Nadene Goldfoot
Setting the Scene:  During World War I of 1914-1918, the Ottoman Empire, who had held Palestine for the past 400 years, entered the war on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they were defeated.  The Ottomans had carried on Genocide on the Armenians and Assyrians.  This had impacted northern Syria.  In the middle of the war, 2 diplomats, the French Picot and the British Sykes, secretly agreed on the post-war division of the Ottoman Empire in 1916.  For starters, they separated 2 territories by a border running a straight line from Jordan to Iran, but oil was discovered in Mosul just before the end of the war. Mosul lay in northern Iraq.  "The city's fortunes revived with the discovery of oil in the area, from the late 1920s onward. It became a nexus for the movement of oil via truck and pipeline to both Turkey and Syria." Now France decided in 1918 to cede this region to Zone B or the British zone of influence.   When Syria became a League of Nations mandate in 1920 this border was recognized.  The French held the mandate over Syria and Lebanon.  The British had Palestine. 

At the same time in 1920, the independent Kingdom of Syria was established under Faisal I of the Hashemite family, the same family that had Trans-Jordan granted to them by the British out of  the land to be the Jewish Homeland.   Faisal had worked with Chaim Weizmann and had agreed to the idea of a Jewish Homeland, thinking he would get his fair share, too.  After all, he and his men had fought with the British against the Ottoman Empire and helped them as much as the Jews and Chaim Weizmann had, he  figured.  Faisal wasn't as lucky as King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan, however, as his rule lasted only a few months.  There was the Battle of Maysalun when the French troops occupied Syria later that year after the San Remo conference (see references below).  That was when it was proposed that the League of Nations put Syria under a French mandate.  That didn't stop Sultan al-Atrash in 1925 who led a revolt that was engulfing the whole of Syria and parts of Lebanon.  He won several battles against the French who sent thousands of troops from Morocco and Senegal until 1927.  The Sultan was sentenced to death but he escaped to Transjordan and was later pardoned.  He returned to Syria in 1937 after signing the Syrian-French Treaty.  Atassi then became the first president elected in September 1936, but the French refused to ratify it.  Then France fell in 1940 during WWII, and Syria came under the control of Vichy France until the British occupied the country in July 1941.  The French finally left in  1946 and Syria was again independent.  
                                                                       

It was Chaim Weizmann and others who finally were able to see that the League of Nations  passed the law of making Palestine the Jewish Homeland  in 1921, and in the Balfour  Doctrine  of 1926  The British held the mandate over Palestine and were given the job of seeing to it that it became as such.  However, suddenly the Arabs from Syria and elsewhere were coming in illegally and the count by the British was not being kept.  The Arab population in "Palestine" had remained static for 200 years and now was suddenly increasing.

In the 1931 "Palestine" census, 23 different languages were reported in use by the Moslems, and most of those plus an additional 28 were in use by Arab Christians-and these plus 28 more were in use by Arab Christians entering Palestine.  The non-Jews in Palestine in 1931 listed their birthplaces in 24 different countries in addition to the Americas and Europe.  Just in Jerusalem, 20 different places of birth outside the Armericas and Europe were listed by the Moslems.  those plus another 4 countries were listed by the Christian Arabs.

The Mandate Commission reported on August 12, 1934, from Tewfik Bey El-Hurani, governor of the Hauran, (Syrians) that in the last few months from 30,000 to 36,000 Hauranese had entered Palestine and settled there. Syrians from the Hauran district were admitted freely to "Palestine" without any passports or visas from the beginning of the British Mandate after WWI until the 1940's.p. 231   Some Syrians had gone back to Syria  to avoid prosecution for violence in the riotsof 1936.  The British looked away when they entered, and the fact that they managed to settle in the Jewish-settled portions of the country.  One report said, "that more Arabs entered illegally and stayed in Palestine than the total number of Jews for twice that length of time in 1934 who were "approved" to immigrate into their designated "Jewish National Home."  Yet the British report only said that 1934 recorded just 1,784 non-Jews with only about 3,000 as travelers remaining illegally, and those figures supposedly included Arab immigrants from all points into all of Palestine.  False Reporting!!  The Jews, however, had everything about them recorded;  age groups, occupations, amount of capital brought in.  

" Yet, illegal Jewish immigration was fastidiously reported."p. 226.  Being it was to be the Jewish Homeland, I do not see how their entrance could be listed as illegal, but it was, whereas the immigrating Arabs were not listed as illegals.  This showed up when Jews finally tried to enter Palestine through Trans Jordan.  Arabs were coming in that way as well, "but the Arabs were not marked illegal until their detection had become flagrant."

The British Peel Commission report of 1937 said that developing the Jewish National Home had to depend on the rate and volume of Jewish immigration over many years.  The Arabs were watching this immigration and were afraid of being overwhelmed and dominated by the Jewish immigrants.  The British had not made any attempt to count how many Arabs had come into "Palestine" from neighboring Arab lands but they estimated that 9/10s of the growth was due to natural increase and was a growth of over 50% in 17 years.  They realized the the Arab population during the Ottoman Empire of 400 years had remained quite stationary.

In 1938, at the height of the Germans' treatment of their Jewish population as horrific, with all sorts of rules and regulations against them, Palestine would have been the logical place for them to flee.  They couldn't get in.  At first the British blamed the improved health conditions brought by Jews that was extending Arabs' lives, brought on by the appropriation of tax-revenue contributed by the Jews.  They were blaming the increased Arab population on the Jews for helping the indigenous Arabs already existing there.

There had been Arabs going to and from Trans-Jordan.  The Peel report did mention that 4,866 "travellers" who entered Palestine during the year were registered as immigrants.  Of these, 4,114 were Jews and 752 were non-Jews.

By 1939, at the height of German anti-Semitism, when the last ship with Jews left their shores for the USA, leaving many to die soon in the Holocaust, Churchill said, "So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied till their population has increased more than even all world Jewry could lift up the Jewish population."  Had the British considered the fact that Moslems could have up to 4 wives at the same time?  The Arabs had been hurling out anti-Semitic propaganda, probably hot off the presses from Germany.  The British then came out with their White Paper of 1939 halting Jewish immigration at the time they needed it the most.  Neville Chamberlain made it clear that Britain would only allow 75,000 Jews to enter Palestine over the next 5 years from 1940 to 1944, the height of the Holocaust period.  Even at that, only 10,000 each year would be allowed in, holding 25,000 spaces in abeyance.  It was almost like they were helping Germany exterminate Jews.  
                                                                       

In 1941, the Arab, Haj Amin al Husseini (1897-1974),  the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem from 1921 to 1948, visited with Hitler in Germany in a meeting of exterminating Jews, thus ending their chances of creating the Jewish Homeland.  He was also on the side of the King Faisal, Hashemite ruler of Syria.  Perhaps that's why his rule ended after a few months.  Husseini was the opposite of Faisal, and was totally against Faisal  making any agreements with Jews.   

Britain left the country when their mandate was up in May 1948, probably glad to get out of there as they felt the Arabs would slaughter the Jews.    David Ben Gurion addressed the world with the voting in the United Nations which said yes to their becoming a state, and minutes later they were attacked by all their Arab neighbors.  The miracle of all miracle happened.  They were able to hear the League of Nations and the new United Nations vote them in as a state, and they won their first of many battles against their Arab neighbors who disagreed with the majority vote.  

When asked who they were, the Arabs would say they were Syrian Arabs.  They never said they were Palestinian Arabs until many wars later in 1967, when they again lost that very serious battle of the Six Day War.  Now the leaders of other Arab nations nudged them to want their own state, after being offered the opportunity since 1947 and many times thereafter, always with the answer of no!  Their leaders were holding out for taking all of Israel.  

Malcolm MacDonald, British secretary of State in 1938 said of the over one million Arabs in Palestine, "The Arabs cannot say that the Jews are driving them out of their country.  If not a single Jew had come to Palestine after 1918, I believe that the Arab population of Palestine today would still have been around about the same figure at which it had been stable under the Turkish rule.
  
In 1934, 42,359 Jews were registered, 1,494 Christians and 290 Muslims.  
In 1938, Britain registered 12,868 Jewish immigrants, 473 Christians and 1,922 Moslems making a total of 15,263.  
In 1939 they registered 16,405 Jewish immigrants, 376 Christians and 1,652 Moslems.  
In 1940, when Jews could not get out of Germany, 4,547 Jews, 390 Christians and 674 Moslems were registered.  .  That's what they showed on the books, but it wasn't the reality at all.  Moslems were getting in illegally without being registered.  1934 was a good example where they only showed 1,784 non Jews entering when they had already listed the 30,000 to 35,000 Hauranis (Syrians) who immigrated to Western Palestine that weren't included in the British calculations.  No wonder so many Arabs, when asked, said they were Syrian Arabs.  They really were!  They were not native Palestinians.  

Folke Bernadotte said in 1950-51, and by then were referring to them all as Palestinians,  "The Palestinian Arabs have at present no will of their own.  Neither have they ever developed any specifically Palestinian nationalism...

Resource:  
"From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration
http://www.ifcj.org/site/PageNavigator/sfi_about_war_league
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Paper_of_1939
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
Updated: 4/24/14 http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id350.html San Remo Conference

Jerusalem and the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Jerusalem "Yerushalayim." was and is the capital of Israel.  It's located in the center of the Judean Mountains.  It is sometimes called "Zion," which was the name of King David's fortress.  It was also known as the City of David (1000-960 BCE)  .  Poetic names are city of righteousness,   faithful city, city of G-d, the holy city, and city of truth. King David was a warrior.  His son, King Solomon brought in the religious aspects of Judaism by building the Temple.  This city was and still is the most important religious city to the Jewish people.  Jews pray in the direction of Jerusalem.  We are told not to ever forget this city on the threat of losing the use of our right hand.  We are back.

Jerusalem was taken by the pagan Romans in 70CE.  From then on many countries have tried to take it since Christianity placed Jesus in Jerusalem and the area.  In 1099 it was stormed by the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon.  They made it the capital of the Latin Kingdom.  Then in 1187 Saladin, the Ayyabid sultan retook the city for Islam.  Under the Ottoman Empire it decayed. In 1492 Jews were forced out of Spain and many removed to Jerusalem, but their numbers were restricted by the Muslim government.     By the 18th century the population of Jews and Muslims was under 10,000 with most of the city lying in ruins.  The 19th century brought the Aliyote of Russian Jews who had bought land and started building.  By 1838 there were 50,000 Jews from many countries with the population of 68,000.  They were able to bring about a railway line to connect the city with Jaffa by the 1880's.  In 1898 the German Emperor William II visited Jerusalem.  He met with Theodore Herzl who represented the Zionist Organization.

World War I came along in 1914 and the population fell to 50,000.  December 1917 found the city occupied by General Allenby of the British Army.  British were given the Mandate to rule the land. that had been under the Ottoman Empire called Palestine, named by the previous Romans.  Jewish immigration in 1946 caused the population to reach 165,000 of which 100,000 were Jews.  Fighting broke out between Muslims and Jews.  The Arab Legion shelled and starved the Jews living in Jerusalem but the Jews didn't surrender to them.   May 15, 1948 saw the re-birth and establishment of Israel once more.  By 1949 the government and Knesset were transferred to Jerusalem.  I note that King David and King Solomon's Israel was far larger than today's extremely small Israel.

East Jerusalem held the homes of Muslims.  The city was divided into 2 parts from 1948 till 1967.  East Jerusalem had been under Jordanian domination.  June 5, 1967 was the start of the Six Day War when all the neighboring Arab states attacked Israel and lost.  Jordan had bombarded the city. The whole city came under Israeli control.  The first thing Jews did was go to the Western Wall and pray.  They had been kept from this most important site by the Muslims for almost 20 years.

On June 29, 1967, Israel formally united the 2 parts of the city and barriers that had divided them were taken away.  The Eastern part of the city had 139,600 Muslims and Christians and were united with the rest so that the total population in 1990 was 493,500, which is the same population as Portland, Oregon..  The Jerusalem Law of 1980 extended Israeli sovereignty over the whole city.  This brought many updates to the Arab section.

Israel has 1.4 million Arab citizens today.  There are plenty of mosques throughout the state.  In Jerusalem, starting on November 8th of this year at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is a month long "Nights of Tarab" celebration as part of an Arab Jerusalem Festival.  I have one of Edward Said's books.  He was a Muslim fighter against Israel.  Here we see the only Democratic country in the Middle East truly practicing democracy.  I hope the Muslims appreciate the state they live in safely.  While the Muslim Gazan terrorists  are shelling southern Israel's Jewish communities, there are Muslims that are enjoying  living in Jerusalem.

The fight continues with Muslims from many countries threatening to take Jerusalem, Iran and her neighbors being among them.

 From the time of King David who died in 960 BCE to losing 10 of the 12 tribes of Jacob to the Assyrians from 721-715 BCE, we see that 239 years after King David died, we lost our 10 tribes, taken from us by force. which means the children of Zilpah and Bilhah the handmaidens, and Jacob's 2nd wife, Rachel.  Leah, the first wife of Jacob and sister of Rachel  was the mother of 6 tribes.  Out of those, only Judah and Levi remained.  Reuben, Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun were most likely part of the kidnapped group as well.  Judah was the largest of all the tribes that remained.

 We read from the prophecies of Ezekiel,  who lived in the 6th century BCE and probably served in Solomon's Temple before its destruction in 586 BCE what is foretold for the Lost Ten Tribes and the Jews.  .  He was one that was exiled to Tel Abib on the river Kebar in Babylonia where he prophecied for about 22 years from 592-570 BCE.   In   Ezekiel  37:16, our 37th prophet,  which associates the final Redemption with the reunion of the whole House of Israel, I read:  . "Now you, Son of Man, take for yourself one piece of wood and write upon it, "For Judah and for the Children of Israel, his comrades; and take one piece of wood and write upon it, "For Joseph, the wood of Ephraim and all the House of Israel, his comrades.    Then bring them close to yourself, one to the other, like one piece of wood, and they will become united in your hand.  ....Thus said the Lord Hashem/Elohim:  " Behold, I am taking the wood of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his comrades, and I am placing them and him together with the wood of Judah;  and I will make them into one piece of wood, and they will become one in My hand."

"Behold, I am taking the Children of Israel from among the nations to which they have gone;  I will gather them from all around and I will bring them to their soil;  I will make them into one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king will be  a king for them all;  they will no longer be two nations, and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms, ever again.  ....I will purify them;  they will be a nation to Me,  and I will be a G-d to them.  My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them;  they will follow My ordinances and keep My decrees and fullfill them.  They will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, within which your fathers dwelled;  they and their children and their children's children will dwell upon it forever;  and My servant David will be a leader for them forever.  I will seal a covenant of peace with them;  it will be an eternal covenant with them...then the nations will know that I am *Hashem/G-d Who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary will be among them forever.  

 Jews have been awaiting this time, and so the reports have come in from all over of finding them.  Eldad Ha-Dani reported them in the mountains of Africa.  Benjamin of Tudela heard of them in Central Asia.  David Reuveni claimed to be the brother of one of their rulers in some region of Arabia.  Antonio de Montezinos stimulated Manasseh ben Israel's political activity in  England with reports of finding them in South America.  Japanese and Anglo Saxons were thought to be them.  Finally it was thought that some were still in "Palestine" or assimilated, or absorbed by the last Judean exiles in 597-586 or were deported to an area  earlier such as Media, Assyria and Mesopotamia.  Today we see the Pashtuns of Pakistan and Afghanistan claiming descent of the Lost 10 Tribes.  Being Muslims, they are found to side with Iran in their hatred for Jews but with the desire to take their very teeny country.  What would  Ezekiel say to all this?  How are we ever going to be reunited peacefully?

* Jews do not want to over-use the word "G-d"  so use "HaShem" which means in Hebrew: "the name".  In respect, the orthodox do not even write out the word but use the dash instead of the o.

Re: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xU9CauJP4Pg#! on Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia on Jerusalem
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerutoc.html  Jerusalem
Tanach, the Stone Edition; Torah, Prophets, writings
Update: 6/14/16 http://www.israelrising.com/the-pashtuns-are-the-tribes-of-israel/?utm_source=fb-pashtun-tribes&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=lost-tribes

British Plan to Take All of Ottoman Empire

Nadene Goldfoot
Many countries had wanted their own Colonial expansion like England and France.  The Kingdom of Italy's public also wanted their country to expand as well.  Libya was a territory of the Ottoman Empire and the only part of North Africa not already controlled by a European power, so in 1911 Italy demanded that the Ottoman Empire transfer Libya to Italian control. After a guerrilla war, the outbreak went on to the First Balkan War which forced the Ottoman Empire to sue for peace and accept Italian claims over both Libya and the Dodecanese.

World War I started in 1914.  At that time the Ottoman Empire controlled 2.4 million square km (926,645.181 square miles) of territory.  It included all of Turkey and most of the Middle East.  In the land were Arabs, Kurds, Greeks, Armenians and other minorities such as the Jews and Christians.  It was ruled by an Islamic Caliphate Sultan, Mehmed V.  It had existed for 400-600 years and the non Muslim subjects suffered from discrimination, and sometimes outright persecutions.  The 10 years before 1914 the empire had many political upheavals so was not in the best position to be in a world war.

 England entered the war with their Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa Empire. They were allied to France and declared war against Germany on August 4th 1914. Germany had invaded Belgium.  Russia was in the war from a treaty to Serbia and Germany was allied to Austria-Hungary and saw the Russians as an act of war against Austria-Hungary.  America was threatened by Germany's submarines so went to war on 6 April 1917.  Italy, at first staying neutral, finally sided with the British.   This "Great War" suffered more casualties than any other war.  37 million people had died, 9 million as soldiers in war. It had started with the assassination of one man, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia. (interesting note is that in Bosnia, Jews are still not permitted to run for elected office who discriminate against Jewish and Roma-Gypsy minorities.  Bosnia was again in a war from 1992-1995) The Great Empires were destroyed.

 A group of senor British officials in Egypt and the Sudan during the early part of WWI had the hair brained idea of bringing the Arab-speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire under British control after the war.  Governor General of the Sudan, Sir Reginald Wingate's words were to have a "federation of semi-independent Arab States under European guidance and supervision...owing spiritual allegiance to a single Arab primate, and looking to Great Britain as its patron and protector."  


Captain Orde Wingate, Sir Reginald's nephew,  came to Haifa in 1937 as being anti-Zionist, and believed as many English did that only Britain stood between these "exploiting Jews and the Backward, unprotected Arabs."  p. 106 Genesis 1948.  In 3 months he was to become a mystical Zionist as extreme as any Jews and more aggressive.  He had informed Ben-Gurion and other Jews that he wanted to devote his life to their cause and fight their battle.   The British sent him away in 1939 because he was good friends with Jews and was later killed in Burma in WWII. 


The Balfour Doctrine published in 1917  caused a problem for the British who had grandiose ideas.  The Arabs, who had fought against the Turks, wanted their own nation as well but didn't have a written doctrine like the Jews had.  So the British, who must have seen their dreams materialize with Arabs at the helm, From 1919 to 1948 tried to appear as honest arbitrators but in reality were active participants in the confrontation against the Jews.  "The Arab attack on Zionism would never have begun had it not been for the British inspiration, tutelage and guidance." p 45. Battleground.  


However, a Jewish state was to be established, not at once, but as soon as the Jewish people immigrated and developed the land to become the majority.  The country had 500,000 Arabs.  That's half-million people.  There were only 90,000 Jews.  The British must have figured that the Jews would never be able to establish their Jewish Homeland.  They saw British control through the granting of a mandate which they obtained.  They saw a group of Arab states in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia being semi-independent.  They would be the British mentors and advisers in Jedda, Damascus and Baghdad.  Already they controlled administration in Cairo and Khartoum.  This would be the next feather in their cap, the British Mandatory Administration in Palestine.  Britain would thus have the whole control of the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the borders of India.  


They could not control the Zionist diplomacy to get the consent of France from releasing any control in Palestine.  France had control in Syria.  The French were sensitive to American opinion during WWI and had already acquiesced in the Balfour Declaration by agreeing to waive their claims to Palestine and let Britain have the whole mandate over Palestine.  France had the claim to Transjordan but gave that up as well to Britain.  France had the mandate over Syria and Lebanon.  They already held the protectorate of Morocco from 1912 and didn't give it up until 1956.  


The newspaper, The London Times called for the inclusion of Eastern Palestine as essential to the Jewish state east of the river Jordan (Transjordan).  On September 19, 1919 the paper said, " the Jordan River will not do as Palestine's eastern boundary." It was to be part of the Jewish Homeland and so passed into British control-to be given up later to the Arabs without a fight. Britain had the mandate for 30 years and said good-buy to Palestine on May 14, 1948 when Israel declared it's state.  


The ceremony for the state was to take place at 4pm on Friday, May 14;  8 hours before the mandate would officially end at midnight.  The Sabbath started on Friday night so no Jewish leader would sign the Declaration after sundown.  The Jews had 24 hours to get ready for this momentous occasion.  They wanted this written declaration to show proof that there had been a Jewish State.  Ben Gurion,  first Prime Minister signed the document.  Hatikvah, the Jewish national anthem was played. Gurion declared that Israel was re-born.  30 years before, General Allenby had entered Jerusalem on foot to be welcomed joyously as the liberator of both Arab and Jew from Turkish despotism.  On May 14, 1948 sullen, silent faces bid farewell to the British.  They may have wondered like  Sir Alan Cunningham as to how it was possible to divide this country as they had.   The Arabs attacked quickly .  


Resource:  Book:  Battleground, fact and fantasy in Palestine by Samuel Katz
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitioning_of_the_Ottoman_Empire
Book:  Genesis 1948 by Dan Kurzman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_protectorate_of_Morocco

What Happened to the Planned Jewish National Home During World War I: Arabs and Jews

Nadene Goldfoot
World War I ran from 1914 to 1918.  On August 1, 1914 the Ottoman Empire signed a secret alliance treaty with Germany, who declared war on Russia that very day.  By the 5th of August the Ottomans closed the Dardanelles.  On November 1st Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.  By the 5th,  France and the United Kingdom also declared war on them.

November 8th, Sultan Mehmed V declares Jihad on the Allies.  The Ottomans try to take the Suez Canal but fail to do so January 28 to February 3, 1915.  April 29, 1916 was when the British forces were under siege at Kut and surrender to the Ottomans and June 5, 1916 was the start of the Arab Revolt.  Arabs wanted to break away from the Ottoman Empire, a land of Turks who were not Arabs, and establish their own land from Aleppo, Syria to Aden, Yemen.  However, even by 1908 this wasn't very strong.  "Many Arabs gave their primary loyalty to their religion or sect, their tribe, or their own particular governments."  Sherif Hussein bin Ali , Arab, sided with the UK and France.  In 1913 the Arabs held the 1st Arab congress in Paris and wanted reforms in the Ottoman Empire, not a new established country of their own.  


August 3-5, 1916  was when Ottoman attack on the British in the Sinai peninsula failed. This is now bringing the fight to the land that is to be the Jewish Homeland.  By January 9, 1917 Battle of Rafa took place when. the British drive the Ottomans out of Sinai.  On March 26, 1917 started the first Battle of Gaza. The British attempt to capture the city fails.


APRIL 6, 1917  THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ENTERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR BY DECLARING WAR ON GERMANY.  


April 19, 1917 was when Second Battle of Gaza took place. The Ottoman lines resist a British attack. On  July 6, 1917,  Arab rebels led by Lawrence of Arabia seized the Jordanian port of Aqaba.  From October 31 to November 7th  the Third Battle of Gaza took place.   This time the British broke through the Ottoman lines.  During this period, on November 2nd, the  Balfour Declaration was received:  The British government supports plans for a Jewish "national home" in Palestine.


DECEMBER 7, 1917 THE UNITED STATES DECLARES WAR ON AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.


December 8 to the 26, 1917 Battle of Jerusalem. The British enter the city (December 11).  February 21, 1918 was when the British captured Jericho.  September 19 to 21, 1918 was the Battle of Megiddo. The British conquered Palestine.  October 1, 1918 and Damascus was entered by the British.  By the 30th of October The Ottoman Empire signs the Armistice of Mudros.


Finally, on November 11, 1918, At 6 am, Germany signs the Armistice of Compiègne. End of fighting at 11 a.m.


Because the Ottoman Empire had been on the Axis side with Germany, they lost the war and had to give up their empire.  The war had also sapped their treasury.  This is how the British came to hold the mandate over the land until May 14, 1948.

 There were 15 million deaths in this war; 10 million were military personnel and 7 million were civilians. The United States had lost  116,708 soldiers or 117,465 total deaths.  This amounted to 0.13% of their population, which was at that time 92 million people.  The Ottoman Empire had lost 2,921,844 or 13.72% out of a population of  21.3 million people. Military deaths alone for them amounted to 771,844 soldiers. They had lost a lot of people from famine and disease.   It was the deadliest conflict in human history.  

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_timeline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Revolt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I_casualties