MacDonald White Paper

E824988

The MacDonald White Paper was a 1939 British policy document that sharply limited Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine, effectively reversing the pro-Zionist thrust of the Balfour Declaration and shaping the final years of the British Mandate.

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Label Occurrences
MacDonald White Paper canonical 1

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Statements (47)

Predicate Object
instanceOf British government policy document
White Paper
aimedToAddress causes of the Arab Revolt in Palestine
appliesToTerritory Mandatory Palestine
approvedBy British Parliament
archivedIn UK National Archives
associatedWithConflict Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936–1939)
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
criticizedBy Jewish Agency for Palestine
World Zionist Organization
datePublished 1939-05-17
debatedIn House of Commons of the United Kingdom
dividedLandIntoZonesForSales A, B and C zones
effectOnJewishImmigration sharp reduction
effectOnLandPurchases severe restrictions on Jewish land acquisition
envisionedStateComposition binational Arab–Jewish state
historicalPeriod late interwar period
immigrationPolicyAfterQuota subject to Arab consent
impactOnArab-JewishRelations increased tensions
impactOnZionistPolicy shift toward illegal immigration (Aliyah Bet)
implementedBy British Mandate authorities in Palestine
inForceUntil end of the British Mandate in 1948
interpretedBalfourDeclarationAs not intending to create a Jewish state
issuedBy British Government
linked to: UK government

Colonial Office
keyProponent Malcolm MacDonald
language English
legalStatus statement of British mandatory policy
limitedImmigrationOf Jews to Palestine
linked to: Aliyah to Israel
limitedJewishNationalHome to existing Jewish population and immigration quota
namedAfter Malcolm MacDonald
placeOfIssue London
linked to: London, England
policyArea Palestine question
immigration
land policy
politicalContext British Mandate for Palestine
precededBy Passfield White Paper
projectedIndependenceTimeline within 10 years
reactionFromArabLeadership partial rejection
reactionFromZionistMovement strong opposition
relatedToDocument Balfour Declaration
restrictedLandSalesTo Jews in Palestine
setJewishImmigrationQuota 75,000 over five years
statedLongTermObjective creation of an independent Palestine state
subjectOf historiographical debate on British policy in Palestine
supersededBy post-World War II British policies in Palestine
year 1939

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (1)

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1939 White Paper on Palestine alsoKnownAs MacDonald White Paper