French people and National Palestinian Communities at the time of British Mandate

This paper attempts to show) how various individual Frenchmen, official representatives and members of religious communities, perceived the various communities Of Palestine during the British mandate. Having hoped. that Palestine would fall under French rule after WWI, France was obliged to accept the reality of British domination. Nevertheless it maintained some direct relations to the newly emerging communities. partly through traditional religious links, hoping to be able to play a role at some point in the future when the time would come to establish the definitive status of Palestine. The article is divided into three parts: 1) the attitude of France and French people towards the Arabs (Christians-traditional French clients-and Muslims who were not under French control and thus something of a liability to the French postion in Syria, Lebanon and North Africa): 2) French attitude towards the Jews (Sephardim and Ashkenazim, non-Zionist and Zionist Jews, respectively frends and enemies of a better position for France). Both these sections detail French efforts to establish links with and influence these populations (through networks of religious and lay/cultural institutions), and France's hostility towards national movements increasingly at odds with its traditional position: 3) an explanation, of those attitudes, based on France's behavior between 1945 and 1948. With its paternalistic mentality, France tried to stake out a stronger position. Rend Neuville, French consul-general in Jerusalem, pointed out in 1947: 'No-one [..] can dispute the contribution of French charitable activity to each individual local community, nor the good intentions or the efforts that France has made to create mutual understanding between the various elements of the population. The activities which have been undertaken in the past will be able to be continued in the future". Shortly afterwards it became clear that France had failed to come to terms with the dynamics of the local situation, and it was obliged to accept that Palestine's fate was out Of its control.