Mandate System

Political Effects  Negotiations and treaties during World War One brought about new political regimes in the Middle East  World War One was the catalyst for the creation of the state system in the Middle East  Allowed the ideology of Zionism to achieve success

 The nations in the Middle East were created in two ways, through mandates or an anti-imperialist struggle  France and Britain created boundaries that did not exist prior to World War One  The fundamental problem being that the inhabitants of these territories were not consulted in deciding their political future  Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq were created in this fashion

Balfour Declaration  A letter from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish Community, pledging support and endorsing the Zionist goal of establishing a national home in Palestine for Jews. It was published in the Times of London in 1917.

 His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.

Economics  The mandate system stacked the deck against economic development in the territories because investors did not want to put their money in territories that would eventually be surrendered. - these states were created by European powers not be revolutionaries - these states had an identity crisis because they lacked a sense of unity

Religious/Ethnic Divide  Forced people of rivaling religions and ethnicities into the same borders - For example Palestine faced Zionist settlement Led to the development of Palestinian unity and war which is still being fought to this very day.