Abu Ghosh, about fourteen kilometers from Jerusalem, on the road to Jaffa. "Before their Diaspora"

1918

* Palestine occupied by Allied forces under British General Allenby.

* End of World War I.

Residents of Abu Ghosh, a village west of Jerusalem, taking the oath of allegiance to the Arab higher Comittee, April 1936. "Before Their Diaspora"

1936

* Legislative Council proposal defeated by pro-Zionist members in British House of Common.

1939

* London Conference ends with no agreement reached.
* Malcom MacDonald, Colonial Secretary of State, issues White Paper of 1939 embodying British solution to Palestine problem: conditional independence for unitary Palestinian state after ten years; admission of 15,000 Jewish immigrants annually into Palestine for five years, with immigration after that subject to "Arab acquiescence"; protection of Palestinian land rights against Zionist acquisition.
* British House of Commons votes 268 to 179 to approve White Paper of 1939.

HISTORY

The most lasting and enduring fact of Palestine is that Palestinians have lived through the vicissitudes of history since time immemorial and remained a nation and a people. Palestinians who comprise of Muslims, Christians and people of other faiths and non faiths endured the forces of change and remained connected to their ancestral land until they were forcefully displaced by a colonial enterprise. Unlike the imperialist of the past the new Zionists settlers dispossessed them of their land turning them into refugees who further denied their right to self determination and national sovereignty.