All-Palestine Government - Legal Status of Government

Legal Status of Government

Ernest A. Gross, a senior U.S. State Department legal adviser, authored a memorandum for the United States government titled Recognition of New States and Governments in Palestine, dated 11 May 1948. He expressed the view that "The Arab and Jewish communities will be legally entitled on May 15, 1948 (the date of expiry of the British Mandate) to proclaim states and organize governments in the areas of Palestine occupied by the respective communities." Gross also said "the law of nations recognizes an inherent right of people lacking the agencies and institutions of social and political control to organize a state and operate a government."

Though the principle is a generally accepted principle of international law, the opinion was an internal US government advice. In any event, the Jewish community in Palestine declared its independence on 14 May 1948. Other than the Arab Higher Committee, which was set up in 1945 by the Arab League, the Arab community had no government, and no administrative or unified military structure. The Arab community relied on the objective declared by the Arab League on 12 April 1948, and the expectation that the Arab armies would prevail over the Jewish community. As the war progressed, however, the ineffectiveness of the Committee became obvious.

When it appeared that the Arab forces would not be able to defeat the Israeli forces, and with King Abdullah I of Transjordan taking steps to annex Palestine, fresh political measures were taken, in the form of the All-Palestine Government. By the end of the war, the Arab Higher Committee became politically irrelevant.

There are differences of opinion as to whether the All-Palestine Government was a mere puppet or façade of the Egyptian occupation, with negligible independent funding or influence, or whether it was a genuine attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state. Though jurisdiction of the Government was declared to cover the whole of the former British Mandate of Palestine, at no time did its effective jurisdiction extend beyond the Gaza Strip, with Israel being able to survive and the West Bank being annexed by Transjordan. The Government relied entirely on the Egyptian government for funding, and on UNRWA to relieve the plight of the Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. It soon moved to Cairo where it gradually fell apart because of its impotence, ending up four years later as a department of the Arab League. It was finally dissolved in 1959, by decree of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser.