The Middle East Online: Arab-Israeli Relations, 1917-1970
Arab-Israeli Relations 1917-1970—offers the widest range of original source material from the British Foreign Office, Colonial Office, War Office and Cabinet Papers, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration through to the Black September war of 1970-1. Here major policy statements are set out in their fullest context, the minor documents and marginalia revealing the workings of colonial administration and, following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, British diplomacy towards Israel and the Arab states. Additional value has been added by the expansion from the original 562 National Archives records to over 17,000, thus substantially improving access to over 138,000 pages documenting the politics, administration, wars, and diplomacy of the Palestine Mandate, the Independence of Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Some of the topics covered include the British capture of Jerusalem, the milestones in the Palestine-Zionist tension and their impact on British policy leading to the Partition of 1948, Jewish terror groups, the background to the establishment of the State of Israel as a Jewish national home, the Border wars of the 1950s, formation of the United Arab Republic, the Cold War in the Middle East, and Black September.