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The 6th Airborne Division in Palestine was initially posted to the region as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. It was envisioned as a mobile peace keeping force, positioned to be able to respond quickly to any area of the British Empire. In fact it became involved in an internal security role between 1945 and 1948. Palestine had been a British Mandate since the end of the First World War. Under the terms of the mandate, Great Britain was responsible for the government and security of the country. It had long been a stated British aim to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine and between 1922 and 1939 over 250,000 Jewish immigrants had arrived in the country. However Arab resistance and the Second World War prompted the British to curtail immigration. The time also saw the rise of the Jewish Resistance Movement, which eventually came into conflict with the British authorities. When the 6th Airborne Division arrived in response to increasing terrorist activity, it became involved in internal security, being responsible for cordons and search operations, guarding convoys and key installations. As the situation worsened, the men of the division had to patrol the towns and cities, enforce curfews and deal with rioting by the civilian population. They also protected Jewish and Arab settlements from sectarian violence. This was not without loss to the division and several members were killed and wounded during this time. The end of the British mandate coincided with the post war reduction of the British Army back to peace time levels, and the division's numbers were gradually reduced. By the end of their tenure in Palestine, the division's strength was reduced in real terms, to less than brigade size. In 1948 it was disbanded soon after its withdrawal from Palestine. ==Background== In July 1922, the British Mandate of Palestine was created. Under the terms of the mandate, Great Britain was responsible for the government and defence of the country and for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. Then in September 1922, the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that any Jewish homeland would not be formed in the land to the east of the River Jordan. This instead became a separate country known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.〔Wilson, p.XIV〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) )〕 Encouraged by the British, 265,000 Jewish immigrants, mainly from Europe, came to settle in Palestine between 1919 and 1939.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) )〕 Arab resistance and violence to this influx of immigrants came to a head in 1937, and the Peel Commission recommended that two states should be formed, one Arab and one Jewish, which would divide the country between them. Then in May 1939, the British restricted the number of Jewish immigrants to 75,000 in the White Paper of 1939.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) )〕 By the end of 1945, Jewish immigration had almost reached the 75,000 White Paper limit. Arab concerns led to the British putting further restrictions on immigration.〔Cole, p.202〕 Even when the scale of the Holocaust became known, the British stance remained the same. This led to an inevitable confrontation between the British authorities, illegal Jewish immigrants, and militant Zionist groups.〔 It became a widespread belief within the Jewish community that the British were practising antisemitism and were no different from Nazi Germany.〔Cole, p.203〕 However, between 1945 and 1948 a further 85,000 Jewish immigrants, mostly survivors of the Holocaust, entered the country illegally.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「6th Airborne Division in Palestine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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