Palestine, 1945-1948: a View from the High Commissioner’s Office

This chapter focuses on the interrelationship between Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham’s biography and the history of Palestine during the final years of the mandatory era. Cunningham arrived in Jerusalem on 21 November 1945, at the beginning of the final significant political initiative of the British government in Palestine. More than any other official dealing with the question either in the country or elsewhere, Cunningham was aware of the immensely delicate balancing act required by those who ruled Palestine. The slightest action could tip the balance, causing Jews or Arabs to begin shouting, threatening, boycotting, fundraising for illegal activities, shooting, or bombing. The view from the High Commissioner’s office revealed important hindrance if not the primary hindrance obstructing what he regarded as the correct British policy on the question of Palestine. In April 1948, Cunningham and the military staged an unannounced withdrawal from the Galilee and parts of Haifa in coordination with the Haganah.