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The British Mandate Period in Palestine through the Eyes of Cartoons

Year 2025, Issue: 18, 117 - 135, 31.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.34230/fiad.1630340

Abstract

The British Empire had begun empirical steps and multiple considerations in the Middle East in the nineteenth century. Although these strategies were not targeting a direct colonial settlement, the origins of British policy were designed to promote economic interests and manage imperial policy. The fall of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War caused not only dramatic changes in the Arab geography but also established a new regional order in these lands. Britain played a dominant role in shaping the future of Palestine by the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. The British Mandate for Palestine lasted until 14 May 1948 leading to the first Arab-Israeli War which was a major moment as tensions escalate and Britain stood at the crossroads.
Political cartoons developed significantly in Britain since the early nineteenth century and the developments in the Middle East had always attracted great attentions from the public. Illustrations were a showcase of how domestic politics was perceived and intimately linked to the foreign policy. This study will analyse the course of the British Mandate for Palestine until the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 and the nature of British handling of the conflict by mainly the representation of political cartoons. In particular, the reasons how the images provided readers visible critiques of the British government and to what extend provided new insights on their political stance will be explored.

References

  • “Alexandria's Bombardment and Burning” Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, 22 July 1882.
  • “Calm Consideration Department,” The Evening Standard, 12 December 1946.
  • “Fountain of the Palace of Palestine,” The Penny Magazine, 27 June 1835.
  • “Jee-rusalem,” The Passing Show, 12 May 1917.
  • “Jerulsalem’s Joyous Welcome to Britain,” The British Sentinel, December 1917.
  • “Lloyd George, King of the World!,” The Passing Show, 17 September 1921.
  • “Nurse gives notice,” Punch, 31 March 1948.
  • “Palestine Mandate,” The Daily Mail, 13 October 1947.
  • “ Search for an Open Door,” The Evening Standard, 2 August 1946.
  • “The Last Crusade,” Punch, 19 December 1917.
  • “The March of Time?,” Punch, 19 September 1939
  • “The men who asked only for peace,” Picture Post, May 1948.
  • “The Passing Show”, entry updated on 9 April 2015, https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/passing_show_the “The Sphinx is Silent,” Punch, 15 July 1876.
  • “The United Nations, Palestine Question”, “Policy in Palestine, despatch dated 23rd December, 1937, from the state of Secretary for the Colonies to the High Commissioner for Palestine” by William Ormsby-Gore, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-207196/
  • “World Wars”, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/worldwars_timeline_noflash.shtml
  • Alkan, Necmettin. Karikatürlerle Oryantalizm Avrupa’nın Türk ve Türkiye Algısı. Cağaloğlu: Selis Kitap, 2016.
  • Armaoğlu, Fahir. Filistin Meselesi ve Arap-İsrail Savaşları: 1948-1988. Ankara: İş Bankası Yayınları, 1989.
  • Barthes, Roland. Göstergebilim Serüveni. İstanbul: Yapıkredi Yayınları, 2023.
  • Bar-Yosef, Eitan. The Holy Land in English Culture 1799-1917: Palestine and the Question of Orientalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005.
  • Cross, Anthony. “The Crimean War and the Caricature War,” The Slavonic and East European Review 84, no. 3 (July 2006): 460-480.
  • Çakı, Caner. “Birinci Dünya Savaşı’ndaki Alman Propaganda Kartpostallarında Kullanılan Karikatürlerde Türklerin Sunumunun Göstergebilimsel Açıdan İncelenmesi,” Akdeniz Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, (AKİL), no. 29 (Haziran 2018): 73-94.
  • Çelik, Halil İbrahim. “İngiltere Mandası Yönetiminde Kudüs ve Türkiye’nin Kudüs Politikası (1917-1948),” Medeniyet ve Toplum Dergisi 2, no. 8 (2024): 248-269.
  • De Saussure, Ferdinand. Genel Dilbilim Dersleri, çev. Berke Vardar, Ankara: Birey ve Toplum, 1985.
  • Disraeli, Benjamin. Venetia; Tancred. London: Frederick Warne, 1866
  • Greenberg, Josh. “Framing and temporality in political cartoons: A critical analysis of visual news discourse”, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 2, 39 (2002): 181-195.
  • Hansard Parliamentary Debates House of Commons (HC) HC Deb 09 December 1929 vol 233 cc23-4, “Palestine (Mandate and Balfour Declaration).”
  • Harris, Charles. “Britain’s political cartoonists: Speaking truth to power for 200 years” https://www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-and-antiques/britains-political-cartoonists-speaking-truth-to-power-for-200-years-248440.
  • Kamel, Lorenzo. Imperial Perceptions of Palestine: British Influence and Power in Late Ottoman Times. London: I.B. Tauris, 2015.
  • Kasalak, Kadir. “İngilizlerin Filistin Politikası ve Filistin Mandası,” Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 3, no. 25 (2016): 65-78.
  • Kessler, Oren. Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.
  • Lasswell, Harold D., “The Theory of Political Propaganda,” American Political Science Review 21, no. 3 (1927): 627-631.
  • Mathew, William H. “The Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate, 1917-1923: British Imperialist Imperatives,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40, no. 3 (July 2013): 231-250.
  • Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism, Liberty, & Representative Government. edited by A.D. Lindsay, London: Dent Press, 1931.
  • Morris, Benny. 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
  • Polley, Gabriel. Palestine in the Victorian Age: Colonial Encounters in the Holy Land. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.
  • Richards, Ivor Armstrong. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936.
  • Streicher, Lawrence H. “On a Theory of Political Caricature”, Comparative Studies in Society and History 4, no. 9 (1967): 427-445.
  • Shlaim, Avi. “Britain and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948”, Journal of Palestine Studies 16, no. 4 (Summer, 1987): 50-76.
  • Sükun, Bige. “I. Dünya savaşı sonrası dönemde Sykes-Picot Anlaşması kaynaklı sorunlar”, Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılâp Tarihi Enstitüsü Atatürk Yolu Dergisi/Journal of Atatürk Yolu, no. 74 (2024): 199-214.
  • Urban, Mark. Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. London: Faber and Faber, 2005.
  • Yiğit, Ali Ata. “Filistin Meselesinin Kronikleşmesi (1918-1948)”, Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları 243, no.123 (2009): 391-414.
  • Yurdakul, Nurcan Özkaplan. “Kudüs’te İngiliz Konsolosluğundan İsrail Devletine”. Mensur Akgün (ed.), Tarih ile Mitler Arasında Kudüs. İstanbul: Kopernik Yayınları, 2020.

Karikatürlerin Gözünden Filistin’de İngiliz Mandası Dönemi

Year 2025, Issue: 18, 117 - 135, 31.12.2025
https://doi.org/10.34230/fiad.1630340

Abstract

Britanya İmparatorluğu, on dokuzuncu yüzyılda Orta Doğu'da deneysel adımlar atmaya ve analizler yapmaya başlamıştı. Bu stratejiler doğrudan bir sömürge yerleşimini hedeflemese de, Britanya politikasının kökenleri ekonomik çıkarları desteklemek ve imparatorluk politikasını yönetmek için tasarlanmıştı. Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Birinci Dünya Savaşı’ndaki çözülüşü, yalnızca Arap coğrafyasında dramatik değişikliklere neden olmakla kalmamış, aynı zamanda bu topraklarda yeni bir bölgesel düzeni de kurmuştur. Britanya, gizli Sykes-Picot Anlaşması ve Balfour Deklarasyonu ile Filistin’in gelecek politikalarında baskın bir rol oynamıştır. Filistin’deki İngiliz Mandası, 14 Mayıs 1948’e kadar sürmüş, gerginliklerin tırmanarak Britanya’nın bir kavşak noktasında durduğu ilk Arap-İsrail Savaşı’na yol açmıştır.
Siyasi karikatürler Britanya’da on dokuzuncu yüzyılın başlarından itibaren önemli ölçüde gelişmiş ve Orta Doğu’daki gelişmeler halkın ciddi derecede ilgisini çekmiştir. İllüstrasyonlar iç politikanın nasıl algılandığının ve dış politikayla nasıl sıkı sıkıya bağlantılı olduğunun bir göstergesidir. Bu çalışmada, İngilizlerin Filistin Mandası dönemi 1948 Arap-İsrail Savaşı’na kadar değerlendirilecek ve bu süreçteki olaylara İngiliz yönetiminin yaklaşımları siyasi karikatürlerin temsili yoluyla yaklaşılacaktır. Görsellerin İngiliz hükümetine yönelik eleştirileri ne derecede görünür kıldığı ve okurların siyasi duruşlarına ne ölçüde yeni bakış açıları sağladığı analiz edilecektir.

References

  • “Alexandria's Bombardment and Burning” Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, 22 July 1882.
  • “Calm Consideration Department,” The Evening Standard, 12 December 1946.
  • “Fountain of the Palace of Palestine,” The Penny Magazine, 27 June 1835.
  • “Jee-rusalem,” The Passing Show, 12 May 1917.
  • “Jerulsalem’s Joyous Welcome to Britain,” The British Sentinel, December 1917.
  • “Lloyd George, King of the World!,” The Passing Show, 17 September 1921.
  • “Nurse gives notice,” Punch, 31 March 1948.
  • “Palestine Mandate,” The Daily Mail, 13 October 1947.
  • “ Search for an Open Door,” The Evening Standard, 2 August 1946.
  • “The Last Crusade,” Punch, 19 December 1917.
  • “The March of Time?,” Punch, 19 September 1939
  • “The men who asked only for peace,” Picture Post, May 1948.
  • “The Passing Show”, entry updated on 9 April 2015, https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/passing_show_the “The Sphinx is Silent,” Punch, 15 July 1876.
  • “The United Nations, Palestine Question”, “Policy in Palestine, despatch dated 23rd December, 1937, from the state of Secretary for the Colonies to the High Commissioner for Palestine” by William Ormsby-Gore, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-207196/
  • “World Wars”, https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/worldwars_timeline_noflash.shtml
  • Alkan, Necmettin. Karikatürlerle Oryantalizm Avrupa’nın Türk ve Türkiye Algısı. Cağaloğlu: Selis Kitap, 2016.
  • Armaoğlu, Fahir. Filistin Meselesi ve Arap-İsrail Savaşları: 1948-1988. Ankara: İş Bankası Yayınları, 1989.
  • Barthes, Roland. Göstergebilim Serüveni. İstanbul: Yapıkredi Yayınları, 2023.
  • Bar-Yosef, Eitan. The Holy Land in English Culture 1799-1917: Palestine and the Question of Orientalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005.
  • Cross, Anthony. “The Crimean War and the Caricature War,” The Slavonic and East European Review 84, no. 3 (July 2006): 460-480.
  • Çakı, Caner. “Birinci Dünya Savaşı’ndaki Alman Propaganda Kartpostallarında Kullanılan Karikatürlerde Türklerin Sunumunun Göstergebilimsel Açıdan İncelenmesi,” Akdeniz Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, (AKİL), no. 29 (Haziran 2018): 73-94.
  • Çelik, Halil İbrahim. “İngiltere Mandası Yönetiminde Kudüs ve Türkiye’nin Kudüs Politikası (1917-1948),” Medeniyet ve Toplum Dergisi 2, no. 8 (2024): 248-269.
  • De Saussure, Ferdinand. Genel Dilbilim Dersleri, çev. Berke Vardar, Ankara: Birey ve Toplum, 1985.
  • Disraeli, Benjamin. Venetia; Tancred. London: Frederick Warne, 1866
  • Greenberg, Josh. “Framing and temporality in political cartoons: A critical analysis of visual news discourse”, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 2, 39 (2002): 181-195.
  • Hansard Parliamentary Debates House of Commons (HC) HC Deb 09 December 1929 vol 233 cc23-4, “Palestine (Mandate and Balfour Declaration).”
  • Harris, Charles. “Britain’s political cartoonists: Speaking truth to power for 200 years” https://www.countrylife.co.uk/luxury/art-and-antiques/britains-political-cartoonists-speaking-truth-to-power-for-200-years-248440.
  • Kamel, Lorenzo. Imperial Perceptions of Palestine: British Influence and Power in Late Ottoman Times. London: I.B. Tauris, 2015.
  • Kasalak, Kadir. “İngilizlerin Filistin Politikası ve Filistin Mandası,” Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi 3, no. 25 (2016): 65-78.
  • Kessler, Oren. Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023.
  • Lasswell, Harold D., “The Theory of Political Propaganda,” American Political Science Review 21, no. 3 (1927): 627-631.
  • Mathew, William H. “The Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate, 1917-1923: British Imperialist Imperatives,” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 40, no. 3 (July 2013): 231-250.
  • Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism, Liberty, & Representative Government. edited by A.D. Lindsay, London: Dent Press, 1931.
  • Morris, Benny. 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
  • Polley, Gabriel. Palestine in the Victorian Age: Colonial Encounters in the Holy Land. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022.
  • Richards, Ivor Armstrong. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1936.
  • Streicher, Lawrence H. “On a Theory of Political Caricature”, Comparative Studies in Society and History 4, no. 9 (1967): 427-445.
  • Shlaim, Avi. “Britain and the Arab-Israeli War of 1948”, Journal of Palestine Studies 16, no. 4 (Summer, 1987): 50-76.
  • Sükun, Bige. “I. Dünya savaşı sonrası dönemde Sykes-Picot Anlaşması kaynaklı sorunlar”, Ankara Üniversitesi Türk İnkılâp Tarihi Enstitüsü Atatürk Yolu Dergisi/Journal of Atatürk Yolu, no. 74 (2024): 199-214.
  • Urban, Mark. Generals: Ten British Commanders Who Shaped The Modern World. London: Faber and Faber, 2005.
  • Yiğit, Ali Ata. “Filistin Meselesinin Kronikleşmesi (1918-1948)”, Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları 243, no.123 (2009): 391-414.
  • Yurdakul, Nurcan Özkaplan. “Kudüs’te İngiliz Konsolosluğundan İsrail Devletine”. Mensur Akgün (ed.), Tarih ile Mitler Arasında Kudüs. İstanbul: Kopernik Yayınları, 2020.
There are 42 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Middle East Studies, Late Modern History (Other)
Journal Section Research Article
Authors

Fahriye Begum Yildizeli 0000-0001-6312-8405

Submission Date January 31, 2025
Acceptance Date June 13, 2025
Publication Date December 31, 2025
Published in Issue Year 2025 Issue: 18

Cite

Chicago Yildizeli, Fahriye Begum. “The British Mandate Period in Palestine through the Eyes of Cartoons”. Filistin Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 18 (December 2025): 117-35. https://doi.org/10.34230/fiad.1630340.

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