Event · Colonial rule11 December 1917

Britain occupies Jerusalem

بريطانيا تحتلّ القدس

Exact day11 December 1917

Gathered from its sources, not yet reviewed

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When
11 December 1917Exact day
Where
Jerusalemapproximate position
Weight
86 · Defining momentWar or military operation
Sources
23 cited passages

On 11 December 1917 General Edmund Allenby, commanding the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, proclaimed Jerusalem under martial law after the defeat of the Ottoman forces. Palestine was then under British military government until June 1920.

The proclamation

In a proclamation dated Jerusalem, 11 December 1917, General Edmund Allenby, Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, said that the defeat his troops had inflicted on the Turks had resulted in the occupation of the city, and proclaimed it under martial law. He declared that every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine and traditional site of the three religions would be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of their adherents.12

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Military government

The United Nations study records that before the Mandate took legal effect in September 1923, Palestine was administered first by a military government, from December 1917 to June 1920, until a civilian High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, took office on 1 July 1920.3

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Connected

Connected people & places

  • PlaceJerusalem

    Linked context in the legacy record

    Legacy context · not a reviewed claim

Found by the archive, not a claim

Within a yearThe Balfour Declaration

Evidence

Every trace has a source.

The passages cited, numbered as in the story

  1. Proclamation of Martial Law in Jerusalem, 11 December 1917 ↗

    PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Proclamation text

    Original-language quotation · en
    I, therefore, here now proclaim it to be under martial law
    Link to this citation
  2. Proclamation of Martial Law in Jerusalem, 11 December 1917 ↗

    PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies · section: Proclamation text

    Editorial paraphrase · en

    Every sacred building, monument, holy spot, shrine and traditional site of the three religions will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of their adherents.

    Link to this citation
  3. The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part I: 1917–1947 (ST/SG/SER.F/1) ↗

    United Nations · section: Chapter V, Mandated Palestine: the “Jewish national home”

    Original-language quotation · en
    the de facto administration was first in the form of a military government from December 1917 to June 1920, with a civilian High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, taking office on 1 July 1920
    Link to this citation

document · PalQuest · Institute for Palestine Studies

Proclamation of Martial Law in Jerusalem, 11 December 1917

The proclamation’s text, in the Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (Institute for Palestine Studies).

Published: 1917-12-11Consulted: 2026-10-17

Reference metadata and an original summary only. No permission to copy or host the source’s text, photographs, audio or video is asserted.

document · United Nations

The Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem, Part I: 1917–1947 (ST/SG/SER.F/1)

The United Nations study prepared for the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (ST/SG/SER.F/1), as held by the UN Information System on the Question of Palestine.

Published: date not recordedConsulted: 2026-10-17

Reference metadata and an original summary only. No permission to copy or host the source’s text, photographs, audio or video is asserted.

Dates & remembrance

12-11 · occurrence
Anniversary of the documented date.