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When
17 May 1939Exact day
Where
Palestine
Weight
82 · Defining momentDeclaration, resolution or agreement
Sources
23 cited passages
On 17 May 1939 Britain issued a White Paper setting the objective of an independent Palestine State within ten years, limiting Jewish immigration to some 75,000 over five years, and giving the High Commissioner powers to prohibit and regulate transfers of land.
01
The policy
The White Paper, dated London, 17 May 1939, set as the objective of the British government the establishment within ten years of an independent Palestine State in treaty relations with the United Kingdom. It provided for the admission of some 75,000 Jewish immigrants over the next five years, and gave the High Commissioner general powers to prohibit and regulate transfers of land.12
The United Nations study records that the White Paper disclaimed any intention to create a Jewish State, rejected Arab demands that Palestine become independent as an Arab State, and envisaged the end of the Mandate by 1949 with independence for a Palestine in which Palestinians and Jews would share in government. For the Zionist movement it was a severe setback.3
United Nations · section: Chapter VII, The “MacDonald White Paper”
Original-language quotation · en
A new White Paper was issued in May 1939, disclaiming any intention to create a Jewish State, rejecting Arab demands that Palestine become independent as an Arab State, and envisaging the termination of the mandate by 1949
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
05-17 · occurrence Anniversary of the documented date.