How Did We Get Here? Palestine and the Mandates of Deception

December 4, 2025

Palestinians detained during the British Mandate of Palestine. (Photo: via Wikimedia)

By Dr. M. Reza Behnam

The historical manipulation of international organizations by powerful states cleared the way for betrayal of the Palestinians and facilitated Zionism’s horrors and lawlessness.

Each day, we learn of Israel’s theft of yet another slice of Palestine. Piece by piece, acre by acre, the Palestinian nation has been seized by Zionist offensive forces and carved up for colonization in contravention of all treaties, accords, “peace” agreements, and the like. Meanwhile, the occupation remains accountable to no laws, treaties, or global organizations. It kills, destroys, pillages, imprisons, rapes, and tortures because it has been allowed to.

It is important to understand how the Zionist state’s wantonness and lawlessness unfolded, especially as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) recently delegated trusteeship (authority) of Gaza to the Trump administration, essentially handing the US an internationally sanctioned “mandate” of the enclave.

It is the shameful story of the manner in which the League of Nations, created by the British and other imperialist powers, “gave” itself the “mandate” of Palestine in 1920; how 28 years later, the UN authorized a partition plan; and how in 2025 the US empire has sought, in collaboration with Israel, to assume “trusteeship” over Palestinian land in Gaza.

The Imperialist Mandate System

The British and French empires learned, through the horrors of World War I, that they

could further their colonial interests in the Middle East within the “legal” framework of international institutions, allied to their violence.

The League of Nations served that purpose when, in 1919, after the First World War, the victorious allied powers established the mandate system – traditional colonialism disguised as benevolence. The mandates, meant to be temporary, served to legalize British and French imperial gains over former Ottoman Empire colonies in the Arab Middle East.

Underlying the mandate system was the imperious racist assumption that the people who had lived for thousands of years on the land were incapable of governing themselves, and that they needed the “tutelage of an advanced nation” before achieving independence – an attitude that has yet to change.

The text of the 1919 League of Nations Covenant (Article 22) reveals the inherent racism of the imperialist powers. It stated:

“To those colonies and territories… which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant….”

The British Mandate of Palestine

Betrayal of the Palestinian nation began in 1920 when the League assigned the role of mandatory power in Palestine to the British government.  The Mandate of Palestine (1922-1948) laid the foundation for the atrocities and colonial wars waged thereafter by Britain, Israel, and the US.

In total disregard for the political rights of the indigenous Arab majority (90% at that time), the British government included the text of the 1917 Balfour Declaration in its mandate, pledging to support a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.

By formally approving the mandate in 1922, the League gave legitimacy under international law—law defined by the same imperial powers —to the Zionist project, as well as the green light to continue their aggressive expansionist pursuits. There was nothing in the mandate that gave Britain the right to give away a land that had been inhabited by another people for thousands of years.  Instead of decolonization and independence as required, the British government callously handed Palestine to European colonizers.

UN Mandate of Palestine

Palestine was, once again, betrayed when the disdainful “trusteeship” of the League of Nations was replaced with its political invalidation by the United Nations in 1947. Like its colonial predecessor, the UN—created largely by the United States—was structured to institutionalize the dominance and further the interests of major imperial powers.  After the devastation of the Second World War, the US assumed that autocratic power.

With the establishment of the UN in 1945 and the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, Britain transferred all of its mandate territories except Palestine to a UN Trusteeship system. Despite the rising cycle of violence and unrest, Britain continued its “trusteeship” until 1947 when it officially ceded its mandate, described as a “wasp’s nest,” to the UN.  It should be noted that all of the League of Nations mandates were ostensibly “guided” toward independence—except Palestine.

The UN solution to the Palestine “problem” was the adoption in 1947 of Resolution 181, recommending its partition into two unequal states, one Arab and one Jewish, with Jerusalem under international administration.  Although General Assembly resolutions are largely symbolic and are not legally binding on member states, Zionist leaders declared statehood in May 1948.  Resolution 181 did, consequently, sow the seeds of further Palestinian anti-colonial resistance and perpetual regional conflict and discord.

The Proposed US Mandate of Gaza

Like all previous imperial actions, the US has sought to obtain global legitimacy from international institutions to shield the Zionist colony and to impose control over the land of Palestine and the entire region. By protecting Israel, the US has sided with powers that exist in a liminal space, outside the law, no matter how dastardly their behavior.

The most recent act of US-initiated deception against the Palestinians came with the adoption by the UNSC of Resolution 2803, the so-called “Trump Gaza peace plan.” In so doing, it gave international credibility to his proposal and in effect, handed the United States a colonizing mandate over Gaza, passing the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians from Tel Aviv to Washington.

The US “guardianship” plan mirrors the legacy of colonial land theft in Palestine – seizure repackaged and rebranded as peaceful resolution.  Once again, plunder and dispossession have been shrouded in the guise of diplomatic “solutions.” By systematically sidelining the Palestinians, denying their voice, their right to self-determination and their very existence, the US is continuing the colonial dynamic—imperial policies and racism—that began with the Balfour Declaration and British mandate of Palestine.  It has not and will not succeed.

The Palestinian people and leaders cannot be fooled. Interactions and transactions, with their adversaries, forged over decades, have fostered a keen understanding of them. Despite unimaginable hardships and extreme duress, they have refused to surrender and to give up their struggle for national liberation.

Conclusion: Partnership, Not Obstruction

The historical manipulation of international organizations by powerful states cleared the way for the betrayal of the Palestinians and facilitated Zionism’s horrors and lawlessness. Although the UN has, since its birth, created a comprehensive body of international treaties, laws, condemnations, and countless reports, as well as multinational bodies, like the International Court of Justice, to provide legal interpretation and rulings, it has yet to insure justice for Palestine and its people.

What the Security Council has done, however, is allow the genocidal and rogue Zionist colony of Israel to remain a member of the world body and unaccountable for its 78-year war on Palestine.  Mirroring the US, the Council’s failure to impose restraints or consequences has cultivated within the Zionist state a sense of absolute entitlement and belief that, since October 7, 2023, it has unmitigated impunity to commit genocide, sow discord and wreak havoc across the region.

If it is to have any credibility now and in the future, the UN must take measures to redress more than a half-century of failure to fulfill its obligations and to correct the life-altering injustice it wrought with the passage of Resolution 181. One of the first steps it could and should take to restrain Israeli terrorism is to enact UNGA Resolution 377(V), “Uniting for Peace” (adopted in 1950). The resolution empowers the General Assembly to use armed force if the Security Council fails to exercise its primary responsibility of maintaining global peace and security.  Text of Section A on the “use of armed force” resolves:

“that if the Security Council, because of lack of unanimity of the permanent members, fails to exercise its primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security in any case where there appears to be a threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately with a view to making appropriate recommendations to Members for collective measures, including in the case of a breach of the peace or act of aggression the use of armed force when necessary, to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

Unquestionably, Israel is a regional and global threat, warring on Gaza, the West Bank, on its Arab neighbors and provoking confrontation with Iran. Given that the UNSC has failed its primary responsibilities of preventing genocide, maintaining peace and security, it is time for the majority—the 193 members of the General Assembly—to exert authority (two-thirds majority vote required).

In addition, the UN needs to state unequivocally that resisting occupation is a fundamental human right; it isn’t terrorism, it is survival; and that Palestinian resistance, including armed struggle, is legally reinforced under international law. Also, given Israel’s refusal to adhere to international and humanitarian law, as well as the principles of the UN Charter, the UN should determine that the Zionist colony lacks standing within the international community and should be expelled from the world body.

The Middle East and the global community are at a crossroads, and Palestine and its people are at its heart. The need for benign international intervention on behalf of the Palestinians is long overdue. The UN must acknowledge, however belatedly, its role in one of the greatest deceptions of history. And, if it is to live up to its charter and conventions, it has an obligation to work toward the liberation and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and ultimately to the restoration of their homeland.

– Dr. M. Reza Behnam is a political scientist specializing in the history, politics and governments of the Middle East. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.