"the growth of the Jewish community did bring nearer the time when it could take matters into its own hands." - In fact, it was the Arabs who regularly "took matters into their own hands", once too often as it happened.
"In 1939, a White Paper provided for the ultimate establishment of a government with an Arab majority, and limitations on Jewish immigration and purchase of land. This would have been acceptable to the Arabs with some changes, but the Jewish community would not agree to a solution which would shut the gates of Palestine" - Ii was the Grand Mfti Himself, virtually single-handedly, who refused to allow the acceptance of this proposal to the astonishment of all, including his so-called peers. It has been proposed that his refusal came from his decision to ally with Hitler and genocide.

from A History of the Arab Peoples - Albert Hourani

In Palestine, the acquisition of land for European Jewish immigrants, which had begun during the late nineteenth century, continued within the new system of administration established by Britain as mandatory government. Jewish immigration was encouraged, within limits determined partly by the administration's estimate of the number of immigrants the country could absorb at any moment, and partly by the amount of pressure which Zionists or Arabs could bring to bear upon the government in London. The structure of the country's population changed dramatically during this period. 1n 1922 ]ews had formed about 11 per cent of a total population of three-quarters of a million, the rest being mainly Arabic- speaking Muslims and Christians; by 1949 they formed more than 30 per cent of a population which had doubled. By this time there had been considerable investment, both by individual ]ews and by institutions formed to help in the creation of the national home. Much of it had gone to immediate needs of immigration, some to industrial projects: electri?cation (for which a Jewish company was given an exclusive concession), building materials, food-processing. Much also went into the buying of land and agricultural projects. By the early 1940s Jews owned perhaps 2O per cent of the cultivable land, and a large part of this was possessed by the Jewish National Fund, which held it as the inalienable property of the Jewish people, on which no non-Jew could be employed. As in the Maghrib, the land held and cultivated by immigrants included a large proportion of the most productive areas; but again as in the Maghrib, the immigrant population had become mainly urban. By 1939 only 10 per cent of the Jewish population lived on the land, because immigration by then was too great to be absorbed in agriculture. The typical Palestinian Jew was a town-dweller living in one of the three large towns, Jerusalem, Haifa or Tel Aviv; but the farmer living in the collective settlement, the kibbutz, was an important symbol.

1936: the acquisition of land for European Jewish immigrants, which had begun during the late nineteenth century, continued within the new system of administration established by Britain as mandatory government. Jewish immigration was encouraged, within limits determined partly by the administration's estimate of the number of immigrants the country could absorb at any moment, and partly by the amount of pressure which Zionists or Arabs could bring to bear upon the government in London. The structure of the country's population changed. The same absence of a viable balance of interests existed in Palestine. From an early point in the administration of the British mandate, it became clear that it would be difficult to create any kind of structure of local government which would accommodate both the interests of the indigenous Arab inhabitants and those of the Zionists. For the latter, the important point was to keep the doors open to immigration, and this involved maintaining direct British control until the Jewish community had become large enough and had secured enough control of the economic resources of the country to be able to look after its own interests. For the Arabs, what was essential was to prevent Jewish immigration on a scale that would endanger the economic development and ultimate self-determination, and even the existence, of the Arab community. Caught between these two pressures, the policy of the British government was to retain direct control, permit immigration within limits, favour on the whole the economic development of the Jewish community, and assure the Arabs from time to time that what was happening would not be allowed to lead to their subjection. This policy was more in the interests of the Zionists than of the Arabs, since, no matter what assurances were given, the growth of the Jewish community did bring nearer the time when it could take matters into its own hands.

By the middle 1930s, it was becoming more difficult for Britain to maintain a balance. The coming to power of the Nazis in Germany increased pressure from the Jewish community and their supporters in England to permit larger immigration; and immigration in its turn was changing the balance of population and power in Palestine. In 1936 the opposition of the Arabs began to take the form of armed insurrection.

Political leadership lay with an association of urban notables, with Amin al-Husayni, (Grand) Mufti of Jerusalem, as the dominant ?gure, but a popular military leadership was beginning to appear, and the movement was having repercussions in surrounding Arab countries, at a moment when the threat to British interests from Italy and Germany made it desirable for Britain to have good relations with the Arab states. Faced with this situation, the British government made two attempts to resolve it. In 1937 a plan to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states was put forward after an inquiry by a Royal Commission (the Peel Commission); this was acceptable to the Zionists in principle, but not to the Arabs. In 1939, a White Paper provided for the ultimate establishment of a government with an Arab majority, and limitations on Jewish immigration and purchase of land. This would have been acceptable to the Arabs with some changes, but the Jewish community would not agree to a solution which would shut the gates of Palestine to most immigrants and prevent the emergence of a Jewish state. Armed Jewish resistance was beginning to show itself, when the outbreak of a new European war ended formal political activity for the moment.