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The Peel Commission - The Jewish Link

Alex Grobman, PhD | August 21, 2025

Part X

The Palestine Royal Commission, known as the Peel Commission, headed by Lord Robert Peel, was appointed in August 1936 and sent to Palestine by the British to investigate the causes of unrest among Palestinian Arabs and Jews, and suggest modifications to the British Mandate.

Historian Martin Gilbert quotes Chaim Weizmann's wife, Vera, who wrote in her diary that her husband's first words after giving testimony to the Commission were: "I feel c's mind is made up; we shall have to make concessions. They are convinced that our case is a good one, but the Imperial interests are the first consideration; they can't afford to quarrel with the Arabs. We have come to an impasse. The British can't afford to enforce the peace by force; the public opinion will not tolerate it."

When Winston Churchill was called to testify, Gilbert points out that Sir Horace Rumbold, vice chairman of the Peel Commission, asked if it was "harsh injustice" to the Arabs to allow many Jews to enter Palestine. Churchill replied that even when the Jewish Home "will become all Palestine," which was inevitable, there would not be injustice: "Why is there harsh injustice done if people come in and make a livelihood for more and make the desert into palm groves and orange groves? Why is it injustice because there is more work and wealth for everybody? There is no injustice. The injustice is when those who live in the country leave it to be a desert for thousands of years."

Gilbert adds that when Rumbold claimed the Arabs were the "indigenous population," subjected "to the invasion of a foreign race," in 1918, Churchill criticized the use of the phrase "foreign race." He pointed out the Arabs had arrived in Palestine after the Jews. It was the "great hordes of Islam who 'smashed' Palestine up. You have seen the terraces on the hills which used to be cultivated," he explained to the commissioners, "which under Arab rule have remained a desert."

Rumbold claimed this occurred under Turkish rule, but Churchill countered: "Where the Arab goes is often desert." When Rumbold mentioned the Arab civilization in Spain, Churchill said, "I am glad they were thrown out." It was "for the good of the world." He then told Lord Peel that "the place should be cultivated, and it never will be cultivated by the Arabs."

The Peel Commission concluded: "An irrepressible conflict has arisen between two national communities within the narrow bounds of one small country. There is no common ground between them. Their national aspirations are incompatible. The Arabs desire to revive the traditions of the Arab Golden Age. The Jews desire to show what they can achieve when restored to the land in which the Jewish nation was born. Neither of the two national ideals permits combination in the service of a single state."

After the commission submitted its report to the British government, there was a two-day debate in the House of Lords (July 19-20,1937), and one directly afterward in the House of Commons. The commission recommended partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. David Ben-Gurion notes that in both houses, there was serious condemnation of the commission's recommendations and the government's decision to accept their conclusions.

Churchill, Lloyd George and members of the Labour Party were among the critics of the report. Ben-Gurion said that, in particular, there were three problems that were highlighted: the limited size of the projected Jewish state, the failure to include the new Jerusalem, and the resolve not to incorporate the Negev. Whether this criticism or these shortcomings were used as an excuse, the government retracted its approval of the proposals.

In July 1937, the Arabs immediately repudiated the British plan. "When speaking of the Palestinian problem there are no moderates or radicals," declared a Jaffa-based Arab newspaper. "We have rejected the partition plan and will fight any idea or attempt to propose partition, as partition is a national disaster. No Arab who appreciates the national 'stake' will consent to negotiate partition."

Allen Z. Hertz, a former senior adviser in the Privy Council Office serving Canada's prime minister and the federal cabinet, explains that the "commission proposed a new 'Arab State' to consist of Transjordan (Eastern Palestine) plus the parts of Western Palestine that were then mostly inhabited by Arabs. Before March-April 1946, Transjordan was without any doubt still part of the Palestine Mandate and was fully at the disposal of the British in terms of framing some sort of a settlement between Arabs and Jews.

"In March 1946, the British concluded a treaty with the Hashemite emir of Transjordan recognizing his independence as king of the new independent Arab State of Transjordan. This change was then blessed by the last Assembly of the League of Nations in April 1946.

"So, the little Palestine between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea only existed for the two years from the birth in 1946 of Jordan to that of Israel in 1948." The Commission had determined that partition of Palestine offered "a chance of ultimate peace. No other plan does."

At that time, there was no such thing as "the Palestinian People. … So … the Arabs walked off with 77% of the territory of Mandate Palestine in 1946. … Hardly anybody understands that Jordan unequivocally was still part of Palestine until March-April 1946. This is indisputable—a matter that is entirely black/white! No shades of gray! Anybody who can read treaties would know this to be the case. However, in practice, nobody seems to know this."

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Dr. Alex Grobman is the senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society, a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and on the advisory board of the National Christian Leadership Conference of Israel (NCLCI). He has an MA and PhD in contemporary Jewish history from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.