‘A stranger from this homeland’: deportation and the ruin of lives and livelihoods during the Palestine Mandate

ABSTRACT

This article explores Mandate Palestine’s immigration policy through the stories of migrants and settled residents who attempted to resist government-issued deportation orders for their removal from the territory. Individuals who lived in and crossed the borders and frontiers of interwar Palestine without the necessary permissions from the mandate government began to negotiate their relationship with the state once they received deportation orders, had their identity documents revoked, or found themselves under arrest. Through a close reading of archival sources including petitions, letters court case extracts and police correspondence, the article argues that Palestine’s immigration and deportation policies caused and exacerbated precarity and dislocation, all of which represented elements of the modern experience of colonial citizenship.

KEYWORDS:

• Palestine Mandate
• immigration
• deportation
• settler colonialism
• documentary identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Lauren Banko is lecturer in the Department of History at Yale University. Her first book, The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2016. She previously held a fellowship at the University of Manchester, and was awarded her PhD from SOAS, London in Near and Middle East History.

Notes

1 Petition, Ya’coub Harb to Chief Secretary, 23 November 1941, Israel State Archives Chief Secretary’s Office (hereafter, ISA M), 224/38.

2 Chief Rabbi Ouziel to Chief Secretary, 5 November 1941, ISA M228/34.

3 One exception is Alroey (2014).

4 Syrian Draft Nationality Law of 1947, ISA M253/42.

5 Immigration Ordinance amendments, 15 September 1932, ISA M6571/2.

6 Immigration Ordinance Regulations, 1923–1924, ISA M6630/22.

7 Memo, Director of Immigration and Travel to District Commissioner, Beersheba, 10 September 1920, ISAM2/8.

8 Immigration Ordinance Regulations, 1923–1924, ISA M6630/22.

9 Memorandum, Director of Department of Immigration, 28 June 1933, ISA M223/8.

10 Controller of Permits memorandum on draft immigration ordinance, 24 November 1924, ISA M6630/22.

11 Correspondence, Acting Chief Secretary, July 1933, ISA M223/8.

12 Memorandum, Director of Department of Immigration, 28 June 1933, ISA M223/8.

13 Returns of deportation of illicit immigrants from Palestine, 1940, ISA M224/1.

14 File: Statistics of migration and naturalisation, ISA M264/48.

15 Correspondence, Department of Immigration to Chief Secretary, 22 August 1933, ISA M223/8.

16 Memo, District Commissioner’s Office, Lydda, 10 October 1941, and memo, Chief Secretary to District Commissioners, 4 December 1940, ISA M1741/5.

17 Petition, Boustany and Boustany to Chief Secretary, 18 January 1944, ISA M255/67.

18 A. Khamra to Chief Secretary, 6 June 1946, ISA M257/19.

19 Ibid.

20 Letter, Taysir Khiro Rifae to Chief Secretary, 24 Aug 1947, ISA M224/21.

21 Letter, Department of Immigration to Chief Secretary, 12 September 1947, ISA M224/21.

22 Department of Migration to Chief Secretary, 19 November 1947, ISA M224/21.

23 Petition, Zena Malouf to high commissioner, 15 September 1941, ISA M228/31.

24 Ibid.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid.

27 CID to Chief Secretary, 25 September 1941, ISA M228/31.

28 Chief Secretary to Zena Malouf, 6 Octtober 1941, ISA M228/31.

29 Memo, Ministry of Justice, Amman to British Resident, Amman, 19 July 1932, Foreign Office (FO) 816/103. The reciprocal right of Palestinian, Transjordanian, and British citizens to enter Palestine and Transjordan without the need for a passport lasted until 1947.

30 Solicitor General to Chief Secretary, 23 May 1937, ISA M705/1.

31 Petition, Nektar Stepanian Dabbagh to Chief Secretary, 7 April 1944, ISA M256/8.

32 Letter, CID to Nektar Dabbagh, 12 May 1944, ISA M256/8.

33 Regulations for passports and visas, 1920, ISA M2/8.

34 Petition from the Municipal Council of Tel Aviv to High Commissioner, 21 March 1941, ISA M226/60.

35 Letter, CID to Chief Secretary, 26 March 1941, ISA M226/60.

36 Petition, Argaman and Herman to Chief Secretary, 8 December 1941, ISA M255/27.

37 Letter, Palestine Police Headquarters to Chief Secretary, 30 April 1942, ISA M223/8.

38 Petition, Jewish Agency to Chief Secretary, 14 October 1941, ISA M228/34.

39 Petition, Mr. Katznelson to Chief Secretary, 17 October 1941, ISA M228/34.

40 Petition, Jewish Agency to Chief Secretary, 14 October 1941, ISA M228/34.

41 Petition, Mrs. Genia Nuriel Daniel to High Commissioner, 14 January 1942, ISA M228/34.

42 Letter, Mr. Katznelson to Mr. Thompson, 2 February 1942; and AIG, CID to Chief Secretary, 3 February 1942, ISA M228/34.

43 Correspondence, AIG, CID to Chief Secretary, 21 March 1942, ISA M228/34.

44 Letter, Legal Secretary to Chief Secretary, 2 April 1942, ISA M228/34

45 Letter, Legal Secretary to Chief Secretary, 2 April 1942, ISA M228/34.

46 Letter, Isaac Herzog to Chief Secretary, 30 March 1942, ISA M228/34.

47 Correspondence, author unknown, 11 April 1942, ISA M228/34.

48 Handwritten correspondence, deportations file, August–December 1940, ISA M223/37.

49 Memorandum, Assistant Inspector General of Police, 14 April 1942, ISA M223/8.

50 Department of Immigration memorandum, 28 June 1933, ISA M223/8.

51 Palestine Police to Chief Secretary, 22 May 1941, ISA M227/41.

52 Note, Commissioner for Migration and Statistics, 17 June 1941, ISA M227/41.

53 Letter, Walid Salah to High Commissioner, 17 July 1941, ISA M227/41.

54 Letter, Ya’coub Harb to Chief Secretary, 23 November 1941, ISA M224/38.

55 Letter, Chief Secretary to Ya’coub Harb, 11 December 1941, ISA M224/38.