The period of British rule in Palestine, 1918-1948 (including the period beginning in 1922 when Britain was given an international mandate for Palestine), was undoubtedly a formative period for the State of Israel. It is difficult to imagine what life would be like today in Israel – in both positive and negative terms – without a thorough knowledge of this period. The perspective that time provides is leading more and more scholars from various disciplines to take an interest in this subject. One central problem is the fact that a scholar engaged in this field is not always aware of the work of others, either because these other scholars are working in different disciplines or because there are well-known boundary lines that separate those whose expertise is the British side, the Jewish side or the Arab side. The British Mandate Forum seeks to become an inter-university center of information in Israel for all those engaged in this field: from doctoral students working on their thesis to veteran scholars who now bear the title of Professor Emeritus. It is the forum’s aim to serve as a framework for study and the exchange of knowledge irrespective of hierarchical considerations and for freely conducted debates and cultural discourse.
