Jerusalem in the transition from empire to mandate

December 1917 is considered an important turning point in the history of Palestine/Eretz Israel, as well as in British history. On December 9, the British approached the city of Jerusalem. Two days later, on December 11, General Edmond Allenby, the British commander, entered the city through the Jaffa Gate. This moment symbolized, symbolically as well as practically, the end of 400 years of Ottoman rule in the city of Jerusalem and, within a few months, in the rest of Palestine. The ceremony that took place near the Jaffa Gate, in the presence of representatives of the different communities living in the city and the official international representatives, can be viewed as a “rite of passage”, a moment of transition between rules, empires, ways of life, as well as the end of a deep crisis, caused by the Great War. It was in this moment that Jerusalem became an “Inter-Imperial City”, a city in transition between empires.