The Palestine Police (1920-48) 18mm button

£8 is for one button. If you wish to buy multiple please choose how many you want.

The Palestine Police was created in 1920 to keep order in the British Mandate of Palestine. It had separate British, Arab and Jewish sections, with British officers in command and a British section of mostly ex-servicemen recruited in the UK.

The 1930s were its making. The Arab Revolt of 1936 to 1939 turned it from a civil police into something close to a paramilitary force. It grew fast, armoured cars came in, and Sir Charles Tegart oversaw the building of a chain of fortified police stations. Many of these "Tegart forts" still stand today.

After 1945 the main threat came from Jewish underground groups such as the Irgun and Lehi. British constables faced bombings and ambushes, and the force was stretched to breaking point. At its peak the British section numbered several thousand men, many of them young recruits straight out of wartime service.

The force was disbanded when the Mandate ended in May 1948. Many of its men went straight on to police other parts of the empire, especially Malaya, where Palestine veterans were prized for their experience.