The beginning of the State of Israel under British Auspices.
On the eve of WW1 ca. 7% of the population of Palestine was Jewish.
Total population ca. 800,000.
ca. 112, 500 Jews.
Most Jews were Ultra-orthodox and lived in Jerusalem.
Many of Sephardic origin.
At the end of WW1, the Jewish community had lost approximately half its population, partly to
starvation and epidemics and partly to emigration and Turkish deportations,
leaving approximately 26,000 souls. This was roughly the same number as the British soldiers stationed in Jerusalem
The returnees included over 3,000 orphans, approximately half of them girls. This was to cause problems.