Sir Harold MacMichael

MacMichael was appointed to succeed Arthur Wauchope as high commissioner and commander-in-chief in Palestine, a post he would occupy until 1944. His tenure began during the crisis of the Arab rebellion against the mandatory regime and Jewish settlers. Immediately suspected by both Arabs and Jews, MacMichael found himself with responsibility but not authority, a lightning rod for a British policy with which he often disagreed. Although an Arabist, he arrived pragmatically at the view that only partition offered long-term prospects of successful resolution of the Palestine question. He was also High Commissioner as the Middle East became an active war front and saw a huge influx of British and Empire troops and resources into the region. On 8 August 1944 the Stern gang of Jewish terrorists failed in an attempt to assassinate MacMichael, whose term of office was in any case about to end. He left Palestine in September 1944. Image courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery