Summary
A Palestine-born man whose 1936 enquiry whether he was a British subject or a Palestinian citizen is Banko’s second citizenship case study in Chapter 7 (The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, PDF p.197 / printed p.186).
Details
- His father George Rock, an Ottoman subject, had been naturalised as a British citizen in the 1890s and had been a resident of Britain prior to 1914; John George Rock was born in Palestine. When he enquired as to his nationality in the 1930s, the British initially responded that he was Palestinian rather than British (PDF p.197 / printed p.186).
- In late 1936 the Home Office, referring to the Ottoman Nationality Law of 1869, found that since the elder Rock did not automatically lose his Ottoman nationality upon British naturalisation, John George could not be regarded as a British subject as he had hoped (PDF p.197 / printed p.186).
- Both father and son stressed the elder Rock had severed any ties with Turkey; the father proclaimed his readiness to state that ‘on [his] naturalisation he swore allegiance to the British Government and no one else’. Banko presents the case as demonstrating the revolt years’ uncertainty over the loyalty of Palestinian Arabs who assumed they were British subjects (PDF p.197 / printed p.186).
Related pages
The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947, Ottoman Nationality Law of 1869