During World War I (1914-1918), Turkey (a.k.a. Ottoman Empire) supported Germany. When Germany was defeated, so were the Turks. Control of the southern portion of their empire was "mandated" to France and Britain. The area under British supervision was referred to as "Palestine." Because no other peoples had ever established a national homeland here since the Jews had done it 3,000 years before, the British "looked favorably" upon the creation of a Jewish National Homeland throughout ALL of Palestine. The Jews had once again begun mass immigration into Palestine in the 1880's in an effort to rid the land of swamps and malaria. (There was never an attempt to "rid" the area of what few Arabs there were!) This encouraged an equally large immigration of Arabs from neighboring areas who were attracted by employment opportunities and healthier living conditions.