"The British were supposed to bring cul ture to Palestine, but in contrast to France’s cultural imperialism, they did not seek to impose their values or their identity on the colonies. They tended to keep their distance from the population, at most displaying folkloristic wonderment at the native heritage and some interest in pre serving it.
This reluctance was not just a political consideration; it also reflected a romantic tendency to relate to Palestine as the land of the Bible and treat it as a huge wax museum...
In keeping with their stance, the authorities refused to prohibit child marriage, an accepted practice among Arabs and Jews from Arab countries. A Jewish women’s organization launched a campaign to halt it, but the administration tried to evade the issue. Member of Parliament Eleanor Rathbone intervened to little effect. In the early 1930s Rathbone was still protesting the Palestine administration’s tolerance of the marriage of thirteen-year-old girls; the age o f consent was raised to fifteen only in the mid-1930S. Some of the leading figures in British government, among them David Lloyd George, lent their names to an organization that defended Arab child marriages, warning Rathbone that protests against the practice were part of the Zionist movement’s plot to take over the country. After robbing the Arabs of freedom and opportunities for economic development, the Zionists now wished to impose their moral norms on Palestine. The British administration also resisted granting women the right to vote. “ Seeing that strong objections are entertained not only by Moslems but also by certain Jews to the participation of women in public affairs, you will, I am sure, agree that it would be impracticable to lay down a general rule in Palestine,” an official of the Colonial Office wrote to Rathbone."
--- One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate / Tom Segev
