arab land?
Interesting, care to show me the history text book that points that out?
Because it did belong to the British, who conquered it from the ottoman empire, who conquered it from the Mamluk empire, who conquered it from the Crusaders....
It didn't belong to the British. They were granted the responsibility (by the LoN) to administer Palestine as a class A mandate to bring it into statehood and independence. If you ever take the time to see how the UN surveyed the land when they were considering partition, you will see how much was considered Arab land, and how much was considered Jewish.