Jerusalem in the First World War - the military dimension Yigal Sheffey The capture of Jerusalem on the eve of Christmas 1918 seemed , in the popular image formed in the Christian and Jewish world , to be a direct result of the British Prime Ministers request to the designated commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force ( EEF ) to take Jerusalem as a Christmas present for the British nation . Indeed , the capture of Jerusalem , that during the first two years of the war had formed no part of Britain ' s military objectives or plans , became unavoidable as soon as the War Cabinet decided in January 1917 to view Palestine as a military goal , and the British civilian decision -makers succeeded in imposing their will on the military . Eventually however , the timing of the capture of the city was random , and was determined no less by Ottoman-German decisions and actions than by those of the British . Three main reasons led the EEF to enter Jerusalem at the beginning of December 1917 : ...
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