Final answer:
Britain responded to the Palestinian revolt by restricting Jewish immigration and later referring the Palestine issue to the United Nations. This led to the UN's partition plan and Britain's eventual withdrawal from Palestine, enabling the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948.
Step-by-step explanation:
In response to the Palestinian revolt against British rule in 1936, Britain took several actions. Initially, Britain permitted Zionist immigration to Palestine, prompting a significant increase in the Jewish population. This migration led to heightened tensions and violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs, who had been residing in the region for many centuries. The competition for resources and political dominance caused riots and the outbreak of the Arab revolt from 1936 to 1939.
The British reaction to these tensions included imposing restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine, considering the growing anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi regime, this effectively cut off a route of escape for many European Jews. However, the situation became even more complicated after World War II when Britain, feeling guilt for blocking Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, referred the problem of Palestine to the United Nations in 1947. The United Nations proposed the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states, which neither party ultimately found agreeable.
Britain eventually turned over its mandate to the United Nations in 1947, which led to the creation of the new state of Israel and the subsequent Arab-Israeli conflict. Despite the UN resolution, violence ensued, and in May 1948, Israel declared its independence just as British forces withdrew from the region.