The White Paper on Palestine, issued by the British government in May 1939, limited Jewish immigration into Palestine during the Holocaust.  In doing so, it blocked the last legal escape route for Jews who were trapped in Europe.  The British, who controlled Palestine, issued the policy statement to appease the Palestinian Arabs, who were rebelling in response to increased Jewish immigration from Nazi Germany.  The White Paper set the annual quota at no more than 15,000 Jewish immigrants for each of the next five years.  As an additional concession, it made all additional Jewish immigration dependent on the consent of the Palestinian Arabs.