Jewish Council Australia - I can't believe what I'm reading......Is this happening? Is it for real?, page-56

The British were the "government" handing out the passports for they area they called "Palestine" under the mandate given to them by the League of Nations after WW1.

"Mandatory Palestine passports were travel documents issued by British authorities in Mandatory Palestine to residents between 1925 and 1948. The first brown-covered passport appeared around 1927, following the issue of the Palestinian Citizenship Order, 1925"