BK+Notes+p.+35-37

- Palestine= a Great Britain mandated territory - “parts of the country were devastated and badly in need of reconstruction” (35) - decline in population à 500,000 Arabs and 60,000 Jews - Britain was only interested in preserving their economic interests in Palestine thus leading to “considerable resentment among the inhabitants of Palestine” (35) - Palestine “was considered vital to [Britain’s] geopolitical and economic interests” (35) - “When the Ottoman Empire… joined Germany… Britain took the opportunity to secure allies and influence in the region by appealing to the aspirations of the empire’s subject peoples” (35), which included self-determination - British got Arabs and Jews to “support Allied war aims in return for pledges to support the goals of both communities in the region after the war” (35) - problem= Arabs and Jews had claims to the same piece of territory, which was controlled by the Turks - “During the war, and after, the great powers manipulated the situation primarily in their own interests” (35) - Britain planned the partition of the Ottoman Empire with France, Russia, and Italy even while the war was in progress - “secret agreements were signed and public declarations were made resulting in misunderstandings and confusions that have plagued the Middle East ever since” (35)
 * BK Chapter 2 Notes (p. 35-37) **
 * Palestine** **During the Mandate:**

-ruler of Hejaz - guardian of the Holy Places of Islam - natural spokesperson for the Arabs - Sir Henry McMahon= British high commissioner in Egypt -“a series of letters that discussed the conditions for an Arab uprising against the Turks in return for the independence of the Arabs and perhaps the reestablishment of an Arab Caliphate under Hussein” (35) - McMahon excluded Egypt, Aden, parts of Iraq, Mersin, and Alexandretta from any proposed Arab state (35-36) - “Palestine in the nineteenth century was not an Ottoman province, and its boundaries would not be defined precisely until after WWI” (36) - close examination of the correspondence reveals that Hussein was opposed to the eastern Mediterranean being surrendered to France or any other power - “It should also be noted that while care was taken to name various Ottoman administrative divisions, including the vilayet of Beirut, which included part of northern Palestine, nowhere in the Hussein- McMahon letters did McMahon mention the sanjak of Jerusalem, in which lay most of the rest of Palestine. Therefore, the Arabs later argued, Palestine was never specifically excluded from the territory to be granted Arab independence” (36). - not a formal agreement but Hussein and other Arab notables assumed the British would hold up their side of the deal
 * The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence:**
 * -** Sherif Hussein

- so the Arab Revolt began in June 1916 led by Feisal, son of Sharif Hussein, and eventually aided by British colonel T.E. Lawrence - the revolt was aided by British gold - helped the Allies by “diverting and harassing the Turkish forces” (36) - first they took Hejaz - then while a group of Arabs laid siege to Medina, Feisal marched north to aid British general Allenby’s main expeditionary force heading east and north out of Egypt - Allenby pushed up the Mediterranean coast, capturing Gaza and then marching inland to take Jerusalem by December of 1917 - Feisal followed a parallel path - Allenby wanted to sever vital Turkish communication between Damascus and northern Syria - the Arabs cooperated by blowing up parts of the Hejaz
 * Military Events of the Arab Revolt:**

- “Although significant, the Arab Revolt did not involve large numbers of men” (37) - the majority of the Arabs were still loyal to the Ottoman empire - “There was an Arab nationalist movement in Syria, with which Feisal had made contact even before the initiation of the Hussein-McMahon correspondence” (37). - during the war two secret societies were formed to work for Arab independence from the Ottomans, al-Fatat and al-Ahd - al-Fatat= civilian group numbering about 200 - al-Ahd= an association of army officers calling for dual monarchy - in 1915 the two groups made contact and produced the Damascus Protocol which outlined their own conditions for cooperation with the British and an Arab revolt against the Turks - the provisions were really similar to those presented by Hussein later that summer in the letters to McMahon - both the British, in the “Declaration to the Seven,” and Woodrow Wilson, in his “Fourteen Points” said that the idea of the consent of the governed should apply in Palestine - these statements assuaged the doubts and fears that arose amongst the Arabs over the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration
 * Arab Loyalties:**

Bickerton, Ian J., and Carla L. Klausner. //A History of the Arab-Israeli// //Conflict//. Ed. Charles Cavaliere. 5th ed. 1995. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. 35-37. Print.