Arab+Revolt+-+Political+Lense


 * Palestine during the Arab Revolt**; the significance of some minor strictly imposed mandates!


 * Full Synopsis (Setting the Desert on Fire): []

(* Courtesy of Australian War Memorial Blog - "The Arab Revolt"- James Barr's Talk [27 November 2007])

"...during and immediately following the hostilities, secret agreements were signed and public declarations were made resulting in misunderstandings and confusions that have plagued the Middle East ever since. With regard to the Fertile Crescent area generally, and to Palestine in particular, three such sets of agreements and statements enormously complicated the post war situation, as they appeared to contain contradictory or conflicting promises. These were the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence of 1915-1916; the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916; and the Balfour Declaration of 1917." (Bickerton & Klausner 35)
 * The United Kingdom agreed in the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence that it would support Arab independence if they revolted against the Ottomans. The two sides had different interpretations of this agreement. In the event, the United Kingdom and France divided up the area in ways unfavorable to the Arabs under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement. Further confusing the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised support for a Jewish "national home" in Palenstine. The Hejaz region of western Arabia became an independent state under Hussein's control, until 1927, when, abandoned and isolated by the British policy, conquered by Saudia Arabia, ending an era of over 600 years of Hashemite stewardship of the holy land of Islam (Wikipedia; **Aftermath**).