British Mandate: Four Promises
As World War I tensions rise between the Allies and the Central Powers including the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1915, the British needed the help of the Arabs in defeating the Ottoman Empire. The British has made many promises to different people in hope of victory. In a set of letters called the 'McMahon–Hussein Correspondence,' the Arabs were promised an independent state if they were to rebel The Ottoman Empire. Contradictory to this agreement, the British have made another one at the same time with France and Russia, which was called the 'Sykes-Picot Agreement. The Sykes-Picot Agreement promised the Ottoman Empire would be divided between these three countries. To complicate things even further, a third agreement was made. This agreement was between the British and the Zionists and it promised the Jews their own state in Palestine. This agreement was called the 'Balfour Declaration'. As if the three contradictory agreements weren’t enough for the British, in 1918, the Anglo-French declaration and the Feisal-Weizmann agreement pledged that the Arabs in the territories to be liberated from Turkish rule would ‘be free to form their own government’.
In 1915 Husayn, the Sharif of Mecca was promised an independent Arab kingdom under his rule from the British if an Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire was started. This promise was mentioned in letters from Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt and later became called the McMahon-Hussein correspondence. Britain’s biggest concern and priority was the protection of the Suez Canal and the Persian Gulf. Both of these were valuable to the British due to transportation and oil values. McMahon’s crucial letter was issued on the 24th of October in 1915. It pledged the British support for Arab independence. McMahon writes “I am convinced that this declaration will assure you beyond all possible doubt of the sympathy of Great Britain towards the aspirations of her friends the Arabs and will result in a firm and lasting alliance, the immediate results of which will be the expulsion of the Turks from the Arab countries and the freeing of the Arab peoples from the Turkish yoke, which for so many years has pressed heavily upon them.”
Kitchener, the Britain’s minister of war promised Hussein to help the Arabs to obtain their freedom if he would come out against Turkey, but at the same time during 1915, Britain began secret negotiations with its Russia and France on the future of the lands in the Ottoman Empire. The British government continued to negotiate with Sharif Hussein on the agreement to launch the Arab revolt against the Turks. McMahon did not inform the French of his dealings with Hussein, therefore the correspondence which took place in Egypt between July 1915 and February 1916 was being conducted in secret through Sir Henry McMahon. McMahon’s October letter was considered the first betrayal. McMahon uses ambiguous language in regards to Palestine. Later on, the English and Arabic texts of the letter were compared – it was found that McMahon had used an ambiguous phrase with the absence of a comma. This made McMahon’s letter look as if Hussein’s demands were accepted. The main and biggest issue was whether or not Palestine was included in the offer to Hussein, but McMahon also argued that the lands in northwest Syria would be exempted from the Arab State due to them no being purely Arab. These states included Damascus, Hama, Homs and Aleppo.
By the late 1930s, the British needed to maintain the Arabs’ support, but claimed that Palestine was never promised. This however, was a deception. The British, therefore, agreed to a full examination of the correspondence in 1939, but after the war was over the British government refused to publish the letters.
The French not knowing about Britain’s promises to Hussein, they also reached an agreement with the British – to divide the Middle East in 1916. This agreement was called the ‘Sykes-Picot agreement’ and very much contradicted the McMahon-Hussein correspondence. This secret agreement also included Palestine, but Palestine was agreed to be internationalized. The secret Anglo-French-Russian accord was reached in May 1916. This agreement included Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and southern Turkey and their division, leaving only Jerusalem and Palestine to be internationalized. The only places that were to be left alone were Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In the early 1917’s, As the war developed, Sir Mark Sykes was sent to Jedda to meet with Sharif. As Sharif became very suspicious, he was not informed of the Sykes-Picot agreement.
On 2 November 1917, Hussein became aware of the Sykes-Picot agreement thanks to the Turks. The Balfour Declaration was issued. British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour sent a letter to Lord Rothschild. Taking into consideration that at this time, Palestine was occupied by about 700,000 Arabs (about 90% of population) and 60,000 Jews, Balfour writes: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”The declaration promised to support the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, but it did not promise a Jewish State which is very important to note.
Damascus fell on 1st of October, 1918. Syria was liberated by the Arabs and the Ottoman empire came to an end. The Arabs were promised to form their own government in the territories to be liberated from Turkish, which was a very big relief to them and a hope for a new, better future. On the 26th of October, the allies won Aleppo. The Ottoman government capitulated and signed the armistice agreement at Mudros on the 28th of October, just two days after Aleppo.
The Anglo-French declaration of November 7th, 1918 was issued by the British military commands. They took place in Syria, Palestine and Iraq. The Declaration was to complete the liberation of people, that were oppressed by the Turks. They were to set up governments along with administrations. In the 1919 Paris Peace conference, the Zionists asked the British to acknowledge Palestine as the National Home under British supervision. In the same year, The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement was signed. This agreement was signed after a meeting between Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal. The two leaders met in the city of Jordan, Aqaba and discussed cooperation between the Jewish and Arab movements. Feisal was the head of a rebellion against the Turks as well as the King of Greater Syria. This agreement included an Arab recognition of the Balfour Declaration and an obligation of the Jews to assist in the development of an Arab state. Feisal renounced the agreement after the Arab demand for independence wasn't accepted and the French and British received mandates over the area.
The British acted with absolute dishonesty and it is unclear why the British felt that it was necessary to do so. With so many contradicting agreements made at the same period of time by the “fraudulent” British mandate, it would be quite difficult for one to argue that the British were acting in good faith. As stated earlier, the promises and agreements were to be kept in secret from each party. Therefore, the British were very deceiving and unfair to everyone involved–including mostly, the Arabs. Britain definitely lacked clear, coherent policies for the Arabs at that time.