how the british screwed up palestine
previously, on TWR’s hottakes...
we met jewish egyptians who escaped the tyranny of the pharaohs by fleeing to the Holy Land, only to be exiled a millennium later by the romans
we met non-jewish palestinians who had lived in the area since the time of the pharaohs, and were allowed to keep living there by the romans
and we met the ottomans, the last muslim rulers of palestine, who lost WWI and were replaced by the british...where our story continues
what in God’s name were the brits doing in the middle east?
well, white people just have this knack for taking land which doesn’t belong to them. it’s okay to be racist against the powerful, right?
anyways, while cultural and religious norms no doubt made the british feel entitled to the lands of the middle east, how it actually happened is important to know. during WWI, the british and french (and others) fought against germany and the ottoman empire (among others). the brits realized that causing trouble in the middle east would weaken the ottomans, so they teamed up with the leader of makkah, hussein bin ali, to start the “arab revolt”.
a portion of the mcmahon-hussein correspondence, though we wonder why it can’t be called the hussein-mcmahon correspondence...
hussein was promised in a series of letters by henry mcmahon, the british army commander in the region, that the brits would “recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in all regions within the limits demanded” by hussein, explicitly including the “Holy Places” of makkah and madinah (in current saudi arabia) and presumably jerusalem. by 1918, with the help and funding of the british and french, hussein had successfully pushed the ottomans out of today’s saudi arabia, palestine & israel, syria, jordan, and iraq.
but I watched that movie, “Lawrence of Arabia”!
yeah, yeah we know, hollywood dramatized this period of history in the classic blockbuster “Lawrence of Arabia”, back when it was still okay for white guys to play non-white guys on screen (maybe it was never okay?! #hottake). well, that film is loosely based on the adventures of this handsome bastard (that’s the technical term okay, his mom wasn’t married when he was born):
Who Was T.E. Lawrence?
T.E. Lawrence was a mid-level british army officer who was part of the force helping the arabs in their revolt against the ottomans. he became close with one of hussein’s sons, and was key in capturing damascus in 1918. he gained a level of notoriety during his lifetime because of journalists embedded in his unit, and an autobiography he published. as with most british army officers on the ground, he was far more sympathetic with the arab independence movement than his political superiors back in london. aside from that though - he really is just a footnote in history.
with the ottomans defeated...the europeans come in
just a few weeks before the british promised hussein arab independence and his own throne, the british reached a secret agreement with the french. the so-called sykes-picot agreement divided the middle east into colonies, with Sykes himself being a noted british zionist. most of what we call palestine & israel today fell under ‘international control’ due to the christian and jewish interests in the area. as we’ll soon see though, the british took over that zone too.
this map quickly became reality on the ground, with the arab forces outnumbered and ill-equipped compared to the winners of WWI. the defeated ottoman forces were too busy establishing the new turkish republic to do much else in the region.
the agreement clearly conflicted with the promises made to hussein, and when the russians published the agreement as part of a communist propaganda ploy, mcmahon resigned from his post in protest.
the british double-crosses everyone
we’ve already established two conflicting future maps of the area - the mcmahon-hussein correspondence and the sykes-picot agreement. little did anyone know that the brits were so incompetent at ruling that there was another map promised to yet another group of people.
by WWI, the zionist movement had gained steam and influential followers (see hottake A for details on the birth of zionism). at this time, the palestinian jewish population had risen from about 3% to about 10% following a couple successful group migrations, and the ottomans legalizing land purchases by jewish migrants. upon the outbreak of WWI, zionist members of british society began lobbying their government to actively support the cause, seeing an opening for the establishment of a jewish state in the vacuum created if the ottoman empire were to collapse.
in 1917 - while the arab revolt was ongoing and two years after promises of independence had been made to hussein - the british government publicly released the balfour declaration:
the british foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, promises to the largest zionist organization in the UK “a national home for the Jewish people” in palestine. WWI had dragged on for much longer than expected. to pay for it, the brits figured that if they came out in favor of zionism, they could count on financial support from zionists both in the UK and the US. the zionist lobbying efforts over the past four years had paid off, and the british became the first major power to come out in favor of reimagining palestine as a jewish country.
and then formally take over the middle east
by 1920, and using the legal authority of the league of nations (the precursor to today’s UN), the british and french formally take over the region and draw lines still present on maps today. from 1920 to 1948, the british are in control of palestine. historians refer to this period as “mandatory palestine” since by then everyone was afraid of calling themselves colonizers, and preferred ‘mandate’ over the c-word.
as loyal readers can see, this map essentially mirrors the sykes-picot agreement - but doesn’t solve the sticky wicket of the mcmahon-hussein correspondence vs the balfour declaration. the british had to figure out how to uncross their double (triple?) cross, and did probably like the worst job imaginable. tune in next week for that mess, and more.
next time, on TWR’s hottakes…
we watch as tensions flare as the jewish population of palestine booms,
we explain the effects of WWII on the region’s balance of power,
and we continue our british-bashing, because they really do suck at life