In this myth-shattering study Isaiah Friedman provides a new
perspective on events in the Middle East during World War I and its
aftermath. He shows that British officials in Cairo mistakenly
assumed that the Arabs would rebel against Turkey and welcome the
British as deliverers. Sharif (later king) Hussein did rebel, but
not for nationalistic motives as is generally presented in
historiography. Early in the war he simultaneously negotiated with
the British and the Turks but, after discovering that the Turks
intended to assassinate him, finally sided with the British. There
was no Arab Revolt in the Fertile Crescent. It was mainly the
soldiers of Britain, the Commonwealth, and India that overthrew the
Ottoman rule, not the Arabs.
Both T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") and Sir Mark Sykes
hoped to revive the Arab nation and build a new Middle East. They
courted disappointment: the Arabs resented the encroachment of
European Powers and longed for the return of the Turks. Emir Feisal
too became an exponent of Pan-Arabism and a proponent of the
"United Syria" scheme. It was supported by the British Military
Administration who wished thereby to eliminate the French from
Syria. British officers were antagonistic to Zionism as well and
were responsible for the anti-Jewish riots in Jerusalem in April
1920.
During the twenties, unlike the Hussein family and their
allies, the peasants "(fellaheen)," who constituted the majority of
the Arab population in Palestine, were not inimical towards the
Zionists. They maintained that "progress and prosperity lie in the
path of brotherhood" between Arabs and Jews and regarded Jewish
immigration and settlement to be beneficial to the country.
Friedman argues that, if properly handled, the Arab-Zionist
conflict was not inevitable. The responsibility lay in the hands of
the British administration of Palestine.
General
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