World War I turned into an incredibly desperate situation for Great Britain. Because of troop and resource shortages, the British fell into the habit during the war of promising national groups independent states in exchange for support. Although these promises were not fulfilled, the most erroneous folly the British committed was the issuance of two conflicting promises of an independent state located in Palestine, both to Arabs and Jews. In 1915, British High Commissioner Sir Henry McMahon wrote a series of letters (known as the McMahon letters) to try to attract Arab support against the Ottoman Empire fighting on the side of the Central Powers. In a letter dated October 24, 1915 (you can read the letter by clicking here), McMahon clearly promises British support of an independent Arab state, and in an area that would include the land of Palestine.In 1917, in order to generate Jewish support for the Allies, the British promised the creation of a Jewish state in the same area of Palestine an exchange for said support. This promise is clearly articulated in a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a letter that is more commonly known as the Balfour Declaration (you can read it by clicking here).
Not only was neither promise fulfilled, but because of the conflicting promises issued, the British managed to essentially “double-book” Palestine, therefore creating a violent and volatile situation there. This indeed is viewed as the very root of the current ongoing Arab-Israeli Conflict, a conflict that is particularly hot in the Gaza Strip of Palestine as we speak. Ironically, after having the mistake called to their attention, the British subsequently refused to be a mediator in the conflict that it essentially created.
After reading both letters, I would like you to consider and discuss the following: How is British support of an independent Arab state implied in the McMahon Letter? For what reasons may Arthur James Balfour have been so eager to assist the Jewish population of Europe in attaining actual statehood in the traditional homeland of Palestine? How did the British manage to create anger against Britain itself in the Middle East? How did the British manage to create anger between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East? How did the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 further exacerbate, or intensify, the situation? How did the British try to justify their error in the British White Paper of June 1922? What do you predict such a situation could possibly lead to? Your thoughts…
12 comments:
After looking at all the documents, I can tell why the Arabs and Jews were so mad..it makes me mad and i'm not even on any side! just the way that the British put there words is so annoying and angry making..
In the McMahon letters, the britsh say that they will give arab their own land back and will cooperate and also advise them and rid of all foreigners.
Balfour might have wanted to give the Jews their own homeland so that they can help in revolting and in supporting the allies against the centrals.
The third document that probably is so incediary for the arabs states laws and control by foreign powers. that totally goes over what McMahon said in his letters.
The British White Paper was the one that made me the most angry. They say to the Jews that they took the Balfour declaration "exaguratly interpreting" it. hello! it said it right in the declaration "a land for the Jews" !!!
They say that what the letter and the balfour doc. say doesn't say that all of palastine belonged to one group and one group only. Come on!!! This totally ruined the world!!!
The Balfour declaration was short and sweet...and clearly stated that the Jews could have Palestine.
However, with the McMahon letter, I really couldn't point out that it said they could have Palestine. I'm guessing that's "the holy place"??
and another question.Wouldn't that third point not be appealing to the ARabs becuase its saying that the British get to pick which government they think is best for them??
miss beck, in point #1 where it states: "Subject to the above modifications, Great Britain is prepared to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sherif of Mecca," the regions within the limits demanded by the sherif of mecca included palestine. i've posted a map of the promised on this blog post for you to look at...
regarding the third point, this is assistance in gov't transition, not suggesting a mandate
i finally understand why there are so many problems in gaza strip. why hasnt this been brought to our attention before so we can fix this problem? and if i were the arabs and jews, i would be pissed off at the british too. i dont understand why the british just bailed out of the problem when it is there fault! the british contradicted themselves. in the mcmahon letters they said they gave the land to the arabs but in the balfour declaration they gave it to the jews. who grand idea was this in the first place? you would think that someone would have found this problem out before they got put into this huge mess.
Wow so it was Britain's fault after all. I always thought that the U.N was responsible for the chaos at first, I never knew Britain promised both the arabs and the jews land, god I learned soo much in this class.
Thanks for clearing that up Prill. I was confused as well
Well it was a good short term fix to help get support for the war, but i guess they only cared about the present and themselves, because they sure created one huge mess to be honest...
I too have always been so confused why there has been so many problems between these to groups of people. It finally makes sense to me why there is and I understand why both groups would be so disturbed by it and try to fight for the land that they were supposedly told was there. Britian is completely responsible for this and probably didn't know that effects of making the same promise to two different groups of people.
The British seem like they're trying to calm down the Arabs by saying that the document promising Palestine to the Jews was misinterpreted. This seems to be just to calm the Arabs. Of course in order not to lose land, the British said that they would do everything in gradual steps, which would make it easy to go back on their word. It's clear that the British never intended on keeping any of their promises, so of course they were able to find a way to go back on it. And of course they don't really try to calm the Jewish people as much as the Arabic people, since while they wanted support from the Jewish people they still weren't as much of a threat as the Arab people were.
Their support is described in the McMahon letter when they tell them that they will give them the land and they will advise them on anything. He might have been so eager because he wanted them to fight on his side for him. They created anger against Britain itself because they (1st) promised two countries the same area of land and (2nd) they didn't even carry out those promises, so neither of them actually got the land. Because they were both promised the land, it turns the Muslims and the Jews mad at each other for wanting it and in competition for it.
that is probably on of the stupidest and sneakiest things you could do. saying that if you fight for us then you can have some land that you have always wanted. and promise that to two groups of people, and not expect them to fight for it.
I would be really mad to if i was promised something but it comes to find out that so was another country. The British really messed up big time. But its even worse that the Arabs and Jews are made at eachother and not the British.!
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