Palestine: A Modern History (ص 21)

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Palestine: A Modern History (ص 21)

المحتوى

44 Polarisation: The Military Administration 1917-1920
societies was made public. when Jamal Pasha, the Ottoman supreme
military commander in charge of the Arabefront, sent ahurhber of Arab
political leaders to the gallows on charges of conspiracy against the
state. Salim ‘Abdul-Hadi, ‘Ali Omar Nashashibi and Muhammad
al-Shanti were among those who were hanged. Hafez al-Sa‘id and
Sheikh Sa‘id al-Karmi had their sentences commuted to imprisonment
for life on account of their advanced yeats and Hasan Hammad had ‘a
miraculous escape. When the Sharif of Mecca, later King Hussein,
declared the Arab Revolt against’ the Turks, a number of Palestinian
officers joined his ranks.*
Before the Sharif declared! his revolt, he reached an understanding
with the British High Commissioner (H.Cr.) in’ Egypt, Sir Henry
McMahon. In the correspondence between McMahon and Hussein,
Britain pledged to‘ recognise and support Arab independence within
certain specified frontiers in the Syrian provifices of the Ottorian
Empire in return for Hussein’s declaration of war on Turkey.’ The
question whether Palestine was to be included within those frontiers
or not became a controversial question afterthé end of the War.
Whatever the British real intentions at that tithe, the Ardbs were under
the impression that Paléstine was included in the proposéd-independent
Arab state which Britaih promised to recognise. It is certain © that
Palestine was included ih the Arab State which Britain would, through
McMahon, be pledged to recognise. The cause of the controversy over
this can only be understood in the light of other commitments to -the
Zionists and to the French during the war.
Simultaneously with the Hussein-McMahon correspondence, the
British were secretly negotiating with their French allies the respective
territorial desiderata in the Ottoman Empire. These negotiations
culminated in the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 16 May 1916, according to
which Palestine was to have
an international administration, the form of which is to be decided
upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation
with the other Allies, and the representatives of the Sharif of
Mecca.’
But before the end of the War Britain undertook another major
commitment regarding the future of Palestine in the form of a letter
dated 2 November 1917, from Lord Balfour, Britain’s Foreign Secretary,
to Lord Rothschild, the leading Jewish petsonality in- Britain:
Polarisation: The Military Administration 1917-1920 4S
His Majesty’s Government view‘ with favour the establishment in
Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their
be&t endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being
clearly understodd that’ nothing shall be done which may prejudice
the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities
in Palestine, or the rights:and’political status enjoyed by Jews in any
other country:®
‘Aware of the nature of Arab‘ feeling regarding the future of
Palestine,” the British Government tried to prevent any discussion of
the Zionist subject during the War. When the Sharif’s newspaper
al-Qibla published, in the latter part of 1916, an article about Zionism,
General MacBonogh of British Intelligencé directed General Clayton,
Chief Politioal Officer, Egyptian Expeditionary Force and head of the
Arab Bureau, to communicate a ‘serious and personal warnings to the
Sharif and to urge him ‘to do his utmost to prevent discussions of this
dangerous topic.!°
These British efforts prevented the erosion of Arab goodwill and
‘British troops were welcomed as liberators’ and ‘the attitude of the
Arabs in Palestine, passive and active, contributed to their success,!!
General Allenby and his Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) entered
Jerusalem 11 December 1917, less than six weeks after Balfour’s
Declaration.
Days after Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem, Colonel Deedes of the
EEF reported the initial reactions to'the Baifour Declaration as follows:
The news of Mr Balfour’s declaration regarding Palestine is new to
Jerusalem and had caused no little apprehension amongst other
elements, the latter | am warned are trying to see me.'?
During the same week Déedes reported exacerbation of relations
between Arab and Jew in‘ Palestine as a result of the Declaration.
Jewish Colonists
profess to wish to be self-supporting without Arab labour... There
is also occasionally noticeable an anti-Arab feeling which is
reciprocated and recenfly rather accentuated, as you are aware, by
_ the Balfour pronouncement. In a word friction is not absent.?
General Clayton of the Arab Bureau lost no time in drawing the atten-
tion of London to the ramifications and likely effects of the Declaration

تاريخ

1978

المنشئ

Abdul-Wahhab Kayyali

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