Notes

CUL Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, England

CZA Central Zionist Archive, Jerusalem, Israel

OUNBL Oxford University, New Bodleian Library, Oxford, England

NA National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England

WI Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel

POSTLUDE AS PRELUDE

  1. London on December 2, 1917 … “Cold Northerly wind all day gradually increasing in force. Rain gradually dropping off from 12 hrs. Clear intervals in evening.” Symon’s Meteorological Magazine.

CHAPTER 1: PALESTINE BEFORE WORLD WAR I

  1. And it was small … But the entry for “Palestine” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica states that Palestine is 140 miles long and between 23 and 80 miles wide depending on the latitude.

  2. “cool, shady, hung …” Twain, Innocents Abroad, 334–35, 351.

  3. A horseman riding … Great Britain and the Near East, March 23, 1917. The rider on horseback was Dr. E.W.G. Masterman of the Royal Geographical Society.

  4. “of a Scotch glen …” Palestine, February 8, 1917.

  5. “many more whose names …” Estelle Blythe, daughter of Jerusalem’s last Anglican bishop, writing in Great Britain and the Near East, December 15, 1916.

  6. other European visitors … See, for example, ibid., August 14, 1914.

  7. “such as his poverty …” Entry for “Fellah,” Encyclopaedia Britannica.

  8. When on the move … Entry for “Bedouin,” ibid.

  9. “striking want of beauty …” Entry for “Jerusalem,” ibid. For an evocative portrait of the city, see Marcus, Jerusalem 1913.

10. Meanwhile Jerusalem had … The walls were 38½ feet high according to Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, 23.

11. “The streets are ill-paved …” Ibid.

12. “fanatical and quarrelsome” … Ibid., 220.

13. “They usually crowd …” Ibid., 128.

14. The so-called Young Turks … Although not sufficiently, according to Arab critics: “Eighty per cent of the public funds were spent exclusively in Turkish areas.” See Graves, Memoirs of King Abdullah, 98. Still, as a result of Tanzimat, at the outset of Abdul Hamid II’s rule it took three days to journey by horse from Jaffa to Jerusalem; in 1912 it took eight hours, along newly built or improved roads, by horse, and four hours by rail. This speed of travel expedited internal trade. Moreover, what had been grown in the interior could be conveyed by rail to the ports and exported, while goods shipped to the ports from abroad could be transported inland. Palestine’s foreign trade increased annually by 1 percent from 1875 to 1895 and by 5 percent from 1895 to 1913.

15. They were not themselves … Land prices rose from 300 to 500 francs per hectare to 3,000 to 5,000 francs per hectare.

16. Now a new source … On Palestine before World War I, see especially Divine, Politics and Society, from which much of the material and all the statistics above are drawn; see also McDowall, Palestinians, 3–7. For conditions in south Palestine, see Arab Bulletin, no. 38.

17. “aboriginal Palestinian Jews,” T. E. Lawrence, “Syria, the Raw Material,” Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, William Yale Papers, box 2, file 1. For more on pre-1914 Jews in Palestine, see Roth, History of Jews, 366–74; Eban, My People, 312–25; Great Britain and the Near East, February 9, 1917.

18. Together Russians and Romanians … See Shaw, Jews of Ottoman Empire, 215–16; and Blumberg, Zion Before Zionism, 158–60.

19. self-consciously Jewish nationalists … Mandel, Arabs and Zionism, xxi.

20. “There was scarcely …” Ibid., 37. See too Porath, Emergence, 25.

21. “Had we permitted …” Arab Bulletin, no. 64, p. 389. The author is described merely as “one of the leaders of the Jewish movement.”

22. “Ignorant and stupid …” Conder, Eastern Palestine, 17.

23. “The Jewish planters obtain …” Palestine, October 17, 1917.

24. In 1891 authorities … Mandel, Arabs and Zionism, 39.

25. The quarter century before … Porath, Emergence, 29.

26. “Their labor competes …” Quoted in Mandel, Arabs and Zionism, 81.

27. “[The Jews’] right …” The young Arab nationalist was Khalil al-Sakakini. See his diary entries for February 23, 1914, “and a few days later,” quoted ibid., 211–12.

28. But it was Palestine … For Ottoman policy toward the Jews during this period, see Shaw, Jews of Ottoman Empire, 206–33.

CHAPTER 2: OTTOMANISM, ARABISM, AND SHARIF HUSSEIN

  1. full-fledged Arab nationalism … See first of all C. Ernest Dawn, “The Origins of Arab Nationalism,” in Khalidi et al., Origins of Arab Nationalism, 3–30, and Rashid Khalidi, “Ottomanism and Arabism in Syria Before 1914: A Reassessment,” ibid., 50–69. Among the most important of the early nationalists were Jamal al-Din al-Asadabadi (1838–97), commonly known as al-Afghani, an early pan-Islamist; Abdullah al-Nadim (1843–96), an advocate of Muslim unity but also of imitating Western political practices; Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (1849–1902), who believed that Islam and tyranny were incompatible; and Muhammad Abduh, an Egyptian advocate of an Arab-led Muslim revival. See Haim, Arab Nationalism, 6–29, and Dawn, From Ottomanism, 122–35.

  2. Nothing could disguise … For Abdul Hamid II, see Haslip, Sultan; see too Antonius, Arab Awakening, 60–75.

  3. On July 3, 1908 … The CUP major was Ahmed Niyazi.

  4. The CUP deposed him … It replaced Abdul Hamid II with Prince Reshad, now styled Mehmed V, and when he died, it installed his brother as Mehmed VI.

  5. One of them shot … The minister of war was Nezim Pasha.

  6. “to awaken the Arab …” Quoted in Duri, Historical Formation, 226.

  7. Secret societies emerged … For al-Ahd, see NA, FO371/2486/157740, October 25, 1915, see too Antonius, Arab Awakening, 118–19, and Duri, Historical Formation, 225.

  8. Telegrams of support … Dawn, From Ottomanism, 154.

  9. On June 21 the congress … NA, F0371/1827/29037. “Il import d’établir dans chacun des vilayets syriens et arabes un régime décentralisateur approprié à ses besoins et à ses aptitudes”; “La langue arab doit être reconnue au Parlement Ottoman et considérée comme officielle dans les pays syriens et arabes.”

10. Turkish spies kept … “At the moment the Syrians in Cairo are very active … spurring each other on,” one spy reported on March 28, 1913. Cairo was headquarters of the Decentralization Committee. Early in 1914 the CUP established an intelligence bureau there to keep more systematic tabs on the various societies and activists. During the bureau’s first year of existence, it spent 182,500 gold Turkish liras (“an immense sum”). During its second year it employed 513 agents, received 4,131 reports, and maintained files on 8,938 suspects, but such extraordinary assiduity may be explained in part by the fact that Turkey had just entered World War I. See Tauber, Arab Movements, 37.

11. “The heart’s desire …” Quoted in Djemal Pasha, Memories, 229. The French dragoman was Philippe Zalzal.

12. “It is to be hoped …” Mallet to Grey, October 29, 1913, NA, FO371/1848/50838.

13. “There is every sign …” NA, FO371/1822/23816.

14. a new Islamic university … NA, FO371/1848/5519298. The Egyptian pan-Islamist was Sheikh Abdul Aziz Shawish.

15. “With one or two exceptions” … NA, FO371/1822/24353.

16. “large and expressive brown …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 54.

17. “He is such an old dear” … Lawrence to General Clayton, October 18, 1916, OUNBL, T. E. Lawrence Papers, MS Eng. C. 6737/f.12.

18. “outwardly so gentle …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 54.

19. “integrity, energy …” El Qibla, no. 87, June 15, 1917.

20. It chose instead another … It chose his uncle, Abd al-Ilah.

21. “I pray that God …” Quoted in Graves, Memoirs of King Abdullah, 45.

22. Hussein had been courting … Report #2, “The Arabia and Hejaz Situation,” November 5, 1917, p. 6, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, William Yale Papers. See also Wilson, King Abdullah, 15. The Anglophile grand vizier was Kamil Pasha.

23. But as markers … Ibid.

24. “This country abides …” Quoted in Graves, Memoirs of King Abdullah, 62.

25. He may have promised … “If your Majesty were to come to the Hejaz with our household, money would be brought to you and you would be beyond the reach of any insurgents.” Ibid.

26. “a miserable country” … Report #2, p. 2, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Yale Papers.

27. “of exceptionally predatory …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 16.

28. Residents of all classes … Ibid., 27–28.

29. “as a mountain” … Sharif of Mecca, Verbal Report of “X,” October 29, 1914, Sir Ronald Storrs Papers, Adam Matthew Publications Microfilm, reel 4, box 2, folder 3.

30. “In the event of a quarrel …” Ibid.

31. “clean” … “not clean” … Storrs, Memoirs, 164. Storrs wrote: “I … chose for secret messenger X the father-in-law of my little Persian agent Ruhi.”

32. “morality seems to be …” “A report written by Hussein Ruhi Effendi, a member of Colonel Wilson’s staff at Jeddah,” NA, FO371/3047/13365.

33. Britain would treat … “I had it last Spring from the lips of his favorite son Abdullah that the State of Afghanistan is always before their eyes as an attainable summum bonum.” Storrs to illegible, February 22, 1915, Storrs Papers, reel 4, box 2, folder 3.

34. his position was a platform … An untitled, unnumbered paper by Mark Sykes on the Arab situation, September 11, 1916, Hull University, Mark Sykes Papers. Hussein had helped the Turks defeat the Idrisi of Asir; he had established good relations with tribes led by Ibn el Rashid and Ibn Sha’alan.

35. He opposed even … Dawn, From Ottomanism, 6.

36. “He is very generous …” NA, FO371/2486/112369. But note that the sentiments, according to Captain G. S. Symes, are those of “a soi-disant Turcophobe and an associate of Sherif Abdalla, the son of Sherif Hussein.” For a helpful analysis of Sharif Hussein’s relations with the Ottoman government and the valis it sent to the Hejaz, see Kayali,Arabs, 181–84.

37. “with merry dark brown eyes …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 55.

38. “On one occasion …” NA, FO371/2486/112369.

39. His biographer writes … Wilson, King Abdullah, 14. But George Antonius, the great historian of the Arab Revolt, writes that Abdullah was “foremost among the Arab deputies in the Ottoman Parliament.” Antonius, Arab Awakening, 126.

40. “It purports …” Graves, Memoirs of King Abdullah, 97.

41. Ottoman parliamentary sessions … The Egyptian khedive was Abbas Hilmi.

42. He may have met … Ibid., 112.

43. Lord Kitchener … Ibid., 112–14.

44. “and we parted on the best …” Storrs, Memoirs, 135.

CHAPTER 3: FIRST STEPS TOWARD THE ARAB REVOLT

  1. “The Turkish Army is in …” “By order of H.E. the Minister, the Cairo Police have been directed to punish anyone who might be caught singing this song.” Sir Ronald Storrs Papers, Adam Matthew Publications Microfilm, reel 4, box 2, folder 3, Egypt 1914–15.

  2. British intelligence agents … For example, “Mousam El Din … a most dangerous suspicious character”; “Calal Bey, Sami Bey, El Hag Abdel Maim: All live in No 5 Sharia Shura, opposite Tewfikieh School … Their movements are quite suspicious. They should be supervised.” “Notes on Turks suspected of spying for Turkey,” ibid.

  3. “The Ottoman Army is …” “Translation of a Proclamation Issued by the Commandant of the Fourth Turkish Army and Minister of Marine,” ibid.

  4. “too clever by …” Introduction to the Microfilm by Bernard Wasserstein, Storrs Papers. For more on Storrs, see his entry in the New Dictionary of National Biography and Storrs, Memoirs.

  5. “He may not be …” There are many biographies of Kitchener, such as Royle, Kitchener Enigma.

  6. “Tell Storrs …” Kitchener to Cheetham, September 24, 1914, NA, FO371/2770/69301. This file contains correspondence between the British and Hussein and family down to March 10, 1916. I will not cite the file again in this chapter unless referring to correspondence after that date.

  7. “This is the Commandment …” Quoted in Storrs, Memoirs, 165.

  8. “closer union” … I have quoted here Cheetham’s recapitulation to the Foreign Office of Abdullah’s letter, NA, FO371/2770/69301. But see also Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Felix Frankfurter Papers, GB165-0111; this is a microfilm of extracts of the William Yale Papers. It contains the text of part of Abdullah’s letter promising that the sharif will support England against the Turks, “so long as she [Britain] protects the rights of our country and the rights of the person of His Highness our present Emir and Lord, and the rights of his Emirate and its independence in all respects, without any exceptions or restrictions, and so long as she supports us against any foreign aggression and in particular against the Ottomans, especially if they wish to set up anyone else as Emir with the intention of causing internal dissension—their principle of government—and provided that the Government of Great Britain would guarantee these fundamental principles clearly and in writing. This guarantee we expect to receive at the first opportunity.” Here there is no reference to “Arabia.” But then why did Cheetham mention it?

  9. “Does Kitchener agree?” See the copy in NA, FO800/48.

10. “Arabia, Syria …” “Secretary’s Notes of a War Council held at 10 Downing Street, March 19, 1915,” NA, Cab42/2/132.

11. “Our relations with the …” For X’s shorthand notes, see Durham University, Sir Ronald Wingate Papers, 134/8/52.

12. “We have not the men …” M.P.A. Hankey to Lord Fisher, April 22, 1915, OUNBL, H. H. Asquith Papers.

13. “he had great sympathy …” “Secretary’s Notes of a War Council held at 10 Downing Street, March 19, 1915,” NA, Cab42/2/132.

14. “lay like a ducal demesne …” Leslie, Mark Sykes, 6.

15. “Mark Sykes had vitality …” Aubrey Herbert, tribute to Sykes at his memorial service, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/HER/53.

16. “Even Jews have their …” Quoted in Leslie, Mark Sykes, 62.

17. “the Arabs of the Syrian desert …” Sykes to Grey, September 14, 1914, NA, FO800/104-112/485.

18. One of them … Lancelot Oliphant introduced Sykes to Fitzgerald.

19. “I never saw Lord Kitchener …” Sykes to George Arthur, September 12, 1916, OUNBL, Leonard Stein Papers, box 2, PRO30/57/91.

20. “Turkey must cease …” For example, the Arab desert tribes “should be done up to the nines and given money and food … Then premiums might be offered for camels … then a price for telegraphic insulators … then a price for interruption of Hejaz railway line and a good price for Turkish Mausers and a good price for deserters from the Turkish Army … if possible keep the whole of the Hejaz Railway in a ferment and destroy bridges.” This was not a bad description of what T. E. Lawrence would accomplish in his famous guerrilla desert campaign a year and a half later. Sykes to Herbert, n.d. (but from internal evidence spring 1915), Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/HER/34.

21. “All black people …” Sykes to Herbert, April 1, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/HER/53.

22. “I could never understand …” “War Committee. Evidence of Lieut.-Col. Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., M.P., at a Meeting held at 10 Downing Street on Thursday, July 6, 1916, at 11:30,” Hull University, Sykes Papers.

23. “the key of the whole …” Lawrence to Hogarth, March 18, 1915, OUNBL, Lawrence Papers, MS Eng. D. 3335/f.146.

24. “I want to pull them …” Lawrence to Hogarth, March 22, 1915, OUNBL, Lawrence Papers, MS Eng. D. 3335/f.148.

25. “His allegiance to us …” Storrs to illegible, February 22, 1915, Storrs Papers, reel 4, box 2, folder 3.

26. “He is a very pleasant …” McMahon to Hardinge, August 4, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge of Penshurst Papers, vol. 94, no. 74.

27. “I should just like to conclude” … “War Committee. Meeting held at 10 Downing Street on Thursday, December 16, 1915, at 11:30 a.m.,” and “Evidence of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Mark Sykes, Bart., MP on the Arab Question,” Hull University, Sykes Papers.

CHAPTER 4: THE NEXT STEPS

  1. Soon enough his messengers … Ibn Rashid declared the jihad in order to keep Turkish support against Ibn Saud.

  2. Saud urged Hussein to ignore … Clayton to Wingate, October 2, 1915, Durham University, Wingate Papers, 134/2/29.

  3. The Turkish vali of the Hejaz … The vali was Wahib Pasha. But Hasan Kayali doubts this version of events since Constantinople had been urging the vali to conciliate Sharif Hussein and this is what the discovered documents would probably have revealed. See Kayali, Arabs, 190.

  4. Feisal distrusted Western … I largely rely on Antonius, Arab Awakening, 149–50, for this episode. But see also Tauber, Arab Movements, 60–66.

  5. “most capable military …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 55–56.

  6. “a pair of cunning cruel …” Stuermer, Two War Years, 117.

  7. “Although I had never …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 211.

  8. “he swore by the glorious …” Ibid., 213. Note that according to Djemal, Feisal delivered this speech in September 1915. Antonius, however, does not even mention a trip to Damascus by Feisal in September.

  9. “When he was received …” Ibid.

10. But “we do not need them …” The speaker was Yasin al-Hashimi, a future prime minister of Iraq.

11. “quiet, friendly, agreeable …” Storrs, Memoirs, 205–06; Herbert, diary entry, January 30, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, reel 1.

12. He “understood our design …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 41.

13. “scarcely an embryo …” Wingate to Clayton, February 24, 1915, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 469/8/46.

14. “You should inform …” Grey to McMahon, April 14, 1915, NA, FO371/2486/44598.

15. “far and wide …” Wingate to Clayton, April 20, 1915, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 469/9/8.

16. “one of the most difficult …” Antonius, Arab Awakening, 159.

17. “God selected us …” Quoted in Dawn, From Ottomanism, 78.

18. dispatching a trusted messenger … The messenger was Mohammed Ibn Arif Ibn Oreifan.

19. “would be an important …” “Correspondence with the Grand Sherif of Mecca, 7, Communication from Sherif of Mecca to Mr. Storrs, Oriental Secretary to British Representative, Cairo,” NA, FO371/12770/69301.

20. “we will consider ourselves …” Ibid.

21. “I think, you will find …” Wingate to Clayton, August 14, 1915, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 469/10/24.

22. “On handing [me] the letter …” Statement of Mohammed Arif Ibn Oreifan, NA, FO371/2486/125293.

23. “The Sharif had opened …” Storrs, Memoirs, 167.

24. “His pretensions …” McMahon to Grey, August 22, 1915, NA, FO371/2486/117236.

25. “We confirm to you …” McMahon to Hussein, August 29, 1915, NA, FO371/2770/69301.

26. “a tight network of parentheses …” Antonius, Arab Awakening, 167.

27. “I cannot admit that you …” NA, FO371/2770/69301.

28. “I am a descendant of Omar …” “Memo on Mulazim Awal (lieutenant) Mohammed Sherif El Farugi, Staff Officer (Infantry) Mosul Corps, Turkish Army,” NA, FO371/2486/157740.

29. The formulation appears … McMahon to Grey, October 19, 1915, NA, FO371/2468/153/045.

CHAPTER 5: THE HUSSEIN-MCMAHON CORRESPONDENCE

  1. “The districts of Mersina …” McMahon to Hussein, October 24, 1915, NA, FO371/2770.

  2. “Our Arabic correspondence …” Storrs, Memoirs, 168.

  3. What Storrs did not record … Ritchie Ovendale, entry on Storrs, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

  4. The British and Zionists have argued … Note a further complication. While some historians (such as C. Ernest Dawn) refer to the vilayet of Damascus, others (notably Antonius and Sanders) point out that there was no vilayet of Damascus but rather a vilayet of Syria in which Damascus was located!

  5. Meanwhile assorted historians … It would be tedious to recapitulate the protracted, wide-ranging dispute in detail. For the Zionist point of view the interested reader may refer to Friedman, “McMahon-Hussein Correspondence,” published in 1970 in Journal of Contemporary History; he reprinted it without emendation but strengthened it in subsequent chapters of his Palestine, Twice-Promised, vol. 1. For a lengthy, tempered rebuttal of Friedman’s original article, see Dawn, From Ottomanism, chap. 4. Friedman’s and Dawn’s essays are the most comprehensive and persuasive statements of the opposing positions. In late 2009, however, one with no stake in the quarrel might discern, at least among scholars, the emergence of a rough consensus, although Friedman remains conspicuously outside it. Most researchers now believe that McMahon was intentionally vague, not sloppy, in order to give his superiors in London all possible scope for maneuver when the war was finished. See, for instance, Sanders, High Walls, 253, and Fromkin, Peace, 184. The most recent verdict on the debate, and probably a typical one, is that of Tom Segev: “at most the Arabs won [the historical debate] on a technicality; [for] the letters did not decisively confirm that Palestine would be included in the independent state the British had promised the Arabs.” But neither did they explicitly deny it. One Palestine, 438.

  6. “What we have to arrive at …” McMahon to Hardinge, December 4, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 94, no. 180.

  7. “I do not like pledges …” Hardinge to Chamberlain, December 24, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 121, no. 76.

  8. “We might agree to leave …” Hussein to McMahon, November 5, 1915, NA, FO371/2770/69301.

  9. “proves very conclusively …” Wingate to Clayton, November 15, 1915, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 469/11/16.

10. “For sheer insolence …” Grey’s note on the file, NA, FO371/2486/172416.

11. “Feeling amongst Arabs is very …” McMahon to Grey, November 8, 1915, NA, FO371/2486/170981.

12. “meet the Arab party …” Clayton to Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Parker, December 10, 1915, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Mark Sykes Papers, GB 165-0275.

13. “If the leaders of the Arabs …” Aubrey Herbert, memo to Foreign Office, November 5, 1915, NA, FO371/2486/164659.

14. “Promise the French big …” Herbert, diary entries, November 2 and 4, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

15. “This was … a psychological …” Herbert to Clayton, November 7, 1915, NA, FO882/2.

16. “We have been greatly …” Hardinge to Nicolson, November 12, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 94, no. 134.

17. “I devoutly hope …” Hardinge to Nicolson, November 15, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 94, no. 136.

18. “Two-thirds of the population …” Hardinge to Wingate, November 28, 1915, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 94, no. 142.

19. “the Arab movement [is] his …” Sykes to George Arthur, September 12, 1916, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 2, PRO30/57/91.

20. “do your best …” Sykes to Arthur, September 12, 1916, OUNBL, Stein Papers, ibid.

21. “I live in almost hourly …” Wingate to Clayton, December 14, 1915, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 469/11/39.

22. “a reply to the Sherif …” Wingate to Clayton, December 14, 1915, NA, FO882/2, fol. 167.

23. “With regard to the vilayets …” McMahon to Hussein, December 17, 1915, NA, FO371/2770/69301.

24. “We still remain firm …” Hussein to McMahon, January 1, 1916, NA, FO371/2770/69301.

25. “we shall have to let you …” Rather than the Foreign Office translation, I use here the more grammatical translation by Antonius, Arab Awakening, 426.

CHAPTER 6: THE SYKES-PICOT AGREEMENT

  1. “Our policy has been …” Herbert to Sykes, February 9, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Aubrey Herbert Papers, DD/DRU/33.

  2. “Unless this is done …” Grey’s note on report of “Interdepartmental Conference on the Arab Question,” NA, FO371/2486/34982.

  3. These were Picot’s goals … Fromkin, Peace, 190–91.

  4. He took part in two … Picot’s second meeting with the British delegates in London took place on December 21, after he had had a chance to confer again with his political masters in Paris.

  5. “did not believe in any but …” Grey’s note on report of “Interdepartmental Conference on the Arab Question,” NA, FO371/2486/34982.

  6. Sykes pretended to be yielding … Sykes to Clayton, December 28, 1915, NA, FO882/2/7.

  7. “should be allowed to establish …” “Arab Question: Suggested method of settling various difficulties arranged with M. Picot. Map annexed,” January 5, 1916, NA, FO371/2767/2522.

  8. “thought the Arabs would not be …” Extracts from War Cabinet meeting, March 23, 1916, NA, Cab42/11.

  9. The disappointed diplomat … Herbert diary entry, February 26, 1916, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers. He had chosen “Elihu P. Bergman” as a pseudonym; the newspaper that broke the story was the Sketch.

10. “I feel that divulgence …” McMahon to Grey, May 3, 1916, NA, FO882/2/63.

11. As for Areas A and B … “Arab Question,” McMahon to Grey, November 20, 1915, NA, FO371/2767/23579.

12. “Regarding areas A and B …” Gertrude Lowthian Bell, June 23, 1917, NA, FO882/3, pp. 49–57.

13. “The Sykes-Picot treaty …” Lawrence to William Yale, October 22, 1929, OUNBL, Lawrence Papers, MS. Eng. C. 6737.

14. “They are an easy people …” “Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon’s room at the Privy Council Office,” December 5, 1918, OUNBL, Alfred Milner Papers, MSS, Milner dep (microfilm reel 20) #137, War Cabinet, Eastern Committee. See also Bell to Lord Cromer, June 12, 1916, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 23.

15. “we should construct a State …” “Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon’s room at the Privy Council Office,” April 24, 1918, OUNBL, Alfred Milner Papers, MSS, Milner dep (microfilm reel 20) #137, War Cabinet, Eastern Committee. It was not only the McMahon-Hussein correspondence that Curzon proposed to ignore. He would ignore the Sykes-Picot Agreement too, although France might demand compensation for Britain’s territorial gains in the Middle East: “The problem had been considered by the Imperial War Cabinet last year and the Cameroons had been mentioned in this connection.”

16. “From the point of view of …” “Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon’s room at the Privy Council Office,” December 5, 1918, OUNBL, Alfred Milner Papers, MSS, Milner dep (microfilm reel 20) #137, War Cabinet, Eastern Committee.

17. “1. That His Majesty’s …” “Minutes of a Meeting of the Eastern Committee held in Lord Curzon’s room at the Privy Council Office,” June 18, 1918, ibid.

18. One defends the agreement … Friedman, Question of Palestine, 109; Fromkin, Peace, 193–94. Other works that generally accept the positive interpretation of the agreement include, among many, Glubb, Britain and Arabs; Ovendale, Origins; Rose, Palmerston to Balfour; Nevakivi, Britain, France; Sanders, High Walls; Stein, Balfour Declaration; Tauber, Arab Movements; and Monroe, Britain’s Moment.

19. A second group of historians … Antonius, Arab Awakening, 248; Erskine, Palestine of Arabs; Wingate, Wingate of Sudan; and Avi Shlaim, “The Balfour Declaration,” in Lewis, Yet More Adventures. Another who was deeply critical of the Sykes-Picot Agreement was Arnold Toynbee, quoted in Friedman, Palestine, Twice-Promised.

20. “was reasonable enough …” MacMillan, Peacemakers, 394. Though very briefly treated, this is pretty much the verdict also in Segev, One Palestine; in Barr, Setting the Desert; and in Darwin, Britain, Egypt.

CHAPTER 7: THE ARAB REVOLT BEGINS

  1. the Ottoman governor in Medina. The Ottoman governor in Medina was Basri Pasha. Arab Bulletin, no. 27, p. 387.

  2. “less ready to sink …” Hogarth, Hejaz, 54.

  3. “assuming powers on the …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 215, 220.

  4. “The Jehani Kadi has …” Ali to Hussein, n.d., NA, FO371/2767/88001.

  5. a rival sheikh … He was the Awagir El Ghazu; the three other sheikhs were Al Awali, Ibn El Sifr, and Al Sawaid.

  6. Djemal had sent … In some accounts it is Gallipoli; in others, Mesopotamia.

  7. Historians estimate … Tauber, Arab Movements, 37.

  8. “I decided to take …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 207.

  9. They received bread … Tauber, Arab Movements, 37–38.

10. “The bodies of the hanged …” Great Britain and the Near East, September 24, 1915.

11. “Eight more …” Ibid., December 31, 1915.

12. “as the greatest proof …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 214.

13. “There can be no trust …” Feisal to Hussein, n.d., NA, FO371/2767/88001.

14. “some of the best known …” Antonius, Arab Awakening, 188.

15. “In my opinion …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 214.

16. “He came to see …” Ibid., 217.

17. “O paradise of my …” Robert Fisk, Independent, May 21, 2005.

18. “Death will now …” Antonius writes of Feisal’s cry, “Literally it is equivalent to: ‘Death has become sweet, O Arabs!’ But the Arabic is much richer in meaning and amounts to an appeal to all Arabs to take up arms, at the risk of their lives, to avenge the executions in blood” (191).

19. “I swear by the …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 220.

20. “Since this war …” Hussein to McMahon, April 18, 1916, NA, FO370/2767/95498.

21. “The movement should …” Ali to Hussein, n.d., NA, FO371/2767/88001.

22. A Turkish force … It was led by the Ottoman general Khairy Bey.

23. Neufeld had brought … Hogarth, “Mecca’s Revolt,” 410.

24. “Sharif’s son Abdallah …” Report written June 14, 1916, Storrs Papers, reel 5, box 2, folder 4, Egypt 1916–17. See also Storrs, Memoirs, 169.

25. “Will send Storrs …” Quoted in David Gill, “David George Hogarth,” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 6.

26. “We made the near acquaintance …” Hogarth, “Mecca’s Revolt,” 169.

27. “I deeply regret my inability …” Abdullah’s cousin was Sharif Shakir, emir of the Ataibah. Ibid.

28. “Please order by …” Storrs’s report to McMahon, June 14, 1916, Storrs Papers, reel 5, box 2, folder 4, Egypt 1916–17; Storrs, Memoirs, 174.

29. All these actions … But in the letter that Oreifan delivered to Storrs, the grand sharif wrote that Ali and Feisal would launch the attack against Medina on the coming Monday.

30. “We had not come so far …” Hogarth, “Mecca’s Revolt,” 411.

31. “I stepped into Oreifan’s …” Storrs Papers, reel 5, box 2, folder 4, Egypt 1916–17; Storrs, Memoirs, 172.

32. “He is about 5.5′ …” Storrs Papers, ibid.; Storrs, Memoirs, 174.

33. The grand sharif wanted guns … Hogarth, “Mecca’s Revolt,” 411.

34. “Zeid struck me …” Hogarth Report, June 10, 1916, Storrs Papers, reel 5, box 2, folder 4, Egypt 1916–17.

35. “The conception …” Storrs’s report written June 14, 1916, Storrs Papers, ibid.

36. “Far too much …” Hogarth Report, June 10, 1916, Storrs Papers, ibid.

37. “Had the sherifian revolt …” Hogarth, “Mecca’s Revolt,” 411.

38. “two or three battalions …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 222–23.

39. “The volunteers were …” Quoted ibid., 224.

40. On the evening of June 4 … Djemal writes (ibid.) that this event took place on June 2, but that makes no sense, because it was the evening before Ali and Feisal declared the revolt, which occurred on Monday morning, June 5.

41. Then on the morning of June 9 … The Turkish vali was Ghalib Pasha.

42. “If there was any trouble …” For this episode see Graves, Memoirs of King Abdullah, 144–46.

43. No copy survives … Ibid., 136; Djemal Pasha, Memories, 215.

44. “Everyone reclaims …” “Translation of an Account of the Events leading to the Revolution in Arabia as given by Bimbashi Mehmed Zia Bey, Acting Governor and Commandant at Mecca,” Arab Bulletin, no. 21, pp. 256–60, September 15, 1916.

45. “The men who form …” Djemal Pasha, Memories, 215–16.

46. “He [Hussein] considered himself …” Ibid., 225.

47. “They were simply …” “Translation of an Account,” Arab Bulletin, no. 21, p. 257.

CHAPTER 8: PREWAR BRITISH JEWS

  1. Nahum Sokolow … Sokolow owned and edited a Warsaw newspaper, Ha Tzefira; he served as editor of two Zionist journals, the movement’s official organ, Die Welt, and the Hebrew weekly Ha-Olam; he regularly contributed articles on Russian and Jewish subjects to a range of European newspapers, including The Times of London. In addition he wrote histories, biographies, geographical studies, and language primers, even a historical novel.

  2. “His handsome appearance …” Sacher, Zionist Portraits, 36.

  3. “It [is] to the advantage …” For Sokolow’s first visit to the Foreign Office, see NA, FO371/1794. See too Rawidowicz, “Nahum Sokolow.”

  4. “a preparatory step” … Sokolow to executive committee of the Zionist Organization, quoted in Rawidowicz, “Nahum Sokolow.”

  5. “I think … we can safely …” NA, FO511/2136.

  6. the English Zionist Federation … For membership figures, see Cohen, English Zionists, 106–07.

  7. But Herzl died … In fact he died of pneumonia.

  8. “pre-eminently what the …” Sieff, Memoirs, 67.

  9. Weizmann put him … Ibid., 68.

10. “repressive cruelty” … Quoted in Segev, One Palestine, 104.

11. two parent bodies … For this treatment of the Board of Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association, I rely primarily upon Levene, War, Jews, 1–19.

12. Lucien Wolf … Wolf wrote for and edited The Jewish World, an English newspaper. He edited the centenary edition of Disraeli’s novels. He wrote a biography of Moses Montefiore. His journalism brought him into touch with European politicians, diplomats, and officials. He courted their English counterparts. By the 1890s he was contributing a remarkably well-informed regular column called “The Foreign Office Bag” to The Daily Graphic. He wrote frequently for The Fortnightly Review as “Diplomaticus.” In addition he served as London correspondent of the French Le Journal. He claimed to have influence over events, notably in 1898, when possibly at Arthur Balfour’s prompting he suggested to the Russian ambassador in London a solution to Anglo-Russian difficulties over Manchuria, which Russia adopted.

13. “almost indistinguishable.” Quoted in Finestein, Scenes and Personalities, 209.

14. “once said of me …” Wolf to Sam G. Asher, September 28, 1915, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 2.

15. “anti-Semitism is …” Finestein, Scenes and Personalities, 214.

16. He did not identify … Wolf to Asher, September 28, 1915.

17. He cemented relationships … Levene, War, Jews, 16.

18. His last great prewar … Ibid., 19.

19. “he conveys no impression …” Quoted in Wasserstein, Herbert Samuel, 129.

20. “Zionism was the one …” Ibid., 204.

21. The link came … Samuel’s wife was Beatrice Miriam Franklin. The childhood friend who went on to marry Gaster was Lucy Friedlander.

22. “I remember Dr. Gaster …” Samuel to Stein, December 6, 1951, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 7.

23. “a benevolent goodwill …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 109; see also Samuel, Memoirs, 139.

CHAPTER 9: WEIZMANN’S FIRST STEPS

  1. “The fate of Palestine …” Ahad Ha’am to Weizmann, November 1, 1914, WI.

  2. “Our colonies …” Weizmann to Jacobus Kann, November 2, 1914, Stein, Letters, letter no. 27, 7:33.

  3. “The moment Turkey …” Samuel, Memoirs, 139.

  4. He kept a record … Numerous historians have quoted these pages, for example, Stein, Balfour Declaration, Sanders, High Walls, and Friedman, Question of Palestine, to name a few.

  5. “Perhaps … the opportunity …” Samuel, notes to himself, November 9, 1914, House of Lords Record Office, Herbert Samuel Papers, Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

  6. “a greedy, ambitious …” Quoted in Wasserstein, Herbert Samuel, 144. Samuel, notes to himself, November 9, 1914, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers, Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

  7. “Needless to say they …” Greenberg to Weizmann, October 10, 1914, WI, Letters to Weizmann.

  8. “the unification of Jewry …” Weizmann to Levin, September 8, 1914, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 4.

  9. “will be difficult to …” Greenberg to Weizmann, October 10, 1914, WI, Letters to Weizmann.

10. “I should find it …” Zangwill to Weizmann, October 28, 1914, WI, Letters to Weizmann.

11. “I tried to learn …” “Report submitted to the members of the Executive of the International Zionist Organization, January 7, 1915,” in Stein, Letters, letter no. 95, 7:113.

12. Crewe was related … Crewe had wed the granddaughter of a Rothschild, Lady Margaret Primrose, youngest daughter of the Earl of Rosebery, himself a former Liberal prime minister.

13. “our compatriots …” Dorothy Rothschild to Chaim Weizmann, November 19, 1914, CZA.

14. “Supposing that the Arabs …” Crewe to Hardinge, November 12, 1914, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 3; Extracts from Crewe Papers; CUL, Crewe Mss I 19/2.

15. “You don’t—I am sure …” Weizmann to D. Rothschild, November 22, 1914, Stein, Letters, letter no. 43, 7:51.

16. “to try and influence …” “Summary of a conversation with Baron James de Rothschild, Wednesday, November 25, 1914,” WI.

17. Eventually Rozsika outdid … She introduced Weizmann to, among others, Lady Crewe, Theo Russell (private secretary of Sir Edward Grey), and Lord Haldane (Asquith’s lord chancellor).

18. “It is impossible …” August 18, 1915, NA, FO800/104 R.C.

19. “I saw before me …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 1:149.

20. “I would like to do …” Ibid.

21. “Since Turkey had entered …” “Report submitted to the members of the Executive of the International Zionist Organization, January 7, 1915,” Stein, Letters, letter no. 95, 7:111–12.

22. “Messianic times …” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, December 10, 1914, ibid., letter no. 65, 7:77–78.

23. “I have just remembered …” Weizmann to Ahad Ha’am, December 13, 1914, ibid., letter no. 68, 7:82. The letter was written in Russian, but the words in italics were written in English.

24. “feels the responsibility …” Weizmann to Scott, December 13, 1914, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 67, 7:79–80.

25. “it is very possible …” Ahad Ha’am to Weizmann, December 16, 1914, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 7.

26. “Even in the West …” Appendix 1, Note A 189 (14–15), August 14, 1917, NA, Cab23/3.

27. “They have been different …” Quoted in Tomes, Balfour and Foreign Policy, 29.

28. “I have the liveliest …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 153.

29. “Balfour remembered …” Weizmann to Ahad Ha’am, December 14–15, 1914, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 68, 7:81–83.

30. “What a great difference …” “Report submitted to the members of the Executive of the International Zionist Organization,” January 7, 1915, ibid., letter no. 95, 7:115. Letters no. 68 and 95 both reprise the meeting in essentially the same terms.

31. “You probably will find …” C. P. Scott to Weizmann, January 14, 1915, WI.

32. “I answered …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 150.

33. “It is hoped …” “The Future of Palestine,” January 1915, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers, Break up of Ottoman Empire (Palestine) file, DR. 588.25.

34. “I am not attracted …” Quoted in Samuel, Memoirs, 142.

CHAPTER 10: THE ASSIMILATIONISTS

  1. “They threatened to remain …” Wolf to Chief Commissioner of Police, August 31, 1914; Wolf to Assistant Commissioner of Police, September 7, 1914; Yivo Institute, Lucien Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 5.

  2. Leo Maxse, editor … National Review, September 1914.

  3. No non-Jewish … Levene, War, Jews, 34.

  4. “My misfortunes extend …” Wolf to Coumbe, January 5, 1915, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 2.

  5. He threatened to sue … Wolf to Hutchinson, October 16, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 5.

  6. “All we have to consider …” Wolf to Bulloch, November 30, 1914, ibid., Wolf Papers.

  7. “It is not only the carnage …” Wolf to Neil Primrose, August 7, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 4. Neil Primrose was a Liberal MP for the Wisbech division of Cambridgeshire and second son of Hannah Rothschild and former Liberal Prime Minister Lord Rosebery; ironically, he was later a Weizmann ally.

  8. “We were bound …” Wolf to Lady Primrose, August 11, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 7.

  9. “the German people …” Wolf, Jewish Ideals and the War, 3.

10. “With their invincible …” Jewish Chronicle, December 11, 1914.

11. “To me there have always …” Wolf to G. De Wesseslitsky, May 25, 1915, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 5.

12. Harry Sacher called upon Lucien Wolf … Sacher to Weizmann, November 17, 1914, WI.

13. In their ensuing correspondence … Wolf to Sacher, November 26, November 30, December 3, December 11, December 18, and December 24, 1914, WI. For example, Wolf had wanted to know more precisely whom Sacher represented; he wanted a written record of Sacher’s position; he wanted assurances that the meeting, when it finally did take place, would be with formal representatives of the Zionist organizations; he wanted to be sure that Sacher or other Zionists were not approaching other members of the Conjoint Committee.

14. “against unauthorized persons …” Wolf to Alexander and Montefiore, January 7, 1915, CZA, A7732.

15. “Whatever be the merits …” Palestine Memorandum, March 1915, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers.

16. “inclined to the sympathetic …” Haldane to Samuel, February 12, 1915; Fisher to Samuel, illegible date but probably February 21, 1915, Reading to Samuel, February 5, 1915, ibid., Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

17. “does not care a damn …” Quoted in Reinharz, Weizmann, 26.

18. “fired about two hundred …” Jim Vincent, “Memoir” [of Edwin Montagu], Norfolk Post, November 22, 1924.

19. “children and animals …” Times, November 19, 1924.

20. the first formal meeting … “The Palestinian Question. Negotiations between the Conjoint Committee & the Zionists. London, July 20, 1915,” Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 6. All quotations are taken from this source. A fourth assimilationist at the meeting was H. S. Henriques, a lawyer.

21. Five months had elapsed … When Wolf realized that the Zionists were less interested in the cultural aspect than Sacher had claimed, he sought to pin them down, to nail them to it. Who better to provide the hammer than Herbert Samuel, with whom Weizmann had recently conferred? Wolf met with Samuel on February 28, 1915, in Samuel’s offices. As their discussion drew to a close, Wolf asked Mr. Samuel whether I might take it that we were agreed on the two following points:

1.       Palestine does not and cannot offer an effective solution for the Jewish question as we know it in Russia, Poland, Rumania, etc.

2.       The “Cultural” plan, including perhaps a Hebrew University, free immigration and facilities for colonization, together with, of course, equal political rights with the rest of the population, should be the limit of our aim at the present time.

He answered unhesitatingly “Yes.” (Interview with Herbert Samuel, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 6.)

Pleased with this outcome, Wolf sought to balance Weizmann’s meeting with Lloyd George too, for the chancellor was an even bigger hammer than the president of the Board of Trade. But Lloyd George must have been too busy to see him at this point, for the meeting does not appear to have taken place. (Wolf to Sir Charles Henry, March 30, 1915, CZA, A7731.)

22. Three additional men … The other two were Joseph Cowen, president of the EZF, and Herbert Bentwich, a veteran of the English Zionist movement, who in fact had been a founding member of the EZF and who currently served as president of the Ancient Order of the Maccabeans.

CHAPTER 11: THE ROAD FORKS

  1. dömnes, or “crypto-Jews.” Dömnes were a community descended from the disciples and adherents of Sabbatai Tsvi, who abandoned Judaism and adopted Islam in the late seventeenth century. See Moorehead, Gallipoli, 19.

  2. These Jewish puppeteers … Berridge, Fitzmaurice, 145–48.

  3. Hugh James O’Bierne … O’Bierne served in St. Petersburg, Washington, D.C., and Constantinople, steadily rising in rank until being appointed minister plenipotentiary in the Russian capital in 1913. See his obituary in Great Britain and the Near East, June 9, 1916.

  4. The two men came into contact … Miller, Straits.

  5. After some hesitation … But this is a simplification. For a blow-by-blow account, see Hall, Bulgaria’s Road, 285–323.

  6. possibly Herbert Samuel … This is the speculation of Sanders, High Walls, 334.

  7. the shadowy, malign … Berridge, Fitzmaurice, 233–34.

  8. “a very veiled suggestion …” Quoted in Sanders, High Walls, 325. The American professor was Horace Kallen.

  9. “What the Jews …” “Palestine,” January 27, 1916, February 28, 1916, NA, FO371/2671/138708. The Italian businessman was Edgar Suarez. 155 If Britain did not act … For the German dimension, see Friedman, Question of Palestine, 53.

10. “I read the memorandum …” Sykes to Samuel, February 26, 1916, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers, Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

11. “You must speak Zionism …” Reinharz, Weizmann, 79–80.

12. The French worried … The two French Jewish professors were Dr. Nahum Slousch, a Zionist, and Victor Basch, an anti-Zionist. It is a historic irony, given Germany’s later role with regard to Jews, that during World War I she could appear to them, at least on some occasions, as a savior. In the Russian and Polish territories that came under her control, Germany abolished anti-Semitic regulations, encouraged various social, cultural, and educational initiatives that would benefit Jews, favored appointing Jews to municipal councils, and appointed a Jew to head the Jewish department of her civil administration in Poland. Whatever the underlying motives, Germany announced that the Jews of Warsaw would be emancipated as soon as German soldiers had liberated the city. See Levene, War, Jews, 85.

13. “I am not a Zionist …” “Suggestions for a Pro-Allies Propaganda among the Jews of the United States,” December 15, 1916, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 7.

14. “Mr. Lloyd George has …” Wolf to Lord Reading, February 24, 1916. Ibid. The French contact was Professor Basch.

15. “In the event of Palestine …” Wolf to Cecil, March 3, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

16. “We should inform …” Ibid.

17. “It has been suggested …” O’Bierne, minute, February 28, 1916, NA, FO371/2671.

18. “To obtain Jewish …” Reading to Montagu, March 19, 1916, Lord Reading Papers, Mss. Eur. F118/95. For two blow-by-blow accounts, see Friedman, Question of Palestine, 48–64, focusing upon the Zionist perspective, and Levene, War, Jews, 77–107, focusing on Wolf’s perspective.

19. “when in the course of time …” Crewe to Sir George Buchanan, March 11, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

20. “It must be admitted” … O’Bierne, minute, March 22, 1916, NA, FO371/2671.

21. “The present time” … Cecil, minute, June 29, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

22. “It is evident” … O’Bierne, minute, March 15, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

CHAPTER 12: FORGING THE BRITISH-ZIONIST CONNECTION

  1. “might be made …” Crewe to Sir George Buchanan, March 11, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

  2. “inestimable advantages …” Sykes, telegram, March 14, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

  3. “I have repeatedly told Picot …” Sykes, telegram, March 16, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

  4. “we bump into a thing …” Sykes, telegram, March 18, 1916, NA, FO800/381.

  5. “I do not think it easy …” Cecil, March 3, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

  6. “It practically comes to …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 278–79, n27.

  7. “The suggestion about which …” Samuel to Gaster, April 20, 1916, CZA, A203227.

  8. “My Dear Rabbi” … Sykes to Gaster, April 28, 1916, CZA, A203227.

  9. Sykes questioned … Gaster to Sykes, November 3, 1916, Hull University, Sykes Collection, Zionism file, 4/203. He delivered at least the maps of Britain and Palestine.

10. Picot told Sykes … Stein, Balfour Declaration, 361, n3.

11. Aaron Aaronsohn … Historians have been aware of Aaronsohn’s role ever since the 1963 publication of Stein, Balfour Declaration.

12. “He is one of the …” Quoted in Sanders, High Walls, 408.

13. The NILI spy ring … Ibid., 413.

14. So Aaronsohn went to London … All information on Aaronsohn, including diary quotations, is taken from Sanders, High Walls, 405–416; Stein, Balfour Declaration, 285–95; and www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1854.

15. a public meeting convened … Ararat, June 1916.

16. “His previous career …” Board of Trade official, August 1916, NA, FO668/1601.

17. “I only once met Malcolm …” John Buchan, minute, August 14, 1916, NA, FO668/1601.

18. “I recounted the gist …” James Malcolm, “Origins of the Balfour Declaration: Dr. Weizmann’s Contribution,” Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, J&ME, LSOC/2.

19. “James Malcolm—the Gentile Zionist” … Unidentifiable clipping, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 8. It may simply be based upon the Malcolm manuscript.

20. But other accounts suggest … Stein, Balfour Declaration, 361–68; and Sanders, High Walls, 451–54.

21. “He had met Sir Mark …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 367.

22. “Can I see you anywhere …” Gaster to Sykes, January 29, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, Zionism file 4/203.

23. “I then learned that W.…” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 367.

CHAPTER 13: DEFINING THE BRITISH-ARAB CONNECTION

  1. “Deposition and death” … Quoted in Kayali, Arabs, 197.

  2. At the outset of the revolt … The Harb, the Ateibah, and the Juheinah most prominently, although they drew from tribes farther north and south of central Hejaz as well. Arab Bulletin, February 6, 1917, no. 41, p. 55. During the later stages of the revolt, as many as seventy thousand Arabs belonged to the Sharifian forces.

  3. “the value of the tribes …” “Military Notes,” Arab Bulletin, October 26, 1916, no. 32, p. 478.

  4. “spread in a fanlike movement …” Great Britain and the Near East, March 31, 1916.

  5. “I have drunk the cup …” “Faruki’s Report to His Excellency General Clayton, C.M.G.,” n.d., NA, FO882/4, Arab Bureau, 4.

  6. “Our small force …” Tanin, July 26, 1916, quoted in Arab Bulletin, August 30, 1916, no. 17, p. 192.

  7. “probably more through …” “Arab Revolt in the Hejaz,” Arab Bulletin, June 18, 1916, no. 5, p. 44.

  8. “At Jeddah, the Shereef’s …” Great Britain and the Near East, August 4, 1916.

  9. “The people at Mecca …” Arab Bulletin, August 30, 1916, no. 17, p. 195.

10. Opposing them … Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 78–80; Barr, Setting the Desert, 27.

11. “at Medina the Arab …” Arab Bulletin, August 30, 1916, no. 17, p. 195.

12. “The situation in the Hijaz …” Storrs to Lloyd, September 5, 1916, Cambridge University, Churchill College, George Lloyd Papers, 8/6.

13. When Feisal hurried back … Greaves, Lawrence of Arabia, 81.

14. “did not seem in any …” Arab Bulletin, February 6, 1917, no. 41, p. 68.

15. They divided into three … The British observer was Captain N.N.E. Bray of the 18th Bengal Lancers. Here is his description of the battle. Of the first group, who “really meant fighting,” he recorded that about twenty “advanced at a very sharp pace straight toward the Turks, who were in position about two thousand yards away. At one thousand yards they came under fire but took no notice and showed no excitement. Indeed, they appeared, but for the pace they were walking, to be out for an ordinary constitutional. When within five hundred yards, they halted a moment or two to see exactly where the fire came from and, without taking advantage of any cover or extending to any unusual extent, wandered on till they eventually halted in some dead ground within fifty yards of the Turks. Here they remained, firing snap-shots and crouching down again, suffering no casualties whatever, but inflicting a fair number on their opponents. There was no noise or confusion.”

The remaining eighty Arabs from this first group engaged the Turks a little to the south of the village proper. “These men behaved in a similar manner and remained cool in action till ordered to retire so that the naval guns might shell the Turkish trenches. They retired quietly and extended, walking slowly away and taking no notice of the stray Turkish bullets amongst them.”

Bray had nothing but scorn for the remainder of Arab troops, however. According to him, the second group, numbering three hundred men and representing the bulk of Arab soldiers present, “rushed for the town and at once began looting and fighting in a completely disorganized manner. The Turks fought very hard in the town, from house to house, and the Arabs suffered a fair number of casualties.” Nevertheless by the next morning they had driven the Turks out. “The town was in an utter state of confusion and had been ransacked from roof to floor.”

Of the third group, the hundred soldiers who sat on the beach until the fighting was over, Bray did not deign to write anything further.

16. Simultaneously, in Mecca … Arab Bulletin, October 26, 1916, no. 27, pp. 386–90.

17. “The return to chthonic …” Arab Bulletin, November 26, 1916, no. 32, p. 476.

18. “We fortify ourselves …” Quoted in Great Britain and the Near East, September 1, 1916.

19. “The Sherif intends …” Arab Bulletin, November 26, 1916, no. 32, p. 476.

20. The telegram requested … For this episode, see NA, FO882/5, from which all quotations are taken.

21. The English translated it as … Antonius translates it as “King of the Arab Countries,” Arab Awakening, 213.

22. King of the Hejaz … Tauber, Arab Movements, 160.

23. These “easterners” … Two quotations from the opposing schools will suffice to summarize their argument. Sir William Robertson, CIGS, a committed “westerner,” explained to the cabinet why he opposed sending troops to the Hejaz: “The only way to win this war is to beat the German Armies, and as I have consistently held ever since I became Chief of the Imperial General Staff, we must accordingly concentrate every available man against those Armies.” W. R. Robertson, “Assistance to the Shereef,” September 20, 1916, NA, WO 106/1510. In opposition to this point of view, General Gilbert Clayton, in a memorandum, also addressed to the cabinet, explained why Britain should support the Arab Revolt: It had “shattered the solidarity of Islam in that Moslem is against Moslem. It has emphasized the failure of the Jehad and endangered the Khalifate of the Sultan … One way and another the best part of 3 Divisions is being held up in Arabia without costing us a man.” Moreover, if the sharif failed, that “would give the eastern coast of the Red Sea to the Turks, thus increasing for the Navy the strain of guarding the sea route to India. It would furnish the Turks with a base in Arabia for military and political activity which might well extend to the Euphrates, Aden, Abyssinia and the Southern Sudan and Somaliland.” Finally, since the revolt was widely perceived to have been British-inspired, its failure would lead to a diminution of British prestige throughout the East. Clayton, memorandum to the Foreign Office, September 28, 1916, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 693/10/65. See too Clayton to Hall, September 10, 1916, ibid., 693/10/57.

24. “With another British Cavalry …” Murray to Robertson, January 10, 1917, British Library, Murray-Robertson Papers, Add. 52462/f.35.

25. “My sole object is …” Robertson to Murray, October 16, 1916, ibid., Add. 52462/f.13.

26. “The Hejaz war is …” Arab Bulletin, November 26, 1916, no. 32, p. 480.

27. “Lawrence is quite …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 56.

28. They arrived in Jeddah … “Extract from a letter dated January 31, 1917, from the C.G.S., Egyptian Expeditionary Force, to the D.M.O., War Office,” NA, FO800, Balfour Miscellaneous.

29. “A Negress, [but] she …” Storrs, diary entry, October 17, 1916, Storrs Papers, reel 6, box 2, folder 5.

30. “He reminds me of …” Storrs to “My Dear Colum,” December 21, 1916, ibid., reel 5, box 2, folder 4, Egypt 1916–17.

31. “with his extraordinarily …” Storrs, diary entry, October 16, 1916, ibid.

32. “I felt at first glance …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 76.

CHAPTER 14: MANAGING THE BRITISH-ZIONIST CONNECTION

  1. “a clever, efficient …” OUNBL, Selborne Papers, 80/285. This is part of Selborne’s recollection of the entire cabinet.

  2. “I do not want you …” Montagu to Asquith, December 5, 1916, OUNBL, Asquith Papers, 17.

  3. “The Turks … are fine fighters …” Murray to Robertson, December 13, 1916, British Library, Murray-Robertson Papers, Add. 52462/f.27.

  4. “The War Cabinet is very …” Robertson to Murray, January 31, 1917, ibid., Add. 52462/f.43.

  5. “in order to get him …” Hardinge to Sir Valentine Chirol, April 26, 1917, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers.

  6. “I have just got …” Murray to Robertson, May 20, 1917, June 12, 1917, British Library, Murray-Robertson Papers, Add. 52462/ff. 96, 103.

  7. “From what I hear …” Malcolm to Sykes, February 3, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2.

  8. “was laying down the …” Weizmann to Sieff, February 3, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 303, 7:326.

  9. “it is the opinion …” Malcolm to Sykes, February 5, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2.

10. When he learned … Gaster also invited Herbert Bentwich of the Maccabeans.

11. “The most important …” Quoted in Reinharz, Weizmann, 112. See also Gaster to James de Rothschild, February 9, 1917, WI, Moses Gaster Papers.

12. a document encapsulating … The statement ended with a by-now-familiar assertion of the main Zionist claims: that Palestine be recognized as the Jewish national home; that Jews be free to immigrate there from all countries; that their colonies be self-governing; and that Hebrew be recognized as their official language.

13. “He needed no formal …” Stein, Balfour Declaration, 374.

14. “Mr. Samuel replied …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 372. Copies of Sokolow’s résumé of the meeting may be found at the Weizmann Archive, the CZA, and the Moses Gaster Papers.

15. “The Arabs professed …” Ibid., 373.

16. “Mr. Sokolow replied …” Sokolow’s résumé of the meeting may be found in various archives. I quote from copies in the OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 6.

17. “Zionists and Jews generally …” “Notes of a meeting held on Saturday, February 10, 1917, at 9 Buckingham Gate, London SW,” CZA Z440/661.

18. “those friends of mine …” Weizmann to Harris J. Morgenstern, February 1, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 302, 7:324.

19. “From certain information …” Quoted in Sanders, High Walls, 472.

20. “the curious experience …” Sacher, Zionist Portraits, 104.

21. “the only thing of the …” Ibid., 107

22. “on grounds of British …” Sidebotham, Great Britain, 32–33.

23. “He loved music …” Sacher, Zionist Portraits, 109.

24. “I think we received …” Sidebotham, Great Britain, 41–42.

25. “As I am officially …” Sacher, Sieff, Simon to C. P. Scott, October 16, 1916, online at http://www.mucjs.org/EXHIBITION/12bpctoscott.html.

26. “I have always considered …” Sykes to “Dear Sir,” October 14, 1916, WI.

27. “unless Palestine comes …” Palestine, February 1, 1917; “The Policy of the Palestine Committee,” n.d., OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 1.

28. Quickly Palestine established … For example, Sir Reginald Wingate, who had replaced McMahon as Egypt’s high commissioner, requested that copies be sent to him in faraway Cairo.

29. “We … must at whatever …” Sieff to Weizmann, February 2, 1917, WI.

30. “it was most unpleasant …” Weizmann to Sokolow, February 18, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 309, 7:330.

31. “There is no doubt …” Sieff to Weizmann, February 19, 1917, WI.

32. “Letter received …” Weizmann to Sieff, February 20, 1917, quoted in Stein, Letters, letter no. 311, 7:332.

33. “‘Palestine’ this week …” Sieff to Weizmann, February 20, 1917, WI.

34. “tying Zionism up …” Sacher to Simon, May 13, 1917, WI.

35. “Where we differ from …” Sacher to Simon, May 9, 1917, CZA, Leon Simon Collection, CZA/A298114.

36. “an extremist and …” Weizmann to Tolkowsky, February 28, 1917, WI (filed under Miscellaneous). Interestingly, the printed version of this letter in Stein, Letters, letter no. 313, 7:335, does not contain this sentence.

CHAPTER 15: SOKOLOW IN FRANCE AND ITALY

  1. “You must take me …” C. P. Scott, diary (photocopy), March 15, 1917, WI. C. P. Scott’s diaries are available at a number of archives.

  2. “I have seen Balfour …” Weizmann to Ahad Ha’am, March 24, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 324.

  3. “‘You may tell the Prime … ’” Weizmann to Scott, March 23, 1917, ibid., letter no. 323.

  4. a breakfast at 10 Downing Street … C. P. Scott, diary entry, April 3, 1917, British Library.

  5. “Often he remarked …” Sokolow, History of Zionism, 2:xviii–xix.

  6. “I am extremely satisfied …” Sokolow to Sykes, March 28, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

  7. “You are, of course, acquainted …” Sokolow to Weizmann, April 20, 1917, quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 394, n3.

  8. “If the great force …” Sykes to Picot, February 28, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, GB 165-0275/32B.

  9. “The French are determined …” Sokolow to Weizmann, April 4, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

10. For several hours … The other officials included Jules Cambon’s brother Paul, who was the French ambassador to Britain, and Prime Minister Alexandre Ribot’s chef de cabinet, Pierre de Margerie.

11. “As I was crossing the Quai …” Sokolow, History of Zionism, 2:xxx.

12. “I was told …” Sokolow to Weizmann, April 19, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

13. “Zionists’ aspirations …” NA, FO371/3045. Weizmann, upon receiving a copy of this wire, worried that it gave the impression that Zionists would look to France as well as to England, or rather instead of to England, for protection in Palestine. He thought Sokolow had let down the movement and said so in a rather undiplomatic telegram. Sokolow replied: “Astonished fallacious commentaries … My programme were our demands for which enlisted official sympathy without slightest allusion to French alternative or any engagement … My ideal solution is naturally British Palestine.” See Sokolow to Weizmann, May 4, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

14. “naturally the moment …” Sykes to Balfour, April 9, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/13.

15. “the belief in the power …” Sacher, Zionist Portraits, 37.

16. Upon arriving in Rome … The British representative was Count T. de Salis.

17. “Sir M. Sykes’ visit …” De Salis to Drummond, April 17, 1917, House of Lords Record Office, Lloyd George Papers, box 95, folder 2, no. 16.

18. Sykes sought out too … The British ambassador was Sir Rennel Rodd.

19. “opened fire on questions …” Rodd to Hardinge, April 12, 1917, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 31.

20. “I … prepared the way …” Sykes to Graham, April 15, 1917, NA, FO371/3052.

21. “I laid considerable stress …” Sykes to Sokolow, April 14, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 42B.

22. Sokolow quickly assured … I never found Sokolow’s account of this meeting and rely upon Stein’s account in Balfour Declaration, 407.

23. “he had been pleased” … Rodd to Drummond, May 11, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers.

24. Someone, however … “It was then suggested that I should ask for an audience with the Pope.” Sokolow to Weizmann, May 12, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

25. “In spite of my usual …” Sokolow to Weizmann, May 7, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

26. “There is the possibility …” Florian Sokolow, Nahum Sokolow, 151.

27. “But what then …” Stein, Balfour Declaration, 408.

28. “Your telegram received …” Weizmann to Sokolow, May 9, 1917, Stein, Letters, letter no. 380, 7:405.

29. “I am extremely satisfied” … Sokolow to Weizmann, May 25, 1917, CZA, Sokolow Papers.

30. “You were good enough …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 416–17.

CHAPTER 16: REVELATION OF THE SYKES-PICOT AGREEMENT

  1. “In this sentiment the British …” British reply to Russian note regarding the Allied war-aims, December 7, 1917, NA, FO371/3062/232332.

  2. “It is settled” … Scott to Weizmann, April 16, 1917, WI, Weizmann Papers.

  3. Sacher immediately put … Sacher to Weizmann, April 14, 1917, ibid.

  4. “spoke resignedly …” Scott to Weizmann, April 24, 1916, ibid.

  5. “Apparently the French …” Weizmann to Scott, April 26, 1917, Stein, Letters, letter no. 357, 7:379.

  6. “His answer was that …” Ibid.

  7. “He found this arrangement …” Ibid.

  8. “to Bob Cecil in …” Ormsby-Gore to Sykes, May 8, 1917, WI, Weizmann Papers.

  9. “began by saying that …” Cecil, memorandum, April 25, 1917, ibid.

10. “We have been lied to …” Sacher to Weizmann, April 28, 1917, ibid.

11. “our affairs are at a …” Sacher to Weizmann, May 1, 1917, ibid.

12. “The representatives …” Sacher, memo, May 1, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 8.

13. “the suggested division …” “Notes on an interview which took place at the Foreign Office on Wednesday the 25th of April at 5.30 P.M. with Lord Robert Cecil,” WI, Weizmann Papers.

14. “Last night … Feisal said …” Wilson to Cairo (Wingate?), May 25, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, George Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

15. “I have to say …” Hussein to Wingate, April 28, 1917, NA, FO371/3059.

16. “The English, my son, are …” Antonius, Arab Awakening, 183.

17. “The Sharif evidently …” Clayton, memorandum, April 3, 1917, WI, Gilbert Clayton file.

18. “the signed agreement …” “Notes of a Conference held at 10 Downing Street, at 3:30 PM on April 3, 1917,” WI, Arabs file.

19. “What we want to do …” Leonard Stein, “Some Footnotes to the History of the War in Asia,” Near East and India, July 9, 1925, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 130.

20. “though I did not know …” Sykes, telegram to London, April 29, 1917, WI, material from Mark Sykes.

21. “The time has now arrived …” Hogarth to Balfour, April 27, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 41D.

22. “Unless Arab independence …” Sykes to Wingate, May 5, 1917, ibid.

23. As the Northbrook steamed … Sykes to high commissioner, May 23, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 41B.

24. “I understand … not entirely …” Colonel Cyril Wilson to Cairo (Wingate?), May 24, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

25. “He [Hussein] told M. Picot …” Fuad al-Khatib, note taken down by Lt. Colonel Newcombe, May 19, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

26. “The King disliked the idea …” Sykes to Wingate, May 23, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 41B.

27. “that the relations between …” Note by Lt. Colonel Newcombe, D.S.O., March 20, 1917 [NB: the date is obviously May 20, 1917], Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

28. “we shall examine the matter …” Letters quoted from Antonius, Arab Awakening, 414–27.

29. His Majesty the King of Hejaz … Sykes to Wingate, May 23, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 41B.

30. “formal annexation is quite …” “Memorandum by Sir Mark Sykes on Mr. Nicholson’s Note Regarding our Commitments,” August 14, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/4/151.

31. “what we want without …” Sykes to Cox, May 23, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 42C.

32. a joint statement on “general policy” … “General Policy,” May 17, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/4.

33. “Any criticisms or exclamations …” “Note by Fuad al-Khatib taken down by Lt. Colonel Newcombe.” Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

34. “obviously delighted” … Colonel Cyril Wilson to Cairo (Wingate?), May 24, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

35. “On such a reply …” Sykes to high commissioner, May 23, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Sykes Papers, 41B.

36. “it struck me as possible …” Colonel Cyril Wilson to Cairo (Wingate?), May 24, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, Arabian file, January–June 1917, 9/9.

37. “They have the proclamation” … Ibid.

38. “Certainly … the large number of …” Ibid.

CHAPTER 17: BRITISH MUSLIMS, THE ANGLO-OTTOMAN SOCIETY, AND THE DISILLUSIONING OF MARMADUKE PICKTHALL

  1. “The Ottoman Government has drawn …” Quoted in Sanders, High Walls, 58.

  2. “the present regime …” Duff to Grey, January 29, 1915, NA, FO371/2489.

  3. “What we really relied on …” Quoted in Berridge, Fitzmaurice, 216. I rely on Berridge’s account of these first negotiations.

  4. the idea resurfaced in Paris … T. P. to Bertie, July 12, 1915, NA, FO800/181. “An important personage,” a French businessman with interests in Turkey, approached the French foreign minister Théophile Delcassé. He wanted to know “whether he would send someone to talk with Djavid Bey [the Ottoman finance minister currently traveling] in Switzerland as to terms of peace with Turkey.” Interested but wary, Delcassé’s first move was to contact Russia, asking whether the position with regard to Constantinople had changed. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Sazanov, promptly informed him that it had not. The report by “T. P.” to the British ambassador in Paris, Lord Bertie, is dated July 12, 1915.

  5. It resurfaced in California … September 21, 1915, NA, FO371/2489. Vahan Cardashian, Ottoman high commissioner to the San Francisco Exposition, sounded a member of the British consular staff, Sir Arthur Herbert, on the separate peace, possibly with the knowledge of Talaat Pasha.

  6. Russia tried to bribe … The Russians suggested to their allies that Armenian intermediaries contact Djemal Pasha. If Djemal overthrew Enver and took Turkey out of the war, the Allies would recognize him as sultan of Turkey with a hereditary title and supply him with weapons. The Allies also would accept Ottoman claims in Asia and Arabia. But Djemal must pledge to take steps for the salvation of the Armenians and cede Constantinople and the Dardanelles to Russia. Interestingly, Britain did not reject this plan out of hand, although it would have meant abandoning Sharif Hussein, with whom McMahon was just concluding his notorious correspondence. But the French objected strongly. They would have to give up their annexationist schemes in Syria and elsewhere, which they were not willing to do. The Russian design, like those before it, led nowhere. Leonard Stein, article in Near East and India, July 2, 1925, clipped and kept in Stein Papers, box 130.

  7. “No harm in trying” … minute, telegram from Lord Bertie, June 1, 1915, NA, FO371/2777.

  8. “with ‘discordant yells … ’” Ansari, Infidel Within, 82, quoting Liverpool Review, November 28, 1891.

  9. “Opposition was …” Khalid Sheldrake, Islamic Review, February 1914.

10. “Your Majesty, May I venture …” Sheldrake to His Majesty the King, December 19, 1914, NA, FO371/2480.

11. “our brothers and the Caliph …” “Translation of an anonymous letter addressed to H.E. the Prime Minister,” Ronald Storrs Papers, reel 4, box II, folder 3, Egypt 1914–15.

12. British Intelligence kept … Of Rosher, the War Office spy, noted: “He and his wife are in very straitened circumstances and have pawned nearly everything.” War Office 106/1420.

13. Joseph King … “Mr. Joseph King MP, Police Report on,” NA, FO371/3121.

14. “capable of political mischief” … “Mr. Duse Mohammed and the Islamic Society,” British Library, India Office L/P&J/12/752, file 416/916.

15. “He is so peculiar …” “Note by Mr. Rose, CSI,” ibid. See also Ansari, Infidel Within, 128.

16. “I don’t think he would …” “Mushir Hussein Kidwai,” British Library, India Office L/P&J/12/752, file 416/916.

17. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din … He wrote a pamphlet called Jesus—An Ideal of Godhead and Humanity to demonstrate that Islam did not condemn other religions. He wrote a pamphlet called The Problem of Human Evolution to reconcile religion and science. His two pamphlets The Status of Women in World Religions and Civilisations, andWoman from Judaism to Islam, argue that Muslims recognized women’s rights.

18. “you would see a black …” Ismail Bey, How Muhammad (peace be upon him!) found the world and how he left it, 293.

19. “The great Temple of Solomon …” “Muslim Interests in Palestine,” Report of a lecture given by Mr. M. Pickthall, June 9, 1917, NA, FO371/3053. So thoroughly did the British government infiltrate Muslim activist groups during the war, and so much did it fear their possible disloyalty, that by November 1918 it could receive a nearly verbatim account of a meeting held at 71 Talbot Road, London, of four prominent British Muslims who were merely discussing how to bring Muslim issues before the pending peace conference. One of the four must have been the informer. See “Muslims in England, Confidential, November 25, 1918,” NA, FO371/3419.

20. “an Ottoman Association” … For the founding meeting of the Ottoman Society, see clipping of the African Times, “Xmas 1913,” Somerset Record Office, Aubrey Herbert Papers, DD/DRU/43.

21. Among the names listed … E. N. Bennett, William H. Leed, Joint Hon. Secretaries, to Herbert, December 13, 1913, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/DRU/33.

22. the names of Moses Gaster and Lucien Wolf … African Times, June 9, 1914.

23. at the body’s meetings … Islamic Review, February 1914.

24. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, who … Ibid., September 1914.

25. “We who know something …” African Times, August 4, 1914.

26. “did everything for it …” Fremantle, Loyal Enemy, 230.

27. “Our unknown rulers …” Marmaduke Pickthall, New Age, February 18, 1915.

28. Some nine months … He met Valyi at a meeting at the Cannon Street Hotel organized by yet another well-connected Turcophile, the Reverend H. G. Rosedale. In this company Pickthall had called for a revival of Disraeli’s old pro-Ottoman policy. Afterward Valyi introduced himself and asked for permission to publish the paper. Pickthall agreed.

29. Fuad Selim al-Hijari … Granville to Grey, April 18, 1916, NA, FO371/2777.

30. “I am more a philosopher …” Dial, June 8, 1916.

31. “Philosopher” may not have been … Rev. H. G. Rosedale to Sir Maurice de Bunsen, June 16, 1916, NA, FO371/2777. Rosedale thought Valyi “may be said in some way to represent the [Ottoman] Government & at least has great influence in that direction.”

32. “I am directed by Sir Edward …” De Bunsen to Rosedale, June 23, 1916, NA, FO371/2777.

33. “I am a nobody …” New Age, December 30, 1915. For the correspondence between Pickthall and Sykes, see Fremantle, Loyal Enemy, 270–79.

CHAPTER 18: THE CURIOUS VENTURE OF J. R. PILLING

  1. “the distinction of being …” April 26, 1917, OUNBL, Papers of Sir Horace Rumbold, box 21.

  2. “This is the most …” Rumbold to Lady Fane, February 12, 1917, ibid.

  3. “This country is crammed …” Rumbold to Graham, June 22, 1917, ibid., box 22.

  4. “He had trained …” Harold Nicolson, quoted in T. G. Otte, “Horace Rumbold,” in New Dictionary of National Biography.

  5. “Our … servants did not …” Rumbold to “Mama,” February 18, 1918, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 24.

  6. “What can you expect …” Rumbold to Lord Newton, November 10, 1917, ibid., box 23.

  7. “I always had doubts …” Rumbold to Lord Newton, November 10, 1917, re Russians and February 16, 1918, re Turks, ibid., box 24.

  8. “He is as clever …” Rumbold to Lord Newton, May 19, 1917, ibid., box 21.

  9. “My sole aim …” Parodi to Rumbold, April 27, 1918, ibid., box 24.

10. Swiss socialists were negotiating … C. French to Sykes, n.d., Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/11/59.

11. “to be really a good …” Hardinge to Rumbold, April 2, 1918, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 24.

12. “He is not of Syrian …” Rumbold to Ronald Campbell, April 5, 1918, ibid.

13. “practically a member …” For Mrs. Evans, see Rumbold to Campbell, February 27, 1917, ibid., box 21.

14. Anglo-Ottoman Society … New York Times, May 6, 1899.

15. “a ‘sharper’ and of very shady …” For biographical material regarding Pilling, see Gilbert, Sir Horace Rumbold, 149, n1; October 17, 1917, NA, FO371/3057; and Hardinge to Lord Lansdowne, November 24, 1917, CUL, Lord Hardinge Papers, vol. 35.

16. “long intimate acquaintance …” Pilling to Balfour, November 8, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

17. “formed rather a low …” Campbell to Rumbold, March 3, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers.

18. “The day following …” Pilling to Balfour, November 9, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

19. “rather a muddle-headed …” Rumbold to Campbell, February 27, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 21.

20. “Altogether it would seem …” Campbell to Rumbold, March 3, 1917, ibid.

21. “made proposals to the …” Drummond to Balfour, October 19, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

22. “no official status but …” DMI interview with Pilling, April 30, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 21.

23. “These free lances are …” Rumbold to Campbell, February 27, 1917, ibid.

24. “I am afraid you have …” Campbell to Rumbold, March 22, 1917, ibid.

25. “so securing British interests …” Pilling to Mrs. Evans, May 12, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

26. “my other many reports …” Pilling to Balfour, November 9, 1917, ibid.

27. When he approached … Hardinge, minute, November 9, 1917, ibid.

28. another trip to Switzerland … MacDonagh to Campbell, November 15, 1917, ibid. “I hear that Pilling has been worrying the American Embassy for the last four months, and is now trying to secure an interview with the Ambassador.”

29. “agreed in June last” … Pilling to Balfour, November 7, 1917, ibid.

30. “Pilling … has been unable …” MacDonagh to Campbell, November 15, 1917, ibid.

CHAPTER 19: HENRY MORGENTHAU AND THE DECEIVING OF CHAIM WEIZMANN

  1. Germany wanted her Ottoman … Rumbold to Cecil, May 23, 1917, NA, FO371/3050.

  2. speech delivered in Cincinnati … New York Times, May 22, 1916.

  3. “Nothing could be …” Sykes to Gaster, May 22, 1916, CZA, Gaster Papers, A203/227/35.

  4. Morgenthau’s mission … See, for example, Stein, Balfour Declaration, 353–60; Friedman, Question of Palestine, 211–18; Sanders, High Walls, 551–56; Reinharz, Weizmann, 154–66; and Reinharz, “His Majesty’s Zionist Emissary,” 259–77. My account is based on these secondary sources, supplemented by primary sources as noted.

  5. The idea may have … Morgenthau and Secretary of State Robert Lansing discussed the matter on May 16. Twenty-four hours later Lansing reported on that discussion to the president. Nine days after that Morgenthau and Wilson reviewed the idea again, and the president agreed to it in principle. The two men met once more on June 7.

  6. “peculiarly cordial and …” Quoted in Reinharz, “His Majesty’s Zionist Emissary,” 261.

  7. Turks were “nibbling” … Quoted in Yale, “Morgenthau’s Special Mission,” 311.

  8. “If matters took …” Quoted in Friedman, Question of Palestine, 211.

  9. This was … Notes on the cover of the file by various Foreign Office figures, May 24, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

10. About his main goal … “Lewin-Epstein went without knowing the political background of the business … Frankfurter … had no idea why they came.” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 8, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 456, 7:469.

11. “someone in authority …” Mr. Barclay to Cecil, May 31, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

12. “rumours here …” Malcolm to Nubar Pasha, June 22, 1917, ibid.

13. “Muslim Interests in Palestine” … Ormsby-Gore, report to Cecil on meeting with Malcolm and Weizmann, June 10, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/12/8.

14. Weizmann knew about … Weizmann to Lord Walter Rothschild, June 2, 1917, WI, “Arabs.”

15. “Dr. Weizmann, whom I …” Graham, minute, June 9, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

16. “Both Mr. Malcolm …” Ormsby-Gore, report, “Secret and Confidential,” June 10, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/12/8.

17. On Tuesday, June 12 … Graham, first minute, June 13, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

18. extremely indiscreet … Yale, “Morgenthau’s Special Mission,” 313.

19. “As condition of …” Graham, second minute, June 13, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

20. “Will you be kind …” Graham to Rumbold, June 8, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 22.

21. “I was to talk …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 196.

22. eighteen trunks … Ibid., 197.

23. Rumford … Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, June 29, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 446, 7:455.

24. “either terribly ‘profound’ …” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 2, 1917, ibid., letter no. 448, 7:457.

25. “From the moment …” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 3, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 449, 7:458.

26. Weizmann went out … He paid a call on Max Nordau, a venerable Zionist and native Austrian who had left Paris when the war began. He bumped into another Zionist in the street, Abraham S. Yahuda.

27. “I am not aware …” Weizmann to Sir Ronald Graham, July 6, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 453, 7:461. To Schmarvonian, Weizmann “took an instantaneous, cordial and enduring dislike.”

28. “Mr. Morgenthau had …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 1:198.

29. “such conditions …” Weizmann to Sir Ronald Graham, July 6, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 453, 7:463.

30. “On no account …” Ibid.

31. “eminently successful” … Graham to Hardinge, July 13 and July 21, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

32. “The Zionists in public …” Sacher to Simon, May 9, 1917, CZA, Sacher Papers, CZA/A289/114.

33. “The Zionist movement as such …” Sacher to Simon, n.d. (but May 1917 from internal evidence), ibid.

34. “I said that it was not …” Simon, diary entry, June 24, 1917, CZA, Simon Papers, CZA/AK2001.

35. “Assume [?] the peace …” Simon to Sacher, July 1, 1917, ibid.

36. “the centre of gravity …” Sacher to Weizmann, August 3, 1917, WI, Sacher letters.

37. “Chaim gave us an account …” Simon to Sacher, August 2, 1917, CZA, Simon Papers, CZA/AK2001.

38. “I think you were much …” Sacher to Weizmann, August 3, 1917, WI, Sacher letters.

39. “But think of tying …” Sacher to Simon, August 11, 1917, ibid.

40. “the general policy …” Sacher to Simon, August 17 and August 21, 1917, ibid.

41. “In politics one is …” Sacher to Weizmann, September 16, 1917, ibid.

CHAPTER 20: “THE MAN WHO WAS GREENMANTLE”

  1. “He loved to dare …” Herbert, Mons, Anzac & Kut, 12. He died of blood poisoning after having all his teeth removed, which he had been told would cure his blindness.

  2. “He was the most …” Quoted in Fitzherbert, Man Who Was Greenmantle, 1.

  3. “the kind of man …” Herbert, Mons, Anzac & Kut, 14.

  4. “by the simple …” Auberon Waugh (Herbert’s grandson), “Aubrey Herbert,” in New Dictionary of National Biography.

  5. “It is only fair …” Western Morning News, October 16, 1914.

  6. “Oh Mark …” Herbert to Sykes, February 9, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/DRU/33.

  7. “an odd gnome …” Herbert, diary entry, January 11, 1915, ibid.

  8. “We have not gone …” Herbert to Sykes, February 9, 1915, ibid., DD/DRU/33.

  9. “If … at any time …” Cecil to Herbert, July 17, 1915, ibid.

10. “2 things were in …” Herbert, diary entry, February 27, 1916, ibid.

11. “passed down corridors …” December 8, 1915, ibid.

12. “we shall simply …” Herbert to Lloyd, May 14, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, GLLD9/1, 1917–18.

13. “‘Time’s up for you … ’” Herbert, diary entry, June 4, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

14. “dangerous pacifist …” Quoted in Fisher, Gentleman Spies, 18.

15. On July 4 … Before meeting Balfour, Herbert met with Milner. Herbert, diary entry, July 6, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

16. “We should free troops …” Herbert, memo, July 4, 1917, NA, FO800/18/226.

17. “the strongest point …” Eric Drummond to Balfour, July 7, 1917, NA, FO800/18/223.

18. During May, June … To give only a few examples: From the British ambassador in Petrograd, Sir George Buchanan: “Minister for Foreign Affairs told me today that he had heard from Berne that Turkish Minister had stated that time had come for organizing a movement against young Turks and in favor of peace.” Buchanan to Balfour, May 23, 1917, NA, FO371/3050. From Rumbold in Berne on June 4: “Suraya Bey Vlera, a former Albanian official who has been at Vienna with Prince of Wied has just returned to Switzerland. He states Talaat Pasha recently told Germans at Berlin that having regard to present economic and military conditions in Turkey latter could no longer continue to fight and would be obliged to make a separate peace with Allies.” On June 17 Rumbold enclosed a long report from Parodi on the views of Turkish Liberals: They wished to overthrow the CUP and make peace, the peace to be based upon the retention of Constantinople, the opening of the straits under an international guarantee, autonomy for Armenia, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, independence for the various Arab emirs, including Sharif Hussein, and financial assistance from the Allies. Rumbold to Balfour, June 17, 1917, NA, FO371/2770. At the War Office, on June 19, MacDonagh interviewed Elkus, the former American envoy in Constantinople: “He believes that both Talaat and Djavid earnestly desire peace … Mr. Elkus suggests a M. Orosti Blocket Cie of Paris as a possibly suitable intermediary.”

19. Rechid Bey as … Rumbold to Balfour, July 1, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

20. “I am taking steps …” Rumbold to Balfour, July 7, 1917, ibid. The important Turks included Fethy Bey, Ottoman minister at Sofia; Rifaat and Mutak Effendi, respectively president and secretary of the Ottoman senate; Hadji Adil Bey, president of the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies; and various Turkish army officers convalescing at Davos.

21. “a member of the Committee …” Rumbold to Grey, July 12, 1917, NA, FO371/3050.

22. “Next morning [I] was …” Herbert, diary entry, July 21, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

23. “He comes from one …” Herbert, memorandum, July 28, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

24. “We then went …” Herbert, memorandum, July 22, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

25. “I do not think …” Herbert, diary entry, July 24, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

26. “Talaat now convinced …” Binns to London, July 22, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

27. “now knows that she …” Lord Curzon, memorandum, May 12, 1917, NA, CAB24/10/13.

28. The first did not … Arthur Ryan, memorandum, July 13, 1917, NA, FO800/18/237-241.

29. “It is not impossible …” Lewis Mallet, memorandum, July 14, 1917, NA, FO800/18/243-248.

30. “On my arrival I found …” Sykes to Clayton, July 22, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/4/69.

31. “The visit of a …” Sykes, note, n.d., ibid., DDSY/2/11/62.

32. “I find myself in …” “Minutes by Sir G. Clerk and Sir R. Graham,” July 31 and August 1, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

33. “were not sufficient …” Herbert, diary entry, August 6, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

34. “Talaat has no intention …” Rumbold to Balfour, July 27, 1917, NA, FO371/3058.

35. “I told him that …” Hardinge note, August 28, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

CHAPTER 21: THE ZAHAROFF GAMBIT

  1. “evil and imposing” … Quoted in Richard Davenport Hines, “Basil Zaharoff,” in New Dictionary of National Biography. See also Allfrey, Man of Arms; McCormick, Pedlar of Death; and Engelbrecht and Hanighen, Merchants of Death, 95–107.

  2. “All that is needed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, undated fragment, probably November 1915, NA, Caillard Papers, file 1.

  3. “I beg …” Asquith to Caillard, March 6, 1916, Zaharoff copy, ibid., file 4.

  4. “Mon cher Ami …” Zaharoff to Caillard, April 19, 1916, ibid., file 3.

  5. “This is not the moment …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 29, 1916, ibid.

  6. But one of his biographers … Hynes, in New Dictionary of National Biography.

  7. “the moment might …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 29, 1916, and Caillard to Zaharoff, May 21, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers.

  8. “I am turning …” Zaharoff to Caillard, May 23, 1917, ibid.

  9. “was greatly interested …” Caillard to Zaharoff, May 31, 1917, ibid., file 7.

10. “The enclosed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 5, 1917, ibid.

11. “throwing out …” Caillard to Walter Long, June 11, 1917, ibid.

12. “considered it would be …” Caillard to Zaharoff, June 14, 1917, ibid.

13. He arrived on June 18 … “What a nest of spies Switzerland must be at this moment,” Sir Ronald Graham had just written to Britain’s man in Berne—neither of them knowing about Zaharoff’s mission. Graham to Rumbold, June 8, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 22.

14. “Things had changed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 23, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers.

15. “Your people are to …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 24, [1917], ibid.

16. “After some further …” Caillard to Zaharoff, June 27, 1917, ibid.

17. “eases my mind …” Zaharoff to Caillard, July 2, 1917, ibid.

18. “saluted me politely …” Zaharoff to Caillard, July 28, 1917, ibid.

19. “The fact is that …” Caillard to Zaharoff, August 17, 1917, ibid.

20. “I will be there …” Quoted in Caillard to Lloyd George, November 23, 1917, ibid.

CHAPTER 22: THE ASCENDANCY OF CHAIM WEIZMANN

  1. “is felt by the outside …” Weizmann, “Introduction,” in Sacher, Zionism and Jewish Future, 6–7; Gaster, “Judaism a National Religion,” ibid., 93.

  2. “the position of emancipated …” Wolf to Bigart, June 5, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Lucien Wolf Papers.

  3. “How can a man …” Montefiore, “Englishman of Jewish Faith,” 823.

  4. “The Zionist wing …” Wolf, “Jewish National Movement.”

  5. “So long as this …” Wolf to Bigart, June 5, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.

  6. “the ‘campaign’ was …” Sokolow to Brandeis, April 7, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 6.

  7. “As my sister-in-law will …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, April 10, 1917, WI.

  8. “I am afraid you …” Wolf to de Rothschild, January 3, 1917, CZA, A7732.

  9. “were exceedingly …” Wolf, memorandum, January 31, 1917, FO800/129, Balfour Miscellaneous.

10. “The Presidents of the …” Wolf to Oliphant, April 21, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 10, February 6, 1917–May 17, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.

11. a mollifying response … “I am authorized to inform you that no new agreement on the Palestine question has been concluded. His Majesty’s Government are sincerely anxious to act in all matters affecting the Jewish community not only in its best interests but with a due regard to the wishes and opinions of all its sections.” Graham to Wolf, April 27, 1917, ibid.

12. Wolf immediately endorsed … Wolf to Montefiore, May 11, 1917, ibid., microfilm reel 3.

13. As to whether Britain … Claude Montefiore, interview with Lord Milner, May 16, 1917, ibid., microfilm reel 7.

14. “I would beg of you …” Montefiore to Milner, May 17, 1917, CZA, A/7731.

15. “is an able, temperate …” Milner to Cecil, May 17, 1917, NA, FO800/198.

16. “Among the possible …” Milner to Samuel, January 17, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Samuel Papers, GB165-0252.

17. “I am entitled …” “English Zionist Federation. Meeting at Armfield’s Hotel … May 20, 1917,” NA, FO371/3053.

18. “to issue a public …” Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.

19. “the Zionist theory …” Wolf, “Conjoint Foreign Committee … Statement on the Palestine Question,” CZA, A/7731.

20. “his regret at …” Wolf to Montefiore, June 1, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.

21. “‘And you would render … ’” Hertz to Montefiore, May 30, 1917, ibid.

22. Over the course … Wolf, enclosure with letter to Montefiore, May 23, 1917, CZA, A/7732.

23. But Alexander refused … Wolf to Montefiore, May 23, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 3.

24. “If you approve …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, May 24, 1917, WI.

25. “the hope that for …” Both quoted in Jewish Chronicle, June 1, 1917.

26. “It was … thanks …” Samuel Cohen to Weizmann, August 16, 1917, WI.

27. “The ordinary non-Jew …” Palestine, June 9, 1917.

28. “All that the Committee …” Jewish Chronicle, June 1, 1917.

29. “a grave error …” Zangwill to Wolf, May 26, 1917, WI.

30. “had declared the Zionists …” Jewish Chronicle, June 8, 1917.

31. “issued at an inopportune …” Ibid., June 22, 1917.

32. The scholar who … Cohen, English Zionists, 261–75.

33. “I write to tell you …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, June 17, 1917, WI.

34. “It is a great victory” … Sacher to Simon, June 20, 1917, and Sacher to Weizmann, June 22, 1917, ibid.

35. “This vote …” Graham, minute, June 20, 1917, NA, FO371/3053.

36. “I intend to send …” Sieff to Weizmann, May 7, 1917, WI.

37. “I don’t mind …” Sacher to Simon, May 9, 1917, CZA, A/289114.

38. “We Zionists …” Simon to Sokolow, August 3, 1917, WI.

39. “Chaim Weizmann has caught …” Sacher to Simon, September 2, 1917, CZA, A/289114.

40. “You act on your …” Cohen to Weizmann, August 16, 1917, WI.

41. A London delegate … The London delegate was Benjamin Grad.

42. “I think it no less …” Simon to Weizmann, August 17, 1917, ibid. Of the principals, only the iconoclast, Harry Sacher, remained mute.

43. “The atmosphere …” Weizmann to Sokolow, September 5, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 490, 7:499.

44. “had the effect …” Weizmann to Scott, September 13, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 501, 7:510.

45. “For the first time …” Ginzberg to Weizmann, September 5, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 6.

CHAPTER 23: LAWRENCE AND THE ARABS ON THE VERGE

  1. “We all swore …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 103.

  2. “I quite recognize …” Lawrence to Sykes, September 9, 1917, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 693/11/4.

  3. “They marched to Abu …” “Notes on Capt. Lawrence’s Journey,” Durham University, Clayton Papers, 694/5/26.

  4. “nearly blinded …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 246.

  5. “while the coffee …” Ibid., 251.

  6. “Twice puff-adders …” Ibid., 261.

  7. “I could see …” Ibid., 267.

  8. “Also … a rash …” Ibid., 266–67.

  9. “I’ve decided …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 137.

10. “the low rolling …” Arab Bulletin, no. 59, August 12, 1917, p. 337.

11. “it was terribly hot …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 292–95.

12. “all the Turks …” Arab Bulletin, no. 59, August 12, 1917, p. 339.

13. With Aqaba secured … Barr, Setting the Desert, 154.

14. “sat in his chair …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 312–13.

15. “The scheme …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 156.

16. “dying to go …” Quoted ibid., 160.

17. “It is necessary …” War Cabinet, August 10, 1917, NA, Cab23/13.

18. “There they could …” Secretary (for Lloyd George) to Robertson, September 22, 1917, House of Lords Record Office, David Lloyd George Papers, box 71.

19. “In the afternoon …” Arab Bulletin, no. 65, October 8, 1917, p. 402.

20. “shattered the firebox …” Ibid., no. 66, October 21, 1917, p. 414.

21. Slowly—too slowly … Report No. 2, p. 13, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, William Yale Papers, DS 244.4.

22. They did not … See Tauber, Arab Movements, 127.

23. “the rare sort …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 386.

24. “he was the only …” Ibid., 393.

25. “felt that there was …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 187.

26. “Our minds were …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 405–16.

27. “a splendid two-engined …” Ibid., 422.

28. “His motor car …” Ibid., 423–25.

29. When Lawrence resisted … Barr, Setting the Desert, 195–200.

30. “a delicious warmth …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 436.

CHAPTER 24: THE DECLARATION AT LAST

  1. “elicit [from the … ]” Gaster to Weizmann, May 7, 1917, WI.

  2. “for as much as …” Sacher to Sokolow, July 10, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 5.

  3. “We must control …” Sacher to Sokolow, July 11, 1917, ibid.

  4. “Our purpose …” Sokolow to Cowen, July 9, 1917, ibid.

  5. “Jewish National …” Sokolow to Sacher, July 13, 1917, ibid.

  6. “too long …” Sokolow to Sacher, July 18, 1917, ibid.

  7. “1. His Majesty’s …” New York Times, June 19, 2005.

  8. “At last I am able …” Rothschild to Balfour, July 18, 1917, WI.

  9. “The declaration is …” Weizmann to ——, August 1, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 468, 7:481.

10. “I am glad to be …” Reinharz, Weizmann, 180.

11. Later, at Milner’s request … Stein, Balfour Declaration, 520–21.

12. “In all the things …” Montagu to Asquith, June 15, 1915, OUNBL, Asquith Papers.

13. “As the desert sand …” Quoted in Sanders, High Walls, 563.

14. “I assert that …” Edwin Montagu, “The Anti-Semitism of the Present Government,” August 23, 1917, NA, Cab24/24.

15. “the country for which …” Montagu to Lloyd George, October 4, 1917, WI.

16. “urged that the use …” September 3, 1917, 26(2), NA, Cab23/4.

17. “We have submitted …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 514.

18. “barren and desolate …” October 4, 1917, 80(5–7), NA, Cab23/4.

19. “On this matter …” Edwin Montagu, “Zionism,” October 9, 1917, NA, Cab24/28.

20. “the thing will go …” Scott, diary entry, October 14, 1917, WI.

21. “It’s ridiculous …” Herbert, diary entry, October 21, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.

22. “The Government has …” Quoted in Vital, Zionism, 291, n50.

23. “occupied [Palestine] …” Lord Curzon, “The Future of Palestine,” October 26, 1917, NA, Cab21/58.

24. No one need be … Sykes, memorandum, October 30, 1917, NA, FO371/3083.

25. “There were considerable …” October 31, 1917, 137(5–6), NA, Cab21/58.

26. “The vast majority …” Ibid.

27. “admitted the force …” Ibid.

28. “I do not think …” Cecil, minute, March 3, 1916, NA, FO371/2671.

29. “Many … have a residual …” Sacher, Zionist Portraits, 37.

30. “recently approached …” Ormsby-Gore to Cecil, June 10, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/(2)/12/8.

31. Meanwhile the British … See, for example, Jewish Chronicle, September 21, 1917, and Palestine, September 22, 1917.

32. “During the last few …” Rothschild to Balfour, September 22, 1917, WI.

33. “This man displays …” Abraham Braunstein, “The Influence of British Successes in Palestine and the British Declaration Concerning a Jewish State on the Zionists in the Central Empires,” June 12, 1917, NA, WO106/1419.

34. “A meeting is said …” The message from “Mr. Goodhart in Berne to Mr. Balfour” may be found in a file along with Cab21/58 “Attitude of enemy governments towards Zionism,” February 15, 1918, which lists additional pro-Zionist press articles and expressions of sympathy from German officials. OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 12.

35. “behaved like a …” Quoted in Reinharz, Weizmann, 205.

CHAPTER 25: THE DECLARATION ENDANGERED

  1. “we are watching …” Hardinge to General [MacDonagh?], November 8, 1917, NA, WO106/1516.

  2. He had been dispatched … Arthur Balfour, “Circulated to the War Cabinet,” November 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

  3. “would welcome …” “Notes of conversation held by Mr. Waugh with Mr. Charlton Giraud: October 29, 1917,” ibid.

  4. “only of a kind …” Colonel Gabriel, memorandum on discussion with Giraud; Granville to Hardinge, November 1, 1917, ibid.

  5. Rumbold also reported … For example, Rumbold to Foreign Office, September 1, 1917 and November 29, 1917, ibid.

  6. Rahmi Bey’s twitch … Arthur Balfour, “Circulated to the War Cabinet,” November 1917, ibid.

  7. “The time has come …” Lord Milner, memorandum, November 12, 1917, ibid.

  8. “I ask how far …” Curzon of Keddleston, “Peace Negotiations with Turkey,” November 16, 1917, NA, WO800/214.

  9. “We are pledged …” Sykes to Hankey, November 14, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/4/161.

10. Unlike Waugh … Balfour to Lord Beaverbrook, August 9, 1918, NA, WO800/206.

11. “This is the most favorable …” Granville to Balfour, December 15, 1918, NA, FO371/3057; Waugh to Granville, December 4, 1918; Heathcote-Smith, memorandum on two conversations with Rahmi Bey, December 3, 1918, ibid.

12. “the fact that he is …” The two Turks were Chevky Bey and Begjet Wahby. Rumbold to Balfour, January 7, 1918, NA, WO800/206.

13. “Agent, who is believed …” Rumbold to Foreign Office, December 28, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 23.

14. Lord Newton, however … Newton to Rumbold, January 5, 1918, ibid.

15. Amazingly, Horace … Palmer, Victory in 1918, 148–49.

16. “to include Palestine …” Smuts to Rumbold, December 19, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 23.

17. “I trust that …” Minutes by various officials, December 15, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

18. a wire from Balfour … I have found no copy of this cable, but Balfour refers to it twice in correspondence (see below).

19. “sent at the end …” Rumbold to Parodi, March 21, 1918, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 23.

20. “We thought …” Balfour to Beaverbrook, August 9, 1918, NA, WO800/206.

21. “my Government will …” Rumbold to Parodi, February 6, 1918, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 23.

22. “Abdul Kerim will …” Zaharoff to Caillard, November 18, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers, file 8.

23. Only two days … Zaharoff to Caillard, October 15, 1917, ibid.

24. The two men met … W. H. Fisher to Caillard, November 6, 1917, ibid.

25. “Egyptian conditions” … Owen, “Influence of Cromer’s Indian Experience,” 109–39; Al-Sayyd-Marsotm, “The British Occupation of Egypt from 1882,” in Porter, ed., Oxford History of the British Empire, 3:651–64.

26. “using a very coarse …” Zaharoff to Caillard, November 27, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers, file 7.

27. “If the previous …” Zaharoff to Caillard, December 4, 1917, ibid.

28. “‘personal opinion’” … Zaharoff to Caillard, December 7, 1917, ibid.

29. “I did not go one …” Zaharoff to Caillard, December 15, 1917, House of Lords Record Office, Lloyd George Papers, Zaharoff file.

30. “Send me …” Ibid.

31. “We should be …” Davies to Caillard, January 21, 1918, ibid.

32. “It is agreed …” “Instructions of January 9, 1918,” ibid.

33. “You did not mention …” Caillard to Lloyd George, January 12, 1918, ibid.

34. “Please explain …” Caillard to Zaharoff, January 16, 1918, ibid.

35. “We were four days …” Zaharoff to Caillard, January 29, 1918, ibid. 358 “claiming that all …” Zaharoff to Caillard, August 21, 1918, ibid.

CHAPTER 26: A DRAWING TOGETHER OF THREADS

  1. “serious concern not …” Ronald Graham, minute, November 22, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.

  2. “King seemed quite …” Quoted in Stein, Balfour Declaration, 633.

  3. “I know that the Arabs …” Sykes to Feisal, March 3, 1918, NA, FO882/3, Arab Bureau.

  4. “I do not, and never did …” Feisal to Sykes, July 18, 1917, NA, FO800/221.

  5. He did not look … Yale Report no. 10, December 31, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Yale Papers.

  6. “the ambitions and …” Yale Report no. 3, November 12, 1917, ibid.

  7. “The soul of their Prophet …” Amir Ali to Lord Hardinge, November 10, 1917, NA, FO371/3053.

  8. “the Zionists were very …” Yale Report no. 9, December 26, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Yale Papers.

  9. “I strongly urge …” Islamic Society Resolutions, November 5, 1917, NA, FO371/3053.

10. Britain had a mandate … Macmillan, Peacemakers, 411.

11. “In no single theatre …” Quoted in Porter, Lion’s Share, 252.