Anglo-Arab Relations And The Question Of Palestine 1914-1921

ANGLO-ARAB RELATIONS and THE QUESTION OF PALESTINE 1914-1921

By A. L. TIBAWI

LONDON

LUZAC & COMPANY LTD 46 GREAT RUSSELL STREET 1978

First published 1977 by Luzac & Company Ltd.

© A. L. Tibawi (1977) ISBN 0 7189 251

Anglo-Arab Relations First printed October 1977 Second edition July 1978

Printed in Great Britain by Eyre & Spottiswoode Ltd, Thanet Press, Margate

Preface

The use of the first person singular has been deliberately avoided throughout this book. I relax this restriction here to enable me to state the simple fact that I have maintained a deep interest in the subject since I was an undergraduate. Apart from a number of youthful articles, my first serious effort was in the form of two memoranda submitted to the Palestine Royal Commission. The scope of historical investigation was, however, still limited by official secrecy. As soon therefore as the British archives covering AngloArab relations were opened for public inspection, I utilised them first for articles in The Middle East Forum and The Islamic Quarterly, and later in A Modern History o f Syria including Lebanon and Palestine. This book was published in 1969 when I took the occasion to declare my intention of producing the present study. I spent more time on preparing and writing it than on any other of my works. It gained from years of search in archives, extensive reading on all aspects of the subject, and much reflection on the inter­ relation of events and their interpretation. I give below the facts, with my own understanding of them, without dramatisation or rhetorical flourish. These facts are often stark enough without the language of metaphor; they relate to a drama that requires little of the art of the dramatist. I was not overawed by the huge mass of evidence, original docu­ ments in the Cabinet and Foreign Office files, memoirs by politicians and an increasing number of new books, both scholarly and partisan. I did my best patiently to sift the evidence and then to distil the essence in a consistent whole. I made no conscious effort to hide the human imperfections of those portrayed in the following pages. Rather I endeavoured, in the pursuit of the truth, to expose their faults with little consideration for national or personal susceptibili­ ties. Moral judgment I did my best to avoid, but by marshalling the facts, asking questions and making suggestions, I think I put the reader in a position to reach his own verdict. One of the aims of the book is to establish order in place of half a century of chaos. Allowing for human error, I vouchsafe the accuracy of the facts and take full responsibility for my understanding of them. But I am in distinguished British company when I maintain

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that British policy regarding Palestine from 1917 onwards constituted an injustice to the Arabs. That policy has now become history, and I traced its genesis and development up to 1921 in the perspective of history. Its further development after that date and its tragic conse­ quence require at least one other study on this scale. It is impossible to thank individually all archivists, librarians, keepers of public records, and their numerous staff, who rendered valuable assistance to me. I wish to record here special appreciation of help received from Miss Veronica Graham-Greene and Mr. John Walford at the Public Record Office, from Miss Doris Dormer at the University of London Library, Mr. Geoffrey Schofield at the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies and Mr. Roy Fincken of the University College Library (Mocatta Section). Of the colleagues, friends and former students who answered questions or supplied copies of material I wish to thank Professor Philip Hitti, Dr. Mary Ellen Lundsten, Dr. Munir Morsi, Mr. Mahmud Abidi, Mr. Jamal Alami, Mr. Aziz Shihadeh and Mr. Bakr Misbah Tannirah. Finally I wish to record my gratitude to my wife, my better literary conscience and most vigilant critic, for very helpful suggest­ ions and corrections, including even those which were not adopted. With characteristic cheerfulness she undertook the additional and laborious tasks of typing the manuscript and reading the proofs. A.L.T.

TO

The Memory of The Honourable and Noble Arab in this History

‘He trusts us implicitly... I feel sure that we shall greatly regret it in the future if we are not quite open and frank with him now over the whole matter . . . For Heaven’s sake let us be straight with the old man.’ Lieutenant-Colonel Cyril Edward Wilson (Pasha), British Agent in Jiddah, in a despatch No. KH/17/9 dated 21 March 1917

Table of Contents

i Palestine in History (1) The land of Canaan - the Philistines - the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah - Sergon II (732 b.c.) - Nebuchadnezzer (586 b.c .) the Hebrew prophets - Alexander the Great and his successors - Roman rule - Herod and the Temple - Pontius Pilatus and the ministry of Jesus - Hadrian and the destruction of the Temple - Aelia Capitolina - Christ’s disciples - Palestine a Christian country - the Arabs in Palestine before Islam 1 (2) The Arab conquest - 'Um ar’s terms for Jerusalem - the third holy city in Islam - administrative divisions of Palestine - treatmnet of ‘the people of the book’ - the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques - Jerusalem seat of Islamic learning - the Crusades - Saladin - under the Mamluks - significance of 'Ain Jalut - under the Ottoman Turks - famous Palestinians in the history of Islam and Arabic culture 5 (3) The nineteenth century - Napoleon - Ottoman reforms - the population: Muslims, Christians and Jews - the millet system foreign privileges (the capitulations) - Egyptian occupation - the flow of pilgrims - commerce - foreign religious and cultural activities: British, French and Russian 10 (4) Growth of the cities - development of agriculture and com­ merce - communications: Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, branch of the Hijaz railway to Haifa - new administrative divisions - the special sanjaq of Jerusalem - schools: state, private and foreign - the German agricultural colonies - early Jewish immigrants the coming of the Zionists - four Zionist colonies and 375 residents in 1914 - Arab hostility - Sokolow and Raflq al'Azm - number of Jews and area of land they owned in 1914 15 (5) Geographical features of Palestine - rotation of seasons and its effects on products - rainfall - forests and fruit trees enumerated - agricultural products enumerated - export of these - terracing of hills - flowers cultivated and wild - propaganda described the country as ‘desolate’ - native industries - taxes and land tenure - trade - baking - the growth of German interests 23 (6) Arab nationalism - the Zionist programme - Turkish policy

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- the place of Arabic in the national movement - demands for decentralisation - Arab secret societies - first call for Arab independence under the Sharif of Mecca (1856) - Zionist and non-Zionist Jews - the Zionist congress of 1913 and its organs Anglo-Arab connections, Anglo-Jewish and Anglo-Zionist connections (on the eve of the war) 27 The British Overtures (1) Outbreak of the war, 1914 - Britain and allies declare im­ munity of Islamic holy places from attack - Turkish mobilisa­ tion - British plans to encourage Arab movement - Kitchener’s hints to Abdullah - moves by 'Aziz 'Ali al-Misri - Turkey in the war - Asquith declaration - sultan’s proclamation of Jihad British landing near Basrah - Jamal Pasha in Syria - British protectorate over Egypt - Sir Henry McMahon high com­ missioner - Oriental secretary Ronald Storrs - contacts with the Sharif of Mecca - Arab nationalists anxious regarding British intentions - important British proclamation on Arab independence 34 (2) Jamal Pasha attacks the Suez Canal - British naval attempt to force the Dardanelles - 'Aziz al-Misri again - memorandum by Rashid Rida on Arab independence - Arab nationalists invite the Sharif of Mecca to lead the movement - Sir Reginald Wingate (Khartoum) uses chief Qadi 'Ali Mirghani - Sir Edward Grey on independent Islamic state in Arabia and outside - McMahon and Storrs opposed - Rashid Rida defines extent of Islamic (Arab) state, successor to the Ottoman sultanate - Mirghani’s definition - the question of the caliphate 43 (3) Russia first then Britain and France covet Turkish territory de Bunsen committee to define British desiderata, April 1915 various schemes of partition - no account of Islamic or Arab interests - Britain with the lion’s share - the special case of Palestine - no reference to the Jews - effect of the war on the Zionist movement - Foreign Office refuses to receive two Zionist leaders - Herbert Samuel champion of Zionism - sub­ mits two memoranda on the future of Palestine - Asquith rejects the idea of a British protectorate 51 (4) Sir Mark Sykes on mission to the Turkish fronts - background and qualifications - discusses de Bunsen report with McMahon and Sir John Maxwell G.O.C. (Egypt) - broad hints in dis­ cussion with Arab leaders - Faris Nimr - Rashid Rida (irritates Sykes) - partition of Syria between Britain and France mooted - Turkish forces in Arabia - British connections with ruler of

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petty states around Arabia - the special position of the Sharif of Mecca 57 IIi The Husain - McMahon Correspondence (1) Renewed British approaches - another British proclamation programme of the Arab national movement - mandate for the Sharif to negotiate with Britain - terms of his first letter to McMahon - the military and political situation at the time Storrs derogatory note on Husain’s letter - decided McMahon to be evasive - reaction in London: Foreign Office and India Office - McMahon against negotiations or discussions - his reply with exaggerated compliments and extravagant titles 64 (2) Husain sees through the 4vain show of words and titles’ - insists on the essential point: the geographical boundaries of Arab independence - shortcomings of the Arab and British sides Maxwell more perceptive than McMahon - arrival of alFaruqi - Na'um Shuqair’s note on conversation with him Gilbert Clayton fabricates ideas and attributes them to Faruqi - reduces his call for Arab independence to acceptance of foreign rule and division of Arab lands between Britain and France - the British origin of the formula ‘west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo’ - Faruqi had nothing to do with it - the bogy of Turco-Arab rapprochement and joint Jihad - treason trial and execution of Arab leaders in Syria - Kitchener and Maxwell - Faruqi’s letter to the Sharif discredits both Clayton and McMahon 72 (3) McMahon presses for urgent reply to Husain - London assumed formula ‘Damascus-Aleppo’ authentic - Sir Edward Grey drafts the terms of the reply - reservations regarding Syria and Iraq - McMahon disregards Grey’s suggestion of negotiations with Arabs - the illegitimate formula basis of policy - Ottoman administration divisions of Syria - Mc­ Mahon’s letter of 24 October 1915 analysed - the meaning of the crucial word ‘district’ in reference to the four towns McMahon’s English leaves much to be desired - his own inter­ pretation of the excluded area as ‘districts on the northern coast of Syria’ - bearing of this on Palestine 82 (4) Husain’s letter of 4 November 1915 - understood the contro­ versial formula to mean ‘north Syrian littoral’ - insisted on its Arab character - also on the place of Iraq in Arab history accepts de facto British occupation ‘for a short time’ in return for a subvention - the British military disaster at Kut - AngloFrench talks on Syria in London-Grey still misled by illegitimate

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formula - India Office feared the formation of a large Arab state - the first British subsidy to the Sharif - Gallipoli fiasco and French attitude rule out landing at Alexandretta rising in Syria rendered perilous - London saw the extreme French demands in Syria as frightening to the Arabs - yet Grey orders negotiations with Husain to be kept in being - McMahon tells the Sharif of French interest in the north Syrian littoral - McMahon wants Jerusalem under Islamic sovereignty 91 iv Perfidious Albion ? (1) Anglo-French discussions on Syria - parallel negotiations with the Sharif - deliberately kept in the dark - use of ?Ali Mirghani to deceive him - Sykes meets Faruqi in Cairo - the two discuss Arab independence within the Sharif’s boundaries - economic concession to France in Syria-Palestine and to Britain in Iraq - French and British advisers - Rashid Rida dissatisfied with McMahon’s letter of 24 October 1915 - appointment of Georges Picot for the London discussions - British case to win the Arabs explained to him - makes ‘preposterous’ claims Sykes invited to join the discussions 101 (2) The equivocal stand of Grey - sanctions discussions for the acquisition of territory - Sykes before a committee of the war cabinet under Asquith - advocates division of Arab provinces between Britain and France - Asquith decides on a ‘deal’ with France - rough outlines of partition - Syria with an ‘Arab state’ partly in British and partly in French sphere - Sykes instructed to negotiate with Picot - their joint memorandum untruthfully claims Arab agreement - international enclave in Palestine around Jerusalem - the direct and indirect British and French spheres - rejection of advice to inform the Sharif 108 (3) His letter of the first of January 1916 - uncompromising on territory - not a span for France or any other power - AngloFrench agreement rendered correspondence with him pointless - McMahon’s resort to evasion and pretence - Grey suc­ cumbs to the agreement subject to Russia’s adhesion and the Arabs obtaining ‘the four towns’ - Sykes and Picot sent to Petrograd - proposal to scrap the international regime for Palestine and appoint an Arab prince - Grey rebukes Sykes for intriguing with Samuel - terms of the Sykes-Picot agreement sent to McMahon - recommends secrecy - two memoranda by David Hogarth: agreement bad for Anglo-Arab relations,

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defines excluded parts in Syria to the west of the line DamascusAleppo 116 (4) The Sharif’s letter of 18 February 1916 - military preparations - political questions sidetracked - vital question left unsettled aim of the Arab (British) Bureau in Cairo - second Turkish attempt on the Suez Canal - was there a Turkish offer to reconcile the Arabs? - Jamal Pasha’s second treason trial and execution of Syrian Arab leaders - three Palestinians among them - the Sharif’s intercession refused - himself in personal danger - who shall act first ? 125 v The Arab Revolt (1) Why not in Syria and the Hijaz simultaneously? - McMahon advises against action in Syria - Faisal’s recall to the Hijaz - no British military support - only arms, provisions and money Arab request for British action near Alexandretta - effect of the sultan’s proclamation of Jihad - forces under Ali, Faisal and Abdullah - early success at Mecca and other towns Medina under Fakhri Pasha holds out - Arab inferiority in arms - railway to Damascus remained open - ?AzIz al-Misri Nuri Safid - Faruqi - reaction to the revolt: jubilation in the Arab world - reserve among the Indian Muslims 131 (2) Important report by the British General Staff - includes an interpretation of McMahon’s excluded areas in Syria ‘west of the line’ from Damascus to Aleppo - British delay in issuing a communique on the revolt - two versions - no mention of Sharif’s connection with Britain - his proclamation of Arab independence - British reservations on - the text of the procla­ mation addressed to ‘his brethren the Muslims’ - proposal of a British agency in Jiddah 138 (3) Establishment of Colonel C. E. Wilson (Pasha) as agent in Jiddah - Faruqi becomes the Sharif’s representative in Cairo change in McMahon’s attitude to him - his cyphers to the Sharif intercepted by the British - a French agency in Jiddah - Arab shortage of arms - visit of Storrs to discuss Arab requirements - T. E. Lawrence with him in a private capacity Abdullah complains of British coolness - British military advisers for Faisal - resumption of the pilgrimage - Rashid Rida’s sermon in Mecca - the Sharif on keeping promises 144 (4) Turkish propaganda exploits lack of formal British recognition of declaration of Arab independence - Abdullah’s counter move - the convening of an assembly of ulema and notables decision to proclaim Husain King of the Arab nation - message

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to him - his reluctant acceptance - Abdullah as foreign secre­ tary informs Britain and allies (in French) - unfavourable British reaction in Jiddah, Cairo and London - Abdullah explains - Britain and France accord recognition as ‘King of the Hijaz’ - McMahon’s pettiness regarding form of address: Sahib as-Siyadah - French more forthcoming with 6Sa Majesty 151 (5) McMahon unceremoniously recalled - Wingate succeeds him - reasons for the change - more radical changes in London: Lloyd George prime minister and Arthur Balfour foreign secretary - a small war cabinet - the Egyptian Expeditionary Force - General Archibald Murray and plans to advance into Sinai - coordination, military and political, with Faisal - war cabinet authorises penetration as far as Rafah - the importance of Palestine and Syria in these plans - British, French and Arab political representatives - Sykes and Zionism 158 vi Mesentente Cordiale (1) Was the Sharif’s complete trust in Britain justified? - was an Arab state in the Hijaz only viable ? - why no British efforts to promote unity in the Arabian Peninsula ? - why break the Sharif’s telegraphic code and temper with his messages en­ trusted to the British ? - why his frankness was not reciprocated ? - British army in southern Palestine utilises his proclamations - his circulars dropped from British aeroplanes - Wingate suggests informing him of the Sykes-Picot agreement - Wilson: ‘For Heaven’s sake let us be straight with the old man!’ British withheld arms to prevent Arab advance on Syria in deference to France - Murray loses the battle of Gaza - re­ placed by Allenby 163 (2) Arab misgivings regarding British intentions - ‘Indian’ admini­ stration of Basrah - capture of Baghdad, March 1917 proclamation prepared in London - text discussed - committee of war cabinet on political control in Iraq - annexation of Basrah contemplated - the Foreign Office and the India Office rivalry - the Arabian littoral of the Persion Gulf - the Sharif kept in the dark on policy - token French contingent with Allenby - French political officer (Picot) - Wingate speaks to the Sharif of ‘Anglo-Arab alliance’ - Sykes and Picot intro­ duced to Sharif under false pretences - Lloyd George gives instructions to Sykes on Palestine and Zionism 170 (3) McMahon’s letter of 24 October 1915 ‘lost’ in British Residency - the Sharif’s anxiety regarding a speech made by Picot in

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Cairo - why oral instead of written communication with the Sharif? - Sykes meets Faisal at Wajh, and Husain at Jiddah Sykes and Picot together meet Husain - Fuad al-Khatlb pressure on Sharif through him - Sykes misleading account - contradicted by Arab and British accounts: Faisal, Fuad, Newcombe and Wilson - Wilson critical of Sykes - the latter refuses demands by Wilson and Clayton for a note verbale or an aide memoire 111 (4) Unsettling results of the Sykes-Picot mission - Husain demands reviewing documents on Anglo-Arab understanding - insists on his boundaries of Arab independence - T. E. Lawrence reports Husain’s insistence on independence for Syrian littoral including Lebanon - the chronic shortage of arms - deputa­ tions of shaikhs from Beersheba and Trans-Jordan visit Faisal - capture of 'Aqabah - coordination with Allenby’s offensive in Palestine - capture of Jerusalem, December 1917 why Faisal was restrained from ‘kindling fire of rebellion throughout Syria? - why not invited for the formal entry into Jerusalem? - the Sharif’s disappointment - (General view of the world situation in 1917) 187 vn Sentenced in Absentia (1) British interest in the Jews - Board of Deputies of British Jews Anglo-Jewish Association - their conjoint committee - English Zionist Federation - Samuel’s contact with Sykes - Zionist leaders in Britain - meeting on 7 February 1917 attended by Samuel and Sykes - Weizmann ousts Cowen as president of E.Z.F. - numerical strength of Zionists in Britain and the world - their Jewish opponents - support of Zionism by The Manchester Guardian - the Zionist periodical Palestine 196 (2) Balfour’s method of conducting the Foreign Office - Cecil, Hardinge and Graham - Lloyd George’s interference in foreign affairs - initial scepticism regarding Zionism by senior officials - desire to counteract ‘pacifist’ propaganda in Russia - would a declaration favourable to Jewish national sentiment help? Buchanan (Petrograd) said No - unauthorised Zionist propa­ ganda in Britain and America for ‘British Palestine’ - Zionist opposition to French control - duplicity of Zionists in seeking French sympathy - false Zionist report of Turkish sack of Tel Aviv - Brandeis sees Balfour in America - clash between Zionist and non-Zionist Jews 204 (3) Conversion of Graham to the Zionist idea - discussions with Weizmann - the latter’s claim that a Turco-German declaration

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for Zionism was in the making - Balfour's initial reluctance Graham shows him a non-committal statement to Sokolow from Jules Cambon - suggests a similar British statement of sympathy - Balfour asks Rothschild and Weizmann to submit a formula - protest by the Muslims in London - Balfour calls for a statement of British obligations to the Arabs - inept one prepared by Harold Nicolson - Turkish peace feelers Morgenthau’s mission - Rothschild submits a formula 211 (4) Zionist formula much stronger than the French statement Balfour refers formula to the cabinet - strong objection by Edwin Montagu - his memorandum analysed - alternative draft by Milner - decision to consult President Wilson - his reply: ‘time not opportune5 - Montagu’s alternative draft pressure on Wilson to change his mind - untruthful cable from Weizmann to Brandeis - memorandum by Rothschild and Weizmann: service of Zionism to British ‘imperial interests’ discussions by the war cabinet: Balfour, Curzon and Montagu - decision to consult Wilson again - why not other allies ? - why not the Sharif of Mecca ? 219 (5) Milner’s draft as a basis - debate: civil right or national rights ? - Montagu, Curzon and Cecil - only Curzon mentions the Arabs-selected Zionists and non-Zionists consulted on the draft - chief Rabbi quotes Leviticus XIX, 33-34 on the stranger’s sojourn in your land! - the decisive meeting on 31 October 1917 - Balfour on the meaning of ‘national home’ - value of declaration for propaganda - ‘idealism’, ‘imperial interests’ and the German scare all myths - decision extracted under false pretences - propaganda value colossal bluff - declaration: message from Balfour to Rothschild - immediate Islamic protests in London - immediate Arab protests in Cairo and America (Palestine itself half under Turkish and half under British military rule) 228 chapter

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Building on the Wreckage

(1) The Sharif’s suspicions of France extends to Britain - Berne reports of Turkish moves to reconcile the Arabs - Arab anta­ gonism to the Zionist policy - evasion of the Sharif’s request for clarification - Sykes: smash Arab leaders by ‘the usual promotion of dissension’ - Izvestia published the Sykes-Picot agreement - Jamal Pasha offers terms to Faisal - Husain sends papers to the British - question discussed by the Middle East committee of the cabinet - loyalty of Palestine Arabs to the Sharif - decision to send oral message to the Sharif - misleading

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terms of reference to Hogarth: fia return of Jews’ to Palestine international regime for the holy places only 240 Balfour declaration not published in Palestine - its ill-effect on Muslims in Russia - British counter move by using the name of the Sharif and his proclamations - Zionist propaganda for allies in Russia and America did not materialise - Zionist thanksgiving meeting in London - the speeches summarised Sykes produces two Arabs at the function - Rothschild leads a Zionist delegation to thank the war cabinet - Sykes introduces an Arab delegation to offer congratulations on the capture of Jerusalem - his attempt to bluff Arab leaders in Cairo - British war aims announced by Lloyd George - Wilson’s fourteen points - self-determination and the Arabs 247 How was Hogarth to deliver the message? - unsettling effect of Philby’s sudden appearance - intrusion of the subject of Ibn Sa'ud - the message spoke of special regime for the Christian and Jewish holy places only - Muslim holy places under Muslim control - clarification of the Sharif’s attitude regarding Jerusalem - Clayton becomes chief political officer with Allenby - Allenby’s coordination with Faisal-decision to send a Zionist commission to Palestine - its terms of reference Wingate recommends more candid policy towards the Sharif - vague generalities still preferred - Balfour’s letter in ‘the ornate style’ - the Sharif not impressed - writes expressing anxiety regarding Arab future - points out harmful Turkish propaganda that he handed Palestine over to the Jews 256 The Zionist commission under Weizmann - Ormsby Gore as liaison officer - Sykes ‘explains’ aims to Arab leaders in Cairo Sulaiman Naslf, the Palestinian, understood Jews sought equality and full civil rights - his memorandum brusquely set aside by Weizmann - first friction with the British military authorities - meeting Arab notables at an official party Storrs reports on Weizmann’s speech and the Mufti’s reply another similar meeting at Jaffa - Weizmann refuses to explain meaning of national home - the Qadi’s reply - Sykes: the governor ought to have written the speeches! - Clayton introduces Weizmann to Faisal - short interview: as a soldier no politics; as an Arab no discussion of Palestine as a British protectorate 264 Clayton: difficult to switch over from Arab to Zionist line in propaganda - Arabs asked why only a Zionist commission and no Arab one? - formation of the first national (ChristianMuslim) association to oppose Zionism - al-Muquttam

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C ontents exposes the extreme aims of Zionism - Faisal’s correspondence with Jamal Pasha - the Sharif still trusts the British - the memorial of the seven Arabs to the British government - the wordy and unsatisfactory reply drafted by Sykes - the crisis of confidence in Anglo-Arab relations - Wingate denies the existence of the Sykes-Picot agreement - the Foreign Office approves! - recruitment in Palestine for Faisal’s army - first physical friction between Arabs and Jews - Zionist policy can be imposed only by main forte 272

ix The Zionist Assault (1) Suggestion that the Arabs must be coerced - self-government ruled out - Weizmann avoids political discussions with the Arabs - report by Ormsby Gore: insistence on recognition of Hebrew and demand to acquire ‘unoccupied’ land - Weizmann attributes Zionist sentiments to the average British soldier concessions to the Zionists in Jaffa and Jerusalem municipal councils - Weizmann writes to Balfour: paints the Arabs black, accuses the military authorities of bias and demands the hand­ ing over of the Wailing Wall - Gore suggests making a small Zionist company the national bank of Palestine - Zionist attempt to establish a series offaits accomplis - role of WyndhamDeedes 281 (2) Political situation before Allenby’s offensive: Iraq, Syria and Palestine - the Zionist provocation regarding the Wailing Wall - introduces a religious element in Arab political opposition matter shelved on Balfour’s orders - contravention of the ‘Laws and Usages of War’ on London’s instructions - Weiz­ mann misrepresents Faisal - Weizmann’s feud with Col. John Hubbard (Jaffa) - changed attitude of the British ‘Arabists’ to Arab independence - the India Office and the use of Ibn Sa'ud repeated British refusal to clarify the Anglo-Arab under­ standing - the Sharif formulates his own understanding of it affirmation of Arab independence and the boundaries (hudud) of 1915 - Cairo sympathetic to Sharif’s point of view - Toyn­ bee’s assessment - Allenby’s offensive in Palestine 286 (3) Terms of the last Turkish offer of peace to the Arabs - the Arab part in Allenby’s victory - his message to Faisal - the Turks defeated - Arab entry into Damascus, already under an Arab government - Allenby’s ‘political’ difficulty in reconciling Arab independence with the Sykes-Picot agreement - Faisal’s proclamation of Arab independence - conflict of Arab and French interests on the north Syrian coast - the Toynbee

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memorandum on British commitments to Husain - Palestine was covered by the McMahon pledge of 1915 - previous supporting British interpretations - origin of the Anglo-French declaration, November 1918 - text cited - analysed 293 (4) Armistice with Turkey at end of October - the ideals of Arab unity and independence disappointed - Syria with three mili­ tary zones: British in Palestine, French in the north Syrian littoral and Arab (Faisal) in the interior - Husain reluctantly accepts invitation to send Faisal to the Peace Conference - the status of Palestine in a Foreign Office memorandum (Novem­ ber) - in resolutions of the War Cabinet - status of other Arab provinces - the Zionist assault to legalise the usurpation of the political rights of the Palestine Arabs - Arab opposition to Zionism becomes stronger - Arab protest ignored and petitions not acknowledged - preferential treatment of Zionists in Palestine - restrictions on Arab activity - Zionist demonstration in Jerusalem attacked by Arabs - the Mufti at a Jewish function on the same day - Kazim Pasha leads a counter Arab de­ monstration - written protests meet with ‘no action’ at the Foreign Office 302 (5) All Zionist submissions by contrast acknowledged and seriously considered - Weizmann faces Lord Robert Cecil with far-reaching demands: allow Zionist commission to control immigration and land - extended Zionist frontiers of Palestine - Ormsby-Gore supports Zionism at the Foreign Office Sykes reports from Palestine - Weizmann’s telegram to Eder on ‘Jewish commonwealth’ - Clayton gives the figures for the population of Palestine - Allenby recommends that Palestine Arab voice should be heard - Curzon’s alarm at excessive Zionist claims - Weizmann’s interview with Balfour - attempt to trick a benefactor - Balfour for once becomes angry - two versions of his ‘gentle’ rebuke to Weizmann - British report of Arab unrest and written protests - Storrs hostile to the Sharif’s case in Jerusalem - population and area of Palestine, OETA (south), at the end of 1918 309 x Tempestuous Year: 1919 (1) T. E. Lawrence attached to the Foreign Office - accepts French position on the Syrian coast - supports the Zionists - speaks as if Faisal’s deputy - memorandum to Curzon’s committee the committee discusses how to get rid of the Sykes-Picot agreement - Balfour attends its meeting on 5 December - hears Curzon state that Palestine was promised independence in the

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(2)

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C ontents McMahon letter, 1915 - Curzon deprecates exaggerated Zionist claims - Lawrence’s ‘second edition’ of the SykesPicot agreement - is the appellation ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ justified ? 321 Faisal suggests plebiscite on the Syria coast - mission fore­ doomed by the secret agreement between Lloyd George and Clemenceau - Faisal meets Balfour with Lawrence as inter­ preter - Balfour’s record of interview incomplete - fuller account in Faisal’s report to Husain - audience with King George V - Weizmann calls on Faisal and writes misleading report - the story of ‘the agreement’ - Lawrence’s bad trans­ lation of Faisal’s Arabic note - Lawrence’s oral report regard­ ing agreement to Toynbee - Faisal’s conversations with Montagu - Lawrence sends compromising letters and tele­ grams in Faisal’s name without his knowledge - sends mis­ leading cable to Zaid 329 Sykes attempts to silence Arab criticism of Zionism - Picot sends a Lebanese delegation to Paris - why not also Syrian, Palestinian, Iraqi and Egyptian? - Balfour uses Lawrence to influence Faisal in favour of Zionism - Faisal makes excellent impression in Paris - the British delegation - Sir Louis Mallet (head of Turkish section) declares Palestine included in British promise of Arab independence - his interpretation of the formula ‘west of the districts of Damascus etc.’ - Faisal before the Council of Ten - asked for independence of all Arab countries - Lawrence interprets - his attributions to Faisal on Palestine - evidence of Howard Bliss - the Zionists before the Council of Ten - Faisal’s interview with Le Matin Lawrence, without Faisal’s knowledge, writes to Frankfurter in Faisal’s name - the latter’s repudiation 337 Approval of the mandates system - Wilson drafts terms of reference to a commission of enquiry to the Middle East Balfour resists the inclusion of Palestine in the enquiry Lawrence, like Sykes, wanted Arabs to stop criticising Zionism - Faisal meets Clemenceau - commission of enquiry limited to the American section after withdrawal of the French and the British - Foreign Office warned; Britain not acceptable as mandatary in Palestine if Zionist policy continued - Britain disclaimed any desire to be mandatary in Syria - the Palestine Arab General Assembly, Jerusalem - resolutions sent to the Foreign Office - officials concluded that Britain was the loser and the Sharif the winner in Palestine 349 Arab protests and petitions not seen by responsible ministers -

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Faisal’s hopes in Wilson disappointed - Balfour’s attempt to soften Arab opposition to Zionism - Samuel’s drastic sug­ gestion : tell Arabs that question was chose jugee - replacement of Clayton by ‘an ardent Zionist’ - two mandatory powers meant partition of Syria - arrival of the commission of enquiry (King-Crane) - conclusions on Palestine - the Syrian Congress - Faisal before the commission - the recommendations in detail - Faisal let down by the British on Palestine - Balfour’s memorandum: appease France at expense of Arabs and up­ hold Zionism - Balfour’s minute: unable to reconcile the Sykes-Picot agreement with the McMahon letter of 1915 358 (6) Lloyd George decides in September, 1919 to hand over Syria to the French - discussions with Faisal - Lloyd George on British commitments to the French and the Arabs in Syria his definition of the excluded area as west of the line Damascus etc. - inconclusive discussion of the McMahon pledge Faisal to Lloyd George: (1) Wingate told Husain the SykesPicot agreement did not exist, (2) have you obtained the con­ sent of the people? - no answer to either from Lloyd George Faisal’s interview with The Jewish Chronicle: Palestine is part of the independent Arab state with equal rights for the Jews British advise to settle with the French - draft agreement with Clemenceau - developments in Iraq and Palestine to the end of 1919 - Allenby against any further concessions to Zionism - anti-European circular in Damascus 367 Note on the revival of the crusading spirit in Britain 378 xi Catastrophic Y ear: 1920 (1) Husain on Lloyd George - disillusioned with Britain Faisal’s detailed assessment of the Arab political prospects suspicions of Britain - criticism of Husain’s ‘blind’ trust - ‘the enemy whose friendship was necessary’ - aims of unity and independence revised - reliance on article 22 of the Covenant French terms were unacceptable in Damascus - playing Ibn Sa'ud against Husain (India Office vs. Foreign Office) Khurmah oasis - Turabah battle - Syria Husain’s main worry asks for high British official for discussions - meeting with Allenby at Jiddah - agreement to meet Ibn Sa'ud 380 (2) Faisal returns to Syria empty-handed - Husain repudiates any agreement incompatible with Arab independence - Faisal asks for British declaration of intent regarding Iraq and Palestine the Syrian Congress meets - Faisal’s opening speech - ‘inde­ pendence taken not given’ - Congress resolutions: declaration

chapter

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C ontents

of independence of Syria including Palestine, rejection of Zionism, end of military occupation and election of Faisal as king - he writes to Curzon - Iraqi congress declares indepen­ dence and elects Abdullah as king - public rejoicing in Damas­ cus, Beirut and Jerusalem - Allenby for recognition - Britain and France for non-recognition 387 (3) Curzon wants Faisal at Peace Conference again - Syrian opposition to French claims grows - Zionist objections to Faisal’s kingship - Samuel representations - the San Remo decision: French mandate over Syria - British over Iraq and Palestine - terms for Palestine incorporate the Balfour de­ claration - Faisal protests and invokes the McMahon pledge refuses to recognise mandate but accepts friendly assistance corrects Curzon on the question of Palestine - Palestine Arabs thunderstruck - all their protests ignored - French repressions on the coast - Faisal seeks Lloyd George’s intercession ‘in the name of humanity’ 395 (4) France bent on a showdown with Faisal - clamour for re­ sistance in Damascus - French military superiority - terms of the French ultimatum to Faisal accepted - sends minister of education to parley with Gouraud - further French demands - hostile demonstrations in Damascus - the battle of Maisalun - the French ask Faisal to leave - end of Arab government direct French rule Frustration in Iraq - British harsh measures during and after the war - no native government one year after AngloFrench declaration - obstinacy of Arnold Wilson - form of his administration - local demand for self-government - British announcement provided for more delay - open revolt: its cause and cost in men and money - Cox establishes a council of state and a provisional government - Faisal accepted as constitutional monarch 403 (5) The Palestine cauldron on the boil - Zionist draft mandate foisted on the British - Balfour’s connivance - Zionists claim Palestine as the Jewish national home - no Arab consulted Zionist efforts to enlarge area of Palestine to the north and east - Samuel supports extreme demands - Balfour’s help to ‘the poor Zionists’ - the Easter, 1920 riots in Jerusalem cheers for ‘our monarch Faisal’ - military court of enquiry: blames Zionist commission, relates outbreak to disappointed Arab political aims - Storrs’s dismissal of Arab mayor criticised by court - the Mufti returns the C.M.G. - talks of jihad Zionists once more claim the Wailing Wall 412

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(6) Balfour declaration communicated to the Palestine Arabs for the first time (May, 1920) - Samuel appointed high com­ missioner - Allenby warns against - Faisal protests - Palestine Arabs shocked - all objections and protests ignored - Samuel’s public statement of policy in London - the further development of the Palestine mandate - Curzon’s complaint: I was not consulted - describes document as drawn by someone 'reeling under the fumes of Zionism’ - his desire to ‘give the Arabs a chance’ defeated by his own staff (influenced by Lloyd George and Balfour in the background) - comparison between Iraq and Palestine mandates - French ‘alarm’ at the ‘judaising’ Palestine mandate - why Curzon failed ? 422 The Sacrificial Victim (1) King George’s message to the people of Palestine - strict security on Samuel’s arrival - the civil administration credibility of Samuel’s reports - misrepresents the Mufti Zionists on his senior staff - ‘the funeral of the Holy Land’ the autocracy: legislative and executive in Zionist hands - loss of Arab rights enjoyed under the Turks - Samuel recommends military occupation of Trans-Jordan - letters to Faisal at Haifa - the encounter at Lydda - Samuel’s Schadenfreude 433 (2) Continued insistence on military occupation of Trans-Jordan Samuel claims country did not want a sharif for ruler - Foreign Office refuses to follow French example in Syria - Samuel claims shaikhs asked for British occupation - his immigration and land ordinances - state land leased to Zionists - foreign observers contradict Samuel’s claims - cost of his administra­ tion to Arabs - the Palestine Arab congress, Haifa - demand for elected government - Samuel acknowledges Jewish but not Arab representative leaders - his dogmatic communique: there will not be any change in policy - the trap laid for the poet Rusafi 441 (3) Was Samuel’s legislation valid before approval of mandate? arrival of Abdullah in M a'an and his proclamation - Samuel renews demand for military occupation - Abdullah’s welcome refutes Samuel’s claim - change of control from Foreign to Colonial Office - secretary of state Churchill wishes to meet Abdullah - Faisal’s negotiations in London - Young’s memo­ randum: Iraq, Palestine and Trans-Jordan - Faisal opens the question of the McMahon letters - Young’s erroneous quoting and interpretation of McMahon - Husain wishes to be con­ sulted on the mandates and refuses to sign peace treaties

chapter xii

XXVI

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

C ontents - Curzon reverses his view on Palestine: it was British by con­ quest 451 Faisal’s discussions with Tilley and Lindsay - their dependence on Young - Faisal insists that the McMahon pledge on inde­ pendence did not exclude Palestine - refutes Young’s interpre­ tation - Curzon’s decisive minute: ruling on right of conquest - was this valid under covenant of the League ? - Faisal designated for Iraq and Abdullah for Trans-Jordan - Palestine still the sacrificial victim - the ten British interpretations of its inclusion in the British promise of independence - other supporting evidence - the political reasons for disregarding them 459 Decisions on Palestine in the hands of junior officials - Arabs paid taxes so that Jewish immigrants find employment in public works - shortage of Zionist money and enterprise - yet, Samuel wants immigration to continue for ‘political’ reasons new land ordinance to repeal Turkish law on protection of Arab peasants - temporary resistance at the Foreign Office Palestine was about to pass to control of Colonial Office Churchill initiates the Middle East department - recalls T. E. Lawrence - decides to hold a conference in Cairo - the attitudes of Cornwallis, Young and Lawrence on the eve - Churchill’s staff - Cox’s - Samuel’s - review of the latter’s administration 467 The Cairo conference March 1921 - future of Iraq and TransJordan debated and settled - Palestine still the sacrificial victim - Samuel given carte blanche - opposed Arab govern­ ment in Trans-Jordan - the role of T. E. Lawrence - Churchill for a sharifian solution - accepts Young’s analysis of McMahon on Palestine - his train stopped at Gaza by Arab demonstrators - Abdullah’s reception at Jericho - reception outside Jerusalem frustrated by official order - his appearance at al-Haram ashSharif - great Arab demonstration - ‘Thank God the days of tyranny will soon be over!’ 473 Abdullah meets Churchill - suggests Arab ruler for Palestine and Trans-Jordan together - Churchill turns down suggestion Samuel on the ‘two promises’ in the Balfour declaration Abdullah offered less than he actually had - rejected Churchill’s terms - private meeting with Abdullah and threats: British term for Iraq and Trans-Jordan hang together, Ibn Sa'ud could take Mecca - Abdullah consults leaders and accepts Churchill’s ultimatum - arrangement for six months - de­ monstrations and bloodshed in Palestine - Churchill’s words

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to the Jews - Kazim Pasha’s memorandum summarised - ‘the gross injustice’ - ‘is England to usurp powers in Palestine?’ ‘we have no vice in the government of our country’ - untenable comments by Samuel on the memorandum - Churchill’s oral reply to the memorandum 480 EPILOGUE

Fate of Arab unity and independence - the running sore of Palestine - Lawrence’s mission to the Hijaz - terms of proposed declaration and treaty - why impossible for Husain to agree - his insistence on self-determination for Palestine - the fourth Palestine Arab congress - demonstrations by Arab peasants in Baisan - the disturbances of May, 1921 - Haycroft commission of enquiry intelligence report - Churchill rejects political solution - decision to coerce the Arabs - the emergence of al-HajAmin al-Husaini Samuel’s misrepresentations - ‘organised oppression’ 491 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INDEX

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TWO MAPS AS ENDPAPERS

CH APTER 1

Palestine in History (i) It was after the First World War that ‘Palestine’ acquired definite political boundaries for the first time in its history. Until then the name denoted different historical, geographical or administrative meanings at different times. But in a general geographical sense, Palestine has always been regarded as the south-west extremity of Syria, the land mass lying between the Mediterranean Sea, the Taurus Mountains, the River Euphrates, the Syrian Desert and the Wilder­ ness of Sinai.* Since the dawn of history this land mass had attracted successive waves of migrant tribes from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, the reputed cradle of the Semites. The south-west extremity of the land had been particularly associated with such Semites as the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Aramaeans, long before the arrival of the Israelites. Throughout its recorded history this land had been strung with city-states paying tribute to the one or the other of the mighty empires to the south or the north. The reproach to Jerusalem in Ezekiel ‘Thy birth and nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite’ is an apt illustration of the history of a land that was subjected by Semites and nonSemites alike. Towards the end of the thirteenth century b .c . the pharaoh’s hold on the Land of Canaan was weakened, and almost simul­ taneously it was invaded by the Semitic Israelites across the River Jordan from the east and by the non-Semitic Philistines across the sea from the west. It is curious that their name, and not that of any of the Semitic peoples, gave the country its universally familiar name: Palestine. Inspired by the traditions of the Exodus from Egypt and the Covenant with Yahweh in Sinai, the nomadic Israelites effected some penetration of the highlands of the Land of Canaan, while the Philis­ tines occupied the coastal plain, roughly between Jaffa and Gaza. The Canaanites were superior in civilisation to both of their invaders. * See references at end of chapter.

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In due course the Israelites were assimilated with the Canaanites from whom they learned farming and the other arts of settled life including the art of writing. Canaan’s struggle against the invaders from the east and the west, and the invaders’ struggle against each other for supremacy, are vividly depicted in the pages of the Old Testament. A climax was reached about 1000 b .c . when David led a confederacy of the twelve tribes and formed a monarchy with Jerusalem of the Jebusites as its capital. In it his son and successor Solomon built the Temple as the seat of the national faith. After Solomon the kingdom was disrupted: ten tribes formed the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and the other two formed the King­ dom of Judah based on Jerusalem. The two kingdoms were ir­ retrievably weakened by their continued wars against each other and the encroachment of powerful neighbours. However, they main­ tained a precarious existence till Israel was destroyed by Sargon II in 722 b .c and Jerusalem, together with the Temple, by Nebuchad­ nezzar in 586 b .c . Each of the two conquerors carried away into captivity the cream of the manhood of the land. The depleted population was augmented by the introduction of contingents from Mesopotamia and elsewhere, thus adding to the complexity of an already complex population. In the upheaval Philistia became a tributary of Babylon, and the Philistines were destined to disappear from history as mysteriously as they entered it. The national calamities that befell the Hebrews seem to have inspired a gradual elevation of their religious beliefs. Through the meditations of a series of prophets, Yahweh, the tribal deity of the primitive Israelites, who often sanctioned slaughter and destruction, was transformed into a more universal God enjoining lofty ethical and moral principles that made Judaism the first of the three mono­ theistic religions. But unlike the other two religions, Judaism failed to compromise with Hellenism and thus retained much of its original exclusiveness. Adversity was relieved some fifty years after the destruction of the Temple. Babylon was vanquished by Cyrus, the king of the Persians who permitted some of the Hebrew exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. But such was the fate of a land astride the high­ way of conquerors that having succumbed to Alexander the Great the whole land was tossed between his successors the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria. It was during this Greek period that the country became known as Philistaea. Despite the protests of the zealots, Greek culture, language and customs penetrated the life of the Jews. It was first an internal strife

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3

that became in 164 b .c . a revolt which succeeded in establishing a theocracy based on Jerusalem. This was, however, swept away before the might of Rome, and under Roman suzerainty the half-Arab Idumaean Herod was made ‘King of the Jews’. During a long reign he embellished the land with Roman amphitheatres, hippodromes and public buildings. But above all he rebuilt the Temple on a magnificent scale. Not long after Herod ‘the Great’, direct Roman rule was intro­ duced, and Pontius Pilatus was procurator in Jerusalem during the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. His mission of love and moral res­ ponsibility, rejected by fundamental Jews, was destined to make His native country the Holy Land of Christendom after the destruction by the power of Rome of all vestige of religious and political life of the Jews. Two desperate revolts failed to avert this doom. In a .d . 70 Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple perished in flames. The countryside was devastated and thousands were slaughtered. In a .d . 134 Hadrian had the site of the city ploughed over, and Colonia Aelia Capitolina rose on it, and an altar for Jupiter on that of the Temple. The Jews were forbidden to approach these sites on pain of death. But is must not be supposed that the Greeks or the Romans were only destructive military conquerors. For they established cities and good roads and brought culture and civilisation, security and peace to the land. Throughout the Greco-Roman period the process of racial, linguistic, and general cultural fusion continued unabated down to the Christian era and after. The Semitic element, however, remained obvious. Aramaic was a common vernacular; con­ servative Jews clung to Hebrew; and Arabian tribes like the Naba­ taeans remained faithful to Arabic and Aramaic. But Greek was the language of culture, so much so that the gospels had to be written in it. The disciples of Jesus, converted Jews, were commanded to preach the gospel ‘among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’. But they and the small band of followers were powerless before Jewish resistance and persecution. The Jews never forgave the followers of Jesus their pacifist attitude during the two revolts against the Romans. Tradition names James, the Brother of the Lord, as the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and he was stoned to death by the Jews. Thus the disciples were compelled to preach the message of their master in centres populated by Gentiles in and outside Palestine in the Roman do­ minions. Unlike Judaism, Christianity came to terms with Hellenism largely through Paul’s efforts and thus became capable of more

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universal appeal. But its triumph came very slowly. In a .d . 313 it was recognised as religio licita before Constantine made it the established religion of the Eastern Roman Empire. Thus began the acts of devotion that made Palestine the Holy Land. Constantine and his mother erected important monuments in Jerusalem and Bethlehem including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Nativity. All pagan altars were dismantled, and by a .d . 451 Jerusalem became the seat of a patriarchate of the Orthodox Church. During the Roman (Pagan) period, as well as during the Byzantine (Christian) period, the country became known as Palaestina. It did not include Galilee which belonged to Phoenicia. It was divided into three unequal parts: the central and largest was Palaestma Prima with its capital at Caesarea; the second and the smallest was Palaestina Secunda to the north with its capital at Tiberias; the third and less defined part was Palaestina Tertia to the south with its capital at Petra. Although the country became generally Christian, its population remained mixed racially, linguistically and culturally, because of the different peoples who inhabited, colonised or ruled it. One thing is certain: after the second revolt the Jewish element sunk to insignificance and ceased to count in the destiny of the country. The survivors of war, massacie and exile were huddled in small groups, mostly in Galilee. The comparatively long period of Pax Romana ended in a .d . 614 when the Persians overran Syria and captured Jerusalem. They were aided by Jewish scouts and volunteers who participated in the massacre of Christians and the destruction of their churches. Fifteen years later Heraclius recovered the city and wreaked vengeance on the Jews and revived Hadrian’s edict barring them from it. Reconstruc­ tion was barely complete when Palestine was invaded by the Arabs under the banner of Islam. The Arabs were no strangers to Syria-Palestine even before Islam. History records that the Philistine army that attacked Jerusalem in 850 B.c. had a contingent of Arab tribes, and other Arab tribes helped in the defence of Gaza against Alexander the Great. In the fifth century a .d . it is recorded that an Arab tribe which had accepted Christianity set up camp near Jerusalem and had its chief ordained as bishop. There was furthermore a permanent link between the Arabian Peninsula and Syria-Palestine through the ancient south-north trade route which at Petra forked north-west to Gaza and thence to Egypt. From the fourth century b .c . this caravan route was controlled by the Nabataean Arabs from their capital Petra. They established a king­ dom which extended its sway over southern Palestine, and ultimately

P alestine in H istory

5

became a client of Rome. The Nabataean script served as a model for the Arabic, and the oldest extant Arabic inscription dating a .d . 328 is indeed in Nabataean characters. More purely Arab were the Ghassanids who migrated from the south of the Arabian Peninsula towards the end of the third century a .d . and settled on the Jaulan highlands to the east of Lake Tiberias. They became Christians and clients of Byzantium. The splendour of their court is immortalised in Arabic literature by two famous poets one of whom Hassan Ibn Thabit became Muhammad’s poet. Arab historians ascribe the beginning of hostilities between Islam and Byzantium to the murder of an emissary sent by Muhammad with a letter to the prince of Ghassan inviting him to embrace Islam. That Syria-Palestine was familiar to the Arabs of Hijaz is illustrated by the fact that a great-grandfather of Muhammad died at Gaza while with a merchant caravan. As a boy Muhammad him­ self accompanied his uncle and guardian to Damascus with such a caravan. The future Muslim commander who conquered southern Palestine and besieged Jerusalem, 'Amr Ibn al-'As, had been familiar with the land since his trading missions to Egypt via Petra and Gaza. Small wonder that Syria and more particularly Palestine are alluded to in the Koran. There is a specific mention of the Meccan trade journeys south to Yemen and north to Syria; there is an equally specific mention of the defeat of the Byzantines by the Persians ‘in the nearer part of the land’ and a forecast of redress. More important is the allusion to Muhammad’s miraculous Nocturnal Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his Ascension to heaven therefrom. Thus the Arab connection with Palestine did not begin with Islam. For centuries this connection had been very close through the actual presence of Arab tribes in and around the land and through continuous trade. Islam came to reinforce and complete this con­ nection, not to initiate it. (2) Islam, the third monotheistic religion to be associated with Palestine, lays more stress on the absolute unity and majesty of God. The Arabic word means ‘submission’, the submission of man’s will to God’s commandments. These were revealed through successive prophets including Moses and Jesus. But the last and seal of prophets was Muhammad, through whom the final divine message, superseding previous messages, was revealed and is enshrined in the Koran. Islam venerates Moses and Jesus and provides for co-existence with Jews and Christians as ‘the People of the Book’. This is not the place even to allude to the religious and economic

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motives of the Arab conquests. For an understanding of the position regarding Palestine suffice it to say that after the decisive battle of al-Yarmuk in a .d . 636 only Caesarea and Jerusalem held out. At the request of the Byzantine Patriarch Sophronius the city was surrendered to the caliph himself on terms which embody the elements of future Arab policy and administration: ‘In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is the covenant which 'Umar, the servant of Allah, the Commander of the Faithful, granted to the people of Aelia. He granted them safety for their lives, their possessions, their churches, and their crosses . . . They shall not be constrained in the matter of their religion, nor shall any one of them be molested. No Jew shall live with them in Aelia. And the people of Aelia shall pay the poll-tax . . . Whoever leaves the city shall have safe conduct for his person and his property until he reaches his destination . . . ’ The stipulation excluding the Jews from the city was merely a continuation of the Hadrian ban re-imposed by Heraclius. It is safe to assume that it was made at the request of the Christians who wit­ nessed the Jews participate with the Persians in the massacre and destruction of churches at Jerusalem some twenty-five years earlier. For the rest 'Umar’s covenant is remarkable for the religious freedom it guaranteed to the Christians in an age of intolerance. It was indeed this policy of religious tolerance, coupled with lighter taxation, that accounted for the welcome reception of the Muslim conquerors by the indigenous population. But it is worthwhile adding here that in Jerusalem as elsewhere in Palestine the Arab Muslims came to terms with Christian authorities only. There is no evidence that they came to terms with any comparable Jewish authorities. After his compact with the Christian authorities 'Umar formalised the holiness of Jerusalem in Islam. He personally located the places hallowed by Muhammad’s Nocturnal Journey, and discovered the Rock from which the Prophet ascended to heaven concealed under a dunghill on the site of the old Temple. He led the Muslims in prayer on a clean spot nearby where he caused a small mosque to be erected. Finally he appointed 'Ubadah ibn as-Samit as ‘judge and teacher’ in the city. Under the new dispensation the country comprised two admini­ strative districts: the first was roughly Palaestina Prima and called Jund Filastin (the military district of Palestine), and the second was an enlarged Palaestina Secunda to include Galilee and the Jordan valley and called Jund al-Urdunn (the military district of Jordan). The capital of the former was Lydda and of the latter Baisan. As a frontier district under previous regimes Palaestina Tertia, on the

P alestine in H istory

7

fringe of the Arabian Peninsula, lost its significance, and the use of the term was discontinued. However, in the early Arabic sources dealing with the conquest reference to any of the military districts in Palestine or in the whole of geographical Syria is invariably qualified by the statement that this or that district was of the ‘Land of Sham’ or briefly ‘ash-Sham’. The use of the name ‘Syria’ was likewise dis­ continued. Little or no change was made by the Arabs in the Byzantine administration. They even suffered the continued use of Greek in government business and the employment of non-Arab officials for over fifty years till arabicising was introduced by 'Abdul-Malik. But the general adoption of Arabic and the acceptance of Islam by the indigenous population was spontaneous if slow, all without active state manipulation. That Islam was imposed at the point of the sword is a myth now discredited by serious historians. For to those of ‘the People of the Book’ who did not embrace Islam a system of communal autonomy was devised almost from the beginning, and continued to serve as a model for successive Islamic governments down to recent times. Under their spiritual leaders ‘the People of the Book’ were left to manage their own religious and communal affairs. The change that did take place could not have been very difficult to assimilate by a Semitic population. Apart from the presence of Arab tribes in the country before the Arab conquest, Arabic was not a foreign tongue to the Aramaic-speaking natives. Nor indeed was Islam itself a strange creed to at least those Christian Arabs who like the Ghassanids were Monophysites. The great change had already taken place in a different way when 'Umar established Jerusalem as the third holy city in Islam. So successful was his action that Mu'awiyah, the first caliph to be proclaimed outside Arabia, saw the advantage of arranging his accession to be solemnised in Jerusalem, and not in his capital Damascus. At least two of his successors contri­ buted to the prestige of the dynasty by enhancing the special place of Jerusalem in Islam and Palestine in Arab history. 'Abdul-Malik and his son Sulaiman erected the symbols that finally confirmed Jerusa­ lem as the third holy city in Islam after Mecca and Medina. The father built the Dome of the Rock and the Aqsa Mosque, and the son the city of ar-Ramlah as the new capital of Filastin. Like the great head of the dynasty, Sulaiman was proclaimed caliph in the holy city of Jerusalem, and not in Damascus the capital of the empire. Even when the capital was shifted to distant Baghdad, the caliphs of the new dynasty never forgot Jerusalem. At least three of the early caliphs made the pilgrimage to the holy city. Al-Ma’mun in parti­ cular was responsible for major restorations in the Dome of the

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Rock, and had special coins minted with the name of Jerusalem inscribed on them to commemorate his pious act. By this time the bulk of the population of Palestine consisted, according to the contemporary author al-Ya'qubi, of Arab tribes and their clients. Jerusalem naturally became a seat of Islamic learning and scholars from all over the dominions of Islam flocked to it for prayer, study or teaching. Such was the purpose of the great theologian al-Ghazali who sojourned in Jerusalem just before its capture by the Crusaders. In it he began the writing of his voluminous work which has often been compared to the Summa of Thomas Aquinas. At that time the political fragmentation of the lands of the Caliphate was far advanced, but happily the cultural unity of Islam remained intact. After the recording and systematising of the Arabic and Islamic sciences, much of the philosophic and scientific heritage of Greece was translated into Arabic. Through the speculative and experimental efforts of Muslim scholars a cultural synthesis, Islamic in spirit and Arabic in language, was produced with the active partici­ pation of men of all races and creeds. This was the compromise with Hellenism which contributed to making universal the character of Islamic civilisation. The land that may now be called Palestine was but a small spot in this vast cultural ocean. Politically it belonged, except for the inter­ lude of the Crusades, to whoever ruled in Baghdad, Cairo or Damas­ cus. But culturally it remained an integral part of the Arabic-Islamic civilisation, from which Jerusalem in particular continued to receive considerable benefit. Caliphs, sultans and even rulers whose legiti­ macy was in question never ceased to embellish the city with religious and charitable institutions and to assign generous endowments for their maintenance. Such pious concern for the holy city was more than doubled after its recovery from the Crusaders. So firmly established in the Islamic consciousness had become the place of Jerusalem and Palestine that Saladin’s recovery of the holy city from the Crusaders in a .d . 1187 figures more prominently in Arabic historians than its acquisition by 'Umar some four centuries earlier. Saladin’s entry into the city, which fell on 27 Rajab, the traditional anniversary of the Prophet’s Nocturnal Journey to it, was represented as miraculously providential. It inspired a good number of books on the city and its two mosques within the Haram enclosure (The Noble Sanctuary). Likewise the other Haram that enclosed the cave of Machpelah at Hebron is much venerated because of its connection with the Prophet Ibrahim, the traditional ancestor of the Arabs and the Hebrews. Writers on these Muslim holy places tended henceforth to invest not only Jerusalem but also Palestine and indeed the whole

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of geographical Syria (