I Was Asked About the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence

I never like to leave things open-ended, especially when asked a question. 

About a week ago, as I was attempting to provide some historical backdrop to the curent Arab Palestinian narrative, which one of their academics confirmed, I was asked, a bit out of the bue, about the McMahon-Hussein correspondence 

and the intentions of the British early on.

I say "out-of-the-blue" because not only is it quite a convoluted and complex matter but it is one of those items that old-time Arab propagandists trot out to try to fool an uninfrmed audience.

The best study, I think, of the affair is that of Elie Kedourie, here.

Basically, as George Antonius has written, did Great Britain break faith with the Arabs and 'steal' Palestine away from them?

I, therefore, sent off the following material in hopes that the questioner would receive the material that I could not provide on the spot.

1.

The British intended from the start that the Jews should be able to reconstitute their historic national home:

"It is none the less a historical fact that in drawing up the Balfour Declaration, Mr. Balfour did have a future Jewish State in Palestine definitely in mind. That fact is well known to those who were in touch with Mr. Balfour at the time. It was also made public by Mr. Lloyd George himself, who was Prime Minister at the time and who, in the evidence he gave before the Palestine Royal Commission, spoke as follows:

"The idea was, and this was the interpretation put upon it at the time, that a Jewish State was not to be set up immediately by the Peace Treaty without reference to the wishes of the. majority of the inhabitants. On the other hand, it was contemplated that when the time arrived for according representative institutions to Palestine, if the Jews had meanwhile responded to the opportunity afforded them by the idea of a national home and had become a definite majority of the inhabitants, then Palestine would thus become a Jewish Commonwealth."*

* From the Report of the Palestine Royal Commission, Cmd. 5479, 1939, Chapter II, paragraph 20 found in the the Lord Chancellor's Staement on February 24, 1939

2. 

From a speech of Lord Milner in the House of Lords on the 27th June, 1923: —

"I am a strong supporter of pro-Arab policy. ... I believe in the independence of the Arab countries. ... I look forward to an Arab Federation. ..., But Palestine can never be regarded as a country on the same footing as the other Arab countries. You cannot ignore all history and tradition in the matter. You cannot ignore the fact that this is the cradle of two of the great religions of the world. It is a sacred land to the Arabs, but it is also a sacred land to the Jew and the Christian, and the future of Palestine cannot possibly be left to be determined by the temporary impressions and feelings of the Arab majority in the country of the present day."

3.

The following are the terms of the message which Commander Hogarth was instructed to deliver to King Husain when he visited Jedda in January, 1918:

"(3) Since the Jewish opinion of the world is in favour of a return of Jews to Palestine and inasmuch as this opinion must remain a constant factor, and further as His Majesty's Government view with favour the realisation of this aspiration, His Majesty's Government are determined that in so far as is compatible with the freedom of the existing population both economic and political, no obstacle should be put in the way of the realisation of this ideal.

4.

Whatever the exact geographical definition, what is undisputed is that there existed a British intention, as indicated in this section of the correspondence:

"The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo cannot be said to be purely Arab, and should be excluded from the limits demanded." 

that a territory was to be excluded from the area of an Arab state. That area was Palestine. Moreover, there is also the British undertaking that the holy places need be safeguarded and that would not have been necessary if Palestine was not part of the area to be separated from the future Arab state.

5.

Last, in this context, it is obvious from the January 1919 Feisal-Weizmann Agreement that the intention that there would be a Jewish state in Palestine, separate from an Arab state, as for example, in Article II:

"Immediately following the completion of the deliberations of the Peace Conference, the definite boundaries between the Arab State and Palestine shall be determined by a Commission to be agreed upon by the parties hereto."

Taken all together, the above unreservedly indicate there was to be a Jewish national homeland developed under British tutelage in a territory separate from the area that was to become an Arab state.

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