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administration in Palestine kingdom. “Two years ago he was the conference approved the
did its utmost to obstruct the a Bedouin sheik, a capable but establishment of a Jewish national
establishment of a Jewish national modest soldier; at present he is home in Palestine under the care of
home there, in blatant disregard of attempting to play the role of a Near a separate Mandatory, distinct from
London’s official policy. Eastern Napoleon and to set up an Syria, and by the end of July Faisal
Arab Empire from the Euphrates had been forcefully evicted from
To further complicate matters, almost to the Nile,” a disillusioned Syria by the French.
Emir Faisal ibn Hussein of Mecca, Weizmann lamented.
the effective leader of the nascent So it was that within five years of its
Pan-Arab movement, who in issuance the Balfour Declaration
January 1919 had signed a historic had been endorsed by the official
agreement with Chaim Weizmann, representative body of the will of the
upcoming head of the Zionist international community: not only
movement, which endorsed the in the practical sense of supporting
Balfour Declaration and urged “all the creation of a Jewish national
necessary measures... to encourage home in Palestine but in the deeper
and stimulate immigration of Jews sense of recognising “the historical
Prince Faisal’s delegation at Paris, 1919
into Palestine on a large scale,” connexion of the Jewish people with
reneged on this agreement as Palestine and… the grounds for
his imperial ambitions grew. On It quickly transpired, however, that reconstituting their national home
8 March 1920, he had himself Faisal had overplayed his hand. in that country” (in the words of the
crowned as King Faisal I of Syria Though Britain and France, while League of Nations’ mandate).
“within its natural boundaries, dismissing the legitimacy of his
including Palestine” and demanded self-enthronement altogether, Further Reading: Efraim Karsh & Inari Karsh,
that France and Britain vacate implied their readiness to recognise Empires of the Sand: The Struggle for Mastery in the
the country’s western (that is, him provisionally as head of an Middle East 1789–1923 (London / Cambridge, MA:
Lebanese) and southern (i.e. independent Syrian state provided Harvard University Press, 1999).
Palestinian) parts. This resulted he came to Europe without delay
in the Jerusalem pogrom of April to state his case, Faisal would
1920 in which five Jews were not come without receiving About The Author
murdered and 211 wounded, which assurances that the looming San Professor Efraim Karsh is emeritus professor of
was carried out not in the name of Remo conference “does in no way Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King’s
Palestine’s independence but under allow Palestine to be separated College London, Director of the Begin-Sadat
Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University,
the demand for its incorporation from Syria.” This proved the last and editor of the Middle East Quarterly and Israel
into Faisal’s self-proclaimed straw. Rebuffing his ultimatum, Affairs.

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