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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Corrective history, October 21, 2001
This review is from: Palestine: A Twice-Promised Land? Vol. 1: The British, the Arabs, and Zionism, 1915-1920 (Hardcover)
This book thoroughly examines the correspondence between Britain's Lord Kitchener and Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein of Mecca. The dominant theme of those letters relates to "Arab independence," a loose phrase that has caused a great deal of misunderstanding. Friedman found McMahon's original Arabic October 24, 1915 letter as well as its retranslation into English by the Cairo British office from November 1919. By comparing these two letters, he makes it clear that both the Arab and British understood that Palestine was NOT to be included in the British pledge. Hussein actually welcomed the return of the Jewish people to Palestine, as did his son Emir Feisal, who believed that Arab-Jewish cooperation would be a boon to Arab independence, and prevent European interference. This evidence is bolstered by Friedman's presentation of a Sept. 16, 1916 note from Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, to Sir James Rodd, ambassador in Rome. It confirms an earlier correspondence in which Grey had authorized Sir Reginald Wingate in the Sudan to assure Sherif Hussein that any terms of peace would place "the Arabian peninsula and its Mohammeden Holy Places in the hands of an independent Sovereign Moslem State." Friedman shows other proof as well. Arnold Toynbee, who attended the January and February 1919 Peace Conference, testified that the Emir Feisal specifically excluded Palestine and Lebanon from Arab national aspirations. Friedman also shows how Toynbee later created the myth of a twice promised land, although he knew perfectly well that Palestine had never been promised to the Arabs, that it had been promised only to the Jewish people. Friedman fully examines the terms of the Weizmann-Feisal Agreement of 1919. Regarding Zionist aspirations in Palestine, Feisal said: "[The] Arabs admit the moral claims of the Zionists. They regard the Jews as kinsmen whose just claims they will be glad to see satisfied." Feisal added, "No true Arab can be suspicious of Jewish nationalism....and I do say to the Jews--welcome back home.... Dr. Weizmann's ideals are ours." Friedman's second volume, forthcoming, will cover 1920 through 1939, and the creation of the historical myth. Alyssa A. Lappen
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dispels the myths and inaccuracies., August 12, 2005
This review is from: Palestine: A Twice-Promised Land? Vol. 1: The British, the Arabs, and Zionism, 1915-1920 (Hardcover)
The author, a Professor of History, provides an extremely readable, detailed analysis of the contentious issue surrounding allegations, that during World War 1, the British Government made conflicting promises to the Jews, Arabs and French in relation to areas of the Middle East - especially Palestine.
Accusations which are shown to still have implications to the present day.
As already stated, this book thoroughly examines the correspondence between Britain's Lord Kitchener and Sir Henry McMahon and Sherif Hussein of Mecca.
Through a systematic examination of documents, archival evidence, references, memoirs and other relevant sources, the book reveals how charges of deception and fraudulence directed at the British pertaining to these pivotal issues are groundless.
Replete with extensive and definitive documentary references and direct quotations, the reader is shown that authentic documents of the time demonstrate that Palestine was not included in the area over which Great Britain was prepared to acknowledge independence for the Arabs, and that Arab leaders such as Sharif Hussein were fully aware of this fact.
The essence of this study being that the British promised Palestine to the Jews and not to the Arabs.
One notable reference is that to McMahon's letter of 24 October 1915 to the Sharif Hussein of Mecca, the contents of which are shown to have never been relevant to Palestine.
Amongst many pertinent issues revealed by this investigation is that any alleged Arab opposition to Zionism only became prominent in the late 1920s and during the 1930s and that British statesmen in fact had good reason to believe that the two Semitic nations would cohabit harmoniously.
References being cited which show that leading Arabs were not perturbed by the Balfour Declaration and even allegedly agreed enthusiastically to Jewish settlement in Palestine.
Some notable people of the period even shown to be on record as stating that the process surrounding the rebirth of a Jewish homeland would substantially improve the standard of living of the existing Arab/Jewish population in Palestine.
I would recommend this study to anyone who is interested in the history of events surrounding the re-birth of the Jewish state of Israel and parallel events in relation to Palestine and the Ottoman Empire.
The information provided in this work is not only highly relevant, but perhaps essential to any accurate understanding of the history surrounding such pivotal issues in the region's history.
Thank you for your time.
Other recommended studies include;
"Israel and Palestine; Assault on the Law of Nations" by Professor Julius Stone,
"A History of Palestine, 634-1099" by Professor Moshe Gil,
"Empires Of The Sands; The Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East, 1789 1923" by Inari & Efraim Karsh.
"From Time Immemorial; The Origins of the Arab Jewish Conflict Over Palestine" by Joan Peters.
"A Peace To End All Peace; The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace" by David Fromkin.
"The Palestine War 1948" by Efraim Karsh.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ray Jones fabricates evidence., June 29, 2006
This review is from: Palestine: A Twice-Promised Land? Vol. 1: The British, the Arabs, and Zionism, 1915-1920 (Hardcover)
The reviewer, Ray Jones, see below, fabricates evidence in his review of Isaiah Friedman's otherwise excellent book.
Mr. Jones, if that is his real name, says, "The other problem that his [Friedman's]claim has is that the British themselves didn't buy into it. A secret memorandum prepared for the Paris Peace conference by the Political Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office said..."With regard to Palestine, His Majesty's Government are committed by Sir Henry McMahon's letter to the Sherif on October 24, 1915, to its inclusion in the boundaries of Arab independence ... but they have stated their policy regarding the Palestine Holy Place and Zionist colonization in their message to him of January 4, 1918."..."The whole of Palestine ... lies within the limits which His Majesty's Government have pledged themselves to Sherif Husain that they will recognize and uphold the independence of the Arabs.""
First, the memo wasn't secret. It was a mere recommendation directed to the British War Cabinet Office, written by Dr. Arnold Toynbee, in November 1918.
In Isaiah Freedman's, The Question of Palestine, pp 88-90, Friedman demolishes Toynbees's suggestion, by using contemporaneous, documentary evidence, including, but limited to, an October 26, 1916 letter from Sir Henry McMahon to Sir Edward Grey.
In fact, Professors Toynbee and Friedman had a scholarly debate in 1970 on this very issue in the Journal of Contemporary History!
Shame on you Ray Jones.
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