LORD SYDENHAM
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords...ribution-e1679c1e-e10c-4003-8044-6a552d1612a8
had the following Notice on the Parer:—
To draw attention to the pledges given to the Arab peoples, and to ask His Majesty's Government whether they will lay on the Table the correspondence in 1915 between Sir Henry McMahon and the Sherif of Mecca, now King Hussein, on which their predecessors based the claim that Palestine is geographically excluded from those pledges.
The noble Lord said: My Lords, His Majesty's late Government always refused to publish this important correspondence,
because on it depends the whole of our pledges to the Arab peoples which were made in the year 1915. Ever since then the Arabs have consistently maintained that we have not fulfilled our solemn pledges made to them at, that time. Surely it is only right and just that we should know exactly how our national obligations stand in this respect. As so often happens in cases of this kind, a version of this correspondence, containing the crucial parts relating to the pledges, has been made public. I am informed that this version is correct, and I hope that His Majesty's Government will say whether the portions which I quote are correct or not. I will quote only such portions as are relevant to the case which I wish to lay before the House.
On July 14, 1915, the Sherif of Mecca wrote to Sir Henry McMahon defining the boundaries within which, as he said, "Great Britain will acknowledge the independence of the Arab countries." On August 30 Sir Henry McMahon demurred, quite naturally, to any discussion of the boundaries until the war came to an end. But the Sherif stuck to his guns, and His Majesty's Government, which was at the time in very great need of his assistance, gave way.
On October 25 Sir Henry McMahon accepted the Sherif's boundaries, but with the following reservations:—
"The district of Mersina and Alexandretta, and portions of Syria, lying to the west of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo cannot be said to be purely Arab, and should therefore be excluded from the desired boundaries, With these modifications. … we accept these boundaries, and, as regards those portions of the territories in which Great Britain is free to act without detriment to the interests of her Ally France, I am empowered, in the name of the Government of Great Britain, to enter into the following covenant."
Then follow the words which I consider constitute the pledges:—
"Subject to the above modifications. Great Britain is prepared to recognise and support the independence of the Arabs within the territories included in the limits and boundaries proposed by the Sherif of Mecca."
And Sir Henry McMahon went on to say—
"On the other hand, it is understood that the Arabs have decided to seek the advice and guidance of Great Britain only, and that such European advisers and officials as may be required for the formation of a sound administration will be British."
If only the Rent Restrictions Act had been as clear as that seems to me to be, what an immense amount of trouble and valuable Parliamentary time would have been saved!
On November 5 the Sherif held out for the inclusion of the provinces of Beirut and Aleppo, which, he said at the time, were purely Arab, but on December 14 Sir Henry McMahon was unable to agree as regards these territories, because, as he said most reasonably, "the interests of our Ally France are involved." The Sherif on January 1, 1916, accepted these conditions, with the proviso that he might raise the question of the territories in which France had an interest when the war came to an end. Sir Henry McMahon now decided to clinch the bargain, and there the bargain stands, I think, at the present time.
But this is not all. Early in 1918 the Sherif reported to His Majesty's Government that the Turks were offering to make a Treaty with the Arabs, and very significantly informed them that this Treaty would be guaranteed by the Kaiser as the Protector of Islam. When this was reported to the Foreign Office, the Secretary of State at once informed the Sherif that
"His Britannic Majesty's Government, in agreement with the Allied Powers, confirms its previous pledges respecting the recognition of the independence of the Arab countries."
If the extracts which I have quoted can be relied upon as authentic then it is perfectly clear that Palestine is included among those countries which are to be independent and subject to the advice and guidance of this country.
The excluded territory is defined, as I have stated, as the portions of Syria lying to the west of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo. Palestine is, of course, a country in which France has no special interest whatever. Damascus is well north of Palestine, and the other towns mentioned lie almost on a bee line further north of Damascus. Mr. Churchill, therefore, had to invent a theory of the existence of a vilayet of Damascus which contained in its ambit the province of Trans-Jordania. Unfortunately, there was no vilayet of Damascus, and Trans-Jordania had never had any administrative connection with Damascus. I understand, therefore, that this distinct "terminological inexactitude" has now been officially abandoned, though I am afraid it served its purpose for a time.
where did he think saudi arabia came from?
