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The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
by Jonathan Schneer.
Published by Random House, New York.
416 pages, 2010.
Reviewed by Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN
Understanding the grievances and complexities of the Middle East requires
immersing yourself in the events of World War I and the way in which this war
was concluded. It is vital to understand that the 1919 Versailles Conference
did not resolve the complex issues of World War I. One item left undone was
what to do regarding the Ottoman Empire, which was on the losing side of this
conflict, and whose possessions were the subject of contention between Britain
and France. Conferences undertaken include San Remo, 1920 and Cairo, 1921,
which created the modern states of Iraq and placed Egypt onto the path of
quasi-independence. Historian Jonathan Schneer has written an excellent book
that untangles the more controversial documents regarding the Middle East,
chiefly the Balfour Declaration. British Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour and in
reply to Lord Rothschild declared in 1917: "His Majesty's Government views
with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish
people... ...it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done to prejudice
the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."
So begins perhaps the most controversial paragraph in diplomatic history that
has been the cause of much disagreement, strife and outright warfare that
continues to this day.
The book delves into the events leading to the Balfour Declaration, and how
this position was arrived at by the British Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour.
The author does an exemplary job un-packaging such controversial documents as
the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, a British and French agreement that divided the
Ottoman Empire into British, French, and Russian spheres of influence. Perhaps
one of the more delightful chapters is the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence. A
series of ten letters between British High Commissioner in Egypt Sir Henry
McMahon and Sherief of Mecca Hussein ibn Ali, attempting to reconcile territory
for an Arab Nation in return for an Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. Schneer
makes a compelling case that McMahon's letters were translated imperfectly by
Ronald Storrs, with many errors in language from Arabic to English, for instance
there is a misunderstanding on the Arabic term willaya, in English does
this mean county, district, region, or city and environs? Adding to this is
British having conflicting policies among British officials in London, Cairo, or
Delhi? For instance, British officials in Cairo supported Hussein ibn Ali in
western Arabia; however Hussein's adversary Ibn Saud was sponsored financially
by British officials in India. This is an excellent volume for those wanting an
immersion into the complexities of modern Middle East political history.
Commander Youssef Aboul-Enein is the author of "Militant
Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat," published in 2010 by Naval
Institute Press. He is Adjunct Islamic Studies Chair at the Industrial College
of the Armed Forces in Washington D.C. and an expert on Violent Islamist Ideology
at the Joint Intelligence Task Force for Combating Terrorism.