How Two Brothers of the Arab World Handled the Jewish Homeland

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Emir Feisal Ibn Hussein became king of Iraq

Emir Feisal  was the brother of Abdullah, ggrandfather of Abdullah II, today's king of Jordan.  Their father was Hussein Bin Ali, sherif of Mecca and Emir of Mecca.  Emir Feisal was the leader of the Arab world in 1919.  He said, "We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement......We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home.....Our 2 movements complement one another."  
Emir Feisal  (1885-1933) was the oldest son of Hussein, sherif of Mecca, Arabia.  He became king of Iraq from 1921.  He's the one in "Lawrence of Arabia " who led the Arab "rising " against Turkey from 1916 to 1918 during WWI.  He was to be rewarded by the allies since he had sided with them against the Ottoman Empire, and was made king of Syria first, but the French, who held the mandate over that country didn't go along with Great Britain, so he was dethroned and then made king of Iraq.
                                                                           

Chaim Weizmann and Emir Feisal 

 Feisal was at first very sympathetic to Zionism because he hoped to get aid from the Jews in building his future kingdom.  He even met with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in what became Transjordan in 1918 and Paris in 1919 where they reached an agreement on mutual aid, conditional on the implementation of British promises to the Arabs.  Later, owing to his expulsion from Syria by the French in 1920 and the influence of the Palestinian Arab leaders like the sharif of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was called the Grand Mufti, the big fish in the little pond, Feisal's attitude to Zionism became hostile.

 Feisal showed he was educated when he and Chaim Weizmann signed their agreement in 1917.  It seems that Great Britain intervened  through holding the mandate for Palestine to bolster existing enmities and disregarded the actual best interests of the region for their own oil interests.

                        THE AGREEMENT

     His Royal Highness the Emir FEISAL, representing

and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz, 

and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, representing and acting on

behalf of the Zionist Organization,

mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds exist-

int between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and

realizing that the surest means of working out the

consummation of their national aspirations, is through

the closest possible collaboration in the development

of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous

further of confirming the good understanding which

exists between them,

have agreed upon the following articles..

ARTICLE I

     The Arab State and Palestine in all their relations

and undertakings shall be controlled by the most

cordial goodwill and understand and to this end Arab

and Jewish duly accredited agents shall be established

and maintained in the respective territories.

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.

ARTICLE III

In the establishment of the Constitution and

Administration of Palestine all such measures shall 

be adopted as will afford the fullest guarantees

for carrying into effect the British Government's

Declaration of the 2nd of November, 1917  

                                                                       p. 421, From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters.

The fact remains that the land Israel sits on today is but a fraction of the Palestine Mandate originally dedicated to the Jews as their homeland, incorporating the Balfour Declaration.  It was the League of Nations and the British who had designated the land called Palestine by the Romans for the Jewish National Home which was east and west of the Jordan River from the Mediterranean to Arabia and Iraq, and north and south from Egypt to Lebanon and Syria.  Even historian Arnold Toynbee saw in 1918 that the "desolate" land "which lies east of the Jordan stream (it really isn't very big)  was capable of supporting a large population if irrigated and cultivated scientifically.  He said, "the Zionists have as much right to this no-man's land as the Arabs, or more.   

The Arabs of that day were given independent Arab statehood in many lands around Palestine but not within Palestine itself.  Sovereignty was granted after WWI to the Arabs in Syria and Iraq.  Saudi Arabia consisted of about 865,000 square miles of land that was designated as "purely Arab."  

Lord Balfour, who wrote the Balfour Doctrine, hoped that the small notch of Palestine east and west of the Jordan River, which was being given to the Jewish people, would not be "grudged" to them by Arab leaders.                                                                            

King Abdullah (February 1882-July 20, 1951) of Transjordan, ggrandfather of King Abdullah II of Jordan today.  

However, Britain apparently felt the need to mend Emir Abdullah's feelings.  He was one of the royal sons of the Hejaz (Saudi Arabia).  Britain's gratitude reached out to him because the Arabians of the Hejaz had been, among all the Arab world, of singular assistance to England against the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. 

England, who held the mandate of Palestine, inserted Abdullah and his emirate into mandated Palestine in the area east of the Jordan River which was part of the land allocated to the Jewish National Home.  Possibly a suggestion from Lawrence of Arabia in a letter on January 1921 turned the tide.  Lawrence told Churchill that Emir Feisal, who was Abdullah's brother, had chosen Abdullah to lead the Arab revolt and had agreed to abandon all claim of his father to Western Palestine if Feisal got in return Iraq and Eastern Palestine as Arab territories.   

A secret dispatch was found from Chief British Representative at Amman later in 1921 cautioning that the local Transjordanian Cabinet had been replaced b a Board of Secretaries that was now responsible for all internal affairs, referring to Abdullah for a decision in the event of any disagreement.  The Board Members were in fact, Syrian exiles, more interested in the French holding the mandate for Syria than in developing Trans-Jordanian interests.  Abdullah was afraid he would look ridiculous if he had to go back to Saudi Arabia without land holdings after fighting for the British to overturn the Ottoman Empire.  

Emir Feisal got his wishes and became King of Iraq and his brother, Abdullah, the grandfather of the present king of Jordan, was installed in the British mandatory area as ruler of the "temporary" emirate on the land of eastern Palestine, which became known as the Kingdom of Transjordan."  

Britain then quietly gouged out about 3/4 of the Palestine territory mandated for the Jewish Homeland and made it into an Arab emirate, Transjordan.  Oh yes, the mandate remained in force but in violation of its terms.  Britain got away with unilaterally altering the map of Palestine  and its purpose.  By 1946 Transjordan was declared an independent state.  It became the dejure Arab state in Palestine just 2 years before Israel gained its Jewish statehood which was when the British mandate ran out of time.   Israel got 1/4 of what it was supposed to have.  Transjordan was created out of about 38,000 square miles of the Jewish Homeland and Israel got less than 8,000 square miles.  

As if that wasn't enough, Britain kept out Jews from settling the land while they allowed Arabs from the surrounding countries to enter and reside.  Israel was royally slapped in the face by people who were to assist them in creating the Jewish Homeland.

Resource:  Israel 101-from Stand With Us

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Feisal Ibn Hussein
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/07/emir-feisal-hashemite-descendant-of.html
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kings_of_Jordan
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/948/Abdullah-I