1915: Hussein McMahon Correspondence

None

Britain Promises Palestine to the Arabs in Exchange for Arabs Entering WWI to Fight the Ottomans

The Hussein-McMahon Correspondence took place between July 1915 and March 1916, between Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, and Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt. 

The correspondence centered on the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire and British support for it, with discussions about the post-war recognition and independence of an Arab state in exchange for Arab support against the Ottomans. Part of the promised homeland included Palestine.

The British would later claim that they intended to exclude Palestine from the land promised to the Arabs.

The United Nations does not see there being much controversy. Palestine was part of the land promised by Britain to the Arabs. […]

Click to Read from 1915: Hussein McMahon Correspondence

1916 – Sykes-Picot Agreement

The French and the British Make a Secret Agreement Dividing up the Land Promised to the Arabs

The Sykes–Picot Agreement was a 1916 secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual partition of the Ottoman Empire. France and British representative signed the agreement a year after the Hussein-McMahon […]

Click to Read from 1916 – Sykes-Picot Agreement

1916: Arab Revolt Against Ottoman Empire

Lawrence of Arabia: Enticed by the British With a Promise of an Arab Homeland, Arabs Join WWI Against the Ottoman Empire

On the basis of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence, exchanged between Henry McMahon of the United Kingdom and Hussein bin Ali of the Kingdom of Hejaz, the rebellion against the ruling Turks was officially initiated at Mecca on 10 June 1916. The primary goal of the Arabs was to establish an independent and unified Arab state stretching […]

Click to Read from 1916: Arab Revolt Against Ottoman Empire

1917: Balfour Declaration

None

Britain Pledges a Zionist Homeland in Palestine

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 announcing British support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The statement came in the form of a letter from Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, […]

Click to Read from 1917: Balfour Declaration

1918: Partition of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire is Divided up Between the French and the British, and Promises Made to the Arabs Are Ignored.

The partition of the Ottoman Empire (30 October 1918 – 1 November 1922) was a geopolitical event that occurred after World War I and the occupation of Istanbul by British, French, and Italian troops in November 1918. The partitioning was planned in several agreements made by the Allied Powers early in the course of World […]

Click to Read from 1918: Partition of the Ottoman Empire