re.Even in 1948, the Arabs had not coalesced into a nation.
Nadine ,please check your facts...the partition into mandates by france and brittain prevented what would have been an arab nation under king feisal.
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Faisal sided with Great Britain in World War I and with the help of T E Lawrence organised a revolt against Ottoman Empire and this way helped ending the caliphate. He conquered Medina after a long siege. Fakhri Pasha was the Ottoman Commander defending the city. Some of Faisal's critics considered fighting along side Christians as a betrayl to Islam. This motivated Iqbal to write against him. Though Faisal was a decendent of the Prophet Mohammad, Arab nationalism and Independence, not Religion, was his main motivation. Faisal also worked with the Allies during World War I in their conquest of Greater Syria and the capture of Damascus, where he became part of a new Arab government in 1918.
1918. Emir Faisal I and Chaim Weizmann (left, also wearing Arab outfit as a sign of friendship)
He led the Arab delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and, with the support of the knowledgeable and influential Gertrude Bell, argued for the establishment of independent Arab emirates for the area previously covered by the Ottoman Empire. His role in the Arab Revolt was described by T.E. Lawrence in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, although the accuracy of that book has been criticized by historians.
On January 3, 1919 Faisal and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization signed the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, in which Faisal conditionally accepted the Balfour Declaration based on the fulfillment of British wartime promises of independence to the Arabs. These were not kept.[1][2] Weizmann argued that the fulfillment was kept eventually and therefore the agreement still held.[2] |
