38 "Until now": Aaronsohn, Diary, December 16, 1916; ZY.
39 "for autonomy": "Jewish Colonies in Palestine," Arab Bulletin (January 19, 1917): p. 35.
40 "in charge of the Intelligence": Aaronsohn, Diary, January 24, 1917; ZY.
41 "So Absa, the brave": Ibid., January 26, 1917; ZY.
42 "So our brave Knight": Ibid., January 30, 1917; ZY.
43 "He called me out": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 152.
44 "sanitary reasons": Wemyss report to Secretary of the Admiralty, January 30, 1917; PRO-ADM 137/548, f. 11415.
45 "ransacked from roof": Bray, Arab Bulletin no. 41 (February 6, 1917): p. 68.
46 "The garrison was called": Lawrence to Wilson, December 19, 1916; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 49.
47 "is easily frightened": J. C. Watson, report, January 11, 1917; PRO-WO 158/605, p. 4.
48 "it is not known": Vickery, Memorandum on the General Situation in Arabia, February 2, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 152.
49 "is most anxious": Wilson to Arab Bureau, Cairo, January 25, 1917; PRO-FO 141/736.
Chapter 11: A Mist of Deceits.
1 "A man might clearly": Lawrence, Seven Pillars (Oxford), chapter 51.
2 With all, he presented: Lawrence, "Faisal"s Order of March," Arab Bulletin no. 41 (February 6, 1917): 66.
3 "The circle of Arab": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 167.
4 "At the Arab Bureau": Aaronsohn, Diary, February 1, 1917; ZY.
5 British officers examining: Lloyd to Wingate, November 24, 1916; GLLD 9/8.
6 In fact, Bremond had: Minutes of Conference held at Commander-in-Chief"s office, September 5, 1916; SADD Clayton Papers, 694/4/811.
7 In addition to touting: Pearson to Clayton, undated; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 108A.
8 "In reply to your letter": Murray to Wingate, January 22, 1917; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 113A.
9 A heedless move: Cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 294 n. 47.
10 "You can confidentially inform": Wingate to Pearson, January 24, 1917; PRO-WO 158/627, f. 114A.
11 "Faisal afterwards told": Newcombe to Wilson, February 4, 1917; GLLD 9/9.
12 "[Bremond] called to felicitate": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 167.
13 Indeed, by Lawrence"s: Ibid., p. 168.
14 "Now I had not warned": Lawrence, Seven Pillars (Oxford), chapter 30.
15 "It seemed we would": Yale"s account of his February 1917 meeting with Djemal Pasha, and subsequent departure from Palestine, is drawn from Yale, It Takes So Long, chapter 6.
16 Even Gilbert Clayton: Clayton "Appreciation" of Aqaba landing, January 1917; SADD Clayton Papers, 694/5/1721.
17 Yet at some point: In his authorized biography Lawrence of Arabia, Jeremy Wilson makes an extremely convincing case that Lawrence probably imparted details of Sykes-Picot to Faisal within the first few days of his return to Wejh in February 1917. Given Wilson"s meticulous research in coming to this conclusion, it"s curious why he then concludes that Lawrence"s motive in doing so was to "deal with the French question once and for all."
As evidenced by the Rabegh episode, French military overtures in the Middle East were wholly dependent on the support-or lack thereof-of their more powerful ally in the region, Great Britain. Besides, at the time of Lawrence"s return to Wejh in early February 1917, Faisal"s deep distrust of Colonel Bremond was already well established. Consequently, the notion that Lawrence disclosed Sykes-Picot to Faisal out of concern over French intrigues or influence is puzzling. Instead, the most logical explanation is that Lawrence meant to thwart the one power that truly had the capacity to betray the Arabs: Great Britain.
Nevertheless, successive sympathetic Lawrence biographers have accepted this anti-French motive in explaining Lawrence"s disclosure. Taking matters a step further, Wilson even a.s.serts that Lawrence made this disclosure because "in the long run it would surely serve Britain"s interests best." Perhaps in Lawrence"s conception of Britain"s interests, but most certainly not that of the British government at the time.
18 "[Bremond] ended his talk": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 168.
19 "I had dreamed": Ibid., p. 661.
20 "to reply to the guns": Lawrence, Diary, February 18, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 180.
21 "to retire from": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 169.
22 "I am still of the opinion": Joyce to Wilson, April 1, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 227.
23 "inestimable value": Pearson to Clayton, March 4, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 194.
24 "The news horrified": St.i.tt, A Prince of Arabia, pp. 17778.
25 With his usual propensity: Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 379.
26 "In spite of General Clayton"s": Lawrence to Wilson, as cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 380.
27 "rose, as ever": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 177.
28 "I think the weak point": Lawrence to Wilson, as cited by Wilson, Lawrence of Arabia, p. 380.
29 "when the more difficult": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 180.
30 "An account of profit": Ibid., p. 176.
31 "He went on calling": Ibid., pp. 18182.
32 "the Eternal One": 1 Samuel 15:29, as translated in ZY Archives.
33 Reginald Wingate was: Wingate to Balfour, February 7, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3049, File 41442.
34 "extortionate parasite": Personalities of South Syria: North Palestine, May 1917; PRO-FO 371/3051.
35 "The att.i.tude of the Jews": Aaronsohn, Present Economic and Political Conditions in Palestine, pp. 2021; PRO-FO 882/14, f. 34243.
36 "General Clayton listened": Aaronsohn, Diary, April 3, 1917; ZY.
37 At sunset on March 28: T. E. Lawrence"s account of his journey to Abdullah"s camp, the attack on Aba el Naam, and his ruminations on guerrilla warfare are drawn from Lawrence, Seven Pillars, book 3, chapters 3236, pp. 183215.
38 "graciously permitted": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 216.
39 "The Turk was harmless": Ibid., p. 225.
40 With the Turks put on: In the absence of evidence pinpointing when Lawrence came up with the Aqaba-by-land scheme, most biographers have concluded he did so in early February 1917, and that he shared the idea with Faisal at that time as a way to dissuade him from the Aqaba-by-sea plan urged by Bremond and others. On closer examination, this conclusion seems unlikely.
Lawrence"s idea for taking Aqaba was such a radical departure from anything previously considered, and if successful would so dramatically alter the political chessboard in Arabia, that implementing it surely would have become his overriding goal once he"d conceived of it. If that had occurred in February, it"s hard to imagine why he would have then removed himself from Faisal"s camp for the thirty-seven days he spent going to and from Abdullah"s camp in Wadi Ais.
Similarly, had Faisal known of an inland plan in February, it"s hardly credible that he would have then thrown aside Lawrence"s counsel and resumed his support for a British-a.s.sisted coastal attack on Aqaba, as he did in early March, and again in early April. Although Lawrence may have offered Faisal vague palliatives in February over how Aqaba might best be taken to secure the Arabs" move north, it almost certainly wasn"t until the two men were reunited in Wejh in mid-April that the inland plan took tangible form.
41 "I was very sorry": Faisal to Lawrence, undated but notated "about the end of March," 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 18A.
Chapter 12: An Audacious Scheme.
1 "So far as all ranks": Dobell, as cited by Keogh, Suez to Aleppo, p. 102.
2 "a fit partner for": Wilson, War Message to Congress, April 2, 1917.
3 "You beat us at communiques": Moore, The Mounted Riflemen in Sinai and Palestine, p. 67.
4 "He has married": Lawrence, "The Howeitat and their Chiefs," Arab Bulletin no. 57 (July 24, 1917): 30910.
5 "Faisal always listened": Lawrence to Liddell Hart, October 31, 1933; Graves and Hart, T. E. Lawrence: Letters to His Biographers, Pt. 2, pp. 18889.
6 "The move to Aqaba": Clayton directive of March 8, 1917, with copies to Wingate, C. Wilson, and Lawrence; PRO-FO 686/6, f. 46.
7 "The occupation of Aqaba": Clayton to Wingate, May 29, 1917; PRO-FO 882/6, f. 388.
8 "After a moment I knew": Lawrence, Seven Pillars, p. 222.
9 "Of course it is impossible": Lyndon Bell to Lloyd, March 17, 1917; GLLD 9/3.
10 "a venerable and": Sykes to Wingate, February 22, 1917; PRO-FO 882/16, f. 58.
11 "it does not appear": Foreign Office to Wingate, March 14, 1917; SADD Wingate Papers, 145/3/38.
12 "obliterate" the thought: Grey to Buchanan, amba.s.sador to Russia, March 16, 1916; PRO-FO 371/2767, Registry 49669.
13 These discussions had: Adelson, Mark Sykes, p. 220.
14 "a Jewish State in": As quoted by Friedman, The Question of Palestine, p. 130.
15 "offering to make War Office": Adelson, Mark Sykes, pp. 22021.
16 "the French have no": As quoted by Friedman, The Question of Palestine, p. 131.
17 After initially giving: Hardegg to Glazebrook, April 2, 1917; NARA RG84, Entry 448, Volume 3.
18 Even if she had bowed: The best English-language source on the life of Sarah Aaronsohn is Engle, The Nili Spies.
19 One measure of her steeliness: Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn, p. 287.
20 According to Sarah: Aaronsohn, Diary, April 19, 1917; ZY.
21 "I said I considered": Ibid., March 12, 1917.
22 "Main difficulty": Sykes to War Office, April 30, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3053, f. 19193.
23 He quickly dispatched: As Aaronsohn noted in his diary on April 27, 1917, "I went to see [Wyndham] Deedes and told him that Sir Mark [Sykes] wanted me to submit the telegrams announcing the sacking of Jewish Jaffa through him."
24 In writing on the plight: Aaronsohn, "Addendum to "Report of an inhabitant of Athlit," " undated but November 1916; PRO-FO 371/2783.
25 "Aaron Aaronsohn asks me": Sykes to Graham, April 28, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055.
26 "It is with profound": Jewish Chronicle (London), May 4, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055.
27 Over the next few days: See PRO-FO 371/3055, File 87895.
28 In the case of the British: Oliphant, minutes to "Jews in Palestine," May 4, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055, File 87895.
29 "I think we ought to use": Ormsby-Gore to Sykes, May 8, 1917; MSP-47, p. 4.
30 "During Pa.s.sover": Wingate to Foreign Office, May 11, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055.
31 "Djemal Pasha Blamed": New York Times, June 3, 1917.
32 After initially refusing: One of the most interesting doc.u.ments related to the Jaffa evacuation was a report written by Heinrich Brode, the German consul in Jerusalem, to Richard von Kuhlmann, the new German amba.s.sador, on April 5, 1917. Sensitive to any governmental actions that might alienate the Jewish population in Palestine, Brode had taken his concerns about the Jaffa evacuation order to Djemal Pasha. At their meeting, Djemal clarified that those Jaffa Jews involved in agriculture could stay on, while those being evacuated could proceed to Jerusalem if they wished, a destination denied "Ottomans." Brode to Kuhlmann, April 5, 1917; NARA T120, Roll 4333, Turkei 195, Band 12, Frames K1785028.
33 These a.s.sertions were seconded: Turkish Legation to the Netherlands, May 24, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055. Also, Alvarado to Hardinge, June 8, 1917; PRO-FO 371/3055.
34 To lend further authority: Deedes to Egypt High Commissioner"s Office, Cairo, June 1, 1917; PRO-FO 141/805.
35 "Turkish atrocities": Aaronsohn to Sulzberger, June 2, 1917; PRO-FO 141/805.