The Great War and Jewish Memory - Essay Example

It was evident that Britain had double-crossed the Arabs by issuing them the Balfour Declaration which was the second time they have done such an act. McMahon was still communicating with Hussein in ways to negotiate with the French regarding the nature of the territories. After the negotiation, Britain, and France divided the region between themselves in order to have control indirectly or directly. The much of todays Lebanon, as well as the Syrian coast, was taken by France while Britain took southern and central Mesopotamia. Palestine was taken by Christian powers notably Russia and other international administration which had interests in the area. The rest of the areas were controlled by the British in the south and French in the north.

The British worked diligently for founding an independent state that Jews could inhibit in Palestine. Since Balfour was a Zionist, he came up with an argument saying Jews were the minority compared to the population of Arabs in the area that was supposed to be inhibited by Jews instead (Winter, 2015). Therefore, the entry of more Jews was facilitated by Britain whereby they came and bought land. The region was divided into two states one being owned by the Arabs and the other by the Jews. The Balfour Declaration being watered down brought distress to the Jews making them resort to terrorism as a way of persuading British to leave the region. It caused the death of the British minister of the Middle East causing the speed up of establishing of two states in Palestine.

In conclusion, the difference between Ottoman and Britain is found to have huge impacts on the region of Palestine that the effects are still seen today. Besides, the vast effects were caused by the European politics of the First World War which continued influencing the Middle East. After the United Kingdom was able to impact the region, it used its mandate system to exploit their economy causing the break-up of the Ottoman Empire. However, the effects that caused during First World War are still powerful since the military campaign remunerated during the war. But, the British made a big mistake of double-crossing the Arabs for it resulted in the death of their minister as the Arabs were fighting for their Agendas. Therefore, some of the effects that people see today in Palestine can be traced back during First World War.

References

Choueiri, Y. M. (2016). Arab nationalism. The Routledge Handbook of Muslim-Jewish Relations, 317.

Nugent, N. (2017). The government and politics of the European Union. Springer.

Winter, J. (2015). The Great War and Jewish memory. European Judaism, 48(1), 3-22.