The Politics of Deception: Britain and Palestine, 1914-1939

During World War I, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, entered into secret correspondence with the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali. On behalf of the Asquith government, McMahon promised the Sharif the creation of an independent Arab state after the war in exchange for an alliance with Britain and a revolt against the Ottomans. However, two years later, the Lloyd George government proclaimed Palestine as a national home for the Jewish people. British authorities and pro-Zionist historians still claim that Palestine was never part of the territories promised to the Sharif. Peter Shambrook refutes this. Based on a deep analysis of official archives and private documents, Shambrook reconstructs the chronicle of how Britain renounced its oaths. The author reveals for the first time the mechanisms by which successive British governments attempted to conceal the very fact of these promises.