Palestine / Diplomacy & law / Late Ottoman period, to 1917
McMahon's letter to Sharif Hussein of Mecca
24 October 1915, Cairo
Letter from the British High Commissioner in Egypt to the Sharif of Mecca setting out the area Britain would recognise for Arab independence, with reservations.
What the sources say
The letter reserves from the area of Arab independence the districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and the portions of Syria west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo.
The two districts of Mersina and Alexandretta and portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo
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The letter does not mention Palestine by name.
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The 1922 White Paper gives the British government's reading that the reservation excluded Palestine west of the Jordan from McMahon's pledge.
The whole of Palestine west of the Jordan was thus excluded from Sir. Henry McMahon's pledge.
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A U.S. diplomatic dispatch relays The Times' report that McMahon, in a letter published on 23 July 1937, said he had not intended to include Palestine in the independent Arab area.
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The Arab members of the 1939 committee held that Palestine was included in the area of Arab independence, in fact and in intention, and that McMahon's exclusions rested on French interests.
There is no room for doubt that Palestine was in fact and in intention included
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Where they disagree
Meaning
Did McMahon's letter of 24 October 1915 exclude Palestine from the area of Arab independence?
The letter never names Palestine. The dispute turns on whether its reservation of "portions of Syria lying to the west of the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo" covered it.
Excluded: the British reading
The reservation covered the land west of the Jordan; McMahon later said he never intended to include Palestine.
Included: the Arab reading
Palestine is not named in any exclusion, and the exclusions the letter does make rest on French interests.
Connected events
- Anglo-Arab committee reports on the McMahon correspondence (16 March 1939) responded to this
The 1939 committee was set up to examine the 1915–1916 correspondence.
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