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Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎49r] (101/380)

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The record is made up of 1 file (187 folios). It was created in 1 Jul 1916-7 Dec 1918. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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/
A
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I imagine that our reply is intended to indicate
our cordial acceptance of the French contentions,
where they are identical with our own, hut also to
state quite clearly our interpretation of our political
position in Arabia, which has behind it the sanction
and prescription of 100 years, whereas the French
claims rest on no achievement and are only pegged out
in the air.
If this be our object, I do not think that it is
adequately carried out by the proposed draft.
(i) The draft accepts and joins in the French
declaration as regards the Holy Places. This is quite
sound; but it goes on, unsolicited, to lay down that
i»it is undesirable that the Arab power in possession of
the Holy Places should, as regards its internal affairs,
be under European influence at all”.
(ii) The draft then proceeds to explain what is
meant by this disclaimer. It says tuat Great Jritain
has been placed in a very special position in the
Hejaz, and has borne the whole military and financial
burden of the rising, but that ”there is no reason
known to His Majesty’s Government why this exceptional
condition of things should continue when the war is
over, at which date it is the intention of Kis
Majesty’s Government that the status of the Hejaz
should revert to the condition of complete internal
independence”.
I submit that the above passage is open to two
grave objections:
(a) It gives as an illustration of interference
with internal affairs and with complete internal
independence what has really nothing to do with either
viz.

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Content

This file contains correspondence, memoranda, maps, manuscript notes, and other papers relating to the political and territorial settlement of parts of the Middle East following the First World War. Many of the papers were collected for the attention of the Middle East Committee (later named the Eastern Committee, following the mergence of the Foreign Office's Russia Committee and the interdepartmental Persia Committee) of the War Cabinet. Contributors include officials from the War Office, Foreign Office, Admiralty, and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , as well as indivduals such as Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Correspondence comes from representatives of the French and Italian governments as well as British officials in Cairo and other parts of the Middle East.

The papers deal with plans for the region presuming and following an Allied victory in the First World War and take into consideration the imperial ambitions of the victorious European Powers (France, Italy, Russia, Britain, and the United States) and the multitudinous commitments made by the British to various groups. The plans are based on evolving agreements rooted in the Sykes-Picot, or Asia Minor, Agreement between the British and French of 1916. Regions under consideration include the Hejaz (sometimes written Hedjaz), Syria, Northern Iraq, Southern Iraq, Palestine, Armenia, Turkey, the Idrisi state, Yemen, Persia, and Afghanistan. Various matters are covered in the file, but particular focus is given to plans for the Sherifian family of the Hejaz, led by King Husein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], which impacted upon policy in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula. Other matters include the situation between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, wartime commitments to ruling shaikhs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the French position in the region, and desiderata of the Government of India for any peace settlement.

Extent and format
1 file (187 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order from the front to the back.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front first page with 1, and terminates at the inside back last page with 187; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎49r] (101/380), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/277, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100079857498.0x000066> [accessed 13 June 2026]

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