A Chance of a Peace Lost

Just think what could have been in our region if; "the educated among us" as was explained simply by his Royal Highness Prince Faisal Husseini, king of Syria and Iraq in his letter of  March 3,1919 to Felix Frankfurter had taken steps to cease the hatred and allow the Jews the promised homeland so long denied us.

Faisal had stated to  Frankfurter and Weizmann that there "is room in Syria for us both".

He did not claim that there was on place for the Jews as is claimed today. 

He even admitted to the importance of educating those; "People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours," who are "ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists" and  "have been trying to exploit the local difficulties".

I truly believe here that Emir Feisal was referring to Syrian Islamic Nationalists like those who taught Amir El Hussanei who were staunch anti-Semites who as he says have "misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry". 

Emir Feisal and his "educated followers" attempted to prevent the rivalry and hatred among his fellow arabs while presenting his willingness to live in peace with the early members of the Yishuv.

Introduction: 

During the peace conference following World War I, the Emir Faisal exchanged letters with Justice Felix Frankfurter, professing his support for Zionist aims. In the light of later history and the current characterization of the Zionist movement, it is significant that Faisal wrote:

We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist. Our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both. Indeed I think that neither can be a real success without the other.

A letter from his His Royal Highness Prince Faisal Husseini, king of Syria and Iraq to Felix Frankfurter, associate of Dr. Chaim Weizmann:

Letter to Felix Frankfurter written by
T. E. Lawrence in the name
of Prince Faisal, March 1919

DELEGATION HEDJAZIENNE,
Paris, March 3, 1919.

DEAR MR. FRANKFURTER: I want to take this opportunity of my first contact with American Zionists to tell you what I have often been able to say to Dr. Weizmann in Arabia and Europe.

We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together.

We Arabs, especially the educated among us look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through: we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home.

With the chiefs of your movement, especially with Dr. Weizmann, we have had and continue to have the closest relations. He has been a great helper of our cause, and I hope the Arabs may soon be in a position to make the Jews some return for their kindness. We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist. Our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both. Indeed I think that neither can be a real success without the other.

People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movements. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry, and our aims to the Jewish peasantry, with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital out of what they call our differences.

I wish to give you my firm conviction that these differences are not on questions of principle, but on matters detail such as must inevitably occur in every contact of neighboring peoples, and as are easily adjusted by mutual good will. Indeed nearly all of them will disappear with fuller knowledge.

I look forward, and my people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so that the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their places in the community of civilized peoples of the world.

Believe me,

Yours sincerely,

(Sgd.) Feisal. 5th MARCH, 1919.

Felix Frankfurter's reply:

ROYAL HIGHNESS:

Allow me, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, to acknowledge your recent letter with deep appreciation.

Those of us who come from the United States have already been gratified by the friendly relations and the active co-operation maintained between you and the Zionist leaders, particularly Dr. Weizmann. We knew it could not be otherwise; we knew that the aspirations of the Arab and the Jewish peoples were parallel, that each aspired to re-establish its nationality in its own homeland, each making its own distinctive contribution to civilization, each seeking its own peaceful mode of life.

The Zionist leaders and the Jewish people for whom they speak have watched with satisfaction the spiritual vigor of the Arab movement. Themselves seeking justice, they are anxious that the just national aims of the Arab people be confirmed and safeguarded by the Peace Conference.

We knew from your acts and your past utterances that the Zionist movement-in other words the national aim of the Jewish people-had your support and the support of the Arab people for whom you speak. These aims are now before the Peace Conference as definite proposals by the Zionist Organization. We are happy indeed that you consider these proposals "moderate and proper," and that we have in you a staunch supporter for their realization. For both the Arab and the Jewish peoples there are difficulties ahead-difficulties that challenge the united statesmanship of Arab and Jewish leaders. For it is no easy task to rebuild two great civilizations that have been suffering oppression and misrule for centuries. We each have our difficulties we shall work out as friends, friends who are animated by similar purposes, seeking a free and full development for the two neighboring peoples. The Arabs and Jews are neighbors in territory; we cannot but live side by side as friends.

Very respectfully,

(Sgd.) Felix Frankfurter.

Agreement between Emir Faisal and Dr. Weizmann

Following the First World War, Emir Faisal, son of Mecca, and the leader of the Arab movement, met in Aqaba with Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the head of the Zionist Commission to Palestine. Later, at the Paris Peace Conference, the two negotiated and signed the following agreement, which spoke of full cooperation in the development of the independent Arab state in present-day Syria and Iraq (as promised by the British to Faisal) and the Jewish home in Palestine (from the Balfour Declaration), and encouraging "the immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale".

Emir Faisal and the Arab Delegation
 at the Paris Peace Conference 1919

Emir Faisal's Delegation at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. At the centre, from left to right: Rustum Haidar, Nuri as-Said, Prince Faisal, Captain Pisani (behind Faisal) T. E. Lawrence, Faisal's assistant (name unknown), Captain Tahsin Qadri.

Photo on upper right is of the cover of the; Book of the Independence of Syria,8 March 1920, showing the declared borders of Faisal's Arab Kingdom of Syria, including "Palestine".

Here is the historic agreement negated by the Machiavellian  maneuvers of the French and the British. 

Agreement Between Emir Faisal and Dr. Weizmann

3 January, 1919

His Royal Highness the Emir Faisal, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz, and Dr. Chaim Weizmann, representing and acting on behalf of the Zionist Organization, mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realizing that the surest means of working out the consummation of their natural aspirations is through the closest possible collaboration in the development of the Arab State and Palestine, and being desirous further of confirming the good understanding which exists between them, have agreed upon the following:

Articles:

Article I

The Arab State and Palestine in all their relations and undertakings shall be controlled by the most cordial goodwill and understanding and to this end Arab and Jewish duly accredited agents shall be established and maintained in the respective territories.

Article II

Immediately following the completion of the deliberations of the Peace Conference, the definite boundaries between the Arab State and Palestine shall be determined by a Commission to be agreed upon by the parties hereto.

Article III

In the establishment of the Constitution and Administration of Palestine, all such measures shall be adopted as will afford the fullest guarantees for carrying into effect the British Government's Declaration of the 2nd of November, 1917. ( the Balfour Declaration

Article IV

All necessary measures shall be taken to encourage and stimulate immigration of Jews into Palestine on a large scale, and as quickly as possible to settle Jewish immigrants upon the land through closer settlement and intensive cultivation of the soil. In taking such measures the Arab peasant and tenant farmers shall be protected in their rights and shall be assisted in forwarding their economic development.

Article V

No regulation or law shall be made prohibiting or interfering in any way with the free exercise of religion; and further, the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall ever be required for the exercise of civil or political rights.

Article VI

The Mohammedan Holy Places shall be under Mohammedan control.

Signature page of the agreement,
 showing Faisal's caveat in Arabic.
Faisal could not read English.

Article VII

The Zionist Organization proposes to send to Palestine a Commission of experts to make a survey of the economic possibilities of the country, and to report upon the best means for its development. The Zionist Organization will place the aforementioned Commission at the disposal of the Arab State for the purpose of a survey of the economic possibilities of the Arab State and to report upon the best means for its development. The Zionist Organization will use its best efforts to assist the Arab State in providing the means for developing the natural resources and economic possibilities thereof.

Article VIII

The parties hereto agree to act in complete accord and harmony on all matters embraced herein before the Peace Congress.

Article IX

Any matters of dispute which may arise between the contracting parties hall be referred to the British Government for arbitration.

Given under our hand at London, England, the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and nineteen

Chaim Weizmann Faisal Ibn-Hussein

Regretfully, the agreement of course was not carried out, mostly due to the Machiavellian change in Allied policy regarding the Arab State which Faisal had planned to establish.

Reservation by the Emir Faisal

"If the Arabs are established as I have asked in my manifesto of 4 January, addressed to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, I will carry out what is written in this agreement. If changes are made, I cannot be answerable for failing to carry out this agreement."

As to the failure of the agreement please refer to the exchange of letters between the Sharif of Mecca, Husayn bin Ali, and Sir Henry McMahon, British High Commissioner in Egypt, from the 14 July 1915 to 30 January 1916 during World War I known as the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence. This was an exchange of letters letters in which the Arabs declared that they would revolt in alliance with the United Kingdom, and in return the UK would recognize Arab independence, concerning the political status of lands under the Ottoman Empire. 

The Arabs did not obtain their independence and the Faisal-Weizmann agreement survived only a few months. The decision of the peace conference itself refused independence for the vast Arab-inhabited lands that Faisal desired, mainly because the British and French had struck their own secret Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916 dividing the Middle East between their own spheres of influence.

Just think for one moment and consider the impact of how this last part of the statement by Emir Faisal:  "I cannot be answerable for failing to carry out this agreement",  changed history forever and condemned thousands if not a millions people to death and agony! 

One wonders just how many lives would have been saved had the Machiavellian maneuvers of the French and the British had not played out.  

It will take brave and courageous men and women who are driven to work together to bring about a miracle of peace for one and all.

Cynical Exploitation of Under Age Children

In light of the recent blatant exploitation of under age children / minors in the mounting violence inspired by Hamas and the “Falestinian Authority” in the rioting in Jerusalem against Israel. I thought it oh just so hypocritical that the entire international community; and the world media are ever so ready to turn a blind eye to the fact that the sole reason for the presence of the Israeli Police and Border Guards in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem is to quell civil disobedience by rioters. However it is blatantly clear that the Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian groups are using children in what appears to be a new Intifada against Israel by breaking the law and threatening innocent civilians.

These so called “minors” are being sent to throw stones and firebombs, and launch fireworks at policemen and border guards- “officers of the law”, as well as at Israeli civilians and vehicles, including buses and the light rail in Jerusalem who have been sent into the neighborhoods to restore civil order..

Instead of condemning those “law breakers”, who cynically exploit these “children” and young adults, to violently confront "officers of the law." The international community and the media are busy being manipulated into denouncing these “officers of the law” for performing their sworn duty to maintain civic order.

These "officers of the law" are using non-lethal means in their attempts to disburse the rioters who are being goaded and stroked into attacking and injuring the “officers of the law”  by all sorts of lethal means such as; large stones, Molotov Cocktails, slingshots, burning tires and even vehicles. In any other country when violent means are used by rioters against "officers of the law" they respond by using all of the exact same means at their disposal to defend themselves.

Yet when "officers of the law" here in Israel respond, Hamas and Fatah terrorist operators cynically inflame these “minors” into acts which draw violent responses by the "officers of the law" to defend not only themselves but other innocent civilians.

When "officers of the law" in any part of the globe see themselves threatened with bodily harm or that civilian lives are at stake they respond and violators and criminals are either "neutralized" or arrested. Yet, when this happens in Israel the Media is manipulated to always blame Israel for "deliberately targeting" “Falestinian” children — an allegation the media in the West endorses without question because to them Jerusalem and Judea and Shomron are the “Occupied West Bank”.

Most of us “normal” parents in the western world would be thinking; “What in the world could be motivating a normal thinking parent to allow a child of theirs to be outside in risk of his life?” What sort of corrupt moralistic values are involved here?

Very few outside of the Middle East are aware and have been informed by the Western Media that over the years Arab governments and Palestinian groups have offered large financial rewards to the families of the "Shadidim- Martyrs". Many of these Palestinian children have been cynically brainwashed from birth to hate Jews -not "just" Zionists but as "Good" Moslems ALL Jews in their UNWRA and Palestinian Authority run schools. These "Shadidim" are often times from large families who reside in squalid refugee camps kept there to fester by their own leaders. These poor deprived youth come from low income families who are less motivated to stop their children from risking their lives than those of the "educated' upper classes of the Palestinian "Elite". Many Arab youth have been inflamed into further hatred by foreign outside agitators whose sole reasoning for coming to "Palestine" is to deepen the hatred. Just as the poor "Shadidim" these brainwashed "Liberal" youth are cynically manipulated by the "Palestinian Leadership" who have grown wealthy from the millions poured into the bottomless coffers in the name of "Palestine". As one Palestinian Arab once told me; “You’d never see one of “Their” children as a “Shahid”!”

Now allow us to review the recent cases of the two Palestinians with US citizenship:

The fifteen-year-old Palestinian-American Tariq Abu khadeir, from Florida, was actively involved in the rioting in Jerusalem when he was chased down caught and beaten. One wonders what he did to deserve the beating the way he did. ( It is highly interesting and questionable that the "unescorted minor" just happened to be filmed being beaten up, yet his actions in the violent demonstrations  prior to this is not filmed. Nor is there a reason mentioned as to why he was allowed to be outside during a riot?)

Orwah Hammad, whose age is quoted as being from 14 to 17(?) was killed near the West Bank town of Silwad, near Ramallah. ( Hammad lives with his mother in Silwad his father, Abdul Wahhab Hammad, resides in Louisiana )  As the police inquiry reveals, the police officer saw a masked individual with a Khaffiyeh standing prepared to heave a lit bottle of fuel (a Molotov Cocktail) at a SUV traveling  on the road below. Fully releasing the consequences of the deadly effect on the vehicle the “Officer of the Law” took

immediate lethal force to prevent a possible homicide. As it turned out the SUV in question was driven by a Jewish “Settler” with her three “minor” children. What could have happened when the Molotov Cocktail filled with burning fuel had hit the windshield of the moving vehicle with a mother and her three small children was what went through our “Officer of the Law’s” mind.

From the distance the officer could not determine that the masked individual was a 14 year old Arab, with US citizenship. What the “Officer of the Law” shot was a law breaker preparing to use deadly force against a civilian in a violent act by throwing "Molotov Cocktails" at Israeli “civilians.

And what was the Palestinian response? They buried in a ceremony as a Hamas terrorist wrapped in a Hamas flag with a Hamas bandana wrapped around his head.

The US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called for "speedy and transparent investigation" of the incident and sent its "deepest condolences" to this kid's family? Now that the incident is know, nobody asks how yet again the parents of a juvenile American citizen was allowed to venture out and participate in breaking laws in Israel yet again?

By the way according to the web site of the Department of State “Hamas” is designated as a (FTO) Foreign Terrorist Organizations since the 8th of October 1997. May we ask State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki for a comment on this fact to explain just how the US Government "expresses its deepest condolences" over his death as a member of a US Government declared FTO?

The world press must be held accountable for not telling the truth just as adult activists who encourage and send children to take part in violence should be held accountable. Israel needs to show the truth that the “Palestinian Leadership” once more is using its people, its children to confront Israeli “Officers of the Law” and not to negotiate for their benefit.