GREAT BRITAIN. PARLIAMENT.
Miscellaneous No. 3 (1939). Correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon, His Majesty’s High Commissioner at Cairo, and the Sherif Hussein of Mecca, July 1915—March 1916.
THE MCMAHON-HUSSEIN CORRESPONDENCE
GREAT BRITAIN. PARLIAMENT.
Miscellaneous No. 3 (1939). Correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon, His Majesty’s High Commissioner at Cairo, and the Sherif Hussein of Mecca, July 1915—March 1916.
Two important parliamentary papers, focused on the McMahon-Hussein correspondence and its aftermath. The correspondence, which consisted of ten letters, saw the Government of the United Kingdom agree to recognise Arab independence in a large part of the Middle East after WWI, in exchange for Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashimi, the Sharif of Mecca beginning the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire. This agreement, and its fraught implementation, cast a long shadow over the modern history of the region, particularly in relation to the future of Palestine.
The first paper prints the correspondence in full, evidencing how negotiations principally concerned the future limits and boundaries of the proposed Arab state. It is complimented by a folding map showing the pre-war division of Syria and Palestine into Ottoman administrative districts.
The second paper prints the report of a committee that investigated the correspondence in 1939. Formed of two groups of representatives, one Arab and one British, the committee analysed the original text and its translation, particularly in respect to the sections on Palestine. It was the conviction of the Arab representatives that Palestine had been included in the agreed independent Arab territory, and that Palestinian Arabs had been betrayed by the events that followed WWI.
References: Clements, pp.63-5. Khalidi & Khadduri, 1533: “[Describing the first paper:] The first official publication of this correspondence.”
