The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (69 page)

25.
 “it is very possible …” Ahad Ha’am to Weizmann, December 16, 1914, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 7.

26.
 “Even in the West …” Appendix 1, Note A 189 (14–15), August 14, 1917, NA, Cab23/3.

27.
 “They have been different …” Quoted in Tomes,
Balfour and Foreign Policy
, 29.

28.
 “I have the liveliest …” Quoted in Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 153.

29.
 “Balfour remembered …” Weizmann to Ahad Ha’am, December 14–15, 1914, in Stein,
Letters
, letter no. 68, 7:81–83.

30.
 “What a great difference …” “Report submitted to the members of the Executive of the International Zionist Organization,” January 7, 1915, ibid., letter no. 95, 7:115. Letters no. 68 and 95 both reprise the meeting in essentially the same terms.

31.
 “You probably will find …” C. P. Scott to Weizmann, January 14, 1915, WI.

32.
 “I answered …” Weizmann,
Trial and Error
, 150.

33.
 “It is hoped …” “The Future of Palestine,” January 1915, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers, Break up of Ottoman Empire (Palestine) file, DR. 588.25.

34.
 “I am not attracted …” Quoted in Samuel,
Memoirs
, 142.

  1.
 “They threatened to remain …” Wolf to Chief Commissioner of Police, August 31, 1914; Wolf to Assistant Commissioner of Police, September 7, 1914; Yivo Institute, Lucien Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 5.

  2.
 Leo Maxse, editor … 
National Review
, September 1914.

  3.
 No non-Jewish … Levene,
War, Jews
, 34.

  4.
 “My misfortunes extend …” Wolf to Coumbe, January 5, 1915, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 2.

  5.
 
He threatened to sue … Wolf to Hutchinson, October 16, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 5.

  6.
 “All we have to consider …” Wolf to Bulloch, November 30, 1914, ibid., Wolf Papers.

  7.
 “It is not only the carnage …” Wolf to Neil Primrose, August 7, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 4. Neil Primrose was a Liberal MP for the Wisbech division of Cambridgeshire and second son of Hannah Rothschild and former Liberal Prime Minister Lord Rosebery; ironically, he was later a Weizmann ally.

  8.
 “We were bound …” Wolf to Lady Primrose, August 11, 1914, ibid., microfilm reel 7.

  9.
 “the German people …” Wolf,
Jewish Ideals and the War
, 3.

10.
 “With their invincible …”
Jewish Chronicle
, December 11, 1914.

11.
 “To me there have always …” Wolf to G. De Wesseslitsky, May 25, 1915, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 5.

12.
 Harry Sacher called upon Lucien Wolf … Sacher to Weizmann, November 17, 1914, WI.

13.
 In their ensuing correspondence … Wolf to Sacher, November 26, November 30, December 3, December 11, December 18, and December 24, 1914, WI. For example, Wolf had wanted to know more precisely whom Sacher represented; he wanted a written record of Sacher’s position; he wanted assurances that the meeting, when it finally did take place, would be with formal representatives of the Zionist organizations; he wanted to be sure that Sacher or other Zionists were not approaching other members of the Conjoint Committee.

14.
 “against unauthorized persons …” Wolf to Alexander and Montefiore, January 7, 1915, CZA, A7732.

15.
 “Whatever be the merits …” Palestine Memorandum, March 1915, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers.

16.
 “inclined to the sympathetic …” Haldane to Samuel, February 12, 1915; Fisher to Samuel, illegible date but probably February 21, 1915, Reading to Samuel, February 5, 1915, ibid., Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

17.
 “does not care a damn …” Quoted in Reinharz,
Weizmann
, 26.

18.
 “fired about two hundred …” Jim Vincent, “Memoir” [of Edwin Montagu],
Norfolk Post
, November 22, 1924.

19.
 “children and animals …”
Times
, November 19, 1924.

20.
 the first formal meeting … “The Palestinian Question. Negotiations between the Conjoint Committee & the Zionists. London, July 20, 1915,” Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 6. All quotations are taken from this source. A fourth assimilationist at the meeting was H. S. Henriques, a lawyer.

21.
 Five months had elapsed … When Wolf realized that the Zionists were less interested in the cultural aspect than Sacher had claimed, he sought to pin them down, to nail them to it. Who better to provide the hammer than Herbert Samuel, with whom Weizmann had recently conferred? Wolf met with Samuel on February 28, 1915, in Samuel’s offices. As their discussion drew to a close, Wolf asked Mr. Samuel whether I might take it that we were agreed on the two following points:

Pleased with this outcome, Wolf sought to balance Weizmann’s meeting with Lloyd George too, for the chancellor was an even bigger hammer than the president of the Board of Trade.
But Lloyd George must have been too busy to see him at this point, for the meeting does not appear to have taken place. (Wolf to Sir Charles Henry, March 30, 1915, CZA, A7731.)

22.
 Three additional men … The other two were Joseph Cowen, president of the EZF, and Herbert Bentwich, a veteran of the English Zionist movement, who in fact had been a founding member of the EZF and who currently served as president of the Ancient Order of the Maccabeans.

  1.
 
dömnes
, or “crypto-Jews.”
Dömnes
were a community descended from the disciples and adherents of Sabbatai Tsvi, who abandoned Judaism and adopted Islam in the late seventeenth century. See Moorehead,
Gallipoli
, 19.

  2.
 These Jewish puppeteers … Berridge,
Fitzmaurice
, 145–48.

  3.
 Hugh James O’Bierne … O’Bierne served in St. Petersburg, Washington, D.C., and Constantinople, steadily rising in rank until being appointed minister plenipotentiary in the Russian capital in 1913. See his obituary in
Great Britain and the Near East
, June 9, 1916.

  4.
 The two men came into contact … Miller,
Straits
.

  5.
 After some hesitation … But this is a simplification. For a blow-by-blow account, see Hall,
Bulgaria’s Road
, 285–323.

  6.
 possibly Herbert Samuel … This is the speculation of Sanders,
High Walls
, 334.

  7.
 the shadowy, malign … Berridge,
Fitzmaurice
, 233–34.

  8.
 “a very veiled suggestion …” Quoted in Sanders,
High Walls
, 325. The American professor was Horace Kallen.

  9.
 “What the Jews …” “Palestine,” January 27, 1916, February 28, 1916, NA, FO371/2671/138708. The Italian businessman was Edgar Suarez. 155 If Britain did not act … For the German dimension, see Friedman,
Question of Palestine
, 53.

10.
 “I read the memorandum …” Sykes to Samuel, February 26, 1916, House of Lords Record Office, Samuel Papers, Correspondence, vol. 1, 1915–17.

11.
 “You must speak Zionism …” Reinharz,
Weizmann
, 79–80.

12.
 The French worried … The two French Jewish professors were Dr. Nahum Slousch, a Zionist, and Victor Basch, an anti-Zionist. It is a historic irony, given Germany’s later role with regard to Jews, that during World War I she could appear to them, at least on some occasions, as a savior. In the Russian and Polish territories that came under her control, Germany abolished anti-Semitic regulations, encouraged various social, cultural, and educational initiatives that would benefit Jews, favored appointing Jews to municipal councils, and appointed a Jew to head the Jewish department of her civil administration in Poland. Whatever the underlying motives, Germany announced that the Jews of Warsaw would be emancipated as soon as German soldiers had liberated the city. See Levene,
War, Jews
, 85.

13.
 “I am not a Zionist …” “Suggestions for a Pro-Allies Propaganda among the Jews of the United States,” December 15, 1916, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 7.

14.
 “Mr. Lloyd George has …” Wolf to Lord Reading, February 24, 1916. Ibid. The French contact was Professor Basch.

15.
 “In the event of Palestine …” Wolf to Cecil, March 3, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

16.
 “We should inform …” Ibid.

17.
 “It has been suggested …” O’Bierne, minute, February 28, 1916, NA, FO371/2671.

18.
 “To obtain Jewish …” Reading to Montagu, March 19, 1916, Lord Reading Papers, Mss. Eur. F118/95. For two blow-by-blow accounts, see Friedman,
Question of Palestine
, 48–64, focusing upon the Zionist perspective, and Levene,
War, Jews
, 77–107, focusing on Wolf’s perspective.

19.
 “when in the course of time …” Crewe to Sir George Buchanan, March 11, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

20.
 “It must be admitted” … O’Bierne, minute, March 22, 1916, NA, FO371/2671.

21.
 
“The present time” … Cecil, minute, June 29, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

22.
 “It is evident” … O’Bierne, minute, March 15, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

  1.
 “might be made …” Crewe to Sir George Buchanan, March 11, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

  2.
 “inestimable advantages …” Sykes, telegram, March 14, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

  3.
 “I have repeatedly told Picot …” Sykes, telegram, March 16, 1916, NA, FO371/2767.

  4.
 “we bump into a thing …” Sykes, telegram, March 18, 1916, NA, FO800/381.

  5.
 “I do not think it easy …” Cecil, March 3, 1916, NA, FO371/2817.

  6.
 “It practically comes to …” Quoted in Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 278–79, n27.

  7.
 “The suggestion about which …” Samuel to Gaster, April 20, 1916, CZA, A203227.

  8.
 “My Dear Rabbi” … Sykes to Gaster, April 28, 1916, CZA, A203227.

  9.
 Sykes questioned … Gaster to Sykes, November 3, 1916, Hull University, Sykes Collection, Zionism file, 4/203. He delivered at least the maps of Britain and Palestine.

10.
 Picot told Sykes … Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 361, n3.

11.
 Aaron Aaronsohn … Historians have been aware of Aaronsohn’s role ever since the 1963 publication of Stein,
Balfour Declaration
.

12.
 “He is one of the …” Quoted in Sanders,
High Walls
, 408.

13.
 The NILI spy ring … Ibid., 413.

14.
 So Aaronsohn went to London … All information on Aaronsohn, including diary quotations, is taken from Sanders,
High Walls
, 405–416; Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 285–95; and
www.hagshama.org.il/en/resources/view.asp?id=1854
.

15.
 a public meeting convened … 
Ararat
, June 1916.

16.
 “His previous career …” Board of Trade official, August 1916, NA, FO668/1601.

17.
 “I only once met Malcolm …” John Buchan, minute, August 14, 1916, NA, FO668/1601.

18.
 “I recounted the gist …” James Malcolm, “Origins of the Balfour Declaration: Dr. Weizmann’s Contribution,” Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, J&ME, LSOC/2.

19.
 “James Malcolm—the Gentile Zionist” … Unidentifiable clipping, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 8. It may simply be based upon the Malcolm manuscript.

20.
 But other accounts suggest … Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 361–68; and Sanders,
High Walls
, 451–54.

21.
 “He had met Sir Mark …” Quoted in Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 367.

22.
 “Can I see you anywhere …” Gaster to Sykes, January 29, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, Zionism file 4/203.

23.
 “I then learned that W.…” Quoted in Stein,
Balfour Declaration
, 367.

  1.
 “Deposition and death” … Quoted in Kayali,
Arabs
, 197.

  2.
 At the outset of the revolt … The Harb, the Ateibah, and the Juheinah most prominently, although they drew from tribes farther north and south of central Hejaz as well.
Arab Bulletin
, February 6, 1917, no. 41, p. 55. During the later stages of the revolt, as many as seventy thousand Arabs belonged to the Sharifian forces.

  3.
 “the value of the tribes …” “Military Notes,”
Arab Bulletin
, October 26, 1916, no. 32, p. 478.

  4.
 “spread in a fanlike movement …”
Great Britain and the Near East
, March 31, 1916.

  5.
 “I have drunk the cup …” “Faruki’s Report to His Excellency General Clayton, C.M.G.,” n.d., NA, FO882/4, Arab Bureau, 4.

  6.
 “Our small force …”
Tanin
, July 26, 1916, quoted in
Arab Bulletin
, August 30, 1916, no. 17, p. 192.

  7.
 “probably more through …” “Arab Revolt in the Hejaz,”
Arab Bulletin
, June 18, 1916, no. 5, p. 44.

  8.
 “At Jeddah, the Shereef’s …”
Great Britain and the Near East
, August 4, 1916.