Introduction
Contemporary academic analysis is concentrated on the issue of states’ emergence. The former is analyzed in different social, political, and economic contexts. Such state of affairs can be explained from the practical point of view, meaning nowadays there are many players at the international level which have recently appeared.
However, in order to understand the nature of the aforementioned processes, the historical analysis is thought to be of great importance, since lots of contemporary phenomena took place in the previous centuries.
Thus, in this paper, the correlation between the Sykes-Picot agreement, formation of the Palestinian identity, and creation of the Israeli state is considered to be relevant to the nowadays reality. Furthermore, this issue of the Sykes-Picot agreement has not been properly analyzed yet; the former still leads to academic debates over its nature, goals, and influence.
Background: the Sykes-Picot agreement which was settled between the United Kingdom and France, is considered to be aimed at shaping of the modern Middle East region. Despite the expectations and previous agreements to put enough efforts so as to unite the Arab nations, the Sykes-Picot agreement led to the delimitation of borders, penetration of cultures, and division of the lands on the territories ruled by the third parties.
Palestine as a result of the agreement became ruled and controlled by the British administration. The former had remained on the Palestinian territory before 1948, when the Israeli state was proclaimed. Furthermore, the period between world wars is thought to be the preparation for the establishment of the Israeli state on the territory of Palestine.
Even though this has not been discussed in the academic literature during the previous century, and the course of the scholar thought was adverse to the one, which is emphasized in this research, contemporary analysts insist on existence of enough evidence which could prove the idea discussed.
The discussions are raised by the U.S. and Russia’s conduct during the agreement settlement as well. In particular, the fact of existence of the U.S. interests in the Middle East region, so as to have a partner during possible confrontation with the Arabs, should be analyzed, at least, deeper. The conduct of the other state mentioned is not completely understandable, since the former decided to leave the deliberations over the potential agreement.
Research question: was there a generally agreed target after the Picot-Sykes agreement to create the state of Israel on the Palestinian territory?
Research hypothesis: to our mind, there is correlation between the emergence of Israel and the Sykes-Picot agreement.
Significance and purpose of the research: this research consists in development of not standard, critical, and constructive position in terms of the Sykes-Picot agreement’s influence on the Palestinian identity as well as emergence of the Israeli state. The purpose is to provide our hypothesis with enough empirical and theoretical evidence, in order to prove it. The research is aimed, additionally, at the broadening the sphere of Israeli-Palestine conflict analysis with its background, nature, and prospective.
Literature Review
The contemporary analysis of the issues discussed has been conducted by a number of prominent scholars and activists in the field of Israeli-Palestine conflict. Among those, whose works contributed to this matter most, the follows are to be mentioned: AbuZayyad, Barr, Culcasi, Varnava, Lybarger, Nasser, Pappe, Lane, Kramer, Harman, Friedman and others.
The aforementioned scientists have dedicated certain their scientific articles to the issues of the Sykes-Picot agreement, cultural features of the Palestinians, emerge of the Israeli state, state of international relations between Palestine and the states taking part in the Sykes-Picot agreement settlement etc.
Contribution of the literature and the place of this research within it: in fact, the documents as well as book and articles which have been analyzed provide us with a complex and comprehensive vision of the backgrounds of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Recently, it has been emphasized, mostly, in the periodicals that the Sykes-Picot Agreement was the basis for further problems in the region discussed. The literature review contributes to this dilemma in the way that it provides us with scientific evidence in terms of the nature of the agreement.
Our research plays important role in the aspect of summarizing the existing points of view regarding the matter of Israeli state emergence and contemporary conflict of the former with Palestine. The research combines different visions of both sides of this conflict and analyzes them through the prism of history and political science.
AbuZayyad’s position: One of the recent works is AbuZayyad’s paper “Unraveling Arab Regimes Pave The Way To A New Middle East With Islamic Prospects”. The author, being a lawyer as well as minister in the Palestinian government, is convinced that the nature of the Sakes-Picot agreement is as follows: in its aftermath the Allies betrayed the Arabs, dividing the territories of the defeated Ottoman Empire into areas of French and British leverage in accordance with the Sykes- Picot Agreement, and as a consequence fake entities were established that divided the Arab people into mini-states: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and Palestine (AbuZayyad 47).
Barr and Stourton’s views: being a journalist, Barr in his book ‘A Line in the Sand’ discusses the short rule of European powers in the middle-east and what led to their establishment of the rule. He also alludes to the occurrences leading to the French-British war of 1941 and the beginning of Arab-Jews hostility in 1948; the information in this book, drawn from various original documents obtained by Barr are essential in describing how the Sykes-Picot Agreement colonization led to the formation of Israel.
Moreover, during the interview with Barr on BBC, the discussion led to such thesis, made by Edward Stourton: if the Kurds were the big losers of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the early Zionists were among the winners; a year after the Sykes-Picot carve-up, the British government published what became known as the Balfour Declaration (Sourton 9).
The aforementioned act has established the principle, according to which Britain should “view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people» being a key milestone on the road to the founding of the state of Israel (10).
Nasser’s approach: This was supported by Nasser as well. The former in the book ‘Palestinian Identity in Jordan and Israel’ wrote that ‘the allies’ betrayal was not only due to their Sykes-Picot Treaty; they had secretly negotiated with the Jews to make the Arab Palestine their homeland; for that purpose they had agreed to put Palestine under the British Mandate (Hasser 131).
Culcasi: Another contribution to this issue was made by Karen Culcasi, associate professor of geography at West Virginia University. The author demonstrates how the seven British archival maps which were interconnected despite being disordered were employed in the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the consequential fragmentation of the region. Moreover, the maps and their utilization in the study will form a good basis of how the Ottoman Empire was subdivided and how the basis for the Israeli state was created.
Thanassis Combanis: the author in his article explains the main failures of the western world in the Middle East, analyzing them in the contemporary context. The Sykes-Picot Agreement as analyzed in context of its results: from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the violently thwarted national aspirations of many Kurds, Arabs, and other groups (Combanis n.p.). It, despite the aiming at providing the self-determination of the peoples living on that territory, has led to merely demarcation of the borders and satisfying of the colonial interests of the British and French (Combanis n.p.).
The Jerusalem Post: the editorial of the well-respected newspaper has come to the conclusion that the Sykes-Picot Agreement in context of Palestine was disintegrating (Jpost n.p.). It has led to the disintegration of the Arab nations and created further barrier for such the step to be made. The order which it created was weak and has no basis. Such state of affairs resulted in contemporary political order in the Middle East fall apart, except for one state, namely Israel which remained an island of relative stability and must continue to do so (Jpost n.p.)
Britain Eakin and Khalidi: the latter has concluded that the British policy influenced largely the fate of Palestine: British policies toward the Jewish and Arab communities in Palestine during the British Mandate period greatly influenced the defeat of the Palestinians, and the emergence of the state of Israel in 1948 (Eakin p.2).
Khalidi was among the first scientists who expressed such view: his thesis consists in the fact that the Palestinians subordination over the foreign ruling played subsequent role in the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 (Khalidi n.p.)
Varnava and the politics of imperialism: Andrekos Varnava is a prominent scholar in the field of political science. The author was aimed at proper analysis of the issue of the British imperialistic policy. The issues of that time world are discussed: in particular, division of visions towards Zionism among the representatives of the leading nations.
It is said that even certain representatives of the Jews (in particular, Rothschild) were not in favor of the Sykes-Picot agreement, as they were not sure whether it would be safe for them (Varnava 362). However, the deliberations resulted in the settlement of the agreement discussed, thus, as Varnava says (362), it was the result of two reasons: imperialism and political expediency (363).
Even though the author does not point out on the direct causation of the Sykes-Picot agreement and emergence of the Israeli state, it is clear from the context that the states were united over the idea of creation of a barrier on the East. Hence, it could be called the first step towards consequent establishment of the state of Israel.
The Balfour Declaration (1917): in accordance with this letter from the UK’s Foreign Secretary James Balfour to Rothsild which was written just after the Sykes-Picot Agreement, “His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country” (The Balfour Declaration 1917).
This document along with the Agreement discussed demonstrated that Palestine was not considered to be essential for the British interests (Friedman 108). It demonstrated how biased and unfair were the British towards the Arabs during the deliberations and negotiations, as simultaneously there were offers to the Zionsists in terms of the prospect of Palestine as a national home for the Jewish (Kramer 148)
The idea which was implemented into the Sykes-Picot Agreement and Balfour Declaration was for the first time raised in 1897 at the First Zionist Congress (Kramer 150). That was the concept of the national home which has to be located on the territory of Palestine, even though further plans on account of its implementation were not mentioned.
Agreement between Emir Feisal and Dr. Weizmann (1919): the aformeniotned document can prove that fact that the Palestinian identity remained Arab in its nature as the Arab states acted on its behalf. However, the issue consists in the fact that the agreement stimulated the further immigaration of the Jews to Palestine. The Zionist leaders from the beginning of the First World War were attempting to persueade the British to allow the former to establish the Jewish colony in Palestine (Pappe 67).
In accordance with the Art 4 of the agreement, all necessary measures should 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 near intensive cultivation of soil (Lane 14).
As to the other arguments in terms of preparation of the Israeli state’s emergence, it has to be highlighted that agreement foresaw the potential establishment of the commission from teh Zionist organizations, the target of which was directed to the exploration of potential economic possibilities of the country (Lane 15).
It can be also explained through the analysis of the previously mentioned colonial interests of the British. The former were interested in linking the Zionist movement to their own colonial interests, accelerating the settlement of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and releasing the Balfour Declaration (Pappe 68).
All the above-mentioned reviews and statements can only summarize and detalize the hypothesis made at the beginning of the research: the Sykes-Picot agreement was a platform for futher development of the concept of the Jewish homeland.
Conceptual framework:
Sykes-Picot Agreement is a secret treaty, settled between the governments of the United Kingdom and France with Russian Empire’s role as a third party to the agreement.
The Agreement was aimed at the division of the spheres of influence between the mentioned state in Asia.
The Agreement is perceived as the one which laid the foundations for further establishment of the Israeli state and, consequently, conflicts between Palestine and Israel.
Methodology
Approach: during the analysis of the issue, the following methods were applied: case study on Israeli-Palestinian relations on the basis of previously analyzed documents of that time as well as academic reviews of the background of the Israeli state emergence.
Data collection method: during the research the the copies of the treaties, mentioned in the paper, will be, at first, collected and then properly assessed through the prism of their validity and value for the topic. Secondly, the attention will be paid to the estimation of the sources by prominent scientists, politicians, and contemporary activitsts.
If it is necessary to obtain additional information in terms of the perception of the agreement among different circles of the society, the survey will be conducted, during which the representatives of both Israel and Palestine will be engaged. The appropriate form for this would be the online questionnaire.
Data analysis method: this goal is reached through the analysis of the documents which remained from that period, in particular the Sykes-Picot Agreement, Balfour Declaration, and certain other acts. Additionally, the analysis is carried out through proper and analytical assessment of the academic reviews of both the aforementioned documents and the events of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Ethical Considerations: the main issue to deal with during the analysis is authors’ widely spread bias and prejudice towards the phenomenon discussed. At first, the majority has already decided that the matter or the Sykes-Picot Agreement has been analyzed enough, thus, consequent and future researches on this issue cannot play important role. The subject is considered to be the one which is comperehensively explored.
Second issue is absence of neutrality, as there are mainly two sides in the academic circles, divided by their views towards this phenomenon. This results in each one’s concentration only on the empirical and theoretical data which can prove their positions; furthermore, the authors do not put much effort so as to deny the position of the adverse party of the dispute. The way out which is thought to be applied during our research consists in complex and comprehensive analysis of the literature relating to this issue with its consequent proper assessment and estimation, so as to make the unique conclusions.
Anticipated Limitations: the results of this research will be valuable for those who intend to understand the Israeli-Palestine conflict deeper, in particular its backgrounds. It might be important for the history scholars, as it provides the point of view towards the Israeli state emergence; however, the accent was not put on the dates and circumstances of certain events. The paper’s findings might be used in the political science, as they broaden the sphere of Middle East studies.
Works cited
“Sykes-Picot and Israel”. The Jerusalem Post. 6 September, 2013. Web. 4 May 2016
AbuZayyad, Ziad. "Unraveling Arab Regimes Pave The Way To A New Middle East With Islamic Prospects". Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics & Culture 20/21.4/1 (2015): 46-52. Print.
Barr, James. A Line in the Sand. London: Simon & Schuster, 2012. Print.
Cambanis, Thanassis. “The Middle East’s fading frontiers”. The Boston Globe. Web. 1 May., 2016. 4 May 2016
Culcasi, Karen. "Disordered Ordering: Mapping the Divisions of the Ottoman Empire". Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 49.1 (2014): 2-17. Web. 4 May 2016
Friedman, Isaiah. Palestine: A Twice-Promised Land?. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2000. Web. 4 May 2016
Khalidi, Walid. From Haven to Conquest: Readings in Zionism and the Palestine Problem Until 1948. Beirut: The Institute For Palestine Studies, 1971.
Kramer, Gudrun. A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. Print.
Lane, Dave. International Documents on Israel and Palestine: 1915 to 2008. Web. 4 May 2016
Lybarger, Loren. Identity and Religion in Palestine: Struggle between Islamism and Secularism in the Occuppied Territories. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.
Nasser, Riad. Palestinian Identity in Jordan and Israel: The Necessary Other in the Making of a Nation. New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.
Pappe, Ilan. A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
Strourton, Edward. “Analysis: Syria and the New Lines in the Sand”. BBC Radio Transcript (2013). Web. 4 May 2016
Varnava, A. "The Politics and Imperialism of Colonial and Foreign Volunteer Legions during the Great War: Comparing Proposals for Cypriot, Armenian, and Jewish Legions". The War in History 22.3 (2015): 344-363. Web. 4 May 2016
