THE TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE.
tion will hardly suspect of a desire to minimise Arab claims, as undertaking, subject to this proviso, to recognise the independence of the Arabs, "conditional on an Arab revolt." There was no such revolt in Palestine. The Arabs had, on the Delegation's own showing, not the smallest motive for rebelling against the Turks, who, if the Delegation is to be believed, allowed Palestine to be "practically self-governing so far as local affairs were concerned," freely appointed Arabs as "governors, judges, officials," and "considered the Arab as partner in the Government." As was only to be expected in such circumstances, Arab Palestine remained perfectly passive throughout the German-Turkish operations, while, on the other hand, Jewish colonists, whose services were afterwards publicly recognised by the military authorities, actively co-operated with the British forces at the risk of their lives, and three Jewish battalions served under Lord Allenby as part of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The statement that "the Arabs of Palestine were not only friendly to the British Army, but actually helped it in its arduous task" has no foundation in fact. The "help" referred to is purely imaginary. Animated by a whole-hearted desire to be on the winning side, the Arabs rushed to the aid of the victors when the victory had already been won.
Such is the pledge of which British policy in Palestine is declared to be a violation—a violation, it may be added, of which not a word has been heard from King Hussein, to whom the pledge, such as it was, was addressed.
It is on this shadowy statement of policy, qualified by conditions which the Arabs of Palestine failed to fulfil and embodied in a vague and inconclusive correspondence to which they were not parties, that the whole case of the Delegation under the head of broken pledges is built up. No other promise is even alleged to have been given to the Arabs of Palestine at a time when it could, in any event, have influenced their action during
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