Bonsal, Stephen
Stories
2
Chapters
256
Words
242.3 K
Comments
0
Reading
20 h, 11 m
Mr. Balfour is growing increasingly sensitive at the criticism of the declaration he made to the House of Commons on November 2, 1917, which at least the Zionists have interpreted as the promise of a Jewish state, a national home for the long homeless people. It is undoubtedly unfortunate, and certainly Balfour failed to appreciate the fact, that Jerusalem is esteemed holy not only by the Jews but by the Christians and the Mohammedans as well. ' To House yesterday Balfour voiced this complaint and with…- 113.7 K • Completed
- Knowing as I do only too well the close watch that the delegates keep on the visitors to other delegations and the extreme vigilance with which what might be called our “frequentations” are observed, I was not, and certainly had no reason to be, surprised when my good friend Nouri al Said, Emir Faisal’s closest adviser, came in this morning to introduce to me a learned Fuki or talib, one of the doctors of the famous university mosque of Al Azhar in Cairo, undoubtedly the most influential institution…
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- On Tuesday the Zionist delegates appeared before the Council of Ten. They had their day in court and each spoke his piece. The Paris press, certainly not unfavorable to the Jewish claims, is not enthusiastic over the showing that was made and Débats, the great journal which is reputed to be owned by international Jewish bankers, is particularly severe in its criticism of the delegates and of the tentative plans they presented. It is pointed out by the critical editors that the spokesmen held divergent…
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- Ten days ago the Syrian kettle came to a boil again. The commission shows more and more reluctance to “shove off.” House told Clemenceau that the delay was scandalous and that he must intervene. “It is a scandal, I agree,” answered Clemenceau; “Lloyd George on all fours has crawled away from the position he took up so valiantly three months ago; but what have I to do with this mediaeval matter? What has the Tiger to do with a politique des Curés ?” Hoping for a settlement or at least light…
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- This afternoon Faisal and Lawrence came for what is probably a farewell call, as the Emir says he expects to return to Syria in a few days. Faisal was more self-contained, certainly less obstreperous, than he was the day he stormed and thundered before the Council of Ten. He read to House the protocol of the promises the British made to his father, King Hussein, on October 24, 1915. Clearly it promised recognition of Arab independence, outside of Bagdad and Basra, if the Arabs joined up with the Allies.…
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- The Arabs had many friends at the Conference, but none more unswerving in allegiance to their just cause than this honest, gray-eyed, North Country English girl. In a sense, as is so often the case, her letter, if read without due attention to the circumstances existing at the time it was written, is misleading. She did not mean to say that the Arabs did not know what they wanted; they wanted an independent state and they did not want the French to stay in Syria. But as between a mandate by Britain, with…
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- Today Lawrence and Gertrude Bell (the “Desert Queen”) lunched with me. It was not a gay affair, for we each had a tale of woe to tell. Lawrence, like all paladins, is high strung and has his moments of deep discouragement, and this was one of them. But, even so, in this his hour of depression he did not break out with the angry recriminations against those responsible for the mess in the Arab world, so frequently reported in the press as his views. “As for myself,” he said, “I would like to…
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- Emir Faisal has moved from his apartment in the Continental and is more at his ease in a small private hotel he has leased on the Avenue du Bois. At his request I call frequently, about twice a week. Like everyone else he wants something. First and foremost, he wants President Wilson to assume the mandate over Syria and then to appoint him as his lieutenant and deputy. When last week under instructions I told him that there is little or no prospect of this, he piped down with the more modest request to…
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- The postponed meeting which took place one day later was not only interesting because of the confrontation of the Arab sheiks with their former champions, of short memories, but because it gave us an opportunity to fathom Mr. Balfour’s extremely shallow knowledge of at least one of the secret treaties which has so frequently figured in international discussions and even in the debates of our own Senate. Through Colonel Lawrence, Emir Faisal, in language that was but thinly veiled if it can be said it…
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- I was very much on hand when the morning of the ninth dawned on which the pro-Arab and the pro-Sykes-Picot forces were to meet each other face to face before the Council of Ten in the famous Clock Room. In fact, I committed what would have been an indiscretion had I been a person of any importance. I went to the field of battle with Lawrence and there I joined Faisal and Nouri who were flanked by handsome young aides arrayed in robes and tunics of many colors, all of them with flashing, hungry eyes like…
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