The Debt Of Today's Arab World To British Colonialism

In his discussion of Historical Fiction, Dore Gold discusses the claim that Israel is the result of colonialism. He notes that Jews were already exercising their right to self-determination in the land before the 1922 British Mandate and before the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire.

The same cannot be said of the Arabs at the time. In fact, historically

most of the Arab states owe their origins to the entry and domination of the European powers. Prior to World War I, the Arab states of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan did not exist, but were only districts of the Ottoman Empire, under different names. They became states as a result of European intervention, with the British putting the Hashemite family in power in two of these countries.


Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf states, meanwhile, emerged from treaties that their leaders signed with Britain. By means of those treaties, the British recognized the legitimacy of local Arab families to rule what became states like Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. A similar British treaty with the al-Saud family in 1915 set the stage for the eventual emergence of Saudi Arabia in 1932.

The interesting point is that Great Britain agreed to the artificial creation of some of these Arab states during WWII, on the condition that the Arabs would aid the allied cause against Nazi Germany.

Not only did the Arabs failed to assist the British--they aided the Nazis instead, the Grand Mufti being the best known example.

Nevertheless, the British went ahead with aiding the creation of Arab states.
The Arabs ended up getting something for nothing.

Since then, they have conveniently forgotten the actual roots of today's Arab world, and have claimed it applies to Israel.

Technorati Tag: Arab World and British Colonialism.