Secret Treaties and Broken Promises: The Sykes-Picot Agreement

To understand the Arab-Israeli conflict, it’s important to consider the various broken promises that the British made to Arabs and Jews as they tried to secure allies in the Middle East during World War I. These agreements set the stage for the “broken promises” that contributed to conflicts, especially between Jews and Arabs.

Before diving into the Sykes-Picot Agreement, let’s first understand the context in which this, and other agreements, took place.

Setting: The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire which began in 1299 CE lasted over 800 years, reaching its greatest extent in the 17th century. The Ottomans governed their empire by dividing it into smaller units called vilayets, roughly the equivalent to what we might call states or provinces. These vilayets were further subdivided into sanjaks, similar to what we might call counties. By the time World War I began, the geographic territory that now comprises the State of Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank, was known as “Greater Syria” (sometimes Palestine) at the time and had been part of the Ottoman Empire for six centuries.

Time: World War 1

World War I was sparked with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on June 28, 1914. The Allied Powers Britain, France, and Russia. The Central Powers included Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire.

Strategic Interests of the Allied Powers

The Allied Powers had strategic interests in the Middle East. They were concerned that the Central Powers would advance further into the Ottoman Empire and take control of areas with important natural resources, such as oil, or march south toward Egypt to take control of the Suez Canal. Also, Greater Syria was strategically important to the Allied Forces because of its geographic location as a land bridge connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The Allies Enlist the Help of Arabs and Jews of Greater Syria

Looking for allies to help them with their fight, the British reached out to the Arabs who felt mistreated by the Ottomans. In 1915, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Henry McMahon, exchanged letters with Sheik Sharif Hussein, the Emir of Mecca (known today as the “Hussein-McMahon Correspondence”). In these letters, McMahon promised the Arabs independence in return for their support fighting the Ottomans. After some discussion, Hussein accepted McMahon’s promise of Arab independence. 

As the war dragged on, with massive casualties and loss of life, the British looked for new allies to join the fight and decided to reach out to the Jews in Greater Syria. In 1917, the British Foreign Minister, Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter to representatives of the Jewish Zionist movement – Lord Rothschild and Chaim Weizmann – promising to create a Jewish national home in the ancient Jewish homeland in exchange for Jewish support of the war effort (known today as the “Balfour Declaration”).

The Secret Agreement to Partition the Ottoman Empire

What the British failed to mention to both the Jews and the Arabs of the region was the secret deal they made with France on May 9, 1916 – known as the “Sykes-Picot Agreement.” British representative Mark Sykes and French representative Francois George-Picot drafted the agreement, in which Britain and France planned to carve up Greater Syria and exercise political control through spheres of influence, once the war was over. They planned to create an Arab state, agreeing that Britain and France would have influence over it. Other areas would be under British and French direct control. 

The Sykes Picot Line

Here is an excerpt from the Sykes-Picot Agreement:

“It is accordingly understood between the French and British Governments—

• That France and Great Britain are prepared to recognise and protect an independent Arab State or a Confederation of Arab States (A) and (B) marked on the annexed map, under the suzerainty of an Arab chief. That in area (A) France, and in area (B) Great Britain, shall have priority of right of enterprise and local loans. That in area (A) France, and in area (B) Great Britain, shall alone supply advisers or foreign functionaries at the request of the Arab State or Confederation of Arab States.
• That in the blue area France, and in the red area Great Britain, shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control as they desire and as they may think fit to arrange with the Arab State or Confederation of Arab States.
• That in the brown area [yellow on the map] there shall be established an international administration, the form of which is to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other Allies, and the representatives of the Shereef [alternative spelling for Sherif] of Mecca.”¹

Fall Out of the Sykes Picot Agreement

When news of this secret deal got out in March 1917, both Arabs and Jews were unhappy. While the Sykes-Picot Agreement did offer the Arabs independence, it still fell short of the promises made in the Hussein-McMahon letters. And the agreement made no mention of a Jewish homeland, a glaring omission of the offer made in the Balfour Declaration.

Taking matters into their own hands, Jewish and Arab leaders looked to each other for solutions.

They negotiated the Feisal-Weizmann Agreement, which set forth the idea of a Jewish state and an Arab state, what we know today as a two-state solution. Emir Feisal would only honor the agreement if the British kept their wartime promises to the Arabs. When the British failed to deliver their part of the deal after the war, the Feisal-Weizmann Agreement fell apart.

Yet, something happened to those broken promises. The Arabs and Jews in the Middle East held onto them, each hoping that the promises made to them would be fulfilled. Would those promises be kept?

Read more about it, and the rest of what happened, in our curriculum.