the Ottoman Empire joined Germany and Austro-Hungary. Even though at first the British expected the war to be over in a couple of months, by the end of 1914 they and the French realized that they needed a winning strategy to further debilitate the weakest link in the Axis alliance: the Ottoman Empire. In supporting the Arab cause, they saw an opportunity to distract the Turks from the warfare in Europe, and, thus, win the war. Here is where a proper introduction of Hussein bin Ali should ensue. Hussein bin Ali
was the leader of the Hashemite tribe, the family that descends directly from the Prophet Muhammad. The Hashemites produced the emirs and sharifs of Mecca and Medina, those responsible for securing the safety of the Muslim pilgrims performing the Hajj, an annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every religious Muslim should perform at least once in his or her life. Even though the Sharifate of Mecca and Medina, a small state whose territory included Mecca and Medina, had enjoyed some autonomy from the
Ottoman Empire, Hussein bin Ali envisioned an independent Arab state that included the entire peninsula and all Arabs. The 1915 correspondence between Hussein bin Ali and Sir Henry McMahon, the British High Commissioner in Egypt, reveals that the Arabs agreed to revolt against the Ottoman Empire in exchange for recognition of independence by the British. Although the two disagreed on whether some areas would remain under British control, there was a general understanding of what
Photo courtesy of Michael Loadenthal Outside of the Palestinian village of Bil’in, Palestinians held a mourning march while passing through a military checkpoint.
The Wellesley Globalist
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