Spies in Palestine

by James Srodes

  That morning I was filling my petrol tank at the garage, when a large Brough Superior motorcycle roared up and I saw, without him seeing me, that it was Lawrence. I knew he hated recognition, and made none, but I heard him ask the pump attendant who I was and my name was given. Then Lawrence, a small man, came up and spoke in the strange way he had of using soldierly language, very soldierly. He asked me if I had written a recent book on Palestine which I had dedicated to Sarah Aaronsohn. I was very flattered to think he had read my work and said so. The conversation went like this (without hoping to be verbatim):

  L: So you know who I am?

  Me: I do. Col. Lawrence, of course.

  L: Shaw’s my name and I’m no ____ colonel.

  Me: I beg your pardon, I’m afraid you will always be Lawrence in my mind. I apologize for saying so aloud.

  L: Did you know Sarah Aaronsohn while she was alive?

  Me: I’m very sorry that I did not. I’d have given my right arm to have done so.

  L: Why?

  Me: Good Lord, man, if there was a Joan of Arc in our days, it was Sarah!

  L: Strange we two men should be here in this little town, both of us with a book dedicated to her, without either of us having seen her alive.

  Me: Why, judging by that sonnet of yours I was sure she and you were partners in the old days.

  L: We were—but without meeting.

  Later in the conversation, Lawrence added, “If she had a man for a husband, she might have been the leader of a Hebrew return with glory. It must have been hell to be married to her when one was unable to appreciate her.”

  Three months later, on a rural lane near his cottage at Clouds Hill, Lawrence was struck by a black sedan that zx0 said had four men as passengers. The car never stopped. Lawrence died a day later without regaining consciousness, and the speculation that he was murdered lingers to this day.

  NOTES

  Prologue

  Alexander Aaronsohn, Sarah, The Flame of NILI (unpublished manuscript provided by the Beit Aaronsohn–NILI Museum, Zichron Ya’akov, Israel).

  Anita Engle, The NILI Spies (London: Frank Cass Publishers, 1959), 208–229.

  Shmuel Katz, The Aaronsohn Saga (Jerusalem: Green Publishing House, 2000), 263–276.

  Ida Cowen and Irene Gunther, A Spy for Freedom (New York: Lodestar Books, 1984), 141–154.

  Hillel Halkin, A Strange Death (New York: Public Affairs, 2005), 172–187.

  Chapter One: Who Was Sarah Aaronsohn?

  Patricia Goldstone, Aaronsohn’s Maps (New York: Harcourt, 2007), 12–39.

  Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the Seeds of the Arab–Israeli Conflict (New York: Penguin, 2007), 30–52.

  Chapter Two: Friends in America

  Katz, 13–19.

  David Fairchild, The World Was My Garden: Travels of a Plant Explorer (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938), 47–62.

  Engle, 28–29.

  Chapter Three: The Three Pashas

  Richard C. Hall, The Balkan Wars 1912–1913: Prelude to the First World War (London: Routledge, 2000), 1–24.

  Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (New York: Basic Books, 2015), 1–28.

  Edmond Taylor, The Fall of the Dynasties: The Collapse of the Old Order, 1905–1922 (New York: Doubleday, 1962), 97–122.

  Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 173–181.

  Chapter Four: Love and War

  Engle, 32–39.

  Katz, 75–90.

  Cowen and Gunther, 17–32.

  James Srodes, On Dupont Circle: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Progressives Who Shaped Our World (Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, 2013), 17–49.

  Chapter Five: Plagues of War and Locusts

  Goldstone, 106–107, 112–113.

  Katz, 152–185.

  Walter Gribbon, Brigadier, Agents of Empire: Anglo–Zionist Intelligence Operations 1915–1919 (London: Brassey’s, 1995), 89–100.

  Aaronsohn, 22–40.

  Alexander Aaronsohn, With the Turks in Palestine (New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1916), 49–69.

  Cohen and Gunther, 35–41.

  Ibid., 44.

  Katz, 48–61.

  Gribbon, 93–124.

  British National Archives Foreign Office and War Office files, FO371, FO157.

  Goldstone, 91–101.

  Chapter Six: Success and Setback

  Katz, 101–132.

  Cohen and Gunther, 33–65.

  Aaronsohn, Sarah, the Flame of NILI, 27–29, 33–42.

  Engle, 51–76.

  Gribbon, translations from Aaron Aaronsohn’s diaries, 223–306.

  Chapter Seven: Sarah Takes Command

  Gribbon, 122–173.

  British National Archives War Office Files, WO 157/689.

  Imperial War Museum File, Box 69/48/3; Box 69/48/4; Box 6 File39/4. See also, FO 371/471, FO 371/3057/3058.

  Katz, 5–9.

  Anthony Sattin, The Young T.E. Lawrence (New York: Norton, 2014), 133–157.

  Cohen and Gunther, 2; 75–79.

  Aaronsohn, Sarah, the Flame of NILI, 23.

  Sarah Aaronsohn, translation, Beit Aaronsohn Archives. Also, Goldstone, 228.

  Ibid.

  Chapter Eight: Sarah Gets Her Orders and NILI Gets Its Name

  Gribbon, quotes from Aaron Aaronsohn’s diaries, 226–239. Copies of the diaries, which he wrote in French, are housed both at the British National Archives and at the Beit Aaronsohn–NILI Museum. Aaron’s disdain for Lawrence only intensified with time. On August 12, 1917 he recorded, “I had a chat with Capt. Lawrence this morning. Our interview was devoid of amenity. He has been too successful at an early age—and is infatuated with himself. He gave me a lesson on our colonies—the mentality of the people—the feelings of the Arabs, etc., etc. As I was listening to him I could almost imagine that I was attending a conference by a scientific, anti-Semitic Prussian speaking English. . . . One would gather from the above interview that nothing can be done in Judea and Samaria where Faisal will never gain access. . . . But Lawrence will conduct his investigation by his own methods in order to learn of the mentality of the Jews (there). . . . If they are in favor of the Arabs they shall be spared, otherwise they shall have their throats cut. He is still at the age where people do not doubt themselves—happy young man! He is plainly hostile to us. He must be of a missionary breed.” Gribbon, 289.

  Katz, 225–240.

  Florence, 264–267.

  Goldstone, 154–163.

  Katz, 116.

  Chapter Nine: Sarah and NILI Make a Difference

  Goldstone, 170.

  Katz, 272–273, quoting testimony from Dr. Hillel Yaffe and Rivka Lishansky.

  Ibid., 234. The letter is in the Beit Aaronsohn–NILI Museum, Zichron Ya’akov, Israel.

  Chapter Ten: The Net Closes

  Gribbon, 310–311. In an appendix, Gribbon provides the EMSIB list of the “A Organization” members naming twenty-three “active” members who “were actually doing the work, traveling about the country, collecting data, meeting the trawlers, etc.” Also named are twelve other “passive” members and two others, Liova Schneersohn and Raphael Aboulafia, who sailed on the Managem during its twice-monthly visits to Athlit during 1917. Schneersohn was the courier who went ashore each time, while Aboulafia translated the intelligence documents from Hebrew to English on the return voyages so they would be immediately put to use when they reached Port Said.

  Katz, 225–240.

  Florence, 264–267.

  Goldstone, 154–163.

  Katz, 116.

  Ibid., 227.

  Ibid., 228.

  Aaron Aaronsohn, Diaries, August 12, 1917. Quoted in Gribbon, 288–289.

  British National Archives, Box 23G, FO141/803 EMSIB briefing on Beirut minefields and troop movements, “. . . the best we have received this year.” Also, Monthly Intelligence Summaries and War Di
ary briefings: WO157/715/18, WO157/713, and WO159/718, reference to “Our Syrian Organization.” Translated by Sophie Crochet.

  Epilogue: Myth versus History

  Maarten Schild, T.E. Lawrence, Before and After Arabia (www.maartenschild.com).

  Richard Meinertzhagen, Lt. Col., Middle East Diary (London: Cresset Press, 1959), 43–46. Also, Katz, 339.

  Duff’s anecdote has been widely reprinted but with conflicting interpretations. For example, two Israeli historians agree that Lawrence probably did not have a physical romance with Sarah but disagree whether his poem is dedicated to her. Yigal Sheffy, in a note in the British Intelligence and Security Journal, Vol. 4, 1990 cites it as evidence that Lawrence had loved her. Anita Engle, in her earlier book, The NILI Spies, argues to the contrary. No one, however, disputes Duff’s recollection of the conversation. See also Imperial War Museum files on Lawrence Box 6, file 6/384D Lawrence’s poem as edited by Robert Graves. File 6/389D, a fifteen-page account of the identity of Sarah in the poem by Somerset de Chair.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Imust mention with special gratitude those who were a great help along the way. Daniel C.W. Wilson, a talented British historian, proved an indefatigable and enthusiastic researcher at the various military and intelligence files at the British National Archives at Kew, at the Imperial War Museum in London and elsewhere. Dr. Marion Freudenthal, the archivist at the Beit Aaronsohn–NILI Museum in Zichron Ya’akov, Israel was extremely generous in providing documents and photographs that were essential to Sarah’s story. Sophie Crochet of Swarthmore College put her bilingual skills to good use translating the correspondence between Sarah’s brother Aaron Aaronsohn and Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann, which was in an arcane formal French. Eddie Friedmann was a wise guide to the culture of Zichron Ya’akov. Ronald Goldfarb, my literary adviser and friend, was a fount of insight and encouragement. Charlie Winton and the rest of the Counterpoint Press staff, as before, have been supportive at every step.

  And for more decades that I care to count, my greatest gratitude and greater love belong to Cecile Srodes, the best copy editor, wife, and friend an undeserving man could wish for.

  INDEX

  Page references for illustrations appear in bold type

  A

  Aaronsohn, Aaron, xvi, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17, 17–24, 27–29, 36, 39, 40, 42–43, 44, 47–52, 53, 54–55, 56, 57, 57, 68, 69, 70–75, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92–94, 95–99, 106–110, 112–119, 121, 122, 124–128, 129, 130–133, 136–137, 139, 141, 142, 144, 145–150, 153–154, 155, 157–161, 164, 165–168, 175, 180, 181

  Aaronsohn, Alexander, xx, 11, 14, 15, 48–52, 54–55, 57, 57, 67, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75–76, 78, 81–82, 85–86, 88, 92, 96, 100, 106, 117, 127, 161, 166, 169, 180, 181

  With the Turks in Palestine, 82

  Aaronsohn, Ephraim, xv, xvi, xvii, xviii, xix–xxii, 2–3, 4, 9, 10–11, 13, 42, 43, 57, 57, 129, 130–131, 152, 161, 171–172, 175, 180, 182

  Aaronsohn, Malkah, xx, 2, 3, 11, 40

  Aaronsohn, Rivka, 11, 14, 15, 40, 42, 45, 55, 55, 56, 57, 57, 58, 61, 74, 75–76, 81, 82, 85–86, 92, 100–101, 106, 132–133, 165, 181–182

  Aaronsohn, Sarah, xvi, xvii–xxii, 1, 11–12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 27, 28, 29, 36, 39–42, 43, 44, 44, 45, 47, 55, 56–62, 57, 59, 82–83, 85, 89–90, 92–93, 95, 98, 99–103, 105, 105–110, 118–119, 121, 122–125, 128–130, 131–133, 135, 136–139, 144, 145, 146–153, 155–157, 159–164, 167–177, 179, 179–184, 185–186

  Aaronsohn, Shmuel, 11, 14, 57, 106, 166, 181

  Aaronsohn, Zvi, xvii–xviii, xix, 4, 11, 14, 106, 129, 147–148, 152, 160–161, 168, 170, 172, 175, 180, 181

  Abdul Aziz, Sultan of Turkey, 6

  Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, 6, 7–8, 9, 33, 34–35

  Abraham, Chaim, 47, 56–59, 57, 59, 82–83, 100

  Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, 3, 7

  Alexander III, Tsar of Russia, 3

  Allenby, Edmund Henry Hynman, xxii, 153–154, 155, 157, 158, 159, 162, 163, 167, 177, 179–180, 184

  American Progressives, 49, 50, 69, 112

  American Zionists, See Zionists

  anti-Semitism, 67, 113, 115

  ANZACs, 79, 128, 141, 158

  A Organization, See NILI

  Arab Bureau, 76, 77, 78, 89, 121–122, 124, 125, 126, 128, 142, 143, 158

  Arabists, See Arab Bureau

  Arab Revolt, 113, 127, 136, 142, 153, 157

  Arabs, xiv, xvii, xxi, 2, 10, 11, 13, 15, 22, 23, 29, 31, 33, 38, 39, 41, 52, 53, 54, 55, 64, 65, 66–67, 73, 74, 78, 107, 112, 122, 123, 127, 130, 136, 142, 143, 185

  Armenians, xxi, 8, 65, 73, 82, 83, 93, 161, 171, 173, 182

  Asquith, Herbert, 72, 79, 87, 95, 110

  Ataturk, Kemal, 182

  Atlantic Monthly, 49

  B

  Balfour, Arthur, 112, 114, 116

  Balkan Wars, 35, 37, 60

  Baruch, Bernard, 69

  bastinado, xxi

  Bedouins, xxii, 19, 36, 39, 44, 53, 89, 90, 114, 124, 125, 141, 148, 149

  Beit Aaronsohn–NILI Museum, 182, 186

  Bek, Aziz, xix, xxi, 60, 67, 101, 152, 157, 163, 164, 168, 173, 182

  Belkind, Naaman, 41, 91, 93, 98, 99, 106, 129, 138, 145, 147, 152, 161, 167–169, 176, 177

  Bell, Gertrude, 77–78, 86, 122–124, 143, 155

  Ben-Gurion, David, 65

  Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (Wallace), 9

  Bernhardt, Olga, 108–109

  Bey, Hassan, 171, 172–173

  Bey, Osman, 171–172, 173

  Bonney, William (Billy the Kid), 9

  Borglum, Gutzon, 51

  Mount Rushmore, 51

  Brandeis, Louis, 27

  Britain, xiv, xv, xvi, xvii, xx, xxii, 6, 8, 26, 32, 37, 50, 52, 63–64, 66, 67, 72–73, 75, 76–81, 82, 86–89, 92, 93, 95–99, 102, 108, 109–119, 122–129, 130, 131, 135–136, 138, 139, 140–145, 146, 148–149, 150, 151–152, 153–154, 155, 157–159, 160, 161–165, 166–167, 169, 177, 179–181, 183, 184, 185

  ANZACs, 79, 128, 141, 158

  Arab Bureau, 76, 77, 78, 89, 121–122, 124, 125, 126, 128, 142, 143, 158

  Eastern Mediterranean Special Intelligence Bureau (EMSIB), 128–129, 142, 145, 146, 164

  Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), 140–141

  Gallipoli, 76, 78, 79–81, 80, 86, 95, 110, 113, 123, 149

  Scotland Yard, 109–110

  Bullitt, William, 51

  C

  Cairo, Egypt, xvi, xvii, 1, 72, 75–77, 79, 81, 82, 85–87, 95, 96, 102, 107–108, 112, 113, 115, 116–119, 121, 123, 124–125, 127, 128, 129, 136, 137, 139, 142, 142, 143, 144, 146, 147–148, 150, 151, 153, 155, 155, 156, 157, 159–160, 164, 166, 167, 168–169

  Cazalet, Edward, 9

  Chapman, Thomas, 25

  Christians, 4, 11, 22, 36, 68, 82

  Churchill, Winston, 63–64, 78, 79

  Clayton, Gilbert, 117, 122, 124, 128, 139, 142, 153

  Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), 34, 36, 37

  Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey), 32, 34, 35–36, 38, 56, 57, 58–61, 65, 82, 90, 93, 97, 107, 108

  Croly, Herbert, 51

  CUP, See Committee of Union and Progress (CUP)

  D

  Daily Mail, 82

  Days of Repentance, xiv

  Deedes, Wyndham, 124, 125, 126, 128, 144, 166, 180

  Desert Queen, See Bell, Gertrude

  Disraeli, Benjamin, 8

  Djamal, Ahmed Gamal (Djamal Pasha), xx–xxi, 31, 37–38, 60, 65–67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73–74, 76, 78, 90, 91, 92–93, 95, 96, 97, 101, 106, 109, 127, 139–140, 144–145, 157, 161, 165, 176, 180, 182

  Duff, Douglas, 185, 188

  Dulles, Allen, 50, 51

  Dulles, John Foster, 50, 51

  E

  Eastern Mediterranean Special Intelligence Bureau (EMSIB), 128, 136, 142, 145, 146, 164

  Edmonds, William Stanley, 118, 119, 125, 126, 150, 158–159

  EEF, See Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF)

  Egypt, xv, xvii, xxii, 1, 32, 37, 64, 66,
73, 75–76, 81, 85, 86, 89, 107, 108, 111, 112, 113, 115, 117–118, 121, 123, 125, 126, 130, See also Cairo, Egypt

  Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF), 140–141

  Egyptian Gazette, 76

  EMSIB, See Eastern

  Mediterranean Special

  Intelligence Bureau (EMSIB)

  Enver, Ismail (Enver Pasha), 36, 37, 65, 66, 69, 91, 97, 182

  Eretz Israel, 2, 4, 10, 11, 23, 27, 73, 93, 102, 177, 186

  F

  Fairchild, David, 22, 24, 27, 48–49, 53, 68, 69, 98

  Faisal, Prince of Egypt, 123, 126, 127, 144

  Farid, Abu, 106, 137

  Feast of Booths, See Sukkot

  Feinberg, Absalom, 40, 41–45, 44, 54, 55, 56, 58, 61, 67, 70, 73, 74, 82, 85, 85–103, 105, 106, 107, 108, 118, 119, 125, 127–128, 129, 130, 131–132, 138, 147, 148, 149, 152, 161, 168

  First Aliyah, 4, 9, 10, 22

  First Battle of Gaza, 129

  Flame of Israel, See Aaronsohn, Sarah

  Fourteen Points manifesto, 52

  France, 9, 20, 41, 63, 64, 66, 67, 81, 87, 110, 111, 115, 140, 154, 163, 165, 180

  Frankfurter, Felix, 27, 50, 51, 52, 81

  Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, 7

  G

  Gallipoli, 76, 78, 79–81, 80, 86, 95, 110, 113, 123, 149

  Gaza, xxii, 15, 112, 114, 122, 138, 141, 144, 145, 148, 149, 150–151, 153, 155, 157, 158, 165

  genocide, See Armenians; Turkey

  Georges-Picot, François, 115

  George V, King of England, 102

  Germany, xv, 9, 34, 37, 50, 60, 65, 67, 68, 69, 77, 81, 87, 91, 92–93, 97–98, 107, 137, 140, 146, 153, 160, 161, 165, 177, 179

  Gideonites, 54–55, 72, 73, 74, 75, 86, 87–88, 90, 92, 106, 129, 131, 146, 147, 156

  Gribbon, Walter, 112–113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 143, 144, 148, 184

  H

  Hall, Reginald, 98, 99, 110

  Halukka, 5

  Hapsburgs, 3

  Ha-Shomer, 54, 74, 146, 147, 160–161, 162, 176, 180

  Herzl, Theodor, 11, 52