9. This was … Notes on the cover of the file by various Foreign Office figures, May 24, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
10. About his main goal … “Lewin-Epstein went without knowing the political background of the business … Frankfurter … had no idea why they came.” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 8, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 456, 7:469.
11. “someone in authority …” Mr. Barclay to Cecil, May 31, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
12. “rumours here …” Malcolm to Nubar Pasha, June 22, 1917, ibid.
13. “Muslim Interests in Palestine” … Ormsby-Gore, report to Cecil on meeting with Malcolm and Weizmann, June 10, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/12/8.
14. Weizmann knew about … Weizmann to Lord Walter Rothschild, June 2, 1917, WI, “Arabs.”
15. “Dr. Weizmann, whom I …” Graham, minute, June 9, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
16. “Both Mr. Malcolm …” Ormsby-Gore, report, “Secret and Confidential,” June 10, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/12/8.
17. On Tuesday, June 12 … Graham, first minute, June 13, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
18. extremely indiscreet … Yale, “Morgenthau’s Special Mission,” 313.
19. “As condition of …” Graham, second minute, June 13, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
20. “Will you be kind …” Graham to Rumbold, June 8, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 22.
21. “I was to talk …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 196.
22. eighteen trunks … Ibid., 197.
23. Rumford … Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, June 29, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 446, 7:455.
24. “either terribly ‘profound’ …” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 2, 1917, ibid., letter no. 448, 7:457.
25. “From the moment …” Weizmann to Vera Weizmann, July 3, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 449, 7:458.
26. Weizmann went out … He paid a call on Max Nordau, a venerable Zionist and native Austrian who had left Paris when the war began. He bumped into another Zionist in the street, Abraham S. Yahuda.
27. “I am not aware …” Weizmann to Sir Ronald Graham, July 6, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 453, 7:461. To Schmarvonian, Weizmann “took an instantaneous, cordial and enduring dislike.”
28. “Mr. Morgenthau had …” Weizmann, Trial and Error, 1:198.
29. “such conditions …” Weizmann to Sir Ronald Graham, July 6, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 453, 7:463.
30. “On no account …” Ibid.
31. “eminently successful” … Graham to Hardinge, July 13 and July 21, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
32. “The Zionists in public …” Sacher to Simon, May 9, 1917, CZA, Sacher Papers, CZA/A289/114.
33. “The Zionist movement as such …” Sacher to Simon, n.d. (but May 1917 from internal evidence), ibid.
34. “I said that it was not …” Simon, diary entry, June 24, 1917, CZA, Simon Papers, CZA/AK2001.
35. “Assume [?] the peace …” Simon to Sacher, July 1, 1917, ibid.
36. “the centre of gravity …” Sacher to Weizmann, August 3, 1917, WI, Sacher letters.
37. “Chaim gave us an account …” Simon to Sacher, August 2, 1917, CZA, Simon Papers, CZA/AK2001.
38. “I think you were much …” Sacher to Weizmann, August 3, 1917, WI, Sacher letters.
39. “But think of tying …” Sacher to Simon, August 11, 1917, ibid.
40. “the general policy …” Sacher to Simon, August 17 and August 21, 1917, ibid.
41. “In politics one is …” Sacher to Weizmann, September 16, 1917, ibid.
CHAPTER 20: “THE MAN WHO WAS GREENMANTLE”
1. “He loved to dare …” Herbert, Mons, Anzac & Kut, 12. He died of blood poisoning after having all his teeth removed, which he had been told would cure his blindness.
2. “He was the most …” Quoted in Fitzherbert, Man Who Was Greenmantle, 1.
3. “the kind of man …” Herbert, Mons, Anzac & Kut, 14.
4. “by the simple …” Auberon Waugh (Herbert’s grandson), “Aubrey Herbert,” in New Dictionary of National Biography.
5. “It is only fair …” Western Morning News, October 16, 1914.
6. “Oh Mark …” Herbert to Sykes, February 9, 1915, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers, DD/DRU/33.
7. “an odd gnome …” Herbert, diary entry, January 11, 1915, ibid.
8. “We have not gone …” Herbert to Sykes, February 9, 1915, ibid., DD/DRU/33.
9. “If … at any time …” Cecil to Herbert, July 17, 1915, ibid.
10. “2 things were in …” Herbert, diary entry, February 27, 1916, ibid.
11. “passed down corridors …” December 8, 1915, ibid.
12. “we shall simply …” Herbert to Lloyd, May 14, 1917, Cambridge University, Churchill College, Lloyd Papers, GLLD9/1, 1917–18.
13. “‘Time’s up for you … ’” Herbert, diary entry, June 4, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.
14. “dangerous pacifist …” Quoted in Fisher, Gentleman Spies, 18.
15. On July 4 … Before meeting Balfour, Herbert met with Milner. Herbert, diary entry, July 6, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.
16. “We should free troops …” Herbert, memo, July 4, 1917, NA, FO800/18/226.
17. “the strongest point …” Eric Drummond to Balfour, July 7, 1917, NA, FO800/18/223.
18. During May, June … To give only a few examples: From the British ambassador in Petrograd, Sir George Buchanan: “Minister for Foreign Affairs told me today that he had heard from Berne that Turkish Minister had stated that time had come for organizing a movement against young Turks and in favor of peace.” Buchanan to Balfour, May 23, 1917, NA, FO371/3050. From Rumbold in Berne on June 4: “Suraya Bey Vlera, a former Albanian official who has been at Vienna with Prince of Wied has just returned to Switzerland. He states Talaat Pasha recently told Germans at Berlin that having regard to present economic and military conditions in Turkey latter could no longer continue to fight and would be obliged to make a separate peace with Allies.” On June 17 Rumbold enclosed a long report from Parodi on the views of Turkish Liberals: They wished to overthrow the CUP and make peace, the peace to be based upon the retention of Constantinople, the opening of the straits under an international guarantee, autonomy for Armenia, Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia, independence for the various Arab emirs, including Sharif Hussein, and financial assistance from the Allies. Rumbold to Balfour, June 17, 1917, NA, FO371/2770. At the War Office, on June 19, MacDonagh interviewed Elkus, the former American envoy in Constantinople: “He believes that both Talaat and Djavid earnestly desire peace … Mr. Elkus suggests a M. Orosti Blocket Cie of Paris as a possibly suitable intermediary.”
19. Rechid Bey as … Rumbold to Balfour, July 1, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
20. “I am taking steps …” Rumbold to Balfour, July 7, 1917, ibid. The important Turks included Fethy Bey, Ottoman minister at Sofia; Rifaat and Mutak Effendi, respectively president and secretary of the Ottoman senate; Hadji Adil Bey, president of the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies; and various Turkish army officers convalescing at Davos.
21. “a member of the Committee …” Rumbold to Grey, July 12, 1917, NA, FO371/3050.
22. “Next morning [I] was …” Herbert, diary entry, July 21, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.
23. “He comes from one …” Herbert, memorandum, July 28, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
24. “We then went …” Herbert, memorandum, July 22, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
25. “I do not think …” Herbert, diary entry, July 24, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.
26. “Talaat now convinced …” Binns to London, July 22, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
27. “now knows that she …” Lord Curzon, memorandum, May 12, 1917, NA, CAB24/10/13.
28. The first did not … Arthur Ryan, memorandum, July 13, 1917, NA, FO800/18/237-241.
29. “It is not impossible …” Lewis Mallet, memorandum, July 14, 1917, NA, FO800/18/243-
248.
30. “On my arrival I found …” Sykes to Clayton, July 22, 1917, Hull University, Sykes Papers, DDSY/2/4/69.
31. “The visit of a …” Sykes, note, n.d., ibid., DDSY/2/11/62.
32. “I find myself in …” “Minutes by Sir G. Clerk and Sir R. Graham,” July 31 and August 1, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
33. “were not sufficient …” Herbert, diary entry, August 6, 1917, Somerset Record Office, Herbert Papers.
34. “Talaat has no intention …” Rumbold to Balfour, July 27, 1917, NA, FO371/3058.
35. “I told him that …” Hardinge note, August 28, 1917, NA, FO371/3057.
CHAPTER 21: THE ZAHAROFF GAMBIT
1. “evil and imposing” … Quoted in Richard Davenport Hines, “Basil Zaharoff,” in New Dictionary of National Biography. See also Allfrey, Man of Arms; McCormick, Pedlar of Death; and Engelbrecht and Hanighen, Merchants of Death, 95–107.
2. “All that is needed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, undated fragment, probably November 1915, NA, Caillard Papers, file 1.
3. “I beg …” Asquith to Caillard, March 6, 1916, Zaharoff copy, ibid., file 4.
4. “Mon cher Ami …” Zaharoff to Caillard, April 19, 1916, ibid., file 3.
5. “This is not the moment …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 29, 1916, ibid.
6. But one of his biographers … Hynes, in New Dictionary of National Biography.
7. “the moment might …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 29, 1916, and Caillard to Zaharoff, May 21, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers.
8. “I am turning …” Zaharoff to Caillard, May 23, 1917, ibid.
9. “was greatly interested …” Caillard to Zaharoff, May 31, 1917, ibid., file 7.
10. “The enclosed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 5, 1917, ibid.
11. “throwing out …” Caillard to Walter Long, June 11, 1917, ibid.
12. “considered it would be …” Caillard to Zaharoff, June 14, 1917, ibid.
13. He arrived on June 18 … “What a nest of spies Switzerland must be at this moment,” Sir Ronald Graham had just written to Britain’s man in Berne—neither of them knowing about Zaharoff’s mission. Graham to Rumbold, June 8, 1917, OUNBL, Rumbold Papers, box 22.
14. “Things had changed …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 23, 1917, NA, Caillard Papers.
15. “Your people are to …” Zaharoff to Caillard, June 24, [1917], ibid.
16. “After some further …” Caillard to Zaharoff, June 27, 1917, ibid.
17. “eases my mind …” Zaharoff to Caillard, July 2, 1917, ibid.
18. “saluted me politely …” Zaharoff to Caillard, July 28, 1917, ibid.
19. “The fact is that …” Caillard to Zaharoff, August 17, 1917, ibid.
20. “I will be there …” Quoted in Caillard to Lloyd George, November 23, 1917, ibid.
CHAPTER 22: THE ASCENDANCY OF CHAIM WEIZMANN
1. “is felt by the outside …” Weizmann, “Introduction,” in Sacher, Zionism and Jewish Future, 6–7; Gaster, “Judaism a National Religion,” ibid., 93.
2. “the position of emancipated …” Wolf to Bigart, June 5, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Lucien Wolf Papers.
3. “How can a man …” Montefiore, “Englishman of Jewish Faith,” 823.
4. “The Zionist wing …” Wolf, “Jewish National Movement.”
5. “So long as this …” Wolf to Bigart, June 5, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.
6. “the ‘campaign’ was …” Sokolow to Brandeis, April 7, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 6.
7. “As my sister-in-law will …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, April 10, 1917, WI.
8. “I am afraid you …” Wolf to de Rothschild, January 3, 1917, CZA, A7732.
9. “were exceedingly …” Wolf, memorandum, January 31, 1917, FO800/129, Balfour Miscellaneous.
10. “The Presidents of the …” Wolf to Oliphant, April 21, 1917, Conjoint Committee, Report no. 10, February 6, 1917–May 17, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.
11. a mollifying response … “I am authorized to inform you that no new agreement on the Palestine question has been concluded. His Majesty’s Government are sincerely anxious to act in all matters affecting the Jewish community not only in its best interests but with a due regard to the wishes and opinions of all its sections.” Graham to Wolf, April 27, 1917, ibid.
12. Wolf immediately endorsed … Wolf to Montefiore, May 11, 1917, ibid., microfilm reel 3.
13. As to whether Britain … Claude Montefiore, interview with Lord Milner, May 16, 1917, ibid., microfilm reel 7.
14. “I would beg of you …” Montefiore to Milner, May 17, 1917, CZA, A/7731.
15. “is an able, temperate …” Milner to Cecil, May 17, 1917, NA, FO800/198.
16. “Among the possible …” Milner to Samuel, January 17, 1917, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, Samuel Papers, GB165-0252.
17. “I am entitled …” “English Zionist Federation. Meeting at Armfield’s Hotel … May 20, 1917,” NA, FO371/3053.
18. “to issue a public …” Conjoint Committee, Report no. 11, May 17, 1917–July 15, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.
19. “the Zionist theory …” Wolf, “Conjoint Foreign Committee … Statement on the Palestine Question,” CZA, A/7731.
20. “his regret at …” Wolf to Montefiore, June 1, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers.
21. “‘And you would render … ’” Hertz to Montefiore, May 30, 1917, ibid.
22. Over the course … Wolf, enclosure with letter to Montefiore, May 23, 1917, CZA, A/7732.
23. But Alexander refused … Wolf to Montefiore, May 23, 1917, Yivo Institute, Wolf Papers, microfilm reel 3.
24. “If you approve …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, May 24, 1917, WI.
25. “the hope that for …” Both quoted in Jewish Chronicle, June 1, 1917.
26. “It was … thanks …” Samuel Cohen to Weizmann, August 16, 1917, WI.
27. “The ordinary non-Jew …” Palestine, June 9, 1917.
28. “All that the Committee …” Jewish Chronicle, June 1, 1917.
29. “a grave error …” Zangwill to Wolf, May 26, 1917, WI.
30. “had declared the Zionists …” Jewish Chronicle, June 8, 1917.
31. “issued at an inopportune …” Ibid., June 22, 1917.
32. The scholar who … Cohen, English Zionists, 261–75.
33. “I write to tell you …” Walter Rothschild to Weizmann, June 17, 1917, WI.
34. “It is a great victory” … Sacher to Simon, June 20, 1917, and Sacher to Weizmann, June 22, 1917, ibid.
35. “This vote …” Graham, minute, June 20, 1917, NA, FO371/3053.
36. “I intend to send …” Sieff to Weizmann, May 7, 1917, WI.
37. “I don’t mind …” Sacher to Simon, May 9, 1917, CZA, A/289114.
38. “We Zionists …” Simon to Sokolow, August 3, 1917, WI.
39. “Chaim Weizmann has caught …” Sacher to Simon, September 2, 1917, CZA, A/289114.
40. “You act on your …” Cohen to Weizmann, August 16, 1917, WI.
41. A London delegate … The London delegate was Benjamin Grad.
42. “I think it no less …” Simon to Weizmann, August 17, 1917, ibid. Of the principals, only the iconoclast, Harry Sacher, remained mute.
43. “The atmosphere …” Weizmann to Sokolow, September 5, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 490, 7:499.
44. “had the effect …” Weizmann to Scott, September 13, 1917, in Stein, Letters, letter no. 501, 7:510.
45. “For the first time …” Ginzberg to Weizmann, September 5, 1917, OUNBL, Stein Papers, box 6.
CHAPTER 23: LAWRENCE AND THE ARABS ON THE VERGE
1. “We all swore …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 103.
2. “I quite recognize …” Lawrence to Sykes, September 9, 1917, Durham University, Clayton Papers, 693/11/4.<
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3. “They marched to Abu …” “Notes on Capt. Lawrence’s Journey,” Durham University, Clayton Papers, 694/5/26.
4. “nearly blinded …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 246.
5. “while the coffee …” Ibid., 251.
6. “Twice puff-adders …” Ibid., 261.
7. “I could see …” Ibid., 267.
8. “Also … a rash …” Ibid., 266–67.
9. “I’ve decided …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 137.
10. “the low rolling …” Arab Bulletin, no. 59, August 12, 1917, p. 337.
11. “it was terribly hot …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 292–95.
12. “all the Turks …” Arab Bulletin, no. 59, August 12, 1917, p. 339.
13. With Aqaba secured … Barr, Setting the Desert, 154.
14. “sat in his chair …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 312–13.
15. “The scheme …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 156.
16. “dying to go …” Quoted ibid., 160.
17. “It is necessary …” War Cabinet, August 10, 1917, NA, Cab23/13.
18. “There they could …” Secretary (for Lloyd George) to Robertson, September 22, 1917, House of Lords Record Office, David Lloyd George Papers, box 71.
19. “In the afternoon …” Arab Bulletin, no. 65, October 8, 1917, p. 402.
20. “shattered the firebox …” Ibid., no. 66, October 21, 1917, p. 414.
21. Slowly—too slowly … Report No. 2, p. 13, Oxford University, St. Antony’s College, Middle East Centre, William Yale Papers, DS 244.4.
22. They did not … See Tauber, Arab Movements, 127.
23. “the rare sort …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 386.
24. “he was the only …” Ibid., 393.
25. “felt that there was …” Quoted in Barr, Setting the Desert, 187.
26. “Our minds were …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 405–16.
27. “a splendid two-engined …” Ibid., 422.
28. “His motor car …” Ibid., 423–25.
29. When Lawrence resisted … Barr, Setting the Desert, 195–200.
30. “a delicious warmth …” Lawrence, Seven Pillars, 436.
The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Page 54