Rashid Khalid's The Hundred Years' War on Palestine Notable Sources
Upon gathering sources from Rashid Khalidiâs âThe Hundred Yearsâ War on Palestineâ, and connecting their significance to the chapter, I realized that Palestine was doomed from the start. No matter how many pledges or promises that were made to preserve the Palestine culture and land, it never really followed through. The chapter made an amazing point toward the Alexandria Protocol, in which five Arab countries gathered and âstressed the importance of the cause of Arabs of Palestine,â and regretted what the Jews of Europe inflicted on the country (62). They stated this under the section âSpecial Resolution Concerning Palestineâ, which at the time these five countries were not fully independent of their âprevious colonial mastersâ (62). How could they have pledged for the preservation of Palestine when they themselves are not free of destruction from colonialism? They work so hard on supporting each other as a whole, that they cannot stand as an individual country. Â
This brings on another piece of evidence from the book. Yusif Sayigh, a Palestinian politician, wrote in his excerpts of how ill-fated the Arab High Committee had been once its leaders had been sent to prison or exiled. Sayigh quoted that âthe Arab Higher Committee realized it didnât have the intellectual skills among its members. Indeed it had no structure at allâ (65). The committee had been disbanded by the British a year after being formed. It was also the Britishâ doing that chased the leaders into jail and out of the country. If its leaders had taught other members such intellectual skills, then maybe there would still be hope that the AHC would come back again. Like all concepts, they donât die. This is especially true when Palestine was first brought up as a country to house Jewish people.Â
Like the Alexandria Protocol, we have President Rooseveltâs letter confirming pledges to place the American Government as a respectable country toward Palestine. The letter was made for King Ibn Saud, in which Roosevelt confirms the continuing interest and concern toward Palestine and Arabs (70). However, President Roosevelt did not account for his successor, Harry Truman, to disregard such promises, and the King knew this. He knew, yet him and his six sons who succeeded him did not speak out against it as Saudi Arabia heavily depended on the United States for its economy and military. The message that good things never last have a consistency in Palestineâs history. Â
To top it off, Palestinians were furious about the lack of assertiveness the Arab countries and its leaders had toward the mistreatment from Britain, as they continued to be âthe primary enabler of Zionismâ (81). The Palestinians saw failure and fault within the Arab states. This anger created a sort of opportunity for artists and poets to express their feelings. Khalid included a poem about Arab rulers from Palestinian poet âIsa al-âIsa, which read:Â
Oh little kings of Arabs, by the grace of GodÂ
Enough feebleness and infightingÂ
Once upon a time our hopes were on youÂ
But all our hopes were dashed.Â
The term âlittle kingsâ refer the height of the Arab kings. Along with the mention of weak stances in political activities and false hope, it brings about how deeply they have failed Palestine and its people. Â
13. âThe Alexandria Protocol,â October 7, 1944, Department of State Bulletin, XVI, 411, May 1947, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/alex.asp.Â
23. Sayigh, âDesperately Nationalist,â 69â70.Â
33. For Rooseveltâs letter confirming these pledges, dated April 5, 1945, see United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers [hereafter FRUS], 1945. The Near East and Africa, vol. 8 (1945), http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decad161.asp.Â
56. The poem is reproduced in Yaâqub âAwadat, Min aâlam al-fikr wal-adab fi Filastin [Leading literary and intellectual figures in Palestine], 2nd ed. (Jerusalem: Dar al-Israâ, 1992).Â