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THE CASE OF WILLIAM YALE: CAIRO’S SYRIANS AND THE ARAB ORIGINS OF AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN THE POST-OTTOMAN MIDDLE EAST, 1917–19

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 October 2014

Max Reibman
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Abstract

This article explores the American role in the Syrian political scene in Cairo toward the end of World War I and in its immediate aftermath. It challenges the absence of the United States and of American actors as primary players in much of the historical writing on the Middle East in this period. It illuminates a neglected episode of regional American diplomacy, argues that the United States was not relegated to the periphery in local debates surrounding the dismemberment of Ottoman Syria, and emphasizes the broader uncertainties that characterized the competition for Mandate territories in the Middle East prior to 1920. In doing so, it takes a close look at the long-forgotten reports of William Yale, the U.S. State Department's “Special Agent” in Cairo in late 1917, and situates them within evolving trends in Syrian-Arab politics. Yale, who surfaced in Egypt after serving with Standard Oil in Palestine, was the key Arabic-speaking American “on the spot” and proved to be an astute if imperfect observer of the diversity of Syrian national sentiment. A survey of his reports allows for a new perspective on Cairo's Syrians and their pragmatic and ideological turn toward the United States as World War I unfolded. Alienated from Britain and France, they looked increasingly to the United States, and the appeal of a postwar American trusteeship over Syria gained currency among émigré intellectuals and aspiring powerbrokers.

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Articles
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International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 4: World War I , November 2014 , pp. 681 - 702
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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References

NOTES

Author's note: I thank Tim Harper and the four anonymous IJMES reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts.

1 “Syria” here refers to the present-day countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine; when mentioned separately, “Palestine” refers only to the territory west of the Jordan River that became the British Mandate.

2 William Yale, “Report 14,” 11 February 1918, William Yale Collection (hereafter WYC), St. Antony's College, Oxford, Middle East Centre (hereafter MEC), box 1, fol. 2.

3 See, for example, Fromkin, David, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (London: Phoenix, 2000)Google Scholar; Mizrahi, Jean-David, Genèse de l’État mandataire: Service des Renseignements et bandes armées en Syrie et au Liban dans les années 1920 (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2003)Google Scholar; and Segev, Tom, One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2000)Google Scholar.

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6 The term “Syrians” at this moment includes those now known as Syrians, Lebanese, and Palestinians.

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8 Dakhli, Une Génération d’Intellectuels Arabes, 52–53, 76–77.

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17 Yale, “Report 7,” 10 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

18 Khoury, Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism, 69.

19 Yale, “Report 10,” 31 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

20 On Rashid Rida, see Hamzah, Dyala, “From ʿIlm to Ṣiḥāfa or the Politics of the Public Interest (Maṣlaḥa): Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā and His Journal al-Manār (1898–1935),” in The Making of the Arab Intellectual: Empire, Public Sphere and the Colonial Coordinates of Selfhood, ed. Hamzah, Dyala (London: Routledge, 2013), 90–127Google Scholar.

21 See, for example, “Dukhul al-Masʾala al-ʿArabiyya fi Taur Jadid,” al-Manar, 2 December 1918.

22 Yale to Monroe, 6 November 1962, Boston, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 9.

23 “Report on the Inquiry,” 10 May 1918, U.S. Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference 1919, 13 vols. (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942) 1:87 (FRUS).

24 Yale, “Palestine-Syria Situation,” 27 June 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 4.

25 Howard, Harry, The King–Crane Commission: An American Inquiry in the Middle East (Beirut: Khayats, 1963), 36, 40–41Google Scholar; see also William Westermann, “Personal Diary at the Paris Peace Conference,” William Linn Westermann papers, microfilm reel 0243, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

26 Yale to Monroe, 9 June 1970, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 7.

27 Gary to the Secretary of State, “Transmission of Reports from Captain William Yale,” 22 August 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2, fol. 1.

28 Phillips to Harrison, 26 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 1.

29 Yale, “The Political Situation in Syria,” 9 November 1918, William Yale Papers (hereafter WYP) (MS 658), Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library (hereafter YUL), box 2, fol. 4; Yale to Times Publishing Company, 17 September 1968, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 1.

30 Lawrence, T. E., Seven Pillars of Wisdom (London: Alden Press, 1935), 647Google Scholar.

31 Yale to Times Publishing Company, 17 September 1968, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 1; Yale, “The Political Situation in Syria,” 9 November 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 4; Yale, “Present Situation in Syria & Palestine,” 18 December 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 47.

32 Tauber, Eliezer, The Emergence of the Arab Movements (London: Cass, 1993), 131–32Google Scholar.

33 Nassif to Clayton, April 1917, in Yale, “Report 12,” 28 January 1918, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

34 Service des Informations de la Marine dans le Levant (hereafter SIML), “Note 138,” 10 October 1918, Archives Diplomatiques de Nantes (hereafter ADN), Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

35 Yale, “Extract from Report of the Special Agent at Cairo (Yale),” 12 November 1917, FRUS, Foreign Relations 1917, Supplement 2, 2 vols. (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1932), 1:491–92.

36 Yale, “Report 3,” 12 November 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

37 On the CCS, see Dakhli, Une Génération d’Intellectuels Arabes, 79, 121.

38 “Fi ʿAlam al-Siyasa—Mustaqbal Suriya,” al-Mustaqbal, 10 January 1918; “Dans le monde politique,” Le Mustaqbal, 10 January 1918, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

39 Yale, “Report 17,” 4 March 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2, fol. 1.

40 On censorship in Egypt, see Yale, “Facts in Connection with the Syrian Question which have been Recently Learned,” 16 December 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 43.

41 See, for example, Nassif to Clayton, April 1917, in Yale, “Report 12,” 28 January 1918, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

42 See “Anglo-French Declaration,” 7 November 1918, in The Middle East and North Africa in World Politics: A Documentary Record, British-French Supremacy, 1914–1945, ed. J. C. Hurewitz, 2 vols. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1979), 2:112.

43 “Al-Barr al-Mawathiq,” al-Muqattam, 23 December 1918.

44 “Fi ʿAlam al-Siyasa—Mustaqbal Suriya,” al-Mustaqbal, 10 January 1918.

45 “Iʿlan Ittifaq Sanat 1916 al-Madhkur fi Baris,” al-Manar, 2 December 1918.

46 “Dukhul al-Masʾala al-ʿArabiyya fi Taur Jadid,” al-Manar, 2 December 1918.

47 Dawn, C. Ernest, “The Amir of Mecca al-Husayn ibn-ʿAli and the Origin of the Arab Revolt,” in From Ottomanism to Arabism: Essays on the Origins of Arab Nationalism (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1973), 41Google Scholar.

48 Yale, “Report 13,” 12 November 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2. On the Balfour Declaration, see Schneer, Jonathan, The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab Israeli Conflict (New York: Random House, 2010)Google Scholar.

49 “Al-Israʾiliyyun wa-Filastin,” al-Manar, 15 November 1917.

50 Yale, “Report 3,” 12 November 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2

51 See Mandel, Neville, “Ottoman Policy and Restrictions on Jewish Settlement in Palestine: 1881–1908: Part I,” Middle Eastern Studies 10 (1974): 312–32Google Scholar; Mandel, , “Ottoman Practice as Regards Jewish Settlement in Palestine: 1881–1908,” Middle Eastern Studies 11 (1975): 33–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

52 “Al-Nuqta al-Asasiyya fi Brughram Muʾtamar Bal,” al-Manar, 23 August 1914.

53 Yale, “Report 5,” 26 November 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

54 Yale, “Report 4,” 10 November 1917, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 7.

55 Yale, “Report 8,” 17 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

56 Yale, “Report 5,” 26 November 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

57 Krämer, Gudrun, The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914–1952 (London: I. B. Taurus, 1989), 182–87Google Scholar.

58 Hatsipor, “La Vie Intérieure de Notre Association” (Cairo: Bibliothèque Israélite, 1917), 51–52.

59 Charles French to Reginald Wingate, 5 September 1917, London, The National Archives (hereafter TNA), Foreign Office (hereafter FO), 141/803/3.

60 On the Aaronsohn family, see Aaronsohn, Alexander, With the Turks in Palestine (London: Constable, 1917)Google Scholar.

61 French to Wingate, 5 September 1917, TNA, FO, 141/803/3.

62 Yale, “Report 8,” 17 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

63 Yale, “Report 16,” 25 February 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2.

64 “Note, La Question Sioniste,” 4 February 1918, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/521.

65 On the Arab-Zionist “entente,” see Sykes to Gilbert Clayton, 14 November 1917, London, TNA, FO, 141/803/3.

66 Clayton to Wingate, 4 May 1918, TNA, FO, 141/803/3; Clayton to FO, 16 June 1918, TNA, FO, 141/803/3.

67 Clayton to FO, 16 June 1918, TNA, FO, 141/803/3.

68 Yale, “Report 22,” 8 April 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2.

69 Yale, “Report 29,” WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 32.

70 Rafiq al-ʿAzm, Sulayman Nassif, and Mukhtar al-Solh to Allenby, 25 May 1918, TNA, FO, 141/803/3.

71 Ibid.

72 Ibid.

73 Wingate to FO, 8 November 1918, TNA, FO, 141/456/1.

74 Yale, “Report 29,” 27 May 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 32.

75 Ibid.

76 Yale, “Report 10,” 31 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

77 “Araʾ al-Khawas fi al-Masʾala al-ʿArabiyya wa-Istiqlal al-Sharif fi al-Hijaz,” al-Manar, 29 August 1916.

78 Ronald Storrs, extracts from journal, 16 October 1916, Ronald Storrs Papers, Pembroke College Library, box 3, fol. 1; for Rida's more sanitized account of his journey to Mecca, see “Rihlat al-Hijaz, al-Safar ila Mecca al-Mukarama,” al-Manar, 18 August 1917.

79 Édouard Brémond to Albert Defrance, 15 October 1916, Jidda, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

80 Storrs to Clayton, 3 September 1916, Cairo, TNA, FO, 141/475/8.

81 Yale, “Facts in Connection with the Syrian Question which have been Recently Learned,” 16 December 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 43.

82 Ibid.

83 Yale, “Report 10,” 31 December 1917, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

84 “Tafnid Mazaʿim al-Siyasi al-Amrikani fi al-Shariʿa al-Islamiyya,” al-Manar, 19 October 1914.

85 “Mabdaʾ Monroe,” al-Muqtataf, 1 January 1917.

86 “Amrika wa-l-Harb,” al-Muqtataf, 1 May 1917.

87 “Al-Wilayat al-Mutahida al-Amrikiyya wa-l-Harb,” al-Muqtataf, 1 September 1917.

88 Dupont, Anne-Laure, Girgi Zaydan, 1861–1914: Ecrivain réformiste et témoin de la renaissance arabe (Damascus: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2006)Google Scholar.

89 “Jihad al-Wilayat al-Mutahida fi al-Sana al-Ula min Dukhuliha al-Harb,” al-Hilal, 1 June 1918.

90 “Bilad al-Ikhtiraʿ wa-l-Ibtikar,” al-Hilal, 10 October 1918.

91 Yale, “Report 25,” 29 April 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2.

92 Ibid.

93 Yale, “Report 28,” 20 May 1918, WYP, YUL, box 2, fol. 31.

94 Yale, “Report 14,” 11 February 1918, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2.

95 Khuri-Makdisi, The Eastern Mediterranean, 48–49.

96 “La Palestine—Notre Pays,” “Note 210” (undated, likely February 1919), ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/521.

97 Schneer, The Balfour Declaration, 338–40.

98 “Parti Syrien Modéré,” 26 February 1919, Cairo, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

99 SIML, “Mouvement Syrien Pro-Américain,” 14 February 1919, Cairo, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

100 Clayton to WO, 28 February 1919, TNA, WO, 106/189.

101 “Sada al-Khitaba al-Qawmiyya” al-Muqattam, 3 March 1919.

102 “Une Conférence—Autour de la Question Syrienne,” Journal du Caire, 3 March 1919; see also SIML, “Note 244—Le movement Syrien anti-Français,” Cairo, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/511.

103 “Note sur le Comité de l’Union Syrienne,” 16 January 1919, Port-Said, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/520.

104 “Une Conférence—Autour de la Question Syrienne,” Journal du Caire, 3 March 1919; see also SIML, “Note 244—Le movement Syrien anti-Français,” Cairo, ADN, Le Caire, 353PO/2/511.

105 E.H. Byrne, “Report on the Desires of the Syrians,” 7 October 1918, WYP, YUL, box 4, fol. 23; O.J. Campbell, “A Report on Zionism,” 23 August 1918, The Inquiry Papers (MS 8), YUL, box 24, fol. 385.

106 Council of Ten, Minutes of Meeting, 6 February 1919, FRUS III, 892.

107 Ibid., 1016; Bliss to Wilson, 7 February 1919, cited in Howard, The King–Crane Commission, 25.

108 Henry King and Charles Crane, “Report of the American Section of the International Commission on Mandates in Turkey,” 28 August 1919, FRUS XII, 753.

109 Ibid., 792.

110 Yale, “A Report on Syria, Palestine and Mount Lebanon,” 26 July 1919, WYC, MEC, box. 1, fol. 4.

111 King and Crane, “Report of the American Section,” 789.

112 Yale, “Recommendations as to the future disposition of Palestine, Syria and Mount Lebanon,” 26 July 1919, in David Magie Papers, 1901–1919, Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, box 1, fol.15.

113 Ibid.

114 Ibid.

115 Ibid.

116 Yale, “An Arab Israeli Settlement,” The Boston Globe, 29 June 1968.

117 Baron, Salo, “Ghetto and Emancipation,” The Menorah Journal 14 (1928): 515–26Google Scholar.

118 Yale, “Report 24,” 22 April 1918, WYC, MEC, box 2.

119 Mazower, Mark, Governing the World: The History of an Idea (London: Penguin Books, 2012), 98Google Scholar.

120 Yale, “Report 12,” 28 January 1918, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 2; Cromer, Evelyn Baring, Modern Egypt (London: Macmillan, 1908)Google Scholar.

121 Mazower, Governing the World, 99.

122 Interviews in London, September/October 1919, WYC, MEC, box 1, fol. 5.

123 Jake Norris, “Ideologies of Development and the British Mandate in Palestine” (PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 2010), 180–81.

124 Matthews, Weldon, Confronting an Empire, Constructing a Nation: Arab Nationalists and Popular Politics in Mandate Palestine (London: I. B. Tauris, 2006), 77–78CrossRefGoogle Scholar.