DIPLOMACY BY DECEPTION

5 - Israel In Focus

Perhaps more than any other country in the Middle East, with the exception of what is now called Saudi Arabia, diplomacy by deception was seen at its height during the formative years of the State of Israel. As I have done throughout this book, I have made every effort to be absolutely objective in dealing with the background to the formation of Israel, given the propensity of the majority to regard almost anything said about the country as "anti-semitic."

This account of how the State of Israel came into being does not take religious matters into consideration, but is based purely and simply on political, geographical, geopolitical and economic factors. It is difficult to arrive at a starting point when dealing with the history of any country, but after almost fifteen years of research, I have pinned down Oct. 31,1914 as the beginning of events that led to the founding of Israel.

The history of one country cannot be separated from that of its neighbors, and this applies especially when it comes to an historical account of Israel. Lord Horatio Kitchener, fresh from his success in putting an end to the sovereign independent Boer Republics in South Africa, was turned loose on the Middle East by the Committee of 300 acting through the British Foreign Office.

The British government had been scheming and plotting against the Turkish Ottoman Empire since 1899, and by 1914, was ready to make its final move to bring down the 400-year old dynasty. The Committee of 300 plan was to involve Arabs through false promises, and use Arabian forces to do Britain's dirty work, as we saw in the chapter which showed how Col. Thomas Lawrence was used for this purpose.

The first step in this direction was a meeting between Hussein, the grand Sherif of Mecca, bastion of the Hashemites, and Lord Kitchener. Hussein was offered a guarantee of independence for his assistance against the Turks. Full negotiations began in July of 1915. At these meetings, the British government repeatedly assured Sherif Hussein that Jewish immigration to Palestine would never be allowed, which, as I detailed in earlier chapters, was the only thing that would guarantee Hussein's participation.

Even before the negotiations for complete independence for Mecca got under way, emissaries of the British government met secretly with members of the Abdul Aziz and Wahabi families to discuss British cooperation in helping these two families subjugate the city-states of Arabia.

The strategy was to get Hussein and his military forces to help drive the Turks out of Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Arabia by promising Hussein and the leaders of Arabia's city-states that Jewish immigration into Palestine would not be permitted. The second part of the strategy called for the Abdul Aziz and Wahabi forces (armed, trained and financed by Britain) to bring all independent city-states in Arabia under their control while the city-state's leaders alongside Hussein were busy fighting Britain's war against the Turks.

The overall plan, proposed by Lord Kitchener, was discussed by the British government on July 24,1914. But it was not until Oct. 24,1914 that the British government gave its answer. The Arab territories, with certain exceptions in Syria, "in which Great Britain is free to act without detriment to her ally, France," would be respected. On Jan. 30, 1916, Britain accepted Hussein's proposals, which, in essence were that in return for his help, Hussein would be declared king of Hijaz and would rule the Arab people.

On June 27,1916, Hussein proclaimed the establishment of the Arab State, and was proclaimed king of the Hijaz on October 29. On Nov. 6,1916, Britain, France and Russia recognized Hussein as the head of Arab peoples and the king of Hijaz. Were the Abdul Aziz and Wahabi families disturbed by the contradiction in the terms of their agreement with Great Britain? Apparently not, for the simple reason that they were informed in advance of these developments, and knew that they were no more than a needed deception to be played out on Hussein.

The years 1915 and 1917 saw the British government meeting with leaders of the World Zionist Congress to determine how best to implement its long-planned Jewish immigration into Palestine. An agreement was reached to send MI6 agents to Arabia to help train the Abdul Aziz and Wahabi armies.

Britain, France and Russia held a secret meeting on April 26, 1916, agreeing that Palestine would be placed under international administration. None of the Arabs were informed, although British Foreign Office documents infer that leaders of the World Zionist Congress were notified in advance of the meeting and advised on its purpose.

Previously, in March of 1915, France and Britain had also promised Constantinople to the Russians. In return, Russia agreed that it would recognize the independence of Arab states. Britain would control Haifa. France would get Syria. Russia would get Armenia and Kurdistan (oil was not yet a factor). What is amazing, is that not once were the inhabitants of these lands ever informed. How the governments could trade in lands that did not belong to them speaks to the tremendous power exercised by secret societies under the control of the Committee of 300.

This perpetual agreement, known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, was concluded between Britain and France on May 9, 1916. All zones of influence in the Middle East were specifically spelled out, even where Arab states were ostensibly recognized as "independent." The means of control here was through secret societies particularly through a planned Freemason Lodge in Salonika.

Unaware of what had been arranged, M16 operative Col. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") led the Arab forces of Sherif Hussein to one spectacular victory after another, eventually capturing the key Hijaz rail line, driving the Turks into full retreat The key element in persuading the Arabs to attack the Turks (both were Islamic nations) was the British statement that the Ottoman empire had befriended the Jews expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, and had made Constantinople a haven for Jews. This, the British negotiators (MI6 agents) told Hussein, guaranteed that the rulers in Constantinople

Affectionately known as "Orrenz" by his Arab soldiers, looked up to and idolized, it was impossible for Col. Lawrence to accept the gross betrayal of Hussein and his army. When it became apparent that Jews were being allowed into Palestine in large numbers, Lawrence was subsequently murdered to stop him from disclosing the machinations of the British government British War Office records show that Lawrence received personal guarantees from Gen. Edmund Allenby, commander of British forces in the Middle East that Jewish immigration to Palestine would not be allowed under any circumstances.

Let us return now to the Balfour Declaration, a remarkable document in the sense that it was neither drafted nor signed by British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour, but by Lord Rothschild, as head of the British branch of the World Zionist Federation. Britain promised land in Palestine to Jews that really belonged to the Arabs, in breach of the pledge to Sherif Hussein and solemn promises made to Col. Lawrence by Gen. Allenby.

What is more striking is that although Lord Rothschild was not a member of the British government, his proposals for Palestine were accepted by the League of Nations on April 25, 1920 as an official British government document. The League of Nations accepted the Balfour Declaration and gave a mandate to Britain to administer Palestine and Transjordan. The only alteration made was that a Jewish national home would not be established in Transjordan, which, in any case, the Zionists did not want.

Once the Turks were defeated by Arab forces under Lawrence's command, and later the Arabs under Hussein, were defeated by the British-trained and equipped Abdul Aziz armies, the way was clear for Jewish immigration to Palestine to begin in earnest. Arrangements were confirmed at a conference of allied prime ministers held at San Remo, Italy on April 18, 1920. No Arab delegates were invited. In May of 1921, serious anti-Jewish rioting broke out in Palestine over the sudden influx of Jewish immigrants and the large number of Jewish settlements springing up.

Sir Herbert Samuel, British high commissioner for Palestine, at tempted to appoint a legislative council, but the Arabs would have no part of it Unrest continued from 1921, and a dispute at the Wailing Wall in 1929 erupted and rapidly escalated into large scale attacks on Jews, 50 of whom were killed.

A British government report issued in March of 1931 cited the cause of the rioting as "Arab hatred of Jews, and the disappointment of the Arab hopes for independence." The British government then issued a decree restricting Jewish immigration, which led to a Jewish strike that caused wide disruption in Palestine.

British foreign office documents indicate that in June of 1931, "complaints were filed with the League of Nations Commission on Mandates, which blamed the problems on an inadequate security force." Although the papers did not indicate who originated the complaints, notations in the margins of these papers point to Lord Rothschild.

As a result of League of Nations pressure, the British government appointed Sir John Hope-Simpson to track and report on the unrest in Palestine. His report, known as The Passfield White Paper was presented to Parliament in 1930. The White Paper stressed the plight of the landless Arabs and their increasing desire to own land. It strongly advocated that Jews be forbidden to acquire more land if any Arabs were landless, and that Jewish immigration be stopped for as long as any Arabs were unemployed.

The confidence of the Jews badly shaken, the World Zionist Congress went on the offensive and forced a debate in Parliament on the Passfield paper. The "London Times" in Nov. of 1930 said debates in Parliament were "heated and acrimonious." After two years of intense pressure on the British government, the Zionist World Federation was able to obtain a relaxation of restrictions on the number of Jews allowed into Palestine.

In 1933, Sir Arthur Wauchope, British high commissioner, rejected Arab demands that the sale of Arab land to Jews be declared illegal, and that Jewish immigration be halted. By now, talk of war in Europe was in the air, alongside daily reports of Jews being persecuted in Germany. This worked against the Arabs. The Zionists organized large-scale protests and riots against restricted immigration, and newspapers in London reported unfavorably on their activities. This, however, did little to further the Palestinian people's cause.

It became clear in 1935, why Britain had demanded control of Haifa with the opening of the Mosul-Haifa oil pipeline. In April of 1936, the Arab High Committee united Arab opposition to the Jews in Palestine, and near civil war erupted. The British government responded with more troops and appointed a commission to investigate the causes of the unrest.

The Arabs boycotted the commission,

"because the British already know what the problem is but hide behind commissions and do nothing to stop the causes."

The Peel Commission took evidence in Palestine in 1936, and just before leaving for London in January 1937, heard from an Arab delegation which had previously boycotted commission meetings. On July 8,1937, the Peel Commission Report was made public. It dealt a devastating blow to Jewish aspirations, flatly stating that Jews and Arabs could not live together, and recommended that Palestine be split into three states:

1. A Jewish state to occupy about one third of the land. In it, would reside 200,000 Arabs, with the land being held by Arabs.

2. A British mandated territory comprising a strip of land from Jaffa along the railway to Jerusalem. It would include Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

3. The remainder of the land to be an Arab state united with Trans Jordan.

The Peel Commission report was adopted by the World Zionist Federation, but it was denounced by the Arab world and several European countries, especially France. The Peel Commission recommendations were adopted by the League of Nations on August 23, 1937.

The assassination of High Commissioner Yelland Andrew on August 2, 1937 was attributed to the Zionists, which the Palestinians and Arabs said was arranged to engender hatred among the British people for the Arabs. By 1937, pitched battles between Jews and Arabs took on the semblance of all-out war.

This led to a postponement of the Peel Commission recommendations and the appointment of a new commission under Sir John Woodhead. It is important to know that the diplomacy by deception tactics of the British government were leading up to one objective, the total abandonment of the Arab cause in Palestine. Secret MI6 documents of the period were not disclosed even to the British parliament They suggested that the "Palestinian problem" was impossible to solve, and gave suggestions for dissembling to prevent further Arab unrest When the Arab leaders spoke of the problem as being a "Zionist problem", Lord Rothschild issued orders to the British press that the problem was always to be expressed as a "Palestinian problem."

A horrible massacre of 20 Jews occurred at Tiberias and Arab forces took Bethlehem and the old city of Jerusalem; the two cities only being recaptured by British troops with considerable difficulty. British foreign office documents, while not clearly expressing an opinion, nevertheless seemed to indicate that attacks on the cities and towns, and the murder of Jews was the work of agent-provocateurs who did not wish to see any agreement reached that would accommodate further Jewish immigration.

The Woodhead Commission report, expressing the view that partitioning Palestine was not a practical solution, was released in Nov. 1938. It called for an immediate conference of Arabs and Jews. Talks commenced in London in February 1939, but a stalemate arose that was not resolved and the meeting broke up one month later without any results being achieved.

Then, on May 17,1939, the British government announced a new plan which provided for an independent Palestine state by 1949. It would have a treaty relationship with Great Britain; Arabs and Jews were to share in the government "in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded," the report said.

The plan was for Jewish immigration to be halted for five years unless the Arabs agreed to let it continue, but, in any case, by 1949, 75,000 Jews were to be allowed enter the country. The aim of the British government was to arrange matters in such a way that Jews would make up about one-third of the population. The transfer of Arab land to Jews was to be prohibited.

The plan was approved by the British Parliament, but violently denounced by the World Zionist Congress and American Jewish leaders. The Palestinians also rejected the plan, and fighting between Jews and Arabs erupted across the land. But Palestine took a back seat a few months later when Britain declared war on Germany and was promptly backed by the World Zionist Congress.

Once Britain declared war on Germany, a flood of Jewish refugees from Europe went to Palestine, and in May of 1942, a conference of American Zionists adopted the Biltmore Program, which repudiated the modified Woodhead plan which called for an independent Palestine, demanding in its place a Jewish state, with a Jewish army, and a distinctly Jewish identity.

Three years later, the World Zionist Congress demanded that one million Jews be admitted to Palestine as refugees from war-torn Europe. Egypt and Syria warned President Truman in October of 1945 that war would follow attempts to create a Jewish state in Palestine. By July 1946, Zionist pressure was at a fever pitch, culminating in a bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem that took 91 lives. The United Nations report stated that the bombing was the work of Irgun terrorists. The Arabs accused the United States and Britain of arming and training both the Irgun and Haganah as the forerunner to establishing an Israeli army.

The British abandoned Palestine in February of 1947 and handed it over to United Nations, which was their way of admitting that they had betrayed Lawrence and the Arabs, and finally reneging on their responsibilities toward Palestine. In so doing, they abandoned their own agreement to hold the line until 1949. The U. N. General Assembly voted to partition Palestine on November 29,1946. There was to be a Jewish and an Arab state, with Jerusalem under U.N. trusteeship. The vote was approved by the World Zionist Congress but rejected by the Arab states and Palestine.

The Arab League Council announced in December of 1947 that it would stop the partition of the country by force, and began attacking Jewish communities all across Palestine. 1948 saw the open rise to power of the MI6-trained and American armed Irgun and Haganah counterforce. Terror reigned and hundreds of thousands of Arabs left their lands. In the final act of betrayal and the abdication of its responsibilities toward the Arabs, the last of the 30,000 British troops were withdrawn.

In defiance of U.N. resolutions, on May 14,1948, Zionist leader David Ben Gurion announced a provisional Jewish government for the State of Israel. The United Nations, unwilling or unable to stop Ben Gurion, let the declaration stand. On May 16, the United States and Russia both recognized the newly formed Ben Gurion government, brushing aside cries of betrayal emanating from Palestinians, all the Arab nations and at least eight European governments.

Later in the same month, the Arab League declared war against the newly created state of Israel. The Israeli forces, illegally equipped and armed not by the British, but by U.S. military supplies from stockpiles for American forces in Europe, gained the upper hand. Count Folke Bernadotte, a U.N. mediator was assassinated by Irgun terrorists on Sept. 17 while trying to bring about a truce. This eventually led to a U.N. brokered armistice and a temporary halt to hostilities. Bernadotte was accused of favoring the Arab cause, although the record shows he tried to be neutral.

Israel joined the United Nations in May of 1949, and was recognized by the U.S., Britain, the USSR and France. Arab countries protested to the United Nations and blamed Britain, France and the U.S. for helping Israel open a pipeline from the Sea of Galilee to the Negev Desert which made possible extensive irrigation for Jewish settlements and agriculture at the cost of unilateral tapping into the waters of the River Jordan at the expense of the Arab population. The Arabs were not consulted about this extensive project "to make the desert bloom" and considered it a breach of a May, 1939 agreement that called for administering the country "in such a way as to ensure that the interests of each community are safeguarded."

On May 9,1956, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a member of one of the top 13 families of the American Illuminati, went before Congress to practice his own diplomacy by deception, explaining that the U.S. would not supply Israel with arms because we wanted to avoid a U.S. USSR war by proxy. The fact that Israel was already fully armed and equipped by the U.S. was not brought out. What the Dulles declaration accomplished provided a reason for the USSR to halt arms supplies to the Arab nations on the basis of the U.S. position of "neutrality." At that point, there was a glaring imbalance of arms in favor of Israel.

Another point worth noting in the game of deception was that in spite of its alleged friendship with the Arab countries, in response to a U.S. initiative in 1956, the Soviet Union signed a secret deal which called for stepping up oil supplies to Israel, fearing that an Arab oil embargo might hurt Israel's defense capabilities.

Dulles, in another change of face, told members of Congress to get around restrictions by offering aid to any Middle Eastern nation desiring it. On March 9,1957, a joint congressional resolution empowered the president to use up to $200 million for economic and military assistance to any Middle Eastern nation desiring it. According to the Eisenhower Doctrine, this was supposed to "assure vital U.S. interest in the integrity and independence of all Middle East countries."

President Eisenhower embarked on what was billed as "a goodwill tour" in December of 1959, which took in several Arab countries, including Tunisia and Morocco. Both of these Arab countries later tried to tone down Arab resistance to Israel, efforts which, however, during the next 10 years, the arms build-up of both the Arabs and the Israelis continued to grow until war broke out again. Israeli forces took Jerusalem and refused to return the city to U.N. control in spite of several Security Council resolutions calling upon the government of Israel to comply.

In a transparent move on June 10,1967, the Soviet Union announced it was breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel although it did not cancel a 1956 agreement made which stepped up oil supplies to Israel. As the two main French newspapers pointed out, had the USSR been genuine in its opposition to Israel, it could have vetoed Israel's membership in the United Nations, but it did not.

By breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel, the Soviets opened the way for the U.S. to supply Israel with 50 F-4 Phantom jet fighters. This so angered President Charles De Gaulle, that he signed a decree forbidding any further financial or military assistance to Israel by France. The decree was rigidly enforced for about two years.

The U.N. Security Council met on July 3,1969 and censured in the strongest terms Israel's continued occupation of Jerusalem and deplored Israel's failure to respect previous resolutions which demanded that Israel withdraw from the city. According to a former general assembly member from Pakistan,

"the Israeli delegation was not at all perturbed, having met earlier that day with the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who gave the Israeli delegates absolute assurances that the resolution 'has no teeth,'" and that "any active attempt to punish Israel will be blocked by the United States and the Security Council."

But when the Security Council met, the United States joined in the condemnation of Israel. Of such stuff is diplomacy by deception made.

In closing this chapter, it seems fitting to give a summary of the diplomatic treachery of Britain toward its Arab ally, Sherif Hussein of Mecca:

• On Nov. 2,1921, Ibn Saud captured Hali, ending the ancient dynasty of the Rashids.

• In July, 1922, Ibn Saud overran Jauf and ended the ancient Shalan dynasty.

• On Aug. 24,1924, the Wahabis and Ibn Saud attacked Taif, in the Hijaz, and overran it on Sept. 5.

• On Oct. 131924, Ibn Saud took Mecca. Sherif Hussein and his son, Ali, were forced to flee. This is how Saudi Arabia usurped the holy city, an act which remains, to this day, deeply resented by millions of Moslems in Iran, Iraq and elsewhere. Without British help, Ibn Saud would not have been able to subdue Mecca. The British oligarchical structure had long expressed hatred of the prophet Muhammad, and no doubt took great satisfaction in the Saudi victory.

• Between January and June of 1925, the Wahabis laid siege to the city-state of Jiddah.

• On Dec. 5, 1925, Medina surrendered to Ibn Saud, and on Dec. 19, Sherif Ali, son of Hussein, was forced to abdicate.

• On Jan. 8,1926, Ibn Saud was proclaimed King of the Hijaz and Sultan of Nejd.

• On May 20,1927, the Abdul Aziz and Wahabi families, represented by Ibn Saud, signed a treaty with Great Britain, which recognized the complete independence of all territories held by the two families, and allowed them to become known as Saudi Arabia.

Without the help of the Arab nation-states under Hussein, and without the conquest of Arabian city-states by the Wahabi and Abdul Aziz families, the Turks would not have been driven out of Egypt and Palestine, and Jewish immigration into that country would have been strictly curtailed or possibly halted altogether. As President Hafez el Assad of Syria said in 1973, "the British planted a Zionist dagger in the heart of the Arab nations."

It is said by friends of the late Col. Lawrence that his ghost walks the corridors of Whitehall, unable to find peace because of the manner in which diplomacy by deception succeeded in undercutting his firm promise to the Arab armies of Sherif Hussein, and because of his culpability in accepting Allenby's and Whitehall's false promises that Jewish immigration to Palestine would not be permitted.

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