T. E. Lawrence and Zionism by Cecil Bloom
EXCERPT
"His relationship to the Zionist movement was a very positive one, in spite
of the fact that he was strongly pro-Arab and he has been mistakenly been
represented as anti-Zionist. It was his view . . . that the Jews would be of
great help to the Arabs and that the Arab world stood to gain much from a
Jewish homeland in Palestine.'1 In the light of the history of the period, this
statement by Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist leader and first president of the
state of Israel, about T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, is
believed to be a fair description of Lawrence's position in Arab-Zionist his?
tory and the objective of this paper is to present the supporting evidence for
that contention. Lawrence was so anxious to identify himself as a friend of
the Arabian people during his so-called Arab period that he regularly wore
traditional Arab costume ? on one occasion he appeared before King
George V in this dress so Weizmann's words may come as a surprise. But
the record shows that Lawrence demonstrated his sympathies for Zionism
on a number of occasions...![]()
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in 1888, left Oxford with a first-class degree in history and worked as an archaeologist, taking part in a War Office survey of the Negev and Sinai in 1913-14. After the outbreak of war in 1914 he was commissioned in the British Army and posted to the Military Intelligence Office in Cairo. In 1916 he joined the newly formed Arab Bureau in Cairo which was set up to exploit Arab ambitions in the hope that these would help British war aims.
A few months later he was appointed liaison officer to Emir Feisal, son of Hussein, Grand Sherif of Mecca, the leader of the Arab revolt against Turkey. He helped direct Arab military operations that led to the capture of Aqaba in 1917 and to the entry into Damascus in 1918. As Feisal's senior advisor at the Paris Peace Conference his position in Feisal's diplomatic team was unique and authoritative; unquestionably he was a powerful influence on the Arab prince.
While in his service he was responsible for the English drafting of many of Feisal's statements and speeches. Later, as a diplomat in the Colonial Office, he also participated in the 1921 Cairo Conference which recommended Feisal as king of Iraq and his brother Abdullah as Transjordan ruler.
The British Government encouraged the Arabs both as a means of helping to defeat the Turks in the First World War and in the hope of gaining a stronger foothold in the Middle East. As is well known, Lawrence played an important part in the Arab revolt but, contrary to common belief, he did not command the Arab forces; he was Feisal's advisor on matters military and political officer and his services were offered to Feisal with the object of influencing him and ensuring the success of British policy.
Lawrence's main purpose in the years following 1917 was to help retrieve British for tunes in the Middle East, and the intention appears to have been that Britain would help create a new Arab state which, it was believed, would benefit British strategy and would free the Arabs from Turkish domination.
Lawrence had strong hostility towards the French and was vocal in his anti French sentiments. He was vigorously opposed to French claims in Syria following the Sykes-Picot agreement. Besides an intelligence report on Syria, he was vehement in an attack on Francophile Beirut, which he said was a sewer through which 'shop-soiled foreign influences flow into Syria'.6 One of his postwar objectives was to try and arrange for Jewry to finance Feisal and perhaps all Arabia7 which, it was conjectured, would upset the French position in the Middle East.
In July 1922 Lawrence suddenly withdrew from public life. He changed
his name to John Hume Ross and joined the Royal Air Force a month later
as a lowly aircraftman. Unfortunately for him, the Daily Express discovered
his whereabouts and published the story, with the result that he was discharged from the Force. He then re-enlisted in the Royal Tank Corps, but
two years later was allowed to return to the RAF. He again changed his
name to T. E. Shaw and remained in the RAF as a mechanic until shortly before his death in a crash on his motorcycle in 1935[1].
[ Many believed it was merely an accident. It's the sort of thing that can happen even to experienced riders. But it may not have been an accident. NPR reported that Lawrence might have been depressed and suffering from what we know call post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During the height of his fame, he frequently isolated himself and cut off friends. Lawrence repeatedly said he just wanted to leave his past, especially his Arab period, behind. Smithsonian Magazine noted his self-isolation also extended to his family. The decision to retire from the military, the family he'd chosen for himself, filled him with dread. Based on a letter Lawrence wrote to a friend just a few days before his motorcycle crash: "At present, the feeling is mere bewilderment. I imagine leaves must feel this after they have fallen from their tree and until they die. Let's hope that will not be my continuing state. "]
His reasons for a sudden departure from public life and enlistment in the ranks are difficult to assess. He certainly became disillusioned because of the way the Arabs were being treated and he repeatedly suffered moods of despair as his close relationship with Arabia paled, but his motives for his actions are still not fully understood. "
[1] On May 13, 1935, Lawrence was riding his motorcycle in Dorset near his beloved Clouds Hill. As he rode, he did not notice two boys on their bicycles coming at him. He swerved and flew over his handlebars, suffering severe injuries. Lawrence died of those injuries six days later. The inquest into his death was held the day after he died, and funeral was held on the same day.