King–Crane Commission

of the United States was an avowed opponent of secret diplomacy. At the Paris Peace Conference, France and Britain sought to divide the Ottoman Empire among themselves using the mandate system while President Wilson sought to oppose such plans. The conference began in 1919. In the wake of World War I, the participants were exhausted and particularly interested in the fate of their imperial rival, the Ottoman Empire. The French, in particular, had extensive claims in the Middle East. Since as early 1900, the French began to build relationships and claims on political, moral and economic grounds. They created a role for themselves as the traditional protector of Lebanese Christians. The French supported the Maronites in Lebanon with missionaries and schools, deepening their relationship with the Christian religious community. They aimed to establish independent nation-states, inspired by President Wilson's emphasis on self-determination. The King–Crane Commission played a crucial role in evaluating their aspirations. Many had relied on Wilson's assurances of security and autonomy, expecting democratic principles to guide the postwar period. They hoped for Western support to achieve self-rule, marking the end of imperialism in the Middle East. However, their disillusionment was palpable as reflected in the reactions during the King–Crane Commission, where "William Yale’s disappointed expectations of Arab nationalist enthusiasm... found insufficiently proven by the Arabs' lackluster emotional reactions. Secret negotiations The French allied themselves with the British in order to press their claims. While the British did not have the same connection with the Middle East, they were still interested in expanding and defending their existing colonial empire. In what came to be known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, the French and the British agreed to divide the Middle East between the two of them after the war. When they reached the Paris Peace Conference, this agreement made negotiation on the Middle East nearly impossible. When American diplomats proposed the King–Crane Commission to investigate popular sentiment in the region of Syria, both French and British diplomats greeted it with public approval, but behind the scenes the outcome had already been decided. Lord Snell criticized the British government's handling of Arab nationalism, noting that the King–Crane Commission report commented: "Arab nationalism in Palestine has been artificially puffed up by methods which the Government should never have allowed. Only a little firmness is needed to deflate it. The British also engaged in secret negotiations with the emir of Mecca in the Hussein-McMahon correspondence before the conference occurred. Ultimately, this would cause the British to fall into poor standing with the Arabs because they would betray Arab trust by conducting simultaneous negotiations in the Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration. ==The commission==

The Commission was originally proposed by the United States as an international effort to assess the state of opinion there with regard to [the post-Ottoman Middle East], and the social, racial, and economic conditions. The plan received little support from the other nations, with many claimed delays. The Americans gradually realized that the British and French had already come to their own backroom deals about the future of the region, and new information could only muddy the waters. So, the United States alone sponsored the commission. The Commission's representatives appointed by President Woodrow Wilson were Henry Churchill King, a theologian and fellow college president (of Oberlin College), and Charles R. Crane, a prominent Democratic Party contributor. The dispatch of the Commission, combined with Wilson's claim that the “nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of an autonomous development,” sparked optimism in the Arab world that the era of imperialism was coming to an end. Based on these interviews, King concluded that while the Middle East was "not ready" for independence, a colonial government would not serve the people well either. He recommended instead that the Americans move in to occupy the region, because only the United States could be trusted to guide the people to self-sufficiency and independence rather than become an imperialist occupier. From King's personal writings, it seems that his overriding concern was the morally correct course of action, not necessarily tempered by politics or pragmatism. The Republicans had regained control of the United States Senate in the 1918 midterm elections. In light of Republican isolationism, the probability of a huge military involvement and occupation overseas, even given British and French approval, was practically nil. The British Foreign Office was willing to allow either the United States or Great Britain to administer the proposed Palestine mandate, but not the French or the Italian governments. The point ended up being moot in any case, as Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau, heads of governments of Great Britain and France, prevailed in drafting the provisions of the San Remo conference and the Treaty of Sèvres. Lloyd George commented that "the friendship of France is worth ten Syrias." ==Conclusions regarding Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon==

The commission's "Report upon Syria" covered the Arab territories of the defunct Ottoman Syria, then under the Occupied Enemy Territory Administration. This area covered would today encompass Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, as well as Hatay and Cilicia. The commission's visit to the region was 42 days long, from June 10 to July 21, 1919; 15 days were spent in OETA South, 10 in OETA West, 15 in OETA East, and 2 in OETA North. With respect to OETA North ("Cilicia"), the Commission "did not endeavor to give thorough hearings... feeling that it is not seriously to be considered a part of Syria, and desiring not to open up as yet the question of the Turkish-speaking portion of the former Turkish Empire." The population estimates included in the report are as follows: The Commission Report, which was published in 1922, concluded that the Middle East was not ready for independence and urged mandates be established on the territories whose purpose was to accompany a process of transition to self-determination. The Commission hoped for a "Syria" built along liberal and nationalistic grounds that would become a modern democracy that protected the rights of its minorities. The Commission succeeded in convincing many of the educated, secular elite of this goal, but this didn't affect the negotiations at Versailles. Historian James Gelvin believes that the Commission actually weakened the stature of the pro-Western elites in Syria, as their vocal support of complete independence made no impact upon the result. The French Mandate of Syria was the result regardless, and the native elites were left either powerless or granted power only at the whim of the French. This helped set back the cause of an actual Syrian liberal democracy in Gelvin's view. Although the commission was sympathetic toward Zionism, the Balfour Declaration's requirement that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights existing in non-Jewish communities in Palestine" led the commission to recommend "that only a greatly reduced Zionist program be attempted by the Peace Conference, and even that, only very gradually initiated." The commission found that "Zionists looked forward to a practically complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine, by various forms of purchase". About the international importance of Palestine, the report noted: ::"The fact that the Arabic-speaking portion of the Turkish Empire has been the birthplace of the three great religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and that Palestine contains places sacred to all three, makes inevitably a center of interest and concern for the whole civilised world. No solution which is merely local or has only a single people in mind can avail." Narrating the fear felt by Christians and Muslims over their holy places, it mentions: "With the best possible intentions, it may be doubted whether the Jews could possibly seem to either Christians or Moslems proper guardians of the holy places, or custodians of the Holy Land as a whole. ..... The places which are most sacred to Christians-those having to do with Jesus-and which are also sacred to Moslems, are not only not sacred to Jews, but abhorrent to them. It is simply impossible, under those circumstances, for Moslems and Christians to feel satisfied to have these places in Jewish hands, or under the custody of Jews." The table below shows results of the petitions received from OETA South (became Palestine), OETA West (became Lebanon and Western Syria) and OETA East (became Syria and Transjordan). ==Conclusions regarding Armenia==

The Commission expressed support for the creation of an Armenian state and rejected that Turkey would respect the rights of the Armenian population, in the light of the genocide suffered by the Armenians during the war. ==Significance for the Palestinian cause==

Even though the Commission's report did not lead to Palestinian independence, it acts as an important historical reference point for Palestinians to prove the existence of their movement, nationhood, and political goals as early as 1919. ==The report==

Its publication was initially suppressed for various reasons, and later reported by the State Department that publication "would not be compatible with the public interest". The Commission's report was ultimately published in the December 2, 1922 edition of the Editor & Publisher magazine. • Report of the American Section of the International Commission on Mandates in Turkey, Paris, August 28, 1919, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume XII, Field Missions of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace, Document 380, Paris Peace Conf. 181.9102/9 (Office of the Historian) • King Crane Commission, “King-Crane report on the Near East,” Editor and Publisher 55 no. 27 (winter 1922) :* World War I Document Archive :* :* HRI • King-Crane Commission Digital Collection, Oberlin College Archives ==Notes==