War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

TOWARDANALLIEDVICTORY 213

ofGermanofficers,coupledwiththeirpoorornonexistentknowl-
edgeoftheTurkishlanguageandculture,alienatedTurks.Thelatter
engagedinwidespreadpassiveresistancetotheGermansandeven
occasionallyattackedandmurderedthem.»
It isuncertainhowmuchsuchproblemshinderedGermanmili-
tarypreparationsandtherebyassistedtheadvanceoftheEEFand
sharifianrebelsintoPalestine.Alsouncleariswhethertheyinfluenced
thesubsequentbehaviorofJemal.OntheGermansidethelongtime
mistrustofhimremainedunchanged.Jemal'sbitternesstowardthe
Germanssointensifiedwithhis lossofcommandtoFalkenhaynthat
inthefalltheGermansinvitedhimtotheReich,wheretheymight
soothehis feelings. Berlinalsohopedtolessenhisantagonismto-
wardtheJewsandZionism."
ButneitherthevisittoGermanynorthemilitarysituationin Pal-
estinechangedsuchmatters.Inmid-NovembertheBritish,having
capturedBeersheba,brokethroughtheOttomanlinesnorthwardinto
theJudeanhills;simultaneously,Faysal'sguerrillasraidedandha-
rassedtheTurkishandGermanforcesfromtherear,eastoftheJor-
danRiver.TheGermanconsulateinDamascusreportedIemal'sde-
jectionfromthemilitaryfailures.Hefeared,saidtheconsulate,the
fallofMedinaandJerusalem,andwithit"theworstpoliticalresults,
especially[Arab]revolts.">
Jemal'sactionsseemedtoreflecthisstateofmind.On 14 Novem-
ber,onordersfromthePorte,whichinturnhadreceivedpressure
fromFalkenhayn,heissuedapublicappealofferingapardonto all
ArabswhohadtakenuparmsforthesharifintheHijaz. Inthemean-
timehesentlettersto FaysalandHusaynurgingtheirreconciliation
withtheTurks."AlthoughscholarshavemademuchofTurkey's
approachestothesharifandalsoofhismistrustoftheBritishandof
wish toretaincontactwiththeTurks,HusayninfactkeptCairofully
apprisedofJemal'sentreaties.TheBritishHighCommissioner,
Wingate,evenproposedusingFaysal toapproachJemaltolearnmore
aboutTurkishpolicytowardtheArabs.v
On 6 DecemberJemalspokepubliclyinBeirutabouttheSykes-
Picotagreementof1916,whoseprovisionsthenewBolshevikre-
gimeinRussiahadjustpublished.Theagreementprovidedforthe
Anglo-FrenchdivisionofmuchoftheOttomanEmpireatthepeace