⬆️ @homohortus

#McMahonHusseinCorrespondence refined the vague borders of the original #Kitchener letter and carved OUT specific areas, including #Palestine, from a future #Arabia.

SUBJECT to above modifications, the #British accepted rest of the limits, frontiers, and borders advocated by #DamascusProtocol.

Nov 5, 1915: #Hussein refused to budge on #Arab claims to land west of #Damascus, #Hama, #Homs & Aleppo, including #Alexandretta, giving rise to #Britain's #ForwardPolicy.

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Dec 17, 1915: #McMahon nevertheless received "Green Light" to deal with #Hussein pursuant to the #ForwardPolicy after #Kitchener and #Grey prevail over #Hardinge and Austin #Chamberlain (SoS for #India).

Hussein wanted #British as much as they wanted him, and he too was willing to POSTPONE settling the #BorderIssue.

The deferred question of #Syrian, #Lebanese, & #Palestinian borders, and British role in #Mesopotamia (#Iraq) remained a stumbling block.

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This gave rise to #Britain's #ForwardPolicy, which meant the larger effort to:

1. attack #Alexandretta (now #Iskenderun, a port and naval base on the Mediterranean coast in southern #Turkey), and

2. “roll up #Syria,”

refashioning the #MiddleEast to suit #British imperial interests.

Proponents of the Forward Policy exhorted #London to deal with #Hussein's demands head on.

Speed was of the essence. They believed “if we don’t gain the #Arabs now we might well lose them altogether.”

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