A Dream that Almost Came True

It was T.E. Lawrence who wrote "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible." Quite profound that such a man as T.E. Lawrence other wise known as Lawrence Of Arabia could articulate what men are really quite capable of.

History is full of dreamers of the day. In one such brief period in the 20th century destines of men were forever shaped. How it all began started way back in the 16th century when the Ottoman Turks invaded and conquered Palestine. Over the course of centuries the Ottoman Empire gained control of most the Mid-East. When World War I broke out the British with the help of the Arab nation {This is where T.E. Lawrence was so affective in recruiting the Arab tribes to join forces with the British} the Ottoman Turks were finally defeated. Another factor in the development of the Mid-East right after the War was the fact the the Zionists were continually migrating into Palestine. The League Of Nations following World War I gave Great Britain the mandate that essentially meant Palestine was to be governed by the British. The British promised to help the Jewish people make Palestine their homeland. The Arabs now felt that it was a betrayal by the British in allowing a Jewish population settle into what the Arabs thought was their land.

During the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turkish rule in the years 1916 -1918 T.E. Lawrence was very instrumental in having the Arabs achieve their victory over the Turks. What he tried to accomplish in those years for the Arab nation was to unify Syria, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia into one independent country. It was through his steadfast belief that the Arab's were morally superior to the Europeans that Lawrence almost succeeded in unifying the Arab nations. The British Government in the ratification of the Balfour Declaration ended any possibility of an independent Arab nation uniting Palestine, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The Zionists beliefs were so contrary to the Arabs that any hope of equality or stability between them was impossible.

For a very brief period from 1918-1920 T.E. Lawrence with King Fausi the Arabs began the unification of the Mid-East. It was the British with the ratification of the Sykes-Picot agreement that sealed the fate for future turmoil to erupt through-out the region. The French were given control over Syria and the British were to control Palestine. What T.E.Lawrence was trying to do in helping the Arabs become one independent nation was undermined by the French, the British government and the League Of Nations.

There is much speculation that had the British and the French allowed T.E. Lawrence to succeed in helping the Arabs become a united independent country with control of Palestine, Syria and Saudi Arabia that today the Mid-East would not be such a "hot bed" of turmoil. Palestine would be Arab and nation of Israel would have been established in what is now Turkey long before 1948. The hostilities that has occurred since the end of World War I would have been avoided and these two opposite cultures would now be separate eliminating the possibility of territorial domination by one or other country.

A lesson to be learned in the history of the Mid-East during the years right after World War I. One that is forever linked to foreign domination over countries whose own destiny rises or falls on the ability or inability to find common ground for stability, equality, and security of their populations futures. For T.E. Lawrence a dreamer by the day; that dream of an Arab nation almost came true.