1919: the British partition the post-Ottoman Levant - the rare 'Confidential' issue

[British Foreign Office - Palestine]. Syria and Palestine. Confidential. Handbooks prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office. No. 93.

$10,536.00

Rare, confidential British War Office dossier on Syria and Palestine, published during the British occupation of Palestine and the partition of what was once the Ottoman Empire by European powers. Part of a series printed by the Foreign Office for the use of British delegates to the infamous Peace Conference of 1919, the information was considered sensitive, especially in the wake of the First World War and the political upheavals of partition and colonization. Housed in a sleeve on the rear pastedown is a large map of the region, showing national borders as of 1918, the Hejaz and Baghdad Railways, and including notes as to the location of various Arab tribes.

Published in 1918 and 1919, the handbooks were only issued to officials and all were marked 'Confidential' on the upper wrapper. By late 1919 it was decided that revised versions should be made available to the British public, printed in greater numbers and in green wrappers rather than the blue-grey of the confidential issue. They did not contain the map and excluded certain passages of text deemed too sensitive for public consumption.

The present handbook, No. 93, was published between the close of WWI and the commencement of the British and French Mandates, and therefore covers a wider geographical area in which Britain was interested, comprising most of the Ottoman Levant and parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The level of detail in the sections on geography, means of communication (including the railways), industry, and finance is impressive, particularly as regards Palestine, which Britain had wrested from the Ottomans during the war.

In addition to the wealth of factual information are sections on history and social and political conditions. The latter contains a fascinating section on "popular opinion and national sentiment" (p. 56) of the three main religious groups in the region - Muslims, Christians and Jews - which attempts to outline their positions on subjects such as foreign interests and Zionism. Very scarce, with fewer than ten copies held in institutions worldwide.