King-Crane-Mission: A Fool's Errand

Submitted by Jorg Thomas Meyer (Germany), Nov 14, 2016 at 07:07

During WW I the United States did not declare war upon the Ottoman Empire (nor the other way around).
Consequently, the U.S. had no share in defeating the Turkish Army or could make a legal claim in participating to negotiate the conditions of a peace treaty with Turkey after victory was achieved by the Allied Powers. The British Expeditianry Force in Egypt had their boots on the ground in Jerusalem and of all the territory known as Palestine .. and the members of the King-Crane-Commission had their dancing shoes. It might be seen as honest trying to detect the will of the people, but it was a sheer "academic" undertaking, stained by an obvious anti-zionist bias.

In the absence of American Troops the proposal to make Greater Syria an American Mandate was out of touch with reality, if not to say, close to insane. By the way, at least one expert joined the King-Crane-nission: Mr. Yale.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".