Charles R. Crane, Syria’s Revolt, Former American Commissioner Tells First Story, Hickory Daily Record, 31 July 1922

Syria’s Revolt, Former American Commissioner Tells First Story,

 

The Hickory Daily Record, 31 July, #1922Live, Timeline of British Mandatory Palestine

 

Charles R. Crane in August Our World.

 

At Versailles the allies were concerned to give force to their secret treaties. Their “honor” was bound up in them. Their “honor” was not tied up in the open declarations made to the peoples of the world.

 

Beyond these public and widespread declarations there were the clear understandings between the allies and the Arabs, and especially the Syrian Arabs who took part in the war against their co-religionists, the Turks, that after the war Syria would be free, unified and independent.

In the belief that this opportunity had finally come, elections were held in the spring of 1919 all over Syria and Palestine for a Congress to meet in Damascus to put in effect the promises that had been made. An excellent body of men were elected, both Moslems and Christians, and the Congress met to found the new government, Feisal, who had led the victorious Arab army which had co-operated with the allies, was elected king.

 

These people are certainly much better equipped for self-government than the Bulgars, Serbs or Greeks were when they got their independence.

 

And then, one must not forget the country – Syria and Palestine – that is being considered. This is not like any other country in the world. What happens there matters. This is the most sensitive political nerve center. If things go wrong there, the whole world is soon irritated. That is the situation this minute.

 

Four years ago the East, and especially the Moslem part of it, was in a most reasonable spirit, really longed to be reconsidered to the Western world, and had been touched by and profoundly believed in the principles of the fourteen points as a basis for this reconciliation.

 

But on account of the complete failure of the Allies to live up to the promises made or to take into account in the slightest degree the wishes of these people, and their suppression in the most brutal manner of any manifestation for freedom or independence, a deep wave of bitter anti-Western feeling has spread all over the East.

 

The East asks why should these Europeans who have made such a mess of running their own affairs insist on coming here to run ours and why should France, who cannot begin to take care of her own affairs at home, insist on taking on the great additional burden of running a country when the people and all the neighbors of that country are determined that she cannot be allowed to stay?

 

The street demonstrations which took place just before Easter in Damascus was to convince me as a former American commissioner of the profound discontent with the French occupation for they said: “We are absolutely strangled. No expression of any kind unfavorable to the French is tolerated. We cannot get any word out, so you must carry it!” And this is what I am trying to do. It is a poor time in the present state of the world, when race feeling is so acute, to try to force a political control over reluctant, bitter and strong people who have co-religionists extending over thousands of miles, who are sharply studying their welfare.”

 

Charles R. Crane, The Hickory Daily Record, 31 July 1922

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