A Durable Peace by Benjamin Netanyahu Page A

intelligence in the Middle East
who had used brilliant deception techniques to help drive the Turks out of Palestine in 1917. Although himself a onetime anti-Semite,
Meinertzhagen’s opinion of Jews and Zionism had changed after he started using Jewish and Arab agents in the Middle East.
By the time he was appointed chief political officer in Palestine in 1919, Meinertzhagen had become one of the greatest non-Jewish
Zionists in history, a commitment that eventually culminated in his meeting with Hitler to try to rescue Jews from Germany
and bring them to safety in Palestine. Meinertzhagen was a thoroughly independent-minded British patriot, and his approach
to Zionism was fashioned first and foremost by its coherence with British interests. The remarkable character of this man
is revealed in his first meeting with Hitler. The Fuhrer marched up to Meinertzhagen, extended his arm, and said, “Heil Hitler!”
Not missing a beat, Meinertzhagen responded: “Heil Meinertzhagen!” 16
    As the representative of Balfour’s foreign office in Palestine,Meinertzhagen found himself “alone out there among gentiles, in upholding Zionism.” 17 Nevertheless, he argued that support for the Jewish National Home was unassailably in Britain’s interest:
    The force of nationalism will challenge our position. We cannot befriend both Arab and Jew. My proposal is based on befriending
the people who are more likely to be loyal friends—the Jews…. Though we have done much for the Arabs, they do not know the
meaning of gratitude; moreover they would be a liability; the Jew would be an asset…. The Jews have moreover proved their
fighting qualities since the Roman occupation of Jerusalem. The Arab is a poor fighter, though an adept at looting, sabotage
and murder…. [Mine] is a proposal to make our position in the Middle East more secure. 18
    Three decades before Israel’s independence, Meinertzhagen was convinced that the alliance with the pro-Western Jews would
ultimately be the only way to defend Britain’s position in the Middle East:
    We [will] cease to control the Suez Canal in 1966; by that time we shall have been pushed out of Egypt[,] who can then close
the Canal against our shipping….
    I have always regarded Palestine as the key to Middle East Defence. I therefore approached Weizmann last week with a view
to ascertaining whether, when and if Palestine becomes a Jewish Sovereign State, Great Britain would be granted air, naval
and military bases in Palestine in perpetuity. Moreover the Jews can be relied on to keep agreements, the Arabs can never
be relied on.… With British Bases in Palestine our position in the Middle East is secure forever. 19
    The struggle between Meinertzhagen and the British anti-Zionists over the future direction of the Mandate finally boiled over
in March 1920 with the installation of Feisal, the candidate ofthe British Arabists, as king of all Syria—including Palestine. The British administration in Palestine, unable to officially
recognize his kingship over Palestine, 20 orchestrated violent demonstrations demanding the end of the Jewish National Home policy and the incorporation of Palestine
into Syria. In coordination with Feisal, Storrs, the governor of Jerusalem, and his chief of staff, Richard Waters-Taylor,
had cultivated a coterie of Pan-Arabist radicals led by Haj Amin al-Husseini, who they believed could be counted on to support
the incorporation of Palestine into a British-controlled Syria under Feisal’s family, the Hashemites. According to Meinertzhagen
(who had been forced to plant agents to monitor the anti-Zionist activities of his own government), Waters-Taylor approached
these Arabs in early 1920 with the idea of organizing “anti-Jew riots to impress on the Administration the unpopularity of
the Zionist policy” Both Storrs and Feisal were informed of this effort. 21
    Waters-Taylor met with Husseini to emphasize the importance of the riots, as