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Cody Hobbs
Professor Johnathan G. Katz
History 385
1/25/2015
A House Divided
The creation of an Agency to represent the interests of Arabs living in Palestine was thwarted
well before the British ever really presented the idea. There were deep divides within different political
sectors that had already existed within the community, exacerbated further by the efforts of the British
as well as members of the Zionist movement. Their aggravation of old grudges, as well as the creation
of new ones where they could start them killed off any kind of political unity that might have gone
towards the creation of such a body. As a result, old rivalries and hatreds have plagued Israel ever
since its inception as a nation, and have robbed Palestine of much of the possible internal peace it may
have enjoyed.
The fact that both the Zionist and British were opposed to the idea of a united Palestine ensured
the doom of the 'Arab Agency' before it was even created. Khalidi points out that the British had long
used divisive strategies in Palestine, such as through the appointment of Hajj Amin al-Husayni as
grand mufti, as well as the election of Musa Kazim al-Husayni to the Arab Congress in the 1920s.
The al-husaynis were a large political bloc within Palestine, and as had been proven by the actions of
Hajj Almin during the Musa riots, weren't all necessarily pulling for the British Empire. Thus, but
sponsoring certain, more pliable members of the family to powerful positions, and then placing an antiBritish member in a rival position, and allowing the animosity between the two factions to tear apart
the unity of the larger political body. Ironically, both figures had earned their power through the
machination of the British, and either were, as Khalifi states, perceived by Palestinian public opinion
to be surreptitiously cooperating with the British or perceived as the overly conciliatory approach

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toward the British. Both sides were essentially puppets before the hands of the British.
Not to mention that there is the suggestion that the British were never particularly serious about
the idea of an Arab Agency ever really existing. The rampant racist attitudes of Europe towards the
people of the Middle-East, its quite doubtful that they would have taken such an Agency seriously,
especially given their favoritism towards the Jewish Agency. Given the various covert methods that the
British and Zionists used to secure Israel, such as the land sales by Arab landlords to Zionist landpurchase agencies or to individual Jewish buyers, all concerned carefully wreathed these activities in
secrecy, with multiple intermediaries involved (Khalifi pg.73). Manipulation of the presses also
aided the two co-conspirators, as their ability to broadcast certain political issues (or downplay/conceal
others) greatly aided in pushing forward with the Zionist cause and keeping the various political
powers in Palestine opposed to one another. The eventual loss of respect that mufti Raghib suffered
during the 1930s due to his close links with the British distanced the very elite of Palestinian politicians
from their constituents made the goal of an Arab Agency even ever more distant. After all, if the
political leadership is a little too friendly with the people that you don't like, how deeply do those roots
go? Suspicions concerning the current political system probably disenfranchised many Palestinians to
the idea of being represented. One can see the end results of this dissatisfaction with leadership in the
fact that the riots of 1920, 1921, 1929, and the Great Palestinian Riot of 1936-1939 through the fact
that the mobilization for these spates of violence came from the laymen. Between their leaderships
rather lax attempts at trying to win their country's independence from Great Britain, as well as the
heavy-handed manner in which the British managed Palestine, its not much of a surprise that the
educated youth of Palestine grew increasingly dissatisfied (eventually violently so), and started seeking
alternative methods with which to voice their complaints. The eventual rise of the Istiqlal Party, with
its Anti-British sentiment (as well as Pan-Arabic nationalism) was no doubt heavily bolstered by the
disenfranchised youth. Of course, in the long run this simply served the British's end goals perfectly.

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The Party further divided up their foes into a group that they could recognize and set their pawns upon.
As it was based upon mass politics, instead of the usual clan, or family based political unit that all of
Palestines' current parties were based upon, the Istiqlal Party essentially marked themselves with a
bullseye to their opposed parties, the British, and the Zionists as an opponent that could not be allowed
to succeed. It further damaged Palestine's internal political relations.
The active opposition against such an Agency aside, there is not much evidence that such an
Agency would have been an effective political entity. The political leadership of Palestine in control at
the time, as well as the opposition to it, was all firmly controlled by the British and would have most
certainly then only functioned as another piece of the British control over the nation. As for if the Arab
Agency had actually been formed, it's quite likely that, given the relations between Palestine and
Britain that the majority of its membership would have consisted of a Pro-Palestine, anti-British (and
likely anti-Zionist) body. A political deadlock which would have only exacerbated the rather poor
relations between all three factions and would have likely resulted in the British outright forcing
through their policies (and by extension, the goals of the Zionist movement). Which overall would
have likely resulted in a far more vehemently charged situation similar to what we see today. Of
course, if such an Agency had been allowed to take root, and the opposed parties were willing to listen,
then its possibly that a far more peaceful solution could have been reached. Palestine certainly wasn't
opposed to the idea of Jews living within its borders, just the idea of having a sovereign nation
exclusively for them carved from its own. Through more tactful diplomacy and a real desire to listen to
the Palestinians, the British, and Zionists might have been able to come to a more relatively mutual
agreement which would have resulted in more peaceful outcome in the long run. We might have seen
less of the long-standing martial hostilities between Israel and Palestine. Seeing the alternative of
having no Agency at all, perhaps an Agency would have been a good idea. At the least, the Palestinian
people would have been able to voice their complaints with such an idea instead of being essentially

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ignored with no kind of opinion upon the matter. The existence of an Arab Agency, whilst likely
ineffective in the long run, would have also been a symbol of some kind of the idea of a united
Palestine, which may have been able to eventually put aside the various internal political problems to at
least present a united whole to a rather unfair situation.
Ultimately, the idea of an Arab Agency was doomed long before it could ever be incepted.
Partly from the various internal politics, but the entity was definitely made to fail due to the efforts of
the British, the Zionists, and the various political cat's paws through which they operated. It is doubtful
that should such a political body have been formed that it could have functioned in any meaningful
way, considering how fragmented Palestine's political scene was, but it is also possible that, in the face
of anti-british sentiment that the large majority of political figures could have united to bring forth a
whole to voice their complaints to Britain. Of course, it ultimately would have likely failed, given the
British's racist attitudes towards Arabs, not to mention their relative favoritism of Zionist goals. While
it probably would not have worked, an Arab Agency would have given the Palestinian people a
platform through which they could voice their concerns and complaints, and perhaps have attracted the
attention of another great power to intercede with the British on their behalf. Perhaps then, relations
between Palestine and Israel could be slightly less violent than they are today.