INTERESE BRITANICE ÎN PALESTINA ÎN PRIMELE DECENII ALE SECOLULUI XX
BRITISH INTERESTS IN PALESTINE IN THE FIRST DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Summary/Abstract: The British Empire had special interests in the Southern Mediterranean, respectively the flanks of the Suez Canal and the rich-in-oil Persian Gulf region, strategic points to complete the "vital line" with India. Benefits from the exploitation of "the richest trade routes in the world" were "the cornerstone of wealth and glory of the British”. A first step towards securing the area and establishing zones of influence was the exchange of diplomatic notes among Russia, Great Britain and France, which was the subject of the so-called Constantinople Agreement. The British Government desired a reformulation of the desiderata of the Oriental policy and, with that end in view, in the spring of 1915, Prime Minister Asquith instructed a Ministerial Committee chaired by Sir Maurice de Bunsen to set targets in Asian Turkey in the event of a favorable end of the war. Negotiations between Great Britain and the representatives of the local population resulted, in period July 1915 - March 1916, in the exchange of letters made between British officials and Arab leaders and known as the Agreement/Correspondence Husain-McMahon. In order that Great Britain’s interests on one hand and those of France on the other be delimited within the Middle East region, negotiations were conducted between Edward Grey and Paul Cambon. That led to the Anglo-French Agreements of April-May 1916 or Sykes-Picot Agreement. Prior to occupation of Palestine by the British troops, on 2nd November 1917 the British Government released a message of support to the Zionist Movement in the form of a letter sent by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to Lord Rothschild (Balfour Declaration).

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