The French established protectorates across North Africa but they were not all of the same kind.
The Gulf peninsula was ruled by tribally based federations tied together through political and religious affiliations. The most important of these was the house of Saud’s alliance with the figure Ibn ‘Abd el Wahab’. The Saudi/Wahabi alliance would emerge as a pre-eminent force by the early 20th century.
In 1917, The Balfour Declaration was signed. It was an agreement made by British Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur James Balfour and Baron Lionel Rothschild, a British financier, to support the creation of a home in Palestine for the Jewish people. This position is an official British government policy that is in favour of Zionism.
The timing of this declaration came after Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916, secret negotiations between British diplomat Mark Sykes and a French delegation led by Francois Georges-Picot. This would define the geography of the Middle East. It granted the French control over the eastern Mediterranean coast, including Lebanon, the coastal region of Syria, and a part of Southern Turkey. The British gained control over Southern Iraq and spheres of influence from Lebanon, Egypt, through to Jordan and Iraq. The Bolshevik revolution in Russia prevented the nation from being part of these negotiations.
The Cultural Challenge
To the Europeans, the Middle East was a region of people that while skilled in rhetoric, were weak in logic and reasoning abilities. Framing the region as such provided them with the license to ‘civilize’ it.
Zionism
Zionism was an intellectual movement that emerged among Jewish intellectuals in Europe, calling for the reconstitution of Jewish life on a national basis – this led to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. This came after the Arab revolt in the 1930’s.