The Syrian Unity party was set up by
Syrian emigres in Cairo at the end of 1918. Its founders included signatories to the memorandum that resulted in the
Declaration to the Seven The Declaration to the Seven was a document written by the Sir Mark Sykes, approved by Charles Hardinge, the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office and released on June 16, 1918 in response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syr ...
and persons previously connected with the
Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization
The Ottoman Party for Administrative Decentralization or (Hizb al-lamarkaziyya al-idariyya al'Uthmani) (OPAD) was a political party in the Ottoman Empire founded in January 1913. Based in Cairo, OPAD called for the reform of the Ottoman provincial ...
. In August 1921, the party organized the
Syrian–Palestinian Congress
The Syrian–Palestinian Congress, also known as the Syria-Palestine Congress or the Syro-Palestinian Congress was an organisation founded on 25 August 1921 in Geneva, Switzerland, Geneva by a group of Syrian and Palestinian people, Palestinian ...
in Geneva with a view to influencing the terms of the proposed League of Nations mandate over the
region.
Members and Platform
*
Michel Lutfallah;
*
Rashid Rida;
*
Rafiq al-Azm;
*Haqqi al-Azm;
*
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar;
*
Khaled al-Hakim;
*Sheikh
Kamal al-Qassab Sheikh Kamel al-Qassab (1853–1954) was the founder of the Syrian Higher National Committee in 1919. He was born in Damascus, with ancestry from Homs. He was a religious scholar, and a former student of Muḥammad ʿAbduh (1849–1905) in Cairo. ...
;
*Salim Sarkis;
*Iskander 'Ammun;
*
Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib;
The party platform stated:
Background
Before the war, Cairo was a center of activity for the developing Arab independence movement, its permissive atmosphere and community of Syrian emigres was a magnet for political exiles.
On 23 October 1918 following the
Sinai and Palestine Campaign of
World War I, the
Occupied Enemy Territory Administration was established over Levantine provinces of the former
Ottoman Empire. Earlier, on 1 October 1918, General Allenby had been authorized to permit the hoisting of the Arab flag at Damascus.
The political scene in Damascus was dominated by three organizations, al-Nadi al-'Arabi (the Arab Club with strong Palestinian connections), Hizbal-Istiqlal al-'Arabi (the Arab Independence Party connected to
al-Fatat) and
Al-'Ahd (an Iraqi-run officers association).
An Arab government was announced on 5 October 1918 and gained ''de facto'' independence after the withdrawal of the British forces on 26 November 1919. The
Arab Kingdom of Syria was an unrecognized state proclaimed as a Kingdom on 8 March 1920 and existed until 25 July 1920.
During its brief existence, the kingdom was led by Sharif
Hussein bin Ali
Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, أبو عبد الله الحسين بن علي بن أبي طالب; 10 January 626 – 10 October 680) was a grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a son of Ali ibn Abi ...
's son
Faisal bin Hussein
Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi ( ar, فيصل الأول بن الحسين بن علي الهاشمي, ''Faysal el-Evvel bin al-Ḥusayn bin Alī el-Hâşimî''; 20 May 1885 – 8 September 1933) was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria ...
. Despite its claims to the territory of
Greater Syria
Syria (Hieroglyphic Luwian: 𔒂𔒠 ''Sura/i''; gr, Συρία) or Sham ( ar, ٱلشَّام, ash-Shām) is the name of a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in Western Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. Other s ...
, Faisal's government controlled a limited area and was dependent on Britain which, along with France, generally opposed the idea of a Greater Syria and refused to recognize the kingdom.
[ Itamar Rabinovich, ''Symposium: The Greater-Syria Plan and the Palestine Problem in The Jerusalem Cathedra'' (1982), p. 262.] The kingdom surrendered to French forces on 25 July 1920.
References
Bibliography
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Arab nationalism in Syria
Arab nationalist organizations
Syrian nationalism
Political organisations based in Egypt
{{Syria-party-stub