Bell of the Desert

by Alan Gold

  “Mr. Churchill?”

  “And others. They think he’s changed sides. They think his loyalties are only to you. I know that’s not the case. He’ll fight for justice for you and your people, King Faisal, but not as a traitor to Britain.”

  The king nodded. He put his hand on the back of the sofa, close to touching her shoulder. Softly, he said, “But you also have a problem, don’t you, Miss Bell. Your love of Arabia and its people must cause you agonies when you’re negotiating their territory away from them.”

  Should she tell him? Should she confide in him her great ambition, first instilled in her when she was a young woman in Romania? The flame which had burned in her ever since it had been lit by ibn Sa’ud when she was little more than a girl in an orchard in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. But today she was the most senior woman diplomat which Great Britain had ever produced, a woman at a peace conference representing both her country, and the interests of nations which had been hideously brutalized by barbarians. No, she thought, this wasn’t the time to tell Faisal her innermost hopes and wishes.

  She breathed deeply, and began coughing. She’d been smoking far too many cigarettes and she really did have to cut down, and the alcohol exacerbated her problems with the remnants of the cigarette smoke still in her throat. “Sir,” she said, “My loyalties are to Great Britain. But that doesn’t mean I will allow the powers who are deciding these things just to ignore the interests of the Arabs. If the Arabs are deeply unhappy with the outcome, then in five or ten years, we’ll be at war again, and this was supposed to be the war which ended all wars.”

  They continued to sip on their drinks. Then she turned to him, and asked him, “Is that the reason you’ve asked me here, King Faisal? Was it to find out where my and Mr. Lawrence’s loyalties lie?”

  He smiled, and shook his head. “Of course not. I knew already. I just wanted to listen to your explanation. No, the other reason I’ve asked you here is because of my growing respect and affection for you. Mr. Lawrence was continually talking about your grace and beauty and brilliance while we fought the wars in Arabia. I just wanted to see for myself whether he was being poetic, or whether his flattery was based on fact.”

  “And?”

  “Fact! I think we shall become very good friends, Gertrude.”

  “I hope so, Majesty.”

  “And what do you view as the measure of true friendship, Gertrude?”

  She thought for a moment, and then said softly, “Loyalty. Truth. Understanding.”

  They remained silent, sitting watching the night lights of Paris. “It must have been very hard being a woman, alone, in a man’s world.”

  “You can never imagine, Faisal, just how hard it has been,” she said, nursing her glass of wine.

  “Oh, I think I can imagine it. I have observed Mr. Lawrence in our Arab society. It’s been very hard for him, being a woman in a man’s world.”

  She turned in surprise, and looked into his eyes. They were twinkling in mischief. She burst out laughing. So did he.

  ~

  The interchange with Winston Churchill was still very fresh in their minds even a week later, and Gertrude determined to lift everybody’s mood by keeping Lawrence and King Faisal active. So they spent much of their time traveling between the Élysée Palace, the American delegation in the Hotel de Crillon, the British delegates in the Hotel Astoria, and the French diplomats in their many offices on the banks of the Seine, talking, cajoling and making their presence felt.

  As the three were entering the Élysée one morning, they ran into a tall, moustachioed man with a pointed beard, prematurely balding for someone in his mid-forties, dressed in an immaculate gray three-piece suit. He immediately spied the king, and bowed.

  “Your Highness, it’s good to see you again.”

  “My dear Dr. Weizmann, how very nice to see you this morning. Do you know Miss Gertrude Bell, the most senior lady in the employment of the British government?”

  As the king introduced Chaim Weizmann to Gertrude, he explained he had met with Dr. Weizmann, the head of the Zionist delegation to the conference, in January in London when they had discussed the principle of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and had agreed to support the principles of the Balfour Declaration.

  Gertrude was shocked when the king explained the nature of the understanding he’d come to with the Zionist leader. They moved to an unoccupied part of the antechamber, where Gertrude explained to the King, “Sir, without wishing to embarrass Dr. Weizmann, I feel that your signing this declaration was very unwise. You know how much your Arab brothers will resent a Jewish presence in the Middle East. The principle of the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine has already been agreed to by Mr. Balfour and the British government, and its ramifications will be among the issues to be discussed here in the near future; but for you to put your signature to a piece of paper supporting the British position of a Jewish presence will compromise your standing in Arabia.”

  Weizmann interrupted, “Miss Bell, there has been a Jewish presence in the Holy Land since the beginning of recorded history. All His Highness has done is to recognize the inevitable. The responsible Arabic leaders welcome the renewal of a Jewish presence in our shared ancestral lands, because we bring with us liberal ideals, an understanding of democracy, an international network of contacts in business and finance, industry and commerce, and trade and diplomacy. We, more than any others, are a universally educated people of the world, whose ancestral lands have become malarial swamps under the negligence of absentee Ottoman landlords. When our own lands are regenerated, our Jewish men and women will bring great benefits to the region.

  “And more than that, Miss Bell . . . the return of the Jews to Palestine and the end of the diaspora will enable history to complete its circle and will right the wrongs perpetrated by the Romans in 70AD. For century after century the Jews have lived side by side with the Arabic and Islamic peoples in Damascus, in Baghdad, in Constantinople and in many other cities of the Arabian and Muslim world; we have contributed to the wealth of Arabia, of Europe and of the East, both materially and intellectually. Yet because of our religion, we are excoriated wherever we try to put down our roots. Never forget that the decline of two of the greatest European powers, Spain and Portugal, began when they expelled their Jewish communities.

  “Enough is enough, Miss Bell. Since the time of the Crusades in the eleventh century, the Jews have been persecuted and have suffered from murderous pogroms throughout all of Europe. It’s right and proper that the Jews should return to their ancestral home, and not be strangers in strange lands any longer,” he said.

  “Dr. Weizmann, I have nothing but the greatest sympathy for the plight of the Jewish people. But England and France have just fought the most devastating war in all of our recorded history, compared with which, Jewish suffering pales into insignificance. You must also remember the Arabic people were instrumental in assisting the Great Powers in fighting this war and defeating the Turks. Our indebtedness to them must come before any moral claims which the Jewish people might make for a Jewish nation in the region. My fear is that such a claim will merely cause—”

  “Miss Bell,” said King Faisal, interrupting. “Perhaps you should listen to a letter I have just sent to Professor Felix Frankfurter, the head of the American Zionist movement . . .”

  He nodded to Lawrence, who opened his briefcase, and extracted a vellum letter, a copy of the one he’d sent to the United States. He handed it to the king, who cleared his throat, and read the contents in a voice which only those in his immediate circle could hear.

  Dear Mr. Frankfurter,

  We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppressions at the hands of powers stronger than themselves, and by a happy coincidence have been able to take the first step towards the attainment of their national ideals together. We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in
Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference and we regard them as moderate and proper. We will do our best, in so far as we are concerned, to help them through. We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home.

  Dr. Weizmann has been a great helper of our cause, and I hope the Arabs may soon be in a position to make the Jews welcome in return for their kindness. We are working together for a reformed and revived Near East, and our two movements complete one another. The Jewish movement is national and not imperialist, our movement is national and not imperialist, and there is room in Syria for us both. Indeed, I think neither can be a real success without the other.

  People less informed and less responsible than our leaders and yours, ignoring the need for co-operation of the Arabs and Zionists, have been trying to exploit the local difficulties that must necessarily arise in Palestine in the early stages of our movement. Some of them have, I am afraid, misrepresented your aims to the Arab peasantry and our aims to the Jewish peasantry with the result that interested parties have been able to make capital out of what they call our differences.

  I look forward, and my people with me look forward, to a future in which we will help you and you will help us, so the countries in which we are mutually interested may once again take their places in the community of civilized people of the world.

  Believe me,

  Yours sincerely, Faisal.

  “And so you see, Miss Bell,” the king continued. “The situation is well in hand for the Arabs to welcome back to Palestine their brethren, the Jews, and for all of us to benefit.”

  “Sir,” said Gertrude, “I don’t know where this will lead, but I do know the minds of Arabic leaders, the Islamic Arabic leaders, very well indeed. I know their likes and dislikes, their hopes and aspirations for the future, and I tell you, Majesty, there will be great distress and fury if millions of Jews leave Europe and descend on Palestine.”

  “I think you are wrong, Miss Bell,” said Dr. Weizmann. “Some will resent us, certainly, and I’m sure there will be many uncomfortable adjustments, but when leaders of the Arabic tribes see the very tangible benefits a Jewish presence will bring to the area, I know our lives will be lived together in fulfilment. There has been Jewish migration into Palestine for going on forty years, and our presence is visible. We’ve drained swamplands and turned them into orchards and fields, we’ve created factories and settlements which are open to Arab and Jew alike. Whether the Arabs in Palestine or Syria or Egypt like it or not, if you journey through the areas where Jews have settled in the Middle East and you’ll see crops and fruit and vines and flowers now growing where once there was a festering miasma, or a waterless desert. You’ll see schools teaching boys and girls, and men and women industrially working side by side for national prosperity. You’ll witness wonderful buildings growing on land which once housed camels, goats, and the occasional Bedouin. And no people wants to share its knowledge and skills more acutely than we Jews with our brother and sister Muslims. We are, after all, both born of our father Abraham. I am the son of Isaac, whilst Faisal is the son of Ishmael.”

  “If you remember your Book of Genesis, Dr. Weizmann, Ishmael was the son of Hagar, a servant of Abraham. I don’t think the Arabs will be willing to be servants to the Jews,” said Gertrude.

  “Indeed not, for together Arab and Jew will be building Zion as equals, developing the land for the Arabs who live there, and for the Jews who will emigrate. We will be making it into a fertile home instead of a malarial swamp. We will cultivate and make fertile land which is today of use only to mosquitoes, snakes and vermin.” He smiled, not knowing whether to continue. But the look of scepticism on her face encouraged Weizmann onwards. “But it’s not just the Arabs who will welcome a renewal of the Jewish presence in Palestine, Miss Bell. There is very strong Christian support for the creation of a Jewish state. It found its public voice in England in the middle of the last century. When he was foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston strongly recommended that the Ottoman government encourage a Jewish return to their lands. It was Lord Shaftesbury in the middle of the 1850’s who coined the phrase, ‘a land without a people for a people without a land’.

  “If you’re familiar with Daniel Deronda, the novel by George Eliot, she espoused a very strong Zionist philosophy for the entire world to read. Just thirty years ago in America, over 400 prominent Americans, including the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Speaker of the House, along with industrialists such as Morgan, and Rockefeller, signed a petition for the creation of a Jewish nation in Palestine.

  “You might think Zionism is a new idea, Miss Bell, but let me assure you it has very old, and very deep roots in Western thinking. You might want to close the stable door, Miss Bell, but I’m afraid the horse has not only bolted, but is halfway around the paddock. Now, if you will excuse me, I have much work to do.”

  Weizmann nodded to Gertrude, shook hands with Lawrence and the king, and walked into the body of the antechamber to meet with his delegation.

  Furious, Gertrude asked, “Did you know anything about the king’s letter, Thomas?”

  “Of course I did,” Lawrence responded. “The king has asked me to act as his translator, amanuensis, and companion. I know everything that’s going on.”

  “Then how could you have allowed the king to make such a declaration. You really should have consulted me first. Are you aware of how badly His Majesty has compromised himself with this correspondence?”

  “Don’t be angry with Mr. Lawrence, Gertrude,” said Faisal. “We are in the midst of re-shaping the world. Old alliances may be broken forever, but new ones will be forged. It’s not only Dr. Weizmann who thinks so, but also your Mr. Churchill who reminded me only last week, ‘we must only look forward, and not in both directions.’”

  “Majesty, might I have a quick and private word with Lawrence,” she asked, grasping the man’s arm and pulling him away. When there was distance between them and King Faisal, she whispered angrily, “How could you have done this, Thomas? Do you realize what you’ve allowed Faisal to do?”

  Stunned by her vehemence, he said, “All Faisal is doing, Gertie, is to—”

  “That letter, and his support, will have destroyed any hope that Faisal might become a unifying force in Arabia. Good fortune and the expediency of war made him King of Syria but his only way of surviving the coming assaults of the Sa’uds against the Kingdom of the Hejaz was to show himself as an Arab leader. But now that Faisal has done this, Abd al-Aziz will simply scream the word traitor and all Arabia will rally behind him in his conquest of the Hejaz. And knowing that brute, he’ll probably take the throne of Syria as well. Oh Thomas, what have you done?”

  “Nothing, Gertie. I promise. You’ve massively over-dramatizing the situation. There’ll be a couple of thousand Jews who’ll come to Palestine, settle there, and work happily with the Arabs. It’s a storm in a teacup. You don’t think American or British or French Jews will want to leave their comfortable homes and settle in the desert, do you?”

  “And the millions of Russian or Polish Jews who have been living squalid lives and with anti-Semitism for hundreds of years? They’ll flock there. Oh you bloody idiot. Well, let’s get back to Faisal, and see if we can retrieve the situation.”

  ~

  When they returned to stand beside the king, he asked, “Is all well between you?”

  Gertrude shook her head in consternation. The problems of the area were almost insurmountable with just the Western powers and the Arabs involved, but now that the Jews had staked their claim and somehow got some Arab leaders to back their demand to return to their land of Palestine, the situation had become even worse. It was like trying to grasp a knot of writhing snakes. “Majesty, the problems which the emergence of an independent Arabia faces are huge. France is your true enemy, and the only way to beat Clemenceau and George Picot and those who advise him is to convince him, and the rest of the allies, of your legitimacy as King o
f Syria. Fail to do that, and you and all the others will be prey to hostile forces which have their eyes on your oil.”

  The king nodded. Lawrence listened in deference to Gertrude’s wisdom, unwill to cross her again. Normally it would have been he who advised the king, but whenever he was close to Gertrude, he wisely remained quiet and observant, something which King Faisal found bemusing. Lawrence had a growing reputation throughout the world as an adventurer and was being promoted as the Englishman who had won the war against the Turks. Faisal had asked Lawrence to join him in Paris specifically because the Englishman added a cachet of mystery and excitement to the diplomacy of the Arabs, especially now that the journalist Lowell Thomas had made him famous world-wide as Lawrence of Arabia. Yet for some reason, Lawrence deferred to Gertrude whenever they were together. Faisal acknowledged her intellect and her superb knowledge and understanding of his homeland, but despite that, he had to keep reminding himself that she was only a woman.

  Yet he’d spent a number of evenings alone with her, without Lawrence being present, and they’d been some of the sweetest times he could remember. She was charming, deferential, knowledgeable, and very sophisticated. And she was also a romantic. Twice, on leaving him and returning in his carriage to her hotel, she had kissed him at the door to his hotel apartments. The first time it had been a sisterly kiss, the second time her lips had lingered just a little bit too long. He’d been tempted to move his lips to hers, but she must have sensed that something was going through his mind, and so smiled and withdrew.

  One day, though, he would decide the time was right, and he would make her his. She was, after all, a single lady in need of a husband, and it was his duty as a man to accommodate her needs. Though how his wife, Hazaima, would accept Gertrude Bell, he wasn’t at all sure.

  ~

  A week later, Gertrude received a hand-delivered letter to her hotel suite. It was early in the morning, and she had been lying in bed since waking an hour earlier, trying to rouse her spirits from the after-effects of the party the previous night. She knew her maid had deposited breakfast on the table outside of her bedroom door, but couldn’t stomach the thought of brioche and baguette and petit pain au chocolate washed down with the thin and feminine coffee which the French loved, especially as her taste for coffee now was the strong mud which the Turks and Arabs drank.