How Did The British Shape The Middle East

The French and the British both formulated their foreign policy in the Middle East to help advance their own interests. Power hungry and desperate for new land, British and French governments struggled to shape the Middle East in the ways that would be most helpful to their own interests. The selfish mindsets of these two nations coupled with the lack of Arab nationalism made for an unstable Middle East. People in these Middle Eastern nations were unable to advocate for themselves and were taken advantage of. The French and British erred by disregarding pertinent information about the population already living in the region and not considering the repercussions of the actions being discussed while formulating their foreign policy in the Middle East. The western powers, especially Britain and France, were very focused on splitting up the Middle East into sections that would most benefit their national interests. The Western powers treated the Peace conference as an opportunity to acquire new territory and improve the economic status. They view the Middle East as land to be conquered and not as an area of the world in desperate need of rebuilding, “For the Arab Middle East, the peace settlements were the old nineteenth-century imperialism again” (MacMillan 381).
A major conflict came from the idea of Palestine being “where the holy places were and the reminders of the last Jewish Kingdom”, everyone wanted a piece of Palestine (MacMillan 412). Not all jews supported a jewish state in in Palestine because, “The country was not yet capable of supporting a large population”(MacMillan 419). There was also the issue of the people whom already resided in Palestine, “What is to become of the people of the country?” (MacMillan 416). Taking one group of people and inserting them as the governing power in an existing population causes conflict and increased