The Indian Soldiers didn’t Lay Down their Lives for Israel

 

October 17,2021: Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar began his five-day visit to Israel by laying a wreath at a cemetery in Talpiot, Jerusalem,  for  British-Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the region during WWI .

The Indian Army commemorates 23 September every year as  Haifa Day to remember the three British-Indian cavalry regiments -Mysore, Hyderabad, and Jodhpur Lancers that helped capture Haifa from Ottoman rule following a cavalry action by the 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.                                                                                            

Palestine was captured by the Ottoman Turks in 1486 when hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks for control over West Asia. During WWI (1914-1918) the Ottomans sided with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) whereas the Allies (Britain, France, Russia, and the US) fought against the Axis Powers.  As part of the Allied operations in the Middle East, Britain sent an expeditionary force, which also included the British Indian Army's 15th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, to fight against the Ottoman Army in  Palestine.

During WWI, the Arab Revolt was a military uprising of Arab forces in the Middle Eastern theatre,  against the Ottoman control of the Arab lands.  On the basis of the Mc Mahon - Hussein correspondence, an agreement between the British government and Sharif Hussein of Makkah was reached. 

The Arab revolt was officially initiated at Makkah on June 10, 1916. The aim of the revolt was to create a single, unified, and independent Arab state stretching from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen, which the British promised to recognize.  As a result of the Arab Revolt, supported by Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and the Turks were driven out of the Arab Middle East.

Sharif Hussein of Makkah was the  Emir of Makkah since 1908 and, after proclaiming the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, King of the Hejaz from 1916 to 1924. At the end of his reign he also briefly laid claim to the office of Caliph. Those who have seen the movie “Lawrence of Arabia” would recall that in the movie Sharif Hussein is portrayed as a greedy and power-hungry tribal chief.

Colonel T.E. Lawrence, a British adventurer, played a key role in organizing the Arab resistance against the Ottoman Empire.  From his base in the Arabian Peninsula, Lawrence led the Arab rebels in a series of hit and run guerrilla operations behind the Turkish lines, focusing upon the mining of bridges and supply trains and the appearance of Arab units, first in one place and then another, tying down enemy forces that otherwise would have been deployed elsewhere, and keeping the Damascus-to-Medina railway largely inoperable, with potential Turkish reinforcements thus helpless to crush the uprising.

The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, captured Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant (Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria) following the defeat of Turkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of Turkey on 31 October.

In the final analysis:

        During World War I, the  15^th Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade, comprising three British Indian cavalry regiments – Mysore, Hyderabad, and Jodhpur Lancers, captured Haifa as Part of the British - Egyptian Expeditionary Force.  The British conquest of Palestine took place when The Arab Middle East was in the throes of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.

   Under the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, it was agreed between Britain and France that  Palestine, when freed from Ottoman control, would become an international zone, not under direct French or British colonial control. Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration, which promised to establish a "Jewish national home" in Palestine.

        Israel was created in May 1948, thirty years after the end of WWI. The Indian Foreign Minister, and the Indian PM, Modi during an earlier visit to Israel, gave an impression as if Indian troops had fought for the emancipation of Jews, resulting in the establishment of the Jewish state. Whereas the Indian government now acknowledges the contribution of all the regiments taking part in the capture of Haifa, Modi had disowned the Hyderabad Lancers representing the Muslim state of Hyderabad.

        Ironically, the British Indian Army troops, fighting under the leadership of their British commanders, would not have the wildest idea laying down of their lives would be exploited by the leaders of independent India by distorting the historical facts. During the war, the Indian Muslims, at least, had waged a vigorous campaign in favor of the Ottoman Empire.  

          17 October 2021