March 12, 1921. The Map Makers.

 

Participants in the Cairo and Jerusalem conference, plus two lion clubs.  Those photographed include Winston Churchill and T. E. Lawrence.

A convention commenced in Cairo on this day in 1921 to discuss the future of the Middle East, now occupied by French and British forces, but with strong regional forces seeking immediate independence.  The conference would run through the end of the month and issue a report of its findings.  Sessions were held in Cairo and Jerusalem, and numerous contending entities including forces in rebellion against European parties were interviewed.

Criticized in later years (the photo above has been captioned as being of "the forty thieves"), T. E. Lawrence, a great friend of the Arabs, declared that it fully fulfilled British promises to the Arabs and that Winston Churchill had "made straight" the tangle of post war interests in the region.

March 12, 1921, Saturday Evening Post.

Skeptics would have been entitled to doubt a rosy future.