Source: The Jerusalem Post
February 22, 2007
Acclaimed Middle East historian Sir Martin Gilbert revealed this week that Lt.-Col. Thomas Edward Lawrence - better known as "Lawrence of Arabia" - was actually a strong Zionist.
Citing recently opened British archives, Gilbert said that Lawrence, who played a key role in Arab nationalism during and after the first World War, firmly advocated a sovereign Jewish state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Lawrence is most famous for having organized Arab irregular forces to combat the Ottoman Empire during the war. He is also renowned for having adopted Arab customs and for wearing Arab-style robes, even into battle.
But he didn't believe the Arabs had a chance of building anything worthwhile in the Middle East without the presence of a Jewish state, according to Gilbert.
"He believed that the only hope for the Arabs of Palestine and the rest of the region was Jewish statehood - that if the Jews had a state here, they would provide the modernity, the 'leaven,' as he put it, with which to enable the Arabs to move into the 20th century.">
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