Sir Ronald Storrs and Zion: the dream that turned into a nightmare

Abstract

As far as the history of British involvement in Palestine is concerned Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1955) is best known for his time spent as military governor of Jerusalem, in the wake of Allenby's conquest of the country in 1917 and then, after the British acceptance of the Mandate, as Governor of Jerusalem and Judea from 1920 to 1926. This was not Storrs' only position of note during a diplomatic career that spanned four decades. As Oriental Secretary of the British Agency in Cairo between 1907 and 1917 and in the Governorships of Cyprus, from 1926 to 1932, and then Rhodesia until his retirement from official life in 1934 Storrs was also involved in major diplomatic affairs and issues. For example, during his time in Cairo he was at the centre of British negotiations with Sharif Hussein over Arab support against Turkey in the Great War. With George Antonius, in The Arab Awakening, his seminal work on pan-Arabism, presenting Storrs as 'a principal actor' in preventing the threat of Jihad in Egypt in the last years of the war.' Likewise Storrs faced a major crisis in his last years as Governor of Cyprus when the Greek Cypriot populus protesting against British policy on the island and demanding union with Greece went so far as to burn down his official residence.2 But dramatic as affairs in Cairo and Cyprus were, and at times they were dramatic indeed, it was his decade as Governor of Jerusalem that set Storrs' colonial career apart from that of his contemporaries. One should not underestimate the symbolism and mystique attached to the post of Governor of the holiest city in the holiest of lands at a time when attachments to the Bible were widespread at all levels of British society. Storrs directly benefited from this perception. As the Arabist Harry St. John Philby noted Storrs had 'succeeded Pontus Pilate', while Edward Keith Roach, who himself succeeded Storrs as Governor (District Commissioner) of Jerusalem, was even more forthright in his view that Colonel Storrs was 'basking in Pilate's seat'.' And there is a consensus amongst both Storrs' contemporaries and later commentators that, in the post of Governor, Storrs was a precocious talent with an agile mind and a deep appreciation for both