His aspirations foundered on the rocks of British and French colonial ambition, notably the twin reefs of the notorious Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 and the Balfour Declaration of 1917.

ECONOMIST: Lawrence of Arabia

They include hard-boiled history, such as a review of how the confused motives of the British government's 1917 Balfour Declaration first laid the ground for the conflict.

ECONOMIST: Israel and Palestine without peace

In 1917, Arthur James Balfour, British foreign secretary, submitted a declaration of intent, known as the Balfour Declaration, to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

CNN: Monday,