Archiv: Sykes–Picot Agreement (1916 secret treaty)


30.08.2025 - 16:59 [ New York Times ]

The 109-Year-Old Pact That Looms Over European Moves to Recognize a Palestinian State

(August 3, 2025)

Speaking at the United Nations, the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, cited another century-old document in arguing that recognition would redress a historical injustice: the Balfour Declaration, issued a year after the signing of Sykes-Picot, which endorsed “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” It had a proviso that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”

30.08.2025 - 16:23 [ Middle East Eye ]

Israel sees Sykes-Picot borders as ‚meaningless‘, US envoy Tom Barrack says

A billionaire real estate investor, Barrack, like his boss at the White House, has chaffed at the traditional US foreign policy establishment – including its preference for maintaining quiet ties with American establishment media. Instead, he has given shoot-from-the-hip style interviews.

On Thursday, he called himself an “events-driven mercenary”.

“What’s going on in Gaza makes the rest of the Arab world totally freaked out,” Barrack said.

“In Israel’s mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot are meaningless. They will go where they want, when they want, and do what they want to protect the Israelis and their borders,” Barrack said.