Meanwhile, the British and French had also reached a distinctly separate agreement amongst themselves. The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement divided the region into zones of permanent British and French influence, rather than giving control to local Arabs or Jews. After the war it became apparent that British promises to the Arabs and Jews were largely worthless. France, for its part, drove Sharif Hussein’s son Faisal out of Syria, where he had attempted to seize control. In 1921, Britain made good on one of its promises to the Arabs, or at least to the Hashemite family: Faisal’s younger brother Abdallah was established as emir (prince) of Palestine east of the Jordan, dubbed the Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Britain granted Transjordan independence. At the San Remo Conference in 1923, the victors of World War I implemented Sykes-Picot with only minor changes. Britain received a mandate to administer Iraq and Palestine, while France was given control over Syria and Lebanon; the Ottoman Empire was retired to the dustbin of history.

Throughout the inter-war years, British and French colonial rule was constantly tested by a rising tide of Arab and Jewish nationalism. In Egypt, Sa’ad Zaghloul founded the Wafd party, which forcefully criticized English rule and the corrupt Egyptian monarchy. After a minor skirmish between British soldiers and Egyptian peasants, Britain granted King Fouad nominal independence, taking care to sign treaties that protected British military bases, economic interests, and the Suez Canal.