'Protectors of the Arab state'.

• Position: PAIRING A PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCE

For use with "How the Middle East Got That Way" on p. 18 of the magazine

During World War I, diplomats Sir Mark Sykes of Britain and Francois Georges-Picot of France sat down with a map and reached an agreement that would, at war's end, divide the Arab lands that had been under Ottoman rule into British and French "zones of influence." The map lines they drew created arbitrary new borders--and are at the root of many of today's conflicts in the Middle East. Read this excerpt from the Sykes-Picot agreement along with the Upfront article about the Middle East. Then answer the questions.

Excerpt from the Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916

It is accordingly understood between the French and British governments:

That France and Great Britain are prepared to recognize and protect an independent Arab state or a confederation of Arab states (a) and (b) marked on the annexed map, under the suzerainty of an Arab chief. That in area (a) France, and in area (b) Great Britain, shall have priority of right of enterprise and local loans. That in area (a) France, and in area (b) Great Britain, shall alone supply advisers or foreign functionaries at the request of the Arab state or confederation of Arab states. That in the blue area France, and in the red area Great Britain, shall be allowed to establish such direct or indirect administration or control as they desire and as they may think fit to arrange with the Arab state or confederation of Arab states.

That in the brown area there shall be established an international administration, the form of which is to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other allies, and the representatives of the Shereef of Mecca.

That Great Britain be accorded ... the ports of Haifa and Acre ... That Alexandretta shall be a free port as regards the trade of the British Empire, and that there shall be no discrimination in port charges or facilities as regards British shipping and British goods ...

That Haifa shall be a free port as regards the trade of France, her dominions and protectorates, and there shall be no discrimination in port charges or facilities as regards French shipping and French goods ...

The British and French government, as the protectors of the Arab state, shall agree that they will not themselves acquire and will not consent to a third power acquiring territorial possessions in the Arabian...