Israeli media published last month an article alleging that former Syrian Prime Minister Jamil Mardam Bey was a “double agent” who worked for France, Britain and Israel.
Author and Israeli researcher Meir Zamir claimed that he had discovered a trove of documents from the French archive that prove that Mardam Bey was double agent. The official served in office in the 1930s and 1940s and is among the most prominent Syrian national figures.
The article was published without verifying the claims. Those adept at academic research will notice that the “damning evidence” alleged by Zamir were not documented. The very article in which he presented his claims does not merit being described as a serious study of history.
Perhaps it did not occur to Zamir that Mardam Bey was one of the few Arab figures to have preserved all his personal documents. Indeed, he had left at his Cairo home more than 10,000 documents on significant developments that took place during his term as finance, former affairs and defense minister and then prime minister. He kept every personal or official document. He was supposed to hand them over to the Syrian state archive, but after witnessing the tumult in his country, he chose to keep them.
After his death, his family sought that the documents be placed in the possession of the Syrian people. It therefore tasked me with this mission. I worked with a specialized archive center to organize them in a professional manner. They have since been digitized and will soon be available for access to historians.
The documents include minutes of meetings, correspondence, speeches, journal entries and reports on official visits or political analyses. Mardam Bey also used to write his own notes by hand to comment on an issue or a significant event.
Zamir deliberately sought to tarnish Mardam Bey’s reputation. The Syrian official is known throughout the Arab world as a national figure, who was skilled at diplomacy. He is known for his contributions to the liberation of Arab lands from colonization and had waged fierce political battles for Syria’s independence.
The majority of correspondence between Mardam Bey and British government representatives reveal a strong relationship he had forged with the then world power. Ahead of World War II, its army was protecting the Middle East against the German army and the Nazi regime. France, meanwhile, had surrendered to the Nazis. Its resistance leader Charles de Gaulle had sought refuge in London where he launched the movement against the Nazis.
Alleged ‘double agent’
On Zamir’s claims of Mardam Bey’s collaboration with the French that he had alleged to have found in the French archive, developments on the ground refute these claims. France had vowed to recognize Syria as an independent state in 1941. The Syrian Republic, as it was then known, then became a member of the United Nations and Paris slowly began to back down from its pledge. It began to exert pressure on Syrian officials to agree to the deployment of special forces under French command. Mardam Bey, as defense minister in 1945, categorially rejected the proposal and accused the French of seeking to deprive Syria of a national army.
How could Mardam Bey be an agent to French when de Gaulle wrote in his journals that the British were conspiring with the Syrians to kick France out of Syria? Mardam Bey had turned into a fierce enemy of the French so much so that French General Delegate to Syria Étienne Paul-Émile-Marie Beynet had spoken of how he had lost faith in him and other Syrian national leaders. He even stated that they should be replaced by men who had previously cooperated with Paris.
Mardam Bey and his nationalist colleagues were unfortunate to find themselves alone in confronting France’s coercions. A report on a meeting with British officials showed their rejection of France’s pressure and threats. They promised Mardam Bey that Britain will wield its influence to ensure that negotiations with the French would be smooth and transparent. However, Britain soon changed its position when France was again declared an independent nation after it was liberated from the Nazis in 1944. As an independent country, Britain could no longer exert pressure on France and so the Syrians were on their own.
Of course, the British did not want to help the Syrians achieve independence without a price. They sought for Syria to become part of the Hashemite Kingdom, in what Mardam Bey would describe as “British deceit and double standards.”
Mercurial man
The British soon grew annoyed with Mardam Bey, whom they described as the “mercurial” foreign minister. They completely turned against him over his perceived hardline stance against the French. The loss of trust was mutual. Several documents from the British foreign ministry showed that officials had sought on several occasions to sidestep Mardam Bey and approach the president and prime minister without referring to him first.
Tensions between the Syrian and French leaders reached their peak in 1945 when France carried out a barbaric air raid against state buildings in Damascus, including the parliament. The foreign ministry was struck in an attempt against Mardam Bey’s life after he had delivered a strongly-worded address at parliament where he attacked the French and threatened to disclose documents that expose the British and the pressure they exerted on the Syrians to accept the French terms.
What sort of agent would openly attack and threaten world powers? How would he not fear that they would expose his role as an agent? Had Mardam Bey indeed been a “double agent”, where are the favors that he offered the French, British or Zionists, who had initially admired his diplomatic skills, but soon turned on him when he started to use these skills against their interests?
