Commentary by Richard C. Nau / For The Daily News

Chris Skaugset’s (“World War I tales for Vets Day,” Nov. 8 Daily News) recommendation of several books about WWI, reminded me of my interest in Mideast history prompted years ago by a news report of a Palestinian woman and her two young children shot and killed by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). They were in the vicinity of a vehicle explosion and tried to take refuge behind a tree.

I don’t recall that the IDF alleged that they were responsible. Israeli and U.S. history, especially that of our West, as presented by popular media (novels, movies, etc.), is often distorted to entertain and differs from that presented by many historians — and even they are not immune from bias. Often overlooked in the history of World War I are the events in the Middle East which may have had more lasting negative consequences than in any other region.

T.E. Lawrence biographies provide an interesting look at an enigmatic character and the time. Two that I read were “Lawrence of Arabia,” by Jeremy Wilson and T.E. Lawrence, and “A Biography of a Broken Hero,” by Harold Orlans. Arabs, in hopes of throwing off 400 years of Ottoman rule and achieving nationhood, allied with the British. They captured Akaba (Aqabah) and for this and other efforts were at least allowed to be the first Allied force into Damascus. They were “rewarded” by the Balfour declaration, 1917, in which Britain promised to support establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

This was a major achievement of the Zionist movement started in the late 1800s. About the same time the secret Sykes-Picot agreement came to light. This carved up the region between France and Britain and formed most of the nations that we know today, and some of these countries are still ruled by the descendants of the kings appointed by the European powers. These agreements apparently differed from Lawrence’s understandings and promises to the Arabs for their aid. Did he feel betrayed by his government and that he lied to his Arab friends and did this contribute to some of Lawrence’s bizarre behavior and manner of death?

I would argue that this World War I history and subsequent history still contribute to our poor relations with Islam, especially that of the Mideast. We have much history to forget that they remember. We are beginning to acknowledge our treatment of Native Americans but few are willing to look at the history of the Middle East inherited by the United States from France and England, and from which we seem to have learned little.

Richard C. Nau is a retired pathologist living in Longview.